Miejsce uniwersytetu w nowoczesnym życiu

The aim of the text is to show the place of the university in developed capitalist countries at the beginning of the 20th century. The author shows the affinity between adepts of knowledge in the past (including priests and shamans) and the present (scientists). Thetext draws attention to the fact that, regardless of any differences between the past and the present, the quest for an idle knowledge and the instinct of workmanship is embedded in human beings. Modern civilisation has transformed the quest for knowledge by subjecting it to the criterion of business andcool, dispassionate precision. It is industry and its norms that determine the direction of academic research.Celem tekstu jest ukazanie miejsca uniwersytetu w rozwiniętych krajach kapitalistycznych na początku XX wieku. Autor pokazuje pokrewieństwo między adeptami wiedzy w czasach dawnych (w tym kapłanami i szamanami) i obecnych (naukowcami). W tekściezwraca się uwagę na fakt, że bez względu na wszelkie różnice między przeszłością a teraźniejszością, w człowieku tkwi dążenie do bezinteresownej wiedzy i instynkt dobrej roboty. Współczesna cywilizacja przekształciła poszukiwanie wiedzy poddając je kryteriumbiznesu, chłodnej, beznamiętnej precyzji. To przemysł oraz jego normy wyznaczają kierunki badań akademickich

Des conséquences de la guerre sur le savoir érudit

L’état actuel de la technologie disponible à la société, c’est-à-dire son industrie, doit son assise et sa croissance à la volonté de déconsidérer les démarcations nationales que représentent les frontières. Le savoir industriel constitue le fondement matériel de la civilisation moderne et tend vers l’internationalisation. Il est devenu commun à toutes les nations civilisées. Cependant, il faut garder à l’esprit que ces technologies modernes continueront nécessairement, ainsi qu’elles l’ont t..

De l’évolution du point de vue scientifique

Discuter du point de vue scientifique en empruntant ce même point de vue a nécessairement l’apparence d’une réflexion circulaire, et c’est justement ce que nous allons faire dans ce qui suit. Nous allons tâcher de réfléchir scientifiquement à propos de ce qui constitue la science. Notre examen de la science ne prétend pas étudier l’origine ni la légitimité des postulats de la science. Plutôt, nous allons examiner l’usage croissant qui en est fait. Nous nous intéresserons aux changements que l..

The show must go on: making money glamorizing oppression

This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the glamorization of the courtesan image as proposed by Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge. The film sparked the appearance of high-street fashion inspired by the image of the 19th-century Parisian courtesan, which prompted the authors to examine how and why such images might appeal to female consumers. The critical analysis reaches beyond the images themselves to identify and discuss the modes of circulation of such images, and their function in achieving both the material ends of capitalism (ever-increasing consumption and production) and the promotion of one of the system’s core values (patriarchy). Moreover, the article hopes to illustrate the possibilities offered by integrating cultural and structural analyses of current social phenomena

Waste, Industry and Romantic Leisure: Veblen's Theory of Recognition

types: ArticleVeblen’s work contains a neglected, since for the most part implicit, theory of recognition centred on his concepts of waste and workmanship. This article tries to develop this theory in order to shed new light on the theorem of conspicuous leisure and consumption. The legitimacy of violence at the ‘predatory stage’ of culture has been partly superseded by a legitimacy of industrial efficiency, so that the leisure classes need to disguise their conspicuous waste as socially useful productive endeavours. At the same time waste remains a powerful symbol of legitimate status, so that even the industrial classes turn to it in order to assert their social worth and demand social recognition. Waste - which is far more central in Veblen’s theory than is emulation - becomes an ambiguous symbol which can stand for both unproductive privilege and industrial efficiency. The utilitarian urge for efficiency and the meaninglessness of a struggle for recognition through conspicuous waste produce a desire for a romantic escape, also acknowledged by Veblen, but often overlooked in his sharp criticism of consumerism