As an incapacitated patient is unable to make decisions regarding their care, physicians turn to next-of-kin when appointing a surrogate decision-maker in the absence of an advanced directive. With the increasing complexity of modern families, physicians are facing new ethical dilemmas when choosing the individual to make end-of-life decisions for their patients. Legal definitions and hierarchies are no longer adhering to the purpose of a surrogate-decision maker, which is to maintain a patient’s autonomy. Moral criteria for surrogates, which emphasize the (...) importance of making decisions that align with the patient’s desires and wishes and negate biological relationships over emotional connections, are becoming much more important. This paper explores a case study in which physicians must appoint a surrogate decision-maker for an incapacitated patient, forced to choose between a biological relationship and a strong emotional connection. (shrink)

BackgroundCommentators believe that the ethical decision-making climate is instrumental in enhancing interprofessional collaboration in intensive care units. Our aim was twofold: to determine the perception of the ethical climate, levels of moral distress, and intention to leave one's job among nurses and physicians, and between the different ICU types and determine the association between the ethical climate, moral distress, and intention to leave.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional questionnaire study between May 2021 and August 2021 involving 206 nurses and physicians in a (...) large urban academic hospital. We used the validated Ethical Decision-Making Climate Questionnaire and the Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals tools and asked respondents their intention to leave their jobs. We also made comparisons between the different ICU types. We used Pearson's correlation coefficient to identify statistically significant associations between the Ethical Climate, Moral Distress, and Intention to Leave.ResultsNurses perceived the ethical climate for decision-making as less favorable than physicians. They also had significantly greater levels of moral distress and higher intention to leave their job rates than physicians. Regarding the ICU types, the Neonatal/pediatric unit had a significantly higher overall ethical climate score than the Medical and Surgical units and also demonstrated lower moral distress scores and lower “intention to leave” scores compared with both the Medical and Surgical units. The ethical climate and moral distress scores were negatively correlated ; moral distress and "intention to leave" was positively correlated ; and ethical climate and “intention to leave” were negatively correlated.ConclusionsSignificant differences exist in the perception of the ethical climate, levels of moral distress, and intention to leave between nurses and physicians and between the different ICU types. Inspecting the individual factors of the ethical climate and moral distress tools can help hospital leadership target organizational factors that improve interprofessional collaboration, lessening moral distress, decreasing turnover, and improved patient care. (shrink)

The relation between the regimes of the accumulation of men and the accumulation of capital is problematised in the works of Michel Foucault. The paper challenges the prevailing wisdom that the relation between these regimes is contingent. The fundamental question of the conditions of the possibility of relation between the two regimes is raised. It is argued that both regimes are primordially related. Focusing on the Foucauldian analysis of the regime of the accumulation of men and its constituent elements an (...) effort is made to thematize the primordial relation between the two regimes. It is shown that freedom is the condition of the possibility of a primordial relation between the two regimes. It is explained why freedom plays such a fundamental role in making possible and sustaining a capitalist order. The dual role of freedom as a principle of diversity and a principle of management is stressed. It is argued that capitalism as an order is conditioned upon the production and reproduction of individuals and populations that are simultaneously useful and free. It is also the condition of such an order that docility is produced without hampering utility. Freedom makes possible the enhancement of utility without making it unmanageable. (shrink)

