DELO DŽUDIT BATLER KAO FILOZOFSKI DOGAĐAJ. RAZGOVOR SA ADRIANOM ZAHARIJEVIĆ O KNJIZI ŽIVOT TELĀ (1. epizoda podkasta Zvuk misli)
Interview with Adriana Zaharijević, by Andrea Perunović.
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Interview with Adriana Zaharijević, by Andrea Perunović.
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The text begins with the statement that every crisis in life is a human crisis. A human crisis is referred to whenever the unity of man’s spiritual being is violated. That crisis has a historical character when the causes that give rise to it are not individual but collective ones, i.e. when they affect the spiritual environment in which the individual consciousness is rooted.There are two moments of particular interest in the relationship between the individual and the collective consciousness: the moment of sufficient compliance and the moment of contradiction between them. In the first case there is a total unity of the collective and also of the individual consciousness; all values including the vital, aesthetical, moral and religious ones are absolute; the individual lives with them naively untroubled by any skepticism, without his critical consciousness having been awakened; the individual is a completely integral part of the whole and his life fully coincides with the life of that whole. Such is the collective man. In the second case the individual consciousness is extorted from the collective consciousness and is more or less at odds with it. Since the unity of the collective has been violated all values have become conventional quantities; their absolute validity has been replaced by another – relative one; the naive faith has been replaced by the general doubt of criticism, the individual ceases to be a part included in the whole and strives to be outside that whole, often even fighting with it so as to be established as a sovereign being. Such is the individualist.
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This article examines human vulnerability in relation to the changing socio-political context of the contemporary world, resulting from the undermining of the established international order in recent decades as a result of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine, military actions in explosive areas such as the Middle East, and the hybrid warfare that dictatorial regimes and terrorist organizations are waging against the free world. The poles of confrontation are outlined, broadly labelled as the global ghetto versus the global city. The second part presents the two largely contradictory discourses – modern and postmodern – within which human vulnerability in the Western world is thematized. Several themes of the discourse critical of modernity are presented, such as 'structural violence'; the specific identity of minority groups and the demand for specific rights; and postcolonialism and anti-colonialism, which require policies that contradict those derived from the modern discourse and promote ghettoization both within individual societies and in the world. The hypothesis proposed in this article is that war, especially open war, clarifies dividing lines and challenges a rethinking of emphases in defining human vulnerability
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In Book VII of Politics, Aristotle discusses abortion as one of the means of population control. Since the prosperity of a state depends, among other factors, on finding the right balance between its size and the number of inhabitants, Aristotle argues that abortion is permissible in cases where the prescribed number of children is exceeded, but only “before the onset of sensation and life,” which means before it acquires a sensitive soul. A detailed analysis of Aristotle’s understanding of human physiological development shows that the fetus acquires a sensitive soul on the fortieth or ninetieth day after conception, and this is taken as the limit beyond which abortion is not permitted. Aristotle believed that the fetus does originate as a human being, but gradually becomes one through development. Considering the broader context in which Aristotle discusses abortion, we can see that, despite the normative framework, these considerations cannot be understood outside the place they have in his theory and cannot be abstracted and applied directly to the contemporary bioethical debate on abortion.
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The paper presents a theoretical consideration of the basics of philosophy of law of Carl Schmitt, a famous German lawyer and thinker who is the author of a quite controversial law theory, which to this day will not cease to intrigue the professional researchers. The work approaches Schmitt’s thought in an impartial way, and conducts a constructive dialogue with his theory of law and the state, i.e. his philosophy of law, acknowledging Schmitt’s analytical results in defining the relationship between politics and law, but also criticizing his theory where it shows certain exaggerations. The paper presents a simultaneous research of Schmitt’s theory and Schmitt’s biography, trying to show the existential and political reasons why he tried to conform his theory of state and law to the totalitarian political circumstances in which he lived. The paper finally evaluates the value of Schmitt’s theory, which in a clear, descriptive and logical way distinguished two levels of legal thought, distinguishing the very level of constitution of the political-legal order where law is not, in real historical conditions, separate from politics - and the level of the system of positive legal norms itself. In addition to discussing the basic figures of Schmitt’s philosophy of law, the paper also pays attention to Schmitt’s treatment of particular legal-theoretical issues, such as the issue of the state of emergency and sovereignty.
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The text will suggest that our emotional life is one continuous stream of active and passive fear. The argumentation is based on different insights about fear presented by Angelo Mosso and Carl Georg Lange in particular. Specifically, Mosso shows that increased circulation occurs after fear ceases, while Lange links anger and joy to increased circulation, showing that these two emotions are physiologically close. At the same time, Lange argues that sadness is physiologically close to fear because it is characterized by weakened circulation. On the other hand, there is an evolutionary connection between fear and anger. The text presents the idea that fear is the only basic emotion, and that other emotions are modifications of fear, hence the title „The Stream of Fear” inspired by William James’s description of our mental life as one continuous „stream of consciousness”.
