Addressing both collegiate and professional sports, the updated edition of Fair Play: The Ethics of Sport explores the ethical presuppositions of competitive athletics and their connection both to ethical theory and to concrete moral dilemmas that arise in actual athletic competition. This fourth edition has been updated with new examples, including a discussion of Spygate by the New England Patriots and recent discoveries on the use of performance enhancing drugs by top athletes. Two additional authors, Cesar R. Torres and Peter (...) F. Hager, bring to this edition a discussion of the moral issues involved in youth sports and the ethics of being a fan, as well as a fresh perspective on the theories of broad internalism and the quest for excellence. Furthermore, major criticisms of broad internalism by philosophers William J. Morgan and Scott Kretchmar add a new dimension to the discussion on the moral foundations of winning. (shrink)

The first goal of this paper is to reply to a number of criticisms levied by Gunnar Breivik and Robert L. Simon against an account of sporting skills I published almost 20 years ago in which I distinguished between constitutive and restorative skills and examined their normative significance. To accomplish this goal, I first summarize my characterization and classification of skills and then detail the criticisms. After responding to the latter, and thus reconsidering and hopefully strengthening my account of skill (...) in sport, I turn my attention to Scott Kretchmar and Tim Elcombe’s inquiry into the skills involved in competitive sport. These authors claim that contesting skills demand the same respect usually accorded to testing skills. The second goal of this paper is then to explore Kretchmar and Elcombe’s inquiry under the light of my reconsidered analysis of skill. I specifically advocate a plausible relationship, both in terms of their distinctive character and relative import, between testing and contesting skills and constitutive and restorative skills. In doing so, I seek to present a more comprehensive account of skill in non-competitive and competitive sport. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo discutir o conceito de “literatura da mulher” a partir da leitura de duas importantes autoras do século XX: a filósofa francesa Simone de Beauvoir e a poeta, tradutora e crítica literária brasileira Ana Cristina Cesar. Ainda que distantes entre si, encontramos na produção intelectual de ambas as autoras diversas aproximações possíveis que nos permitem refletir a respeito das relações entre gênero e literatura a partir de noções como alteridade e representação, contribuindo para o debate (...) em torno deste conceito.Palavras-chave: Literatura. Gênero. Mulher. Simone de Beauvoir. Ana Cristina Cesar. AbstractThis paper intends to discuss the concept of “women’s literature” from the analysis of two important authors of the 20th century: the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and the Brazilian poet, translator and literary critic Ana Cristina Cesar. Although distant from each other, we find in the intellectual production of both authors several possible approximations that allow us to reflect on the relations between gender and literature based on notions such as alterity and representation, contributing to the debate surrounding this concept.Keywords: Literature. Gender. Woman. Simone de Beauvoir. Ana Cristina Cesar. (shrink)

As sports have become more professional, winning has become more important. This emphasis on results, rather than sporting virtue and winning in style, probably explains the rising incidence of the Strategic Foul. Surprisingly, it has found some apologists among the philosophers of sport. The discussion of the Strategic Foul in the literature has produced subtle distinctions (e.g. Cesar Torres: constitutive skills versus restorative skills) as well as implausible distinctions (e.g. D’Agostino: ‘impermissible’ but ‘acceptable’ behaviour). In this paper I will review (...) Robert Simon’s defence of strategic fouling and conclude that his justification is not convincing. (shrink)