Dans le cadre imposé par les nouvelles formes du capitalisme, de la marchandisation du savoir et des formes de vie, les concepts d'émancipation, d'aliénation et de reconnaissance retrouvent une nouvelle fonction critique. Cela ne signifie pas que l'on puisse faire un usage naïf et unilatéral de ces concepts, en les opposant simplement aux concepts issus du libéralisme, à commencer par le concept même de liberté. Loin des débats métaphysiques sur le libre-arbitre, ce livre, issu de travaux du séminaire de philosophie (...) de l'éducation du Centre de Recherche en Education de Nantes (CREN), travaille les problèmes actuels de l'éducation à l'aide d'outils intellectuels disponibles dans la tradition philosophique - qu'elle soit antique, moderne ou contemporaine - en les confrontant, au besoin, à des études historiques, sociologiques ou pédagogiques. Ce livre fournit dans sa première partie plusieurs instruments de travail autour de l'aliénation et de l'émancipation, et présente en seconde partie quelques-uns des problèmes que pose la reconnaissance de la liberté, comme but de l'éducation dans le contexte contemporain. Toutefois ces dernières ne sont pas des applications de positions théoriques défendues dans la première. Les contributions sélectionnées ont fait l'objet d'une discussion collective et ont été ensuite retravaillées par les auteurs. Chaque texte revendique son ancrage philosophique propre et développe son questionnement de manière autonome, l'unité relevant plutôt d'un processus de réécriture interactive. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:A Vexed Pharmacopeia: Musings on Two Thousand Years of Scholarship Regarding the Ancient Spice Trade ROGER MICHEL ALEXY KARENOWSKA GEORGE ALTSHULER MATTHEW COBB Alice went back to the table. She found a little bottle on it, and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words “DRINK ME” beautifully printed on it in large letters. It was all very well to say “Drink me,” but (...) the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. “No, I’ll look first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked ‘poison’ or not.” However, the bottle was not marked “poison,” so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast), she very soon finished it off. “What a curious feeling!” said Alice. —Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) যে ব্যামোর দেখবেন সাতান্ন রকমের ওষুধ, বুঝে নেবেন, সে ব্যামো ওষুধে সারে না।1 —Syed Mujtaba Ali, চাচা কাহিনী (1955) introduction Mankind’s fascination with spice dates back at least 8,000 years—both culinary and medicinal herbs are referenced in the Vedas, Hinduism’s oldest religious text. Spice is also peppered throughout the Old Testament.2 The Song of Solomon recites: “Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikearion 28.1 spring/summer 2020 2 a vexed pharmacopeia nard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.”3 Every one of these fruits, plants and spices remained popular in the West throughout antiquity, into the Middle Ages, and beyond. As early as 3000 bc, trade routes had connected the Mediterranean to the near east. Courtesy of this “Spice Road,” ancient Mediterranean civilizations had access to a wide range of horseradishes, mustards, peppers, gingers and other spices. The Greeks and Romans had a special relationship with black pepper—so much so that four out of five recipes in Apicius’s famous 1st century cookbook4 called for a sprinkling of this sometimes-costly commodity. It is perhaps not coincidental that black pepper contains heat-producing alkaloids very similar to those found in New World chili peppers. Much has been written about the important role of chilis in South and Central American culture—a region that, by the Middle Ages, was in many respects the equal of Europe in “artistic sensibility, social complexity, and political organization.”5 The habanero and its capsainoid cousins were at the heart of the culinary and ceremonial customs of Mesoamerica, their biting heat and florid livery an apt metaphor for the “extravagant feats of human butchery”6 —very much in the tradition of the spectacular venationes of ancient Rome—for which the Aztecs at least were well known. To what extent was hot spice also a significant part of the culinary, medical and cultural landscape of the Old World? At a conference hosted by the Institute for Digital Archaeology at the University of Oxford last December, experts from Europe and North America examined the literary, historical, archaeological and scientific evidence around these questions. Their inquiry received a boost from new and rapidly developing techniques for examining the physical evidence of ancient diet and food production—laboratory techniques not available even five years ago. There was also fresh medical evidence to consider: significant research is being done in the area of chemosensation in the context of spicy foods. This Roger Michel, Alexy Karenowska, George Altshuler, Matthew Cobb 3 includes trying to understand how different so-called “TRP channels” in the nervous system process spice information— in particular, the connection between spice and endorphin levels. It appears that many of the hot spices available in antiquity could potentially trigger the same TRP channels as the capsaicin-charged Mesoamerican peppers. This creates a nice connection between old and new world spice that helps to explain and contextualize both. However, in the end, firm conclusions at the Oxford conference were scarce. It quickly became clear that more work, a greater diversity of viewpoints, better refined questions, and a change of venue were required to make additional progress. To paraphrase William Boot, the accidental protagonist of Evelyn Waugh’s autobiographical Scoop (wherein events around... (shrink)

