To Remake Man and the World...comme si? Camus's "Ethics" contra Nihilism

Whether Albert Camus’s “existentialist” thought expresses an “ethics” is a subject of disagreement among commentators. Yet, there can be no reading of Camus’s philosophical and literary works without recognizing that he was engaged in the post-WW2 period with two basic questions: How must we think? What must we do? If his thought presents us with an ethics, even if not systematic, it seems to be present in his ideas of “remaking” both man and world that are central to his The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel. Curiously, however, this apparent recommendation is ambiguous for the fact that while Camus proposes as much he does so “comme si,” i.e., form a perspective of “as if.” A clarification of this qualification is presented here in the light of the fact that Camus rejects any nihilist project that countenances either suicide or murder. Thereby one may argue that Camus indeed has an ethics that remains pertinent to today

Applying Dworkin’s Legal Philosophy contra Islamist Ideology: Sharī‘ah as a Matter of Interpretation (Ijtihād) and Ethics (ilm al-akhlāq)

Observers of contemporary politics know that Islamic extremism presents ‘the West’ with a serious challenge of national and international security consequent to terrorist events of recent time. In addition to constabulary and military responses, there remains the more fundamental question about how to understand Islamist ideology and how counter-narratives might be framed in the interest of law and morality, especially in Muslim-minority nation-states. One of the central problems with Islamist ideology is a narrow and dogmatic conception of Islamic law. Tariq Ramadan is an example of a contemporary Islamic scholar concerned with Islamic reform. Ronald Dworkin is among the most prominent philosophers of law immersed in the Western legal tradition. Both scholars appreciate the linkage of law and morality, in which case the parameters of a counter-narrative to Islamist ideology may be found by juxtaposing some fundamentals of interpretation that each scholar presents in his work. This article attempts to show, through a comparative analysis of this kind, how and why the concept of law presented by Islamist ideology is flawed; and why the methods of Islamic jurisprudence require attention to Islamic ethics as well

To Live the Piety of Reason: Spinoza’s “Authentic” Choice

ABSTRACT: Whether rabbinic authorities should remove the excommunication (cherem) of philosopher Benedict de Spinoza has been a matter of debate in recent years. Spinoza’s philosophical thought, however, demonstrates that this debate would not matter to him.  His pantheism, developed in the Theological-Philosophical Treatise and the Ethics, will ever be a radical contestation of monotheism.  Juxtaposing his philosophical views to the fictional narrative that existential psychologist Irvin D. Yalom offers, in his novel The Spinoza Problem, provides plausible psychological insight into Spinoza’s post-cherem identity in pursuit of authentic selfhood (‘authentic’ in Heidegger’s sense of ‘authenticity,’ Eigentlichkeit). Thereby, we can appreciate the enduring import of Spinoza’s radical enlightenment, the authentic choice of the identity he adopted, and his indefatigable commitment to the piety of reason, i.e., intellectual love of God (amor Dei intellectus)

Between Hospitality and Hostility: A Derridean Reflection on “the Refugee”

Every philosopher who is concerned with practical rationality and the public import of philosophy assumes a politico-philosophical responsibility for his or her words, thoughts, and deeds. More often than not, this is a function of his or her place and time in history as well as the press of current events that claim the philosopher’s solicitude so as to intervene at least with the force of thought and words, if not with deeds. Yet, as philosophers such as Martin Heidegger and Albert Camus have argued, thinking is itself always the essential action that is needed in times of momentous decision, despite the seeming absurdity of events

A Request for Non-voluntary Euthanasia in Bangladesh: A Moral Assessment

Government authorities in Bangladesh recently were placed in an awkward and extraordinary position of having to make a presumably difficult decision: how to respond to a man’s request to have his two sons and grandson euthanized. This is an extraordinary request for a developing country’s health service authorities to consider, especially in the context of a Muslim-majority population where any appeal to the legitimacy of suicide (and, by extension, physician-assisted suicide) would be automatically rejected as contrary to Islamic moral and jurisprudential principles. Here the case is reviewed in the context of arguments that engage non-voluntary euthanasia and the local context of inadequate health service delivery

Authenticity and Dogma: An Inextricable Connection in Heidegger’s Thought?

How can one be authentic, except with reference to some dogma? An answer to this query is philosophically important in light of the significance that individuals attach to traditions of thought and practice and to epistemic commitments articulated in the context of the political, which are characterized as ideological appeals. Here the thinking of Martin Heidegger is engaged as a way of evaluating the concept of dogma and the seemingly moral and political relevance of the concept of authenticity. The point of the analysis is to conclude otherwise than is presupposed by the question, i.e., to conclude that one can be authentic without reference to some dogma

The “Unguarding” (Vehrwahrlosung) of Human Life in Biotechnology: Thinking Essentially with Heidegger

Philosopher Martin Heidegger’s writing on the essence of technology has often been seen as too abstract even though he illustrated his concerns with reference to technological developments of his day. While most in the immediate post-World War 2 period judged thermonuclear weaponry to be the most obvious technological threat to the future of humanity, Heidegger instead considered developments in the biological sciences to be more so. In the discussion presented here, Heidegger’s thinking is related to developments in biotechnology, specifically assisted reproductive technology. The task here is (1) to illustrate how Heidegger’s disquiet is manifested in such technologies and (2) to emphasize the significance of his call for a “step back” from the calculative thinking dominant in the natural sciences to what he called, alternately, “essential,” “meditative,” or “commemorative” thinking. Only through this latter mode of thinking can we expect to enter into a “free” relationship to technology

Trump's Inducement of America's Banality of Evil

When political philosopher Hannah Arendt introduced the concept of ‘banality of evil’ she did so in reference to the actions of Germans who appropriated the doctrines of National Socialism “thoughtlessly” and without obvious intentions to do evil. But, Arendt’s description of this phenomenon entails that such banality can be found even in a democracy such as the USA. The relation of law and morality must therefore be unambiguous to defend the rule of law against the rule of men. However, a legal philosophy other than positivism is essential to safeguard the Republic against the overreach of executive power. And, where the psychopathology of Donald Trump is at the core of America’s electoral discontent in 2020, as mental health professionals have argued, there is all the more reason to take Arendt’s counsel especially seriously today. It is in this context that it is argued here that the American public must beware Trump’s inducement of America’s banality of evil

“Just one animal among many?” Existential phenomenology, ethics, and stem cell research

Stem cell research and associated or derivative biotechnologies are proceeding at a pace that has left bioethics behind as a discipline that is more or less reactionary to their developments. Further, much of the available ethical deliberation remains determined by the conceptual framework of late modern metaphysics and the correlative ethical theories of utilitarianism and deontology. Lacking, to any meaningful extent, is a sustained engagement with ontological and epistemological critiques, such as with “postmodern” thinking like that of Heidegger’s existential phenomenology. Some basic “Heideggerian” conceptual strategies are reviewed here as a way of remedying this deficiency and adding to ethical deliberation about current stem cell research practices