Building on recent texts, I give a characterization of Richard Shusterman’s specific variant of pragmatism, understood as a melioristic or perfectionist pragmatism, where ethical and political dimensions are deeply intertwined with the epistemological one. To do so, I focus on what seems to be Shusterman’s latest contribution to his inter- rupted dialogue with Richard Rorty in Thinking through the Body.

The late Richard Rorty has sometimes been described as a controversial, or even outrageous, thinker. Yet the reasons that stand behind such a reputation are obviously quite different from in the ca...

: This paper explains the discipline of somaesthetics, which emerges from pragmatism's concern with enhancing embodied experience and reconstructing the aesthetic in ways that make it more central to key philosophical concerns of knowledge, ethics, and politics. I then examine Beauvoir's complex treatment of the body in The Second Sex, assessing both her arguments that could support the pragmatic approach of somaesthetics but also those that challenge its bodily focus as a danger for feminism.

The article deals with philosophical questions on the “art of living” in philosophy in recent decades. It provides an overview of the conceptions that continue to resonate in philosophy, covering the basic approach to conceptions of the “art of living” found in the work of theorists such as P. Hadot, J. Kekes, A. Nehamas, Z. Bauman, A. MacIntyre, R. Veenhoven, W. Schmid, and J. Dohmen.The basic framework of the “art of living” can, we believe, be imagined as a square, where (...) each side represents an essential component : 1. value system; 2. integrity of life; 3. meaning of life; 4. authenticity of life. The art of living therefore presupposes that there is a value system the individual can use as a navigational guide and to make decisions in the world. It also presupposes an ability to integrate one’s life within a meaningful whole and to seek out and find the meaning of one’s life. Finally the art of living depends on the ability to lead an authentic life. (shrink)

This paper explains the discipline of somaesthetics, which emerges from pragmatism's concern with enhancing embodied experience and reconstructing the aesthetic in ways that make it more central to key philosophical concerns of knowledge, ethics, and politics. I then examine Beauvoir's complex treatment of the body in The Second Sex, assessing both her arguments that could support the pragmatic approach of somaesthetics but also those that challenge its bodily focus as a danger for feminism.

Članek poda fenomenološki prispevek k estetiki vsakdanjosti, pri čemer izhaja iz nekaterih konceptov, ki jih je razvil Martin Heidegger. Cilj je razumeti pravo naravo same vsakdanjosti v vsej njeni dolgočasnosti in sivini ter poudariti, da v vsakodnevnosti obstaja estetski vidik. Estetika vsakdanjosti ni le »izjemno v navadnem«. Da bi razumeli celoten obseg estetike vsakdanjosti, moramo raziskati fenomen navadnega in vsakdanjega. V pričujočem članku je ontologija človekove vsakdanje eksistence razložena s pojmi kraja, življenjskega sveta, domačnosti in tujosti. Estetski vidik vsakdanjega temelji (...) na teh eksistencialnih strukturah. Človekova eksistenca se večino časa godi na domačem kraju – ki je lahko dom, delovni prostor ali pa poznani predeli v domačem mestu. Ko se premikamo po domačem območju, občutimo izkustveno ukoreninjenost in varnost. Element nepričakovanosti, ki je včasih povezan z občutkom tesnobe ali celo strahu, umanjka. Prav to dejstvo, da ni nobenih presenečenj, da stvari potekajo gladko, kot pričakujemo, je prijetno. Početi stvari na rutinski način ima določene vzorce, ki so zadovoljujoči, v njih pa je tudi estetski vidik. Estetika vsakdanjosti se nahaja v odsotnosti izjemnega, v občutku počutiti se doma in imeti nadzor. Estetika domačega je estetika manka, tiha fascinacija z odsotnostjo zahtev iz okolice. (shrink)

In a recent paper titled “Mencius and an Ethics of the New Century,” Donald J. Munro argues that recent theories in the evolutionary sciences regarding the biological basis of altruism and infant bonding might lend credence to Mencius’ philosophy of human nature.1 Such theories, says Munro, support Mencius’ contention that certain moral concepts derive from something that is inborn. What such naturalistic theories do not address, however, is whether or not these moral concepts are also “founded on something transcendental,” and (...) by this Munro is referring to the suggestion that “human nature” (renxing 人性) is derived from “Heaven” (tian 天).2 Munro suggests that contemporary philosophers who draw inspiration from .. (shrink)