A ligação entre teoria e prática sempre foi um princípio para a tradição marxista, para esta a teoria deve ser um guia para a práxis revolucionária, deve sempre estar à serviço da transformação social e da emancipação humana. Mas, a partir da década de 1920, a teoria marxista passa a sofrer uma metamorfose que consiste na ruptura desse elo fundamental entre teoria e prática, tornando-se uma teoria acadêmica e com diversos elementos de capitulaçãoteórica diante dos postulados da teoria burguesa. Nesse (...) trabalho pretendemos fazer uma breve comparação entre as elaborações de Marcuse e Althusser nas temáticas: possibilidade de ruptura revolucionária e alcance do processo emancipatório que esta ruptura pode acarretar. Veremos que ambos os autores sustém um pessimismo em relação às possibilidades de ruptura e emancipação, cada qual à sua própria maneira. A causa particular que molda as diferentes posições de nossos autores liga-se com a particularidade com que cada um se relacionava para com o partido comunista e para com a teoria burguesa acadêmica. Em suma, veremos em Althusser uma defesa da possibilidade de uma revolução presente, mas com pessimismo em relação ao alcance transformador desse ato emancipatório; enquanto em Marcuse veremos a defesa acerca da possibilidade teórica da existência de um sujeito completamente livre dos entraves internos e externos que alienam sua existência, mas as elaborações marcuseanas não consideram possível a realização de um processo de ruptura em seu presente histórico, relegando-o para um futuro incerto. (shrink)

The formation of the human being is a fundamental subject in Saint Augustine’s thinking. In his first works references to liberal arts are highlighted, and the dialogue form appears as a privileged vehicle of the educative process. In De Ordine, Saint Augustine represents a clear example of the interest and the appropriation of dialogue as a philosophical exercise, which has the double purpose of taking his listeners to the truth and to introduce the reader to the same dynamic.

This article is about the novel role of the Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (South American Nations Union) - UNASUR as a peacekeeper in the SouthAmerican region. It begins with an overview of UNASUR, its history, legal framework, and its mandate related to peacekeeping activities. Then, the efforts for regional integration and peacekeeping are addressed, with an explanation of the different frameworks backing those intents and the new peacemaking body known as UNASUR. Examples of political conflict are outlined, namely those in (...) Bolivia and Venezuela, and the ways in which the novel intervention of UNASUR deescalated the violence. After providing a brief description of South American history, its recent conflicts, and a review of some applicable conflict causation theories, the article concludes with a theoretical explanation of the role of UNASUR and its intervention for building peace in the region. This leads to questions and suggestions about how the work of UNASUR can be protected and enhanced to benefit the creation and maintenance of harmonious relationships within South American states. (shrink)

Contra un presunto naturalismo de la filosofía de Nietzsche, este artículo reconstruye la noción nietzscheana de vida al hilo del tema de la interpretación. Se pretende mostrar que para este autor el problema de la vida excede todo marco estrictamente biologicista y se orienta en cambio hacia una dimensión ontológica, en tanto la interpretación representa la actividad configuradora de sentido, mediante la cual todo ser vivo genera y sostiene su realidad. El análisis de este proceso lleva a identificar varios niveles (...) de desarrollo de esta vida interpretante: la forma de vida meramente natural, la vida simbólica propia de los seres humanos y, en último término, la vida del conocimiento como forma de vida genuinamente filosófica. Desde este planteamiento diferenciado de la actividad interpretativa se pueden arrojar nuevas luces sobre la noción nietzscheana de perspectivismo. (shrink)

La filosofía, más que ser una tarea que busca crear e instaurar una teoría absoluta de la verdad, como fue el caso, en la historia de la filosofía misma, del pensamiento cartesiano, el hegeliano,el husserliano, entre otros, es una actividad, es decir, una praxis dialógica que se entiende como introducirse en el medio de un camino que ya otros han recorrido, lo cual presupone, inmediatamente, una concepción de la filosofía como un camino de experiencia siempre abierto. Así, el presente artículo (...) busca analizar el hacer filosófico como una práctica hermenéutica que no sólo se presenta como familiarización con la tradición, la cual se ejemplifica en el texto con la teoría de la reminiscencia platónica, sino también bajo la forma del rompimiento inherente a dicha familiarización. Por tanto, el artículo busca presentar el saber y el hacer filosófico desde una visión hermenéutica, lo que de suyo implica concebirlo como una acción dialógica mediante la cual se estimula el hacer filosófico como recuerdo, es decir, no sólo como mera aprehensión de conceptos e instauración de verdades totalizantes, sino como praxis humana, que es donde la filosofía y, en suma, la experiencia hermenéutica, encuentran su verdadero topos. (shrink)

