Este artículo se enfoca en la concepción kantiana de un derecho de guerra, en particular en la controversial figura del enemigo injusto del apartado “Derecho de gentes” de la Rechtslehre, que ha dado pie a que se considere a Kant un teórico de la guerra justa (e. g. Carl Schmitt y B. Orend). Rechazo dicha interpretación y defiendo que al filósofo alemán no se le puede colocar esta etiqueta sin desvirtuar su visión crítica de la guerra, lo (...) que supone comprender, por una parte, la función de esta en el progreso de la humanidad, y, por otra, aceptar el veto de la razón práctica que la prohíbe. Con ese propósito retomo la defensa que hace Howard Williams frente a B. Orend e intento imprimir mayor fuerza a su argumento incorporando la noción de “ley permisiva” al derecho de guerra que se emprende contra el enemigo injusto. (shrink)

O artigo pretende explorar, a partir de Michel Foucault, a ligação entre biopolítica, neoliberalismo e a chamada guerra às drogas, a fim de tentar esclarecer as motivações econômicas e políticas que fundamentam o tipo de combate às drogas que impera no mundo contemporâneo. O Brasil não está distante desse tipo de política que, apoiada em discursos legitimadores, tais como o discurso médico e mesmo o psicologizante, estabelecem não apenas a partilha entre os que devem viver e os que precisam (...) morrer, como também as condições para justificar toda forma de exclusão e desqualificação das populações periféricas, justificativa que, em última instância, também repercute na formulação das leis. (shrink)

Kant developed a philosophy of histoy where the conjiic& the wa>: has a fundamental role in the develop of the society and in the politicals relations. Is common to associate him with the project of a perpetual pace but, was not looking for a pact of pace among nations but to a programm..

El término “guerra cultural” parece que ha pasado a formar parte del paisaje intelectual y mediático, si bien normalmente tras su uso suele haber poco más que algunas frases hechas o unos planteamientos vagos que la relacionan con la guerra híbrida de las _fake news_. Resulta difícil encontrar aportaciones novedosas en este campo. Pues bien, el libro que comentamos es una “rara avis” que no sólo se detiene en profundizar en el concepto de guerra cultural, sino que (...) va mucho más allá, hasta el punto de que resulta difícil de calificar. Parte de la definición de “cultura” como “el conjunto de valores, principios, creencias o sobreentendidos que permean, dirigen o sustentan implícita o explícitamente el funcionamiento de una sociedad”. Esta definición puede sorprender a algunos, pero, como el autor muestra, entronca con las concepciones de grandes pensadores, comenzando por el fundador de la antropología académica, Edward Burnett Tylor, y pasando por C.S. Coon o M. Harris. (shrink)

Texto presentado en el Congreso Internacional “Recepciones de Ortega y Gasset en Chile” celebrado en el Centro Cultural de España en Santiago durante los días 30 y 31 de mayo de 2018, en Santiago de Chile. Forma parte de la compilación recogida en número especial de la Revista de Filosofía Otrosiglo, en junio del 2023.

El trágico, pero brillante siglo XX, fue un largo periodo de tiempo permeado por enormes problemáticas políticas y económicas, por el albor de las guerras y por los profundos avances científicos, en el que, además, se dejó como hecho histórico, la implementación de la conjugación de las teorías de Charles Robert Darwin sobre la selección natural y los planteamientos de su primo Charles Galton Darwin sobre el proceso natural que se debe seguir para erradicar las deficiencias humanas. Esa conjugación de (...) teorías y planteamientos fueron denominados por Charles Galton en el año de 1883 como “eugenesia” y a través de su aplicación se buscó desde finales del siglo XIX e inicios del siglo XX, que la humanidad debía ser decantada en sus razas más aptas. El objetivo del presente trabajo, a través de una investigación documental y un método cualitativo de análisis, es exponer que las teorías filosóficas de perfeccionamiento de la raza humana reunidas en la eugenesia y usadas en el siglo XX, preponderantemente por el régimen nazi, aún siguen vigentes en los avances científicos de codificación del genoma humano, en las técnicas de reproducción humana asistida y en el diagnóstico genético preimplantacional, de cuyos desarrollos y consecuencias, se acuñó el término de eugenesia liberal. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se pretende hacer un recorrido por aquellas herramientas metodológicas utilizadas por Foucault para el estudio de la institución educativa disciplinaria y su posible aplicación al nuevo panorama educativo en las sociedades de control. Foucault analiza los discursos y prácticas como formas de poder en la sociedad disciplinaria, los cuales configuran una individualidad determinada: el cuerpo dócil. Tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial, nuevas modalidades de poder dan lugar a la sociedad de control, conformando una individualidad autogobernada. (...) En la educación secundaria actual aparecen tanto formas del régimen disciplinario como del régimen de control. (shrink)

