RHETORICAL ETHOS: BETWEEN TÉCHNE RHETORIKÉ AND PRACTICAL DISCIPLINES Inquiring Aristotelian conception of rhetoric as an art of persuasion, the author of the article aims in presenting rhetorical ethos and rhetoric itself in reference to practical disciplines, politics and ethics. Understanding rhetoric’s autonomy as a theoretical postulate this inquiries introduce a demand of functionality and axiological awareness: to treat art of rhetoric as an organon for the practical disciplines and to acquire attention of normative problems concerning particular features of rhetoric and (...) rhetorical ethos. The article investigates Aristotle’s original conception of rhetoric and the troubled but essential connection between techne and praxis. Proposing a solution, the author initially puts forward a project of establishing a new normative conception of rhetorical ethos meeting the demands of contemporary praxis (especially in the field of education) on the basis of a concept of uprightness. (shrink)

An ethical epoché is required to leave the terrain of a self-evident morality and question its origin. In particular, four fundamental motifs of the ethical dimension are identified: pathos, to be thematised as an alternative to the persistent activist unilateralism; response, which always involves body and soul; diastasis with its stumbles and subtractions; and finally coaffection, in which the social dimension of experience is announced. Ethical behaviour feeds on the magma of pathos, which in turn would be blind and directionless (...) without any ethos. (shrink)

In The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen, Stephen K. White contends that Western democracies face novel challenges demanding our reexamination of the role of citizens. White argues that the intense focus in the past three decades on finding general principles of justice for diversity-rich societies needs to be complemented by an exploration of what sort of ethos would be needed to adequately sustain any such principles. Accessible, pithy, and erudite, The Ethos of a Late-Modern Citizen will appeal to a wide (...) audience. (shrink)

In the Letter of Humanism, Heidegger reinterprets the Greek notion of ethos as designating the way in which human beings dwell in the world through a “unifying” language. Through various down strokes in the autobiographical and psychopathological literature on schizophrenia as well as in literary texts and literary criticism, this paper, experimental in its effort, argues that the language productions of schizophrenia and poetry, each in its own way, seem to fall outside this unification of a language in common. Furthermore, (...) it argues that this “falling outside” is related to radical experiences of “alienation” and “otherness,” which call for an alteration of conventional language. However, whereas poetry appears to open new linguistic possibilities, schizophrenia runs the risk of reducing language to the silence of incomprehensible “nonsense.” The paper ends with the suggestion that a poetic employment of language may hold a double potential with regard to the understanding and possible treatment of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. (shrink)

É largamente reconhecido no interior dos estudos das Humanidades, em especial no campo da Filosofia, a lacuna deixada acerca da compreensão do papel das mulheres e da sua produção intelectual no pensamento filosófico. Tal preocupação deve-se, em grande parte, à produção divulgada por outras áreas de estudos, como as de gênero e da teoria feminista. No caso do campo filosófico, trata-se de reconhecer que a história da filosofia nunca foi feita só por homens, ainda mais quando se tratou da defesa (...) da liberdade das mulheres e da sua luta por inserção e reconhecimento intelectuais. Neste sentido, este trabalho visa analisar comparativamente três discursos em defesa da liberdade das mulheres, escritos por duas jovens autoras e um autor, em momentos distintos. Em primeiro lugar, temos o discurso de um jovem professor de retórica, Lorenzo Valla, contido no seu diálogo Do Prazer, de 1431; em segundo, temos o diálogo Il Merito delle Donne, da escritora veneziana Moderata Fonte, publicado postumamente em 1600; e, por fim, o texto da Tirannia Paterna, de outra escritora veneziana, a filósofa Arcangela Tarabotti, publicado postumamente em 1654. Em todos os três casos, tratam-se de discursos endereçados aos homens, em repúdio por seus crimes cometidos contra a liberdade das mulheres e o livre-arbítrio em geral. Desse modo, tomando como eixo de análise a semelhança temática entre tais textos, será de nosso interesse observar a relação entre o ethos dos falantes com o self dos autores nessas três orações distintas, levando em consideração ainda o gênero de discurso, a audiência, os efeitos retóricos e o contexto em que as obras se inscreveram. (shrink)

Calls for the “translation” of research from bench to bedside are increasingly demanding. What is translation, and why does it matter? We sketch the recent history of outcome-oriented translational research in the United States, with a particular focus on the Roadmap Initiative of the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD). Our main example of contemporary translational research is stem cell research, which has superseded genomics as the translational object of choice. We explore the nature of and obstacles to translational research (...) and assess the ethical and biomedical challenges of embracing a translational ethos. (shrink)