O presente trabalho procura discutir a função-autor a partir de Michel Foucault em suas possíveis contribuições ao campo da Ciência da Informação. Tratando-se de trabalho de caráter qualitativo, a partir de material bibliográfico, realizou-se a leitura da literatura pertinente à temática em textos de Michel Foucault e Paul Otlet, a fim de identificar o tratamento dispensado à figura do autor em ambos, procedendo à realização de um exercício comparativo. Identificou-se em Paul Otlet a presença da atribuição à figura do autor (...) o papel explorado por Michel Foucault em seus textos, correspondendo a um sentido ordenador e a uma espécie de chave de leitura para um conjunto a que se compreende por “obra”. Concluiu-se a necessidade de aprofundar o tratamento dos textos foucaultianos no campo da Ciência da Informação, procurando compreender as condições de possibilidade dos nossos objetos. (shrink)

In this paper, I present the main traits of the phenomenological thinking of Abranches de Soveral. I start with the work of his master Miranda Barbosa explaining the criticisms he address to the Husserlian phenomenology. I show Soveral’s approach to phenomenology is framed by the conceptions of Barbosa and the problems that, for him, phenomenology cannot answer in an accurate way. In this context, I present the fundamental tenets of Soveral’s rejoinder to his master, showing how phenomenology can (...) be rearranged in order to formulate and to answer “the fundamental problem of knowledge”. (shrink)

O objectivo deste nosso breve estudo sobre o texto de Eduardo Soveral “Análises gnosiológicas” é o de avaliar a originalidade e o valor da reflexão do professor portuense, no âmbito do pensamento português contemporâneo. Notamos, por um lado, que a sua abordagem gnosiológica é o ponto de partida para uma fundamentação do saber, relativamente às várias áreas disciplinares da filosofia. Por outro, constatamos também que a sua reflexão toma como modelo de especulação filosófica e gnosiológica o seu mestre e (...) professor conimbricense Arnaldo de Miranda Barbosa, com o qual Eduardo Soveral manterá um vivo e aceso debate ao longo da sua actividade filosófica e de docência na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto. (shrink)

Partiendo del presupuesto que el lenguaje humano es forma y/o lugar de acción e interacción con el mundo y los otros, entendemos los procesos de lectura,interpretación y escritura como acciones cognitivo-sociales formadoras del sujeto del conocimiento. De ese modo, nos gustaría reflejar sobre los modos de leer y los modos de escribir practicados y enseñados durante la vida académica. Basados en nuestra experiencia docente, en un corpus de pesquisa en marcha en la UESB-Jequié, y en los enfoques teóricos adoptadas (Ingedore (...) Koch, Gustavo Bernardo, Mary Kato) este trabajo busca indagar la docentes y discentes cuáles los principales beneficios que la lectura y la producción de texto pueden proporcionar. (shrink)

I argue against Matthew Slater’s rejection of what he calls the grounding claim in his stable property cluster account of natural kinds. This claim states that the epistemic value of natural kinds depends on the existence of some ground to bind together a kind’s properties. Using two test cases from academic medicine, I show that grounds are genuinely explanatory of scientific epistemic practices and that the SPC account should not do without them in its philosophical analysis of natural kinds.

