Bauman on Moral Blindness

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-94
Author(s):  
Anthony Chuwkuebuka Ohaekwusi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Choice ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Liquid Modernity ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Moral Blindness ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Universe

This article analyzes Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of moral blindness against the backdrop of his designation of modern culture as a dynamic process of liquefaction constantly dissolving every paradigm and subject to the flexible and indeterminate power of individual choice. Bauman argued that the social conditions of this radically individualistic liquid modernity result in a kind of moral insensitivity that he calls adiaphorization. Adiaphorization for him places certain human acts outside the “universe of moral obligations.” It defies the entire orthodox theory of the social origins of morality as it reveals that some dehumanizing monstrous atrocities like the holocaust and genocides are not exclusively reserved for monsters, but can be attributable to “frighteningly normal” moral agents. The present text therefore attempts to discuss the various moral implications of Bauman’s analysis of moral blindness, with a view to highlighting its weaknesses. It moves on to explore Bauman’s recourse to Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics of the “face of the Other” as a viable ethical remedy that trumps the uncanny effects of this whole adiaphorization effect. Finally, the paper further advances his call for a rediscovery of the sense of belonging, by appealing to some major insights originating from African traditions of ethical communalism in order to propose a possible route towards the avoidance and amelioration of this moral challenge.

scholarly journals Bauman on Moral Blindness

1970 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-94
Author(s):  
Anthony Chuwkuebuka Ohaekwusi
Keyword(s):  
Individual Choice ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Liquid Modernity ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
Moral Blindness ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Universe

This article analyzes Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of moral blindness against the backdrop of his designation of modern culture as a dynamic process of liquefaction constantly dissolving every paradigm and subject to the flexible and indeterminate power of individual choice. Bauman argued that the social conditions of this radically individualistic liquid modernity result in a kind of moral insensitivity that he calls adiaphorization. Adiaphorization for him places certain human acts outside the “universe of moral obligations.” It defies the entire ortho- dox theory of the social origins of morality as it reveals that some dehumanizing monstrous atrocities like the holocaust and genocides are not exclusively reserved for monsters, but can be attributable to “frighteningly normal” moral agents. The present text therefore attempts to discuss the various moral implications of Bau- man’s analysis of moral blindness, with a view to highlighting its weaknesses. It moves on to explore Bauman’s recourse to Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics of the “face of the Other” as a viable ethical remedy that trumps the uncanny effects of this whole adiaphorization effect. Finally, the paper further advances his call for a rediscovery of the sense of belonging, by appealing to some major insights originating from African traditions of ethical communalism in order to propose a possible route towards the avoidance and amelioration of this moral challenge.

scholarly journals Zygmunt Bauman and the return of the gods

Digithum ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Christian Alejandro Retamal Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Zygmunt Bauman ◽  
Liquid Modernity ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Face ◽  
Present Text

In the present text, we address the developments that Zygmunt Bauman formulated on modern genocide, linking them with his latest publications on liquid modernity. To do this (1) we explore the validity of the central hypotheses of Modernity and Holocaust and place them in our context. Bauman believes that the Holocaust is the archetype of modern genocides, which has as one of its necessary conditions the production of moral distance. We analyze the meaning of proximity and the “face of the other” as a source of presocietal moral relations. (2) Following the previous ones, we study the problems that imply the “face of the other” in the context of liquid modernity, especially those related to the challenges of fundamentalisms. (3) We then approach the phenomenon of the “religionization of politics” as a confrontation to the secularism of liquid modernity, its impact on our understanding of freedom and security. (4) Finally, we analyze, linking the reflections of Bauman to those of Horkheimer and Adorno, how the center of the “religionization of politics” is constituted by the “sacred fear” of death and the denial of contingency.

