Practical Philosophy Research Articles

The philosophical way of life as sub‐creation

AbstractRichard Shusterman's Philosophy and the Art of Writing suggests something vital about the tension between philosophical discourses that cannot capture or be the full meaning of living a life in relation to wisdom, and lived philosophies that cannot do away with discourses to deepen a lived experience beyond them: that philosophy as “an embodied way of life” is a sub‐creation that emerges from the tension between them. This paper uses several different moments and ideas from Philosophy and the Art of Writing as points of departure for further inquiry. Some “memories,” repurposed, reorganized, and manipulated, take up these starting points to further the investigation. The present work was a spiritual exercise for the author and, one hopes, will be for the reader in what it means to practice philosophy as a way of life. By doing so, we may find more forgiveness and appreciation for our philosophical vocation that creates something more than what we say or are now.

Attuning to In‐the‐Red Frequencies with/in Readers Workshop

AbstractIn this article, we ‘think with’ the theoretical concepts of flow, rupture, layering, and sampling to affectively attune to ‘in‐the‐red frequencies’ flowing across/with‐in a New York City primary classroom—that is, alternative sonic frequencies that trouble and refuse hegemonic literacy practices. These hip‐hop concepts theorise affect in relation to Black intellectual frameworks for moving, feeling, and sounding. Such frameworks honour philosophical practices emerging from Black people's lived experiences—practices that, historically, have been perceptually coded out of legibility by white supremacist institutions. Ultimately, we argue that thinking with flow↔rupture↔layering↔sampling enables more equitable practices that push literacies ‘into the red,’ namely, by respecting multiple perspectives, histories, and truths; accounting for power, privilege, positioning, and complicity; and highlighting ‘otherwise’ social worlds not predicated on hegemonic whiteness, anti‐blackness, and socio‐political violence.

Engels and the second foundation of Marxism

Since the 1920s Marxism has often been conceptualised, particularly within what has come to be known as the western Marxist philosophical tradition, in terms of a narrow historical materialism, directed exclusively at human-social existence. It was thus severed from the wider realm of dialectical materialism or materialist dialectics, concerned with what Karl Marx referred to as the ‘universal metabolism of nature’. In the process, the materialist conception of history was alienated from the materialist conception of nature. Today, faced with the planetary ecological emergency of the Anthropocene epoch, it is essential to heal this breach within the philosophy of praxis by returning to the second foundation of Marxism associated with Friedrich Engels’s Dialectics of Nature, seeing this as an indispensable key to the ecological and social revolution of the 21st century.

Human Flourishing, Normativity and Critical Theory

Aristotle has traditionally been aligned with conservative social and political philosophy. The conservative reception has been challenged by Alasdair MacIntyre and the Marx-inspired reading of Aristotle. Following MacIntyre’s arguments, this paper sketches an alternative conception of the critical theory beyond the Frankfurt School’s critique of the contemporary culture and the modern society. Critical theory is understood as an attempt to provide both historical analysis and normative critique of the contemporary society and its culture. It argues that normativity should be understood not in Kantian, but in Aristotelian terms. The articulation of Aristotelian conceptions of human flourishing and aretē, rather than that of the bürgerlich conception of Kantian duty, should be at the centre of contemporary theorising. The author claims that Aristotle’s practical philosophy allows us to conceptualise ethics beyond the dominant conceptions of ethical normativity prevalent in the capitalist modernity, while Marx is important because his analysis provides us with theoretical tools for the historically informed critique of the social and economic structures of the modern society.

Paradox and discovery: Iris Murdoch, John Wisdom, and the practice of linguistic philosophy

AbstractThis article argues that Iris Murdoch, who was supervised by John Wisdom during her 1947–48 fellowship at Newnham College Cambridge, went on to practice philosophy in a recognizably Wisdomian manner in her earliest paper, “Thinking and Language” (1951). To do so, I first describe how Wisdom understood philosophical perplexity and paradox. One task that linguistic philosophers should take up is to investigate the concrete cases that give paradoxical philosophical statements their sense and to sift the truth they contain from the distortion. I then show how this vision informed his critical reception of Gilbert Ryle's The Concept of Mind as well as his own investigation of the Hidden Stream Paradox. Finally, I trace a similar approach to Murdoch's discussions of a paradox I call the Coarse Net Paradox. Recognizing Murdoch's intellectual inheritance from Wisdom enables us to see a thus‐far overlooked connection between Murdoch and the tradition of linguistic philosophy.

