O presente trabalho busca reconstituir os momentos nos quais a primeira obra literária de Blanchot se abre para o pensamento filosófico. Em _Thomás, L´Obscur,_ os temas de um vitalismo a contrapelo, que segue de perto os problemas colocados pela morte imanente à vida, se transpõem numa caracterização importante do que compreende como espaço literário. Tentamos mostrar como sua criação se estende para além do campo literário, dando a ver uma ontologia da linguagem e uma experiência intensiva do real. Apesar de (...) serem incorporados criticamente alguns conceitos bergsonianos (ao invés de vida, duração e memória, o que se passa em Blanchot é morte, instante e esquecimento), não se trata propriamente de ir numa contramão. Tal inversão é ambígua, pois não se falseia propriamente o tipo de realidade para a qual o bergsonismo apontava, mas sim para aprofundá-la. (shrink)

This work seeks to highlight the central role of the concept of death for a theory of non-sense and a psychoanalysis of meaning in Gilles Deleuze. It is important to note that Deleuze summons Blanchotian reflections and gives them centrality, prior to the creation of schizoanalysis with Felix Guattari, in the formation of an idea of psychoanalysis of meaning based on Difference and Repetition and Logic of Meaning. We seek to show how, in this proposal that articulates philosophy and psychoanalysis, (...) there is a transition from genital thinking to thinking about the outside, to which the concept of death also contributes to the elucidation. (shrink)

Na defesa que Maurice Blanchot faz da consistência ontológica da experiência poéticoliterária, surge uma relação filosófica ambígua com bergsonismo. Compreender como o pensamento deHenri Bergson incide em sua teoria é imprescindível para podermos estabelecer a importância deMallarmé na constituição de uma teoria do espeço literário e encontrarmos o devido lugar do devir e daduração nesta teoria da literatura. Em Blanchot podemos verificar algumas linhas de ruptura econtinuidade com o bergsonismo, procedendo sobretudo uma reversão do fluxo temporal no espaçodiferencial da escrita (...) e da própria experiência subjetiva. Não deixamos de notar que Blanchot, ao seguiruma tendência interna de divergência do bergsonismo com ele próprio, recupera um outro lado daexperiência das “ilusões idealistas das representações simbólicas”. Tais ilusões, combatidas porBergson em sua crítica ao conceito e apelo empírico à intuição, formam para Blanchot um substratopositivo-ontológico da linguagem e sobretudo da literatura. (shrink)

Este artigo pretende ser uma exposição da Filosofia do Esclarecimento de Habermas. Nesse sentido, apresentaremos especialmente seu pensamento inicial, com o escopo de estabelecer seus fundamentos, o que implica iniciar com as influências sobre ele (I. Kant, J. L. Austin, o “segundo” Wittgenstein, M. Weber, E. Husserl, K. O. Apel, entre outros), assim como com sua crítica aos primeiros membros da Escola de Frankfurt (especialmente contra o pessimismo de T. Adorno e M. Horkheimer acerca da possibilidade de a razão nos (...) libertar). Finalmente, mostraremos como Habermas é uma extensão do projeto de uma Filosofia do Esclarecimento, o que faz dele um exemplo do pensamento moderno na história contemporânea da Filosofia. (shrink)

Resumo: A obra Eclipse da razão, de Horkheimer, é tensionada por uma ambiguidade conceitual. No texto Meios e Fins, o conceito de razão objetiva tem uma fundamentação metafísica, que é contestada pela análise materialista exposta no texto Sobre o conceito de filosofia. Essa ambiguidade conceitual repercute nas reflexões teológicas tardias de Horkheimer, em que o conceito originalmente metafísico do Absoluto é recepcionado em termos materialistas. Nesse sentido, a teologia negativa postulada por Horkheimer reflete problemas relativos à fundamentação conceitual do materialismo (...) dialético no campo filosófico. O objetivo deste artigo consiste em expor essa ambivalência, e também apontar os problemas conceituais envolvidos na fundamentação filosófica do materialismo dialético. Palavras-chave: Teoria Crítica; Teologia Negativa; Materialismo Dialético; Absoluto Horkheimer, the Absolute and the conceptual ambiguity of negative theology Abstract: Horkheimer's work Eclipse of Reason is tensioned by a conceptual ambiguity. In the text Means and Ends, the concept of objective reason has a metaphysical foundation, which is contested by the materialist analysis exposed in the text On the concept of philosophy. This conceptual ambiguity reverberates in Horkheimer's later theological reflections, in which the originally metaphysical concept of the Absolute is received in materialist terms. In this sense, the negative theology postulated by Horkheimer reflects problems related to the conceptual foundation of dialectical materialism in the philosophical field. The purpose of this article is to expose this ambivalence, and also to point out the conceptual problems involved in the philosophical foundation of dialectical materialism. Keywords: Critical Theory; Negative Theology; Dialectical Materialism; Absolute Horkheimer, el Absoluto y la ambigüedad conceptual de la teología negativa Resumen: La obra de Horkheimer Eclipse of Reason está tensionada por una ambigüedad conceptual. En el texto Medios y fines, el concepto de razón objetiva tiene un fundamento metafísico, el cual es contestado por el análisis materialista expuesto en el texto Sobre el concepto de filosofía. Esta ambigüedad conceptual repercute en las reflexiones teológicas posteriores de Horkheimer, en las que el concepto originalmente metafísico del Absoluto se recibe en términos materialistas. En este sentido, la teología negativa postulada por Horkheimer refleja problemas relacionados con la fundamentación conceptual del materialismo dialéctico en el campo filosófico. El propósito de este artículo es exponer esta ambivalencia, y también señalar los problemas conceptuales involucrados en el fundamento filosófico del materialismo dialéctico. Palabras llave: Teoría Crítica; Teología Negativa; Materialismo Dialéctico; Absoluto. Data de registro: 01/08/2023 Data de aceite: 24/01/2024. (shrink)