Democracy is seen today as being in erosion or crisis both in the Global North and South. This article puts forward the concept of ‘dependent democracy’ in order to explain that much of the lack of success of democracy in the South in guaranteeing political participation and economic inclusion and wellbeing for the majority of the population is due to a specific tendency of democracy there. Adapting some insights from the more economics focused Dependency theory towards a more contemporary point (...) of view from political sociology and international political sociology, dependent democracy is understood as a democracy that exists in a subaltern position within the hierarchical, post-imperial and neo-imperial global capitalist order. Dependent democracies thus tend to be less ‘democracies’ and more ‘oligarchies’ within a form of government in the South that can be understood as existing in a global pyramid of semi-peripheries, middle peripheries and outer peripheries. (shrink)

Perspectives on Kant's teachings on geography and how they relate his understanding of the world.

This paper raises the question under what circumstances a plurality forms a set. My main point is that not always all things form sets. A provocative way of presenting my position is that, as a result of my approach, there are more pluralities than sets. Another way of presenting the same thesis claims that there are ways of talking about objects that do not always collapse into sets. My argument is related to expressive powers of formal languages. Assuming classical logic, (...) I show that if all plurality form a set and the quantifiers are absolutely general, then one gets a trivial theory. So, by reductio, one has to abandon one of the premiss. Then, I argue against the collapse of the pluralities into sets. What I am advocating is that the thesis of collapse limits important applications of the plural logic in model theory, when it is assumed that the quantifiers are absolutely general. (shrink)

This paper aims to critically approach the development of capitalist relations of production, as well as the genesis of the vindications of women's rights in the French Revolution. We seek to understand the socioeconomic conditions that made possible the rise of the first typically modern philosophical and political reflections about the exclusion of women from political rights and their inferiorization in society. In this sense, it is possible to emphasize the work of Mary Wollstonecraft and Olympe de Gouges, which, in (...) contesting the theories of natural law, enabled the development of a first political program to attend to the needs of women (peasants, proletarians and petit bourgeois). (shrink)

In the first part of this essay, I develop the argument that Michel Foucault's work should be read with geographical and topological ideas in mind. I argue that Foucault's archeology and genealogy are fundamentally determined by spatial, topological, geographical, and geometrical metaphors and concepts. This spatial dimension of genealogy is explicitly related to racism and the regimes that domesticate agents through the practices, institutions and ideologies of racialization. The second part offers a genealogical reading of US history and spatiality in (...) terms of its racial institutions. I suggest that if we want to read the US geographies of topographies and cartographies of racism in a Foucauldian manner, then we must focus on plantations, ghettos, and prisons as the spaces‐institutions‐geographies that consolidated the racial matrix of US polity. My goal is to acculturate Foucauldian racial genealogy to the US racial matrix, and, conversely, to read US geo‐history in terms of racializing spatialities. (shrink)

The current predominant conception of human rights implies that human beings have objective intrinsic value. In this paper, we defend that there is no satisfactory justification of this claim. In spite of the great variety of theories aimed at explaining objective intrinsic value, all of them share one common problematic feature: they pass from a non-evaluative proposition to an evaluative proposition by asserting that a certain entity has intrinsic value in virtue of having certain non-evaluative features. This is a step (...) that cannot be justified. In light of this negative result, we offer a radically different approach to intrinsic value. Our proposal reinterprets the claim that human beings have intrinsic value in terms of a commitment to value human beings intrinsically. This commitment provides both objective practical reasons for, and a rational explanation of, efforts aimed at defending and promoting human rights, without need to appeal to the existence of objective intrinsic value. (shrink)

Hegel’s Philosophy of Right can be analyzed whether independently from the Science of Logic or on the basis of the metaphysical premises developed in the latter work. In the present paper we enumerate different positions about this question, and we classify a number of attempts which were recently carried out in order to actualize the PhR. the differentiation of five levels of analysis of the articulation of the ethical and the logical in the PhR allows us to conclude that both (...) the thesis on the dependence and the thesis of the independence can be compatible, since they refer to different levels of analysis. (shrink)