Critical educational research offers the researcher a position and an ethos of comfort. Even the declared recognition of the relativity of principles, norms or criteria so characteristic of much critical research does not prevent it from looking immediately for a way out of this uncomfortable situation i.e. to keep to the idea that comfort is needed and desirable. However, we suggest that this uncomfortable condition is constitutive for critical educational research and may be even for education as such. Therefore the (...) article can be considered as a genealogical analysis of this comfortable critical research, in which we show how the birth of the milieu of the modern school goes together with the instauration of two forms of a comfortable research ‘ethos’: a research ethos rooted in a pastoral milieu and a research ethos rooted in a bureaucratic milieu. In the last section of the article we indicate that another ‘experimental’ ethos of research is possible, including the acceptance of discomfort. This is the ethos of a critical researcher as an inhabitant of a coming research community and as being exposed to the present. (shrink)

This article analyzes efforts in Nicaragua to create ethical organizations and an ethical economy. Three societal ethea found in contemporary Nicaragua are examined: the ethos of revolution, the ethos of corruption, and the ethos of human development. The emerging ethos of human development provides the most hope for the nation's social and economic evolution. The practices of three successful economic development organizations explicitly aligned with the ethos of human development are described and evaluated: (1) a microfinance foundation (FDL), (2) a (...) federation of cooperatives (FENACOOP), and (3) a local branch of an international NGO (IO-Nicaragua). The article concludes with additional reflections on the meaning of ethical organizations and an ethical economy in the context of contemporary Nicaragua. (shrink)

The Ethos of Medicine in Postmodern America is an analysis of medical care, medical education and medical professionalism with reference to the cultural touchstones of the postmodern era: consumerism, computerization, destruction of meta-narratives, and “stakeholder late capitalism.” The prism of postmodern thought provides a powerful heuristic to grasp the fundamental changes that have occurred and substantively changed the ethos of healthcare delivery, the patient-physician relationship, the physician-corporate entanglement, and the addition of more stakeholders in healthcare delivery.

The Ethos of Medicine in Postmodern America is an analysis of medical care, medical education, and medical professionalism with reference to the cultural touchstones of the postmodern era: consumerism, computerization, destruction of meta-narratives, and “stakeholder late capitalism.”.

Jasper Griffin, in his recent book on Homer, has suggested that modern critics would do well to pay more attention to the localized insights and the general critical framework of the ancient Greek commentators. In a previous article, ‘Homeric Pathos and Objectivity’, he claimed to show, by careful study of those passages in which the scholiasts found λεος, οκτος or πάθος, that ‘the ancient scholars were right to regard pathos as one of the most important elements in the Iliad’. also (...) think this is a potentially fruitful and underdeveloped approach to the criticism of Homer and other ancient authors; and that the term pathos, together with ēthos, with which it is often coupled or contrasted, is one of the most suggestive, though also confusing, of ancient critical terms. I want to begin the story further back in time than the scholia, in the treatises on rhetoric and poetics from which the scholiasts’ critical vocabulary was largely derived. I propose to survey the use of ēthos and pathos as contrasted terms in these treatises from Aristotle to Longinus, in the hope that such a survey will not only clarify the various meanings and associations attached to these terms but will also throw a more general light on ancient critical presuppositions. Both Aristotle and Longinus used the ethos/pathos distinction to contrast the Odyssey and theIliad; and a clearer understanding of the significance they gave to these words may help us to appraise the critical usefulness of their comments. (shrink)

Jasper Griffin, in his recent book on Homer, has suggested that modern critics would do well to pay more attention to the localized insights and the general critical framework of the ancient Greek commentators. In a previous article, ‘Homeric Pathos and Objectivity’, he claimed to show, by careful study of those passages in which the scholiasts found λεος, οκτος or πάθος, that ‘the ancient scholars were right to regard pathos as one of the most important elements in the Iliad’. also (...) think this is a potentially fruitful and underdeveloped approach to the criticism of Homer and other ancient authors; and that the term pathos, together with ēthos, with which it is often coupled or contrasted, is one of the most suggestive, though also confusing, of ancient critical terms. I want to begin the story further back in time than the scholia, in the treatises on rhetoric and poetics from which the scholiasts’ critical vocabulary was largely derived. I propose to survey the use of ēthos and pathos as contrasted terms in these treatises from Aristotle to Longinus, in the hope that such a survey will not only clarify the various meanings and associations attached to these terms but will also throw a more general light on ancient critical presuppositions. Both Aristotle and Longinus used the ethos/pathos distinction to contrast the Odyssey and theIliad; and a clearer understanding of the significance they gave to these words may help us to appraise the critical usefulness of their comments. (shrink)