What can reason do for us and what can't it do? This is the question examined by Herbert A. Simon, who received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering work on decision-making processes in economic organizations." The ability to apply reason to the choice of actions is supposed to be one of the defining characteristics of our species. In the first two chapters, the author explores the nature and limits of human reason, comparing and evaluating the major (...) theoretical frameworks that have been erected to explain reasoning processes. He also discusses the interaction of thinking and emotion in the choice of our actions. In the third and final chapter, the author applies the theory of bounded rationality to social institutions and human behavior, and points out the problems created by limited attention span human inability to deal with more than one difficult problem at a time. He concludes that we must recognize the limitations on our capabilities for rational choice and pursue goals that, in their tentativeness and flexibility, are compatible with those limits. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide an appreciation of Michel Foucault’s The Order of Things reception, from the latest book by Ivan Domingues entitled “Foucault, a arqueologia e As palavras e as coisas: cinquenta anos depois” (Ed. UFMG, 2023). One of the scopes of the book is to examine the range of The Order of Things and its archaeological strategy to account for the presentation of the birth of human sciences, as well as its fragility and instability in (...) the face of a possible change in the disposition of knowledge. Or Episteme’s disposition, according to Foucault terminology, whose signs of change can be observed on the occasion of the advent, in the twentieth century, of Lacanian psychoanalysis, ethnology and structural linguistics. By privileging its repercussions, expansions and rectifications fifty years later, it is not intended to “correct” Foucault from an epistemological point of view, but to point out the fertility and power of his thoughts for posterity. It is about going through “fertile errors and anodyne truths” (DOMINGUES, 2020, p. 386). The bet is that possible gaps, errors or confusions identifiable by Foucault himself and by his critics at the time never invalidate the fertility of a discussion concerning human sciences, which were never the same after Foucault. (shrink)

We situate the well-trodden debate about defining health and disease within the project of a metaphysics of science and its aim to work with and contribute to science. We make use of Guay and Pradeu’s ‘metaphysical box’ to reframe this debate, showing what is at stake in recent attempts to move beyond it, revealing unforeseen points of agreement and disagreement among new and old positions, and producing new questions that may lead to progress. We then discuss the implications of the (...) two-way benefits between medicine and philosophy when the latter is driven and constrained by medical science. (shrink)

From political scandals at the highest levels to inflated repair bills at the local garage, we are seemingly surrounded with unethical behavior, so why should we behave any differently? Why should we go through life anchored down by rules no one else seems to follow? Writing with wit and elegance, Simon Blackburn tackles such questions in this lively look at ethics, highlighting the complications and doubts and troubling issues that spring from the very simple question of how we ought to (...) live. Blackburn dissects many common reasons why we are skeptical about ethics. Drawing on all-too-familiar examples from history, politics, religion and everyday personal experience, he shows how cynicism and self-consciousness can paralyze us into considering ethics a hopeless pursuit. But ethics is neither futile nor irrelevant, he assures us, but an intimate part of the nitty gritty issues of living--of birth, death, happiness, desire, freedom, pleasure, justice. Indeed, from moral dilemmas about abortion and euthanasia, to our obsession with personal rights, to our longing for a sense of meaning in life, our everyday struggles are rife with ethical issues, whether we notice it or not. Blackburn distills the arguments of Hume, Kant and Aristotle down to their essences, to underscore the timeless relevance of our voice of conscience, the pitfalls of complacency, and our concerns about truth, knowledge and human progress. Blackburn's rare combination of depth, rigor and sparkling prose, and his distinguished ranking among contemporary philosophers, mark Being Good as an important statement on our current disenchantment with ethics. It challenges us to take a more thoughtful reading of our ethical climate and to ponder more carefully our own standards of behavior. (shrink)

I argue against the claim that there are principled as well as pragmatic reasons for compromise in politics, even within the context of reasonable moral disagreements such as the abortion controversy.

This volume has its roots in two recent developments within mainstream analytic epistemology: a growing recognition over the past two or three decades of the active and social nature of our epistemic lives; and, more recently still, the increasing appreciation of the various ways in which the epistemic practices of individuals and societies can, and often do, go wrong. The theoretical analysis of these breakdowns in epistemic practice, along with the various harms and wrongs that follow as a consequence, constitutes (...) an approach to epistemology that we refer to as non-ideal epistemology. In this introductory chapter we introduce and contextualise the ten essays that comprise this volume, situating them within four broad sub-fields: vice epistemology, epistemic injustice, inter-personal epistemic practices, and applied epistemology. We also provide a brief overview of several other important growth areas in non-ideal epistemology. (shrink)

Nietzsche famously attacked traditional morality, and propounded a controversial ethics of 'life-enhancement'. Simon May presents a radically new view of Nietzsche's thought, which is shown to be both revolutionary and conservative, and to have much to offer us today after the demise of old values and the 'death of God'.

