Bøger af Giorgio Baruchello

The present book addresses the background, rationale, general structure, and particular aims and arguments characterizing our third and last volume about "humor" and "cruelty". A guiding foray is provided into the vast expert literature that can be retrieved in the Western humanities and social sciences on these two terms. Pivotal thinkers and crucial notions are duly identified, highlighted, and examined. Apposite subsidiary references are also included, especially with regard to psychodynamics and clinical psychology, existentialism, feminism, liberalism, Marxism, and representative recent studies in the philosophy of humor and its cognates. The stage is thus set for the exploration and assessment of the conflicts between humor and cruelty unfolding in Part 2 of Volume 3. Being the philosophical terminus of our entire research project, Volume 3 counterbalances, complements, and, occasionally, complexifies the numerous forms of mutual cooperation between humor and cruelty that the preceding Volume 2 had unearthed and discussed. "Like Aristotle and Dewey, Arnarsson and Baruchello do not define their terms at the outset, but instead they relentlessly pursue the meanings of two ordinary words that everyone vaguely understads to arrive at a critical insight into the concepts these words represent, which are both disparate and interrelated." - Richard Marc Rubin, President, George Santayana Society

Humor and cruelty can be the best of friends. Many cruel domains have facilitated hilarity of all kinds, whether experienced directly or vicariously, stretching from the torture chamber to the living room--or wherever else a screen is to be found. Conversely, many jests have provided the vehicle with which to dispense cruelty, whether callously or gleefully, in myriad settings, from public events to intimate family dinners. Combining the sources and resources of the humanities and social sciences, this book investigates the mutually supportive liaisons of humor and cruelty. We unearth the brutal, aggressive, and/or sadomasochistic roots of mockery and self-mockery, sarcasm and satire, whilst addressing contemporary debates in humor studies focusing on the thorny ethics and existential challenges arising from the acceptance of the much-appreciated yet seldom innocent channel for human interaction called "humor." "Like Aristotle and Dewey, Arnarsson and Baruchello do not define their terms at the outset, but instead they relentlessly pursue the meanings of two ordinary words that everyone vaguely understads to arrive at a critical insight into the concepts these words represent, which are both disparate and interrelated." - Richard Marc Rubin, President, George Santayana Society

Humor has been praised by philosophers and poets as a balm to soothe the sorrows that outrageous fortune's slings and arrows cause inevitably, if not incessantly, to each and every one of us. In mundane life, having a sense of humor is seen not only as a positive trait of character, but as a social prerequisite, without which a person's career and mating prospects are severely diminished, if not annihilated. However, humor is much more than this, and so much else. In particular, humor can accompany cruelty, inform it, sustain it, and exemplify it. Therefore, in this book, we provide a comprehensive, reasoned exploration of the vast literature on the concepts of humor and cruelty, as these have been tackled in Western philosophy, humanities, and social sciences, especially psychology. Also, the apparent cacophony of extant interpretations of these two concepts is explained as the inevitable and even useful result of the polysemy inherent to all common-sense concepts, in line with the understanding of concepts developed by M. Polanyi in the 20th century. Thus, a thorough, nuanced grasp of their complex mutual relationship is established, and many platitudes affecting today's received views, and scholarship, are cast aside. "Like Aristotle and Dewey, Arnarsson and Baruchello do not define their terms at the outset, but instead they relentlessly pursue the meanings of two ordinary words that everyone vaguely understads to arrive at a critical insight into the concepts these words represent, which are both disparate and interrelated." - Richard Marc Rubin, President, George Santayana Society