This article explores the ways in which suspects attempt to make putative victims/complainants at least partially responsible for the incidents for which they are investigated, transforming themselves into the victim and the other into the perpetrator. Drawing upon conversation analysis, I examine audio-recorded police interviews for low-level crimes in England and in which suspects have constructed what I refer as counter-denunciations. I argue that suspects accomplish these counter-denunciations through discursive practices that involve, for example (a) contrasting the complainant’s actions with (...) their own innocent conduct; (b) historicizing the event being investigated; and (c) discrediting the complainant’s character—stigmatizing. These practices have in common the suspects’ reliance on the relational and contextual character of the categories ‘offender’ and ‘victim’. (shrink)

Background Doctors often deal with end-of-life issues other than assisted death, such as incompetent patients and treatment withdrawal, including food and fluids. Methods A link to a questionnaire was sent by email three times, at one-week intervals, to the doctors registered in the Northern Section of the Portuguese Medical Association. Results The questionnaire was returned by 1148 (9%) physicians. This study shows that only a minority of Portuguese doctors were willing to administer drugs in lethal doses to cognitively incompetent patients (...) at the request of a family member or other close person, and even less would do it on their initiative. Most doctors favored the withdrawal of life support measures in advanced and progressive diseases at the patient’s request. Still, much fewer doctors agreed with the suspension of supportive life measures at the request of a family member, another close person, or by their own unilateral decision. However, fewer agreed with that action concerning the rest of the food and fluids. Portuguese doctors favor the administration of drugs for suffering control, even foreseeing they could shorten life. Conclusion Most doctors in this study respect patients’ autonomy but disagree with measures decided by others that have an impact on patients’ survival. They also agree with the administration of drugs for suffering control, even considering the possibility of shortening life. (shrink)

Neste artigo buscaremos compreender como a filosofia desenvolvida por C. S. Peirce (1838-1914) concebe relações entre noções como fenômeno, signo e cognição. Inicialmente, discutiremos a Fenomenologia peirceana como o campo de experiência e conhecimento pelo qual o pensamento filosófico se inicia. Então, procuraremos compreender as correlações fenomenológicas entre qualidade, relação e mediação. Posteriormente, veremos como Peirce concebe a natureza das instâncias semióticas constituintes do signo e de sua ação (a semiose) na experiência. Por fim, considerando a interdependência entre fenomenologia e (...) semiótica, abordaremos a perspectiva peirceana sobre o papel da cognição e do signo na constituição da experiência mental. (shrink)

Anthropology as Counter-Science. A Merleau-Pontyan approachThe author tries to show that the conception of the anthropology as counter-science, presented by Foucault (inspired by Lévi-Strauss), is limited to dissolve some naïve representations of subjectivity, and that the critical potential of this notion could be extended to the current theoretical conceptions (section 1). The author holds that the limited notion of contra-science can be found in the very Lévi-Strauss’ works, and this is made clear by comparison with Edmund Husserl’s works (sections 2-3). (...) After that, the author tries to develop a larger notion of counter-science, based on Merleau-Ponty’s criticisms to Lévi-Strauss (section 4). The author uses the subject of acupuncture’s efficacy as an example of this larger notion of counter-science.L’antropologia come contro-scienza. Un approccio merleau-pontyanoIntendiamo mostrare come la concezione dell’antropologia in quanto contro-scienza presentata da Foucault (ispirata dalle opere di Lévi-Strauss) si limiti a smontare alcune rappresentazioni ingenue della soggettività, e che il potenziale critico di questa nozione potrebbe invece essere esteso alle concezioni teoriche in vigore (sezione 1). Sosteniamo che questa nozione limitata di contro-scienza può essere trovata nell’opera di Lévi-Strauss stesso, cosa che emerge con chiarezza nel confronto con alcuni testi di Edmund Husserl (sezioni 2-3). Cerchiamo quindi di sviluppare una più ampia nozione di controscienza antropologica, che si basa sulle posizioni critiche di Merleau-Ponty riguardo a Lévi-Strauss (sezione 4). Il tema dell’efficacitá dell’agopuntura è utilizato come esempio di questa nozione ampliata di contro-scienza. (shrink)

ABSTRACT: This article aims to discuss Locke’s compatibilism, that is, the lokean thesis that freedom is compatible with the natural necessity. To this end, it is analized the chapter Of The Power (XXI, book II of the An Essay concerning Human Understanding), in which Locke clarifi es the concepts of freedom and will. Although Locke, at times, involves himself with the incongruent thesis on compatibilism, he is a compatibilist. The impression that Locke would defend incompatibilists’ theories ends up being abandoned (...) when we analyze carefully his general argument about will and freedom. Locke literally defends that the volunteer does not differ from the necessary. As a compatibilist, Locke maintains that will is not free. Thus, the free man can not be the one that is free to want. A man regarded as a free agent is the one that has freedom of action, not freedom of will. (shrink)

Neste artigo, acompanha-se a formulação do projeto filosófico de Merleau-Ponty em suas primeiras obras, frisando a necessária reforma da fenomenologia husserliana para que os temas existenciais pudessem ser contemplados pela investigação. Porém, uma vez centrada a feno-menologia nas vivências particulares, surge o problema da validade geral das suas teses, cuja resolução pede a extensão da necessidade até a experiência concreta.In this article, I discuss the formulation of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical project in his early writings and stress the necessary reform of the (...) husserlian phenomenology in order to embrace existential themes. However, once the phenomenology is centered in the particularly experiences, the problem of the general validity of its thesis arises, and the solution requires the expansion of the necessity to the concrete experience. (shrink)

resumo Neste artigo, pre t e ndemos mostrar como a concepção de Merleau- Po nty acerca das relações ent re sujeito perceptivo e mu ndo muda no decorrer de sua obra. Em seu livro Fenomenologia da Percepção, public a do em 1945, Merleau- Ponty atribui a tal sujeito a capacida de de assimilar ade q ua da mente o ser do mu ndo. No ent a nto, no início dos ano s cinqüenta, seu estudo da obra do psicólogo Kurt Koffka (...) explicita alguns resultados incompatíveis com a atribuição de tal capacida de ao sujeito. Por fim, em O Visível e o Invisível , Merleau-Ponty reconhece que as capacidades de assimilação perceptiva do ser do mundo possuem limitações. palavras-chave percepção; mundo percebido; mundo geográfico; fé perceptiva; ser. (shrink)