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My main goal in this paper is to conduct a detailed analysis of the moral status of artificial intelligence. I will start by clarifying the notion of moral status, as well as the dichotomy between moral agent and moral patient, which plays a significant role in a vast number of perplexing dilemmas in applied ethics. This clarification is necessary to get a clearer view of the key issues that I intend to answer in the paper; more specifically, to the question (a) whether we can cause harm, in a morally relevant sense, to an intelligent artificial system, and (b) whether an intelligent artificial system can itself act in a way that can be assessed in moral terms.
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This paper aims to explain the effect of the post-truth on revisionism in Just War Theory. Revisionism in JWT is based on the claim that Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello cannot be separated and that only combatants who fight on the just side are morally justified in killing. Presupposition of this argument is that combatants can and ought to know the moral status of their side. This paper will demonstrate that it is impossible to demand combatants to know whether their side is just by investigating the implications of post-truth in modern conflicts. By demonstrating the practical impossibility of combatants to know whether their side is just, author will show that the assumption of inculpable ignorance in war must remain the essence of JWT. Posttruth phenomenon only fortifies the necessity of separating Jus ad Bellum from Jus in Bello and upholding the principle of moral equality of combatants in contemporary wars.
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The paper, from the perspective of ethical theories, presents and analyzes the aspects of morality that fall under responsible leadership in the field of business ethics. It is an assumption that the idea of responsible leadership is derived from the aspect of morality that is governed by interest, which can be disguised for the sake of personal and/or material profit. In addition, answers are offered to questions concerning the importance and relevance of corporate social responsibility, as well as the status of corporations as moral agents. Those activities that go beyond purely business interest, such as socially responsible work or philanthropic work, are very useful and profitable and, in addition, understand companies as entities who, indirectly, have a specific dose of ethical responsibility, which ultimately makes them moral agents.
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The subject of this paper will be the analysis of the question of religious toleration in the political thought of seventeenth century English philosopher John Locke. The first part of the paper will discuss the foundational principles of Locke’s political thought, particularly his contract theory. The second part will be dedicated to situating his positions on freedom of religion within the domain of that theory, accentuating the moment of separation between church and state. The final part will analyze the implications of religious toleration, as well as its limits, upon which Locke’s criterion of freedom of religion will be critically examined.
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In this paper I will consider relation between political environment and happiness, advocating the view according to which democracy represents a form of social life that positively affects the happiness of citizens. The subject of my research will be the analysis of basic psychological assumptions about happiness, the influence of society and the cultural environment on the subjective feeling of happiness, as well as arguments that could support a democratic system as the most optimal for creating a harmonious and happy society. I will focus in particular on the question of whether individualist and collectivist societies equally provide people with the basic conditions for a quality and happy life. I will approach the research methodologically in two ways. First, I will address these issues from a theoretical perspective, taking into account contemporary psychological doctrines about happiness and the arguments of political philosophy that consider the relationship between happiness and social circumstances. Secondly, I will try to compare all theoretical assumptions with the conducted empirical research. I will try to defend the assumption that democratic environments create better conditions for personal satisfaction and happiness of people, concluding that the happiness of citizens, through the promotion of freedom, autonomy and equality, in a sense is one of the direct goals of democracy, which gives it a great advantage over undemocratic societies, both in theoretical terms and in terms of the results of empirical research.
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The phenomenon of post-truth, in which truth (or facts or the best scientific evidence) is brushed aside in public debates, has recently caught the eye of many philosophers, who typically see it as a threat to deliberative democracy. In this paper, it is argued that Gustave Le Bon’s remarks on crowd psychology, which had been very popular in past (and brushed aside later on), might be relevant for a better understanding of psychological mechanisms that lead to post-truth. According to Le Bon, crowds are often irrational, whereas those who try to convince them to do something should use specific techniques of persuasion, such as affirmation, repetition, contagion and prestige, of which the last one can be undermined either by fiasco (the fastest way), or by critique (a bit slower, but nonetheless effective way). It is the age of posttruth that goes towards the neutralization of any critique (Le Bon himself considered such neutralization devastating for democratic societies), which has been, according to some authors, affected to a great extent by technological innovations in media, such as social media that some authors consider anti-social due to their negative impact on society. I argue that Le Bon’s insights might be useful to members of scientific and philosophical community in their attempts to eliminate the spreading of quasi-scientific views in public discourse.