Abstract:The discussion of the global economy and worldwide expansion of the capitalist and market economic system barely deals with the topic of public goods, although they are of paramount importance precisely in this international setting. Fortunately, the theory of public economics systematically developed the central concept of the public good with its far-reaching implications so that this knowledge can be applied also to global issues. In order to treat these often vaguely discussed issues, a typology of international relations is proposed. (...) These and other considerations prepare the way to ask the question about the implied ethos. Because a common and sustainable ethos for public goods in the global economy is of great relevance and high urgency, both religious and non-religious ethical traditions are called for making their necessary contributions to this foundation. (shrink)

Business schools are the “nurseries” of the corporate world. This article offers an empirical analysis of the business student ethos on the basis of research conducted at three Dutch universities. A theoretical framework in the tradition of virtue ethics and dubbed “moral ethology” is used to identify the values business schools convey to their students. The central research question is: What types of ethos do Dutch business students have? Forty‐three undergraduate students participated in Q‐methodological research, a mixed qualitative–quantitative small‐sample method. (...) Five different types of ethos were generated: Do‐Good Managers, Market Managers, Searching Managers, Balancing Managers, and Radical Market Managers. Some general characteristics that apply to all the types of ethos were identified, such as the search for efficiency. It is argued that business schools should pay much more attention to the values that are endorsed in both life and business and should help students to address situations in which values are neglected. (shrink)

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. Peace; 3. Rule of law; 4. Human rights; 5. Democracy; 6. Liberty; 7. The institutional ethos of the EU; 8. Towards the EU as a just institution; 9. Concluding proposals.

(1996). The ethos of individualism in cross‐cultural perspective: Exploring the European values data. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 645-651.

Professional involvement and the moral life of individuals and professional groups, especially those with high social prestige, such as firefighters, are linked by the category of “ethos”. Since the ethos of this service is today significantly influenced by multifaceted and dynamic ideological and existential transformations, it seems necessary to analyse the nature of this impact. Therefore, it seems that postmodernity brings with it ideological tendencies, which, by destroying the traditional preferences established so far, do not propose anything in their place. (...) These include, among others: the crisis of personal and community identity, secularisation processes, the “axiology” of consumerism that is clearly being shaped nowadays, the depreciation of the meaning of work, and, finally, irrationalism and the crisis of the meaning of life. (shrink)

In jeder Lebensform spielt der Mensch. Sobald er diese Lebensform thematisiert, verschwindet sie aber. Die ursprüngliche wird durch eine neue Lebensform ersetzt, die somit nicht mehr unmittelbar ist. In Platons Nomoi ist diese Thematisierung die Aufgabe des Gesetzgebers. Er kennt die erste Lebensform (êthos) und ist deswegen in der Lage sie – durch den Logos (lógos) – zu verändern. Er errichtet die Gesetze in Anwesenheit des abwesenden Ethos. Im vorliegenden Beitrag soll gezeigt werden, inwiefern dies in Platons Nomoi geschieht und (...) warum das Ethos als der zentrale Begriff dieses platonischen Werkes zu betrachten ist. (shrink)

A modo de hipótesis de partida, este texto cuenta como supuesto con que en el pensamiento político de Suárez, de Gracián y de Saavedra Fajardo encontramos pistas suficientes para sostener que pueden entenderse como exponentes de un ethos barroco con perfil de ethos de resistencia. Si ello es así, podemos decir que en el barroco hispano encontramos, salvando las distancias, algunos elementos, especialmente sobre la razón de Estado, que permiten ver en él lo que se presentó por el filósofo Bolívar (...) Echeverría, desde América, como ethos barroco. Y a la vez, cabrá proponer que dicho ethos barroco con esa doble apoyatura a uno y otro lado del Atlántico da pie para una relectura del mismo que permita esbozar en la actualidad aportaciones relevantes para una salida de la crisis de la modernidad que necesita otro paradigma. (shrink)