“La política es la continuación de la guerra por otros medios.” Así rezaba la inversión del clásico aforismo de Clausewitz pronunciada por Michel Foucault en su curso del Collège de France 1975-1976 y ahondaba: “la política es la sanción y la prórroga del desequilibrio de fuerzas manifestado en la guerra”. Esta concepción agonística de la política es el suelo sobre el que se levanta The politics of political science. Re-Writing Latin American Experiences, de Paulo Ravecca, quien no duda (...) en colocar como primer enunciado de su libro: “ Knowledge is a battlefield ”. Si aceptamos que el conocimiento, en sí mismo, es un campo de batalla, debemos abandonar cualquier pretensión de presentar el quehacer de los intelectuales en términos de autonomía, neutralidad, asepsia; los centros de producción de conocimiento se convierten así en una privilegiada factoría de armamento político, pero no ya para el despliegue de una dominación sustentada en la coerción, sino para el diseño de las nuevas bases del consenso, de una nueva hegemonía. (shrink)

O artigo reflete sobre a produção do gênero musical metal, após o fim da guerra civil angolana. Nesta conjuntura de reestruturação econômica, social e política, o acesso aos meios de produção fonográfica ainda consiste em um desafio para os integrantes do movimento musical. Para observar tais dinâmicas musicais, destaco que o gênero musical possui regras sonoras, como solos de guitarra, distorção e tempos rápidos, técnicas de canto como o gutural e vocais gritados; regras visuais, como o uso de vestuários (...) como camisas de bandas ou os conceitos estéticos reproduzidos em capas de álbuns, e líricas, formas de circulação e de consumo, suas audiências, performances e respostas corporais. Para tanto, o artigo apresenta as peculiaridades desta cena musical através do método etnográfico, com trabalhos de campo realizados em períodos diferentes dos anos de 2014, 2016 e 2017. (shrink)

El crecimiento de las naciones y la creación de ideologías territoriales (como los nacional-ismos, regionalismos) ha supuesto numerosos cambios contemporáneos. Estas ideologías no sólo han conllevado nuevas connotaciones sobre la creciente importancia de la identidad territorial (tanto a nivel nacional como regional) sino que también han desarrollado un nuevo sistema complejo de ideologías desde una perspectiva local. En este artículo se trata de examinar la relación entre las ideologías políticas y la arquitectura dentro del contexto gallego y español. El foco (...) principal es el nacionalismo manifestado en el urbanismo durante el periodo 1918–1960 en Galicia. En el periodo republicano y después de la Guerra Civil española, esta región y más concretamente la ciudad de Santiago de Compostela se convirtió en centro de atención. Este discurso del nacionalismo territorial es un fenómeno capital en el proceso de rehabilitación de Santiago de Compostela y conlleva un fuerte impacto en la creación de una imagen significativa de la ciudad histórica. De este modo, la ciudad se convierte en una fábrica de ideas como el centro y la periferia, Europa occidental, un lugar de ideología marginal frente a las grandes narraciones centralistas del Estado. (shrink)

Las escuelas públicas de los barrios segregados de Santiago se han ido vaciando de alumnos chilenos que los padres reubican en otras escuelas, pero gracias a la llegada de niñas y niños hijos de inmigrantes, consiguen seguir funcionando. Son escuelas situadas en el centro de la ciudad, en sectores que dan cuenta del abandono del Estado y de la agonía de calles adoquinadas y casonas señoriales ahora convertidas en alojamientos baratos para inmigrantes. En este escenario, los niños provenientes de (...) la inmigración devienen actores secundarios, pero debido a las crisis son finalmente protagonistas de la sobrevida de la institución escolar. Niños útiles, que permiten la continuidad de las escuelas al mismo tiempo que son maltratados por su origen. El propósito de este artículo es dar cuenta del racismo cotidiano que viven los hijos de inmigrantes peruanos a partir del habla que despliegan los adultos de la comunidad educativa que los acoge. ¿Cómo los caracterizan, cómo los evalúan? ¿Es acaso la extranjeridad heredada de sus padres la frontera que impide su integración? (shrink)

