Expone el autor el primer intento que se conoce de estudiar –no cobayos, sino- la actividad de científicos en su medio natural. Latour quiso estudiar a las “tribus de científicos y a su producción, la ciencia”. En el estudio reconocen lo que definía prioritariamente a los investigadores de ese laboratorio de biología era la lectura y escritura de textos, y no la experimentación con cobayos. El laboratorio era una tribu de lectores y escritores que consideran el principal objetivo de su (...) actividad es producir artículos; en definitiva, que lo fundamental en la práctica científica es la producción de discursos, por lo que no es cierto que el método científico sea “objetivo” y finalmente una tribu de biólogos en un laboratorio, no es intrínsecamente distinta de una tribu de jíbaros en el Amazonas. (shrink)

This paper investigates the question of characterizing first-order LFIs (logics of formal inconsistency) by means of two-valued semantics. LFIs are powerful paraconsistent logics that encode classical logic and permit a finer distinction between contradictions and inconsistencies, with a deep involvement in philosophical and foundational questions. Although focused on just one particular case, namely, the quantified logic QmbC, the method proposed here is completely general for this kind of logics, and can be easily extended to a large family of quantified paraconsistent (...) logics, supplying a sound and complete semantical interpretation for such logics. However, certain subtleties involving term substitution and replacement, that are hidden in classical structures, have to be taken into account when one ventures into the realm of nonclassical reasoning. This paper shows how such difficulties can be overcome, and offers detailed proofs showing that a smooth treatment of semantical characterization can be given to all such logics. Although the paper is well-endowed in technical details and results, it has a significant philosophical aside: it shows how slight extensions of classical methods can be used to construct the basic model theory of logics that are weaker than traditional logic due to the absence of certain rules present in classical logic. Several such logics, however, as in the case of the LFIs treated here, are notorious for their wealth of models precisely because they do not make indiscriminate use of certain rules; these models thus require new methods. In the case of this paper, by just appealing to a refined version of the Principle of Explosion, or Pseudo-Scotus, some new constructions and crafty solutions to certain non-obvious subtleties are proposed. The result is that a richer extension of model theory can be inaugurated, with interest not only for paraconsistency, but hopefully to other enlargements of traditional logic. (shrink)

Michel Foucault is one of the most preeminent theorists of power, yet the relationship between his militant activities and his analysis of power remains unclear. The book explores this relationship to explain the development of Foucault's thinking about power. Using newly translated and unpublished materials, it examines what led Foucault to take on the question of power in the early 1970s and subsequently refine his thinking, working through different models (war and government) and modalities (sovereign, disciplinary, biopolitical, pastoral and governmental). (...) Looking at Foucault's political trajectory, from his involvement with the prisoner support movement and Solidarity to his controversial engagement with the Iranian revolution, the book shows the militant underpinning of his interest in the question of power and its various shifts and mutations. This thorough account, which includes the first translation of a report edited by Foucault on prison conditions, will provide students in contemporary political theory with a better understanding of Foucault's thinking about power and of the interplay between political activities and theoretical productions. (shrink)

Este artigo disserta sobre alguns pontos presentes no texto Das Unheimliche, de Sigmund Freud. A partir de uma meta-análise filosófica, procura-se explicitar as intenções não aparentes de Freud com sua análise do termo Unheimliche. Determinadas particularidades da abordagem freudiana são observadas desvendando relações estéticas na construção de sentido do espírito próprio da psicanálise. Uma eventual aproximação dialética com a Teoria Crítica ajudará a identificar, nesse jogo de relações, a importância de conteúdos marginalizados pela história do conhecimento que são revitalizados por (...) Freud. (shrink)

In the current debate in political philosophy, the so-called communitarian thinkers intend to offer an alternative to the dominant liberal thought. The ideal of ethicalcommunity as way of life in society in which intersubjective relationships are ruled by laws conceived as public laws, reintroduces the question of virtue in the scope of social and political life, with the requirement of an ethical style of doing politics.

