Bulletin Philosophy and Society 35/1 2024
The first issue of the journal “Philosophy and Society” in 2024 (Philosophy and Society 35/1) brings a thematic section titled “Exploring the Post-Essentialist, Pluralist, And Interactive Human Nature: Applications, Implications, And Critical Assessment.” Additionally, this issue features original scientific papers on the feminist and literary contributions of Amanda Labarca, the role of contemporary artworks in transmitting cultural values, and philosophical analyses of anti-paternalism. Finally, this issue includes reviews of two books “Political Rumors: Why We Accept Misinformation and How to Fight It” and “Here Lies Bitterness: Healing from Resentment” both published last year (2023).
The thematic section “Exploring the Post-Essentialist, Pluralist, And Interactive Human Nature: Applications, Implications, And Critical Assessment” was edited by Aleksandra Knežević, a research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. The section emerged from a discussion organized at the Institute in 2022 about Maria Kronfeldner's book “What’s Left of Human Nature?” in the presence of the author.
The section opens with the article “Being Human is a Kaleidoscopic Affair” by Maria Kronfeldner, which addresses ways to be pluralistic regarding “human nature”. This paper examines the conceptual pluralism of the term “human nature” arising from post-essentialist ontology and the semantic complexity of the term “nature”, as well as the descriptive pluralism of “descriptive nature” of human beings, i.e., the pluralism regarding our self-understanding as human beings resulting from a long list of typical characteristics attributed to human beings.
In the next paper, “Deploying Kronfeldner’s Concept of Human Nature in Archaeology,” Marko Porčićexamines the role and significance of the concept of human nature in archaeology through the lens of Maria Kronfeldner’s ideas on classificatory, descriptive, and explanatory human nature. The primary focus is on examining the relevance of these concepts for understanding problems in the late Pleistocene, and then broadly viewing the contribution of these theoretical concepts for reconstructing human behavior in the past.
Sonja Žakula, in the article “Human Exceptionalism and the Lot of Animals: Telling Stories About “Human Nature” in the Anthropocene,” addresses the role assigned to animals in discussions and attempts to define “human nature.” The author views science as a storytelling practice and treats academic narratives about “human nature” as particularly important types of stories, questioning the responsibility that storytelling carries in the Anthropocene.
Stefan Janković, in the article “A New Climate for Human Nature? Navigating Social Theory Through Postnature, the Anthropocene and Posthumanism” examines the contribution of new materialist and post-humanist approaches to understanding the relationship between humans and nature. The author considers how new approaches enable the conceptualization of a dynamic and co-constitutive relationship between the natural and the social, which leans less towards the unilateral dictate of “nature” and more towards understanding the evolution of human life and social structures within the vast temporal and spatial domains of the Earth.
In the text “Explanatory Account of the Human Language Faculty: The Developmentalist Challenge and Biolinguistics,” the application of Maria Kronfeldner’s analysis of the concept of human nature to the concept of cognitive systems and related capabilities, such as the human language faculty is explored. Ana Lipijanalyzes the nature-nurture debate, considering claims about nature as a causal role in language ability, and on the other hand, those that regard culture as responsible for the development of human language capabilities. The paper advocates the thesis that biolinguistics is one of the fields with the potential for interdisciplinary unification of explanations concerning human language abilities, which were considered opposing in earlier debates.
At the end of the thematic section, Aleksandra Knežević, in the paper “The Integrative Potential of Contemporary Perspectives on the Nature/Culture Conceptual Relationship,” analyzes and compares the claims of Maria Kronfeldner and Tim Ingold on the conceptual relationship between nature and culture. The author argues that despite differences, the views of these two authors are related and that there is potential for their integration, which also represents a possible path for the integration of sociocultural anthropology and evolutionary psychology.
The article “The Narrative of Amanda Labarca and the Criollismo: Notes for Inserting it into Chilean Literary History (Or Narrating It to Depict And Change Chile)” is dedicated to analyzing the works of Amanda Labarca, a writer, educator, and feminist activist from Chile. The authors, Montserrat Arre-Marfull, José Ramos-Vera, and Gonzalo Salas, read Labarca’s works from the first quarter of the 20th century through criollismo, a Latin American and Chilean literary sensibility of the first half of the 20th century.
Svetlana A. Mitasova, in the article “Intercultural Communication in Contemporary Art: From Provocation to Integration,” analyzes forms of transmitting cultural values (meanings) through contemporary artworks. The author approaches artistic creation as a result of intercultural communication and as a means of transmitting cultural meanings, identifying and then thematizing three forms of value translation in art: provocation, similarity, and integration.
Finally, the article “What’s Wrong with Anti-Paternalism?” analyzes anti-paternalistic arguments related to the best judgment, autonomy, and moral status of a person. Michal Sládeček pays special attention to the shortcomings of Quong's criticism of the first two arguments and offers an alternative interpretation of anti-paternalistic arguments.