Many environmental scientists, scholars and activists characterise our situation as one of alienation from nature, but this notion can easily seem meaningless or irrational. In this book, Simon Hailwood critically analyses the idea of alienation from nature and argues that it can be a useful notion when understood pluralistically. He distinguishes different senses of alienation from nature pertaining to different environmental contexts and concerns, and draws upon a range of philosophical and environmental ideas and themes including pragmatism, eco-phenomenology, climate change, (...) ecological justice, Marxism and critical theory. His novel perspective shows that different environmental concerns - both anthropocentric and nonanthropocentric - can dovetail, rather than compete with, each other, and that our alienation from nature need not be something to be regretted or overcome. His book will interest a broad readership in environmental philosophy and ethics, political philosophy, geography and environmental studies. (shrink)

El criterio estético / Eugenio Trías / - Presente y futuro del arte / José Jiménez / - Hacia una estética de las nuevas tecnologías / José Luis Molinuevo / - La diferencia estética en al fuente y otras distracciones de Mr. Mutt / Simón Marchán Fiz / - El estatuto de la crítica de arte / Román de la Calle / - De la tabula rasa al negro infinito. Arte y absoluto / Fernando R. de la Flor / (...) - El tiempo suspendido. Fotografía y narración / Alberto Martín Expósito / - Diálogo de libros / Fernando R. Lafuente / - Experiencias morales en literatura / María Teresa López de la Vieja / - La experiencia de la poesía o el lirismo en su historicidad / - Sobre la inutilidad de la poesía / César Antonio Molina. (shrink)

Sometimes we disagree because of fundamental differences in what we treat as reasons for belief. Such are ‘deep disagreements'. Amongst the questions we might ask about deep disagreement is the epistemic normative one: how ought one to respond to disagreement, when that disagreement is deep. This paper addresses that question. According to the position developed, how one ought to respond to deep disagreement depends upon two things: (i) Whether one remains, in the context of disagreement, permitted to trust oneself in (...) following one's epistemic norms and in relation to that (ii) whether one has the shared stock of social-epistemic experiences with followers of one's rival's norms such that one could reasonably be expected to see their way of doing things as a genuine epistemic alternative to one's own. Section 1 introduces a model of deep disagreement such that deep disagreements occur when disputants disagree because they follow different epistemic norms. Section 2 surveys the possible theoretical stances to take towards the epistemic-normative question. Section 3 develops an account of what it is to follow an epistemic norm. Section 4 applies this conception of norm-following to the epistemic-normative question. Section 5 discusses two points of clarification. (shrink)

It is often claimed by environmental philosophers and green political theorists that liberalism, the dominant tradition of western political philosophy, is too focused on the interests of human individuals to give due weight to the environment for its own sake. In "How to be a Green Liberal", Simon Hailwood challenges this view and argues that liberalism can embrace a genuinely 'green', non-instrumental view of nature. The book's central claim is that nature's 'otherness', its being constituted of independent entities and processes (...) that do not reflect our purposes, is a basis for value and can be incorporated within liberal political philosophy as a fundamental commitment alongside human freedom and equality. Hailwood argues that the conceptual resources already exist within mainstream liberalism for a thoroughly non-instrumental perspective. Adopting a rigorous philosophical approach Hailwood tackles a wide range of themes across environmental ethics, including holistic theories, deep ecology, eco-feminism and eco-anarchism, as well as issues in value theory and political philosophy more generally. In making the case for liberalism's green credentials "How to be a Green Liberal" is a formidable challenge to recent green political theory and will be required reading not only for students of political philosophy but for all those interested in the natural world and man's relationship to it. (shrink)

