Technoscience

Offering a radical re-evaluation of current approaches to performer training, this is a text that equips readers with a set of new ways of thinking about and ultimately 'doing' training. Stemming from his extensive practice and incorporating a review of prevailing methods and theories, Frank Camilleri focuses on how material circumstances shape and affect processes of training, devising, rehearsing and performing. Frank Camilleri puts forward the 'post-psychophysical' as a more extended form of psychophysical discussion and practice that emerged and dominated in the 20th century. The 'post-psychophysical' updates the concept of an integrated bodymind in various ways, such as the notion of a performer's bodyworld that incorporates technology and the material world. Offering invaluable introductions to a wide range of theories around which the book is structured-including postphenomenological, sociomaterial, affect and situated cognition-this volume provides readers with an enticing array of approaches to training and creative processes.

This essay proposes an approach to the disposable characteristic of some modern technologies from the perspective of Don Ihde's postphenonenology. The main idea revolves around the concept of "disposability" as an intentional feature of these technologies, on an "existential" level, not as a commercial or design strategy. "Disposability" as an active feature of these technologies puts us in front of some questions that involve what kind of constructions of reality and/or consequences of our relationships with the world mediated by technologies that have this specific intentionality exist or can arise. This is a work in progress, and here there are no answers, just the phenomenological perspective in development.

This article is intended to initiate discussion on potential interaction between technoscience (geosciences, in particular) and philosophy of science. The author reviews ideas of such interaction which are of interest to the world scientific community at this time and raise debates in the top business magazines in the world. Scientists and engineers fill inclination to appeal to philosophy when muse on: the way ideology
influences an industry, economy and business; self-control and censorship in professional relationship between people; efficiency of thinking and brainwork management toward serene reasoning and
understanding of different opinions and arguments of partners and public; development of soft skills, including communication and cooperation skills, problem-solving, conflict resolution, respect for different cultures and philosophies, pliable perception and thinking; combating myths, i.e. pictorial and convincing descriptions of the world or its parts without any scientific grounding; how to interact with the public and non-professionals, to sustain tension and assert expert solutions through social interfaces created in industries; how to assess the importance and effectiveness of achieving both short-term and longterm goal objectives; on how to adjust oneself in cultural, historical, mythological, religious and other local and global contexts; how research and engineering activities affect large-scale human behavior, satisfaction of people needs and the very understanding of what is human and what is engineering. The article emphasizes the lack of a clear discussion of the concept underlain the Soviet period idea of a new
society, meanwhile the idea was and is the backbone of vision and foresight of engineers educated in the Soviet and post-Soviet times. The customary positivistic attitude of professionals to their activities, upon
a closer view, discloses the whole entwinement of various ideas and concepts.

Synthetic biology is a diverse jungle of techno-epistemic approaches arising from a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines. However, the field is also seeking to promote a unique identity along a disciplinary framework, and its supporters seem quite uncomfortable with the coexistence of multiple definitions, approaches, and aspirations of synthetic biology. They generate unfortunate divisions that may impede the advancement of synthetic biology and deteriorate its public image. This chapter addresses this paradox of a multidisciplinary field obsessed with the question of its unity. I lean on a close reading of a Special Issue of the journal Nature entitled “Beyond divisions: Building the future of synthetic biology” (May 2014) and contrast it with the results of a workshop with synthetic biologists entitled “Worldviews and Values in Synthetic Biology” held in Paris in June 2014. I also use the first issue of Nature Nanotechnology (2006) as an instructive counterpoint. I argue that far to be driven by traditional disciplinary norms and ethos, the calls to unify synthetic biology pertain to funding, industrialization and market imperatives. Above all, I show how they are based on and perpetuate the view of the public as a threat. I conclude with a plea to value and publicly expose the epistemic as well as cultural diversity of synthetic biology.

In ihrem 2005 veröffentlichten Buch „Kunst aus dem Labor“ thematisiert die Medientheoretikerin Ingeborg Reichle die engen Verbindungen zwischen Kunst und Naturwissenschaften. Standen lange vor allem technische Medien im Zentrum medientheoretischer Erkundungen, so gehören heute biologische dazu: In der BioArt und der Transgenic Art wenden Künstler*innen Methoden der Molekularbiologie an, um genetische Codes zu manipulieren; in der Robotic / Artificial Life Art wird mit computerbasierten Simulationsmodellen gearbeitet. Künstler*innen kooperieren eng mit Naturwissenschaftler*innen, überführen Laborsituationen in den Ausstellungskontext, experimentieren mit gentechnisch manipulierten Organismen und thematisieren in Techno- science die Auswirkungen der Forschungen auf unser Leben.

