Bøger udgivet af HERDER & HERDER

In On the Shortness of Life, Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD) touches on a surprising topic: the feeling of loss of time. We have the false perception that life is short because it is determined by our way of living, full of vices and superfluous occupations. Dedication to wisdom is, for Seneca, the only way to live profitably. Through his concise pen and sharp phrases, the classic philosopher crosses the centuries with timeless wisdom and invites us to reevaluate the use we make of time, this very scarce commodity, as well as to question our lifestyle marked by busyness, dispersion and vanity. "There is no reason for you to think that he who shows gray hair and wrinkles has lived long: he has not lived long, but rather he has existed long."

During confinement, it has been essential to transfer communication to the intangible means of the web: Zoom, Skype and a thousand other platforms have allowed us to continue getting to know each other, talking, looking at each other's faces, teaching, learning, making music and many other things. However, it is undeniable that something has changed: the tools at our disposal are not the same. Eye contact no longer exists, the voice with its inflections becomes much more important, the image on the screen becomes an icon, physical contact is impossible. How to adapt our communication to the digital context? In this essay Giorgio Nardone, Stefano Bartoli and Simona Milanese analyze the new forms of online communication from all angles. This book constitutes an essential instruction manual for the proper use of increasingly widespread communication.

Our universities have been experiencing a deep crisis for decades. This is debated between its critical function - as an entity that promotes cultural, scientific and rigorous dialogue capable of providing new possibilities - and its adaptive function, which responds effectively to market demands, providing standardized and functional training, sometimes questioned. How to deal with this dilemma? How to address the challenges that the 21st century presents to us? After a lifetime dedicated to university teaching, Julieta Piastro and Victor Cabré try to answer these questions and invite us to reflect on the essential aspects that, according to them, should make up the pillars of the university today. They advocate for an institution that preserves its transformative social function and continues its work as a reference in the production of knowledge, training the professionals of the future, without being tempted by fashions or the demands of the market. A university that truly responds to the needs of its time.

In recent years, due to the great influence of social networks and driven by the COVID-19 crisis, denialist movements, pseudosciences and various anti-scientific attitudes have gained unusual visibility. To counteract the criticism that comes from these sectors, Antonio Diéguez proposes a defense of science that is far from the usual topics, which have been consolidated in an image that is not in line with the way in which research is practiced today and that usually comes from ideas philosophical ideas that, although they have been useful in the past, should be reviewed. Starting from the idea that there is no scientific method as such, Diéguez traces a route that values both the object and the scope of science and insists on the importance of methodological naturalism, on the role of the search for truth, in the inevitable uncertainty of many contexts and in the difficulty of any characterization that wants to account for the fundamental aspects of current scientific research.

Until recently, we would not have even understood the meaning of these kinds of questions. But today, when the unstoppable globalization that homogenizes everything has sparked as a reaction the vindication of aggrieved indigenisms, no cultural debate is hotter and more delicate than that of cultural appropriation. This is understood as the assimilation and reinterpretation by a privileged culture of signifiers typical of discriminated cultures. But culture itself is appropriation and reinterpretation, whether of nature or other cultures. In this pertinent essay, Jens Balzer raises this complex debate, illustrating it with generational experiences and the contemporary history of light music, which will be familiar to any reader. If culture is essentially appropriation, the question is not whether the assimilation of foreign cultural motives is licit or not, but rather what forms of cultural appropriation are admissible because they are respectful and which are not because they are exploitative.

Why do we have so much difficulty changing our lifestyles when no one can deny that our development model has a destructive impact on an ecological and social level, not to mention the intensity of violence inflicted on animals? For Corinne Pelluchon, overcoming this challenge involves closing the gap between theory and practice through the development of virtue ethics. Instead of focusing on the principles or consequences of our actions, the author is interested in our specific motivations; by the representations and affects that push us to act. What moral traits can help us enjoy doing good, rather than being constantly torn between happiness and duty? The ethics of consideration draws from ancient morals, but rejects their essentialism and is based on humility and vulnerability. The author defines consideration as transdescendence: a deepening movement that allows the subject to experience the link that unites him or her to other living beings and transforms his or her awareness of his or her belonging to the common world into lived knowledge and commitment. Pelluchon, far from leaving the reader at the mercy of a new ethics, describes in this book the stages by which the ethics of consideration can become a global attitude.

