In this article, I introduce the critical study of the skin in three parts. I start with a reflection on what makes the skin such a suggestive and, arguably, special phenomenon. I then provide a brief overview of the key works, recurring themes and ongoing debates that characterize the skin studies subfield. And finally, I end with a presentation of the articles that make up Body and Society’s special issue on the skin, taking care to highlight how they both contribute (...) to the subfield as it currently stands while orienting it towards new questions, concerns and challenges. (shrink)

Rada Iveković reflects on the significance of modernity in contemporary Indian philosophy. Where the orient has been figured as the other for western philosophers, she asks how Indian philosophy depicts the west, how philosophers such as Kant have been interpreted, and how thematics such as pluralism, tolerance, relativity, innovation, and curiosity about the foreign have been figured in both ancient and contemporary Indian philosophy. While working on the western side with such authors as Lyotard, Deleuze, Serres, or Irigaray, Iveković doesn't (...) exactly indulge in comparative philosophy. Rather, she tries to make the most of the existing "coincidences," using both western and Asian thought in order to open a new area for the production of concepts and a new field for philosophy in general. (shrink)

The paper examines and discusses Michel Serres’ idea, expressed in the eighties, of the rediscovery of the senses and his idea expressed in the nineties of the metamorphism and mimicry of the body, reading them as a hominescence.

The so-called new economy based on the global network of digitalized communication was welcomed as a platform of innovations and as a vehicle of advancement of democracy. The concept of virtuality captures the essence of the new economy: efficiency and free access. In practice, the new economy has developed into an heterogenic entity dominated by practices such as propagation of trust and commitment to standards and standard-like technological solutions; entrenchment of locally strategic subsystems; surveillance of unwanted behavior. Five empirical cases (...) within the present field of opposing forces serve as fuel for reflection: football hooliganism, sand-boxing, digital vulnerability of nuclear technology, sensitivity of studio projects, and streamlining academic computing. The main argument of the article is that a historic re-materialization is taking place within the new economy. This means cognitive as well as material divisions. Incommensurability in science is comparable with product incompatibility from the point of view of their implications to the users of knowledge and computers. Hype and banal attached to the new media are related to two ways of assessing social capital: as a means of peaceful functionality or a condition for cultural conflicts. The paper ends in proposing that there is a re-materialization of the virtual now taking place especially on the meta-level of the system. (shrink)

Normal 0 14 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 SINTESI Un pregiudizo tramandato per secoli dalla cultura filosofico-scientifica dominante ha avvalorato una gerarchia dei sensi centrata sul primato cognitivo della vista e dell’udito, relegando il gusto al rango di senso ‘minore’, di senso carnale e distante dalla conoscenza. Ma portare qualcosa alla bocca e capirne il sapore è un’attività che per gli animali umani oltrepassa il bisogno fisiologico, configurandosi come un’esperienza multisensoriale ma anche cognitiva, emotiva, culturale, estetica e persino linguistica. Recuperare il (...) valore intellettuale e culturale del gusto vuol dire restituire dignità a una componente importante della nostra conoscenza sensibile, riconoscendo il contributo che ciascun dispositivo sensoriale sa apportare alla conoscenza della realtà con un accento suo proprio, pur entro un’ineliminabile ‘concertazione’ sinestetica. Espressione di un atto ‘estremo’ di conoscenza incarnata, il gusto è dopotutto l’unico senso a esigere l’introduzione di frammenti di mondo dentro di noi, l’unico che ci consente di assimilare totalmente l’oggetto esterno (la cosa gustata) fino a farlo diventare parte di noi. Un’esperienza così esclusiva e intima – in cui sia il soggetto gustante sia l’oggetto gustato risultano trasformati – non può pertanto non suscitare una riflessione sul gusto come intelligenza del corpo e come strumento per meglio comprendere quel complesso intreccio di mente e di corpo, di ragione e di passione, di vincoli biologici e di attrezzature culturali che è l’animale umano. Partendo da queste premesse proveremo a spiegare brevemente cosa vuol dire ‘saper gustare’ e in che senso quest’attività contribuisce a qualificare la nostra umanità. (shrink)