Digital media can shape people’s political perspectives as it is used as a medium for communication and information. In the Philippines, the use of Facebook has become an avenue not just for socialization but also, for political discourse. Being considered as one of the world’s top Facebook users, Facebook is used by individuals to serve as a platform to construct propaganda networks. Diehard Duterte Supporters (also known as the “DDS”) use this digital media platform to rally behind President Duterte, promote (...) his achievements, and also, to defend him against criticisms. On the other hand, Jean Baudrillard believes that media plays a pivotal role in constituting a new realm of experience. Baudrillard’s central thesis is that the media serves as a key simulation machine that constitutes a hyperreality. In this paper, the researchers examined how political propagandas is conveyed by selected Die-hard Duterte Supporters (DDS) through Facebook. In light of Jean Baudrillard’s notion of hyperreality, the have elucidated the serious concerns regarding the proliferation of political propaganda in social media. As a result, the researchers claim that Facebook pages are used by the DDS as key simulation tools for framing the contents of their political propaganda to match their political objectives and it is therefore described as, “political framing”. Political framing of information and content is comparable to Baudrillard’s notion of simulation, wherein it involves a judicious process of creating political propaganda which involves filtering, recycling, editing information, selecting content and arguments that ultimately, blurs the distinction between the true information and disinformation, thus, creates hyperreality. (shrink)

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) poses a significant challenge to an individual’s mental well-being. The obsessive preoccupation with perceived defects in one’s appearance affects individuals’ daily functioning and can result in serious risks, including suicidal ideation and self-surgery. While treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy and serotonin reuptake inhibitors can provide relief, they do not achieve complete remission. It has been suggested that therapy should not only interrupt the harmful behaviour, but should also address their sense of self, and that after (...) addressing their internalised values, individuals with BDD will be able to incorporate their perceived defect in a manner similar to how individuals with real deformities often do. Phenomenology of psychopathology analyses subjectivity in cases of pathology, and analyses of BDD show that the perceived defect has become a locus of shame. This implies that individuals with BDD have permanently incorporated the gaze of the Other and constantly experience their body as a body-for-others. This paper further explores the sense of self in individuals with BDD through Jenny Slatman’s interpretation of bodily integrity: bodily integrity as a never-ending process of identification. By comparing the experiences of individuals with BDD to those with real deformities and to those who have undergone cosmetic surgery, I will show that re-identification does not occur in individuals with BDD. This suggests that their bodily integrity is fundamentally disturbed and that addressing their internalised values alone will probably not be sufficient for the disorder to go into remission. (shrink)

Pregnancy has a profound impact on individuals’ lives, yet the subjective experience is often absent from the discourse on reproductive rights and ethics. Although pregnancy is an epistemically transformative experience, phenomenology can help us describe common structures in the many different subjective experiences of pregnancy. Doing so shows us that the effects of pregnancy go beyond the physical symptoms; they invade the experience of the self and the world and transform identity. If someone wants to formulate an argument against abortion, (...) they will have to include the existential impact of pregnancy. In this paper I will further explore the impact of pregnancy through a phenomenological analysis of birth and birthmothers and show that the existential impact of pregnancy does not cease to exist after birth. Giving birth fundamentally changes the world of the pregnant person and leads to irreversible changes in identity. Their world will never return to the way it was before pregnancy. Arguments against abortion would have to take these existential implications into account as well. Finally, I will argue that a similar argument will also become relevant in the discourse on ectogenesis. (shrink)

Nosotres, biólogues, ecologistas y otres profesionales dedicados a proteger la vida, les escribimos con una solicitud urgente. Les pedimos muy comedidamente que su organización o institución emita un comunicado oficial condenando la crisis en curso y abordando los impactos ambientales y humanitarios en Palestina.