René Ten Bos
Biographic Data
| ID | 259999 |
|---|---|
| NAME | René Ten Bos |
| GIVEN NAMES | René Ten |
| FAMILY NAME | Bos |
| SIGNATURE | TEN BOS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Radboud University Nijmegen |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Deconstruction as a Research Strategy for Discourse Studies
Nearly sixty years after its introduction by Jacques Derrida, deconstruction remains difficult to apply, due to its resistance to being reduced to a method, analysis, or critique. This resistance stems from its opposition to logocentrism and epistemic closures. Nevertheless, deconstruction must be applied to exist, posing an inherent paradox. Although existing scholarships have proposed various ways to apply deconstruction, many either fail to al…
Wonders without wounds
This paper consists of two parts. The first provides a philosophical history of the concept of wonder, taking Heidegger's reading of the Greek verb thaumazein (‘to wonder') as its point of departure. It shows how the Greek sense of wonder, understood as a dwelling in the everyday, has changed over time. Wonder becomes understood as curiosity and amazement, and gradually turns into something suspicious in the modern age. The second part illustrate…
Touched by genius
The paper starts with the question, posed by Wittgenstein, whether animals can feign or act as if they are performing in a theatre. It is argued that the idea that they cannot is widespread, not only in philosophy but also in biology or poetry. Animals are generally considered to be too honest for that. A second question is whether there are people who are too honest for feigning or acting. Foucault’s famous discussion about madmen sheds some lig…
Towards an Amphibious Anthropology
In the paper Peter Sloterdijk is portrayed as a philosopher of elements who tries to correct the traditional philosophical reliance on earth by focusing on the elements air and water. The paper discusses the role that the latter element plays in Sloterdijk's philosophy. It is argued that it is crucial to understand this role in order to come to grips with what Sloterdijk himself has referred to as his 'amphibious' anthropology. The human animal d…
Organization demonology
Organizing is an activity which is embedded in ethicality. Is it possible to think of organizing without some understanding of goodness? Thinking about organization, we all seem to presuppose that
Are organizations bicycles? On hosophobia and neo‐gnosticism in organizational thought
Organization has a very complex relationship with contamination in the sense that they both need and fear it. We define this ambivalent or paradoxical characteristic of organization as hosophobic and argue that some forms of contamination are deemed to be dangerous whereas other forms, most notably the contamination of people, are considered as more than welcome. Using some philosophical sources (Deleuze, Sloterdijk, pataphysics, neognosis), we e…
Business Ethics
Giorgio Agamben and the Community without Identity
The Fear of Wolves
Roads and paths are symbols that are omnipresent in organizational thought. As such they are the hallmarks of the modernist legacy. It is argued that roads are not necessarily trustworthy and that the labyrinth through which they are supposed to guide us is more innocent than modernism suggests. The article raises many questions about, inter alia, the importance of narratives and fairy tales, the (im)possibility of criticism, the labyrinthine asp…
Business Ethics, Accounting and the Fear of Melancholy
In the article, I address the strained relationship between business, the ethics of business and working life, on the one hand, and what is sometimes referred to as melancholy, on the other. I take issue with the age-old claim that one should keep to the books if one is to prevent melancholy. I argue that this claim, half-forgotten as it may be, is still implicit in many texts on business ethics. Much of what I have to say is grounded in a differ…
Machiavelli's Kitchen
Machiavelli's Kitchen
Berlin's ideas about value pluralism are used in order to criticize business ethics. These ideas can be traced back to Machiavelli, a philosopher who has been remarkably popular among managers and business leaders. The first part of the article, therefore, enters into why Berlin thought Machiavelli paved the way for value pluralism. It will be concluded that we need skills to handle pluralism rather than a strong emphasis on values. In the second…
Interfaces
Essai
This paper relates Zygmunt Bauman's admonitions of the 'bureaucratic mentality' to business ethics. Although I am not in agreement with everything Bauman has to say, I will argue that business ethicists, consultants and others who claim to be able to do the moral thinking for others should take Bauman's worries about the moral autonomy of people working in our organizations very seriously. As long as business ethics does not enhance this moral au…
Towards an Amphibious Anthropology
In the paper Peter Sloterdijk is portrayed as a philosopher of elements who tries to correct the traditional philosophical reliance on earth by focusing on the elements air and water. The paper discusses the role that the latter element plays in Sloterdijk's philosophy. It is argued that it is crucial to understand this role in order to come to grips with what Sloterdijk himself has referred to as his 'amphibious' anthropology. The human animal d…
Essai
This paper relates Zygmunt Bauman's admonitions of the 'bureaucratic mentality' to business ethics. Although I am not in agreement with everything Bauman has to say, I will argue that business ethicists, consultants and others who claim to be able to do the moral thinking for others should take Bauman's worries about the moral autonomy of people working in our organizations very seriously. As long as business ethics does not enhance this moral au…
Giorgio Agamben and the Community without Identity