In this article are discussed some problems raised by T. S. Rukmani regarding the Yogasūtra. According to Rukmani, yoga is not a coherent logical system. After stating the general goals of the yoga system, interpretations of some passages of the Yogasūtra are formulated, and the defense is given that one must at least acknowledge the necessity of more exegetical investigation before judging the logical incoherence of the text. Finally, the problematic doctrine of living liberation in Yogasūtra is exposed.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:220 THEATRE AND RELIGIOUS HYPOTHESIS* We are placed in this world, as in a great theatre, where the true springs and causes of every event are entirely concealed from us.... David Hume La collection des idées s'appelle imagination, dans la mesure où celleci désigne, non pas une faculté, mais un ensemble des choses, au sens le plus vague du mot, qui sont ce qu'elles paraissent: collection sans album, pièce (...) sans théâtre, ou flux des perceptions.. Gilles Deleuze In Part III of Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion the character Demea contests the analogy drawn by Cleanthes between an orderly world and a coherent, articulate speech, stating that, When I read a volume, I enter into the mind and intention of the author: I become him, in a manner, for the instant; and have an immediate feeling and conception of those ideas, which revolved in his imagination, while employed in that composition. To begin reading Hume's Dialogues with such false and naive premises would inevitably result in a failure to pick up on all the different voices in this text. In fact, no written text can really enable a reader "to enter into the mind and intention of the author." Moreover, such a predisposition on behalf of a naive reader will become further complicated by the processes of 'distanciation' and avoidance of a central point of view, which are brought into play by Hume in this text, where religion is being considered from a purely speculative point of view. Hume has in fact given the reader a clue in the introduction as to how 221 to approach reading the Dialogues. when Pamphilus, the narrator, expounds to his friend Hermippus the advantages of presenting a discussion in the form of a dialogue rather than as a direct statement. He argues that by using a dialogue it is possible to avoid any overtones of an author addressing his reader, or a pedagogue his pupil (D 127). Confronted with a text that is paradoxically both lucid and unclear, any reader whose attitude is still limited by certain metaphysical categories might very well want to know who is actually Hume's spokesman and who he is really addressing in this discussion on the nature and existence of God. These questions are in fact related to traditional oppositions, such as that between a central and subsidiary point of view in a dialogue; between the essential and non-essential of a discussion. In his Dialogues, Hume creates a second degree of separation between himself and the characters involved in the discussion by using the literary process of 'distanciation', when he introduces the fictitious character Pamphilus, who tells Hermippus of the discussions he has heard. From this point of view the style of the text is immediately more disconcerting than Cicero's De Natura Deorum, (which inspired Hume's text), as Cicero does identify himself with his narrator, such that any effect of distanciation is far smaller. Cicero's narrator does, however, emphasize that the multiplicity of points of view in this text results in a certain degree of scepticism and suspension of judgement: "Though it is possible that they are all of them false, it is impossible that more than one of them is true" (p. 71). As Hume does in his Dialogues, Cicero here tries to avoid imposing a 222 central point of view or a single authoritative angle to his discussions, as if given by a teacher; in fact, "in a discussion of this kind our interest should be centred not on the weight of the authority but on the weight of the argument" (p. 73). Thus, wearing the mask of Pamphilus, Hume can play an ironic role, without having to give a central point of view, by having his character present the idea that "reasonable men may be allowed to differ, where no one can reasonably be positive" (D 128). These two texts therefore use the same process of disassociation from a central truth by using a supposedly neutral narrator. When reading the Dialogues one can rely neither on the authority of the author, as he has hidden himself away in the shadows backstage, nor on that... (shrink)

This article explores the construction of offences as ‘accidental’ in police-suspect interactions. The data comprise audio-recorded investigative interviews, which were analysed using conversation analysis. In these interviews, suspects often do not explicitly state the nature of their defence when answering police officers’ questions; instead, suspects’ defensive practices or techniques are embedded in the narrative accounts they give of what happened, thus exhibiting rather claiming their ‘innocence’. My focus here is on a particular type of defence, namely, one in which suspects (...) portray an event as having been ‘accidental’. I show that this defence of ‘accident’ is associated with several discourse features including: building a plausible and trivial context in which the untoward incident occurred, describing the untoward action or series of actions, using impersonal or agentless constructions, and representing the disproportionality between the putative victim’s reaction and the aggressor’s untoward conduct. The accountability of these descriptions, however, does not rely on one unique feature, but rather on suspects’ ability to combine these features in such a way that each establishes the grounds for others. (shrink)

Com base na crítica que Hume faz ao argumento do desígnio, especialmente nas partes 10 e 11 dos Diálogos sobre a Religião Natural, meu objetivo neste artigo é, a partir de uma análise da relação entre a existência do mal no mundo e a suposta existência de uma divindade possuidora dos atributos tradicionais do teísmo, defender a tese segundo a qual o tratamento que Hume dá ao problema do mal corresponde, digamos assim, à cartada final – o último e decisivo (...) recurso que Philo personagem que articula essa crítica) aciona para mostrar que o argumento do desígnio não fornece bases suficientemente sólidas e consistentes para dar suporte à crença na existência de um Deus maximamente poderoso, justo e benevolente; e que, portanto, a existência do mal no mundo tem uma força argumentativa tal que a improbabilidade da existência de Deus é maior do que com base nos argumentos apresentados nas partes 2 a 8 dos Diálogos. Isso significa que eu tomo aqui o problema do mal como o maior problema para o teísta experimental – cuja argumentação pretende provar a existência de Deus a partir da observação dos fenômenos do mundo. (shrink)

Trata-se, neste artigo, de analisar o princípio fundamental ─ like effects prove like causes ─ sobre o qual Cleanthes, nos Diálogos sobre a Religião Natural de Hume, apoia sua defesa do argumento do desígnio, bem como examinar a estratégia argumentativa de Philo para enfraquecer paulatinamente a força do argumento defendido por Cleanthes.