Diderot escreve, na Enciclopédia, um longo verbete, “Tear de meias”, no qual compara o tear a um raciocínio cuja conclusão seria o têxtil. Ele retoma esta comparação na Refutação de Helvétius: ali, é o próprio Leibniz que se torna uma máquina de reflexão, similar ao “tear de meias”. A opção materialista do homem máquina retoma uma tradição que assimila o texto ao tecido. Encontramos a mesma imagem no Fausto de Goethe, que é citado por Freud em A interpretação dos sonhos, (...) e na novela de Henry James O motivo no tapete. A invenção é sempre cruzamento, tecelagem e mestiçagem, numa interação entre criação técnica e representação da atividade intelectual. O sistema de programação dos teares foi posteriormente adaptado às primeiras máquinas analíticas, ancestrais de nossos computadores atuais. A Enciclopédia teorizou esta interação, reabilitando os teares e concebendo o pensamento como um trabalho. (shrink)

This essay introduces a special issue on the history of kāmaśāstra in medieval India. It briefly reviews the secondary scholarship on the subject from the publication of the first translations of the genre at the end of the nineteenth century. It highlights the relatively unexplored history of later kāmaśāstra, and stresses the need for contexualized and detailed studies of the many kāmaśāstra treatises produced in the second millennium CE. The introduction, and the essays that follow, also argue for an expanded (...) interpretive framework for the genre, moving beyond ‘sex’ and ‘sexuality,’ to a more widely defined notion of a ‘kāma world’, in which sensual pleasure is understood as being deeply enmeshed with aesthetic, ethical and cosmopolitan cultures. (shrink)

The present research applies Michel Foucault's perspectives on discipline and punishment to Steve Hamilton's novel The Lock Artist, exploring the criminal subjectivity of the protagonist beyond the binary of good and evil. Through textual analysis, the study examines the norms, upbringing, and circumstances that shape the protagonist's identity as a deviant and criminal. The research also investigates the role of confession as a tool of the modern state in altering the subjectivity of its subjects. The findings suggest that deviance and (...) illegality are social constructs, created and maintained by power structures. The study highlights how society defines deviance and the state defines illegality, leading individuals down a path of criminalization. This research provides insight into the ways power operates to shape an individual’s subjectivity, particularly in relation to criminality, and offers a critical analysis of the ways the modern state exercises control over its subjects. For useful explanation and analysis of criminal subjectivity, Michel Foucault’s book ‘discipline and punishment’ has been referred. This article discusses the norms, upbringing, and circumstances of the protagonist and tries to explore his subjectivity as a criminal beyond the paradigm of good and evil. It elaborates those factors which constitute his identity as a deviant and then as a criminal. Also, this research discusses the role of confession as a tool of the modern state to alter the subjectivity of its subject. (shrink)

