El presente libro es un estudio de la teoría kantiana del conocimiento centrado muy especialmente en el papel de la reflexión en la producción de conocimiento. A lo largo de este trabajo se ha pretendido poner en el centro de la teoría kantiana de la experiencia al concepto de reflexión, que ha sido a menudo dejado al margen de los procesos estrictamente cognitivos. De este modo, se ofrece una lectura comprensiva de Kant de acuerdo con la cual se pueden ver (...) los procesos de mediación categorial dentro del marco reflexivo que los hace fértiles. Por ello mismo, y desde estos presupuestos, se estudia en este trabajo con especial énfasis el concepto kantiano de hipótesis y trata de mostrar como en dicho proceso las estructuras categoriales, junto con elementos de jurisprudencia empírica, hacen posible el genuino conocimiento. Este estudio pretende, en definitiva, defender una lectura abarcadora de los textos que constituyen la teoría del conocimiento de Kant, en la que los modos de producir conocimiento se constituyen como modos de producir unidades de conciencia. *** Das vorliegende Buch ist eine Untersuchung der kantischen Erkenntnistheorie, die sich insbesondere auf die Rolle der Reflexion im Prozess des Erkennens konzentriert. Im Verlauf des Texts stellt der Autor die 'Reflexion', die beim Thema der streng kognitiven Prozesse oft unbeachtet bleibt, in den Mittelpunkt der kantischen Erfahrungstheorie. Auf diese Weise wird eine umfassende Lesart Kants angestrebt, bei der die Prozesse der kategorialen Vermittlung in dem reflexiven Rahmen gesehen werden können, der sie fruchtbar macht. Aus diesem Grund, und ausgehend von diesen Prämissen, widmet sich diese Arbeit mit besonderem Nachdruck dem kantischen Begriff der Hypothesen und versucht zu zeigen, wie in diesem Prozess die kategorialen Strukturen, zusammen mit Elementen der empirischen Jurisprudenz, echtes Erkennen ermöglichen. Auf den Punkt gebracht vertritt diese Studie eine allumfassende Lesart der Texte Kants, in der die Wege der Erkenntnisproduktion als Handlungen der Produktion von Bewusstseinseinheiten verstanden werden. (shrink)

This book argues that ethical business behavior can be enhanced by taking fuller account of human nature, particularly with respect to the need for creating relatively small communities within the corporation. Timothy Fort discusses this premise in relation to the three predominant theories of business ethics--stakeholder, virtue, and contract. Drawing heavily from philosophy, he analyzes traditional business ethics and legal theory. Overall, his work provides a good example of how to integrate normative and empirical studies in business ethics, a (...) task that often receives substantial discussion in academic journals. (shrink)

Objectives: This study attempts to analyse the ethical dilemmas arising from the microallocation of scarce health care resources, in terms of deontology and utilitarianism.Methods: A group of 395 people were interviewed in the region of Diadema, greater San Paulo, Brazil, while visiting patients in the only state hospital in town. Each interviewee was given a list of eight simulated emergencies . In each of the eight cases the interviewee had to choose which of the two patients described, both of whom (...) suffered from exactly the same problem, should receive the only hospital bed currently available. The differences between the hypothetical patients were as follows: age, gender, family dependency, and lifestyle. Each interviewee was asked to justify one of their responses. These responses were then analysed.Results: The results pointed to the co-existence of deontological and utilitarian orientations among the people interviewed. A tendency to give priority to the destitute was revealed throughout the research, contradicting the idea that society, valuing only productive people, wishes only such people to receive the most resources, thus maximising the benefits to be gained from resources. The results showed that people’s disapproval of the alcoholic was stronger than that of the nicotine abuser. (shrink)

Este trabalho investiga os aspectos fundamentais do pensamento de Leibniz acerca da música. A partir de uma análise da tese leibniziana de que a recepção estética do fenômeno musical consiste em um exercício oculto ou inconsciente da aritmética, identificam-se dois pressupostos à luz dos quais é possível traçar as linhas gerais da concepção do autor sobre o tema. De posse dessa caracterização geral, busca-se determinar de modo mais preciso a posição de Leibniz sobre a música no que diz respeito à (...) questão do temperamento. Sustenta-se, a partir de evidências textuais e a despeito de uma interpretação tradicional, que não pode ser atribuída ao autor uma posição puramente racionalista, vinculada ao pitagorismo, e que algumas de suas teses sobre o tema o aproximam de um empirismo musical. (shrink)