The aim of this article is to generalize logics of formal inconsistency (LFIs) to systems dealing with the concept of incompatibility, expressed by means of a binary connective. The basic idea is that having two incompatible formulas to hold trivializes a deduction, and as a special case, a formula becomes consistent (in the sense of LFIs) when it is incompatible with its own negation. We show how this notion extends that of consistency in a non-trivial way, presenting conservative translations for (...) many simple LFIs into some of the most basic logics of incompatibility, thereby evidencing in a precise way how the notion of incompatibility generalizes that of consistency. We provide semantics for the new logics, as well as decision procedures, based on restricted non-deterministic matrices. The use of non-deterministic semantics with restrictions is justified by the fact that, as proved here, these systems are not algebraizable according to Blok-Pigozzi nor are they characterizable by finite Nmatrices. Finally, we briefly compare our logics to other systems focused on treating incompatibility, specially those pioneered by Brandom and further developed by Peregrin. (shrink)

Este trabajo entiende lo musical como dinámica cultural híbrida y como espacio de resistencia simbólica y material, corporal y subjetiva, que se manifiesta entre formas culturales hegemónicas y subalternizadas. Se parte de la idea de hibridez para analizar la capacidad de adaptación y resistencia de los movimientos culturales y, por esa vía, reflexionar sobre el universo social del Caribe colombiano. Tres aspectos se estudian con este fin: primero, los procesos de institucionalización de la música nacional y su impacto en la (...) conformación de la música popular; segundo, las relaciones entre la cultura oficial y las prácticas negras “populares”; y tercero, la interacción entre lo hegemónico y lo subordinado como medio de reconfiguración de los ritmos y estilos cotidianos. Este texto parte de una perspectiva ensayística e interdisciplinar, propia de los estudios culturales, para contribuir a los debates sobre cultura, marginación y resistencia en el Caribe colombiano, en particular, e hispánico, en general. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza la noción de vida del paradigma biopolítico foucaultiano a partir de una bivalencia fundamental de la vida, entendida tanto como correlato de un poder que la domina y la administra, como posibilidad de un poder que resiste y que escapa siempre también a las tecnologías biopolíticas y se enfrenta a ellas. Ahora bien, ¿de dónde extrae Foucault esas virtualidades de la vida?, ¿con qué materiales construye ese concepto? y sobre todo, ¿qué alcances y potencialidades tiene? El análisis, (...) que toma en consideración la producción foucaultiana en su conjunto así como el aparato crítico sobre esta problemática, destaca y se centra, en particular, en el ascendente nietzscheano, lo que tendrá consecuencias de importancia para comprender desarrollos ulteriores sobre la vida en el pensamiento del filósofo francés, como la estética de la existencia, la resistencia, la crítica y la libertad. Con el fin de llevar a cabo este trabajo, el artículo se estructura a partir de los siguientes puntos: una breve revisión de la noción de vida al interior de la producción foucaultiana en su conjunto; el análisis de la noción de vida que Foucault presenta hacia mediados de los años 1970 en lo que se podría denominar el “paradigma biopolítico” y, en particular, en su relación con las nociones de poder y de gobierno; el examen de la genealogía entre las nociones de vida y de poder del paradigma biopolítico foucaultiano y la noción nietzscheana de “voluntad de poder”; y la propuesta de un conjunto de conclusiones tentativas de la noción de vida en el paradigma biopolítico foucaultiano, destacando una serie de alcances y potencialidades del componente de la resistencia de esa noción. (shrink)

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar os dados da pesquisa realizada na Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Estadual de Campinas-SP no ano de 2010, para aquisição do título de Doutor em Educação. Além da apresentação dos dados, a proposta será de trabalhar os conteúdos específicos da teoria da complexidade de Edgar Morin, sua implicação na produção da pesquisa e da educação brasileira e latino-americana. Por se tratar de uma discussão apresentada como aula para o programa de pós-graduação em educação da (...) Universidade Federal de Alagoas - UFAL, as questões que serão analisadas dizem respeito aos desdobramentos das teorias educacionais na constituição epistemológica da ciência da educação. (shrink)