Defining chiropractic professional identity: A concept analysis

BackgroundThe concept of professional identity within chiropractic is often discussed and debated, however in the field to date, there is no formal definition of chiropractic professional identity (CPI). This article aims to create a coherent definition of CPI and to formalise the conceptual domains that may encompass it. MethodsUsing the Walker and Avant (2005) process, a concept analysis methodology was employed to clarify the diffuse concept of CPI. This method initially involved selecting the concept (CPI), determining the aims and purpose of the analysis, identifying concept uses, and defining attributes. This was achieved from a critical literature review of professional identity across health disciplines. Chiropractic-related model, borderline and contrary cases were used to exemplify characteristics of CPI. The antecedents required to inform CPI, consequences of having, and ways to measure the concept of CPI were evaluated. ResultsFrom the concept analysis data, CPI was found to encompass six broad attributes or domains: knowledge and understanding of professional ethics and standards of practice, chiropractic history, practice philosophy and motivations, the roles and expertise of a chiropractor, professional pride and attitude, and professional engagement and interaction behaviours. These domains were not mutually exclusive and may overlap. ConclusionA conceptual definition of CPI may bring together members and groups within the profession and promote intra-professional understanding across other disciplines. The CPI definition derived from this concept analysis is: ‘A chiropractor's self-perception and ownership of their practice philosophies, roles and functions, and their pride, engagement, and knowledge of their profession’.

A New Method in Philosophical Counseling (IPAA)

Starting from the four principles of Pólya's problem-solving method, by analogy, in this paper we propose a new method of philosophical counseling. Thus, the objectives of this study are as follows: the review of several methods of philosophical counseling; justifying the need for a new method, which we called the IPAA method; developing the four principles – the principle of identification (I), the principle of planification (P), the principle of application (A) and the principle of assumption (A). In order to achieve these, we took into account the fact that the nature of the philosophical problems faced by the clients of the philosophical counselors, whether they are existential, moral or metaphysical, can be solved on their own. Therefore, we argued that if in the first instance, clients really need the input of the philosophical counselors, as long as the latter uses the IPAA method – a problem-solving method – they can offer clients the opportunity to self-counsel. The novelty of the IPAA method consists in the fact that it offers the client, assisted and guided at the beginning by the counselor, the possibility to carry out the act of counseling outside the office, being empowered to apply the four methodical principles mentioned above. The present study is relevant in that the new IPAA method, a method focused on solving everyday problems, is a useful method for both philosophical counselors, as its application in the office helps them to train the clients in researching, understanding and assuming their own lives, as well as for the clients, because if they are assisted in the first instance by the counselor's expertise, they can independently clarify and solve their daily difficulties.

Mind the gap(s): Moral philosophy, international law and interpretative historical sociology

Given the diversity of opinions about whether, how, and towards which end Western societies should defend Ukraine against the ongoing Russian aggression, it would be desirable to spell out clear moral principles and apply them in a contextually adequate way to the situation. This is what Hans-Herbert Kögler tries to do in his contribution to this issue. However, his reasoning remains unclear about the relation between moral philosophy and empirical and historical knowledge about the context of moral action. Furthermore, while he proposes critical-hermeneutic reconstruction as a means to understand the participants in the conflicts, he applies this approach in an asymmetric and insufficiently nuanced way. His view of the conflict as a struggle between democracy and dictatorship about a future world-order is too dichotomic and ignores the history of international law as a practical moral philosophy dealing with situations for which there are no unambiguous principles that could guide action.

Book review: The philosophy of person‐centred healthcare, By DerekMitchell, MichaelLoughlin, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2023. 201 pp. £64.99. ISBN (10): 1‐5275‐9058‐5, ISBN (13): 978‐1‐5275‐9058‐8

Book review: The philosophy of person‐centred healthcare, By DerekMitchell, MichaelLoughlin, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2023. 201 pp. £64.99. ISBN (10): 1‐5275‐9058‐5, ISBN (13): 978‐1‐5275‐9058‐8

