Forget Theory! Work as Non-Reflective Praxis

- Presentation speakers
  - Emanuel Crudu, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Italy
Abstract:

Forget theory, forget thinking! Just do it! Contemporary societies often define personal success and accomplishment not in relation with the classical idea of autonomy as a dynamic and unlimited self-reflective process that accounts for the construction of the self but the heteronomy resulted from the professional success. While the classical Greek thought equaled work with the domain of necessity as opposed to freedom; the Enlightenment consumed restless energies in showing anyone can liberate from the domain of nature through equally accessible education of the spirit. After an intimidating history of thought, nowadays a successful career is often seen as liberation. It often feels like we do refuse to learn. This paper draws on modern theories of autonomy culminating to a preference for Castoriadis and MacIntyre in order to assess the domain of praxis as detached from human agency as autonomy. The paper looks into the contemporary paradoxes of self-fulfillment.