As part of current energy transitions in the Global North, households have begun adopting renewable energy technologies, such as heat pumps and solar power systems, in significant numbers. These changes give rise to the following question: how are technology and gender configured when new technologies enter everyday life? Based upon ethnographic fieldwork on interactions between households, technologies, and technicians and interviews with sales technicians, installers, and service mechanics, I demonstrate how both stable and fragile variants of renewable energy technologies are (...) enacted during prepurchase consultations and postpurchase installations, respectively. I employ science and technology studies scholarship, feminist ethics, and repair and maintenance studies—captured through the analytical lens of care—to analyze how technicians mobilize and tinker with gendered affection, knowledge, and action in households to effectuate adoption of renewable energy technologies. I clarify how, in this process, openings are created to configure both hegemonic and heterogeneous gender–technology relations. Finally, I advance discussion beyond gender issues by arguing that acknowledging the role of maintainability and the repair of user–technology relations in current energy transitions opens pathways not only for exploring gender in new and exciting ways in relation to technology but technician–user relationships as well. (shrink)

This article seeks to explain how it was possible that, until the first century BC, the Roman dictatorship was never abused and turned against the constitution itself. The traditional explanation is that, contrary to its first century imitations, the dictatorship was subject to formal restrictions, such as the six months' tenure, which were strictly applied. By contrast, this article suggests that informal constraints on the dictator's powers, such as moral and religious norms, were as important as formal constraints. It shows, (...) more particularly, how the fides, or the requirement of trust, was essential for preventing an abuse of dictatorial powers. (shrink)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau devoted an important chapter of his Social Contract to the dictatorship. Carl Schmitt interpreted Rousseau’s chapter as marking the transition from ‘commissarial’ to ‘sovereign dictatorship’. This article argues that Schmitt’s interpretation is historically and conceptually inaccurate. Instead of paving the way for sovereign dictatorship, Rousseau carefully distinguished the dictatorship from the people’s sovereign authority. Taking position in the ‘debate’ between Bodin and Grotius on the relation between dictatorship and sovereignty, he argued that the dictator could provisionally suspend the (...) people’s sovereign authority, but not abolish it. More particularly, the dictator did not possess the power to make generally binding laws, which had to remain the exclusive authority of the popular assembly. However, this did not prevent Rousseau from recognizing the dictatorship as a means for democratic reform. Rousseau thus conceived of the dictatorship as a time-limited and revocable commission to protect the constitution and to provide for a more stable and effective state organization based on the principle of popular sovereignty. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article seeks to explain why the Roman dictatorship, which had served as a positive model of constitutional emergency government until the French Revolution, acquired a negative meaning during the Revolution itself. Both Montesquieu and Rousseau regarded the dictatorship as a legitimate institution, necessary to protect the republic in times of crisis. For the French revolutionaries, the word ‘dictatorship’ acquired negative connotations: it became a rhetorical tool for accusing their political opponents of authoritarian rule. This article argues that Carl (...) Schmitt’s distinction between commissarial and sovereign dictatorship is unhelpful for understanding why the dictatorship was rejected by the French revolutionaries. Instead, it shows that it was the early identification with Montesquieu’s aristocratic dictatorship, which caused the delegates of the National Assembly to reject it as a threat to popular sovereignty. The exception was Marat, who proposed to establish a popular dictatorship à la Rousseau to purge the state from counterrevolutionary forces. However, Marat’s proposal found little support with his fellow-Jacobins, as it allowed the Girondins to accuse them of a conspiracy against the Convention. This caused the Jacobins to reject the dictatorship altogether and to propose alternative models of emergency government. (shrink)

On 9 December 1930, Walter Benjamin sent a copy of his book The Origin of German Tragic Drama to Carl Schmitt, accompanied by a letter in which he expressed his indebtedness to Schmitt: "You will very quickly recognize how much my book is indebted to you for its presentation of the doctrine of sovereignty in the seventeenth century. Perhaps I may say, in addition, that I have also derived from your later works, especially Die Diktatur, a confirmation of my modes (...) of research in the philosophy of art from yours in the philosophy of the state. If the reading of my book allows this feeling to emerge in an intelligible fashion, then the purpose of my sending it to you will be achieved" (qtd. in Weber 1992, 5). As .. (shrink)

This introduction presents an analysis of Grotius’s treatise ‘On Public Partnership with Unbelievers’ (De societate publica cum infidelibus). It was probably written between 1606 and 1609, when Grotius served as a legal advisor of the Dutch East India Company (voc). In his treatise, Grotius explains what kinds of partnerships with non-Christians are permissible under divine and natural law. These include public partnerships, such as treaties and military alliances, but also private associations, such as commercial contracts, marriages and relations of servitude. (...) As we argue in this introduction, De societate can be interpreted as a general treatise on legal partnerships with non-Christians, which relates both to the voc’s policies of treaty and alliance-making in the East Indies and to debates about the legal status of religious minorities in the Dutch Republic. (shrink)