A relevância adquirida pelo pensamento de Michel Foucault no Brasil contemporâneo é circunstância bem conhecida. A despeito disso, poucos têm se dedicado a investigar suas cinco visitas a nosso país, datadas de 1965, 1973, 1974, 1975 e 1976. Sendo assim, a autora desenvolveu a pesquisa "Michel Foucault no Brasil: presença, efeitos e ressonâncias", cujos objetivos incluem o estabelecimento de uma "audiografia" da presença do Foucault-corpo no Brasil - análise do modo como ele aqui ocupou os espaços de fala -, bem (...) como de uma "geo-epistemologia" - busca das condições geopolíticas de produção do saber - e de uma "cronobibliografia" das ideias de Foucault entre nós - exame analítico-crítico das temporalidades associadas à primazia conferida a determinados procedimentos, categorias, problemáticas e conceitos pelos intelectuais e militantes brasileiros. Para tanto, foram utilizados documentos escritos e fonográficos relativos às visitas, artigos, coletâneas e livros brasileiros voltados à discussão das perspectivas de Foucault, e narrativas orais tanto dos que com ele conviveram nas passagens por São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife e Belém como daqueles que, atualmente, exibem efeitos e ressonâncias de seu pensamento nos âmbitos acadêmico, profissional e político. Os ensaios que compõem este livro já haviam sido publicados aqui e ali, e foram apenas ligeiramente modificados - evitando repetições excessivas, mas mantendo alguma reiteração, para que possam ser apreciados em qualquer ordem, ou mesmo selecionados conforme os interesses específicos dos leitores. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Place: Towards a Geophilosophy of Photography by Ali ShobeiriElizabeth. L. CoxPlace: Towards a Geophilosophy of Photography BY ALI SHOBEIRI Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2021In his most recent work, Place: Towards a Geophilosophy of Photography, Ali Shobeiri skilfully demonstrates both the importance of, and fluid ways in which, place plays a dynamic role in the understanding and stories nestled within the seeing and evaluating of photographs and (...) photography. Bringing together the worlds of photography, geography, and philosophy to create an interdisciplinary theoretical understanding of place in relation to photography, Shobeiri has expertly unearthed a nuanced, exciting way of considering the photographic process and images.Shobeiri, an Assistant Professor of Photographic Studies and Visual Arts Theory at Leiden University, brings his knowledge and expertise of visual culture, photographic theory, human geography, and philosophy to the fore in his latest publication. His knowledge, passion, personal interest in photography, and his critical thought come through nicely in his writing, and it is clear that the development of Shobeiri’s ideas and framework have been given a lot of thought, time, and energy. This book meaningfully speaks to those interested in a discussion of place within the realm of photography, evidenced through the depth of knowledge and sheer detail explored within this book.Inspired by his own experience as a photographer and influenced by Edward Casey’s “delimited” definition of place, Shobeiri explores how place is never simply presented or fixed (11). It is here that he expertly uses photography to do this across six different yet clearly complimentary chapters. Critically, there is no way to give a succinct overview of the chapters of this book without losing meaning and diluting Shobeiri’s message; the book is rich, deeply detailed, embedded within philosophical thought, and is nuanced throughout, which is important to remember when reading this non- fiction piece of work.In the first chapter, Shobeiri provides a phenomenological exploration of the importance of the photographer’s body both as a lived experience and a physical entity. He then juxtaposes this duality to the lived [End Page 136] place of the photograph, returning to the notion of fixedness and using the idea of belonging to explore the photographer’s body and the photographic experience as a lived place. The next chapter discusses spatiality and time, and the way in which space is temporalized, using key influences such as Roland Barthes and Susan Collins to illustrate the argument. Central to this is the idea that a photograph captures time, but also aims at space, which raises questions about what this means for the space before the lens. In chapters 3 and 4, the author argues that the photograph itself travels through space, and highlights the importance of the photographic place, allowing us to “bestow meaning upon that space on the photograph’s surface” (67). Interestingly, Shobeiri points to philosophy to help the reader understand this, such as Jacques Derrida, and uses more familiar images and scholarly thought from NASA to discuss blind field and the liminality of photographic place. Chapter 5 moves away from location and journeys the reader to a discussion of places viewed as moment of encounter, specifically considering the spectator and the photograph. This evolves further in the sixth and final chapter insofar as it explores the transition and translation of the photographed place to the communication of the content of the image and the agency of the photograph. Shobeiri finishes with a simple yet engaging epilogue, several helpful notes, and a plethora of references which are useful for further reading.Place: Towards a Geophilosophy of Photography is genuinely interesting, centred within academic scholarship, and employs the thought of theorists that readers of Environment, Space, Place will undoubtably recognise. Scholarly figureheads such as Jacques Derrida, Alain Badiou, and Michel Foucault, space and place authorities such as Tim Cresswell, Tim Ingold, and Doreen Massey, and art aficionados such as Roland Barthes, Susan Collins, and John Berger frequent the pages. Familiar artistic names are also drawn upon, including Ansel Adams, Gert Jan Kocken, and Gerhard Richter, which soften the strong academic tones that this book voices. This work is clearly sophisticated in terms of lexicon and ideas, however... (shrink)

Este artigo propõe-se a expor as reflexões de dois filósofos contemporâneos, quais sejam, Michel Foucault e Giorgio Agamben, de modo a promover um paralelo,ou mesmo uma analogia, entre duas noções que permeiam as obras dos respectivos autores. Estas noções consistem no que Foucault chamou de Racismo de Estado, e no que Agamben nomeou de Tanatopolítica. O contexto, e tambémo objeto, no qual se efetiva este intento é, em uma palavra, a política totalitária do Estado nazista.Ambos os autores compreendem os fenômenos (...) totalitários a partir do ponto de vista da biopolítica, entretanto, ao tratar do Estado Nacional-socialista, Foucault identifica nele um paradoxo, sem, contudo desenvolver com maior profundidade a imbricação que ali se deu. Agamben, por sua vez, concebe semelhante paradoxo como pertencendo a uma forma de fazer política que já traz, desde a sua origem, os fundamentos que permitiram a emergência do fenômeno da forma como surgiu e que fora identificada pelos ditos autores, ou seja, trazendo em si tanto elementos antigos, como a glória e os ideais de sangue, quanto modernos, como a eugenia. A pesquisa bibliográfica que aqui se desenvolveu deu-se na leitura de, basicamente, três obras dos supraditos autores, quais sejam, Em defesa da sociedade, História da sexualidade I – A vontade de saber, de um lado, e Homo sacer – O poder soberano e a vida nua I, de outro. (shrink)