O artigo examina uma herança da metafísica clássica para a fenomenologia francesa: o fascínio pelo invisível. Beneficia-se, fundamentalmente, das teses de Emmanuel Levinas e Jean-Luc Marion, dois grandes representantes desta fenomenologia. Se, para Heidegger, a questão de Deus está atrelada ao destino da metafísica como onto-teo-logia, e, portanto, termina sendo uma questão “superada”, a fenomenologia do invisível, por sua vez, se pergunta se tal superação não é uma oportunidade para se retomar o problema de Deus para além do sentido do (...) ser. Assim, quando todas as vozes são unanimes em proclamar que a metafísica perdeu toda credibilidade e legitimidade, a fenomenologia mantém vivo o fascínio pelo invisível, abrindo desta sorte um novo espaço de razões, ampliando e renovando problemas metafísicos que continuam inquietando a humanidade. (shrink)

O presente texto propõe uma leitura de diversas teorias do afeto pelo viés da semiótica. Partindo do preceito de que é impossível não afetar ou não ser afetado, estabelece alguns parâmetros para definir o que é afeto para dar conta das dimensões epistemo e ontológica da semiose. Com base em Espinosa, Deleuze e Guattari, ensaia dizer que há, para além de uma capacidade significante, também uma qualidade “sensacional” da semiose, aproximando a processualidade deste fenômeno às cadeias afetivas que devém de (...) toda afecção. Palavras-chave: Afeto. Semiótica. Teorias da Comunicação. Espinosa. (shrink)

This paper aims to offer an Aristotelian critique of virtue epistemology, particularly of the way virtue epistemologists use the concept of intellectual virtue in their definitions of knowledge. I engage with David Bronstein’s thesis that virtue reliabilists, despite claims of being contemporary representatives of Aristotle’s epistemology, construct their key epistemic categories in ways that fundamentally deviate from Aristotle’s own virtue epistemology. In addition to Bronstein’s argument, I will argue that a similar critique applies to the other main branch of virtue (...) epistemology – namely, Zagzebski’s responsibilism. I intend to clarify both the gist of contemporary virtue epistemologists and the motivation behind their approaches, highlighting that, not only do they differ from Aristotle, but also that their theories run the risk of vicious circular reasoning. I conclude by proposing alternative options, within virtue epistemology, that may avoid the problems I identify in mainstream virtue reliabilism and responsibilism. (shrink)