Language does not fossilize but this does not mean that the language's evolutionary timeline is lost forever. Great apes provide a window back in time on our last prelinguistic ancestor's communication and cognition. Phylogeny and cladistics implicitly conjure Pan (chimpanzees, bonobos) as a superior (often the only) model for language evolution compared with earlier diverging lineages, Gorilla and Pongo (orangutans). Here, in reviewing the literature, it is shown that Pan do not surpass other great apes along genetic, cognitive, ecologic, or (...) vocal traits that are putatively paramount for language onset and evolution. Instead, revived herein is the idea that only by abandoning single‐species models and learning about the variation among great apes, there might be a chance to retrieve lost fragments of the evolutionary timeline of language. (shrink)

This research aims to contribute to the discussion on the subject of Abortion by analyzing the concepts of formed and unformed in the Septuagint in Exodus 21:22-23, and the opinions of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas on the social status of the fetus. The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, which was translated in stages into Greek between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century BC, presents a different point of view than that found in the Hebrew text (...) of Exodus 21:22-23. It introduces the notions of formed and unformed fetus. In other words, he understood the fetus (embryo) in a perspective of developing reality. Augustine and Aquinas, two important names in Christian theology, seem to have reflected a tradition that granted protection to the unborn child according to the stages of its development. The discussion around the topic of abortion is complex, very sensitive, but it should not be avoided. Bibliographical research was used as methodology. As a result, it will be pointed out that the biblical presentation of human beings does not begin with an explanation of conception or the fetal period. It does not discuss the point at which the embryo attains the full moral status of a human person. Thus, for this research, the discussion about abortion must necessarily take into account issues such as risk to the pregnant woman's life; fetal malformation etc. But, above all, it must be centered on the personality of the pregnant woman. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to examine the objective side of subjectivity formation through music. I attempt to show how music is a way to configure subjectivity in its interiority, but in a way that it can be shared between other individual subjectivities. Music has an objective structure, but this structure is the temporal and sonorous interiority of subjectivity. It has as its objective manifestation and consequence the feelings and emotions. These feelings are subjective, and in the level of (...) subjective Geist they are related to intuition. Hegel believes that such intuition cannot be properly communicated, due to its exclusive access to the individual subject himself. Despite that, music is an art, and it takes part in the level of absolute Geist. That means that music is the connection between the objective and subjective sides of Geist, being a product of social relations, including the sharing, experience and recognition of subjective operations by the participants in society as something in common. Art is related to intuition but it is not intuition itself, nor it is reduced to the capacity of intuition. All three capacities of the subjective Geist in the theoretical Geist (namely intuition, representation and thinking) can be part of the relationship between art and the individual perspective.However, the link between art and intuition is an analogy between the subjective Geist and the absolute Geist, considering that art is a level of manifestation of social self-consciousness where the people and the social group have not yet become conscious of its content in its manifestation. The exposition of the ideal content of social relations is manifested through absolute Geist, beginning with its sensible manifestation. After this process, it is signified through a practice related to representation, and finally it is related to a conceptually and linguistically mediated practice, philosophy. These products cannot be a consequence of a mere subjective connections, but must be (as part of absolute Geist) a consequence of the objective relation between individuals in its subjective manifestations. Furthermore, subjective capacities are a condition without which the development of the absolute Geist is not possible. At the same time, it is not possible that subjective Geist’s capacities can be fully realized without social relations. Science is not a product of an individual-solipsistic relationship with the environment, but a product of a social relations, including language, shared experiences and shared ways of comprehension, such as the common way to feel and receive the environment in a subjective level discussed below. I divide this exposition into three parts: (1) music and subjectivity, where I deal with the relation between body vibration, time, sound and the formal interiority of the listener/musical subject, analyzing the form of music in its subjective side (the relation to the listener); (2) music and content, where I examine the content generated by music as being the process of formation itself (i.e. the process of given form to the interiority of subjectivity through sounds becomes its own content, namely, the feelings); and (3) music and words, where I scrutinize the relationship between music and words’ capacities to make reference and to have content, considering the connection between pure music and lyrics, and between music and poetry as singular forms of art. I conclude with the idea that music has a specific role in Hegel’s system, which is to bring to light and develop absolute Geist’s (understood as the objectivation and formation of a social and cultural subjectivity) internal aesthetic form. (shrink)

In this paper, I present some concepts of Hegel’s philosophy of art, aiming to interpret a cultural-political situation, namely, Bolsonarism in contemporary Brazil. I present the ideas in the following order: (a) the modes of comprehension, mainly through the distinction between the poetic and the prosaicmodes; (b) the conception of “Action [Handlung]” as a category of art, by means of its three levels: State of the World [Weltzustand], Situation [Situation], and Action itself [Handlung als solche]; (c) an evaluation of the (...) anachronism of the ideas of myth and hero in contemporary times, through a reflection mediated by the categories of sublation [Aufhebung] and history. (shrink)