Building on contemporary research in embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind, this book explores how social institutions in contemporary neoliberal nation-states systematically affect our thoughts, feelings, and agency. Human beings are, necessarily, social animals who create and belong to social institutions. But social institutions take on a life of their own, and literally shape the minds of all those who belong to them, for better or worse, usually without their being self-consciously aware of it. Indeed, in contemporary neoliberal societies, (...) it is generally for the worse. In The Mind-Body Politic, Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna work out a new critique of contemporary social institutions by deploying the special standpoint of the philosophy of mind—in particular, the special standpoint of the philosophy of what they call essentially embodied minds—and make a set of concrete, positive proposals for radically changing both these social institutions and also our essentially embodied lives for the better. (shrink)

The title of this book is somewhat misleading. It is not a straightforward text on Kant’s methodology. Rather, the author uses Kant’s methods of analysis and synthesis as a backdrop in order to “complete the task where Kant left off”. The “task” is varyingly described by the author as that of leading us back to the “engendering archê” or the “originary”. This journey back to the originary will presumably allow us to explain the “world’s worlding”. The book draws on a (...) broadly phenomenological interpretation of Kant and thus emphasizes, a la Heidegger, the role of the imagination in Kant’s philosophy. Indeed, according to the author, Kant’s first Critique heralds the deep and profound notion that the “way to truth” is through the imagination. Again echoing Heidegger, the author takes it to be an unfortunate fact that Kant “shrunk back from this abyss”. Despite Kant’s timidity, however, the Critique is nevertheless said to provide us with the resources for a robust phenomenology. (shrink)

The idea for this special issue came from our mutual interest in research education and the development of future researchers. Our shared program of research has led us to discover the potentials, complexities, and dilemmas associated with research assistantships where newcomers assist more experienced researchers to conduct research projects. We considered a wide range of proposals and papers addressing different aspects of research assistantships. The resulting collection includes self-studies and analyses of others, as well as policy reviews and recommendations. The (...) pieces consider research assistantships involving bachelor's, master's, and doctoral students in four different countries (Canada, Denmark, South Africa, United States) and across a range of disciplines. (shrink)

Resumo: O presente estudo consiste em um exame da produção acadêmica brasileira, veiculada em 71 periódicos da área educacional, que se valeu da noção de cuidado de si, tal como abordada por Michel Foucault. Trata-se de 51 artigos produzidos no intervalo dos últimos 18 anos, a partir da publicação no Brasil do curso A hermenêutica do sujeito, em 2004. À moda da composição de um hupomnema, o tratamento do material obedeceu ao procedimento da listagem dos enunciados ali em circulação, com (...) vistas à perspectivação das apropriações da temática. O resultado é um panorama da proliferação de efeitos da referida noção, a sustentar tanto a novidade quanto a permanência em seu emprego pela pesquisa educacional. Ao final, advoga-se em favor da desnaturalização da ideia de sujeito e seus derivados, com vistas a potencializar o cuidado de si como ocasião de interpelação e, quiçá, de dissolução da forma sujeito. Palavras-chave: cuidado de si; Michel Foucault; pesquisa educacional; periódicos educacionais. The care of the self in Brazilian educational research: a problem notion Abstract: This study consists of an examination of the Brazilian academic production, published in 71 journals in the field of education, which made use of the notion of care of the self, as discussed by Michel Foucault. It consists of 51 articles produced in the last 18 years, since the publication in Brazil of the lectures The hermeneutics of the subject, in 2004. In the manner of the composition of a hupomnema, the treatment of the material followed the procedure of listing the statements in circulation, in order to put into perspective the appropriations of the theme. The result is a panorama of the proliferating effects of this notion, supporting both the novelty and the permanence of its use in educational research. In the end, we advocate the denaturalization of the idea of subject and its derivatives, in order to enhance the care of the self as an occasion for interpellation and, perhaps, for the dissolution of the subject form. Keywords: care of the self; Michel Foucault; educational research; educational journals. El cuidado de sí en la investigación educativa brasileña: una noción-problema Resumen: Este estudio consiste en un examen de la producción académica brasileña, publicada en 71 revistas del área educativa, que utilizó la noción de cuidado de sí, tal como la discute Michel Foucault. Se trata de 51 artículos publicados en los últimos 18 años, a partir de la publicación en Brasil del curso La hermenéutica del sujeto, em 2004. A la manera de composición de un hupomnema, el tratamiento del material siguió el procedimiento de enumerar los enunciados en circulación, con vistas a poner en perspectiva las apropiaciones del tema. El resultado es un panorama de los efectos proliferantes de dicha noción, sosteniendo tanto la novedad como la permanencia en su uso por parte de la investigación educativa. Al fin, se aboga por la desnaturalización de la idea de sujeto y sus derivados, con el fin de potenciar el cuidado de sí como ocasión de interpelación y, tal vez, de disolución de la forma sujeto. Palabras clave: cuidado de sí; Michel Foucault; investigación educativa; publicaciones periódicas educativas. Data de registro: 03/07/2022 Data de aceite: 26/10/2022. (shrink)

