The book explores the concept of ignorance –passive or active, conscious or unconscious –in our post-truth, post-industrial world in which we often feel overwhelmed by the constant flood of information and misinformation. The book shows how it sometimes seems impossible to differentiate between truth and falsehood, and, as a result, there has been a backlash against the idea of expertise and a rise in the number of people actively choosing not to know. The dangers of this are apparent, but Salecl challenges our assumptions, arguing that there may also be a positive side to ignorance and that by addressing the role of ignorance in society, we may also be able to reclaim the role of knowledge. The book provides a fascinating investigation of how the knowledge economy became an ignorance economy, what it means for us, and what it tells us about the world today. Drawing on philosophy, social and psychoanalytic theory, popular culture, Salecl provides original insights into how the passion for ignorance plays out in many different aspects of life today, from love, illness, trauma, and the fear of failure to genetics, forensic science, big data, and the incel movement. She concludes that ignorance is a complex phenomenon that can, on occasion, benefit individuals and society as a whole.
COBISS.SI-ID: 22789379
This paper presents a study that analyses all available homicide trials in Slovenia between 1991 and 2015 for neuro-evidence. Almost every fifth case discusses neuroscience. The most prevalent type of neuro-evidence is neuro-psychological testing, less common are structural neuroimaging and electroencephalography, while we discovered no use of functional neuroimaging.Thetwo largest categories of neurological conditions suffered by defendants aretraumatic brain injury and brain damage dueto long-term alcohol and drug abuse. When presented, neuro-evidence affected courts% decisions in 85% of trials (15% of all tried homicide cases) and had an impact on the criminal sentence or another outcome of the trial in 79% of cases. By far most often neuro-evidence affects decisions regarding criminal capacity, ie insanity and (substantially) diminished capacity, which, in turn, strongly reflects in criminal sanctions. Neuroscience information istypically usedto mitigate or even reducethe sentence, but never as an aggravating circumstance. It is also frequently utilized to support decisions about medical security measures (compulsory psychiatric treatment). This study further suggests that the double-edged sword of neuroscience is an elusive concept and that the mechanism by which neuroscience affects courts' decisions in civil-law systems is different from the one in common-law jurisdictions.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2133070
This book provides a critical analysis of how the ''war on terror'' affected the civilian population in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This ''forgotten war,'' which started in 2001 with the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, has seen more than 212,000 people killed in war-related incidents. Whilst most of the news media shifted their attention to other conflict zones, this war rages on. Badalič has amassed a vast amount of data on the civilian victims of war from both sides of the Durand line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He conducted interviews in Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, Kabul, Jalalabad, and many other cities and villages from 2008 to 2017. His data is mostly drawn from those extensive conversations held with civilian victims of war, Afghan and Pakistani officials, human-rights activists and members of the insurgency. The book is divided into three parts. The first examines the impact the US-led coalition, Afghan security forces and paramilitary groups had on civilians, with methods of combat such as drone strikes and kill-or-capture missions. The second part focuses on civilian victims of abuses of power by Pakistani security forces, including arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances. In the final part, Badalič explores the impact of unlawful practices used by the armed insurgency - the Afghan Taliban. Overall, the book seeks to tell the story of the civilian victims of the ''War on Terror''.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2133582
This article explores how the United States (US) has redefined the concept of ˝imminent threat˝ in order to relax the rules for anticipatory use of armed force against insurgents. The article focuses on how two new definitions of imminent threat have changed the conduct of specific combat activities, namely, drone strikes and ground combat operations. The central part of the article is divided into four sections. The first section examines the redefinition of imminent threat in the context of drone warfare, while the second section provides an analysis of the redefinition of imminent threat in ground combat operations. Both sections show how the new definitions of imminent threat abandoned two key elements of the classic definition, that is, the immediacy and certainty of the threat. The third and fourth sections of the article explore how the new definitions of imminent threat prevented the application of two key principles governing the use of armed force: the principles of necessity and proportionality. Both sections show how successive US administrations enabled the US military to conduct operations without observing these two key principles regulating the use of force.
COBISS.SI-ID: 22472963
This monograph, which consists of chapters written by all members of the research group for the “Shifting boundaries” project, includes many key results of this project. The monograph offers new insights into past and contemporary criminological dilemmas that have arisen in the processes of shifting conceptual and normative boundaries. The first part of the monograph critically analyzes the dilemmas that criminology had to face in the process of conceptual and normative demarcations of the “objects” it studies. This historical overview of shifting boundaries also includes an outline of more contemporary postmodern trends in criminology. The second part of the monograph focuses on shifting boundaries between criminology and related sciences (e.g., psychoanalysis, genetics). The third part analyses shifting boundaries in criminal law and other legal disciplines. This part contains - inter alia - a study of shifting boundaries between criminal and administrative law, criminal law and neuroscience, and between criminal law and neoliberal ideology. The fourth part analyzes shifting boundaries in the field of punishment, and the analysis covers a wide range of changes that occur both locally and globally. The last part of the monograph focuses on shifting boundaries in the law of armed conflict or - more precisely - on changes in the definitions of civilians and combatants in modern armed conflicts. The monograph provides to the Slovenian public an important contribution to the understanding of modern breakthroughs in criminology. One of the key advantages of the monograph is its treatment of past and present criminological problems at the intersection of many related sciences - from criminal law, sociology, philosophy to genetics and neuroscience.
COBISS.SI-ID: 305074688