Shows how Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) picked up ideas on metaphor and ingenuity from the literary rhetoric of the age and turned them into valuable concepts in a general theory of knowledge and the philosophy of history for which he is now mainly known. Also shows how his original position enabled him to criticize Descartes' idea of rationality. Appends translations of relevant passages from contemporary writers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

A reissue of the 1975 edition, with four added essays, this collection offers a clear introduction to Strauss' views regarding the nature of political ...

This article offers a conceptual clarification of the Aristotelian component in environmental virtue ethics (EVE). It demonstrates that throughout the last four decades, contributors to EVE have favored an Aristotelian foundation (though a Humean base also has been proposed), and it presents six theoretical challenges and two underexplored possibilities premised on such an Aristotelian foundation of EVE. These two possibilities concern: 1) Aristotle’s notion of the city-state (polis), denoting not only a densely populated area, but also agricultural land outside the (...) city-walls, implying agrarian virtues were implicit in the Aristotelian framework; this is valuable to modern agriculture, and the ways in which environmentally friendly virtues are integrated into food production and consumption. 2) Aristotle’s understanding of well-being (eudaimonia) as existing not only at an individual level, but also at a collective level; the latter is relevant to the prospect of upscaling eudaimonia to a structural level, within the limits of an ecologically sustainable citizenship. (shrink)

Some transgender and nonbinary people undergo phalloplasty and/or metoidioplasty as part of their medical transition process. Across surgical disciplines, a variety of resources are used to assist patients who are preparing for surgeries, including educational materials, workshops, peer support, and lifestyle changes. For gender-affirming surgeries, patients undergoing assessments to discern whether they are ready to undergo the surgery, and to assist them in achieving preparedness when needed. Little research investigates what resources are useful in helping patients to feel prepared to (...) undergo phalloplasty or metoidioplasty, and how assessments and resources can promote patient autonomy in the process. Respect for patient autonomy is one of the central tenets of ethical healthcare, yet historically, scholarship related to pre-surgical assessments for gender-affirming surgery has focused determining the ideal surgical candidate rather than respecting patient autonomy and ascertaining individual patient needs. This study sought to fill this gap by utilizing data from PROGRESS (Patient-Reported Outcomes of Genital Reconstruction and Experiences of Surgical Satisfaction), a cross-sectional, community-based survey of trans and nonbinary adults from the United States of America and Canada who had undergone one or more of these surgeries. Results revealed most participants (86%, n = 186) felt prepared to undergo surgery, though the majority of our sample (53%, n = 105) did not find referral letter assessments to be helpful. Peer support such as online resources/blogs were rated as highly useful, along with surgical consults. In a multivariable logistic regression, higher perceived preparedness was associated with identifying as queer (inclusive of gay, bi and pansexual compared to being straight), and feeling that one’s assessment process was useful (as opposed to not useful). Type of assessment was not significantly associated with preparedness; therefore, what is most useful when preparing for surgery may vary across individuals. Healthcare professionals who interact with preparing patients should develop new or utilize existing resources to assist patients in identifying their preparation needs and achieving preparedness. Our data supports assessments that center surgical care planning rather than assessing level of gender dysphoria. Future longitudinal research could further refine which assessment processes are most effective in helping patients who are preparing for these surgeries. Assessments should ensure that patients are appropriately prepared to undergo and recover from surgery through a robust process of informed consent. (shrink)

Michel Foucault n'aura cessé, à mesure qu'il élaborait son oeuvre, de repenser sa démarche, ses problèmes, de rompre avec ses propres paradigmes et concepts. Ne peut-on pas voir son oeuvre comme une succession de ruptures et de discontinuités? Impliqué dans des mouvements politiques qu'il a plus tard remis en question, se revendiquant " structuraliste " pour ensuite s'en défendre, moquant parfois ses propres ouvrages, Foucault s'est, à chaque étape de son travail, construit contre lui-même. C'est d'ailleurs ainsi qu'il définit l'attitude (...) créatrice : la création est inséparable d'une volonté de se " déprendre " de soi. Dans cet ouvrage, Arlette Farge, Georges Didi-Huberman, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie et Leo Bersani s'interrogent sur ce geste foucaldien. Quelle place la rupture a-t-elle prise dans le travail philosophique de Foucault, mais aussi dans son rapport aux mouvements politiques ou dans sa vie? En quoi la rupture constitue-t-elle une catégorie d'analyse centrale pour appréhender l'oeuvre de Foucault mais aussi, plus généralement, pour penser le champ intellectuel et des politiques émancipatrices toujours nouvelles? Le présent ouvrage est issu des entretiens réalisés par François Caillai pour son film Foucault contre lui-même (The Factory/Arte France/Ina). (shrink)

