*Special note: As stated in my Christmas post, these four posts on the ontology of clothes are likely not every reader’s cup of tea. They are one essay and pretty dense. Usually, writings I post are meant to be intellectual but accessible. I hope they are! However, this essay was written for academics and will…
This understanding of vanity is peculiar and, I believe, problematic, but Leahy thinks it mistakes the nature of what sovereignty targets: in Agamben, the body liberated from modern politics is potency no longer forced to act; but for Leahy the body is never reserved (209; Foundation, 577), for “the body itself, the infinite surface,” (189)…
Agamben follows French historian and theorist, Michel Foucault, in thinking of politics in terms of biopower. This is why the dispute between Leahy and Agamben about sovereignty is a matter of the body. And now also the connection with vanity and clothes becomes clearer: adornment means fashion clothes our biology. What precisely is the connection…
In Ecstatic Morality I show that John Paul II’s theology of the body relies on a high Christology, Christ, an offering metaphysical, the very order of Natural Law. Leahy’s is also a Christological metaphysics: “the beginning of the body, of society, of the new humanity conceived essentially, i.e., conceived qua historical actuality as the Artifactual…
This post continues an earlier one on a talk by the CEO of Under Armour (http://www.ethicsoffashion.com/armour-morally-responsible-company/). Affirming the company’s moral standing, Kevin Plank argues that Under Armour provides thousands of jobs for the poor overseas and with a major redevelopment of underused land in Baltimore City for flats, housing, and restaurants also gives back to…
It’s likely true that most of us lack self-awareness, and especially when it comes to fashion. By this I don’t only mean that most of us are poor at really isolating what clothes, looks, and fit suit us best, but rather more that few of us are aware of how fashion functions despite its being…
There are lots of names to throw at political opponents. Tsarist, totalitarian, falangist, liberal, communist, ultramontanist, but the two perennial favourites are undoubtedly, fascist and Nazi. The media is awash with Nazi accusations these days. From the Right, we hear Lady Gaga is a Nazi (http://www.dailywire.com/news/10600/why-did-lady-gaga-introduce-hillary-while-dressed-hank-berrien) and from the Left that Donald Trump is one,…
http://www.libertylawsite.org/2016/10/28/tolkiens-establishment/ Enjoy!
This post is really Part II of my recent post – Why do women buy Kate Middleton’s nose? That post took up Tim Gunn’s claim both that designers have contempt for fuller figured women and that no technical reason exists why designers cannot beautifully dress their bodies. Likely Tim Gunn’s comments reflect some of…
I will be posting two new reflections very shortly. I’m off to lecture in England tomorrow and will have time to pull together a couple of ideas sitting on the aeroplane. This link will take you to a post I did over at the Law & Liberty website a year ago and is the thrust…