This article focuses on Max Weber’s understanding of “ethos” in “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” and the benefits afforded by this concept. The reference is not accidental as it is in this work that Weber could consistently explicate his ethical argument. The idea of ethos becomes clearer in comparison with the concept of habitus, which is actively used today in social science. It is shown that the distinction between ethos and habitus may be more productive than the (...) conflation common in modern research. The category “ethos” is compared with the value-rational action from the later typology of action in Weber’s “Economy and Society”, while habitus is associated with traditional action from the same typology. The concept of ethos is further clarified by the example of Weber’s opposition of traditionalism and ethical modern Western capitalism. By focusing on ethical issues and using character as a theoretical tool, Weber not only puts forward a convincing interpretation but lays the foundations for a specific line of analysis in social and economic science. The category of ethos in conjunction with the value-rational type of action acquires special significance due to the potential for novelty and change that is embedded in it. (shrink)

In Cohen’s vision of the just society, there would be no need for unequalizing incentives so as to benefit the least well-off; instead, people would be motivated by an egalitarian ethos to work hard and in the most socially productive jobs. As such, Cohen appears to offer a way to mitigate the trade-off of equality for efficiency that often characterizes theorizing about distributive justice. This article presents an egalitarian challenge to Cohen’s vision of the just society. I argue that a (...) society where all internalized the egalitarian ethos would be one lacking equal respect among its members, in which certain groups lacked the grounds of self-respect. Section 1 defends equal respect and a form of equality of self-respect as values with broad-based appeal to egalitarians, and argues that a particular form of hierarchy would undermine both equal respect and the grounds of self-respect. Sections 2 and 3 reveal that just such a hierarchy would emerge in a society in which all had internalized the egalitarian ethos, in the case of both carers and the untalented. Thus, Cohen’s proposed society is shown to fail to unite equality and efficiency. Instead, Cohen’s society would be characterized by a lack of equality. (shrink)

Auch als originar politischer Denker ist Karl Jaspers reich an Einsichten: Ausgehend vom Ethos der Freiheit jedes Einzelnen richtet er seinen Blick auf die konkrete politische Gestaltung einer Freiheitsordnung. Dabei steht fur ihn im Hinblick auf die noch junge Bundesrepublik die Selbsterziehung in Freiheit im Zentrum seiner oft mahnenden Worte. Ganz im sokratischen Sinne fordert er intellektuelle Redlichkeit und politische Wahrhaftigkeit ein, um den beiden grossen Gegenwartsherausforderungen gewachsen zu sein: einer atomwaffenbestuckten Welt, die sich jederzeit selbst ausloschen kann, und dem (...) modernen Totalitarismus, der in seiner Verherrlichung des Antipolitischen allen politischen Ordnungsbestrebungen die Vernichtung androht. Jeder Frieden, der mehr ist als die Friedhofsruhe eines Waffenstillstands, grundet fur Jaspers in der politischen Freiheit handelnder Burgerinnen und Burger, die gemeinsam Sorge fur die Integritat ihres politischen Gemeinwesens tragen. Mit Beitragen von Karl-Heinz Breier, Alexander Gantschow, Anton Hugli, Annabelle Petschow, Kurt Salamun, Reinhard Schulz, Bernhard Sutor, Bernd Weidmann. (shrink)

This essay reconsiders More's letter to Brixius. It uncovers early modern understandings of self-fashioning/ethos and epistolary conventions of the period, and with these contexts, it rereads More's self-presentation or ethos-development in the letter. The essay argues that More's ethos in the letter highlights an authentic facet of himself and, thereby, gives us a glimpse of the historical More who, in the Brixius moment, is angry, but not excessively or habitually, as has sometimes been claimed.

Toute éthique, Heidegger l'a montré, est enfermée dans un paradoxe : alors qu'elle a pour objet de fonder a priori des règles universelles et nécessaires pour orienter notre comportement, l'éthique bute inéluctablement sur la particularité et la contingence des circonstances singulières. Surtout, une éthique qui dicte ainsi des principes risque fort de décharger l'être humain de sa responsabilité essentielle en le dispensant de la tâche de la pensée. Comment, alors, concevoir en conséquence notre rapport au monde? Comment repenser notre "séjour" (...) sur terre pour en faire une véritable préparation au bien-vivre, un soutien au mouvement même du désir, de l'action et de la décision? Comment ajuster notre besoin de règles universelles à l'irréductible singularité phénoménale des événements? La confrontation des philosophies de Schelling et de Heidegger permet de penser autrement l'ethos, radicalement opposé à toute tentative normative qui fixerait a priori les lois universelles censées régir la maxime de nos actions. Tel est le sens du présent essai, dont l'enjeu principal est de fonder l'ethos de l'im-possible, celui qui admet l'événement et le surgissement imprévisible du possible et y répond."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Business Ethics: A European Review, Volume 30, Issue 2, Page 188-201, April 2021.