Um dos vários esforços de Rousseau em relação à música foi a criação de um novo sistema de escrita musical. Seus objetivos foram sobretudo simplificar a representação das obras musicais em relação à notação musical tradicional sem perder o poder expressivo, tornando assim a música mais fácil de ser escrita, lida, ensinada e aprendida. Neste trabalho, apresentamos uma análise desse sistema, e buscamos avaliar seu sucesso em relação a tais objetivos. Para tanto, partimos de uma descrição da notação tradicional para, (...) em seguida apresentar o sistema de Rousseau e, por fim, avaliar o êxito desse sistema em relação a seus objetivos. (shrink)

The notion of linguistic correction with which Augustine of Hippo introduced his Ars pro fratrum mediocritate breuiata seems central to the philosopher's grammatical discussion, not only because of the various examples that Augustine offers about the definitions of barbarism and soloecism at the end of this treatise, but also because the subject of correction and, consequently, of the deviations of language, are also presented in other non-grammatical works: The confessions, De ordine and De doctrina Christiana. In this article, we propose (...) to evaluate the conceptual outlines of the notions of barbarism and solecism in the work of Augustine, considering, on the one hand, the definitions present in the Ars breuiata, and, on the other, the way in which Augustine also presents them in his philosophical work. We propose that the normative orientation contained in the text of ars must be relativised by ethical questions that arise from the comments present in the Confessions, the De ordine and the De doctrina Christiana. (shrink)

This paper argues that business can be helpfully conceived of as a mediating institution. Drawing upon neo-conservative theology, the author argues that mediating institutions serve a vital function in a free society to provide social justice out of an expanded civil society and provide a framework for a flourishing free market. Such institutions also nourish the attitudinal orientation of solidarity in applying the principle of subsidiarity by which self-interest becomes fulfilled through concern for others.The author further argues that businesses also (...) be conceived of as mediating institutions and thereby be held to criteria of meeting associationalneeds. In addition to normative reasons for revising the social contract so that businesses do serve the role of mediating institutions, contemporary management theories demonstrate that businesses can also meet their social obligations of creating wealth while meeting associational needs. (shrink)

This research investigates the degree to which there are differences in the moral reasoning ability of business top, middle, and first-line managers in selected industries. This study considered the influence of three independent variables: reported organizational ethical climate, locus of control, and selected demographic and institutional variables on managers reasoning ability. This researcher relies on Kohlberg's theory of moral development, Victor and Cullen's ethical work climate theory, and Rotter's theory of internal-external locus of control. A short form of Rest's DIT (...) instrument measured the moral reasoning abilities of the participants. Selected demographic and institutional variables were also measured. A survey questionnaire was sent to 400 managerial and executive level employees at a random sample of Fortune 500 firms throughout the United States: Dun & Bradstreet provided the researcher with a proportional stratified random sample of these 400 managerial and executive level employees at a variety of organizations. Interestingly, women exhibited insignificant higher mean I-E scores and higher mean "P" score than men. Statistically significant relationship between age and perceived organizational ethical climate types and between management levels and organizational ethical climate were also found. (shrink)

The theme of the pleasure of knowledge is central in Averroes’ aesthetical reflection of Aristotle’s Poetics, regardless whether we side with the logical or with the moral interpretation. The first one stresses the continuity between Averroes and previous commentators in his attempt to reconstruct the Poetics as an integral part of the Logic itself, whereby poetic discourse is conceived as a form of reasoning based on syllogisms. According to the latter perspective, however, pleasure is central in that poetry is a (...) tool towards the pursuit of happiness: in this perspective it is necessary to bear in mind some common themes present in other works by Averroes. The pleasure of contemplative knowledge must go hand in hand with the pursuit of communal happiness and therefore with the good and proper order of c... (shrink)

In this response to Paul Lawrence’s Ruffin Lecture, I assess the benefits of integrating biology into business ethics including the way in which biology counteracts conventional economic descriptions of human nature. Section II looks at the dangers of the project and offers the notion of Multilevel Selection Theory as a way to address the notion of how one balances various biological drives. Section III concludes by suggesting that in order to optimally integrate biology, one should attend to contractual notions (the (...) deal) as well as a Sisyphean quest to engage in the task of integration. In doing so, we should also remember to draw upon the dolphin in each of us, that part that takes pleasure in doing moral acts. (shrink)

