Current Journal | Volume 33 (2025)
Being a Nothingner today
by Héctor Sevilla Godínez
This article shows the concrete implications for the individual who assumes Nothingness, the Nothingner, with regard to his own existence. On first term, it is assumed that we speak of an individual who looks to be congruent with each and every one of the previous aspects listed about the obstacles which are to be overcome upon thinking of Nothingness, and with the consequences of persisting in the conscience of them. The intention is to demonstrate, profoundly, what it means to be a Nothingner, which is a neologism that we inaugurate with this document.
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Whose Orb Is It, Anyway? Demiurgical Humanism and the Ethics of Cultural Adoption
by Myron Moses Jackson
In the ongoing debates about culture, it is more common than not to leave the underlying pretensions to ownership and heritage unquestioned. Conflating cultures with nationhood, ethnicity/race, or religion has given rise to populist movements as aggrieved “owners.” This article seeks to upend such old-fashioned, unjustifiable views of cultural hegemony on two fronts. First, employing Kwame Anthony Appiah’s critique of the flawed logic of cultural possessiveness, I will argue that cultures are personal projects of cultural adoption and not property to be protected and hoarded. Rather than being entrenched in custom and tradition, cultures function more as hybrids and develop as projects of self-fashioning. The logic of fashion is more akin to culture than that of custom. I then turn to what Peter Sloterdijk calls “demiurgical humanism,” which is our capacity to create worlds beyond predestined or naturalist endowments. For good and ill, cultures are now sheltered by humanmade arrangements and dependencies. Demiurgical humanism results from the modern explication processes that cultural conservatives or regressives criticize for encroaching upon so-called pure and original forms. Hence, demiurgical humanism has spawned a civilizational discontent, neophobia, and nostalgia for an illusory past through repossession of “one’s” culture. I propose such fantasies miss how we already create and adopt spheres of personal cultural projects.
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The Resilience of Moses Herzog: Saul Bellow and the Humanist Novel
by Jeroen Vanheste
The oeuvre of American writer Saul Bellow (1915-2005) is deeply humanist in its emphasis on human autonomy, growth and meaning. For Bellow, humans are self-interpreting beings with agency and the ability to shape their personalities. Bellow particularly emphasises human resilience: in his novels he shows us resilient individuals who make an effort to take their lives into their own hands, refusing to be passive victims of their circumstances and misfortunes. This view of man is most impressively expressed in Bellow’s best-known novel Herzog (1964). The protagonist Moses Herzog goes through a severe crisis and almost succumbs to his misery, but eventually emerges from his difficulties as a renewed and stronger person after a learning process of self-examination and reorientation. In this article, I discuss Bellow’s humanist ideas, the way they take shape in Herzog, and in particular the role of resilience in them.
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Science Matters and Religion Must Not Influence Laws: A Brazilian Bill on Abortion
by Rodrigo Hirata Willemart
If a Brazilian bill becomes a law, adult women that have been raped and abort after 22 weeks may spend up to 20 years in jail. The raper will be released after 12 years maximum. The evangelical deputies supporting the bill argue the Bible says that only God can give and take lives. I show that (1) the double standards when interpreting the Bible is questionable, since the bible does not mention abortion, (2) other interpretations of the Bible and other religions are being ignored and (3) opinions should be weighed based on whether they follow the set of values and procedures of science. I conclude that science but not religion should influence laws.
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