Interests without History: Some Difficulties for a Negative Aristotelianism

This paper focuses on 3 features of Freyenhagen's Aristotelian version of Adorno. (a) It challenges the strict negativism Freyenhagen finds in Adorno. If we have morally relevant interests in ourselves, it is implicit that we have a standard by which to understand what is both good and bad for us (our interests). Because strict negativism operates without reference to what is good, it seems to be detached from real interests too. Torture, it is argued, is, among other things, a violation of those interests. (b) Freyenhagen identifies the “impulse” in Adorno as an untutored yet moral reaction to morally demanding situations. The plausibility of this primitivism and its compatibility with Adorno's general worries about immediacy are considered. (c) The disruptive character of Adorno's version of the categorical imperative, its willingness to complicate action through wholesale reflection on the norms of what we are committing ourselves to, is set in contrast with Freyenhagen's Aristotelian claim that certain notions, such as “humanity,” cannot be intelligibly questioned

Infinity

Prose by Eric Baugh. Finalist in the 2018 Manuscripts Prose Contest

Empty, Useless, and Dangerous? Recent Kantian Replies to the Empty Formalism Objection

Like two heavyweight boxers exchanging punches, but neither landing the knock-out blow, Kantians and Hegelians seem to be in a stand-off on what in contemporary parlance is known as the Empty Formalism Objection. Kant?s ethics is charged with being merely formal and thereby failing to provide the kind of specific guidance that any defensible ethical system should have the resources to provide. Hegel is often credited with having formulated this objection in its most incisive way, and a wealth of Kantian responses has been deployed to answer it. In this paper, I take up the objection as it appears in �135R of Elements of the Philosophy of Right in order to scrutinise the contemporary debate between the two camps. I propose that there are, in fact, three different, albeit connected objections and examine (what I take to be) the best Kantian replies to them. I will not adjudicate which of these replies is the most accurate interpretation of Kant?s texts, nor trace the particular historical context in which Hegel takes up Kant?s ethics, nor the way the Empty Formalism Objection fits into Hegel?s wider system. This is partly because of constraints of space, and partly because many of the contemporary Kantian replies ? for better or for worse ? treat the Empty Formalism Objection as a self-standing philosophical problem, irrespective of its historical context or systematic place in Hegel?s theory. My limited aim here is to show that, even if one grants ? for argument?s sake ? the legitimacy of such a non-contextual approach, significant difficulties remain

Rock Argentino v.s. Rock Mexicano: Un Análisis Contextual

Una ponencia en el marco del primer encuentro académico de la Escuela de Artes Escénicas de la UAEMex.Un mapeo, desde mediados de los sesentas hasta principios de los ochentas, de hechos y factores socioculturales determinantes en ambos países para la creación, difusión y repercusión del rock en sus respectivos territorios. Un primer acercamiento a un análisis comparativo crítico de los contextos idiosincráticos y su impacto en las producciones de rock tanto en Argentina como en México