Em tempos em que os sistemas humanos aceleram as esferas de descuido, de caos, faz-se necessário buscar novos princípios que fundamentem as bases essenciais da existência e das relações humanas. Nesse viés, a reflexão sobre o caminho da pessoa que busca entender-se como ser de Cuidado torna-se cada vez mais urgente, haja vista que pode promover uma compreensão profunda sobre as próprias atitudes e ações em relação ao todo da vida existente. Dessa forma, toda ação humana para ser boa deve (...) adotar os princípios de Cuidado, e sua reflexão em nível de essência religiosa tem como base a narrativa da Criação na busca de encontrar fundamentos para uma ética necessária e essencial, e que seja norma de conduta responsável, visto que só pela moral do Cuidado com a terra a pessoa manifesta a sua realidade e assume o seu ser em imagem e semelhança ao Criador. (shrink)

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), designed by the WHO, attempts to provide a holistic model of functioning and disability by integrating a medical model with a social one. The aim of this article is to analyze the ICF’s claim to holism. The following components of the ICF’s complexity are analyzed: (1) health condition, (2) body functions and structures, (3) activity, (4) participation, (5) environmental factors, (6) personal factors, and (7) health. Although the ICF claims to be (...) holistic, it presupposes a monistic materialistic ontology. We indicate some limitations of this ontology, proposing instead: (a) a pluralistic–holistic ontology (PHO) and (b) a multidimensional view of the human being, with individual and environmental aspects, in relation to three levels of reality implied by the PHO. For the ICF to attain its holistic claim, the interactions between its components should be based on (a) and (b). (shrink)

This paper defends the Quine-Putnam mathematical indispensability argument against two objections raised by Penelope Maddy. The objections concern scientific practices regarding the development of the atomic theory and the role of applied mathematics in the continuum and infinity. I present two alternative accounts by Stephen Brush and Alan Chalmers on the atomic theory. I argue that these two theories are consistent with Quine’s theory of scientific confirmation. I advance some novel versions of the indispensability argument. I argue that these new (...) versions accommodate Maddy’s history of the atomic theory. Counter-examples are provided regarding the role of the mathematical continuum and mathematical infinity in science. (shrink)

Organizational sensegiving is a framework that details influencing others in an organization’s process of making meaning of new information. In this study, we examined sensegiving through performance-based funding (PBF) discourse of state actors to Ohio citizens. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, 14 media releases were analyzed, focusing on linguistic construction to examine discursive strategies used by public institution presidents and politicians implementing PBF. This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring how state actors are sensegivers to citizens, stating their responses (...) to implementing PBF. We found two contrasting narratives, the crisis, and collective good narrative, at the core of sensegiving PBF. (shrink)

O objetivo desse artigo é discutir a possibilidade de uma morte feliz, e consequentemente, uma vida feliz a partir da interpretação dos pilares filosóficos de Albert Camus, a saber: o absurdo e a revolta. Enquanto o absurdo diz respeito ao confronto da irracionalidade do mundo com o desejo de clareza e racionalidade que se encontra no homem, a revolta está vinculada ao desejo inconsciente de uma moral que denominamos de moral antiteísta ou moral de atitude por mover-se consciente no âmbito (...) das ações concretas, nascidas do sentimento da absurdidade do mundo frente à morte e o sofrimento. Testaremos, ao final, a viabilidade dessa moral antiteísta promover uma morte feliz para quem sofre e uma vida feliz, apesar de todo sofrimento, para aquele que se depara com a morte do outro. Para isso, utilizaremos como fios condutores as obras de Albert Camus: O Mito de Sísifo e A peste. (shrink)

Este artigo visa analisar a gestão do processo de revisão do Plano Diretor de São Luís - MA, identificando os fatores responsáveis pela supressão e configuração, bem como a efetividade dos instrumentos institucionais de gestão participativa. A partir disso, foi feita a seguinte indagação: a revisão do Plano Diretor de São Luís atende a quais interesses? Os resultados extraídos dos registros escritos das reuniões do Conselho da Cidade constataram que os principais determinantes da dinâmica de conformação espacial de São Luís- (...) MA são os movimentos de expansão urbana em conjunto com a especulação imobiliária, agronegócio e atividades industriais conduzidos por políticas desenvolvimentistas. (shrink)