Resumo: Objetiva-se analisar e cotejar a teoria da decolonialidade, a partir das elaborações teóricas heterogêneas de dois de seus principais representantes na América Latina: Enrique Dussel (1934-2023) e Anibal Quijano (1928-2018). Tais elaborações teóricas apresentam-se sob a forma e conteúdo de duas chaves de leitura: o conceito de transmodernidade de Dussel e de matriz colonial de poder de Quijano; a partir das quais desenvolveram críticas à modernidade e à razão, com o propósito de forjar um novo tipo de conhecimento, capaz (...) de representar a identidade, autonomia e unidade latino-americano. A partir da leitura imanente das obras, apresentar-se-á os limites e possibilidades que emergem da crítica decolonial. Trata-se da adoção de um procedimento metodológico complexo que poderia ser sintetizado na forma e no conteúdo do conceito de aufhebung (suprassunção), a partir do qual institui-se a unidade de contrários como técnica e método de investigação e exposição dos processos históricos e entendimento do movimento e dinâmica do objeto. Palavras-chave: Teoria da História; Decolonialidade; Dialética Marxiana Decoloniality as a gift: the myth of the past more than perfect Abstract: The objective is to analyze and compare the theory of decoloniality, based on the heterogeneous theoretical elaborations of two of its main representatives in Latin America: Enrique Dussel (1934-2023) and Anibal Quijano (1928-2018). Such theoretical elaborations are presented in the form and content of two reading keys: Dussel's concept of transmodernity and Quijano's colonial matrix of power; from which they developed criticisms of modernity and reason, with the purpose of forging a new type of knowledge, capable of representing Latin American identity, autonomy and unity. From the immanent reading of the works, the limits and possibilities that emerge from decolonial criticism will be presented. It is the adoption of a complex methodological procedure that could be synthesized in the form and content of the concept of aufhebung, from which the unity of opposites is established as a technique and method of investigation and exposure of historical and understanding the movement and dynamics of the object. Key-words: Theory of History; Decoloniality; Marxian Dialectics La decolonialidad como don: el mito del passado perfecto Resumen: El objetivo es analizar y comparar la teoría de la descolonialidad, a partir de las heterogéneas elaboraciones teóricas de dos de sus principales representantes en América Latina: Enrique Dussel (1934-2023) y Aníbal Quijano (1928-2018). Tales elaboraciones teóricas se presentan en la forma y el contenido de dos claves de lectura: el concepto de transmodernidad de Dussel y la matriz colonial del poder de Quijano; a partir de las cuales desarrollaron críticas a la modernidad y la razón, con el propósito de forjar un nuevo tipo de conocimiento, capaz de representar la identidad, autonomía y unidad latinoamericana. A partir de la lectura inmanente de las obras se presentarán los límites y posibilidades que emergen de la crítica decolonial. Es la adopción de un procedimiento metodológico complejo que podría sintetizarse en la forma y contenido del concepto de aufhebung, a partir del cual se establece la unidad de los opuestos como técnica y método de investigación y exposición de la historia y comprensión del movimiento. y dinámica del objeto. Palabras clave: Teoría de la Historia; Decolonialidad; Dialéctica Marxista Data de registro: 07/07/2022 Data de aceite: 24/01/2024. (shrink)

Given the abrupt global disruption caused by SARS-CoV-2, one might think that the COVID pandemic was an unpredictable event. But in the years leading up to the emergence of the COVID pandemic, several documents had already been warning of the increasing occurrences of new disease outbreaks with pandemic potential and lack of corresponding policies to promote pandemic preparedness and response. In this article, we call these documents “early warnings”. We argue that a survey of early warnings can help science communicators (...) to promote the public understanding of evidence-based pandemic preparedness and response policies at local or international level. Our proposal differs from other approaches to pandemic preparedness and response in that it highlights the relevance of documents published before the COVID outbreak. We show that the early warnings did not become outdated after the COVID outbreak, but, rather, that they are even more pressing now. (shrink)

This work documents the ethical dilemmas faced by anthropologists and researchers in general when investigating Amerindian communities.

Esta coletânea explora o papel desempenhado pelas emoções na teorização em ética e metaética. Inclui capítulos escritos por pesquisadores do Brasil e de outros países.

O manuscrito clandestino Jordanus Brunus redivivus ou Traité des erreurs populaires foi publicado em 1771, não trazendo indicação alguma de sua autoria. Entretanto, a despeito do anonimato da obra, ela tornou-se um dos textos mais famosos dentre a filosofia clandestina do século XVIII, aludindo a um filósofo que foi uma das maiores vítimas da superstição e do fanatismo de sua época: Giordano Bruno. O título do escrito é uma espécie de homenagem ao pensador italiano, mas não há no decorrer da (...) obra uma menção sequer que comprove que o autor anônimo tenha lido uma linha de suas obras, mesmo que seja considerado o elo filosófico de união entre o brunismo da primeira metade do século XVII e o da segunda metade do século XVIII. É em um encadeamento de ideias progressivo no Jordanus Brunus que nos permite encontrar o fio condutor das reflexões do autor: a sua formulação do ateísmo caracteriza-se por sua abordagem não dogmática, dissimulada, preparando o solo para o racionalismo ateu que estaria por vir. O presente artigo limitar-se-á à terceira e quarta partes do manuscrito, nas quais o autor anônimo vai tratar diretamente da questão da existência de deus e fazer diversas objeções às provas de sua existência. (shrink)