This article explores the meaning of the task of teaching students to formulate critique in relation to the so-called ‘pedagogical paradox’, according to which the educational ideal of individual autonomy is contradicted by the practice of planning and control, which is particularly pronounced in the influential model of ‘constructive alignment’. Taking Kant’s idea of enlightenment and autonomy as a starting point, I introduce Luc Boltanski’s concept of reflexivity and link it to Jon Elster’s discussion of ‘states that are essentially by-products’. (...) In doing so, I advance the view that genuine critique typically emerges from a shift in perspective, from the pragmatic realization of goals according to institutionalized practices to a metapragmatic reflection on those practices. Since teaching is itself an institutionalized practice, personal reflexivity can only be understood as a by-product of teaching, and, contra the logic of models like constructive alignment, it cannot be set as a direct objective. Emerging from the subject itself, rather than from the influence of an educational technique, personal reflexivity should be recognized as an important aspect of the subject’s transition from youth to maturity. (shrink)

En su obra Mil mesetas, Deleuze y Guattari ofrecen una perspectiva singular sobre el lenguaje, concebido como un sistema de signos interconectados y fluidos, donde el significado surge de las relaciones intrincadas dentro de este sistema. Este artículo evalúa la influencia de Deleuze y Guattari en la lingüística contemporánea y explora las diferencias entre su enfoque y la lingüística estructural propuesta por Saussure. Deleuze y Guattari introducen la noción de máquina como un quiebre radical con los enfoques estructurales tradicionales, al (...) concebir el lenguaje como un sistema dinámico y en constante transformación. Este enfoque contrasta con la lingüística estructural, que concibe el lenguaje como un sistema estático y autónomo. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Jahrgang: 2016 Heft: 1 Seiten: 75-98.

INTRODUCTION Human knowledge has two central aspects that demand attention: On one hand, it is a social construct and on the other it aspires to be ...

What does it mean for theory to be considered as a species of not just "literature" but "world" literature? These essays offer accounts of how the "worlding" of literature both problematizes the national categorizing of theory (e.g., French theory) and brings new meanings and challenges to the coming together of theory and literature. In sum, they offer Theory as World Literature as a viable alternative to more commonplace approaches to theory. By approaching theory from a perspective more attuned toward the (...) complexity and precarity of the world, this volume acknowledges that theory is more worldly now than ever. (shrink)

I. La vida de Baruj Spinoza.--II. La época de Baruj Spinoza.--III. La obra de Baruj Spinoza.--IV. La influencia de Baruj Spinoza. Bibliografía (p. [323]-331).

This study investigates bath the relationship between evaluation of personality traits of party-leaders and party identification, and the evaluation of personality traits as a determinant of voting behaviour. One month before the Belgian national elections of November 81 201 voters evaluate personality traits of four welt known leaders of the main Flemish political parties.Factor analysis indicated three main dimensions in the evaluation of personality traits of politicians : reliability, expertness and self-control. The personality profiles of every party-leader were quite similar (...) when comparing the profiles of groups of subjects with different party preferences. However, subjects who identificated with a certain party rated the party-leader of this party more favorable on all personality traits than did subjects who identificated with another party. These discrepancies in favorableness were rather small for expertness and selfcontrol, but big for reliability and attractiveness. Analysing determinants of voting behaviour we differentiated four types of voters. Convinced voters were determined mainly by party preference and political views. Policyoriented and routine-voters taak into account in the first instance their political views and secondly their party preference. Personality traits of party-leaders functioned as the main determinant only for the voting behaviour of our indifferent subjects. Between these personality traits, mainly the evaluation of expertness had predictive power. (shrink)

For every legal concept X, there are clear instances exemplifying an X and clear instances exemplifying a non-X. The cases that come before courts are those that seem to lie in between, being neither clearly an X nor clearly a non-X. It is tempting to think that, being in-between, they should receive an in-between treatment, that is, to the extent that they are an X they should be treated as an X. If they are sixty percent toward being an X, (...) they should get sixty percent of the treatment due an X. But this presupposes that in-between cases can be rank-ordered at least roughly according to the degree of their X-ness. This Article explains why that generally cannot be done and why courts therefore go for an either/or approach: something gets treated either as an X or as a non-X. The explanation is rooted in the kind of phenomena explored in the theory of social choice and multi-criterial decision-making. (shrink)