En los círculos ortodoxos kantianos suelen disculparse las incoherencias del maestro diciendo que era un "hijo de su tiempo". Ciertamente, en su época aún se excluía en toda Europa a las mujeres de la ciudadanía activa, privándolas de ser sujetos políticos y, con ello, sujetos éticos, de derecho, e incluso, históricos. Pero también es verdad que en ese momento está emergiendo un movimiento en defensa de la igualdad de género (querelle des femmes), en el que lamentablemente Kant no participa. En (...) el presente artículo, tras un preámbulo histórico en el que se confronta al Kant crítico con sus predecesores y coetáneos en lo tocante al tema de la igualdad de las mujeres, se defiende la tesis de que la verdadera moralidad no es pensable sin una idea de universalidad real o, lo que viene a ser lo mismo, de igualdad de género, porque solo a partir de ella es pensable la individualidad y la autonomía. Orthodox Kantian circles tend to excuse the philosopher's inconsistencies by saying that he was a "child of his time". It is true that in his time women throughout Europe were excluded from active citizenship, depriving them of the right to be political and, consequently, ethical and even historical subjects. But it is also true that in that same period a movement was emerging in defense of gender equality (querelle des femmes), in which Kant regrettably did not participate. After a historical introduction that contrasts the critical Kant with his predecessors and contemporaries regarding the issue of women's equality, the article goes on to defend the thesis that true morality is unthinkable without an idea of genuine universality, that is, without gender equality, since only on that basis can individuality and autonomy be thought. Nos círculos ortodoxos kantianos, as incoerências do mestre ao dizer que era um "filho de seu tempo" costumam ser desculpadas. Certamente, em sua época ainda se excluía em toda a Europa as mulheres da cidadania ativa e privava-as de serem sujeitos políticos e, com isso, sujeitos éticos, de direito, e inclusive, históricos. Mas também é verdade que, nesse momento, está emergindo um movimento em defesa da igualdade de gênero (querelle des femmes), do qual lamentavelmente Kant não participa. No presente artigo, após um preâmbulo histórico no qual se confronta o Kant crítico com seus predecessores e coetâneos no que tange ao tema da igualdade das mulheres, defende-se a tese de que a verdadeira moralidade não é pensável sem uma ideia de universidade real ou, o que vem a ser a mesma coisa, de igualdade de gênero, porque só a partir dela é pensável a individualidade e a autonomia. (shrink)

El Padre en el Antiguo TestamentoVivir la experiencia de ser Padre en la historia de la humanidad ha sido siempre un gran desafió. A través de los testimonios de diversas culturas es posible rescatar los significados y características del ser padre, desde ser administrador de los conocimientos ancestrales y la comunicación con la divinidad, los ciclos de la tierra, los tiempos de siembra y cosecha, los tiempos de las artes y los tiempos de la guerra. Así reconocemos las aracterísticas (...) del .. (shrink)

A partir de la divergencia de M. Foucault con Th. Hobbes con respecto a la guerra como principio y fundamento del poder, se muestra la importancia de esa diferencia conceptual para los análisis políticos contemporáneos. Foucault sostiene que, en las sociedades modernas de Occidente, la comunidad política, y más precisamente la política misma, ha sido el terreno de la guerra librada por otros medios. Por extensión, esta tesis significa invertir el principio de von Clausewitz; a saber, que la (...) guerra es la continuación de la política por otros medios. On the basis of the difference between M. Foucault and Th. Hobbes regarding war as a principle and foundation of power, the article shows the importance of this conceptual difference for contemporary political analyses. Foucault argues that in modern Western societies, the political community and, more specifically, politics itself, has been the space of a war waged by other means. By extension, this thesis entails the inversion of von Clausewitz's principle, namely, that war is the continuation of politics by other means. A partir da divergência de M. Foucault com Th. Hobbes sobre a guerra como princípio e fundamento do poder, mostra-se a importância dessa diferença conceitual para as análises políticas contemporâneas. Foucault sustenta que, nas sociedades modernas do Ocidente, a comunidade política, e mais precisamente a política em si, tem sido o terreno da guerra travada por outros meios. Por extensão, esta tese significa inverter o princípio de von Clausewitz; a saber, que a guerra é a continuação da política por outros meios. (shrink)