Rotter’s theory of internal-external locus of control evolved from Carl Jung’s work. In Psychological Types (1923), Jung defined two opposing tendencies in personality introversion and extroversion. While both tendencies are present in all individuals, one tends to dominate the other. The internal–external control construct was conceived as a generalized expectancy to perceive reinforcement either as contingent upon one’s own behaviors (internal control) or as the result of forces beyond one’s control, such as chance, fate, or powerful others (external control) (Lefcourt, (...) 1981, p. 15). Locus of control refers to those causes to which individuals attribute their successes and failures. Individuals are responsive to some external motivators (e.g. better jobs, promotions, higher salaries), but the more powerful are internal pressures (the desire for increased job satisfaction, self-esteem, and quality of life). Research indicates that an individual’s internal–external locus of control impacts their ethical behavior in an organization. Rotter’s I–E Scale (1966, Psychological Monographics 80(1), 1–28), a 29 item forced choice instrument, is the most widely used instrument to measure the degree of internality versus externality. Each respondent’s score for this scale had a potential range from 0 to 23. As there are six filler items used to mask the intent of the questionnaire a score of 23 being extremely external in nature and a score of zero being extremely internal in nature. The I Scale (Internal Scale) measures the extent to which people believe that they have control over their own lives; the E Scale (External Scale) measures the extent to which people believe that they do not have control over their own lives. This study utilized the I–E Scale. Jones (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation) and Deflumeri (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation) investigated the likelihood of an individual to engage in unethical behavior in an organization. This research suggests that when employees perceive that locus of control resides internally they themselves decide what is appropriate behavior, but with an external locus of control, employees will look at others to decide appropriate behavior. The researcher in this study investigated the relationship between managers’ locus of control and their moral reasoning. (shrink)

Cybernetic governmentality weakens the capacity of resistant subjectivities to struggle against neoliberal rationality because digitalized subjectivation processes are constantly pushed towards the logics of the market and into codifications of competitive evaluation. Despite the potential for new forms of collectivity contained in the concept of virtuality, technological evolution has disseminated a systemic form of digitality that operates not through collective procedures but through subjective-individualistic ones. Hence arises a danger that was indicated by Deleuze decades ago: that of confusing the virtual (...) with the possible. By constructing a genealogy that is built around Pierre Levy’s optimistic representation of cyberspace, Bernard Stiegler’s work on the contemporary disenchantment of the computerized world, Baudrillard’s metaphysics of code and Antoinette Rouvroy’s analysis of algorithmic governmentality, we will demonstrate that digitality is between us and that this amounts to an irreversible fact entailing a critical confrontation with its current manifestation. (shrink)

The main concern of this article is Weber's antagonism with respect to materialism and the distance or affinity between Marx's and Weber's standpoints. It focuses on two interconnected issues: the social and political role of religion and the emergence of modern capitalism. These two points are justified because of their strategic importance and because, with them, Weber's distance with respect to materialism apparently reaches its zenith. Through them, this text attempts to expose the main features of the controversy between Marxism (...) and Weberianism, evaluating the alternatives on the matter offered by different perspectives. Key Words: capitalism • Karl Marx • materialism • Protestant ethic • rationalism • religion • Max Weber. (shrink)

O artigo visa estabelecer uma interpretação das ideias apresentadas por Descartes em seu Compendium Musicae como expressivas da transição entre os períodos renascentista e barroco na música. Parte-se de uma análise comparativa da música desses dois períodos, assim como de algumas ideias filosóficas e científicas que circundaram a transição entre eles, e busca-se identificar ideias vinculadas a ambos no Compendium. De acordo com os resultados dessa análise, argumenta-se que, se do ponto de vista da teoria e da prática musical, a (...) obra se encontra ainda vinculada ao estilo renascentista, no que diz respeito ao fundo filosófico e científico, ela apresenta ideias comumente associadas ao Barroco. (shrink)

En este artículo me propongo analizar dos aspectos, a menudo obviados, de la teoría kantiana del conocimiento. Se trata de la teoría del dar por verdadero y de su conexión con las hipótesis. En una primera aproximación intentaré precisar qué distingue a la opinión de otros modos de dar por verdadero como lo son el saber y la creencia. En segundo lugar, habiendo dado debida cuenta de qué son las opiniones, intentaré explicar por qué Kant considera que las hipótesis son (...) opiniones. En tercer y último lugar, pondré de manifiesto qué entiende Kant por hipótesis y de qué tipo de inferencia tiene en mente cuando habla de éstas. (shrink)

En este trabajo se desarrolla un examen de lo que Polo llama “devolución del abstracto a la realidad” y lo que Kant denomina “esquematismo”. El objetivo de este análisis es mostrar la razón de ser de las inconmensurables divergencias entre los planteamientos epistemológicos del filósofo madrileño y del filósofo alemán. A raíz de esta diferencia fundamental entre ambos autores aludiré a las diferencias presentes en el modo en que ambos abordan la cuestión de la relación entre lenguaje y realidad.

With an overall estimated 5-year survival rate of 67 percent, bone marrow transplant is a potential cure for patients with primary immune regulatory diseases. Given that Sa...