The Unity of an Indian Village

1956 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudra Datt Singh
Keyword(s):  
Social Structures ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Social Unit ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Indian Village ◽  
Village Studies ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Universe

The current interest of anthropologists in the scientific study of the rural life of India has been faced from the very beginning with the question of comprehending the meaning of discrete village studies in the context of the universe of Indian society and culture. Various attempts have been made to analyze the social structures and patterns of organization in Indian villages. Many scholars have noted the existence of intra-village factionalism, inter-caste struggles and several other apparently disintegrating features of the village community. Extensive social and religious ties of the villages with the outside and their economic and political dependence on organizations which do not have their roots in the community have also been noted. In the face of such evidence one begins to wonder whether an Indian village can be characterized at all as a functioning social unit distinguishable from others and whether studies of individual villages can help us in understanding India.

zy prawda nas wyzwoli? Przełamywanie oporu psychologicznego w przyjmowaniu wiedzy o Zagładzie

2014 ◽  
pp. 803-822
Author(s):  
Marta Witkowska ◽  
Piotr Forecki
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Public Knowledge ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Holocaust Education ◽  
Positive Group ◽  
Nazi Occupation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Social Psychological Research

The introduction of the programs on Holocaust education in Poland and a broader debate on the transgressions of Poles against the Jews have not led to desired improvement in public knowledge on these historical events. A comparison of survey results from the last two decades (Bilewicz, Winiewski, Radzik, 2012) illustrates mounting ignorance: the number of Poles who acknowledge that the highest number of victims of the Nazi occupation period was Jewish systematically decreases, while the number of those who think that the highest number of victims of the wartime period was ethnically Polish, increases. Insights from the social psychological research allow to explain the psychological foundations of this resistance to acknowledge the facts about the Holocaust, and indicate the need for positive group identity as a crucial factor preventing people from recognizing such a threatening historical information. In this paper we will provide knowledge about the ways to overcome this resistance-through-denial. Implementation of such measures could allow people to accept responsibility for the misdeeds committed by their ancestors.

ПРИНЦИПИ ПІЗНАННЯ ПОБУТУВАННЯ ПЕРФОРМАНСУ

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-60
Author(s):  
Admink Admink ◽  
Жанна Шкляренко
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Performance Art ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Performance Study ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Dividing Line

Стаття присвячена дослідженню шляхів вивчення перформансу як культурного явища. Зростаюча увага до цього феномену зумовлена відсутністю лінії розмежування його з життям, створенню особливої реальності, спроможністю викликати потужні емоційні стани та взаємоемпатії. Проблематичність у вивченні його полягає у складності архівування, хиткий своєрідний наратив, що вислизає зі сприйняття непідготовленого глядача, міграція з виставкових зал у соціальну сферу, супроводжувана жанровими новоутвореннями. Даним дослідженням зроблено спробу аналізу шляхів пізнання культурного явища перформансу, визначені особливості побутування, виявлено закономірності проявів та варіативність в сучасній культурі. The article is devoted to the study of ways to research performance study as a cultural phenomenon. The growing interest in the phenomenon of performance art is due to the lack of a dividing line with our life, the creation of a special reality, the ability to cause strong emotional states and mutual empathy. The difficulty of study is also in trouble archiving it, shaky kind of narrative which escapes the perception of the unprepared viewer, the migration of the exhibition halls and in the social media sphere, followed by the creation of new genres. This analyzes the ways of understanding the cultural phenomenon of performance art. The features of being are determined, patterns and a variety of its manifestations in modern culture are revealed.

Chemical Reactions of Iodoform in the Study of Post-Extraction Alveolites

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 2378-2381
Author(s):  
Cristian Budacu ◽  
Mihai Constantin ◽  
Iulia Chiscop ◽  
Carmen Gabriela Stelea ◽  
Raluca Dragomir
Keyword(s):  
Healing Process ◽  
Maxillofacial Surgery ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Dental Extraction ◽  
Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Mucosal Regeneration ◽  
Prophylactic Measures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face

Post-operative alveolitis is a topical issue in dental practice, which is also reflected by the etiopathogenic aspects. The conservative principle requires the maintenance of dento-periodontal units in the arch for as long as possible, but there are situations where dental extraction is required. The healing process of the post-surgical wound is complex and involves processes of gingival mucosal regeneration and bone reshaping, involving several local factors: wound size, presence of infection, alveolar vascularization, intraalveolar foreign bodies, and general factors, especially general condition, age and body reactivity. The quality, structure, maintenance, and retraction of the clot are key factors in the formation of connective tissue during the healing of the post-extraction would. At the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic of Gala�i, during a 2-year period between January 2015 and December 30, 2016, 2780 patients that required surgery - dental extraction were consulted and diagnosed. We found that among those 2780 patients with dental extractions 105 (3.77%) had post-treatment alveolitis. No post-surgical alveolitis from the case study was complicated by osteomyelitis of the jaws or by suppurations of the superficial or deep compartments of the face. The prophylactic measures in each dental extraction, together with the correct and timely curative treatment, combined with the dentist�s competence and responsibility, can shorten the time of suffering, actively combating the risk factor and accelerating the social reintegration of the patient with post-treatment alveolitis.