Business Ethics: A European Review, Volume 30, Issue 2, Page 188-201, April 2021.

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra (2006), Nietzsche presents Zarathustra as a sage and parodic prophet, who acquires and offers insight over the narrated journey of his spiritual development. Nietzsche’s conception of Zarathustra as a gift (to “all and none”) endorses learning as the kind of emulation condensed into Zarathustra’s complex formulation: rather than “corpses that I carry with me wherever I want... I need living companions who follow me because they want to follow themselves—wherever I want.” Thus I aim, firstly, to (...) follow the text closely to see what is given. However, noting that Zarathustra is deeply imbued with figures of laughter, I also impose an interpretation. “Repeating differently,” as demanded by Zarathustra, I outline a practicable, spiral‐shaped “learning curve” of traversal and return to various “shades of laughter,” advancing from the worst laughters to “golden laughter,” which embraces complexity. This represents what it means to laugh well. In so doing, I hope to demonstrate that the complex ethos of affirmative laughter in Zarathustra remains strikingly pertinent for a contemporary era urgently tasked with embracing complexity. (shrink)

Where institutions are well-ordered and governed according to principles identified as necessary for justice, the attitudes and behaviors of citizens are also likely to be affected: they will develop a specific ethos that is appropriate for sustaining that just order. However, the absence of a substantially just basic structure will also take effect on what is considered an appropriate sense of justice suited to dealing with nonideal situations characterized by potentially profound injustice. Where ideal theory can describe an ethos necessary (...) for supporting already just institutions and practices, we require a separate account of an ethos appropriate to nonideal conditions. (shrink)

The philosophical nature of ethical reasoning generates different definitions of moral subjectivity. Thus any talk of leadership ethics requires not only that we confront biases regarding human nature and the purpose of leadership and business conduct, but also differing ethical approaches which may be rooted in specific cultural and religious backgrounds. Building a conceptual framework for leadership ethics which overcomes these obstacles of bias and cultural embeddedness therefore requires another approach. It can be found in the concept of the Global (...) Ethos values. Using Kohlberg’s model of moral development, the Global Ethos values appear as a protoethical system of values with a level-six effect, a universally explicable deontological canon of ethical values below the sixth level, i.e. in the realm of hands-on management and leadership. As non-judgmental and regulative guiding principles, these values are the normative guidelines for selecting a situationally appropriate form of leadership style before and beyond any philosophical explication and rationale. (shrink)

Este estudio rebate las tesis de Carl Schmitt que conciben al catolicismo, y al jesuitismo en particular, como una gran complexio oppositorum que reúne tanto al conservadurismo como al izquierdismo bajo una misma unidad absoluta representada por las formas del Papa. El “ethos” de obediencia postulado por la Compañía de Jesús contribuyó decisivamente a la formación de una Administración que rebasa el marco de la burocracia eclesiástica. Sustituyó la educación renacentista por una educación de cuño tomista, decisiva en la formación (...) del “ethos” disciplinado del funcionario que actúa sine ira et studio. Pero fracasó en la pretensión de remplazar la vitalidad, el naturalismo y la confrontación de opiniones del liberalismo bajo la mencionada complexio oppositorum. (shrink)

A ética cristã possui em Hegel e Nietzsche um terreno comum: representado pelo embate a moral, que é o estranhamento provocado pela positividade da lei. Assim, pelo movimento de reconciliação, representado pela abertura do destino como pela unidade do amor, ambos autores contribuem para a instauração de um ethos cristão. Por essa razão, a dialética hegeliana supera o fechamento e dogmatismo, para assumir a abertura e o porvir, portanto uma filosofia de plenitude.

Rhetorical ethos and dramatic theory -- Syntax, style, and ethos -- The worth of words -- Memory and ethos -- Shaw, ethos, and rhetorical wit -- Athol Fugard's dramatic rhetoric -- Rhetoric and silence in Holocaust drama.

This collection of articles from both distinguished and emerging authors working at the intersections of philosophy, literary theory, media, and technology does not intend to fix new moral rules. Instead, the volume explores the ethos of digital environments, asking how we can orient ourselves in them and inviting us to renewed moral reflection in the face of dilemmas they entail.

