17th/18th Century Philosophy

Many antislavery authors in the eighteenth century contend that enslavement degrades the human mind and causes enslaved people to exhibit inferior moral or intellectual traits. They often use this contention to combat the racist claim that Black people are naturally inferior to Whites and that this natural inferiority justifies enslavement, insisting instead that the disparity is simply an effect of enslavement. After examining this argumentative strategy and what makes it appealing, this paper investigates several ways in which it is problematic. (...) First, this strategy was sometimes used to oppose the immediate abolition of slavery: some eighteenth-century authors argue that many enslaved people have become incapable of living good lives outside of slavery and that immediate emancipation would therefore be detrimental for them and for society. Moreover, this strategy may further marginalize and demonize an already oppressed group and it sometimes blames, or seems to blame, enslaved people for their condition. The paper ends with some reflections on whether the strategy can nevertheless be useful for antislavery purposes. (shrink)

There is no good human life outside of a state, and the good state enables us to live well together – so says Constitutivism, the theory developed in this book. Reinvigorating Aristotelian ideas, the author asks in what sense citizens of modern, populous and pluralistic societies share a common good. -/- While we can easily find examples of cooperation that benefit each member, such as insurances, the idea that persons could share a common good became puzzling with modernity – a (...) puzzlement epitomised in Margaret Thatcher’s ‘What is society? There is no such thing!’ Aristotle describes the state as the end of human development, both chronologically and normatively, but modern philosophers, from Thomas Hobbes to Carl Schmitt, conceive the relation between state and citizen as instrumental. Either the state is a means of advancing each member’s individual good or the individual is a means of advancing some collective good. From both perspectives, the Aristotelian idea that human individuals somehow realise their own good in realising some communal good appears metaphysically puzzling, even nonsensical. -/- This puzzlement, the author argues, results from our profoundly modern understanding of rational actions, which we generally see as means toward outcomes. If we allow that not only outcomes but also histories and identities can be good reasons for actions, then it makes sense to see a person’s good and the common good of their political community as constitutive of one another, as Aristotle thought. Building on this idea, the author argues that individual actions and lives exist only in conjunction with a political community. In designing our institutions, we hence also give ourselves an identity and, in that sense, constitute ourselves as persons. Her arguments shed new light on a range of traditional topics of political theory, such as the justification of state authority or the question of how to justify or challenge the design of social institutions. (shrink)

Volume 74 in the series Hallesche Beiträge zur Europäischen Aufklärung -/- Die vor-autonome und noch nicht auf das Feld der Künste beschränkte Ästhetik des ›langen 18. Jahrhunderts‹ strebte eine interdisziplinäre und internationale Kommunikationspraxis an, die eine universelle Verständigung unter den Menschen ermöglichen sollte. -/- Der Band versammelt Beiträge zu der europäischen Geschichte dieser anthropologisch ausgerichteten ästhetischen Kommunikation. Die Aufsätze der ersten Sektion beschäftigen sich mit der zeitgenössichen Theorie der ästhetischen Wissensvermittlung: Es wird die fachübergreifende (Proto-) Ästhetik Shaftesburys und Addisons, die (...) Sprachtheorie von Coleridge bzw. die schwierige Einbürgerüng der Disziplin ›Ästhetik‹ in Frankreich thematisiert. Im zweiten Teil beschäftigen sich zwei Aufsätze mit der Kommunikation durch Bilder, anhand der Analyse von Gemälden Jean-Siméon Chardins und Caspar David Friedrichs. Die Bedeutung des Bild- und Erzählstoffes ›Herkules am Scheideweg‹ für Wielands ästhetische Kommunikation wird hier ebenfalls behandelt. Die dritte Sektion enthält Untersuchungen zu zwei wichtigen Gattungen der ästhetischen Kommunikation. Es werden zunächst unterschiedliche Varianten des Genres Traumerzählung bei Johann Gottlob Krüger und Mihály Vörösmarty beleuchtet. Der Band schließt mit der Analyse von József Eötvös’ Künstlerroman Der Karthäuser. -/- Die Fallstudien tragen zu dem besseren Verständnis einer Ästhetik bei, die die Bildung der Menschen durch intersubjektive Kommunikation vorantreiben wollte. (shrink)