This paper looks at a recent phenomenon on the Internet referred to as the Mandela Effect, which states that small details from the past have been changed, altered, and edited to create a parallel universe. The reasons for the Mandela Effect becoming such a popular conspiracy theory and Internet meme shed light on our contemporary technoscience culture and the influence of advanced information technology on human cognition, memory, and belief. This phenomenon involves aspects familiar to esotericism, since both conspiracy theories and esoteric knowledge cohabit the same marginalized cultural space, sometimes referred to as the “cultic milieu.” In fact, the Mandela Effect signals a possible transformation of this space. The recent ideas from tech author and founding editor of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly, as well as memory research by experimental psychologist Endel Tulving, illustrate potential factors behind conspiratorial creations and the reshaping of underground culture. This article seeks to bring the Mandela Effect to the attention of scholars by highlighting the web of relationships embedded in the phenomenon, as well as the implications for historical consciousness and the construction of conspiratorial worldviews.

H.G. Wells wanted his epitaph to be 'God damn you all, I told you so'. But how accurate were his predictions of industrial warfare and global conflict, especially as his descriptions of an aerial bombing of New York in War in the Air has been compared to the terrorist attacks of 9/11? Did the late Victorians really 'discover the future' or did the 1990s simply recycle the 1890s? At the aftermath of 2012, this book is 'looking backward' and identifies startling connections between the apocalyptic fantasies of the last two centuries' ends and traces intriguing links between Nietzsche and chaos theory, Dracula and The X-Files, the Borg Queen and H. Rider Haggard's Ayesha, among others.

Les promesses des technosciences contemporaines s’appuient sur les success stories de celles qui façonnent actuellement l’économie et la société. La Loi de Moore, fonction exponentielle qui décrit et prédit la cadence de miniaturisation et de réduction des coûts des composants électroniques depuis un demi-siècle, constitue un de ces récits. Ce chapitre interroge la Loi de Moore comme matrice historique du régime actuel de l’économie des promesses technoscientifiques. Devenue métaphore du progrès technique en général, la Loi de Moore délimite le périmètre de ce qui, des technosciences, peut être interrogé et discuté. Parce qu’elle trace un cadre temporel pour l’innovation, sa construction même est hors-cadre, et relève du non négociable.En donnant à voir la fabrique de ce récit, ce chapitre entend construire et instruire une position critique générale sur l’économie des promesses technoscientifiques actuelles. Cette critique porte moins sur la faisabilité de ces promesses (sur leur caractère spéculatif, non crédible, non tenable) que sur leur désirabilité. La Loi de Moore montre en effet que ces promesses peuvent devenir crédibles, réalisables, tenables – mais à quel prix ?

ETHICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

I – Critically Mapping Current Approaches

From an early stage, nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) have been associated with a political will to integrate upstream the question of their "ethical and societal implications". In this context, the implication of the social and human sciences (SHS) has given way to a great variety of approaches to NST ethics. After a decade of SHS involvement, it is time for an appraisal. This article seeks to critically map the different approaches of SHS involvement in NST with regard to their problematization of ethical issues and to identify their shortcomings and limitations. Especially, it is argued that concrete technoscientific NST developments and the concerns with the values that they generate should be better articulated.

II – For an object-centred approach

The ethics of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST) calls to question the division between the neutrality objects and the morality of uses. NST lead us therefore to a new kind of "Copernican revolution", taking us from a situation where the subject is the only moral being to a situation where objects fully enter in the field of moral philosophy. This article shows how the epistemological analysis of the mode of existence of nano-objects can renew the ethical issues on several singular fieldworks. The demonstration will be based on four case studies of nano-objects, conceptualized as "relational objects" : artificial molecular machines, drug nanocarriers, bio and eco-toxicology of nanoparticles, and biomarkers for personalized medicine.