This paper discusses so-called post-trial access to drugs for patients who participated in clinical trials in Brazil. Brazil is currently a relevant country for the pharmaceutical industry due to the dimensions of its actual and potential market. As a consequence, the number of pharmaceutical trials has been rising. It is the largest market for pharmaceutical companies in Latin America, the 8th biggest in the world and second only to China among the so-called BRICS’s emerging countries. The demand for pharmaceutical products (...) in the country has been increasing by double digits over the last few years, reaching 20% in 2008. Not surprisingly, we are also witnessing a steady increase in the number of applications by national and international pharmaceutical companies before ethical research authorities for authorization to perform clinical trials of drugs. (shrink)

I seek to show in this paper how, in addressing the concept of “I” and the question of self-knowledge in the Critique of Pure Reason, one encounters a paradox, which is essentially a consequence of the doctrine of transcendental idealism. I point to Kant's concept of “I” and its three co-constitutive perspectives. The importance of the concept of subject and its intertwining with the concept of reason is pointed out, as also how these two concepts appear in the text of (...) the Critique of Pure Reason as presuppositions. Subsequently, I deal with some basic questions of transcendental idealism. Finally, I briefly present the three perspectives of the "I": as a phenomenon, as a transcendental structure, and as a noumenon. I conclude by bringing back what Kant himself conceives as a paradox, which is the subject’s self-affection, and the relation between the subject as noumenon and as inner sense. (shrink)

The e-mail address of the second author was incorrectly published in the original article. The author’s correct e-mail address is given in this correction.

Which sounds composed the first spoken languages? Archetypal sounds are not phylogenetically or archeologically recoverable, but comparative linguistics and primatology provide an alternative approach. Labial articulations are the most common speech sound, being virtually universal across the world's languages. Of all labials, the plosive ‘p’ sound, as in ‘Pablo Picasso’, transcribed /p/, is the most predominant voiceless sound globally and one of the first sounds to emerge in human infant canonical babbling. Global omnipresence and ontogenetic precocity imply that /p/‐like sounds (...) could predate the first major linguistic diversification event(s) in humans. Indeed, great ape vocal data support this view, namely, the only cultural sound shared across all great ape genera is articulatorily homologous to a rolling or trilled /p/, the ‘raspberry’. /p/‐like labial sounds represent an ‘articulatory attractor’ among living hominids and are likely among the oldest phonological features to have ever emerged in linguistic systems. (shrink)

Why take individual action against collectively caused evils such as climate change? Prima facie, one’s individual contribution may seem to make a negligible difference at best. Consequentialists as well as consequence-sensitive nonconsequentialists should be interested in whether a consequence-based justification for taking individual climate action can be found nonetheless. The author argues that even though individual agents are able to make a non-zero difference in expectation, the altruistic expected value may be so small as to be insufficiently worthwhile, given the (...) agents’ opportunity cost. In this case, altruistic agents may face a Prisoner’s Dilemma, i.e. an altruistic public goods problem. Hence, the consequence-based account of why to leave one’s car at home could be vindicated if the PD can be solved in a consequence-based way. The author offers tentative grounds for optimism about solving the PD in a consequence-based way, and for acting accordingly. (shrink)

BackgroundIn Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a collective trauma. Post-traumatic growth has been defined as the subjective experience of positive psychological changes as a result of a traumatic event. PTG can involve changes in five psychological main dimensions: relating to others, new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life. In the context of national emergencies, those PTG dimensions encompassing changes at the social level can play a role in coping strategies that involve a renewed sense of self (...) and one’s social identities, including national identities, and in turn, foster a stronger sense of trust and connection to others.AimTo investigate how each of the five PTG dimensions mediates the association between the salience of national identity and interpersonal trust in a sample of Italian young adults. Trust in national and European institutions were expected to positively predict the strength of the Italian national identity which in turn was expected to be positively associated with interpersonal trust, and the PTG relating to others dimension to mediate this association.MethodThis study involves the secondary analysis of data from a representative sample of 2,000 Italian young adults. Participants completed a web survey during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis in Italy with measures of trust in EU and national institutions, national identity, interpersonal trust, and the PTG Inventory. Structural equation modeling procedures were employed for key hypotheses tests.ResultsTrust in national institutions positively predicted national identity, which in turn was positively associated with interpersonal trust. Evidence of a full mediation effect of the PTG relating to others dimension on the association between national identity and interpersonal trust was found.DiscussionFindings contribute to clarify the psychological responses to collective traumas. In the context of Italy’s COVID-19 crisis, trust in national institutions reinforced Italian national identity, which was in turn associated with greater interpersonal trust, but only when psychological responses to the trauma involved changes in how individuals perceived and related to others, and not merely a focus on the self. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

A draft of a possible comparison between the use made of mathematics in classical field theories and in quantum mechanics is presented. Hilbert’s space formalism, although not only elegant and powerful but intuitive as well, does not give us a spatio-temporal representation of physical events. The picture of the electromagnetic field as an entity which is real in itself– i.e., as a wave without support – fostered by the emergence of special relativity can be seen as the first step, favored (...) by many physicists and philosophers, of a gradual “escape” from intuition into a purely mathematical representation of the external world. After the introduction, in recent theoretical physics, of fiber bundle formalism the classical notion of field acquires a new spatio-temporal intuitiveness. This intuitiveness is clearly foreshadowed in the Kantian and Meinongian analysis of the notion of magnitude. At the end of the paper we show that, contrary to what happens in quantum mechanics, mathematics plays a truly explicative role in general relativity, without any loss of spatio-temporal intuitiveness. (shrink)