Uma das constantes da obra de Bernardo Carvalho, por certo, é a investigação do passado compreendido como lacunar, em que a memória pessoal torna-se terreno inseguro e incapaz de oferecer uma imagem unificadora dos diversos relatos dos personagens. Em O filho da mãe, o autor cria personagens atravessados pela história de guerras que constitui a União Soviética, que, mais tarde, infligiu às repúblicas independentes não somente a miséria e a morte, mas a marca indelével de ser o “outro”, o (...) não-desejado, o que deve ser apagado da memória e do território da velha Rússia.Carvalho propõe desde o princípio da leitura novas formas de se lidar com a memória e o esquecimento para que, quem sabe, esses sujeitos à margem consigam sobreviver por mais um dia, no intervalo entre a lembrança de quem são e a tentativa de apagar suas próprias identidades para seguir em frente.O presente artigo investiga, por um lado, os diversos conflitos entre os planos históricos e ficcionais e a forma como são dispostos no romance; a própria ficção trabalha com o sentido de deslizamento das categorias de memória e esquecimento para construir um espaço libertário em que certos personagens tendem a escapar de definições essencialistas. Por outro lado, entre as ruínas da São Petersburgo recriada por Carvalho, é possível explorar os caminhos entre a cidade e os afetos dos protagonistas homossexuais, ambos órfãos de qualquer forma de pertencimento. (shrink)

The Vitruvian Man is a metaphor for the “ideal man” by feminist posthuman philosopher Rosi Braidotti (2013) as a proxy for eurocentric humanist ideals. The first half of this paper extends Braidotti's concept by thinking about the metaphor of the “ideal nurse” (Vitruvian nurse) and how this metaphor contributes to racism, oppression, and burnout in nursing and might restrict the professionalization of nursing. The Vitruvian nurse is an idealized and perfected form of a nurse with self‐sacrificial language (re)producing self‐sacrificing expectations. (...) The second half of this paper looks at how regulatory frameworks (using the example of UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct) institutionalize the conditions of possibility through collective imaginations. The domineering expectations found within the Vitruvian nurse metaphor and further codified by regulatory frameworks give rise to boredom and burnout. The paper ends by suggesting possible ways to diffract regulatory frameworks to practice with affirmative ethics and reduce feelings of self‐sacrifice and exhaustion among nurses. (shrink)

This article presents evidence regarding aspects of the gendered nature of care women with gynaecological cancer receive from their (usually) male surgeons and oncologists in Australia. We argue that despite women’s general preference for female gynaecologists, those with a gynaecological cancer develop a strong therapeutic relationship with their male medical specialist, not extended to their (usually) female nurses and other allied health professionals. Given the highly sensitive and sexualized nature of gynaecological cancer, this requires explanation. These findings can be partly (...) explained by examining the division of labour between nurses and doctors, specifically issues of control over this process and the development of specializations. The findings also bring into stark relief the way in which power and status differences can be used by medicine to create a positive therapeutic relationship with patients while simultaneously de-eroticizing the intimate procedures necessary in assisting women throughout their cancer treatment. Importantly, this relationship also has relevance for policy makers, particularly those concerned with the highly gendered division of labour of the medical specialty workforce in Australia. (shrink)

"First Published in 1999, Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.".

Ethics in the anthropocene -- Atmospheric powers: climate change and moral incompetence -- Christian ethics and unprecedented problems -- Global ethics: moral pluralism and planetary problems -- Sustainability science and the ethics of wicked problems -- Toxic wombs and the ecology of justice -- Impoverishment and the economy of desire -- Intergenerational risk and the future of love -- Sustaining grace.

The fields of environmental ethics and of religion and ecology have been shaped by Lynn White Jr.'s thesis that the roots of ecological crisis lie in religious cosmology. Independent critical movements in both fields, however, now question this methodological legacy and argue for alternative ways of inquiry. For religious ethics, the twin controversies cast doubt on prevailing ways of connecting environmental problems to religious deliberations because the criticisms raise questions about what counts as an environmental problem, how religious traditions change, (...) and whether ethicists should approach problems and traditions with reformist commitments. This article examines the critiques of White's legacy and presents a pluralist alternative that focuses religious ethics on the contextual strategies produced by moral communities as they confront environmental problems. (shrink)