ÉTHIQUE ET ÉPISTÉMOLOGIE DES NANOTECHNOLOGIES

I – Cartographie critique des approches existantes

Les nanosciences et nanotechnologies (NST) ont été placées très tôt sous le signe d’une volonté politique d’intégrer, en amont, la question de leurs « enjeux éthiques et sociétaux ». Dans ce contexte, les démarches « d’accompagnement » des technosciences par les sciences humaines et sociales (SHS) se sont multipliées, et diverses approches de l’éthique des NST ont été proposées. Après une décennie d’implication des SHS, un bilan s’impose. Cet article propose une cartographie raisonnée des différentes démarches d’accompagnement des NST par les SHS quant à leur problématisation du questionnement éthique, et en indique les insuffisances et les limites. Il soutient notamment que les développements technoscientifiques concrets des NST et les questions de valeurs qu’ils suscitent doivent être mieux articulés.

II – Pour une approche centrée sur les objets

l'éthique des nanosciences et nanotechnologies (NST) appelle à remettre en question le partage entre la neutralité des objets et la moralité des usages. Les NST nous poussent par conséquent à une sorte de nouvelle « révolution copernicienne », nous faisant passer d'une situation où le sujet est le seul être moral à une situation où les objets entrent de plain-pied dans le champ de la philosophie morale. Le présent article montre comment l'analyse épistémologique du mode d'existence des nano-objets permet de renouveler le questionnement éthique sur des terrains à chaque fois singuliers. La démonstration se fera sur la base de quatre cas concrets de nano-objets, conceptualisés comme des « objets relationnels » : les machines moléculaires artificielles, les nanovecteurs de médicament, la bio et l'éco-toxicologie des nanoparticules, et les biomarqueurs pour la médecine personnalisée.

This monograph presents a psychoanalytical assessment of technoscience. The first four chapters provide a short introduction into the psychoanalysis of technoscience, its basic concepts and methods, as developed Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, Gaston Bachelard and Jacques Lacan. In subsequent chapters, this approach is fleshed out with the help of case histories (palaeoanthropology, classical conditioning and virology). Psychoanalysis reveals that, rather than by disinterested curiosity, technoscience is driven by desire, resistance and the will to control. Moreover, the focus is on primal scenes, such as Dubois’ quixotic quest for the missing link and Pavlov’s discovery of the conditioned reflex. In addition, psychoanalysis opts for triangulation: understanding technoscientific research by comparing it to “different scenes”: to genres of the imagination, notably novels, so that, in this volume, the discovery of a Homo erectus skull by Dubois is compared to missing link novels by Jules Verne and Jack London (dating from the same period), Pavlov’s discovery of the conditioned reflex is compared with B.F. Skinner’s novel Walden Two and virology as a research field is considered through the lens of viral fiction.


Psychoanalysis of Technoscience: Symbolisation and Imagination
Author: Hub Zwart (2018)
Series: Philosophy and Psychology in Dialogue.
LIT Verlag. Berlin/Münster/Zürich: ISBN 978-3-643-91050-9.
Series / Reihe: Philosophy and Psychology in Dialogue /
Philosophie und Psychologie im Dialog

Grâce au développement de la science et de la technologie, l'homme adopte une attitude totalement singulière par rapport à la nature : savoir c'est pouvoir, de sorte que la connaissance des mécanismes qui gouvernent l’ordre naturel lui permet de le modifier selon ses propres intentions. S'il est vrai, comme le pensait Descartes, que la science ferait de l’homme "maître et possesseur de la nature", il peut sembler que la démesure de cette domination mette en danger le futur de l’espèce humaine. En considérant la nature comme un objet manipulable et instrumentalisé, grâce à la technoscience, l’homme l’a rapporté à lui-même, de sorte qu’il devient l’objet de son propre pouvoir, avec tous les risques que cela comporte, comme la manipulation génétique. De même, les dommages causés à l’environnement, ainsi en est-il de l’effet de serre, perturbent l’équilibre symbiotique globale. Dès lors, comment concevoir un type de rapport entre l’homme et la nature, qui articule prudence et responsabilité dans le but de contrôler les effets négatifs du progrès technoscientifique ? Telle est la question à laquelle se consacre H. Jonas dans Le Principe Responsabilité. C'est le cœur du sujet autour duquel nous avons réalisé le présent travail qui s'intitule : "rapport homme-nature et progrès technoscientifique: Une lecture du Principe Responsabilité de H. Jonas."