Great scholars in philosophy possess a keen analytical mind, excel in logical reasoning, and exhibit meticulous attention to detail. They rigorously define terms, avoiding ambiguities and errors. Originality and the willingness to challenge conventions are their hallmarks. They make significant contributions across various philosophical fields. They transparently address the exact aim of their research, and what it is not. Finally, they anticipate the impact of their theories on the current literature, and how such an impact should blossom across the future (...) generations. In this respect, great philosophers address open problems and propose big questions for the foreseeable research efforts of those who will follow. Mario Alai embodies the qualities of a great scholar in philosophy, and the various essays in this volume are an evidence to that. It is challenging to condense a lifetime of research in one book. However, the Editors of the present volume’s aim was to face this challenge, to make a collection dedicated to Mario Alai’s work not only possible but, as metaphysicians would say, actual. The book attempts to bring together the reflections of three different generations of scholars - i.e., mentors, colleagues, and students - on Alai’s thought. Viewed from this perspective, the extensive and valuable contributions that follow, crafted in honor of Mario Alai and his scholarly endeavors, come as no surprise. All the chapters focus on a theme that was very dear to the philosophical curiosity of Mario Alai. Moreover, in engaging with these different topics, the plethora of contributions gives us a sense of the work by Alai. To make sense of the different contributions as a unified enterprise, this volume is organized into three sections, which seek to gather writings that revolve around Mario’s most substantial contributions, while elucidating their contemporary significance in the global discourse. Moreover, it endeavors to offer precious insights into the origins and development of these contributions, as observed through Mario’s writings and responses. This represents a sort of closure of the theoretical circle, clearly showing how the work by Mario Alai has been appreciated through different generations, originating from his relation to his mentors, on the one hand, while also shedding new light on his students’ research interests, on the other. Editing such a wealth of material was, again, no small feat. Still, the taxonomy we have chosen for this book will assist readers in navigating the profound depths of Alai’s philosophical research. Consequently, the book is structured into the following three parts: 1. Realism in History of Philosophy, History of Science, and Metaphysics. 2. Scientific Realism. 3. Realism in Philosophy of Language, Epistemology, and Experimental Philosophy. Each contribution actively participates in a substantial conversation with Alai’s body of work, as a deep theoretical dialogue between the author and Mario. Consequently, it appeared fitting to let Alai conclude this conversation, with direct responses to these philosophy-provoking pieces in his honor. We shall refrain from further commentary on the works within this book and allow them to express their significance independently to appreciate the river of ideas flowing through Mario’s work1. Beyond their philosophical substance, they are a vivid testament to Alai’s enduring dedication and ongoing contributions, in different moments of his research life. (shrink)

The article analyzes the notion of thing in Heidegger's Being and Time. Although Heidegger will deepen its potential only from the mid-30s, even making it a pivotal concept of his later thought, that notion plays an important role already in the discourse of fundamental ontology. Far from being a limit, the phenomenological ambivalence of the thing is a crucial resource, which makes it a truly rich and articulated ‘operator’ in Being and Time.

Inspired by Marcelo Dascal's theory of controversies, this volume includes studies in the theory of controversies, studies of the history of controversy forms and their evolution, and case-studies of particular historical and current controversies. The purpose of this volume is to identify a taxonomy of controversies and also to sense a line of development for the phenomenon of controversies itself. At the same time, we want to ask ourselves about the impact and the spread of controversies in the contemporary world, (...) eminently intended as a heuristic element facilitating knowledge. For all these reasons, the fundamental aim of the volume is to provide the reader with a selection of current theoretical and practical perspectives on controversies, and to offer a broad picture of the complex range of definitions, meanings and practices connected to them. (shrink)

After a brief biography of Thomas Aquinas, the article follows up the work of Leonard Boyle to show how the Summa serves to meet the requirements of a pedagogical project in the Dominican Order and more generally in the medieval Church. Intended for the initial and continuing formation of Dominican friars and students of conventual schools, the Summa is composed in a literary genre perfectly suited to this purpose, which governs its structure. The detailed presentation of the notion of sacra (...) doctrina elaborated in q. 1 provides the occasion to show how this notion itself determines the organization of the material. Finally, the presentation of the contents of the Summa’s three parts brings out the internal organization of the work and stimulates the reading of it. (shrink)

ABSTRACT At the core of Kant’s theoretical philosophy lies the deduction of the categories: his effort to secure the distinctiveness of sensibility and understanding and to provide a necessary relation between the domains of these faculties. The argument for this claim is presented in two different versions - i.e., the A and B editions of the Critique of pure reason - and is one of the most puzzling in Kant’s corpus. The common view in the literature that considers the importance (...) of the A-deduction and tries to present its structure is that it must be understood in the light of the B-deduction argument. I aim at contesting this view and offering an internal reconstruction of the A-deduction argument which reveals its unique methodology. The thesis advanced is that the A-deduction follows an analytical methodology and that this methodology does not allow the accomplishment of the task of the deduction stated in Kant’s effort. At first, Kant’s retrospect of the A-deduction is taken into account. After that, a consideration of the part of the argument described as ‘subjective deduction’ is carried out. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper contends with the critical-systematical status of Kant’s argumentation in the manuscript known as Opus postumum. At first, the elements holding Kant’s conceptual accuracy in his writing methodology and the contrast of these elements to the argumentative structure of the Opus postumum are set forth. After that, the historical condition of the manuscript in what matters to ordering and presence/absence of proofs is taken into account. Finally, the philosophical situation of the Opus postumum regarding its (post-)critical contextualization is (...) brought into discussion. The conclusion reached is that the limitation of proofs and the historical condition of the manuscript determine its philosophical nature: it will always be susceptible to an interpretation which on its own is transcendentally necessary and, at the same time, contingentempirically conditioned. (shrink)