This paper considers the prospects for a green Kantian philosophy. It does so by revisiting Steven Vogel’s postnaturalist objections against Kant. Though Descartes is part of the story, Kant is a primary environmental obstacle for Vogel. Like others in environmental philosophy, Vogel criticizes Kant for his dualism, anthropocentrism, idealism, and nonconsequentialism. The present paper looks into the first two objections. It begins by reconstructing Vogel’s argument against “nature” to appreciate his claim that modern philosophy haunts contemporary environmental philosophy. After pointing (...) out difficulties with Vogel’s objections, resources in Kant are explored to assuage Vogel’s concerns regarding noumena and non-human animals. The paper concludes with a glimpse of an alternate interpretation of Kant that has the potential to respond to the remaining worries of idealism and nonconsequentialism. (shrink)

The following text looks at certain philosophical points of convergence and divergence between Novalis and Fichte with respect to their theories of nature. Somewhat notoriously, Fichte places nature in opposition to the I (Ich) of the human being, designating the natural world using the abstract formula “Not-I”. Yet Fichte also insists that this abstraction should be made concrete and particular, as both an “it” and as a “you”. This chapter argues that Novalis did not reject Fichte’s theory of nature as (...) a Not-I — as is often claimed in the research. Rather, the inverse is actually the case: Novalis positively adopted and expanded on the Fichtean conception of nature as a “you”. (shrink)

Review of: Sorin Baiasu and Mark Timmons (eds.), The Kantian Mind. London and New York: Routledge, 2024, 596 pp. 978-1138827486.

This paper reflects on Kantian exchanges between A. W. Moore and Sorin Baiasu. After briefly situating their exchange, I highlight Baiasu’s clarification regarding Kant’s distinction between knowledge and cognition. Although convincing, I suggest that Baiasu’s objections could be strengthened with further discussion of the notion of a thing in itself as a limiting concept, as well as emphasis on Moore’s use of ‘concern’, which might require further clarification. I conclude with broader reflections on what is at stake: not just armchair (...) knowledge, but the coherence and relevance of Kant’s practical philosophy under the assumption of its dependence on transcendental idealism. (shrink)

प्रस्तुत शोध-पत्र भाषायी विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन की प्रकृति एवं सीमाओं को व्यापक रूप से विट्गेन्सटाइन की अवधारणा के संदर्भ में विवेचित करता है। विट्गेन्सटाइन के दर्शन में किन प्रभावों के कारण साधारण भाषा दर्शन का उदय होता है एवं यह किस रूप में विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन की परंपरा को समकालीन पाश्चात्य दर्शन में रेखांकित करता है, इसको स्पष्ट करना इस शोध-पत्र का उद्देश्य है। साथ ही पूर्व के दर्शनों एवं उत्तरवर्ती विट्गेन्सटाइन के दर्शन में वह कौन सा मूलभूत वैषम्य है, जिसके कारण (...) भाषायी विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन में नूतन आयाम संज्ञान में आते हैं, इसे भी अभिव्यक्त करना है। इस क्रम में विट्गेन्सटाइन के भाषा संबंधी विचारों जैसे- दर्शन का कार्य नवीन ज्ञान का प्रस्तुतीकरण नहीं है, दर्शन मात्र नैदानिक है, दार्शनिक समस्याएं समस्याभास मात्र हैं इत्यादि का मूल्यायन किया गया है एवं विट्गेन्सटाइन के दर्शन के संबंध में प्रायः अन्य प्रतिष्ठित दार्शनिकों जैसे- राईल, आस्टिन, स्ट्रासन आदि के द्वारा जो आपत्तियां उठायी गई हैं, उनकी समालोचना प्रस्तुत करने का भी प्रयास किया गया है।. (shrink)

