scholarly journals Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe: Extended Essay on the Book

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Gržinić

Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe takes us back to his seminal text on “Necropolitics” translated and published in the US in 2003. At this point, 40 years after Foucault’s Biopolitics, Mbembe was re-theorizing biopolitics through a necro (death) horizon, which turned out to be a robust conceptual shift from Western thought. Not much else is explicitly said about necropolitics in the titular book, which comes 17 years after the seminal text that had a significant impact on the theory and practice of philosophy, politics, anthropology, and esthetics. Mbembe presents the layers of forms, modes, and procedures of the necropolitical working through contemporary neoliberal global societies. It is therefore not surprising that Mbembe makes reference to theory in forms, form is the way to redefine or rephrase content, and “who should live and who must die” is currently the beginning. But how this is done in the 21st century, what are the methods and procedures to implement this central act in neoliberal global democracy —that is the task of this book.

2012 ◽  
Vol 94 (886) ◽  
pp. 467-481 ◽  

Peter W. Singer is Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He is the author of three award winning books, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Children at War, and Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century.1 He has served as a consultant with groups that range from the US military and FBI to human rights organizations.In this interview, Peter Singer explains to what extent and how new technologies change the way we think about going to war and the way we conduct war, as well as how they will impact the work of humanitarian actors. He shares his vision for the future, analyzing both the ethical and legal challenges that access to new advanced technologies poses and the opportunities it offers.


Author(s):  
James J. Coleman

At a time when the Union between Scotland and England is once again under the spotlight, Remembering the Past in Nineteenth-Century Scotland examines the way in which Scotland’s national heroes were once remembered as champions of both Scottish and British patriotism. Whereas 19th-century Scotland is popularly depicted as a mire of sentimental Jacobitism and kow-towing unionism, this book shows how Scotland’s national heroes were once the embodiment of a consistent, expressive and robust view of Scottish nationality. Whether celebrating the legacy of William Wallace and Robert Bruce, the reformer John Knox, the Covenanters, 19th-century Scots rooted their national heroes in a Presbyterian and unionist view of Scotland’s past. Examined through the prism of commemoration, this book uncovers collective memories of Scotland’s past entirely opposed to 21st-century assumptions of medieval proto-nationalism and Calvinist misery. Detailed studies of 19th-century commemoration of Scotland’s national heroes Uncovers an all but forgotten interpretation of these ‘great Scots’ Shines a new light on the mindset of nineteenth-century Scottish national identity as being comfortably Scottish and British Overturns the prevailing view of Victorian Scottishness as parochial, sentimental tartanry


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Jenness

This paper explores the way American intellectuals depicted Sigmund Freud during the peak of popularity and prestige of psychoanalysis in the US, roughly the decade and a half following World War II. These intellectuals insisted upon the unassailability of Freud's mind and personality. He was depicted as unsusceptible to any external force or influence, a trait which was thought to account for Freud's admirable comportment as a scientist, colleague and human being. This post-war image of Freud was shaped in part by the Cold War anxiety that modern individuality was imperilled by totalitarian forces, which could only be resisted by the most rugged of selves. It was also shaped by the unique situation of the intellectuals themselves, who were eager to position themselves, like the Freud they imagined, as steadfastly independent and critical thinkers who would, through the very clarity of their thought, lead America to a more robust democracy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-224
Author(s):  
Erik Gunderson

This is a survey of some of the problems surrounding imperial panegyric. It includes discussions of both the theory and practice of imperial praise. The evidence is derived from readings of Cicero, Quintilian, Pliny, the Panegyrici Latini, Menander Rhetor, and Julian the Apostate. Of particular interest is insincere speech that would be appreciated as insincere. What sort of hermeneutic process is best suited to texts that are politically consequential and yet relatively disconnected from any obligation to offer a faithful representation of concrete reality? We first look at epideictic as a genre. The next topic is imperial praise and its situation “beyond belief” as well as the self-positioning of a political subject who delivers such praise. This leads to a meditation on the exculpatory fictions that these speakers might tell themselves about their act. A cynical philosophy of Caesarism, its arbitrariness, and its constructedness abets these fictions. Julian the Apostate receives the most attention: he wrote about Caesars, he delivered extant panegyrics, and he is also the man addressed by still another panegyric. And in the end we find ourselves to be in a position to appreciate the way that power feeds off of insincerity and grows stronger in its presence.


Author(s):  
Michael Ruse

Can we live without the idea of purpose? Should we even try to? Kant thought we were stuck with it, and even Darwin, who profoundly shook the idea, was unable to kill it. Indeed, purpose seems to be making a comeback today, as both religious advocates of intelligent design and some prominent secular philosophers argue that any explanation of life without the idea of purpose is missing something essential. This book explores the history of purpose in philosophical, religious, scientific, and historical thought, from ancient Greece to the present. The book traces how Platonic, Aristotelian, and Kantian ideas of purpose continue to shape Western thought. Along the way, it also takes up tough questions about the purpose of life—and whether it's possible to have meaning without purpose.