Business Ethics, Accounting and the Fear of Melancholy
In the article, I address the strained relationship between business, the ethics of business and working life, on the one hand, and what is sometimes referred to as melancholy, on the other. I take issue with the age-old claim that one should keep to the books if one is to prevent melancholy. I argue that this claim, half-forgotten as it may be, is still implicit in many texts on business ethics. Much of what I have to say is grounded in a differ…
Organization demonology
Organizing is an activity which is embedded in ethicality. Is it possible to think of organizing without some understanding of goodness? Thinking about organization, we all seem to presuppose that
The Fear of Wolves
Roads and paths are symbols that are omnipresent in organizational thought. As such they are the hallmarks of the modernist legacy. It is argued that roads are not necessarily trustworthy and that the labyrinth through which they are supposed to guide us is more innocent than modernism suggests. The article raises many questions about, inter alia, the importance of narratives and fairy tales, the (im)possibility of criticism, the labyrinthine asp…
Essai
This paper relates Zygmunt Bauman's admonitions of the 'bureaucratic mentality' to business ethics. Although I am not in agreement with everything Bauman has to say, I will argue that business ethicists, consultants and others who claim to be able to do the moral thinking for others should take Bauman's worries about the moral autonomy of people working in our organizations very seriously. As long as business ethics does not enhance this moral au…
Machiavelli's Kitchen
Machiavelli's Kitchen
Berlin's ideas about value pluralism are used in order to criticize business ethics. These ideas can be traced back to Machiavelli, a philosopher who has been remarkably popular among managers and business leaders. The first part of the article, therefore, enters into why Berlin thought Machiavelli paved the way for value pluralism. It will be concluded that we need skills to handle pluralism rather than a strong emphasis on values. In the second…
Interfaces
Business Ethics, Accounting and the Fear of Melancholy
In the article, I address the strained relationship between business, the ethics of business and working life, on the one hand, and what is sometimes referred to as melancholy, on the other. I take issue with the age-old claim that one should keep to the books if one is to prevent melancholy. I argue that this claim, half-forgotten as it may be, is still implicit in many texts on business ethics. Much of what I have to say is grounded in a differ…
The Fear of Wolves
Roads and paths are symbols that are omnipresent in organizational thought. As such they are the hallmarks of the modernist legacy. It is argued that roads are not necessarily trustworthy and that the labyrinth through which they are supposed to guide us is more innocent than modernism suggests. The article raises many questions about, inter alia, the importance of narratives and fairy tales, the (im)possibility of criticism, the labyrinthine asp…
Are organizations bicycles? On hosophobia and neo‐gnosticism in organizational thought
Organization has a very complex relationship with contamination in the sense that they both need and fear it. We define this ambivalent or paradoxical characteristic of organization as hosophobic and argue that some forms of contamination are deemed to be dangerous whereas other forms, most notably the contamination of people, are considered as more than welcome. Using some philosophical sources (Deleuze, Sloterdijk, pataphysics, neognosis), we e…
Business Ethics
Giorgio Agamben and the Community without Identity
Organization demonology
Organizing is an activity which is embedded in ethicality. Is it possible to think of organizing without some understanding of goodness? Thinking about organization, we all seem to presuppose that
Touched by genius
The paper starts with the question, posed by Wittgenstein, whether animals can feign or act as if they are performing in a theatre. It is argued that the idea that they cannot is widespread, not only in philosophy but also in biology or poetry. Animals are generally considered to be too honest for that. A second question is whether there are people who are too honest for feigning or acting. Foucault’s famous discussion about madmen sheds some lig…
Towards an Amphibious Anthropology
In the paper Peter Sloterdijk is portrayed as a philosopher of elements who tries to correct the traditional philosophical reliance on earth by focusing on the elements air and water. The paper discusses the role that the latter element plays in Sloterdijk's philosophy. It is argued that it is crucial to understand this role in order to come to grips with what Sloterdijk himself has referred to as his 'amphibious' anthropology. The human animal d…
Wonders without wounds
This paper consists of two parts. The first provides a philosophical history of the concept of wonder, taking Heidegger's reading of the Greek verb thaumazein (‘to wonder') as its point of departure. It shows how the Greek sense of wonder, understood as a dwelling in the everyday, has changed over time. Wonder becomes understood as curiosity and amazement, and gradually turns into something suspicious in the modern age. The second part illustrate…
Deconstruction as a Research Strategy for Discourse Studies
Nearly sixty years after its introduction by Jacques Derrida, deconstruction remains difficult to apply, due to its resistance to being reduced to a method, analysis, or critique. This resistance stems from its opposition to logocentrism and epistemic closures. Nevertheless, deconstruction must be applied to exist, posing an inherent paradox. Although existing scholarships have proposed various ways to apply deconstruction, many either fail to al…
Epistemology (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Psychology (4 works)