En Ideas I, la fenomenología se presenta como “idealismo trascendental”. Esta investigación muestra que cinco años antes, en 1908, Husserl accedió a la formulación del “idealismo trascendental”, pero desde una vía diferente a la de Ideas I. En 1913 y hasta 1921, el fundador de la fenomenología retoma y desarrolla la fundamentación inicial del “idealismo trascendental”. Presentamos los rasgos fundamentales de esta “demostración” del “idealismo trascendental” y ponderamos hasta qué punto se abre la posibilidad de un “trascendentalismo metodológico”, camino hacia (...) una filosofía trascendental no-idealista. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente trabajo es contribuir en el debate actual sobre el cuestionamiento crítico de la subjetividad moderna, buscando someterlo a prueba desde los referentes ineludibles de la condición nihilista imperante y de las aportaciones de la biopolítica. En la primera parte se determina la crítica moderna del sujeto desde las transformaciones que genera la economía desorganizada; en la segunda parte se abordan algunas de las principales paradojas que genera la crisis del sujeto facturado desde el referente biopolítico; y, (...) finalmente, en la tercera parte se consideran las posibilidades que la asunción de dichas paradojas generan para la activación de un desplazamiento de lateral de la subjetividad moderna a manera de mutación ontológica ante los desafíos actuales por renovar la emancipación. (shrink)

Yves R. Simon explores moral virtue in this piece through identifying three moral positions common in modernity that attempt to substitute the traditional concept of virtue, as well as discussing the distinction between nature and use of sources of good or evil. He also discusses the distinctions between habits and opinions, as well as the virtue and science. He gives clear examples that make this book enjoyable for readers of all levels to understand moral virtue.

O artigo mostra como Michel Foucault se afasta da referência à Revolução para pensar a política moderna, principalmente desde que aquela passou a ser interpretada pelos parâmetros estalinistas do Partido Comunista. Em contrapartida, ele indica que o ponto de partida da política é constituído pelas resistências à governamentalidade observáveis na atitude crítica, nas contracondutas e nas insurreições. Esses operadores conceituais procuram ressaltar não as teorias e os sistemas propositivos de uma política justa, e sim a perspectiva dos próprios governados quando (...) buscam desprender-se das obediênciasconsentidas, bem como do silenciamento diante de ações governamentais intoleráveis. Nesse sentido, a política tem como nova referência os processos de subjetivação a partir dos quais buscamos nos tornar completamente outros em um mundo inteiramente outro. A essas experiências políticas de dessubjetivação e transformação de nós mesmos, detectáveis principalmente nos movimentos de contracondutas, Foucault deduz uma espiritualidade política, irredutível às avaliações das lutas em termos de êxito ou fracasso. (shrink)

No presente artigo pretendo apontar, primeiramente, a relação entre diagnóstico do presente e atitude crítica a partir do pensamento de Michel Foucault. Na sequência, indicarei que a noção de atitude crítica é ao mesmo tempo parceira e adversária da governamentalidade, no sentido de que ela designa uma arte plural de não ser governado de determinada maneira e pelos mesmos agentes, sem, contudo, se posicionar fora do jogo governamental. Mostrarei ainda que as lutas políticas contra a saturação do jogo governamental podem (...) ser pensadas como um desdobramento da atitude crítica. Finalmente, procurarei demonstrar que a tentativa cotidiana de viver e refletir democraticamente diante de um exercício autoritário do poder, como se pôde vislumbrar especialmente nos últimos anos no Brasil, pode ser entendida como um gesto de ressignificação da atitude crítica. A problematização deste campo de análise não foi diretamente tratada por Foucault, mas tem se tornado um objeto de estudo irrenunciável para o diagnóstico político de nosso presente. (shrink)

Blumenberg´s “metaphorology” is offered as a hermeneutical alternative to the Heideggerian existential hermeneutic. This implies that philosophical anthropology —as we find it in Gehlen, Plessner and others— achieves onthological standing, and is developed as a history of great metaphors, which supports the history of ideas.