प्रस्तावित शोध-पत्र तार्किक भाववाद के उद्भव, विकास एवं स्वरूप की विवेचना है। तार्किक भाववाद किस प्रकार समकालीन पाश्चात्य दर्शन में एक आंदोलन के रूप में उदित होता है एवं यह कैसे दार्शनिक विचारों में परिवर्तन लाता है, इसकी व्याख्या करना इस शोध-पत्र का प्रमुख उद्देश्य है। साथ ही तार्किक भाववाद एवं पूर्ववर्ती अनुवादवाद अथवा पूर्ववर्ती भाववाद के दार्शनिक विचारों में क्या समानता या असमानता है जो तार्किक भाववाद को दर्शनशास्त्र की इन विचारधाराओं से पृथक करता है। इस क्रम में शोध-पत्र (...) के अंतर्गत सर्वप्रथम तार्किक भाववाद के मूलभूत उद्देश्यों की चर्चा की गई है। तदुपरांत, तार्किक भाववादियों के द्वारा इन उद्देश्यों की पूर्ति हेतु कौन-कौन से निकष अथवा मानदंड प्रस्तुत किए गए हैं, इसकी विवेचना की गई है एवं अन्त में, तार्किक भाववादियों द्वारा प्रस्तुत निकषों का विश्लेषण एवं मूल्यांकन किया गया है।. (shrink)

प्रस्तावित शोध-पत्र विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन के उद्भव, विकास एवं स्वरूप का विवेचन एवं विश्लेषण हैं। विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन किस प्रकार नवीन परम्परा के रूप में समकालीन पाश्चात्य दर्शन में उदित होता है एवं यह किस प्रकार से दार्शनिक विचारों में परिवर्तन लाता है, इसकी व्याख्या करना इस शोध-पत्र का प्रमुख उद्देश्य है। साथ ही प्राचीन एवं समकालीन दृष्टिकोणों में विश्लेषण की प्रकृति को लेकर क्या भिन्नता है जो विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन को दर्शनशास्त्र की अन्य शाखाओं से पृथक करता है। इस क्रम में शोध-पत्र (...) में विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन के विकास को तीन चरणों में विभक्त किया गया है। प्रथम चरण ‘प्रारम्भिक विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन’ के अन्तर्गत रसेल एवं मूर द्वारा प्रत्ययवाद के विरुद्ध नव्य-यथार्थवाद के प्रतिपादन की चर्चा की गयी है। तदुपरान्त, द्वितीय चरण ‘तार्किक विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन’ के अन्तर्गत रसेल, पूर्ववर्ती विट्गेन्सटाइन एवं तार्किक भाववादियों के मतों की विवेचना की गई है। तृतीय चरण ‘भाषाई विश्लेषणात्मक दर्शन’ के अन्तर्गत परवर्ती विट्गेन्सटाइन, कैम्ब्रिज साधारण भाषा दर्शन एवं ऑक्सफोर्ड साधारण भाषा दर्शन का विवेचन एवं मूल्यांयन किया गया है।. (shrink)

O filósofo René Descartes escreveu o Compendium musicæ em 1618. Mesmo não sendo conhecido pela sua produção musical, manteve uma longa correspondência em torno do assunto, principalmente em diálogo com Marin Mersenne, Constantjin Huygens, Isaac Beeckman e Joan-Albert Ban. Contudo, suas proposições em torno da música são tidas como um assunto marginal em seu percurso intelectual. Para compreender se a temática musical se relaciona com o desenvolvimento de suas ideias, primeiramente, foi organizado a sua correspondência sobre música e as citações (...) a esta em suas obras, sejam em textos menores ou nas obras publicadas pelo autor. (shrink)

