Sustainability and Halal: Procedure, Profit and Ethical Practice

Halal certification is a technological and technocratic transformation that facilitates increasingly complex food production and global supply chain management. However, the discourse and materiality of global trade and the growth of consumers for which halal certification is in demand have been the target of ethical criticism that puts forward the vulnerabilities of human, non-human, and environmental relations. This paper proceeds through some steps to elucidate questions of halal ethics in practice, halal certification, and Muslim trade and exchange networks. The research method uses a descriptive qualitative approach, using library sources. The results of the analysis and discussion show that the halal discursive tradition that centralizes intra-Muslim networking, trade, and exchange, is significant to consider the ethical stakes of halal certification for marginalized and precarious Muslim populations around the world. Drawing on ethnographic insights on the meat market in Mumbai, I argue that exclusive political intimacy and economic growth mean halal certification can play a part in the marginalization of the Muslim workforce and trade in the city. Therefore, the question of sustainability and halalness must consider the new formation of halal's ethical requirements to bridge the gap between the ethics of trade and intra-Muslim exchange and global trade conditions.

Is Applied Ethics Morally Problematic?

This paper argues that applied ethics can itself be morally problematic. As illustrated by the case of Peter Singer’s criticism of social practice, morally loaded communication by applied ethicists can lead to protests, backlashes, and aggression. By reviewing the psychological literature on self-image, collective identity, and motivated reasoning three categories of morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism by applied ethicists are identified: serious psychological discomfort, moral backfiring, and hostile conflict. The most worrisome is moral backfiring: psychological research suggests that ethical criticism of people’s central moral convictions can reinforce exactly those attitudes. Therefore, applied ethicists unintentionally can contribute to a consolidation of precisely those social circumstances that they condemn to be unethical. Furthermore, I argue that the normative concerns raised in this paper are not dependent on the commitment to one specific paradigm in moral philosophy. Utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and Rawlsian contractarianism all provide sound reasons to take morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism seriously. Only the case of deontological ethics is less clear-cut. Finally, I point out that the issues raised in this paper provide an excellent opportunity for further interdisciplinary collaboration between applied ethics and social sciences. I also propose strategies for communicating ethics effectively.

Apocalyptic motifs in light of the poetics of horror (based on the prose of A. V. Ivanov)

The goal of this article consists in analysis of the novels of A.V. Ivanov “Community” and “Tobol” from the perspective of using the images of the Apocalypse. Examples of referring to apocalyptic symbolism in the prose A. V. Ivanov are demonstrated. Multiple examples of interpretation of Biblical symbolism of the Apocalypse are featured in popular culture; A. V. Ivanov uses the experience of such interpretations with regard to the genre of horror novel. The article considers the examples of realization of apocalyptic motifs, and their role in the works of A. V. Ivanov, namely motif of the end of the world and related cataclysms (including the phenomena of monsters and demons of the End of Time), spiritual apocalypse, and rise of the dead. The scientific novelty consists in the analysis of the aforementioned imagery as technique of horror literature. It is proven that Ivanov refers to the images of the Apocalypse through the prism of popular culture, as well as resorts to the original strategy of interpretation of the materials, where the images of the End of Time serve as the language of consciousness of the heroes as the people of their era. The conclusion is made that apocalyptic symbolism, on the one hand manifests as the marker of horror in the genre of popular literature, while on the other hand is used by the for articulation of ethical criticism of modernity.

Primitive Accumulation, Mafia Capitalism, and the Campesino Population in Paraguay

The mafia capitalism currently taking shape in Latin America and with remarkable eloquence in Paraguay is centered largely around agriculture. Two of its key characteristics are violence and cynicism. The cynicism refers to the presentation of violence toward the popular majority as “natural,” disregarding ethical criticism and upholding capitalism as the only possible course, with the result that anything opposed to it must be eliminated in the most effective manner, including violence. This mafia capitalism is solidified by intertwined legal and illegal measures. El capitalismo mafioso que está tomando forma a lo largo de América Latina y con notable elocuencia en Paraguay se centra en gran medida en la agricultura. Dos de sus características clave son la violencia y el cinismo. El cinismo se refiere a la caracterización de la violencia dirigida hacia la mayor parte de la población como algo “natural”, asunto que no toma en cuenta las críticas éticas y defiende el capitalismo como el único camino posible, con el resultado de que todo lo que se opone a este debe ser eliminado de la manera más efectiva, incluyendo a partir de la violencia. Este capitalismo mafioso se solidifica con medidas legales e ilegales entrelazadas.

Predatory and Alternative Hedonism – Better Later than Now?

Hedonistic ethos is to intensify in the environment of consumer culture and in the atmosphere of unlimited consumerism, intentionally supported by market mechanisms. The value patterns of hedonistic life style are defined by experience motivations, excitement, sensual pleasures, delight, self-satisfaction, intensive need for emotional stimulations, present-time orientation or accelerated pace of life. It is considered identical with radical inclination towards individualization life practices, rapidly growing egoism and narcissistic tendencies confirming the meaning of one’s own existence. Life philosophy of independence, non-determination and “inner orientation” logically leads to the application of such life strategies that can support and develop this attitude to life. Predatory hedonism focusing on the values of pleasurable experience requires mobility, flexibility and variability; it refuses to accept stability and obligations, i.e. anything that could tie and restrict life movement focusing on the fleeting and shifting world of experiences. It is a life “without ties”, unpredictable, unsettled, wild and impulsive. Hedonistic life style oriented towards consumer values, however, meets with frequent social, ecological and ethical criticism. There is room for discussion related to the alternative model of hedonism based on more responsible and well-considered approach towards consumption and voluntary modesty, which shall eventually enhance the sense of personal happiness and general satisfaction with life. Ethical consumption, as part of fulfilling the idea of alternative hedonism, may become an attractive objective of this lifestyle, based on a non-ascetic, but socially and environmentally friendly, way of life. The alternative hedonism is further compared with ideas of economics of productive consumption and with development of financial market.