What do we mean when we talk about citizenship? Who can be a citizen? What fate awaits those not in the country where they reside? Many times simple questions contain very complex topics. In this book, Irene Ortiz deploys an archaeological investigation into the stories that allowed the constitution of the citizenship device from the pillars established by Athens and Rome to the present day. More than two thousand years ago, citizenship remains the legal tool that allows the State to distinguish between who are "members" and who are "strangers." This essay presents a diagnosis of citizenship, its formation and its effects. However, it is not only about investigating what role the legal artifact of citizenship plays in the protection of life and what implications it has in our understanding of the world, it is also about evaluating whether this narrative can continue to explain and respond to the urgency of our present--to the imprisonments, to the shipwrecks, to the institutionally legitimized violence against those who do not have a "strong" passport. Perhaps it is time to exercise the political imagination and build new stories with which to think about new, more just and habitable worlds.

He who asks "what are you laughing at?" doesn't usually wait for a response: he wants someone to stop laughing. Laughter is language and, like words, it can be polite, false, friendly, biting, insulting and discriminating. Although education tries to discipline it and indicate the correct ways of its emission, the hilarious is indomitable because it speaks the language of the body and is unleashed beyond good and evil. The "good comedian" is funnier than the "good comedian." Today, screens sow entertainment and reap laughter. These massive laughter, electronically disseminated, are melodies for any ideology: the fascists laugh and the do-gooders laugh. Freedom of expression is colonized by the provocative and the abject. Thought becomes a caricature and jokes are commercialized. Daniel Gamper maintains that the times are ripe for new spoilsports to put a damper on the wheels of laughter. After reading this book you will never laugh again without first stopping to think about where, how, when, with whom and why you do it.

We are made of time, inhabited by multiple and heterogeneous times that intersect, interfere, intermingle... Politics, according to Zenia Yébenes, has to account for this. Memory, understood as the inscription and transmission of different rhythms of life time and matter, is constituted as a crucial element that modifies our relationship with the world, thus transforming our way of perceiving it. The common thread of these pages is, then, the articulation of time and the imaginary as that which remains unthought of in the relationship of the human with life and the Earth, bios and geos. Zenia Yébenes proposes to imagine another mode of politics that contemplates the different forms of time of which we are made. Times that are not those of nostalgia for a lost origin nor those of traumatic memory nor solely those of memory as a deliberate and critical exercise. We need another way of looking at what constitutes us: everyday life, the ordinary, the disturbing intimacy with the time of animals, the time of the dead and also the time of the gods.

Vincent Van Gogh remains one of the most recognized artists of all time. His fame is not only due to his brilliant intuitions in the pictorial field, but also because his life is full of fascinating episodes. This work presents us with an intense and uninterrupted dialogue between Vincent Van Gogh and his madness. From his relationship with his brother Theo and the famous fight with Gauguin - which ended with the partial self-mutilation of his ear - to the extreme act of self-harm that led to his death. A journey into the mysteries of a tormented and fascinating existence.

"She called the archbishop of Cologne a bird of prey, she preached in the markets before the enthusiastic masses as only heretics had previously dared to do and even being an octogenarian she knew how to stand up to the arbitrariness of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Hildegard of Bingen was one of the most fascinating figures of the 12th century. Many things that Hildegard of Bingen did and wrote were unheard of for her time: she corresponded with popes, rulers, bishops, with kings and with women who needed her advice. Hildegard held numerous offices at the same time: she was a poetess, a naturalist, an apothecary and simultaneously ran two abbeys."--

Who hasn't repeatedly retraced their steps to check the closure of the gas valve or the front door before leaving on a trip? Review, over and over again, an academic work that is already finished, or create several backup copies of the same document? Clean what is already clean, check what is already done, review what is already finished, organize what is already organized. These are all behaviors symptomatic of obsessive disorders. However, in some circumstances, we consider them absolutely normal. They respond to a need for security, social acceptance or even self-esteem. So where lies the difference between what is normal and what is pathological. The easiest answer to this question points to the degree of intensity or exaggeration of some behaviors or others. But what is the reason that allows them to be distinguished? Coming to understand it is equivalent to revealing the dynamics that trap the obsessive in his own mind and confine him between doubts, ruminations, compulsions and verifications. In this book, Manuel Villegas, based on the analysis of numerous clinical cases, introduces us to the path of understanding the nature of obsessive disorder, its genesis, its structure and the conditions for overcoming it through the psychotherapeutic process.

