Philosophy of the Americas

En este artículo, se presenta una crítica ético-política hacia una propuesta tecnológico-militar que llamaremos “Corredor Energético-Militar México-Estados Unidos”. Nuestro enfoque será el medioambiente y cómo este podría ser afectado por el Corredor Energético-Militar México-Estados Unidos, pero la migración también se tendrá en cuenta. Mientras se dé la lógica del desarrollo económico con el estilo universal en la arquitectura y una estrategia militar basada en la supuesta seguridad nacional estadounidense, habrá consecuencias ecológicas negativas hacia el medioambiente y la dominancia económico-militar estadounidense (...) continuará en esta frontera internacional. Esto tiene consecuencias para la migración y aunque estas dependen de posibles modificaciones a la infraestructura futura y sus reglamentos gubernamentales, la propuesta actual no favorece a la migración. Fundamentalmente, si el Corredor Energético-Militar México-Estados Unidos es construido en su esquema actual, las consecuencias migratorias del norte de México hacia el sur de Estados Unidos serán negativas. (shrink)

From the thought of mid-twentieth century Mexican philosopher Jorge Portilla (1919-1964), I develop a three-prong existentialist response to the problem of evil. One prong is granting that a version of the problem of evil is successful: no theodicy is credible while beholding innocent suffering. A second prong involves an affective engagement with evil that facilitates a loving human flourishing grounded in solidarity with sufferers, compassion, loving self-sacrifice, and taking responsibility for one’s own culpability. The final prong is the capacity of (...) this affective engagement with evil to permit a belief in God as an existential commitment to a suffering God as a transcendental ideal of self-sacrificing love that guides one’s perpetual project of self-creation. (shrink)

Buen Vivir is a postdevelopment philosophy enshrined in Ecuador's 2008 Constitution, which offers an alternative to neoliberal development frameworks. This paper examines the distinctive features of Buen Vivir and associated reforms regarding disabled people's rights, alongside Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ analysis of “ecology of knowledges,” to suggest that the outlook offers important resources for theorizing disabled people's active role in shaping shared notions of living well. These reforms uphold epistemic ideals of solidarity and the possibility of developing embodied knowledges that (...) can further contribute to the life of the community. Buen Vivir is both a goal, living with rich, meaningful relationships in a pluralistic society, and a process, developing the knowledges that can inform the expression of those relationships. As such, Buen Vivir motivates creating the conditions that allow for disabled persons to participate in processes creating new knowledges that shape meanings of disability and good ways of living. (shrink)

In academic philosophy, it is easy for students to lose track of how important questions in subfields are interrelated. Philosophy: The Game is an educational resource designed to remedy this by providing the opportunity to discuss ‘big questions’ while playing a card game. The question-answer pairs for the game are taken from the recent PhilPapers Survey[1], with some joker cards added to illustrate the impact that solutions to particular problems in the philosophy of mind might have on philosophy at large. (...) The card design via LaTex/Tikz uses material from the Stack Exchange user ‘Arvid’.[2] (Everyone is welcome to improve the game or come up with their own new version.) -- 'looks like fun!' (David Chalmers). (shrink)

We lost a giant of philosophy when we lost John on 14 November. Perhaps you’ve encountered one or more of those audio productions in the Giants of Philosophy series John edited beginning in the 1980s. He was an ideal choice to chair the American Philosophical Association’s centennial committee, tasked to “create a broader public awareness for philosophy by calling attention to its personal value and social usefulness.” That’s exactly what John did, always, throughout his long career (from which he formally (...) retired only a couple of years ago at age 87).When, for instance, my department at Middle Tennessee faced its existential crisis in the wake of the financial collapse of 2008, John came and delivered a timely... Read More. (shrink)

I’m so very proud to have studied with John Lachs and grateful to him for being a member of my dissertation committee. A year before my defense, in the Spring semester of 1990, as I recall, I took a graduate course on aesthetics with Dr. Lachs. In the first class of the semester, he came into the seminar room and stood at the end of a long oak table, around which we students sat. He carried with him a slick magazine—Vogue (...) or GQ or Glamour. He opened it to an advertisement for perfume or clothing or luggage and slid the magazine skillfully from one end of the seminar table all the way to the other end. He then put his hand on his bald pate and said, in his inimitable accent and unique way, “Eees dat aurrt?” So... Read More. (shrink)

John Lachs, Centennial Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Vanderbilt University, passed away on 14 November 2023. Notably, he ends his book In Love with Life with a quote from George Santayana: “The time will doubtless come for each of us, if not for the universe at large, to cease from care; but our passage through life will have added a marvelous episode to the tale of things” (Lachs, In Love with Life 125). John’s life indeed was a marvelous episode. He was (...) born in Budapest, Hungary, on 17 July 1934, living through World War II as a child. In 1951, his family fled Hungary because of the communist occupation and settled in Canada. John received his BA (1956) and MA (1957) from McGill University, and his PhD (1961)... Read More. (shrink)

From American Empire to América Cósmica through Philosophy: Prospero’s Reflection is the culmination of MacMullan’s research on a broader conception of American Philosophy. The expanded notion of “American” Philosophy not only makes sense, but it is one of the most promising present ventures in dealing with the lives and problems of people across the Americas. The book opens an important dialogue between the American pragmatist traditions and Latin American philosophers who have been ignored, such as Vaz Ferreira, Pedro Albizu Campos, (...) and Risieri Frondizi. More importantly, it introduces the perspective of these philosophers on both the virtues and the vices of the United States. This is the much-needed critical... Read More. (shrink)