•  9
    Online consent: how much do we need to know?
    with Bartlomiej Chomanski
    AI and Society 1-11. forthcoming.
    This paper argues, against the prevailing view, that consent to privacy policies that regular internet users usually give is largely unproblematic from the moral point of view. To substantiate this claim, we rely on the idea of the right not to know (RNTK), as developed by bioethicists. Defenders of the RNTK in bioethical literature on informed consent claim that patients generally have the right to refuse medically relevant information. In this article we extend the application of the RNTK to o…Read more
  •  146
    This paper argues, against the prevailing view, that consent to privacy policies that regular internet users usually give is largely unproblematic from the moral point of view. To substantiate this claim, we rely on the idea of the right not to know (RNTK), as developed by bioethicists. Defenders of the RNTK in bioethical literature on informed consent claim that patients generally have the right to refuse medically relevant information. In this article we extend the application of the RNTK to o…Read more
  •  20
    Violence and Meaning (edited book)
    with Laura Katherine Smith and Christian Sternad
    Springer Verlag. 2019.
    This edited collection explores the problem of violence from the vantage point of meaning. Taking up the ambiguity of the word ‘meaning’, the chapters analyse the manner in which violence affects and in some cases constitutes the meaningful structure of our lifeworld, on individual, social, religious and conceptual levels. The relationship between violence and meaning is multifaceted, and is thus investigated from a variety of different perspectives within the continental tradition of philosophy…Read more
  •  36
    The Enjoyment of Pure Reasoning
    Philosophy Today 59 (2): 191-206. 2015.
    This paper is dedicated to a discussion of Gilles Deleuze’s Coldness and Cruelty and its special place in French Sade studies. In this text, Deleuze famously argues against the notion of ‘sadomasochism’ as a unity. Sadism and masochism are, on his view, two entirely separate and incompatible ways of making use of pain and suffering in perversion. What is less known about Deleuze’s text is that he argues, against the current in French philosophy, psychiatry, and even intuition, that the essence o…Read more
  •  31
    Beware of the Philosophical Expert
    Philosophy Today 64 (4): 871-876. 2020.
    Many philosophers and lay people believe that philosophy has an important role to play in times of societal crisis. In this contribution reasons are given to doubt the supposed societal relevance of philosophy.
  •  1
    Filosofie van geweld (edited book)
    Polis. 2017.
  • De invloed van het denken van Paul Moyaert is zeer groot. Daarom wil 'Orde scheppen' hulde brengen aan deze filosoof en zijn intellectuele bezetenheid. De thematische diversiteit van het boek weerspiegelt de biodiversiteit van Moyaerts eigen werk, die met enig geweld tot drie grote thema's of domeinen kan worden herleid: wijsgerige antropologie, psychopathologie en religie. Onderwerpen zijn: het symbolische, de liefde, uchronie, de echtheid van beelden, en poëzie; de afstemming bij jongvolwasse…Read more
  •  19
    Technology and Society
    with Massimiliano Simons and Mauritz Kelchtermans
    Philosophy Today 65 (3): 459-464. 2021.
    It is commonly accepted that technology and society have always been intertwined. The question is rather how we should understand that relation. This introduction to the special issue ‘Technology and Society’ gives a brief overview of the history of the questions related to this intertwinement. The special issue consists of six essays, emanating from presentations at the 2019 conference on Technology and Society at the Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven. It was organized by the Working Group on …Read more
  •  66
    Artificial intelligence and responsibility
    AI and Society 36 (3): 1001-1009. 2021.
    In the debate on whether to ban LAWS, moral arguments are mainly used. One of these arguments, proposed by Sparrow, is that the use of LAWS goes hand in hand with the responsibility gap. Together with the premise that the ability to hold someone responsible is a necessary condition for the admissibility of an act, Sparrow believes that this leads to the conclusion that LAWS should be prohibited. In this article, it will be shown that Sparrow’s argumentation for both premises is not convincing. I…Read more
  •  26
    Artificiële intelligentie en normatieve ethiek
    Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 111 (4): 585-603. 2019.