The traditional legal system, as well as realistic and analytical theories of law, do not account for what truly determines the legal inclusion or exclusion of a citizen. Both the "anti" and "alter-globalization" movements warn of this phenomenon. Today more than ever, transnational and globalizing legal systems--which are not spatially limited and also have the universalizing claim to include every human being in their jurisdiction--challenge the borders of States. However, is a legal order possible that can include everyone, without any exclusion? Hans Lindahl is clear: it is not possible to include without excluding. So how can we avoid falling into relativism? Is it possible to have a policy that does not postulate an all-inclusive legal order, but at the same time does not resignedly accept the political paralysis that occurs in the face of the marginalization generated by the processes of globalization? Starting from these questions, and from both conceptual, empirical and normative perspectives of law, Lindahl opens a wide field of inquiry and reflection, so necessary in current times.

We have all stumbled upon stupidity at some point and adopted behaviors that, in hindsight, do not seem sensible at all. Sometimes it is even an excess of reason that makes us stupid, when for example we persist in defending our ideas even if they fail, confusing determination with stubbornness and tenacity with closed-mindedness. Blinded by ephemeral successes, instead of correcting these attitudes, we repeat them with total conviction and end up turning occasional manifestations of imbecility into a permanent character trait. Stupidity does not exist in nature, it is not a biological defect; it is an entirely human product, but it represents the greatest danger to humanity, a sneaky virus to which no one is immune. What is the origin of this attitude? What consequences does it have in daily life?

A brave and innovative work that updates family therapy and expands its limits by proposing a true dialogue that joins efforts to understand and treat family suffering. Since the middle of the 20th century, psychology has approached the family as an object of study, focusing on its complexity, its resources, its difficulties and its pathologies. Among the different schools that have been interested in the family, the psychoanalytic and the systemic are the ones that have the longest historical trajectory, despite having traveled divergent paths, if not diametrically opposed ones. Hence, their advances in both theory and clinical practice have not been able to combine satisfactorily. This book is born from this need for articulation. Incorporating the contributions of psychoanalytic and systemic perspectives, and the clinical experience accumulated to date, authors provide an important tool for updating therapists while facilitating psychology and medical students who are in training the integration of the different approaches.

The present volume brings together two earlier books by Joseph Ratzinger that appropriately complement each other: Suchen contains meditations primarily from the author's time as archbishop of Munich, and Bilder der Hoffnung [Images of Hope] (1997), which was composed when Joseph Ratzinger was cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.

"Estamos viviendo tiempos realmente inquietantes caracterizados por una profunda confusiâon y desorientaciâon. Y el uso de las pantallas en niänos y adolescentes no hace sino agravar el problema. En este libro, Francisco Villar reflexiona sobre el impacto negativo de la digitalizaciâon no solo en el neurodesarrollo de nuestros niänos y adolescentes, sino tambiâen en su desarrollo social, afectivo y relacional. El uso de las pantallas afecta directamente a la salud e interfiere en las actividades que ayudan a un sano crecimiento. Como consecuencia tenemos adolescentes menos empâaticos, menos reflexivos, con un menor control de sus impulsos, con poca tolerancia a la frustraciâon, desensibilizados ante la violencia y el sufrimiento del otro, pero tambiâen mâas propensos a ser victimizados y a ejercer violencia contra sâi mismos. De ahâi que el objetivo de estas pâaginas sea la protecciâon de nuestros menores, de su desarrollo y de su formaciâon como personas. ÅCâomo podemos frenar esta constante interferencia en el sano crecimiento de nuestros hijos? ÅCâomo impedir que las pantallas sigan devorâandolos? ÅSomos los adultos con nuestra inacciâon parte del problema? ÅQuâe se puede hacer desde los diferentes âambitos sociales para regular el uso de dispositivos digitales? Actualmente, la desconexiâon es la âunica forma de estar verdaderamente conectado. Proteger el presente de infantes y adolescentes es la mejor forma de garantizar un futuro mejor para todos."--Publisher's description.