Franz Brentano’s theory of emotion is tightly bound up with many of his other central claims, in such a way that one has to work out how it relates to these other claims if one is to understand its distinctive character. There are two main axes of investigation. The first results from the fact that Brentano introduces his theory of emotion as part of his overall theory of mind, which consists of a number of closely interconnected theses concerning the nature (...) of mental phenomena, the nature of consciousness, and the classification of mental phenomena into fundamental kinds (Brentano 1874/1973a). The second derives from the fact that his theory of emotion also forms the foundation of his epistemology of objective value, which he elaborates in a framework constituted by an epistemic theory of truth and an extended analogy he draws between emotions and judgments (Brentano 1889/1969). I will consider both of these axes in what follows. (shrink)

'Propositionalism' is the widely held view that all intentional mental relations-all intentional attitudes-are relations to propositions or something proposition-like. Paradigmatically, to think about the mountain is ipso facto to think that it is F, for some predicate 'F'. It seems, however, many intentional attitudes are not relations to propositions at all: Mary contemplates Jonah, adores New York, misses Athens, mourns her brother. I argue, following Brentano, Husserl, Church and Montague among others, that the way things seem is the way they (...) are, and that propositionalism must be abandoned. (shrink)

What is given to us in conscious experience? The Given is an attempt to answer this question and in this way contribute to a general theory of mental content. The content of conscious experience is understood to be absolutely everything that is given to one, experientially, in the having of an experience. Michelle Montague focuses on the analysis of conscious perception, conscious emotion, and conscious thought, and deploys three fundamental notions in addition to the fundamental notion of content: the (...) notions of intentionality, phenomenology, and consciousness. She argues that all experience essentially involves all four things, and that the key to an adequate general theory of what is given in experience lies in giving a correct specification of the nature of these four things and the relations between them. (shrink)

The long-standing debate between cognitive and feeling theories of emotion stems, in part, from the assumption that cognition and thought are abstract, intellectual, disembodied processes, and that bodily feelings are non-intentional and have no representational content. Working with this assumption has led many emotions theorists to neglect the way in which emotions are simultaneously bodily and cognitive-evaluative. Even hybrid theories, such as those set forth by Prinz and Barlassina and Newen, fail to account fully for how the cognitive and bodily (...) elements of emotion are integrated. As a result, such accounts are unable to provide an adequate characterization of the intentionality or phenomenology of emotions. I will argue that an enactive account of emotions, one which characterizes them as a way of engaging with and making sense of one’s surroundings, can help us to overcome this false dichotomy between cognitive and body elements. What I call ‘ affective framing’ is at the core of emotional experience. It is the way in which we engage with and appraise our surroundings in and through bodily feelings of caring, so that the bodily and cognitive elements of emotion necessarily are fused. The notion of affective framing not only helps to clarify the relationship between bodily and cognitive elements of emotion, but also offers a useful way to make sense of both the intentional directedness and phenomenal character of emotional experience. (shrink)