In this article, I propose a Foucauldian reading of the so-called Conquest of the Desert, which took place in Argentina during the 19th century. This event played a foundational role in the formation of the Argentinian nation-state and its society, and its effects are still present in the current political, economic, social, and cultural scenario of the country. After a brief presentation of the “Conquest of the Desert”, I examine the concepts that the Foucauldian thought offers to analyze this event (...) and its implications and derivations. Then, I outline ideas, tools and lines of study that can help understand the event, extracted from research developed following the Foucauldian thought, or which discuss with it and attend to the particularities and specificities of the event. Finally, I present the conclusions that resulted from analyzing the ideas, tools, and orientations, and weigh their scope and potential, as an epilogue to the issues raised. (shrink)

Refletimos sobre a violência que frequenta as instituições escolares partindo do pressuposto de que ao se apresentar na escola de maneira molecular, a violência evidencia o reflexo do que já se encontra posto na sociedade. No que se refere à escola, é necessário pensar o fenômeno violento como uma realidade que cada dia mais toma o cenário escolar e demanda de educadores, alunos e famílias respostas novas e inventivas aos problemas advindos da complexa relação a que a violência os expõem. (...) Tendo vista uma compreensão mais detalhada do fenômeno, realizamos uma análise da violência que adentra os muros da escola, servindo-nos de uma classificação muito utilizada entre os teóricos pesquisadores do assunto: a violência da, na e contra a escola. Estudando separadamente cada uma destas formas de violência, acreditamos poder abarcar, ainda que não tão profundamente quanto o tema exige, as formas com que a violência tem sido vivenciada na escola por seus sujeitos discentes e docentes e por toda a comunidade em que ela se insere. Refletir sobre o fenômeno violento e suas implicações, abrindo espaços de fala dentro das instituições escolares para que ele seja discutido e problematizado, pensamos ser um dos possíveis caminhos para superação da violência. (shrink)

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é elucidar o conceito de disposições morais a partir de uma perspectiva contratualista. Tenho especialmente em vista o tipo de teoria moral defendida por David Gauthier. Minha intenção é mostrar que a tese segundo a qual, por interesse próprio, seria racional para um indivíduo "escolher" se tornar uma pessoa movida por um senso de justiça deve ser compreendida em termos da racionalidade de uma escolha pela criação e pelo fomento às instituições que estão na origem (...) da formação de nossas disposições morais.Palavras-chave: Contratualismo - Disposições Morais - Justiça - Pessoa.: This paper aims at clarifying the concept of moral dispositions from a contractarian perspective. I have in mind the kind of moral theory advanced by David Gauthier. My intention is to show that the thesis according to which it would be rational, for the sake of self-interest, to "choose" being moved by a sense of justice must be construed in terms of the rationality of a choice for the creation and support of the institutions which are at the root of our moral dispositions. (shrink)

Although gains in generational intelligence test scores have been widely demonstrated around the world, researchers still do not know what has caused them. The cognitive stimulation and nutritional hypotheses summarize the several diverse potential causes that have been considered. This article analyses data for a sample of 499 children tested in 1930 and one equivalent sample of 710 children tested 72 years later, the largest gap ever considered. Both samples comprised children aged between 7 and 11 who were assessed by (...) the Draw-a-Man test in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Further, one additional sample of 132 children was assessed in 2004 in a rural area very similar in several diverse factors to the 1930 urban sample. The results are consistent with both the cognitive stimulation and the nutritional hypotheses. (shrink)

José Jorge Mendoza argues that the difficulty with resolving the issue of immigration is primarily a conflict over competing moral and political principles and is, at its core, a problem of philosophy. This book brings into dialogue various contemporary philosophical texts that deal with immigration to provide some normative guidance to immigration policy and reform.