U članku se kritički promišlja predaja katoličkog ethosa iz vlastitih pretpostavki. Tematizirajući katolički ethos iz mišljenja bitka suvremenog čovjeka na temelju umjetnosti u modernom i postmodernom dobu pokušava se razumjeti katolički ethos u horizontu ljudske egzistencije post-modernog doba. Time nam je otvoren prostor za njegovo razumijevanje iz postojanja umjetnosti u post-modernom dobu. Problematizirajući katolički ethos i umjetnost u post-modernom dobu iz njihovog ontološkog statusa unutar položaja u bitku suvremenog čovjeka bilo je potrebno distingvirati i naznačiti razliku i korespondenciju ova dva (...) pojma kao jednih od temeljnih oblika ljudskog duha. Čovjek kao onto-antropološko biće logosa postoji jedino kao povijesno onto-antropološko biće koje ima potrebu za svetim koje određuje njegov izvorni odnos prema postojanju. Sveto kao sveto, naime, povezano je s egzistencijalnom biti čovjeka. Umjetnost se na temelju svetoga pruža kao otvoreno medijacijsko polje prema katoličkom ethosu, otvarajući mu istinu epohe, posredujući egzistencijalnu istinu s epohalnom istinom. Time umjetnost kao forma suvremenog čovjekovog duha, uz znanost, tehnologiju, filozofiju i religiju, otkriva i oblikuje jednu novu stvarnost, koja u svojim najvišem potencijalima korespondira s najdubljim pitanjima čovjekove povijesne egzistencije kao njegove istine.The article critically reflects upon the tradition of Catholic ethos from its own assumptions. Considering the Catholic ethos from the thought of Being of modern man based on art in modern and postmodern age, we are trying to understand the Catholic ethos in the horizon of human existence in the postmodern age. Through this we have open space for understanding it from the existence of art in the postmodern age. In raising the issue of the Catholic ethos and art in postmodern age from their ontological status inside modern man’s position in Being, it was necessary to distinguish and note difference and correspondence of these two notions as one of the ground forms of human spirit. Human as an onto-anthropological creature of logos exists only as a historical onto-anthropological creature which has the need for the sacred which determines his original relation towards existence. The sacred as sacred is connected to the human existential essence. Art grounded on sacred is extended as an open mediation field towards the Catholic ethos, revealing the truth of epoch, mediating the existential truth with the epochal truth. By this art as a form of modern human spirit, with science, technology, philosophy and religion, reveals and shapes a new reality which in its highest potentials corresponds with the deepest questions of human historical existence as his truth. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the normative role of conventions in sports. However, the approach I have in mind does not dispatch the theory of interpretivism. What I offer is a synthesis that aims to show how interpretivism works in concert with – and relies heavily on – conventions. To make this point, I will argue that historical, cultural, and even simple preferential needs and desires help to determine what counts as athletic ‘excellence’ in sports.

In _Professionals’ Ethos and Education for Responsibility,_ Alfred Weinberger, Horst Biedermann, Jean-Luc Patry and Sieglinde Weyringer offer insights into different concepts and applications of professionals’ ethos focusing on teachers’ ethos.

we are called together in indianapolis, under the shadow of the poet Mari Evans, to reflect on the influence and constraints of place, and the transformative and liberatory power of imagination. In her essay, "Ethos and Creativity," Evans looks back on a lifetime spent in Indianapolis. She shares her experiences of uplifting and revelatory art performances, alongside a multitude of spirit-numbing indignities as a result of anti-black racism. The metaphor she chooses to elicit the experience of this racism is that (...) of steel thread encased in luxurious fabric. No matter the beauty and exhilaration of the city, its character has been shaped and framed by an inflexible cord that tethers it to a legacy of white supremacy... (shrink)

"This is an extremely interesting and innovative collection with unusual empirical richness, with ethical and epistemological discussions cutting across ...

This book probes the sources and nature of the 'discontents of modernity'. It proposes a new approach to the philosophic-critical discourse on modernity. The Enlightenment is widely understood to be the foundational moment of modernity. Yet despite its appeal to reason as the ultimate ground of its authority and legitimacy, the Enlightenment has had multiple historical manifestations and, therefore, can hardly be said to be a homogenous phenomenon. The present work seeks to identify a unitive element that allows us to (...) speak of the Enlightenment. To do so, it enjoins the concept of 'ethos' and its relation to the 'discontents of modernity'. This book proposes a new theoretical framework for the examination of the interrelationships between 'critical thought' and 'modernity', based on a fundamental distinction between criticism and negation. It will appeal to scholars and students of critical theory, the history of ideas, philosophy, the sociology of knowledge, and political science. (shrink)