Rethinking Resistance: Critical Theory before and after Deleuze

At the beginning of 1930, Theodor W. Adorno, who was only 28 years old, was awarded the venia legendi (teaching permission) for philosophy and the academic title “Privatdozent”, after his Habilitationsschrift (on Kierkegaard) had been accepted by the faculty of philosophy on the basis of two positive reviews, by Adorno’s older friend and mentor Max Horkheimer and the prominent theologian-philosopher Paul Tillich. This title traditionally comes without academic position or pay, but is the precondition for applications for the position of professor. In early May, he was obliged to give his inaugural lecture to the academic public, and he chose a rather programmatic subject, “The Actuality of Philosophy”, using the occasion for a rigorous critique of the major trends in current German academic philosophy and a bold statement concerning the possible future of a certain kind of materialist philosophy which he was just about to develop

Evidence for a Long-period Planet Orbiting Epsilon Eridani

High precision radial velocity (RV) measurements spanning the years 1980.8--2000.0 are presented for the nearby (3.22 pc) K2 V star $\epsilon$ Eri. These data, which represent a combination of six independent data sets taken with four different telescopes, show convincing variations with a period of $\approx$ 7 yrs. A least squares orbital solution using robust estimation yields orbital parameters of period, $P$ = 6.9 yrs, velocity $K$-amplitude $=$ 19 {\ms}, eccentricity $e$ $=$ 0.6, projected companion mass $M$ sin $i$ = 0.86 $M_{Jupiter}$, and semi-major axis $a_2$ $=$ 3.3 AU. Ca II H&K S-index measurements spanning the same time interval show significant variations with periods of 3 and 20 yrs, yet none at the RV period. If magnetic activity were responsible for the RV variations then it produces a significantly different period than is seen in the Ca II data. Given the lack of Ca II variation with the same period as that found in the RV measurements, the long-lived and coherent nature of these variations, and the high eccentricity of the implied orbit, Keplerian motion due to a planetary companion seems to be the most likely explanation for the observed RV variations. The wide angular separation of the planet from the star (approximately 1 arc-second) and the long orbital period make this planet a prime candidate for both direct imaging and space-based astrometric measurements.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters. 9 pages, 2 figure

ASO Author Reflection: Learning Curves in Robotic Partial Nephrectomy-Not Only the Surgeon Counts

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Filosofia em (e contra) seu tempo

It is not evident in what sense philosophy relates to its own time and present. From the history of philosophical thought, several models have been suggested, ranging from a strong reliance on tradition to the wholesale rejection of the present and demand for a ‚philosophy of the future‘, from the suspicion that philosophy is nothing else than one ideology among others to the demand that philosophy should engage in the struggles and conflicts of its time in order to prepare for a better future. The essay presents an assessment and problematization of these approaches and argues for a point of view that starts from philosophy’s precarious, ambivalent and contingent relation to its time and contemporaneity. Neither wholly autonomous from nor entirely subjected to its own time, philosophy can inhabit a shifting position from which critique and resistance are possible even if not ultimately guaranteed. Nada claro é o sentido em que a filosofia se relaciona com seu próprio tempo e seu próprio presente. Da perspectiva da história do pensamento filosófico, vários modelos foram sugeridos, desde uma forte confiança na tradição, até a rejeição completa do presente e a demanda por uma “filosofia do futuro“; desde a suspeita de que a filosofia nada mais é do que uma ideologia entre outras, até a exigência de que ela se engaje nas lutas e conflitos de seu tempo a fim de se preparar para um futuro melhor. Este ensaio apresenta uma análise e uma problematização dessas abordagens e defende um ponto de vista que parte da relação precária, ambivalente e contingente da filosofia com seu tempo e sua contemporaneidade. Nem totalmente autônoma, nem inteiramente submetida ao seu próprio tempo, a filosofia pode ocupar uma posição instável na qual crítica e resistência são possíveis, mesmo que não garantidas derradeiramente

Die Philosophie und ihr Anderes: Rezension zu "Der Diskurs der Philosophie" von Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault: Der Diskurs der Philosophie. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2024. 978-3-518-58811-

Schwerpunkt: Das Ganze denken: Zur Aktualität Spinozas

Seit etlichen Jahren verstärken sich die Bezugnahmen auf die Philosophie Baruch de Spinozas, einem in der deutschsprachigen akademischen Philosophie der Nachkriegszeit oft nur am Rande oder nur in der hochspezialisierten philosophiegeschichtlichen Forschung behandelten klassischen Autor. Fast könnte man hier lange Zyklen der Wirkungsgeschichte vermuten, in der Spinoza verschiedene Rollen gespielt hat: um 1700 der Hauptbezugspunkt für eine radikale Frühaufklärung, die in der deutschen Philosophie und an deutschen Universitäten neue Perspektiven eröffnete; um 1800 ein entscheidender Stichwortgeber für eine ganze Generation zwischen Deutschem Idealismus und Frühromantik; und in den Jahrzehnten vor 1900 Name für das Versprechen einer Versöhnung von spekulativen mit den neuesten naturwissenschaftlichen Perspektiven der Zeit

Macht und Menge: Spinoza und die Philosophie der Demokratie

The current enthusiasm for the original and radical democratic nature of Spinoza’s political philosophy is not easy to justify, given the elusive character of his few systematic remarks on democracy. But the Ethics as well as the political writings contain a substantial political theory centered on the figure of the multitudo (or people) that proves useful for current theorizing. It can help to conceive of democracy not only as form-of-state but as form-of-life; it might serve as the starting point for a conception of non-identitarian, “heterogeneous democracy”; and it can provide a model for understanding political philosophy as political ontology