This article deals with the importance that Foucault attributes to the Critic of Pure Reason, in his book, The Order of Things . According to Foucault, the Critic occupies a symbolic place because of the problematic of finitude that this work inaugurates in the history of philosophy. First of all, Kant thinks about finitude from itself, and this differentiates him from Descartes, to whom this concept is referred to the infinite. Then, the Kantian finite transcendental subject is not an empirical (...) one, in contrast to the modern analyses of finitude, which confuse the empirical with the transcendental. In this respect, the Critic does not belong to the Classical Age any longer, because it bypasses the representation. But it cannot be included in the modern analyses of finitude either, such as those of the naturalistic positivism, the dialectic, and the phenomenology. Foucault thus suggests that the Critic brings with itself the possibility of an anthropology, in the sense it is a thought that imparts a transcendental value to the empirical contents, even if it does not belong to them. (shrink)

This paper intends to explore an aspect of Blumenberg’s metaphorology as memory of mankind and the ethical commitment derived from it. It is seen as the culmination of the fight that the human being maintains against the senselessness of reality. It manifests itself and it is perceived by a human being as theimmensurability of world time and life time (i.e. that the human being is born and dies), that impedes the human being from having all of the world i.e. the (...) satisfaction of its infinite desires. In the fight against finity technology and money play a vital role. They have in common the power to enable an expansion of human capacities over the boundaries of factual existence: through technology and money the human being can do more or, do the same in less time. That is: tobring closer life time and world time. But in this process the instrumental character of technology and money causes homogenisation in the societies where they thrive. That’s one of the characteristics of globalization. This homogenisation is to be understood as the forgetting of other essential possibilities of the human creation of meaning. Thus, what technological and monetary processes construct on one side, come to be destroyed on the other side. Blumenberg’s metaphorology is the adequate response: it is understood both as the self-consciousness of the process of reason in its making sense of the universe, and as an “ideal store” of everything the human being has come to make in this process. (shrink)

RESUMO Neste artigo, objetivamos explorar os cruzamentos entre as lutas empreendidas por Michel Foucault no início dos anos setenta e o desenvolvimento de conceitos, como os de sobressaber e sobrepoder no curso "Théories et institutions pénales", a fim de entender como a insurreição dos saberes sujeitados, mencionada em "Il faut défendre la société", pode ser também identificada nos movimentos operários e em outras formas de luta, diante do excesso de saber posto ao serviço da concentração e burocratização do poder. Propomo-nos (...) analisar ainda os desdobramentos teóricos da dinástica do saber, tratada em "Théories et institutions pénales" e em passagens de "Dits et écrits", principalmente pela sua diferença em relação à leitura althusseriana do conceito de ideologia. Nesse sentido, pretendemos indicar até que ponto o permanente afastamento foucaultiano do conceito de ideologia no começo dos anos setenta permitiu-lhe isolar a ideia de dinástica do saber como uma primeira delimitação da analítica do poder. ABSTRACT In this paper we aim to explore the intersections between the struggles undertaken by Michel Foucault in the early seventies and the development of concepts such as over-learn and over- power in the course "Théories et Institutions pénales", in order to understand how the insurrection of subjected knowledges, mentioned in "Il faut défendre la société", can also be identified in labor movements and in other forms of clash, before the excessive knowledge put at the service of concentration and bureaucratization of power. We propose further examination on the theoretical developments of the dynastics of knowledge mentioned in "Théories et Institutions pénales" and in passages from "Dits et écrits", mainly because of its difference from Althusser's reading of that ideology concept. We intend to show to what extent the permanent removal of Foucault's ideology concept in the early seventies allowed him to isolate the dynastics of knowledge idea as a first delimitation of the analytics of power. (shrink)

