Search results for " ethics"

The Biopolitical Logics of Settler Colonialism and Disruptive Relationality

2016

This essay argues that the biopolitical logics of settler colonialism function according to a naturalization in Western thought of politics as a project of hierarchically ordering life in relation to the sphere of politics. Significantly, such a mode of thinking discredits socio-political orders that operate on the basis of a non-hierarchical place-based relationality of all life forms including the land. Through a reading of Foucault and Agamben in their use of Aristotle, I want to show how hierarchy as a principle of the political is already implemented in the premise they draw upon for analyzing the biopolitical. In the same way it remains unrecognized in their analysis of biopolitics, …

Popular Music and the Anthropocene

2020

International audience; We are at a major turning point, probably irreversible for thousands of years. Despite the continued use of slogans like ‘Save the Planet’, it is living beings, more than the Earth (which has already seen many upheavals) who are threatened with extinction. Although the proponents of the term Anthropocene agree that human activities have become a force that is influencing the geological course of the Earth, and stratigraphers are already finding traces of that process in rocks and sediments (Zalasiewicz 2010), we can however identify two contrasting narratives about the Anthropocene.

The ethics of hospitality in changing journalism: The response to the rise of the anti-immigrant movement in Finnish media publicity

2013

This article examines the role of the media in the rise of nationalist populism in Finland. The interplay between social media and mainstream media has facilitated the emergence of anti-immigrant agendas into the public debate, which has strengthened nationalist populist politics, despite mainstream journalism following professional ethics of balanced reporting. The article concludes that the traditional journalistic framework of agenda setting is not morally adequate for the new fragmented media environment. It proposes the ethics of hospitality (Derrida, Silverstone) with an emphasis on transnationalism as a moral goal for a multi-ethnic public sphere where everyone has the right to voic…

Phytotoponymy and Synphytotoponymy in Western Granada Province (Andalusia, Spain)

2009

En el marco de la investigación etnobotánica desarrollada en el poniente granadino, se ha realizado un estudio sobre la toponimia de la comarca con atención a los apelativos de origen vegetal (fitotopónimos y sinfitotopónimos). La información —obtenida de la Gerencia Territorial del Catastro de Granada, de la Junta de Andalucía y de nuestro trabajo de campo— se ha incluido en una base de datos con el programa Microsoft Excell®. Un total de 98 especies vegetales se encuentran representadas en la toponimia local, dando nombre a 593 lugares del territorio. Se aportan comentarios sobre el significado ecológico, paleofitogeográfico y etnobotánico de las especies reflejadas en la toponimia.

Between facts and norms: action research in the light of Jürgen Habermas's theory of communicative action and discourse theory of justice1

1998

Abstract An emphasis on democracy is typical of action research. Therefore, theories of modern democracy can be applied within the field of school development through action research. According to Jurgen Habermas, the promotion of democratic will formation requires the promotion of free and rational communicative action that is as free from manipulation as possible. Under ideal communicative conditions, consensus is achieved dialectically through the force of a better argument. The principles of rational argumentation have been developed in detail in Habermas's publications on discourse ethics and in The Theory of Communicative Action. He has recently developed his approach in a book entitl…

Local, Natural, Authentic: New Nordic Cuisine as Economic Trend and Cultural Resistance

2020

Bullfighting: The Legal Protection of Suffering

2018

Bullfighting has been recently accepted as Cultural Heritage by the Spanish Government. There is a current initiative to declare bullfighting as Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) and include it in the UNESCO list. The proponents of such initiatives contend that bullfighting should be protected and promoted on the grounds that it is an artistic activity, part of the national culture. In this chapter, I discuss the moral arguments and legal aspects that can be pitted against such a cruel practice. More specifically, I will examine the serious obstacles to the legal protection of such practices, which cause suffering and aim at killing nonhuman animals based on cultural or artistic reasons.

Similarities and Differences in the Evaluative Methods

2016

The awareness in the last few years surrounding the use of natural resources and landscape transformations has led to the development of several tools designed to evaluate the effects of human actions on them. The environmental evaluation methods, born in the USA, have known different disciplinary evolutions according to the following factors: firstly, regarding the object to assess; secondly, pertaining to the national juridical framework; and thirdly, relating to the progress in this field. Today we can affirm that we have, more or less, as many assessment techniques as countries. In fact, other than the Environmental Assessment Impact and Strategic Environmental Assessment, common to dif…

Biotechnology and Cultural Heritage Conservation

2020

The deterioration of cultural asset is induced by biological, chemical, and physical factors, influenced by anthropogenic activity and environmental conditions. In this study, the contribution of biotechnology is emphasized to define the conservation strategy, for a marble Fountain (Two Dragons, XV century) located in Palermo city center, based on an integrated approach and eco-friendly procedures. Biotechnological protocols are preliminarily applied as an integrated approach, based on microscopy observation, in vitro culture and genomic DNA analysis to recognize and characterize microbial communities. Several biological systems have been identified: green algae (Chlorella) and cyanobacteri…

Arsenical Pesticides in Early Francoist Spain: Fascism, Autarky, Agricultural Engineers and the Invisibility of Toxic Risks

2019

Abstract Lead arsenate was introduced on a massive scale in agriculture in Spain in the early 1940s. With the support of a network of agricultural engineers, the new Francoist state encouraged the production and use of lead arsenate as the main weapon against a newly arrived pest, the Colorado potato beetle. In this paper I discuss arsenical pesticides as sociotechnological products which played a pivotal role in the joint production of both chemical-based agriculture and the emerging Francoist regime in Spain during the 1940s. I review the campaigns organized by agriculture engineers and the making of the new National Register for Phytosanitary Products in 1942. The new regulations promote…