The ISRF Bulletin
Beginning with the November 2013 inaugural issue, the thrice-yearly ISRF Bulletin will provide information on the interdisciplinary research of its Fellows. Each issue will be themed around a topic, methodology or debate of interest within (and across) the social sciences, and will consist of a number of short articles produced by our Fellows based on their research, as well as calling on our academic advisors and others following the ISRF’s work for their views.
Queries regarding the bulletin should be directed to Dr Lars Cornelissen
Issue XIX: Mind and Violence
Over the course of recorded history, the problem of violence has exerted an enormous pull on philosophy and science. What gives this problem its weight is undoubtedly its acute familiarity: all humans experience violence. Indeed, as Judith Butler has argued, to have a body is, by implication, to be exposed to the possibility of violence.1 To think about violence is therefore to think about one’s own embodied, vulnerable, human condition, and this can make the study of violence an unsettling experience. To be unsettled is not, of course, a bad thing: violence should unsettle us, for its pervasiveness and reach are deeply troubling. In thinking through this theme, the present issue of the ISRF Bulletin thus invites its readers to linger a while in the unsettling problem of violence.
Featuring contributions from Deana Heath, Brendan Ciarán Browne, Casey Asprooth-Jackson, Keir Martin, Erin Kavanagh, Cian O’Driscoll, and Charles Stewart.