Esta pesquisa é um estudo sobre o lúdico no ensino da matemática com o objetivo de analisar a importância do lúdico como ferramenta a ser aplicada na disciplina de matemática nas series do 6° ano do ensino fundamental II na Escola Estadual José Mota. A fim de estimular o pensamento crítico e criativo, a capacidade de resolver problemas e desenvolver o raciocínio lógico. Como principal objetivo, buscou-se conhecer como se relacionam as atividades escolares de ensino e a de natureza lúdica, (...) articulando as duas dimensões no processo de ensino/aprendizagem na consideração da realidade social dos alunos. Sendo assim, observou-se a possibilidade de relacionar os conteúdos escolares com os saberes do cotidiano. A partir deste conhecimento construído, aprender a matemática ludicamente, a partir das atividades a serem abordadas na sala de aula de forma a aprofundar o conhecimento e dinamizar os conteúdos. Visando alcançar um melhor desempenho na disciplina de matemática. (shrink)

La principal preocupación ética en una sociedad tecnocientífica es la responsabilidad con la que se manipula el ambiente y las consecuencias que este desate ante un trato desmesurado o despreocupado. Hans Jonas apuesta a favor de la libertad de nuestras acciones como principal eje con el que nos relacionamos responsablemente con el mundo. En el siguiente artículo discutiremos sobre el poder y el deber humano bajo la lupa de la responsabilidad, y en definitiva, sobre la revalorización ontológica de la Naturaleza (...) y la preservación del ser en este nuevo horizonte ético que fundamenta Jonas como el nuevo corazón de la ética del futuro. Algunas de las preguntas clave serán: ¿qué ocurre con el pronóstico de las consecuencias de una acción para la humanidad y para con la Naturaleza? ¿qué es y de qué forma hablamos de la responsabilidad? ¿cuántos errores y pruebas podemos permitirnos en una cadena de eventos tecnológicos donde está en juego el futuro de la humanidad y su dignidad como condición imprescindible? (shrink)

The idea of the life-world: Life-world is a concept present in various texts about Husserl’s phenomenology. Some interpreters consider it a late and inconsistent concept present in The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. In this paper, I argue that the idea of the life-world had already been thought in Husserl’s early texts such as Ideas II. This idea was firstly named as surrounding world, then world of experience, and finally life-world. However, despite the different nomenclature, the essence of (...) the life-world remains the same throughout his work. The life-world is a priori, transcendent, and co-given. I will analyze each of these characteristics and conclude in favor of a conceptual monism running through Husserl’s work. Keywords: Husserl, life-world, a priori, transcendent, co-given. (shrink)

O presente estudo tem por objetivo contribuir para o projeto de reatualização da Filosofia do Direito hegeliana inaugurado por Axel Honneth, mas de um modo indireto: meu interesse aqui não é investigar tópicos específicos da Filosofia do Direito, nem mesmo examinar a teoria do reconhecimento como proposta por Honneth, mas iniciar uma caminhada no sentido de tornar explícitos os pressupostos ontológicos carregados por tal projeto de reatualização.

María Pía Lara's two books, La Democracia como proyecto de identidad ética and Moral Textures: Feminist Narratives in the Public Sphere are described and analyzed. Her contribution to a feminist left-Habermasian theory of the relationship between the aesthetic dimension and the political imaginary are discussed. Questions and concerns, however, are raised regarding the assumptions of universal pragmatics and Lara's attempt to offer a positive reading of the dependence of the political imaginary on literary acts and genres.

Some recent literature [Hicks, M. T. and van Elswyk. P., (2015) pp. 433-443, 2015; Bhogal, H. (2017), pp. 447-460] has argued that the non-Humean conceptions of laws of nature have a same weakness as the Humean conceptions of laws of nature. That is, both conceptions face an explanatory circularity problem. The argument is as follows: the Humean and the non-Humean conceptions of laws of nature agree that the law statements are universal generalisations; thus, both conceptions are vulnerable to an explanatory (...) circularity problem between the laws of nature and their instances. In this paper, I argue that Armstrong’s necessitarian view of laws of nature is invulnerable to this explanatory circularity problem. (shrink)

