Phenomenology and Sex Robots

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-97
Author(s):  
Nicola Liberati

Engineering develops technologies that shape the way of relating to ourselves and others, and the last developments in robotics force us to focus on the effects of their introduction. New robots have been designed to be intimate and even potential sexual partners. Many studies work on the ethical implications of sex robots by providing a normative approach to ethically assess their introduction in the society. However, few works focus on the effects they have on the relations binding people in general, and even fewer works focus on these effects from a phenomenological perspective. This paper aims at analyzing how technologies shape the relationships from a phenomenological perspective by highlighting the process of the constitution of subjects in a love relationship. More specifically, this work shows what happens when a human being is in a love relationship while the partner uses sex robots through the analysis of texts by Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. In conclusion, this paper wants to provide a novel application of phenomenological concepts to intimate relationships with robots.

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.


Organization ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135050842097452
Author(s):  
Edouard Pignot

This paper aims to address the dark side perspective on digital control and surveillance by emphasizing the affective grip of ideological control, namely the process that silently ensures the subjugation of digital labour, and which keeps the ‘unexpectedness’ of algorithmic practices at bay: that is, the propensity of users to contest digital prescriptions. In particular, the theoretical contribution of this paper is to combine Labour Process with psychoanalytically-informed, post-structuralist theory, in order to connect to, and further our understanding of, how and why digital workers assent to, or oppose, the interpellations of algorithmic ideology at work. To illustrate the operation of affective control in the Platform Economy, the emblematic example of ride-hailing platforms, such as Uber, and their algorithmic management, is revisited. Thus, the empirical section describes the way drivers are glued to the algorithm (e.g. for one more fare, or for the next surge pricing) in a way that prevents them, although not always, from considering genuine resistance to management. Finally, the paper discusses the central place of ideological fantasy and cynical enjoyment in the Platform Economy, as well as the ethical implications of the study.


Robotics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Rousi

With a backdrop of action and science fiction movie horrors of the dystopian relationship between humans and robots, surprisingly to date-with the exception of ethical discussions-the relationship aspect of humans and sex robots has seemed relatively unproblematic. The attraction to sex robots perhaps is the promise of unproblematic affectionate and sexual interactions, without the need to consider the other’s (the robot’s) emotions and indeed preference of sexual partners. Yet, with rapid advancements in information technology and robotics, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence and indeed, artificial emotions, there almost seems the likelihood, that sometime in the future, robots too, may love others in return. Who those others are-whether human or robot-is to be speculated. As with the laws of emotion, and particularly that of the cognitive-emotional theory on Appraisal, a reality in which robots experience their own emotions, may not be as rosy as would be expected.


Author(s):  
Germán Vargas Guillén ◽  
Mary Julieth Guerrero Criollo

El artículo reconoce los aportes que la Dra. Julia V. Iribarne realizó en torno a la ética en perspectiva fenomenológica, especialmente en su obra De la ética a la metafísica. Con base en estas contribuciones se responden tres preguntas: ¿cómo la generatividad y la temporalidad se convierten en estructuras de la eticidad? ¿Cómo hay, fenomenológicamente, una metafísica en cuanto se conoce la mismidad y la alteridad trascendentalmente? ¿Es Dios para la ética un fictum o un factum? A modo de colofón se alude a la centralidad de la mente y el esclarecimiento de los estados mentales como avance en el fundamento y despliegue de la ética.This article identify the contributions that Dra. Julia V. Iribarne made around ethics in phenomenological perspective and especially her work Ethics in the way of metaphysics. According to her contributions we could answer these three questions: How generativity and temporality becomes structures of the ethics? How is possible, phenomenologically, a metaphysics if we know self-hood and otherness transcendentally? Is God a fictum or factum for the ethics? As a final reference, we will talk about the centrality of mind and we will try to clarify the rationale and mental states like a development of the ethics.