History of science as a formal and autonomous field of research crosses over disciplinary boundaries. For this reason, both its production and its working materials are difficult to classify and catalog according to discipline-based systems of organization of knowledge. Three main problems might be pointed out in this regard: the disciplines themselves are subject to a historical process of transformation; some objects of scientific inquiry resist constraint within rigid disciplinary grids but, rather, extend across several disciplinary boundaries; and the so-called (...) digital revolution has replaced spatial with temporal display sequences and shifted the traditional emphasis on knowledge to user-oriented approaches. The first part of this essay is devoted to a conceptual analysis of the various approaches to the organization of knowledge formulated over time, whereas the second considers the new possibilities afforded by a faceted model of knowledge organization compatible with user-oriented relational databases to the research materials and production of history of science. (shrink)

In this paper, I consider how it would be possible to think about the historicity of music through Hegel’s thought. I will compare Hegel’s idea with a historical event that is considered relevant in the history of music: Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, taken here also as a model of immanent negation and Aufhebung of tonal system in music. Furthermore, I will take Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music as an instance and wonder about the role of music and its history in the sociocultural formation (...) (or, in Hegelian words, in the absolute Geist). I divide the exposition into four parts, namely: (1) the position of art before the absolute Geist; (2) a general exposition of art in the Lectures on the Philosophy of Art, placing music as a singular form of art; (3) an analysis of the characteristics of music in Hegel and (4) the comparison with Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music. I conclude that music, as an artistic form, brings the form of an internal feeling of a social subjectivity – a way to feel and understand sounds that transforms itself through history; in turn, both music and the form of an internal feeling of social subjectivity, have a historicity that can be understood as developed dialectically. Along these lines, the beginning of the Twentieth Century in music reveals, through Schoenberg and other composers, new intuitive configurations of this social subjectivity. (shrink)

The deduction of the categories lies undoubtedly at the very heart of Kant's theoretical philosophy and, for this reason, it is one of items in the philosophical canon that is greatly discussed and least agreed upon. In the modern and contemporary Western philosophical tradition as well as in Kant’s literature, the loci classici for its consideration are the 1781 and 1787 editions of the Critique of pure reason. In this paper, I aim at presenting and discussing an argument that Kant (...) advances in the Prolegomena and which is virtually ignored in the approach of the deduction of the categories. At first, an inquiry into the distinction between analytic and synthetic methods is carried out. After that, the difference between judgments of perception and judgments of experience is taken into account. Finally, the Prolegomena’s argument for the categories is brought into discussion. (shrink)

RESUMO: Sob a ótica do conceito adorniano de autonomia estética, analisamos aqui de qual forma se dá a relação entre sociedade e arte, passando por discussões quanto à separação entre teoria e práxis, quanto à lógica interna da obra de arte, quanto ao poder de integração da indústria cultural, em relação às obras de arte, e quanto à impossibilidade de controlar os seus efeitos sociais, seja ela autônoma, seja engajada. Trata-se, ainda, de demonstrar o caráter ilusório da proposição segundo a (...) qual a arte seria eficaz instrumento politizador, quando utilizada de forma a engajar e adaptar seu conteúdo a objetivos políticos pré-determinados, o que será feito por meio da análise interpretativa das obras de Theodor W. Adorno e de seus comentadores, na área de estética. ABSTRACT: This article analyzes the manner in which Adorno's concept of aesthetic autonomy is manifested in the relationship between society and art. The following topics are discussed: the separation between theory and praxis, the internal logic of a work of art, the integrating power of the cultural industry in relation to works of art, and the impossibility of controlling its social effects, whether autonomous or engaged. The article also pretends to demonstrate the illusory nature of the proposition that art can be an effective instrument of politicization when utilized to engage and adapt its content to predetermined political objectives. The works of Adorno and of other commentators in the aesthetic field are used in the analysis. (shrink)

Since the formulation of the uncertainty principle, research in quantum physics has raised a philosophical dilemma basically centered on the opposition between “realists”, favoring the assumptions of strong objectivity, and “idealists”, leaning on the foundations of weak objectivity. The central hypothesis of this article is that this dualism, as well as the classic problem of the solipsism of consciousness, can be properly understood as a stage in the development of the self-consciousness of the spirit, in the conceptual molds of Hegel's (...) philosophy. (shrink)