MASS LINE METHOD AND GRAMSCI’S PHILOSOPHY OF PRAXIS TO RITUAL PROPRIETY: AN OVERVIEW

Jaspers, in 1949, coined the term ‘Axial Age’, as an age in which humans apparently became more analytical and reflective. Despite this great age, humanity is arguably still balanced in continuing regression against the former axial age. The overall research objective of this paper is therefore to examine critically the contemporary socialist attempt at combatting this regression. Chinese politics is a process of image creation, that, in turn generates new knowledge in the people, while ‘politics in command’ infers the same precept that Gramsci had called the ‘philosophy of praxis’. The mass line was a systematic and enduring set of programs and policies, prescribing the optimal form of propriety between the masses and the Party’s leadership. Xunzi had written a full account of the origin of ritual propriety and its relationship to these problematic facets of human nature. The research question asks how putting politics in command could inform party leadership by means of the philosophy of praxis. The argument sets out to bring proof for the proposition that deployment of the mass line would allow the gleaning of an epistemology of ritual propriety between the superstructure and the masses. The research paradigm is a cumulative synthesis made into new knowledge, built on top of well-established research. Thus, the manuscript’s research methodology is the construction of an argument constrained within a legal narrative concerning the various facets of Gramsci’s exegeses on folklore. Without the philosophy of praxis, governments would want to eradicate any folklore that challenged the ruling party’s worldview and legitimacy, charging such challengers as having been derelict in their externally imposed duties. This kind of contradiction is thus managed in the sole interests of a ruling class, and its unintended artifact is a truncation of creativity both within and by hegemonic groups. Gramsci conceived of the resultant subaltern groupings as being deliberately created by linguistic irradiation, so creating a war of position of self-developed identities against externally imposed identities. Combatting this, the mass line establishes the dialectical position of political activity as differentiation in the superstructures, inferring that to improve quality of life, the political activity must take control of the superstructure.

Gangster Zhi: Comedic Daoist Philosophical Practice

Abstract This paper argues that the Zhuangzi 《莊子》 represents a specific type of Daoist practical philosophy: It is medicinal or therapeutic and seeks to promote existential ease, often by means of humor. Part of its approach to practical philosophy consists in pointing out the impracticality of many early Chinese philosophical doctrines, and, especially, Confucian political and ethical teachings. To illustrate this understanding of the Zhuangzi, the narrative of Confucius’ visit to the legendary Gangster Zhi (dao zhi 盜跖) is analyzed in some detail.

Jeffrey Hanson, Brian Harding, and Michael R. Kelly, (Eds.). "Michel Henry’s Practical Philosophy"

Jeffrey Hanson, Brian Harding, and Michael R. Kelly, (Eds.). "Michel Henry’s Practical Philosophy". An article from journal Philosophy in Review (Volume 43, Number 1, February 2023, pp. 1-46), on Érudit.

Physicotheology in Kant’s Transition from Nature to Freedom

AbstractThis article examines Kant’s treatment of the design argument for the existence of God, or physicotheology. It criticizes the interpretation that, for Kant, the assumption of intelligent design satisfies an internal demand of inquiry. It argues that Kant’s positive appraisal of physicotheology is instead better understood in terms of its polemical utility for rebutting objections to practical belief in God upon which Kant’s ethicotheological argument rests, and thus as an instrument in the transition from theoretical to practical philosophy. Kantian physicotheology plays this role (a) by criticizing alternative speculative accounts of the ground of nature, and (b) by analogizing from the structure of finite rational agency in order to represent more clearly the action of an ideal agent.

The Finite and the Infinite in Lukács and Hegel

The argument in Lukács: Praxis and the Absolute (López, 2019) suggests that Lukács’ attempt to supersede Hegel failed. Ironically, Lukács’ concept of praxis reproduces the logical structure of Hegel's bad infinity, concealing its own finite historical origins in October 1917 (and Lukács’ philosophical reflection thereupon) while also mystifying the conceptual-logical content of praxis itself. In short, Lukács’ concept of praxis is a mythology that relapses into the antinomies he identified and criticized in others. If Lukács’ philosophy of praxis is critically reconstructed in light of Hegel's speculative understanding of the infinite and the finite, Lukács’ concept of praxis may be recovered and reconstituted on a more rational basis. The resulting speculative concept of praxis makes it possible to overcome the interrelated pitfalls of nihilism and dogmatic positivity that Lukács referred to via Heraclitus. Further, this will assist the development of a more reflective, critical Marxist Hegelian concept of praxis that may better orient socialist practice and contribute to the reformation of Marxism that Gillian Rose called for in Hegel Contra Sociology (Rose, 2009).

Lukács’ Red Revolution

Moving between autobiographical and biographical reflections on Lukács and the embeddedness of lives, his and briefly mine, in historical time, the persistent influence of his readings of culture and questions of form, science and a philosophy of praxis is to be reflected on. There is, in some quarters, a dominant Lukácsian reading of modernism, which he apparently dismisses as fragmentary and debilitating. However, there is much to be said about the ways his writings, especially the ones from the 1920s, leave traces and recurrently propel inquiry lines in less discussed areas: namely, thermal analyses of alienation and reification as picked up in Frankfurt School and Situationist thinking; synthetic color production, and communist self-activity. To observe this persistent generativity in the name of self-organization and dialectics is to value something under attack in the revival of anti-Semitism and anti-Communism in Hungary today.

