New Books in Critical Theory Santiago Zabala, "Signs from the Future: Philosophy of Warnings" (Columbia UP, 2025)
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Sep 4, 2025 Santiago Zabala, an ICREA Research Professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, presents his insightful book about understanding warnings in today's crisis-laden world. He elaborates on how warnings are distinct from predictions, urging listeners to confront present issues like climate change and gender ideologies. Zabala critiques conservative gender perspectives and emphasizes the need for critical engagement with political extremism, technology's moral implications, and the vital role of activism, notably highlighting Greta Thunberg's influence.
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Science Alone Won't Mobilize Us
- Heidegger warns that science calculates but does not 'think' the limits and meanings of being.
- Zabala says scientific truth alone fails to mobilize action on crises like climate change.
A Small Article Changes Beauvoir's Warning
- Translation choices shape Beauvoir's warning about gender as becoming rather than fixed identity.
- Including 'a' in 'becomes a woman' preserves existential fluidity and resists reification.
Gender Panic Masks Wider Political Fears
- Right-wing attacks on 'gender ideology' tie to broader economic and nationalistic agendas.
- Zabala argues conservatives fear hermeneutic openness because it threatens established social orders.