Eating is the most widespread daily practice in life. It takes place every day, three times a day, from birth to death. However, the philosophical tradition has never directly taken charge of food, since it is not a topic that is part of the scope of the issues that originally concerned it. When searching for "philosophies of eating" the response of the texts is both silence and denial. However, there is a counterpoint: the philosophy of all times has been expressed through food metaphors--even cannibals--this is part of both its themes and its deepest methodology. From the most empirical uses to the most transcendental - such as the one that contains the idea that we are what we eat - eating has become an existential operation for philosophy, as important as thinking.

Born into a family in which political commitment was intertwined with everyday life, Emmeline Pankhurst always breathed activism. Even as a child, she understood that women had to commit to changing their living conditions and the firm beliefs rooted in Victorian society about what it meant to be the "weaker sex." Her motto, with which she managed to inspire her colleagues, was "Never underestimate the power we have to be architects of our own destiny." Emmeline Pankhurst was a pioneer of feminism, a suffragette and an icon of the fight for women's liberation. She shone both for her organizational capacity and for the seductive power of her speeches, among which the famous "We are not here because we want to break the laws, we are here because we want to make them" stands out.

Boshan was a relevant Zen master of the Ming dynasty in China. In the Exhortations he focuses on the importance and inevitability of great doubt, considering it fundamental in Zen practice. In his text, he gives useful advice to practitioners, pointing out common mistakes, as well as clear guidance on how to avoid them. The teacher writes in a direct style and encourages the reader to delve deeper into his practice, which, done genuinely, will raise doubt and, through it, achieve the great awakening. Jeff Shore enriches Boshan's text with comments that shed light on his writings, contextualizing them and demonstrating that the essence of the Zen tradition is still alive. The great doubt is at the core of the Zen tradition and this book will be of great use to practitioners of all schools.

"Contrary to what many people believe, meditation is not a shortcut to avoid the difficulties of human existence, but a tool to consciously face, go through and transcend them. In the eighty chapters of this book, Jorge Zentner invites us to a practice of attention and presence. This transformative experience of pause, silence and meditation will help us explore the deep and dark corners of our being, where there is undoubtedly the light we need to face all of life's situations."--Provided by publisher.

The polished, the smooth, the impeccable, are the hallmark of our time. They are what Jeff Koons sculptures, smartphones and waxing have in common. These qualities highlight the current "excess of positivity" that Han speaks of in other essays, but that he focuses on and develops here in the field of art and aesthetics. Why do you like "polished" so much today? Because it does not damage, it offers no resistance. The digital beauty constitutes the space of the same, which does not tolerate any strangeness, any otherness, any negativity. Beauty is not a momentary brilliance nor is it found in immediate contact; shines in silence, through detours; it happens as a reunion and recognition.

Narratives create bonds. From them is born what connects and links us. In this way, they found communities and save us from contingency. However, today, when everything has become arbitrary and random, storytelling has become a commercial weapon that transforms storytelling into another tool of capitalism, propagating amid the disorientation and lack of meaning characteristic of the information society. Storytelling and information are opposing forces. The spirit of the narration is lost among the information that turns individuals into consumers, lonely and isolated, dedicated to moments, with the aim of increasing their performance and productivity. Only the narration is the one that elevates us and unites us through a common history of communicable experiences that make the passage of time meaningful, contributing a transforming power to society; it is the only one that can gather us around the fire to give us meaning.

Sappho was a passionate poet from the island of Lesbos. There, she created a community of young noblewomen whom she instructed in the arts, finesse, grace, song, and elegance. Estimated by Plato and Cicero, inspiring artists, she is today and always a symbol of a different and freer way of conceiving love.

Through revealing stories, this work aims to provoke reflection on the effects of incivility in our lives, becoming a concise guide on how to live better. We have many words to describe any act of incivility, but few to explain the opposite. The author proposes the term «civility», a way of improving coexistence and with it the quality of our life. This thought goes beyond that of our individual dimension, it creates a collective thought. With these stories, drawn from his own experiences and tales from diverse cultures, Heisig appeals to the reader through examples of civility in action to promote collective thinking in which civility, and with it collective goodness, flourishes.