Notes on Contributors

Previous article FreeNotes on ContributorsPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreAshley Shaw received his PhD from University College London and is currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Leeds. His primary research interests are in the philosophy of mind and action, in particular, the nature of desire, rational agency, and reasons for action. He is working on a book on desire alongside a project on the nature of need. [email protected]Nils-Hennes Stear is a Humboldt Fellow at the University of Hamburg and incoming associate lecturer in philosophy at Uppsala University. His research focuses include aesthetics, ethics, feminist philosophy, and their intersections. He is writing a book on the relationship between ethical and aesthetic value in artworks. [email protected]Teemu Toppinen is a tenure-track professor at the unit of philosophy, history, and literary studies at the University of Tampere and a visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki. His research interests often revolve around expressivism but include all sorts of issues related to normativity. [email protected]Vilma Venesmaa is a PhD student in practical philosophy at the University of Helsinki. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the issue of explaining our knowledge of normative supervenience. [email protected]Robin Zheng is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Glasgow. Her research spans moral psychology, political philosophy, and the philosophies of race and gender. It addresses questions of responsibility, solidarity, and injustice, among other things. [email protected] Previous article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 133, Number 3April 2023 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723252 Views: 83Total views on this site © 2023 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

From Lukács’ Philosophy of Praxis to Lefebvre's Metaphilosophy of Everyday Life

From Lukács’ Philosophy of Praxis to Lefebvre's Metaphilosophy of Everyday LifeRiki ScanlanRiki ScanlanA02 - Social Sciences Building, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:April 2023https://doi.org/10.1521/siso.2023.87.2.222PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations AboutReferencesElden Stuart. 2016. “Introduction: A Study of Productive Tensions.” In Henri Lefebvre, Metaphilosophy. London: Verso Books. Google ScholarGoonewardena Kanishka. 2018. “Planetary Urbanization and Totality.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 36:3 (March 9): 456–73. Crossref, Google ScholarGuterman Norbert and Lefebvre Henri. 1999. La Conscience mystifée. Paris: Éditions Syllepse. (Original published 1936). Google ScholarJacoby Russell. 1981. Dialectic of Defeat: Contours of Western Marxism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Crossref, Google ScholarLefebvre Henri. 1991. The Production of Space. Trans. Nicholson-Smith Donald. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Google ScholarLefebvre Henri. 2016. Metaphilosophy. Trans. Fernbach David. London and New York: Verso Books. Google ScholarLefebvre Henri. 1986. Lukács 1955. Paris: Aubier. Google ScholarLópez Daniel Andrés. 2019. Lukács: Praxis and the Absolute. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. Google ScholarGyörgy Lukács. 1971. History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google ScholarMoore Jason W. 2015. Capitalism in the Web of Life. London: Verso. Google ScholarO'Kane Chris. 2020. “The Critique of Real Abstraction: From the Critical Theory of Society to the Critique of Political Economy and Back Again.” Pp. 265–87 in Oliva Antonio, Oliva Angel, and Novara Iván, eds. Marx and Contemporary Critical Theory: The Philosophy of Real Abstraction. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Crossref, Google ScholarO'Kane Chris. 2021. “Reification and the Critical Theory of Contemporary Society.” Critical Historical Studies 8:1, 57–86. Crossref, Google ScholarPostone Moishe. 1993. Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Crossref, Google ScholarTrebitsch Michael. 2014. “Preface.” Pp. 5–24 in Lefebvre Henri, Critique of Everyday Life: The One-Volume Edition. London: Verso Books. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 87Issue 2Apr 2023 Information© 2023 by S & S Quarterly, Inc.PDF download

Sexuality: The 1964 Clermont-Ferrand and 1969 Vincennes Lectures by Michel Foucault