Resumo O propósito deste texto é mostrar que os problemas enfrentados por Merleau-Ponty, ao longo de seu percurso de pensamento, decorrem dos pressupostos dicotômicos dos quais ele parte. Assim, procuramos trazer à tona outras consequências de se assumir tal pressuposto, o do primado de uma experiência perceptiva muda como solo natal de todas as outras modalidades da experiência. Para tanto, tomam-se em consideração tanto a primeira como a segunda fase do pensamento de Merleau-Ponty.Our purpose is to show that the problems (...) faced by Merleau-Ponty throughout his path of thought arise from the dichotomous assumptions from which he begins. Thus, we seek to shed light on the other consequences of assuming a presumption such as the primacy of a mute perceptual experience as the native soil of all other experience’s modes. Therefore, the first as well as the second phases of Merleau-Ponty’s thought are taken into account. (shrink)

RESUMEN: El tema de este trabajo es la reconstrucción de la teoría de la selección natural darwiniana. Me propongo esbozar la ley fundamental de esta teoría de manera informal a partir de sus aplicaciones en El origen de las especies de Darwin y presentar sus conceptos fundamentales. Presentaré la red teórica de leyes especiales que surgen de la especialización de esta ley fundamental. Supondré el estructuralismo como marco metateórico. Señalaré también algunas consecuencias que mi propuesta tiene sobre ciertas discusiones metateóricas (...) en torno a la teoría y, finalmente, relacionaré mi reconstrucción con otras reconstrucciones disponibles.ABSTRACT: This paper is about the reconstruction of the Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection. My aim here is to outline the fundamental law of this theory in an informal way from its applications in The Origin of Species and to make explicit its fundamental concepts. I will introduce the theory-nets of special laws that arisefrom the specialization of the fundamental law. I will assume the metatheoretical structuralist frame. I will also point out many consequences that my proposal has about a few metatheoretical discussions around the theory and, finally, I will relate my propose to other reconstructions available. (shrink)

Scholars who favor shareholder primacy usually claim either that managers should not fulfill corporate duties of beneficence or that, if they are required to fulfill them, they do so by going against their obligations to shareholders. Distinguishing between structurally different types of duties of beneficence and recognizing the full force of the normative demands imposed on managers reveal that this view needs to be qualified. Although it is correct to think that managers, when acting on behalf of shareholders, are not (...) required to fulfill wide duties of charity, they are nevertheless required to fulfill a variety of narrow duties of beneficence. What is more, the obligation to fulfill these duties arises precisely because they are acting on behalf of shareholders. As such, this article 1) refines our understanding of the duties of corporate beneficence and 2) helps to identify which duties of beneficence are imposed on managers when they are acting on behalf of shareholders. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Climate Justice: Ethics, Energy, and Public PolicyWillis JenkinsClimate Justice: Ethics, Energy, and Public Policy James Martin-Schramm Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010. 232 pp. $20.00Religious ethicists are sometimes tempted to interpret climate change as symptomatic of a civilizational corruption so deep that practical responsibility seems nearly impossible. In its considered treatment of energy options and policy responses, [End Page 198] Climate Justice works to make applied Christian ethics competent to (...) address climate change. By interpreting political possibilities with Christian commitments to justice, the book makes a distinctively practical contribution to the literature on Christianity and climate; it lifts an important theological voice in the growing subfield of climate ethics.The book begins by elaborating the general notion of ecological justice into workable criteria. Martin-Schramm describes four basic norms of ecojustice (sustainability, sufficiency, participation, and solidarity), from which he develops twelve energy policy guidelines (e.g., equity, adequacy). He then specifies those guidelines into fourteen criteria by which to assess the justice of climate action (e.g., historical responsibility, emissions verifiability).Subsequent chapters use those criteria to evaluate policy options. A chief difficulty in applying them lies in the tension between intergenerational and intragenerational claims. Global climate negotiations founder on disagreements about these undeveloped, plural dimensions of justice. Martin-Schramm therefore deploys criteria with a balancing objective: to develop obligations to the future while recognizing claims of the present poor and vulnerable, and while keeping the result within the bounds of North American political viability.For example, Martin-Schramm recognizes that the criterion of historical responsibility indicates that the United States should bear about one-third of the costs of climate transition. But he finds that the resulting figure ($331 billion) so outstrips realistic acceptance that he rejects financial transfer in favor of a “national obligation wedge” in which the nation compensates by pledging to reduce future emissions. Since those emission reductions are unlikely apart from a price on carbon, Martin-Schramm argues that justice mandates a fossil fuel tax. With an eye to political viability, he proposes beginning with a modest $5/ton (for comparison, the Stern Report estimates the social costs of carbon at $85/ton).Controversy in the details matters to the whole project because the point of Martin-Schramm’s approach is that a meaningful climate ethic should guide contextual action. Yet other accounts of climate justice will find a scandal of modesty on those contextual points. Martin-Schramm’s climate justice entails less economic transformation than the “Northern structural adjustment” demanded by the Latin American Council of Churches. It is also less ecocentric than accounts from indigenous theologians arguing that justice warrants rights for species at risk of extinction, and perhaps for Earth itself.While Climate Justice is a self-consciously North American account, the criteria it develops would be different and work more critically were the underlying account of justice dialogically constructed across economic, political, and theological borders. Were it pragmatic, in the sense of arising from projects from across those borders, rather than applied deductively, a Christian climate ethic would likely produce an account of justice with more critical demands on industrial infrastructure and on ecological consciousness. [End Page 199]In its self-limitation, however, lies the book’s practical promise. Martin-Schramm wants justice to illuminate effective ways toward real responsibility. His criteria for justice imply that advocating for impossible goals, or for objectives that would imperil other conditions of social justice, would amount to injustice. Making ethics matter for climate change, he shows, requires understanding what justice can do in context.The open question for this book’s project is how a self-limited ethic of applied justice relates to the deeper processes of social transformation obviously needed for adequate response. Martin-Schramm closes with an account of his work reforming the energy economy of Luther College, which should inspire every reader with a sense of what persistent, informed, and contextual action can accomplish.Willis JenkinsYale Divinity SchoolCopyright © 2012 The Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