A partir da análise do curso ministrado por Michel Foucault em 1979, Nascimento da Biopolítica, este artigo apresenta o neoliberalismo como uma racionalidade de governo que impregna tanto a lógica de atuação do Estado quanto a maneira de viver dos sujeitos. A indissociabilidade entre estes dois âmbitos de atuação tem como efeito principal o enfraquecimento da democracia, embora Foucault pouco trate dela neste curso. O Estado regido pela lógica do mercado e o indivíduo produzido como sujeito de interesse são considerados (...) as duas faces do neoliberalismo, em relação às quais é possível propor o exercício da atitude crítica. (shrink)

No curso La société punitive, Michel Foucault indica até que ponto as lutas em torno do poder político produzem efeitos de realidade. Um deles é o nascimento de um novo sistema de penalidade no começo do século XIX. Ele surge de uma reconfiguração das lutas políticas em relação ao século XVIII. O conceito explicativo que fundamenta essa reconfiguração é o de ilegalismo, retomado mais tarde em Vigiar e punir. No século XVIII, ele designa um conjunto de transgressões de ordem política (...) que são toleradas e praticadas por diferentes agentes sociais, dentre eles a burguesia; no decorrer do século XIX, as lutas e resistências das camadas populares e trabalhadores contra o sistema político vigente deixam de ser toleradas e são tipificadas como infração à ordem estabelecida pela nascente penalidade burguesa. A transformação dos ilegalismos em ilegalidades é coetânea à elaboração de táticas de inserção da moral punitiva no interior do sistema penal. No artigo, percorremos a mudança estatuto das lutas políticas em torno do poder e em que sentido a nova penalidade não deixa de ser a continuidade da guerra social por outros meios. Enfatizamos, enfim, a importância do conceito de guerra civil introduzido nesse curso, tanto para a elaboração teórica da analítica do poder quanto pelo seu cruzamento com as lutas do presente em torno das práticas judiciárias. (shrink)

RESUMO O artigo estuda, em um primeiro momento, os processos de sujeição e subjetivação nos trabalhos de Michel Foucault e sua relação com a dupla dimensão, moral e material, da governamentalidade. Se em sua dimensão moral a produção de sujeições tem como contraponto os processos éticos de subjetivação, já em sua dimensão material predomina o governo biopolítico do meio vital no qual populações são reguladas e sujeitadas em detrimento das possibilidades de subjetivação. A ênfase do governo biopolítico é especialmente observável (...) entre as populações deslocadas em busca de sobrevivência. Em um segundo momento evoca-se, para além de Foucault, uma modalidade de população problematizada como objeto de recorrente normalização nos últimos decênios, constituída pelos migrantes de sobrevivência. O estudo percorre os traços do governo biopolítico dessa população, especialmente as reconfigurações dos processos de sujeição que a regulam. Conclui-se que ela apresenta poucas possibilidades de empreender processos de subjetivação como resistência às formas de sujeição operadas pela governamentalidade biopolítica. ABSTRACT At first, the article studies the processes of subjection and subjectivation in the works of Michel Foucault and their relationship with the double dimension, moral and material, of governmentality. If in its moral dimension the production of subjections has as its counterpoint the ethical processes of subjectivation, in its material dimension what predominates, in turn, is the biopolitical government of the vital means in which populations are regulated and subjected to the detriment of the possibilities of the subjectivation. The emphasis of the biopolitical government is especially noticeable among displaced populations seeking survival. In a second moment, besides Foucault, a modality of population that has been problematized as object of recurrent normalization in the last decades, made up by survival migrants, is evoked. The study goes through the traits of the biopolitical government of that population, especially the reconfigurations of the subjection processes that regulate it. We conclude that it presents few possibilities to undertake subjectivation processes as resistance to the forms of subjection operated by the biopolitical governmentality. (shrink)