Au cours de cet entretien, Emmanuel Renault nous offre un aperçu de la manière dont la thématique de la reconnaissance est traitée en France aujourd’hui, notamment à travers le renouveau des études sur Hegel et Marx. Il explique la façon dont la reconnaissance a pu s’ériger en paradigme (en dépit de ses usages multiples et variés en France comme ailleurs), au cours de la dernière décennie et le rôle joué par Axel Honneth dans ce procès. Finalement, il explicite sa manière (...) d’envisager la pratique de la philosophie politique et son projet d’une critique du capitalisme. Emmanuel Renault nous livre également un commentaire critique mais constructif sur la manière dont Paul Ricœur envisage la reconnaissance et suggère quelques pistes concernant les possibles développements futurs des usages de la reconnaissance. (shrink)

In this article we explore multiple change operators, i.e., operators in which the epistemic input is a set of sentences instead of a single sentence. We propose two types of change: prioritized change, in which the input set is fully accepted, and symmetric change, where both the epistemic state and the epistemic input are equally treated. In both kinds of operators we propose a set of postulates and we present different constructions: kernel changes and partial meet changes.

El siguiente artículo se propone estudiar la poesía de Luis Hernández a partir de los problemas que surgen al intentar estudiar su obra reunida. Antes que ser valorada como una poesía “inacabada”, la deliberada asistematicidad de su poética debe ser entendida como el resultado de un calculado y consciente ejercicio artístico, cuyas fuentes filosóficas tradicionalmente han pugnado por una ontología del movimiento frente a una metafísica de la permanencia. Bajo esta perspectiva, la obra de Hernández se revela como un “plano (...) de inmanencia”, desde el cual acontece el sentido de su poesía en el quehacer de la escritura. (shrink)

Derk Pereboom and Gregg Caruso argue that humans are never morally responsible for their actions and take that thesis as a starting point for a project whose ultimate goal is the reform of responsibility practices, which include expressions of praise, blame, and the institution of legal punishment. This paper shares the skeptical concern that current responsibility practices can be suboptimal and in need of change, but argues that a non-skeptical pursuit of those changes is viable and more promising. The main (...) lines of the argument are developed by assessing the prospects of implementing one of the changes favored within the skeptical project (namely, the reduction of punishment severity) in light of how human moral psychology works. An original vignette experiment (N = 180; participants from Facebook groups related to Brazilian universities) asked participants to recommend sentences for a fictitious criminal after considering alternatives to regular punishment that varied in their effectiveness to prevent reoffending. The results suggest that people can become less punitive even if they continue to believe in moral responsibility and free will. The paper further argues that reforming responsibility practices is more likely to occur without the endorsement of skepticism. (shrink)

Philosophers have assumed that as long as discriminatory admission and exclusion policies are off the table, it is possible for one to adopt a restrictionist position on the issue of immigration without having to worry that this position might entail discriminatory outcomes. The problem with this assumption emerges, however,when two important points are taken into consideration. First, immigration controls are not simply discriminatory because they are based on racist or ethnocentric attitudes and beliefs, but can themselves also be the source (...) of social and civic ostracism. Second, by focusing so much on questions of admission and exclusion, philosophers have tended to overlook the discriminatory potential of immigration enforcement mechanisms. In this essay, I make the case that philosophers who deal with the issue of immigration cannot dispense with the potential for discrimination in a state's enforcement mechanism as easily as they have with the potential for discrimination in a state’s admission and exclusions criteria. In addition, I put forth the positive claim that the way to combat this potential for discrimination (e.g., xenophobia) must begin with a defense of, and advocacy for, immigrant rights. (shrink)