In his presidential address on “Symbols, Signs, and Signals,” given before the Association for Symbolic Logic, December 28, 1938, Professor C. J. Ducasse made and important distinction between what he there called the indicative and the quiddative symbol. He remarked in passing that he thought it possible to show that: 1) “The same entity may function both as indicative and as quiddative symbol: or one part of a complex symbol may be quiddative and another indicative”; and 2) “the difference between (...) the two roles is irreducible: the indicative is not a species of the quiddative nor vice versa.” An indicative symbol is defined as “one of which the distinctive property is to orient our attention to some place in an order system …”; and a quiddative symbol as “one of which the distinctive property is to make us conceive a certain kind of thing—a certain ‘what'—no matter where in any order system it may or may not be existing.”. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:The distinction between what I call nonelective obligations and discretionary obligations, a distinction that focuses on one particular thread of the distinction between perfect and imperfect duties, helps us to identify the obligations that carry over from principals to agents. Clarity on this issue is necessary to identify the moral obligations within “shareholder primacy”, which conceives of managers as agents of shareholders. My main claim is that the principal-agent relation requires agents to fulfill nonelective obligations, but it does not always (...) require discharging discretionary obligations. I show that the requirement to fulfill nonelective obligations is more far-reaching than has been acknowledged by most defenders and critics of shareholder primacy. But I also show that managers are not bound by certain discretionary obligations like charity, showing that their moral obligations are more circumscribed than the obligations that apply to human beings in general. (shrink)

A tradução que apresentamos é referente ao debate entre Jocasta, Polinices e Etéocles, sobre o exílio de um e o governo tirânico do outro, a eminente guerra entre Argos e Tebas e a tentativa da mãe de impedir que a maldição de Édipo proferida contra os filhos, encontre, enfim, seu termo.

The scholarship on meaningful work has approached the topic mostly from the perspective of the subjective experience of the individual worker. This has led the literature to under-theorize, if not outright ignore, the cultural and normative dimension of meaningful work. In particular, it has obscured that a person’s ability to find meaning in her life in general, and her work in particular, is typically anchored and dependent on shared institutions and cultural aspirations. Reflecting on the future of work, particularly on (...) the dangers posed by the threat of technological unemployment, helps us recognize this cultural and normative dimension of meaningful work. I argue that a world with few work opportunities is a world devoid of a core structuring ideal around which our society has organized itself and, as such, will strain our ability to make sense of what it means to find life meaningful. To make this case I show that work operates as a central organizing _telos_ around which our contemporary lives gravitate. Work touches everyone and everything, defining the rhythms of our days and weeks and providing a center of gravity around which our lives are structured. Work constitutes a central dimension of human flourishing. Through work we provide for our material needs, develop our skills and virtues, build community, and contribute to the common good. As such, work constitutes a central organizing ideal in contemporary Western societies, a fact has significant normative force and plays an important role in our finding work meaningful. (shrink)