Some critical philosophers of race have argued that whiteness can be understood as a technology of affect and that white supremacy is comprised partly of unconscious habits that result in racialized perception. In an effort to deepen our understanding of the affective and bodily dimensions of white supremacy and the ways in which affective habits are socially produced, I look to insights from situated affectivity. Theorists in this field maintain that affective experience is not simply a matter of felt inner (...) states, but rather socially and environmentally embedded and fundamentally relational. Jan Slaby presents the concept of an ‘affective arrangement’ as a way to approach affectivity in terms of relational dynamics unfolding within a particular setting. Applying this concept to the societal level, Paul Schuetze introduces the notion of ‘affective milieu.’ I argue that these notions of ‘affective arrangement’ and ‘affective milieu,’ together with an organicist account of habit, can help to illuminate the workings of white supremacy in the United States. My proposed account highlights the extent to which white supremacy is an affective, bodily phenomenon and how racist habits are formed over the course of learning and ongoing affective engagement, in the context of various social settings. Crucially, these affective habits are fully bound up with habits of appraisal, interpretation, and judgment, and therefore inseparable from how subjects come to see and understand their world. (shrink)

Argues that the War on Drugs and policies that deny convicted felons equal access to employment, housing, education and public benefits create a permanent under-caste based largely on race. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

Prenatal genetic testing is becoming available for an increasingly broad set of diseases, and it is only a matter of time before parents can choose to test for hundreds, if not thousands, of genetic conditions in their fetuses. Should access to certain kinds of fetal genetic information be limited, and if so, on what basis? We evaluate a range of considerations including reproductive autonomy, parental rights, disability rights, and the rights and interests of the fetus as a potential future child. (...) We conclude that parents should be able to access information that could be useful during pregnancy, but that testing for non-medical information should be limited. Next, we argue that the government lacks a compelling state interest in regulating prenatal genetic testing and propose that regulation should occur through medical professional organizations. Finally, we present a framework for determining what testing physicians should recommend, offer neutrally, or not offer at all. (shrink)

Poetry evokes mental imagery in its readers. But how is mental imagery precisely related to poetry? This article provides a systematic treatment. It clarifies two roles of mental imagery in relation to poetry—as an effect generated by poetry and as an efficient means for understanding and appreciating poetry. The article also relates mental imagery to the discussion on the ‘heresy of paraphrase’. It argues against the orthodox view that the imagistic effects of poetry cannot be captured by prosaic paraphrase, but (...) points to features of poetry that can shape aspects of mental imagery that are liable to be lost in paraphrase. (shrink)

Embodied Selves and Divided Minds examines how research in embodied cognition and enactivism can contribute to our understanding of the nature of self-consciousness, the metaphysics of personal identity, and the disruptions to self-awareness that occur in case of psychopathology. The book reveals how a critical dialogue between Philosophy and Psychiatry can lead to a better understanding of important issues surrounding self-consciousness, personal identity, and psychopathology.

Education theorists have emphasized that transformative learning is not simply a matter of students gaining access to new knowledge and information, but instead centers upon personal transformation: it alters students’ perspectives, interpretations, and responses. How should learning that brings about this sort of self-transformation be understood from the perspectives of philosophy of mind and cognitive science? Jack Mezirow has described transformative learning primarily in terms of critical reflection, meta-cognitive reasoning, and the questioning of assumptions and beliefs. And within mainstream philosophy (...) of mind, there has been a long-standing assumption that cognition and thought are brain-based, computational, disembodied processes that occur separately from emotion and affect. According to this view, selftransformation might be construed as the forging of new neural connections and the development of new cognitive “programs.” However, I will argue that the literature on embodiment and enactivism that has emerged in recent years offers us a different and more productive way to conceptualize the intended effects of transformative learning. From the standpoint of enactivism, the experience of transformative learning is thoroughly bound up with the cognitive shifts that it involves, and it also involves significant changes to the neurobiological dynamics of the living body. Moreover, personal transformation is not simply something that happens to subjects, but rather a process in which they are actively and dynamically engaged. In addition, this enactivist approach emphasizes that the learning process is fully embodied and fundamentally affective. From a phenomenological perspective, personal transformation can be understood as a pronounced alteration in cognitive-affective orientation; and from a neurobiological perspective, the development of new habits of mind can be understood as the formation of highly integrated patterns of bodily engagement and response. The upshot is that it is not just subjects’ brains that are altered over the course of transformative learning, but also their overall bodily and affective attunement to their surroundings. (shrink)