Retraction note: Figueroa Mendoza, M., & Olivares González, C. (2022). Drought: A current problema and its treatment in the chilean legal order. HUMAN REVIEW. International Humanities / Revista Internacional De Humanidades, 12(6), 2–15. https://doi.org/10.37467/revhuman.v11.4100 The Editorial Office of Eurasia Academic Publishing Group has retracted this article. An investigation carried out by our Research Integrity Department has found a group of articles, among which this one is found, that are not within the thematic scope of the journal. We believe that (...) the editorial process was manipulated and, furthermore, acceptance decisions were made under possibly inappropriate peer review. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World by Zakiyyah Iman JacksonBernabé S. Mendoza (bio)Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World New York: By New York University Press, 2020, 320 pp. ISBN 978-1-4798-9004-0the radical work of black feminism is to upend Western dualistic ways of thinking that structure our understanding of what it means to be human. In Becoming Human: Matter (...) and Meaning in an Antiblack World, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson troubles the dominant dualistic distinction of the human and the animal. Jackson argues that antiblackness undergirds Enlightenment discourses on the human-animal divide such that blackness cannot be extricated from the very concept of the animal because both “are not only interdependent representations but also entangled concepts” (28). Central to Jackson’s argument on the animalization of blackness is the notion of “ontologized plasticity,” which posits the being of black(ened) people as infinitely malleable and mutable matter and further points to the fluidification of form and “fleshly existence.” Far from seeing the human as a category that has “ontological integrity,” as scholars in the fields of animal studies, new materialisms, and posthumanism presuppose, Jackson instead seeks to redefine the concept of the human through the theorization of blackness (16). She points out that such theorization has been, for such scholars, a lacuna and the “space of the unthought,” which thus marks her intervention in these fields. [End Page 211]The author offers a sustained engagement with the knowledge claims of science and philosophy, reading them through and against the intellectual contributions of black feminist writers and artists. She draws from such luminaries as Toni Morrison, Nalo Hopkinson, Octavia Butler, Audre Lorde, and the artist Wangechi Mutu to show the ways in which they reject an enclosed notion of the human that is defined only by keeping the racialized other at bay and in a degraded animalized and liquified state. As such, she showcases how black feminist visual and literary culture “theorizes and philosophizes” and reveals the faulty, antiblack premises upon which science and philosophy establish their claims of knowledge on the human.Offering a materialist theory of black ontology and temporality, Jackson poses three main arguments on the racialization of the human-animal distinction. The first is the aforementioned notion of ontologized and black(ened) plasticity that speaks to the constant modulation and manipulation of black matter as it relates to gender, sexuality, and sexual reproduction. Reading US slavery as an experimental playground for testing the limits of the human, Jackson argues that “black female f lesh... functions as the limit case of ‘the human’ and is its matrix-figure” (4). She defines plasticity as a “praxis that seeks to define the essence of a black(ened) thing as infinitely mutable in antiblack, often paradoxical sexuating terms as a means of hierarchically delineating sex/gender, reproduction, and states of being more generally” (11). There is, in other words, an inversion that takes place in that it is only through opposition and the imposed instability and illegibility of blackness—of black matter and the black mater(nal) situated as “chaos by design”—that such categories as “woman,” “mother,” and “female body” can themselves take hold and become intelligible forms (11). Jackson engages with the work of Hortense Spillers and Sylvia Wynter in order to argue that “Man,” as the object of analysis within liberal humanism, “produces an untenable dichotomy—‘the human’ versus ‘the animal,’ whereby the black(ened) female is posited as the abyss dividing organic life into ‘human’ or ‘animal’ based on wholly unsound metaphysical premises” (12). This claim on the centrality of the black female in the plasticization of blackness is given support in chapter 2, which focuses on Nalo Hopkinson’s speculative novel Brown Girl in the Ring, where plasticity gives way to opacity.In this chapter, Jackson explores the ways in which the black female body, as that which is opaque and nonrepresentable within the “dominant grammar of representation,” shatters what she argues is Heidegger’s metaphysical and hierarchical ordering of human, animal, and world. In exploring “how our received conceptions of being hinges on our im/perception of black mater... (shrink)