In contemporary philosophy of science, continental approaches such as dialectics, phenomenology and psychoanalysis tend to be underrepresented compared to analytical and sociological ones, but the reverse is also true. Whereas continental philosophical discourse tends to focus on author studies, the urgency of coming to terms with contemporary technoscience often remains unrecognised. This volume builds on the conviction that a mutual exposure and confrontation between continental philosophy and contemporary technoscience is urgent and beneficial for both.
This volume presents the oeuvres of a number of prominent continental thinkers (Hegel, Marx, Engels, Teilhard, Bachelard, Heidegger, Lacan, Althusser), but my exposition will be guided by the question how their work can help us to develop a continental philosophical approach to technoscience today. In other words, the key objective of this volume is to develop a diagnostic of the present, while special attention is given to methodological issues: how to practice continental philosophy of technoscience in a contemporary setting? The focus is on the how and on the now. The aim is to provide a scaffold for students and scholars (especially early stage researchers) who aim to explore the vicissitudes of technoscience against the backdrop of its societal context.

Contre le totalitarisme transhumaniste : les enseignements philosophiques du sens commun, Limoges, FYP éditions, 2018.

Le transhumanisme s’impose comme une nouvelle croyance à grand renfort de promesse de jeunesse éternelle et de conférences TED. Il préconise l’utilisation d’innovations technico-médicales, afin d’améliorer les caractéristiques physiques et mentales des humains, pour concrétiser l’espérance prométhéenne : guérir, améliorer, transcender.
Mais quels sont ses fondements idéologiques ? Pourquoi ses partisans veulent-ils l’installer comme une véritable croyance ? Quels sont leurs intérêts et motivations ? Michel Weber montre que même si ce courant de pensée est souvent présenté comme apolitique, une autre réalité se cache sous les prétextes émancipateurs d’outils techniques : la volonté de tout prévoir, de tout anticiper et de tout contrôler. Cette société fondée sur l’hypercontrôle et la maîtrise absolue du cours de nos vies nous plonge encore davantage dans l’hyperindividualisme, sous l’emprise quasi totale de la technologie. Cela conduit à une nouvelle forme de totalitarisme. Le transhumanisme apparaît alors comme l’aboutissement logique d’une doctrine technocapitaliste, terme d’un long processus de destruction des conditions de possibilité de la vie authentique en général et de la démocratie en particulier. À travers une approche philosophique, Michel Weber nous livre dans cet essai un solide contre-argumentaire aux thèses transhumanistes et interroge la place actuelle et future de la technique dans l’évolution de nos sociétés et de l’humanité.

Posthumanism redefines the boundaries surrounding the prevailing models of what it means to be human. Much of the popular discourse around the posthuman focuses on the relationship between humans and technoscience—specifically how humans and " human nature " will change as science enables both biological conjunction with and modification by technology. But the concept of the human has edges that are defined not only by its dialectical relationship with technology, but also by many other historical, cultural, and material forces. ​ If the posthuman is defined as a critical counterpoint to the human, then how do advocates or opponents of posthumanism define what constitutes the human in the first place? ​ Critical posthumanism wrestles with this question by problematizing the concept of the human as a technologically mediated, sexualized, racialized, and naturalized subject. ​ How can we use these central questions of critical posthumanism to revise and reshape existing models of human-centered design?

Die gegenwärtigen (Bio-)Technologien (wie CRISPR/Cas, Biohacking, Biorobotik) denken immer mehr über den Menschen hinaus - sie verstehen den menschlichen Organismus als quantifizierbar und technisierbar und damit als operationalisierbar. Durch die sich seit dem 20. Jahrhundert entwickelnden Technologien wird der menschliche Organismus zum „Werkzeug“, mit dem man arbeiten und in das man eingreifen kann. Damit werden organisch-körperliche Grenzziehungen unterlaufen: Organismus und Technik stehen sich nicht mehr gegenüber, sondern verschmelzen miteinander. Mit Blick auf dieses sowohl philosophisch als auch gesellschaftlich relevante Phänomen bringt die vorliegende Anthologie die wichtigsten technikphilosophischen Ansätze zu diesem Thema zusammen. Einschlägige Texte von Immanuel Kant bis zur KI-Forschung wurden didaktisch aufbereitet. Kommentare ordnen die Quellentexte historisch und systematisch ein, stellen deren Probleme und Argumente heraus und verweisen auf weiterführende Literatur.