Ancient Israel's Neighbors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian R. Doak
Keyword(s):  
Nearest Neighbors ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Family Level ◽  
The Face ◽  
Social Turmoil

The purpose of this book is to tell the story of Israel’s nearest neighbors—not only discovering what the Bible has to say about them but also what we can know from archaeology, ancient inscriptions, and other sources. The Bible itself presents these neighbors in nuanced and conflicting ways; sometimes they are friends or even related to Israel at a family level, and sometimes they are enemies, spoken of as though they must die in order for Israel to live. We are left wondering how the biblical portrayal might have affected our thinking about these people as historical groups, on their own terms. How would an Aramaean have described her own religion? How would an Edomite have described conflict with Israel? This book explores both the biblical portrayal of the smaller groups surrounding Israel and what people can know about these groups through their own literature, archaeology, and other sources. By uncovering the identity of the Philistines as settlers along the coast at the same time that early Israel carved out their place in the land, for example, one can better understand the social turmoil and political maneuvering that lies just beneath the surface of the biblical narrative, and can see more clearly just how the authors of the Bible saw themselves in the face of others.

Ralph Ellison, Temporal Technologist

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Germana
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Friedrich Nietzsche ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Ralph Ellison ◽  
Racial Formation ◽  
Henri Bergson ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Racial History ◽  
The Face

Ralph Ellison, Temporal Technologist examines Ralph Ellison’s body of work as an extended and ever-evolving expression of the author’s philosophy of temporality—a philosophy synthesized from the writings of Henri Bergson and Friedrich Nietzsche that anticipates the work of Gilles Deleuze. Taking the view that time is a multiplicity of dynamic processes, rather than a static container for the events of our lives, and an integral force of becoming, rather than a linear groove in which events take place, Ellison articulates a theory of temporality and social change throughout his corpus that flies in the face of all forms of linear causality and historical determinism. Integral to this theory is Ellison’s observation that the social, cultural, and legal processes constitutive of racial formation are embedded in static temporalities reiterated by historians and sociologists. In other words, Ellison’s critique of US racial history is, at bottom, a matter of time. This book reveals how, in his fiction, criticism, and photography, Ellison reclaims technologies through which static time and linear history are formalized in order to reveal intensities implicit in the present that, if actualized, could help us achieve Nietzsche’s goal of acting un-historically. The result is a wholesale reinterpretation of Ellison’s oeuvre, as well as an extension of Ellison’s ideas about the dynamism of becoming and the open-endedness of the future. It, like Ellison’s texts, affirms the chaos of possibility lurking beneath the patterns of living we mistake for enduring certainties.

The Writings of Skryabin

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Nicholls ◽  
Michael Pushkin ◽  
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
Creative Play ◽  
Religious Feeling ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Section Viii ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Final Text ◽  
Life Work

An introduction by Boris de Schloezer gives the genesis of the final text in the section, the Preliminary Action, and explains its relation to Skryabin’s projected life-work, the Mystery. Section I: an effusion of Orthodox religious feeling from teenage years. Sections II-VII: Around 1900, an expression of rejection of God in the face of disillusion is followed by the text of the choral finale of the First Symphony, declaring faith in the power of art. An unfinished opera libretto, symbolic in narrative, expressing belief in Art’s power to seduce and persuade. Three notebooks develop a world view in which the world is the result of the self’s creative activity. The creation of art and of the universe are identical. There is a higher self, identical with divinity. Forgetfulness of individuality leads to freedom and universal consciousness. Section VIII: The literary poem written during the composition of the symphonic Poem of Ecstasy summarises the scenario developed in the notebooks. Life starts with the desire to create, delight in creative play meets opposition, the creative goal is achieved and disappointment sets in. The process is repeated until it is realized that the struggle is itself joyful and self-affirmation is achieved. Section IX: The text of the Preliminary Action is symbolic in structure. Primal Male and Female Principles emerge; the Female is identified with Death. Life arises from the union of energies. Struggle and bloodshed follow. The conclusion is an impulse towards unification, the synthesis of experience and dematerialisation. Both the complete first draft and the incomplete revision are included.

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