Ernst Wolff

Résumé Cet article défend la philosophie intercontinentale en tant qu’éthique philosophique. La philosophie intercontinentale est un mode de philosopher conscient de la mondialisation contemporaine, caractérisée par la pluralité humaine sans arbitre impartial des désaccords. La philosophie intercontinentale tient compte du fait que la philosophie a des origines multiples, qu’elle s’articule sous différentes formes et qu’elle est pratiquée dans différents lieux sur tous les continents et îles habités. Je présente cette éthique philosophique en la contrastant avec la sous-discipline philosophique de la philosophie interculturelle, avec laquelle elle partage plusieurs préoccupations importantes. Je clarifie la place de la contingence, de la pluralité et de l’anti-essentialisme dans la philosophie intercontinentale. Une réflexion sur le terme « continent » permet de montrer comment la philosophie européenne et africaine s’ouvre à un travail intercontinental. Ce travail s’effectue en établissant une communalité. La communalité est entendue au sens de liens de pertinence « contemporaine » et « cospatiale ». Je me penche sur l’importance de l’invention, la politique de la reconnaissance et un concept pratique et latéral de l’universalité, avant de conclure par quelques considérations générales. Abstract This article presents the case for intercontinental philosophy as a philosophical ethos. Intercontinental philosophy comprises a mode of philosophizing aware of contemporary globalization, characterized by human plurality without an impartial arbiter of disagreements. Intercontinental philosophy realizes the fact that philosophy has multiple origins, gets articulated in different forms, and is practised in different loci across all the inhabited continents and islands. I present this ethos by contrasting it with the philosophical subdiscipline of intercultural philosophy, with which it shares several important concerns. I clarify the place of contingency, plurality, and anti-essentialism in intercontinental philosophizing. Reflection on the term “continent” serves as a way to demonstrate how European and African philosophy open to intercontinental work. This work is carried out by establishing commonality. Commonality is understood as ties of “contemporary” and “cospatial” relevance. I consider the importance of invention, the politics of recognition, and a practical and lateral concept of universality, before closing with some general considerations.

Ce texte est une présentation du dossier que le lecteur a en main. Il situe historiquement quelques-unes des principales difficultés communes aux institutions d'enseignement et de recherche non occidentales travaillant dans le domaine de la philosophie universitaire. Il présente brièvement les sept articles qui composent le dossier, en élucidant les niveaux d'analyse que chacun des textes nous invite à découvrir, à partir de différentes perspectives issues de contextes culturels, sociaux et politiques différents. Les sept contributions se concentrent principalement sur les expériences du Cameroun et du Brésil, mais les arguments ont des implications pour les pratiques philosophiques dans d'autres pays également. Enfin, la manière dont les sept contributions sont concaténées donne lieu à un horizon interprétatif assez particulier, qui peut offrir différentes perspectives sur la situation académique de la philosophie dans les pays du « Sud ».

The aim of this book is to reflect on the complex practice of responsibility within the context of a globalised world and contemporary means of action. Levinas' exploration of the ethical serves as point of entry and is shown to be seeking inter-cultural political relevance through engagement with the issues of postcoloniality and humanism. Yet, Levinas fails to realise the ethical implications of the inevitable instrumental mediation between ethical meaning and political practice. With recourse to Weber, Apel and Ricoeur, Ernst Wolff proposes a theory of strategic co-responsibility for the uncertain global context of practice.

The aim of this article is to contribute to a philosophy of technics by proposing an answer to the following question: what is the nature of the human body as an element of technical systems? The argument focuses on an examination of the phenomenon of bodily technics. This examination is guided by the conviction that Pierre Bourdieu's social theory can be read as contributing significantly to an answer to the above question. However, since Bourdieu's project is not directly aimed at enhancing our understanding of the technicity of the human body, a reading of Marcel Mauss's seminal essay on bodily technics is also discussed to set the stage for an examination of the technicity of the body and to justify the manner in which Bourdieu's theory is read here. Through a careful study of the key notions of habitus, field, practice, time and rule, Bourdieu's social theory is systematically presented and explored for its contribution to an understanding of the question raised in this article. In conclusion, a number of remarks are made on how the relation between Mauss and Bourdieu is to be understood and on the argumentative strength of Bourdieu's work.

© 2016 Philosophy Documentation Center. The aim of this article is to argue for an interdisciplinary social theoretical approach to the technicity of human agency. This approach covers the spectrum of individual and social action from a perspective that logically precedes techno-optimism and techno-pessimism, and is intended to be both descriptively and normatively plausible. The study is anchored in a critical reading of Aristotle's thought on techné and phronésis, as his work is the precursor of action theory and phenomenological hermeneutics, the central methodological orientations of this study. The importance of the "disposition formed under the guidance of reason" as the unifying trait of agency is affirmed with, and against, Aristotle. The article advocates reactivating and developing this trait of agency for a descriptive and critical discourse on the technicity of action, providing an outline of how to accomplish this task. The technicity of the individual agent is examined, reflecting on rule-following, the relation between technicity and creativity, and the interpretative moment of technicity. Next, the interwovenness of the skilful body with biological, social and symbolic aspects of human existence and with systems of technical artefacts is clarified. Finally, a case is made for the critical potential of this "technology," reverting to Aristotelian means of normative thought.

: On the aesthetics of food and the art of cooking The aesthetic nature of food and cooking is a neglected field in philosophical aesthetics. This neglect is due, among others, to the intellectual perspective on art and the anthropological dualism characteristic of modernism. In this essay the aesthetics of food and the art of cooking are explored. The system of food in philosophy firstly examined. In the second part, a distinction is made between natural and culinary gastronomical beauty. Attention is given to the development of some philosophical terminology applicable to the field of study, and the art of cooking analysed in contrast to other forms of artistic expression. In the last section, some cultural and political implications of the aesthetics of food and the art of cooking are considered. South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 25 (4) 2006: pp. 290-304

This article offers an encompassing interpretation of Paul Ricœur’s reception of Max Weber’s sociology. Three main domains in which Ricœur redeployed and revised insights from Weber are examined: political responsibility and the definition of the state, significant categories for understanding social interaction and the social ontology implied by this view on action and, finally, the role of explanation in the interpretive social sciences. As a whole, this article argues that Weber was a significant interlocutor of Ricœur on a number of significant themes in the philosopher’s work. In particular, the article profiles the Weberian aspect of Ricœur’s social and political philosophy.

The aim of this article is to contribute to a philosophy of technics by proposing an answer to the following question: what is the nature of the human body as an element of technical systems? The argument focuses on an examination of the phenomenon of bodily technics. This examination is guided by the conviction that Pierre Bourdieu's social theory can be read as contributing significantly to an answer to the above question. However, since Bourdieu's project is not directly aimed at enhancing our understanding of the technicity of the human body, a reading of Marcel Mauss's seminal essay on bodily technics is also discussed to set the stage for an examination of the technicity of the body and to justify the manner in which Bourdieu's theory is read here. Through a careful study of the key notions of habitus, field, practice, time and rule, Bourdieu's social theory is systematically presented and explored for its contribution to an understanding of the question raised in this article. In conclusion, a number of remarks are made on how the relation between Mauss and Bourdieu is to be understood and on the argumentative strength of Bourdieu's work.