The use of computational tools in the humanities for science 2.0 practices is steadily increasing. This paper examines current research practices of a group of philosophers studying the history of philosophical concepts. We explain the methodology and workflow of these philosophers and provide an overview of tools they currently use in their research. The case study highlights a number of fundamental challenges facing these researchers, including: (i) accessing known relevant research content or resources; (ii) discovering new research content or data; (...) (iii) working collaboratively rather than individually. We propose a mash-up of search, visualization, and awareness tools addressing these challenges and discuss the design of the mash-up, its implementation, and evaluation with the target users. Through our case study, we demonstrate the benefits of a user-centered design approach, as well as the benefits of the concrete mash-up for historians of philosophy, and, importantly, the limitations of these tools for conducting historical and philosophical research. (shrink)

: O presente artigo evidencia, por um lado, o mérito da filosofia de Espinosa, pelo fato de haver submetido a oposição das partes e do todo, do corpo e da alma, da matéria e do espírito, à unidade da substância, já que toda parte singular da substância pertence à sua natureza. Por outro lado, destaca a crítica de Feuerbach a Espinosa, porque a filosofia deste é, na verdade, uma filosofia da identidade, que não reconhece, como Hegel também assinala, a substância (...) como espírito e o espírito como substância, e não determina suficientemente a unidade da matéria e do espírito, já que falta a ela a realidade da diferença, da determinidade. Enquanto Espinosa identifica Deus com a natureza (Deus sive natura) e, mediante a natureza divina (a substância), supera a contradição de Descartes entre matéria (res extensa) e espírito (res cogitans), Feuerbach quer, em oposição ao panteísmo, a diferença entre natureza e Deus (aut Deus aut natura). (shrink)

This book is concerned with the role of economic philosophy in the processes of belief-formation and social change. Its aim is to further our understanding of the behaviour of the individual economic agent by bringing to light and examining the function of non-rational dispositions and motivations in the determination of the agent's beliefs and goals. Drawing on the work of David Hume and Adam Smith the book spells out the particular ways in which the passions come to affect our ordinary (...) understanding and conduct in practical affairs and the intergenerational and interpersonal transmission of ideas through language. Concern with these problems, it is argued, lies at the heart of an important tradition in British moral philosophy. This emphasis on the non-rational nature of our belief-fixation mechanisms has important implications: it helps to clarify and qualify the misleading claims often made by utilitarian, Marxist, Keynesian and neo-liberal economic philosophers, all of whom stress the overriding power of ideas to shape conduct, policy and institutions. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between the coaches’ demographics (academic degree and/or coaching level and/or coaching experience) and young swimmers’ performance and technical ability. The sample was composed by 151 young swimmers (75 boys and 76 girls: 13.02 ± 1.19 years old, 49.97 ± 8.77 kg of body mass, 1.60 ± 0.08 m of height, 1.66 ± 0.09 m of arm span), from seven different clubs. Seven coaches (one per club) were responsible for the training (...) monitoring. Performance and a set of biomechanical variables related to swim technique and efficiency were assessed. The swimmers’ performance was enhanced according to the increase in the coaches’ academic degree (1: 75.51 ± 10.02 s; 2: 74.55 ± 9.56 s; 3: 73.62 ± 7.64 s), coaching level (1: 76.79 ± 11.27 s; 2: 75.06 ± 9.31 s; 3: 73.65 ± 8.43 s), and training experience (≤5-y training experience: 75.44 ± 9.57 s; >5-y training experience: 74.60 ± 9.54 s). Hierarchical linear modeling retained all coaches’ demographics characteristics as main predictors (being the academic degree the highest: estimate = -1.51, 95% confidence interval = -0.94 to -2.08, p = 0.014). Hence, it seems that an increase in the demographics of the coaches appears to provide them with a training perspective more directed to the efficiency of swimming. This also led to a higher performance enhancement. (shrink)

Abordar a lei 10.639/03 no espaço escolar se configura como questão central nesta produção textual. Para tal, apresentamos ao leitor um relato de experiência que ocorreu em uma escola pública, com uma turma de 4° ano do Ensino Fundamental I, precisamente no bairro do Pau Miúdo, Salvador, Bahia. Realizamos uma série de atividades pedagógicas com intencionalidades bem demarcadas em relação aspectos étnicos raciais e, sobretudo, saber o que pensam as crianças acerca destas questões. Para compreender os dados produzidos, recorremos aos (...) pesquisadores Munanga, Gomes, Silva, entre outros. Acreditamos, mesmo antes desta prática, que a ancestralidade africana e afrobrasileira precisa ser inserida nos currículos da Educação Básica como estratégia de realimentar as alteridades produtoras do chão da escola. Palavras-chave: Africanidades. Identidades. Ancestralidade. (shrink)