The spreading phenomenon of Euroscepticism is manifested in critical practices in discourse that oppose European integration. This paper explores Euroscepticism as an element of discourse, which cannot only be measured as party positions or individual attitudes. Based on this understanding, our argument is twofold. Firstly, Euroscepticism relates to the unsettled and principally contested character of the European Union (EU) as a political entity: its basic purpose and rationale, its institutional design and its future trajectory. It correlates with pro-European discourse and (...) the attempts to promote the (democratic) legitimacy of the EU. Secondly, we argue that Euroscepticism unfolds primarily through mass media. As such, it is given public expression through general news values, drama and narratives that are targeted to draw the attention of the wider audience. Understanding this responsive and public nature of Euroscepticism leads us, in the end, to a comprehensive typology of six forms of polity evaluation of the EU. (shrink)

The aim of the present research was twofold. First, we examined the effects of perceived organizational support on workplace conflict (i.e., relationship conflict and task conflict). Second, we identified one mechanism explaining these relationships, namely failure-related trust. Using a sample of 263 teachers from Belgium, the results of Study 1 indicated that perceived organizational support is negatively related to relationship conflict and is also, unexpectedly, negatively related to task conflict. Furthermore, using a sample of 477 Belgian employees, Study 2 replicated (...) these results and further demonstrated that failure-related trust mediates the negative relationship between perceived organizational support and both types of workplace conflict. Theoretical and practical insights of this research are discussed. (shrink)

The Human Agenda is the first Special Edition of The Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art (CJLPA), an interdisciplinary journal founded at the University of Cambridge. Focused on the unique intersections of law, politics and art in the context of human rights, contributors to the Special Edition include David Baragwanath, Luis Moreno Ocampo, Nadia Murad, Nancy Hollander, Andrew Clapham, Vladimir Osechkin, Mansour al-Omari, and many others. A full table of contents is available through the publication's own page.

In this paper, we develop the notion of a natural convention, and illustrate its usefulness in a detailed examination of indirect requests in English. Our treatment of convention is grounded in Lewis’s seminal account; we do not here redefine convention, but rather explore the space of possibilities within Lewis’s definition, highlighting certain types of variation that Lewis de-emphasized. Applied to the case of indirect requests, which we view through a Searlean lens, the notion of natural convention allows us to give (...) a nuanced answer to the question: Are indirect requests conventional? In conclusion, we reflect on the consequences of our view for the understanding of the semantics/pragmatics divide. (shrink)

En Freud y la escena de la escritura Derrida analiza de una forma original cómo los problemas de la escritura y de la memoria fueron tratados por Freud a lo largo de treinta años, respetando el desarrollo cronológico de su obra. El filósofo analiza en su ensayo los textos freudianos: Proyecto de una psicología para neurólogos, La interpretación de los sueños y Nota sobre el Bloc mágico, con el fin de comprobar sus planteamientos. El pensamiento derrideano y el psicoanálisis poseen (...) muchos puntos en común, sin embargo existen también algunas diferencias abordadas a lo largo de la presentación. (shrink)

Diese Arbeit bespricht die Bedingungen von Selbstbewusstsein. Nach eingehender Kritik an bestehenden philosophischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Theorien wird ein eigenständiger Ansatz zur Akquise von Selbstbewusstsein entwickelt, der die besondere Bedeutung der Zweite-Person-Perspektive hervorhebt, ausführlich analysiert und in den aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Diskurs einbettet: Die hier entwickelte Theorie der umfassenden Perspektivität untersucht das Phänomen des Selbstbewusstseins sowohl philosophisch als auch in Bezug auf die mit der Erste-, Zweite-, und Dritte-Person-Perspektive verknüpften entwicklungspsychologischen Fähigkeiten. Von zentraler Bedeutung dafür sind die an aktuelle philosophische Debatten anschließenden (...) Analysen der im deutschen und teils englischen Sprachraum bisher uneindeutig definierten Begriffe der Zweite-Person-Perspektive, Perspektive und joint attention. Die theoretischen Betrachtungen werden zum Schluss mit einem Blick auf Beispiele aus der angewandten Ethik überprüft und ergänzt. Die Autorin Mandy Stake ist Philosophin und arbeitet derzeit als Postdoc in der Arbeitsgruppe Neuroethik und Ethik der KI im Forschungszentrum Jülich. Sie beschäftigt sich sowohl mit theoretischen als auch praktischen Fragen, insbesondere in den Bereichen Erkenntnistheorie, Philosophie des Geistes und Angewandte Ethik. (shrink)

The study of intellectual humility (IH), which is gaining increasing interest among cognitive scientists, has been dominated by a focus on individuals. We propose that IH operates at the collective level as the tendency of a collective’s members to attend to each other’s intellectual limitations and the limitations of their collective cognitive efforts. Given people’s propensity to better recognize others’ limitations than their own, IH may be more readily achievable in collectives than individuals. We describe the socio-cognitive dynamics that can (...) interfere with collective IH and offer the solution of building intellectually humbling environments that create a culture of IH that can outlast the given membership of a collective. We conclude with promising research directions. (shrink)

Hamanns letztes Werk wird hier begriffen als Selbstdeutung und bewusster Abschluss der Autorschaft. Hamann formuliert in diesem Text seinen prophetischen Anspruch, mit dem er der Philosophie seiner Zeit entgegentrat. Die Basis dieses Anspruchs, Hamanns figurales Denken, erweist sich als Zentrum seines Denkens überhaupt. Daraus ergibt sich auch eine differenzierte Einschätzung seiner Aufklärungskritik. Im «Anhang» wird eine neue Edition des «Fliegenden Briefes» mit kritischem Apparat und Kommentar geboten.