This essay addresses two preeminent figures in the study of the doctrine of signs. The first is John Poinsot (9 July 1589 – 15 June 1644). The second is John Deely (26 April 1942 – 7 January 2017). In many ways, the academic lives of these two noteworthy scholars are forever intertwined because of their scholarly contributions to the doctrine of signs. On the one hand, John Poinsot authored a very significant, but long neglected document, Tractatus de Signis, which articulated (...) a comprehensive analysis of the doctrine of signs. Moreover, his work constituted a significant link between Christian theology, philosophical Latinity, and modern and postmodern scholarly matters. In this regard, John Deely resurrected Poinsot’s neglected text by providing a detailed, annotated translation of the original Latin version together with a meticulous account of its implications for the doctrine of signs. As a result, we now possess the “missing link” between these philosophical and intellectual epochs. Deely further addressed the role that Charles Sanders Peirce played in the study of the doctrine of signs. Finally, there is a discussion of the “International Open Seminar on Semiotics: A Tribute to John Deely on the Fifth Anniversary of His Passing” available at the University of Coimbra website. (shrink)

This article addresses the questions “why do we still have to read Kant today?”, “what kind of responses can he give us in the era of global terrorism?”. In other terms, today, “What does it mean to orient oneself in thinking?”. Because his concept of renewed religious laity, distant from both fanatic fundamentalism and indifferent secularism, becomes the compass we can only rely on and authentically trust in the relationship with the other. Issues identified on reading the interesting kantian work, (...) studied during the last academic year and discussed in the meeting of the 17th March 2017 between Liceo Classico “La Farina” and DICAM of the University in Messina, in the context of the project Tradition and Contemporaneity, set by the Italian Philosophical Society (SFI). (shrink)

Our essay will be focused in the epistolary relation that Elise Reimarus (1735-1805) maintained with Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) and F.H. Jacobi (1743-1819) because of the discussion begun by Jacobi after claiming G.E. Lessing (1729-1783) to be a “spinozist”. The analysis of Reimarus’ intervention will be divided in two parts: in the first one, we will shortly contextualize de discussion by giving the tenets of Lessing’s thought that justify Jacobi’s claim; secondly, we will offer an sketch of Elise’s biography in order (...) to proceed afterwards to judge her role within the debate. (i) By showing the way Elise took part in such intellectual affairs and (ii) by noting the relevance of her contributions, (iii) we will close the essay with a reflection on what tools and strategies are to be considered in order to include women when writing history of philosophy and thought. (shrink)

In 1791, two years after the proclamation of the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’, the playwright, essayist, philosopher and revolutionary Olympe de Gouges wrote a short work entitled The Rights of Woman, the core of which is the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen. As is already clear from the title, with her writing de Gouges intends to highlight the gendered character of the 1789 Declaration. To this end, the author first (...) of all points out the contradictory nature of this Declaration: the rights it proclaims as universal apply, in law and in fact, only to human beings of the male gender. De Gouges also reformulates the claims of the Declaration so that they apply equally to men and women. This essay focuses on two themes of particular importance within de Gouges' reformulation: the claim of freedom of expression and the extension of the social contract to relationships. In dealing with these themes, de Gouges elaborates far-reaching theoretical insights that are significant not only for gender studies, but also for political philosophy and the philosophy of law. In fact, de Gouges' reflections, while placing themselves within the natural law tradition, reject and overturn some of its fundamental assumptions. Prominent among these are the subtraction of the family sphere from the equal regulation of relations between individuals, which instead characterises relations between citizens in the public sphere, and the abstraction from differences on which the particularism of rights, though proclaimed as universal, is based. (shrink)

Olympe de Gouges (Montauban 1748 - Paris 1793) is best known as the author of the Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne of 1791. De Gouges' intellectual contribution and political commitment, however, encompassed a broader field than just gender relations and the assertion of women's civil and political rights. De Gouges in fact publicly intervened on many of the central issues of the political and social context of the French Revolution, including public health, social policies, voting (...) by head or by order, the execution of the king, divorce and, as we shall see in detail in the following pages, slavery and the slave trade. In the paper, I first reconstruct the context of de Gouges' production, with a focus on the institution of slavery in revolutionary France (§ 1). I then dwell on the political function of theatre at the time of the Revolution and trace the controversial events that marked the staging of L'esclavage des noirs (§ 2). I intend to show, more specifically, how de Gouges' reflection on the theme of slavery makes her an extraordinary interpreter of the spirit of the Enlightenment. Indeed, in it, she demystifies the supposed naturalness of existing inequalities and shows how, on the contrary, they are the result of historical injustices aimed at protecting specific interests and maintaining privileges. I then highlight de Gouges' originality within the philosophical paradigm of natural law. Compared to thinkers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, de Gouges is distinguished by the consistency of purpose with which she makes use of natural law. Indeed, de Gouges' reference to natural law always has emancipatory intentions and is never aimed at justifying existing inequalities (§ 4). Finally, I propose an interpretation according to which de Gouges is an advocate of a particular type of universalism, an anti-essentialist universalism that takes its starting point from concrete situations of injustice and inequality rather than from general and abstract principles, and which I will suggest we call ‘universalism of differences’ (§ 5). (shrink)

