Controversies and Subjectivity: (1 Controversies)

This collective volume focuses on two closely connected issues whose common denominator is the embattled notion of the subject. The first concerns the controversies on the nature of the subject and related notions, such as the concepts of ‘I’ and ‘self’. From both theoretical and historical viewpoints, several of the contributors show how different and incompatible perspectives on the subject can help us understand today’s world, its habits, style, power relations, and attitudes. For this purpose, use is made of insights in a broad range of disciplines, such as sociology, psychoanalysis, pragmatics, intellectual history, and anthropology. This interdisciplinary approach helps to clarify the multifaceted character of the subject and the role it plays nowadays as well as over the centuries. The second issue concerns the subject in inter-personal as well as in intra-personal controversies. The enquiry here focuses on the ways in which different aspects of the subject and subjective differences affect the conduct, content, and rationality of controversies with others as well as within oneself on a variety of topics. Among such aspects, the contributors analyse the subject’s emotions, cognitive states, argumentative practices, and individual and collective identity. The interaction between the two issues, the controversies on the subject and the subject of controversies, sheds new light on the debate on modernity and its alleged crisis.

Table of Contents:
1. Acknowledgments; 2. Introduction; 3. Part I: Discussing with oneself; 4. 1. Debating with myself and debating with others (by Dascal, Marcelo); 5. 2. Being in accordance with oneself: Moral self-controversy in Plato and Aristotle (by Schulz, Peter J.); 6. 3. Conversion and controversy (by Leone, Massimo); 7. 4. Controversies and the logic of scientific discovery (by Ferreira, Ademar); 8. 5. Controversies and dialogic intersubjectivity (by Cossutta, Frederic); 9. 6. Disagreement, self-agreement, and self-deception (by Frogel, Shai); 10. Part II: The first person; 11. 7. Intersubjectivity in controversy: A story from the Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi (by Chang, Han-liang); 12. 8. Subjectivist and objectivist interpretations of controversy-based thought (by Cattani, Adelino); 13. 9. Temporality, reification and subjectivity: Carneades and the foundations of the world of subjectivity (by Szivos, Mihaly); 14. 10. First person singular in 17th century controversies (by Fritz, Gerd); 15. 11. Subjective justifications: Introspective arguments in empiricism (by Mishori, Daniel); 16. 12. Early modern controversies and theories of controversy: The rules of the game and the role of the persons (by Gloning, Thomas); 17. 13. Externalism, internalism, and self-knowledge (by Senderowicz, Yaron M.); 18. Part III: The politics of subjectivity; 19. 14. Liberals vs. communitarians on the self (by Barrotta, Pierluigi); 20. 15. Ethical implications of de-dichotomization of identities in conflict (by Barghouti, Omar); 21. 16. The role of subjectivity in public controversy (by Gross, Alan G.); 22. 17. The Sokal affair: The role of subjectivity in shaping the controversy (by Olive, Leon); 23. 18. Archaic subjectivity and/as controversy in psychoanalytic thinking (by Sharon-Zisser, Shirley); 24. The contributors to this volume; 25. Indexes