Reviewed by: Sexuality: The 1964 Clermont-Ferrand and 1969 Vincennes Lectures by Michel Foucault Mathew Rickard Sexuality: The 1964 Clermont-Ferrand and 1969 Vincennes Lectures. By Michel Foucault. Ed. by Claude-Olivier Doron, François Ewald, and Bernard E. Harcourt. Trans. by Graham Burchell. (Foucault's Early Lectures and Manuscripts) New York: Columbia University Press. 2021. 1+383 pp. $28; £22. ISBN 978–0–231–19507–2. The impact of Michel Foucault's work on sexuality cannot be overstated within the humanities and social sciences. Often considered to be one of the most cited scholars on the matter, Leo Bersani once described him as 'our most brilliant philosopher of power' whose 'importance can hardly be exaggerated' ('Michel Foucault: Philosopher of Power', Washington Post, 15 March 1981). Bersani was writing at the beginning of what would come to be known as the AIDS epidemic, during which sexuality would become heavily policed. In 2022, with culture wars targeting queer and transgender people, people of colour, and women, we have recourse to Foucault's thinking more than ever. This newly published translation of courses Foucault taught at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in 1964 and the experimental university centre in Vincennes in 1969 reveals the archaeology of what would become established Foucauldian thought. This volume traces Foucault's academic interest in sexuality from his focus on the epistemological origins of sexuality as a scientific discipline in his lectures at Clermont-Ferrand to the ideological turn he took at Vincennes, undoubtedly informed by the events of May 1968, which served as an intellectual revolution in France at the time. As such, while the focus of the book is sexuality, it also provides [End Page 248] an invaluable insight into the development of academic enquiry in mid-twentieth-century France. Given the book's origins as lecture notes, it can at times be dense and scientific. However, it has been expertly edited and extensively annotated, with prefaces written by Bernard E. Harcourt and François Ewald, and translation and editing notes provided by both Claude-Olivier Doron and Graham Burchell. The lectures are followed by interpretative discussions by Doron. An unexpected value can thus be found in this surrounding paratext. As Harcourt reflects, 'the notes are so rich and provide a remarkable bibliography, references, and historical links to many of Foucault's and his contemporaries' related writings. The notes alone are worth the price of admission, in addition to the brilliant course contexts which mine Foucault's unpublished notebooks' ('A Preface to Philosophical Praxis', pp. xi–xxxix (p. xxxiii)). The lectures begin in 1964 and seek to understand the construction of sexuality, especially in relation to so-called perversions. While Foucault had taught psychology from 1960, these lectures were given in the philosophy department, and as such present us with an insight into Foucault's unique blend of the two. The lectures take us through an introduction to the understanding of sexuality as a line of enquiry, which Foucault asserts is 'one of the characteristics of Western civilization' (p. 4). This is followed by discussions of the scientific knowledge of sexuality, sexual behaviour, sexual perversions, and infantile sexuality. Foucault's course on the discourse of sexuality in 1969, however, marks an ideological turn and a focus on how 'sexuality in its mechanisms and meanings is not just confined to sexual practices but extends very much further into behavior apparently very distant from it' (p. 4). These lectures look to history, literature, and law to understand sexuality more broadly. Beginning with an introduction to the discursive study of sexuality that will follow, they map the changes in our understanding of sexuality from the Enlightenment until the present day. This volume will be of interest to all scholars working on sexuality across many disciplines, particularly those whose study is informed by Foucauldian analyses of power, knowledge, and desire. By publishing and translating these early lectures, the editors have expanded our knowledge and appreciation of Foucault as a philosopher but have also contributed to continuing debates on the nature of human sexuality, which, as Harcourt notes, 'in the end, is basically written in sand' (p. xxxiii). Mathew...

The Moral Habitat

<i>The Moral Habitat</i>

Практическая философия: современные основы и необходимость

Introduction. The complexity, the rapidity of changes and considerable uncertainty of further social development reinforce the requirements for an effective positive influence of philosophy on what is happening. In general, we are talking about the modern concretization – based on the method of dialectical unity of historical and logical – of the fundamental problem of the connection of philosophy and science with life and practice. Theoretical analysis. In the history of philosophy, two opposing traditions of solving the problem of the connection of philosophy with life are being formed. Practical-theoretical one is aimed at helping to solve the universal problems of real life (philosophy acquires political significance). Theoretical-practical tradition is focused on the purity of philosophical search, which provides universal truth practice. Conclusion. The permanence of changes and the real dangers of social development (the threat of becoming a post-outside-human reality) actualize the practical-theoretical position – practical philosophy. Practical philosophy should fully take into account the critical arguments of the opposite side (the danger of political distortion of the truth). In general, it is necessary to unite and activate the work of all practice-oriented forces of philosophy and science (humanitarian expertise, field philosophy, etc.). Professional, pedagogical access to the Internet for criticising post-truth and meaningful presence in the public arena is seen as an important direction of practical philosophy.