The subject of this article is the exchange of letters (winter 1634) between the French scholar Jean Bourdelot and the Aristotelian philosopher Fortunio Liceti. The letters published in the appendix provide new information on the dissemination of Campanella’s works in France and on the attention paid to his thought in Aristotelian circles.

From the perspective of digital ethics, this book chapter outlines a model for dealing with the challenges posed by digital media environments in a responsible and appropriate manner. This concept is based on preliminary considerations of “digital citizenship”. At a time when digital technologies - the “data-sphere” - are being increasingly implemented and intensified, the question of humans' roles and skills in using these digital technologies in a sensible and meaningful way is becoming more and more urgent. In the age (...) of European Enlightenment, Western societies had already assigned a central role to people's maturity, which was to be achieved fundamentally through literacy and education in order to create free individuals and, ultimately, citizens capable of making decisions. In contrast, in the current age of digitality, characterized by networking and immersion that has prevailed since the 1990s, many people experience and participate in such life-worlds primarily as consumers. In this role, they increasingly appear as economic objects that are constantly encouraged to produce data sets. Social networking sites and applications of generative artificial intelligence in particular exert a certain pull, the functioning of which many people are at best instrumentally proficient in, but not reflexively. Against this background, Zöllner's article outlines the contours of the concept of "digital citizenship" from an ethical perspective. This form of citizenship should enable people to lead a free life in digital and networked environments in which they are not merely subject to the exploitation interests of digital corporations. (shrink)

Few philosophers present themselves with as much complexity as Marcus Tullius Cicero. At once a philosopher, statesman, orator, and lawyer, Cicero consciously fashioned his own image for posterity and wrote philosophical texts as invitations for his readers to think for themselves. His philosophy has continued to unfold over the centuries, repeatedly inspiring new and independent philosophical positions. Since J.G.F. Powell’s pivotal contribution in 1995, we have witnessed countless translations and scholarly treatments of Cicero’s philosophy that emphasize his creativity and influence. (...) In this tradition, the present volume offers fresh and incisive contributions that advance the ongoing renaissance in Cicero scholarship. -/- Part One of the volume focuses on Cicero’s approaches to writing philosophy and on specific interpretive questions facing readers of his philosophical corpus. Part Two traces key moments in Cicero’s philosophical afterlife, from Augustine through the Scholastic period to the Renaissance, culminating in the rich and varied tradition of Ciceronian reception in the European Enlightenment. Throughout the volume, special attention is given to Cicero’s practical philosophy. (shrink)

At the time of the French Revolution, Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) campaigned for the rights of women, enslaved people and other politically marginalised and underprivileged groups. Conceptually, her reflection is located within the tradition of the social contract. However, she made a theoretical and practical break with this by abolishing the separation between the political and private spheres and universally expanding political participation and belonging.

This essay presents a systematic reconstruction of the problem of divine providence in Quobna Ottobah Cugoano’s Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery. I argue that reading Thoughts and Sentiments in this frame allows interpreters to take Cugoano at his word without compromising on the religious and political sophistication of his argument. Cugoano, I show, develops an innovative account of providence’s relationship to slavery by engaging both contemporary apologies for slavery and abolitionist arguments for divine retribution. His theory of (...) providence accounts for slavery as a social inequality as well as the difficulty of making restitution for modern slavery. (shrink)