2018 ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Beca

ResumenEl trabajo analiza el curso Ética Profesional en la carrera de Derecho en la Universidad Católica de Temuco. Examina la forma como se abordaba la ética profesional antes de la creación del curso, y lo que ha ocurrido con él a través de sucesivos cambios curriculares y la introducción del modelo por competencias. El curso aporta al sello identitario, mediante un enfoque multidisciplinario. El curso ha vinculado teoría y práctica, desde que comenzó a implementarse, hasta llegar actualmente a comprenderlo en la lógica de competencias. Esta mirada implica formar a los estudiantes para resolver dilemas éticos, lo que se hace mediante la metodología del ver–juzgar–actuar. Esta metodología de discernimiento es propia de la tradicióncatólica, pero se usa en este contexto sin un cariz religioso. El método en cuestión permite ir educando la autonomía a fn de tomar decisiones. Se analiza la importancia de contextualizar la enseñanza ética y la forma como esto se ha hecho en el curso. Finalmente se aborda la relevancia de formar la conciencia ética de los estudiantes.Palabras clave: Experiencia de enseñanza – Ética profesional –Método de discernimient.ResumoO artigo analisa o curso de Ética Profssional na Escola de Direito na Universidade Católica de Temuco. Examina a forma de como abordar a ética profssional antes da criação do curso, e o que tem acontecido com ele através de sucessivas mudanças curriculares e a introdução do modelo de competências. O curso aporta ao selo de identidade, através de uma abordagem multidisciplinar. O curso tem ligado teoria e prática, desde que começou a se programar até chegar atualmente a compreendê-lo na lógica de competência. Este olhar implica formar aos estudantes para resolver dilemas éticos, o que é feito pela metodologia do ver-julgar-agir. Este método de discernimento é próprio da tradição Católica, mas é usado neste contexto, sem um aspecto religioso. O método em questão permite ir educando na autonomia com a fnalidade de tomar decisões. Analisa-se a importância de contextualizar o ensino da ética e a forma como isso tem sido feito no curso. Finalmente se aborda a relevância de formar consciência ética dos estudantes.Palavras-chave: Experiência de ensino - Ética Profssional - Método de discernimento.AbstractThis paper analyses the Professional Ethics course at the School of Law of Universidad Católica de Temuco. It reviews the way in which ethics was addressed before the course was created, and what has happened with it through the subsequent curricular changes and the implementation of a competency based model. The course contributes to the seal of identity through a multidisciplinary approach. Theory and practice have been progressively bound together since the course was introduced, to reach a point, nowadays, in which the course is understood within the logic of competencies. This point of view implies educating students for solving ethical dilemmas, which is done through the see–judge–act methodology. This discernment methodology belongs to the Roman Catholic tradition, but is used in this context without its religious complexion. This method allows educating autonomy in order to make decisions. It also analyses the importance of contextualizing ethics education and the way in which this has been done in the course. Finally, it addresses the relevance ofcreating an ethical consciousness of the students.Keywords: Teaching experience – Professional Ethics – Discernment method


Space Policy ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-96
Author(s):  
Alain Dupas
Keyword(s):  

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Eliana Alemán ◽  
José Pérez-Agote

This work aims to show that the sacrificial status of the victims of acts of terrorism, such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings (“11-M”) and ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty) attacks in Spain, is determined by how it is interpreted by the communities affected and the manner in which it is ritually elaborated a posteriori by society and institutionalised by the state. We also explore the way in which the sacralisation of the victim is used in socially and politically divided societies to establish the limits of the pure and the impure in defining the “Us”, which is a subject of dispute. To demonstrate this, we first describe two traumatic events of particular social and political significance (the case of Miguel Ángel Blanco and the 2004 Madrid train bombings). Secondly, we analyse different manifestations of the institutional discourse regarding victims in Spain, examining their representation in legislation, in public demonstrations by associations of victims of terrorism and in commemorative “performances” staged in Spain. We conclude that in societies such as Spain’s, where there exists a polarisation of the definition of the “Us”, the success of cultural and institutional performances oriented towards reparation of the terrorist trauma is precarious. Consequently, the validity of the post-sacrificial narrative centring on the sacred value of human life is ephemeral and thus fails to displace sacrificial narratives in which particularist definitions of the sacred Us predominate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-134
Author(s):  
Angelika Moskal

Abstract: The shaman figure is most often associated with primitive communities, inhabiting, among others Siberia. The shaman plays one of the most important roles in them - he is an intermediary between the world of people and the world of spirits. Responds to, among others for the safe passage of souls to the other side and protects her from evil spirits. However, is there room for representatives of this institution in contemporary Polish popular literature? How would they find themselves in the 21st century? The article aims to show the interpretation of the shaman on the example of Ida Brzezińska, the heroine of the books of Martyna Raduchowska. I intend to introduce the role and functions of the „shaman from the dead”, juxtaposing the way Ida works (including reading sleepy margins from a rather unusual dream catcher, carrying out souls and the consequences that await in the event of failure or making contact with the dead) with the methods described by scholars shamans. The purpose of the work is to show how much Raduchowska tried to adapt shamanism in her work by modernizing it, and how many elements she added from herself to make the story more attractive.


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