Contributing Authors Are Harmon M. Chapman, Oliver Martin, Jesse De Boer, And Many Others.

"In 1838 reisde Frédéric Chopin naar Mallorca om de winter te ontvluchten. Hij kreeg er ruzie met zijn minnares, de Franse schrijfster George Sand. Niet over het onverwacht barre weer op het Spaanse eiland, maar over de betekenis van muziek. Heeft muziek wel iets te betekenen? Wat vertellen de klanken van een muziekstuk? Kan een compositie opgevat worden als een verhaal? De vraag naar de betekenis van muziek loopt als een rode draad door de westerse muziekfilosofie. Terwijl Plato muziek zonder (...) woorden nog uiterst verdacht vond, kwam in de 19de eeuw het idee van de 'absolute muziek' opzetten. Muziek verklaarde zichzelf onafhankelijk van het woord. De Munck schetst een fascinerend panorama van de denkers en muzikanten die zich hierover het hoofd braken. Ze betoogt dat luisteraars samen, tijdens de muzikale ervaring, betekenis produceren. Deze betekenis volgt rechtstreeks uit de manier waarop we over muziek denken.". (shrink)

How do the pictures Wittgenstein and his relatives took during his life relate to his philosophical work? The exhibition at the Leopold Museum in Vienna in 2021 demonstrated a complex network of resemblances, overlaps, and cross-references between Wittgenstein’s way of working and the pictures he collected. In this essay, the network is used as an example to argue that a combination of philosophy and artistic sensibility might be a fruitful enrichment for a philosophical practise.

De onmacht van deskundigen om de crisis te bezweren komt voort uit een deficiënte benadering van de problemen. Volgens kunstenaar en filosofe Tine Wilde is een Artistieke Wending nodig om complexe vraagstukken zoals de crisis op te kunnen lossen. In dit artikel pleit zij voor het toepassen van de intuïtieve aanpak die filosofen en kunstenaars hanteren, 'vertraagd onbewust nadenken'. In deze houding ligt de macht vervat, waarover in principe ieder van ons kan beschikken. Dit is een indirecte macht, die (...) langer nodig heeft om zich in een ongelofelijk complexe wereld te laten gelden, maar uiteindelijk veel ‘sterker’ en duurzamer is. (shrink)

In Praise of Philosophy and Other Essays explores Lavelle, Bergson, and Socrates and provides themes from Merleau-Ponty lectures at the Collége de France including “The Problem of Speech” and “Nature and Logos: The Human Body.”.

In der genannten Epoche werden Grundentscheidungen gefällt, welche die Fundamentalfrage der Philosophie, die Seinsfrage, in die Krisis führen, in den Nihilismus unter ontologischem, metaphysischem, epistemologischem, axiologischem Aspekt. Den Extrempositionen der Systemdenker Hegel, Schopenhauer und Schelling erwachsen in den Hegelkritikern Feuerbach, Br. Bauer, Marx und Stirner Kontrapositionen, die das Wahrheitsproblem der Beliebigkeit unterstellen. Kierkegaard klagt unter existentiellem Aspekt das Problem der Wahrheit ein. Nietzsche überholt durch Abschaffung der Wahrheit alle Positionen, was seinen Standort in der europäischen Denkgeschichte ausmacht und als Ergebnis (...) der problemgeschichtlichen Analysen zu charakterisieren ist. Die Rückgewinnung des Vernunfthorizontes setzen erst die Problemdenker N. Hartmann und M. Heidegger ins Werk durch kritische Erneuerung der Seinsfrage. (shrink)

According to Marin Cureau de La Chambre—steering a middleway between the Aristotelian and the Cartesian conception of the soul—everything that lives cognizes and everything that cognizes is alive. Cureau sticks with the general tripart distinction of vegetative, sensitive, and intellectual soul. Each part of the soul has its own cognition. Cognition is the way in which living beings regulate bodily equilibirum and environmental navigation. This regulative activity is gouverned by acquired or by innate images. Natural cognition (or instinct) is cognition (...) by innate images only. Cureau develops a highly originel theory of natural (or 'specialized') instinct. His theory attempts to explain five features of instinct (innateness, specialization, species-specifitiy, coerciveness, teleological nature). According to my interpretation, Cureau proposes a species of what is called a 'teleosemantic theory' of innate cognition. (shrink)