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According to Aristotle, one of the necessary, although not sufficient, conditions for a good and happy life is the possession of virtue. A person who possesses virtues never wants something that is bad, but only what is good, and in that way she is free from internal struggle. Such person is formed through good habits. In Huxley’s dystopia, individuals are shaped by genetic selection and behavioral conditioning to want only what is good for the state, its peace iand prosperity, and thus to want what is good for themselves. The goal of this paper is to examine the differences between Aristotle and Huxley. In the first part of the paper I will discuss different techniques of character formation in Aristotle and those described in Huxley’s dystopia. In the second part of the paper, I will address the question why Huxley’s world does not appeal to us, even though everyone in it wants exactly what they should want. In the Brave new world Huxley portrays the world that is built around the assumption that for a person to be happy it is enough that they want what they can achieve and get. For Aristotle this is not enough. In addition to it we need to study the ultimate nature of the world. That Aristotle’s position is more likely to be the case is indicated by contemporary research in psychology.
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Bernard Williams’s papers collected in the volume In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument had a great influence on contemporary normative political theory. Williams not only revived the topic of realism in political theory, but also defended the approach of political realism that he contrasts to the approach of political moralism. This paper will focus on the distinction between political realism and political moralism. Moreover, the question of legitimacy will be considered in the light of this distinction. After examination of the distinction between political realism and political moralism, we will be in a position to address the main question that this paper aims to answer: does political realism set any limits on political philosophy?
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The aim of this paper will be to investigate Rawls’ theory of justice concerning the position of the disabled people. First of all, I will expose his two principles of justice. Secondly, I will expose criticism of Eva Kittay and Martha Nussbaum, who claim that our acceptance of Rawlsian theory prevents us from achieving the just position of the people with disabilities. After that I will examine one of the most successful upgrades of Rawls’ original theory that was established by Harry Brighouse. However, Brighouse’s upgrade improves the position of only those individuals who had become disabled due to natural reasons and not due to their own mistakes. This is why I will, finally, tend to point out that the exclusion of those individuals whose disability is a consequence of their own mistake is not justified, since it incorporates a deontological assumption that is not necessary for Rawls’ theory of justice.
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The article opens the question of the perception of the relationship between art and capitalism in the contemporary era. This complex problem is treated from two angles of observation, which seem to be in a contrasting relationship. The first interpretative emphasis is placed on Adorne’s aesthetic theory of the mediation of art and society, while the other is summed up in Mikelsen’s theory of the effects of non-philosophical contemporary art which, in fact, conquers the position of power in the context of neoliberal capitalism with its empiricism. The article examines both these approaches, given their basic intentions, ranges and possible outcomes.
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In this article I will analyze the transfer of fitness during the major transitions in evolution and its place in the multilevel selection models. The aim of the analysis is to show how social evolution can explain the evolutionary transitions in individuality.
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My aim in this paper is to explain what Condorcet’s jury theorem is, and to examine its central assumptions, its significance to the epistemic theory of democracy and its connection with Rousseau’s theory of general will. In the first part of the paper I will analyze an epistemic theory of democracy and explain how its connection with Condorcet’s jury theorem is twofold: the theorem is at the same time a contributing historical source, and the model used by the authors to this day. In the second part I will specify the purposes of the theorem itself, and examine its underlying assumptions. Third part will be about an interpretation of Rousseau’s theory, which is given by Grofman and Feld relying on Condorcet’s jury theorem, and about criticisms of such interpretation. In the fourth, and last, part I will focus on one particular assumption of Condorcet’s theorem, which proves to be especially problematic if we would like to apply the theorem under real-life conditions; namely, the assumption that voters choose between two options only.
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In this paper I am starting with Foucault’s notion of apparatus (dispositif), showing its genealogy, its „growth“ from the concept of positivity (from Archaeology of Knowledge), in order to demonstrate its double-sidedness: on the one hand, functions of subjugation, and on the other, chance for emancipation. Gilles Deleuze was the first to announce such adjustment of that notion, identifying foucauldian apparatus as controling force, as well as the one that can liberate human beings. Giorgio Agamben transposed that division into the difference between sacred and profane, claiming that apparatus works like the act of sacrifice, and that the opposing act of profanation can be understood as the work of counter-apparatus. Following Agamben’s analysis, language, in its poetic function (in its possibility of enjambement), is the one of the most powerfull counter-appparatuses.
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The article consists of three parts. In the first part, the discussions on technocracy in the twentieth century are related to the problems of dynamics of technocracy in the European Union. In the second part, the paper tries to point to the fact that the problem of technocracy is already determined by the genesis of EU. In this section the paper articulates the special contribution of German ordoliberalism in relation to EU structures and technocratic governmentality. Specifically, the juridization and economization of politics, and the economization of constitutionality are mentioned. The third part deals with the momentum of technocracy after the crisis in 2008 and the technocracy is treated as a crisis-based guardianship. The paper concludes that given modalities of technocracy in EU are not accidental or by products; it can be derived from the genesis and structure of the EU.
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