IRLaB Talk: Elodie Boublil (University Paris Est Créteil): Vulnerability, Interdependency and the Care for the Living -- Thursday March 30, 2-4 pm in Prague

Abstract

This event will take place on Thursday March 30, 2-4 pm at the Academic Conference Center (AKC) of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Husova 4a in Prague. Participation is free, please contact dierckxsens@flu.cas.cz for questions.

The contemporary emphasis on vulnerability and interdependency stresses the ethical necessity of a critical care concepttoundermine the individualistic paradigm of autonomy and the modern understanding of well-being in terms of individual self-achievement and world mastery. This talk explores how the philosophical investigation of vulnerability has led to an existential, social, and ethical reflection that brought to light a fundamental interdependency among living beings. This presentation examines the nature of this interdependency and the type of relations involved in these dynamics. I argue that caring for the living involves a holistic approach of the human being that considers not only the plurality of her interpersonal relations but also her relation to the environment and her relation to her "self" as a person with rights and responsibility. Moreover, speaking of interdependency also implies examining the philosophical understanding of our modern concepts of nature and culture along the lines of a philosophical critique of the immunity paradigm and cultural biology anew. Drawing on phenomenological ethics, this talk shows that the concept of responsibility that stems from this renewed understanding of interdependency implies a responsive ethics that articulates the relational dignity of human beings as persons with the care for the living they demonstrate in the "forms of life" they inhabit with others. It bears consequences for contemporary issues in bioethics, such as caring for vulnerable people or determining our moral standing.