Part 2 of Volume 3 addresses in detail the conflicts between humor and cruelty, i.e., how cruelty can be unleashed against humor and, conversely, humor can be utilized against cruelty. Potent enmities to mirth and jollity are retrieved from a variety of socio-historical contexts, ranging from Europe's medieval monasteries to the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre. Special attention is paid to the cruel humor and humorous cruelty arising thereof, insofar as such phenomena can reveal critical aspects of today's neoliberal socio-economic order. In parallel, settings where humor has been used as an instrument to cope with suffered cruelty, whether natural or human in origin, are also retrieved and discussed. These also vary greatly and encompass domains such as hospital wards, 20th-century Jewish ghettoes, and contemporary funeral homes. A set of concluding reflections is then offered on the psychological, theological, ethical, and metaphysical roots of humor--and its cruel rejection. "Like Aristotle and Dewey, Arnarsson and Baruchello do not define their terms at the outset, but instead they relentlessly pursue the meanings of two ordinary words that everyone vaguely understads to arrive at a critical insight into the concepts these words represent, which are both disparate and interrelated." - Richard Marc Rubin, President, George Santayana Society

"Perhaps, one day we will learn to evaluate the success of an economic system by the actual wellbeing that it creates across peoples and generations, securing means of life and opportunities to lead a meaningful existence, rather than by the volume of lifeless sums of money stated by the balance sheet."Baruchello's fifth collection of essays brings his diverse philosophical interests-Gadamer, Socrates, Gestalt psychology, Catholic ethics, Icelandic public policy, to name only a few examples-into a unified exploration of the interpersonal dimension of human reason. His writerly voice is similarly diverse: there's straight-up academic prose, and Heideggerian aphorisms, a gentle sense of humour, and an intimate account of how he explains philosophy to his children. Thinking And Talking is a book for those who still believe that philosophy is about love, not only the love of wisdom, but also the love of humanity.Born in Genoa, Italy, Giorgio Baruchello is an Icelandic citizen and works as Professor of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Akureyri, Iceland. He read philosophy in Genoa and Reykjavík, Iceland, and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Guelph, Canada. His publications encompass several different areas, especially social philosophy, theory of value, and intellectual history. Since 2005 he edits Nordicum-Mediterraneum: The Icelandic E-Journal of Nordic and Mediterranean Studies.

As Descartes did for epistemology and Lévinas did for ethics, Baruchello places social and political philosophy as the new 'first philosophy'. His research in the intersecting fields of economics, power politics, knowledge, and reality, presented here and in The Business of Life and Death Volume 1: Values and Economies, continues the work of John McMurtry, and fills in the unacknowledged missing pieces in the work of Martha Nussbaum, Hans Jonas, and Arthur Fridolin Utz, among others. He lays bare the frightening reality of how capital has controlled our understanding of knowledge, ethics, and meaning, to the detriment of the life-flourishing of peoples and environments. Yet his argument remains optimistic: he shows how the power of capital can be escaped, and how the life-ground of human goodness can replace it.

Baruchello's Philosophy of Cruelty, the second collection of his essays, turns a difficult and emotionally charged topic into a surprisingly informative and enlightening read. Covering the history of Western philosophy's treatment of cruelty as a topic, yet relating every point to present-day occasions of violence and injustice, this book is a touchstone for any discussion of cruelty as a philosophical theme. It pulls no punches, yet it leaves you standing taller.

"Mortals, Money, and Masters of Thought is a thoroughly enjoyable medley of philosophical meditations. Covering a very wide variety of topics, from metaphysical matters like the nature of history and art, to practical and ethically serious matters like global economic injustice, this collection nevertheless offers a remarkably coherent reading experience, where all topics are joined together by the common theme of death. This is the work of an enquiring mind, investigating the most serious matters with logical clarity and also with imaginative playfulness." --Brendan Myers, author of Reclaiming Civilization.

This book examines the intersecting fields of economics, power politics, knowledge, and reality, with a vision wide and deep enough to place social and political philosophy as the new 'first philosophy', as Descartes placed epistemology and Lévinas placed ethics. Continuing the work of John McMurtry, Baruchello's research fills in the unacknowledged missing pieces in the work of well known writers including Paul Krugman, Naomi Klein, and Noam Chomsky. The complete picture, presented here and in The Business of Life and Death Volume 2, Politics, Law, and Society, lays bare the frightening reality of how capital has controlled civil society, to the detriment of the life-flourishing of its members. Yet its argument remains optimistic: it shows how the power of capital can be escaped, and how the life-ground of human goodness can replace it.