Heideggerian and post-Heideggerian concerns around the ontology of technology in its relations with human being, the capitalist subject, and political autonomy have long been a feature of recent continental thought. This brief take on the 'post-human' development of technobiological symbiosis between Dasein (or the humanly possible), the techno-capitalist state, and recent moves in the technologisation of state medical and security interventions, considers how the current state of play might be broadly construed in and as an ever-shifting ontology of 'biotechnological prosthesis'.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a abordagem do envelhecimento na Medicina Anti-aging a partir da sua emergência e desenvolvimento no Brasil. O estudo visa a contribuir para uma análise antropológica do envelhecimento, principalmente na sociedade brasileira, considerando a perspectiva biomédica como elemento constitutivo das representações e das condições de vivência desse processo. De acordo com os princípios da Teoria Ator-Rede (TAR), a tese destaca as controvérsias científicas e éticas e as relações de conflito envolvidas na trajetória de organização institucional e legitimação das práticas anti-aging. O Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM), como polo de oposição, e a Academia Brasileira de Medicina Antienvelhecimento (ABMAE), como polo promotor da abordagem anti-aging, são considerados instâncias de referência neste debate, a partir das quais são identificados valores presentes no atual cenário brasileiro, os principais atores e os processos de associação que dão forma à Medicina Anti-aging. Discutem-se as rupturas e continuidades da Medicina Anti-aging em relação à perspectiva geriátrica/gerontológica hegemônica do modelo biomédico, sobretudo no âmbito da proposição de uma medicina holística e preventiva. Considerando o paradigma do envelhecimento ativo e a perspectiva dos pacientes adeptos dos tratamentos anti-aging, a tese aponta os principais fatores que dão sentido a essas práticas e a influência que esse viés tem na forma como o envelhecimento vem sendo pensado e vivenciado na contemporaneidade.

One of the great obstacles to a realistic debate about the potentials of contemporary AI-based technologies seems to be the traditional socio-technical imaginaries of AI, shaped by films such as the Terminator series, I, Robot and Ex Machina. Thanks in the main to the influence of Hollywood science fiction blockbusters, autonomous AI is often seen as a conscious and evil superintelligence working towards the erasure of the human race. This socio-technical imaginary emphasises the power of technology but is implausible in its overstatement of the capabilities of AI. One of the effects of this imaginary has been repetitive discussions of whether AI can gain consciousness or not, while the concrete effects of applied AI, such as the loss of meaningful human control, have often been neglected.
The paper debates sociotechnical imaginaries of AI - in the military, in arms control and popular culture.

Durch die Nutzung von Gen- und Reproduktionstechnologien und den systematischen Einsatz biowissenschaftlichen Wissens sind in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten neue Formen menschlicher und nicht-menschlicher Arbeit entstanden. Gleichzeitig wird Natur zunehmend als Dienstleisterin oder »Kapital« begriffen. Diese Verbindung biologischer Prozesse und kapitalistischer Inwertsetzung wirft zahlreiche drängende gesellschaftliche, politische und ethische Fragen auf. »Biokapital« versammelt erstmals zentrale Beiträge zu diesem Themenkomplex in deutscher Sprache, stellt die wichtigsten Positionen und Problemfelder vor und liefert einen breiten Überblick über die internationale Debatte zum Verhältnis von Leben und Ökonomie sowie Biopolitik und Kapitalismus.

In the article the existence of Obninsk — the Soviet city of nuclear institutes and high-tech industries assembled in 1956 from the secret settlements of physicists mobilized for the Soviet atomic projec is considered form the perspective of topology (Law, 2004; Shields, 2013). It means that special attention is paid to the issues of connectivity, proximity and neighborhood in urban arrangements. Here, however, specific forms of connectivity and proximity are discussed, conditioned by the properties of nuclear materiality, limitations of secrecy and institutional affiliation of local communities and infrastructures.

Scholars in science and technology studies (STS) – and no doubt other fields – have increasingly drawn on Michel Foucault's concept of biopolitics to theorize a variety of new 'bio-concepts'. While there might be some theoretical value in such exercises, many of these bio-concepts have simply replaced more rigorous – and therefore time-consuming – analytical work. This article provides a (sympathetic) critique of these various bio-concepts, especially as they are applied to the emerging 'bio-economy'. In so doing, the article seeks to show that the analysis of the bio-economy could be better framed as a political economy of nothing. This has several implications for science education, which are raised in the article.

