New Books in Sociology Santiago Zabala, "Signs from the Future: Philosophy of Warnings" (Columbia UP, 2025)
Sep 4, 2025
Santiago Zabala, an ICREA Research Professor of Philosophy at Pompeu Fabra University, discusses his latest book, which delves into the significance of warnings in navigating crises. He emphasizes that warnings are not predictions but reflections on current issues like gender, climate change, and machine warfare. Zabala explores interpretations of warnings in art, critiques the dangers of uncritical AI adoption, and highlights Greta Thunberg's emotional activism. The conversation urges a transformative approach to listening and rethinking society’s response to crises.
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Warnings Require Active Interpretation
- Warnings demand active interpretation like distorted mirrors that force you to move and decide what to see.
- Santiago Zabala argues warnings involve responsibility and engagement, not passive prediction.
Warnings Offer Alternatives, Not Fate
- Unlike predictions, warnings offer alternatives and invite us to change course.
- Zabala contends philosophy itself functions as warnings that destabilize complacency and open possible futures.
Science Alone Won't Force Change
- Heidegger's critique warns that science calculates what it already projects and thus misses deeper possibilities.
- Zabala says truth from science alone fails to produce the pressure needed to change behavior about crises like climate change.