This paper explores how the extension of contemplative qualities to intimate relationships can transform human sexual/emotional responses and relationship choices. The paper reviews contemporary findings from the field of evolutionary psychology on the twin origins of jealousy and monogamy, argues for the possibility to transform jealousy into sympathetic joy (or compersion), addresses the common objections against polyamory (or nonmonogamy), and challenges the culturally prevalent belief that the only spiritually correct sexual options are either celibacy or (lifelong or serial) monogamy. To conclude, it is suggested that the cultivation of sympathetic joy in intimate bonds can pave the way to overcome the problematic dichotomy between monogamy and polyamory, grounding individuals in a radical openness to the dynamic unfolding of life that eludes any fixed relational identity or structure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
Ag Efendi Darmanto ◽  
Don Bosco Karnan Ardijanto

Prayer was very important in Jesus’ life and the saints’ lives. Prayer also becomes the important need in the faithfuls’ life. Prayer is a mean to fight againts the devil and the power of sin. Prayer is also an expression of faith in God. It also becomes the way of human being to always remember to God. There are some problems: what is prayer? How do the Catholic teens of St. Hilarius’ Parish, Klepu pray together? What kind of benefits of praying together for the Catholic Teens in St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu? What kind of impedements in praying together that the Catholic Teens of St. Hilarius’ Parish experience? The aims of this research are: to clarify the definition of prayer, to explain how the Catholic Teens of Hilarius’ parish, Klepu to do their praying together, to explain the benefits of prayer together for the Catholic Teens of St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu. Finally, to identify various factors that supporting or inhibiting the practice of prayer of the Catholic Teens of St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu. This research used qualitative research methods. In this study there are 10 respondents consisting of 4 male respondents and 6 female respondents. They are between 13-15 years old. They are members of St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu. The conclusions of the research are: 1) The Catholic Teens of St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu know the understanding of prayer. 2) The Catholic Teens of St. Hilarius’ parihs, Klepu already carry out prayers in certain times either personally or communal prayer in St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu. 3) The Catholic Teens of St. Hilarius’ parish, Klepu understand that the benefits of communal prayer are: creating a partnership or relationship with God and friends, as well as the means to develop their personality.


Author(s):  
Elena Igartuburu García

Identity, space and emotions, although traditionally all traditionally naturalized and delinked from the construction of one another, might also be read as formed by intertwined processes that are guided and shaped by hegemonic powers. Nonetheless, as they delineating difference within and among themselves, the consideration of these three fields and the way they work together in these shaping opens up new ways to approach the split between normative categories of identity, assigned location and adequate feelings, and their subjective perception. Tessa McWatt’s novel This Body presents the reader with two Guyanese characters, Victoria and her nephew Derek, that undergo, at many different levels, this split between subjectivity and a socially and culturally given subject position. Challenging normative ideals, Victoria struggles with her categorization as Other; an endeavour marked by her trajectories and experiences as she negotiates and redeploys a physical as well as a social space of her own in the city of London. Still, her love relationship with a British man would make her drift towards assimilation inasmuch as this affair relocates Victoria within dominant gender, ethnic and class hierarchies.


Author(s):  
Giorgio Agamben

This chapter reflects on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's treatment of four deities introduced in Macrobius's Saturnalia: Daimon, Tyche, Eros, and Ananke (Demon, Chance, Love, and Necessity). According to Macrobius, the four gods attend a human being as it is born: Demon, Chance, Love, and Necessity. To him, Daimon must be honored because we owe him our character and nature; Eros because fecundity and knowledge depend on him; Tyche and Ananke because the art of living also involves a reasonable degree of bowing to what we cannot avoid. The way in which each person relates to these powers defines their ethics. In addition to these, the chapter describes a fifth character—Elpis, or Hope.


Author(s):  
Sara Brill

This chapter offers an account of the bios of the human animal in light of Aristotle’s treatment of the lives of non-human animal collectives. This discussion is anchored in Aristotle’s claim that the regime (the politeia) is the way of life of the city, and it is argued that proper attention to the zoological lens informing Aristotle’s Politics requires us to view the relation between human being and polis as an intensified form of the relation between any animal and its proper habitat. Its intensity is due precisely to the forms of intimacy and estrangement made possible by the possession of language. The Politics’s sustained meditation on how to ensure the longevity of a city’s bios—its political ecology—must, then, be read as a necessary complement to its account of human nature, its anthropology.


Author(s):  
Michael Twum-Darko ◽  
Lee-Anne Lesley Harker

This paper set out to propose the actor-network theory (ANT) as a lens through which to understand and interpret the sociotechnical knowledge sharing challenges in organisations. The methodology for this study was developed within the context of ANT by adopting its ideals and principles. The findings demonstrate that using the concept of the Moments of Translation as a lens to study this phenomenon is indeed a novel way of investigating the reason why there is still difficulty with sharing and managing knowledge. This perspective is proposed to transform the way that knowledge sharing factors are perceived. By utilising a normative approach, this research looked at how knowledge sharing as an ideal can be achieved when taking into account the existing constraints within an organisation. A general framework is proposed to guide the formation of a network of aligned interest for knowledge sharing.


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