El siguiente artículo aborda la hegemonía que se ciñe sobre Colombia, mediante un punto de vista político que analiza el poder que ejerce la burguesía internacional y burguesía subordinada nacional sobre las clases subalternas y en particular la clase trabajadora colombiana. Se reflexiona sobre el l..

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Surviving American Culture:On Chuck PalahniukEduardo MendietaIn an age in which American culture has become the United States' number one export, along with its weapons, low intensity conflict, carcinogenic cigarettes, its "freedom," and pornography, it is delightful and even a sign of hope that there are writers who have taken on the delicate and perilous task of offering a prognosis of what ails this culture. In the following essay I (...) argue that Chuck Palahniuk's works ought to be read as a mortician's report on American culture. Chuck Palahniuk broke into the literary world by way of the movie version of his first novel: Fight Club (1995). He has gone on to write six other novels: Survivor (1999), Invisible Monsters (2000), Choke (2001), Lullaby (2002), and Diary (2003). He also has published an interesting travel book, Fugitives and Refugees; A Walk in Portland, Oregon (2003), but since this is not properly fiction, I will not discuss it in this essay.1Clearly, Palahniuk has already produced a corpus worthy of careful consideration and analysis. Yet, as a west coast writer, far from the literary circles and brokers of the east coast, indeed far away from the clubs of self-promotion and self-monitoring that censure and hold in tight grip the monopoly of criticism that highlights "worthy literature," Palahniuk has not attracted a lot of critical attention. It is only with his most recent work Choke that he has began to be widely reviewed and commented on. In the following I provide a thematic reconstruction of each one of the six published novels, in chronological sequence. I will argue that Palahniuk is not trying to write the "great American novel," although he is profiling himself as a quintessential "American" writer in the midst of post–Cold War megalomania and celebrated Pax Americana. He has taken on a culture that has become so gargantuan, [End Page 394] fragmented, and differentiated but at the same time so rich, so self-reflexive, so historicized and also so mimicked that one novel cannot tell its story in one narrative with one dramatic thread. Many novels, many short cuts, many vignettes, are necessary: one polyphonic, asynchronous, temporally bi-directional, hyper-textual, and cyber-encyclopedic novel made up of individual novels, where each novel is the Bildungsroman of an American hero but told in reverse. These heroes, I will argue, are testimonies to the resilient power of individuals to resist even the most invasive and persistent onslaughts by culture on the physic life of freedom and individuality. I will also argue that he is neither a commercial nor academic writer; that is, he is not the kind of writer who writes either in order to maintain a living or secure tenure. He is a writer with a mission, a vision, and a very distinctive style. The stories that Palahniuk tells are stories that begin at the end, and end at the beginning: they are turned around Bildungsromans. They are, in other words, about unmaking, uncoupling, and disentangling our selves from the normal self into which we have been socialized. These stories are, thus, about the discovery of moral resources that lay dormant in the very simplicity of human solidarity and trust in our will to survive morally untainted, or at least redeemable. I will conclude by arguing that Palahniuk's novels are about surviving American Culture, and about how deviance is the health of the individual in a sick society.One could characterize Fight Club as the intelligent man's response to Robert Bly's Iron John (1990),2 or the fictionalized version of the Michael Kimmel's Manhood in America: A Cultural History (1996).3 Alternatively, one could argue that Fight Club is the fin-de-sieclé response to Barbara Ehrenreich's prognosis in her The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (1983) of 1970s and 1980s narcissistic and hedonistic masculinity.4 Chuck Palahniuk's first novel is a biting and poignant look at men in American culture after the end of affluence and the simultaneous "feminization" of masculinity. It is at the same time about the struggle for a viable sense of masculinity in an age in... (shrink)