    Artificial intelligence and normative ethics: Who is responsible for the crime of LAWS? In his text “Killer Robots”, Robert Sparrow holds that killer robots should be forbidden. This conclusion is based on two premises. The first is that attributive responsibility is a necessary condition for admitting an action; the second premise is that the use of killer robots is accompanied by a responsibility gap. Although there are good reasons to conclude that killer robots should be banned, the article …Read more
  •  11
    Violence as an Expression of Energy
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 51 (3): 187-200. 2020.
    The literary oeuvre of Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) has attracted a great deal of interest over the past 200 years, not only from writers, but also from numerous leading philosophers. Among them is Georges Bataille, who particularly emphasizes the apathetic character of the Sadean libertines, meaning that they feel nothing at all. More specifically, the French philosopher focuses on their apathetic enjoyment that goes hand in hand with the abuse of victims. The goal of this article is to clarify …Read more
  •  7
    A Poststructuralist Interpretation of Art
    Philosophy Today 62 (1): 199-214. 2018.
    Among the French philosophers who discuss the literature of writer Marquis de Sade, Maurice Blanchot presents a unique interpretation. For Blanchot, literature is the theme par excellence on which his entire oeuvre has been built. It is not, however, the case that Blanchot reads several literary forms and invents new concepts to map out a certain form of literature. His thinking about literature is indeed accompanied by an ideal and his interest goes out to a particular kind of writer, namely th…Read more
  •  33
    A Small Metaphysics of Violence. A Discussion Between Arendt, Benjamin, and Sorel?
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 77 (4): 785-813. 2015.
    In secondary literature one can often read that Arendt, when she writes about violence, differs from Benjamin and Sorel. Indeed, while she considers violence as something instrumental, the two others write about a kind of violence that does not serve a goal. In the present essay it is argued that this presentation of the debate is not correct, and that the relationship between the three philosophers regarding the issue of violence is more complex.
  •  29
    In the long line of French Sade studies, Deleuze's essay Coldness and Cruelty marks out a special place. By discussing Masoch both in addition to and in contrast to Sade, Deleuze reveals the stakes of his book: he wants to unmask the concept of sadomasochism as a clinical nonentity. In their paper, the authors explain the arguments supporting this project and show their relation to Deleuze's reading of Bergson. They then argue that there is a second, similarly Bergsonian criticism of Freudian ps…Read more
  •  31
    Not just Free but Flesh: Simone de Beauvoir's Existentialist Approach to Sade's Life and Work
    Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 45 (2): 162-174. 2014.
    The decades immediately following the Second World War saw extensive interest in the literary novels of Sade. Compared with the Sade studies of Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Lacan, and Gilles Deleuze, Simone de Beauvoir offers a unique perspective in her essay Must We Burn De Sade?. Indeed, unlike her contemporaries, Beauvoir focuses not only on Sade's prose but also on Sade's life and the relationship between Sade's life and literature. The latter is interpreted in two different ways. Thus, Beauvoi…Read more
  •  14
    Boekbespreking van'Second manifeste pour la philosophie'(Alain Badiou)
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 73 (1): 184-186. 2011.
  •  14
  •  12
    Batailles lezing van Sade
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 73 (2): 231. 2011.
  •  7
    Simone de Beauvoir over leven en werk van Markies de Sade
    de Uil van Minerva: Tijdschrift Voor Geschiedenis En Wijsbegeerte van de Cultuur 24 (4): 211-224. 2011.
  •  21
    Pierre Klossowski reads Sade theologically. Modernity and salvation
    International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 74 (3): 174-182. 2013.
    In this article the author discusses Pierre Klossowski’s first and second interpretation of the novels of Marquis de Sade. It is often stressed that there is a big difference between these interpretations: the first interprets Sade from a theological perspective; the second puts that Sade is an exponent of modernity. One can however argue that also Klossowski’s first theological reading interprets Sade as a product of modern thinking.
  • Simone de Beauvoir over leven en werk van Markies de Sade
    de Uil Van Minerva 24 211-220. 2011.
  •  20
    Roland Barthes' semiologische lezing van Sade
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 74 (3): 425. 2012.