In the field of quantum physics studies, Heisenberg's thought provokes very relevant reflections for an articulation between science and metaphysics, given the importance attributed to the subject in the collapse of the superposition between wave and particle. From an idealistic perspective, the importance given to the subject in the observation of quantum phenomena can be considered a stage of the development of consciousness within the scope of the phenomenology of Hegel's spirit. Quantum physics, under an idealistic perspective, represents a fundamental (...) moment in the recognition and dialectical overcoming of the dualisms produced by the subject himself in his relationship with the world. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Rethinking Knowledge: Reflections Across the DisciplinesAdriano P. PalmaRethinking Knowledge: Reflections Across the Disciplines, edited by Robert F. Goodman and Walter R. Fisher; 246 pp. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995, $59.50 cloth, $19.95 paper.The more disciplines talk about their methods, the less they do. Observe the scarcity of methodological problems for dentistry. This book collects papers, originally delivered as talks at a conference organized around a (...) loosely defined notion of epistemology in the social sciences, by economists, philosophers, ethnographers, and psychologists, either reflecting upon larger issues raised by their work or trying to explain why it is relevant in the first place.The papers belong to two gaggles of views. The first gaggle (including the economist Donald McCloskey, the philosopher Charles Taylor, George Marcus, and Michael Arbib) does something quite productive. They weigh the influence of certain rhetorical modes of thinking on their disciplines. In the second gaggle are those, including the literary critic Barbara Herrnstein Smith and Jane Flax, who offer no view of anything much, but engage in the peculiarly Anglo-Saxon sport of pseudo-philosophy. They babble about the “West” and indulge a tendency to sheer narcissism.On to the good parts. An important recent advance is the demise of the pretense of neutrality and purity of interest among social scientists. In her essay, for instance, Marcus traces how ethnographers have progressively relinquished narratives of the exotic intended to reinforce a smug superiority of white civilizations. There is a danger: no one would be too interested in reading dozens of dissertations on the subject of graduate students in anthropology departments. Nonetheless, it is a real gain to mark the limits of an excessive reliance on the rhetoric of the “white men’s burden” and all that. Similarly, McCloskey is good at pointing out that economics is not obvious at all, and that rhetorical devices, then, have helped to shape its present form. Taylor gives a quick though not trivial history of the birth in relatively recent times of a discourse of the self, distinguishing between reflexive consciousness and the discourse of the self. Arbib shows how recherché data about brain lesions can shed light on our cognitive structure.Now to the confusingly confused parts. There is the usual dogmatic nonsense backed by no evidence. I offer one example: “... the meanings or the existence of reason, science, knowledge, etc.,... have been subjected to increasingly corrosive attacks,” Flax says in his essay. “The challenge to Western political-economic hegemony by Japan and other countries, the rise of nationalist and anticolonialist movements in the Third World, women’s movements everywhere, and antiracist struggles have disrupted the order of things” (p. 151). What worries me is the lack of thinking: can an instance be shown in which, say, the antiapartheid movement in South Africa made an impact and changed or kicked out of existence the concept of knowledge?Herrnstein Smith is guilty of a more interesting form of bad reasoning. On [End Page 406] the one hand, we are told that all “value judgments” are relative, radically contingent, and blah blah. On the other, we are also told that this is not the same as relativism. The sloppiness is evident: it is a trivial point that lots of value judgments are relative to something else. That a dollar bill is worth a dollar is contingent upon the existence of federal reserve, a mint, and an immense set of background conditions, given all of which it is a dollar bill and not a simple piece of paper. If the contingency of judgments comes to nothing more, one is left to wonder why we need entire departments in top universities to discover it. The more insidious part is the claim that relativity is self-exemplified in discourse and that indeed all there is to assertions is the desire to satisfy one’s chosen audience (p. 36). If this is so, is there any interest in professors talking to other professors about the methodological problems of their disciplines?Adriano P. PalmaNational Chung Cheng University, TaiwanCopyright © 1995 The Johns Hopkins University Press... (shrink)

In a recent paper, José Ángel Gascón extends the Frankfurtian notion of bullshit to the sphere of argumentation. On Frankfurt’s view, the hallmark of bullshit is a lack of concern for the truth of an utterance on the part of the bullshitter. Similarly, Gascón argues, the hallmark of argumentative bullshit should be viewed as a lack of concern for whether the reasons that are adduced for a claim genuinely support that claim. Gascón deserves credit for drawing attention to the idea (...) of argumentative bullshit. Nevertheless, we argue, his treatment leaves room for further refinement as he fails to clarify important points and misidentifies several features of argumentative bullshit. In particular, Gascón’s account fails to accommodate non-Frankfurtian forms of argumentative bullshit. This paper aims to amend and extend his proposal and proposes a general account that can encompass both Frankfurtian and non-Frankfurtian forms of argumentative bullshit. (shrink)

Resumo: O texto reconstrói as bases teleológico-morais para a constituição da moderna ciência da história. A chave dessa reconstrução é o escrutínio da idéia kantiana de plano da natureza, idéia que é investigada nas obras de Adam Smith, Hegel e Marx. Para criticar essa idéia, argui-se o pensamento de Fukuyama e defende-se que a ligação entre democracia e economia liberal é melhor explicada pela natural inclinação humana para a simetria do que pela noção de reconhecimento. O argumento é que o (...) projeto de Fukuyama não encontra amparo na seleção da espécie, ao passo que o desejo por simetria sim. A essa abordagem subjazem as teses de que feita a crítica à teleologia moral, a história tem de ser compatível com a evolução, e de que a naturalização da história implica numa naturalização da moral.Palavras-chave: teleologia - moral naturalizada - plano da natureza - teoria da história - evolucionismo.: The text reconstructs the teleological-moral foundations for the constitution of the modern science of history. The key to that reconstruction is a scrutiny of Kant's idea of "plan of nature", which is investigated in the works of Adam Smith, Hegel and Marx. In order to criticize this idea, the paper discusses the thinking of Fukuyama and argues that the connection between democracy and liberal economy is best explained by the natural human inclination towards symmetry, rather than by the notion of recognition. It also argues that Fukuyama's project finds no support in the selection of species, whereas the desire for symmetry does. The theses that underlie this approach are that, once the critique of moral teleology has been made, history must be compatible with evolution and that the naturalization of history implies a naturalization of morals. (shrink)

This paper aims to elucidate the negative understanding of politics (depoliticization) that results from the classic work of Jürgen Habermas about communicative action. The political potential of communicative action that results from political public sphere and the institutionalization of practical and political discourse constitute the leitmotiv of Habermas’s political philosophy. However, the understanding of politics that results from the communicative action presents the problem of limited capacity of realization of a discursive social practice in institutional contexts. The social-integrative power (social (...) integration) of communicative action and the communicative power (power of influence) do not refer directly to the democratic procedures into political-institutional level. The political public sphere, as it defends the lifeworld in relation to systemic imperatives of power and money, it is not directly linked to institutional complexes and, therefore, it can only “besiege them”. This deficit of institutionalization undermines the political public sphere model (the potential political discourse in a communicative public sphere) that results from the theoretical framework of Theorie. Consequently, the “defensive” vision of politics undermines Habermas’ emancipatory project, because it does not expand the areas submitted to social and communicative rationality and does not open communicative channels for inflows in the political-administrative system. From the perspective of the theory addressed to emancipation (as is Habermas’ theory) these defensive movements, although they are important, are not sufficient, because defending it only does not expand the social areas in which the communicative understanding predominates. This is the reason for critical discourses and posterior need of reformulations. (shrink)