This article examines the work of a father and son—archaeologist Robert Heizer and land artist Michael Heizer. While one is known as a methodological and technological innovator in Cold War archaeological practice, the other is a prominent figure in an art movement highly critical of modern forms of knowledge and experience. Looking past this apparent disjuncture, this article examines the unexpected continuities in both men’s methods, as evidenced in Robert Heizer’s study of the Olmec site of La Venta and Michael Heizer’s creation of massive earthworks inspired by ancient societies.

The terms performance and performativity have garnered an increased importance in the fields of visual and media arts, humanities and the technosciences, signalling an epistemological shift from representational to performative modes of knowledge and experience production. This paper traces the terms performance and performativity — historically and conceptually — within the broad field of performance (linguistics, sociology, anthropology, theatre, dance, music and performance art) to extend their meaning(s) to the fields of technoscience and wearables. It aims to posit that a coupling of wearables technology and performativity is not only (a) crucial to an understanding of the materiality of the wearable object and its social practice, but (b) also offers new grounds for a repositioning of research within the fields of wearables and performance.
Keywords: Wearables, performance, performativity, materiality, human/nonhuman,
technoscience

ÖZET: Günümüzde küresel popüler kültür, sağlık ve güzellik bağlamında ideolojik bir müzakere ve mücadele alanıdır. Benlik ve onun bir vitrini ve fiziksel bir dışavurumu olan beden, çeşitli temsil biçimleri ile bir söylem düzeni oluşturur. Sağlık, spor ve kozmetik başta olmak üzere birçok sektör „sağlıklı yaşam‟ temasını merkeze alan faaliyetleri ile yeni bir benlik ve beden söyleminin kurucu kaynakları olmaktadır.  Bu çalışmada popüler kültürde yaygın beden prototiplerinden biri olan fit bedenin bir söylem düzeni olarak ortaya koyduğu gerçeklik, sağlık ve güzellik söylemi bağlamında ele alınmaktadır.  İncelemede fit beden söylemine kaynaklık ederek onu kuran karakteristik dil yapıları, ifade ve içerik örüntüleri anlamına gelen yorum repertuarlarına odaklanılmıştır. Popüler dergi ve gazetelerde sıkça karşılaşılan söz konusu beden ve benlik söylemi, dört temel yorum repertuarı üzerinden ele alınmaktadır: (a) “bedene bilimsel ve rasyonel yaklaşım”; (b) “müdahaleler yoluyla geliştirilmesi gereken bir potansiyel olarak beden”; (c) “dikkat gerektiren bir çalışma alanı olarak beden”; (d) “mutluluk ve haz yönelimi”. Yorum repertuarlarının her biri, daha geniş ölçekte, “sağlıklı yaşam ve güzellik” şeklinde adlandırılabilecek, kişinin daha sağlıklı ve güzel olabilmesi için neyi, neden ve nasıl bir çalışma ile yapabilir konusunda açıklamalar sunan söylem kaynağı ile bağlantılıdır. Çalışmada benlik ve beden söylemi psiko-sosyal ve kültürel bağlamda yorum repertuarları üzerinden ele alınmış ve tartışılmıştır. 

ABSTRACT: Global popular culture, nowadays, becomes a field of ideological negotiation and struggle in context of health and beauty. Self and body as a display and a physical expression of self, build an order of discourse by various representation forms. Large number of sectors, mostly health, sports and cosmetics, become the founder sources of a new self and body discourse by putting " healthy life " theme into the center of their fields of activity. In this study; reality, as an order of discourse constructed by fit body which is one of the common prototypes in popular culture, is examined in context of health and beauty discourse. Interpretative repertoires, which mean characteristic language constructs, expression and content patterns, are focused in the analysis. This self and body discourse which is confronted with popular magazines and newspapers is researched through four basic interpretative repertoires: (a) " scientific and rational approach to body " ; (b) " body as a potential which is needed to be developed by interventions " ; (c) " body as a work place, which needs care " ; (d) " happiness and joy orientation ". Each one of the interpretative repertoires is connected with the discourse source, which could be named " healthy life and beauty " presenting explanations of what, why and how must be done to possess healthier and more beautiful body. Self and body discourse is explained and argued through interpretative repertoires in psycho-social and cultural context.