Firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) because they consider that some kind of competitive advantage accrues to them. We contend that resource-based perspectives (RBP) are useful to understand why firms engage in CSR activities and disclosure. From a resource-based perspective CSR is seen as providing internal or external benefits, or both. Investments in socially responsible activities may have internal benefits by helping a firm to develop new resources and capabilities which are related namely to know-how and corporate culture. In (...) effect, investing in social responsibility activities and disclosure has important consequences on the creation or depletion of fundamental intangible resources, namely those associated with employees. The external benefits of CSR are related to its effect on corporate reputation. Corporate reputation can be understood as a fundamental intangible resource which can be created or depleted as a consequence of the decisions to engage or not in social responsibility activities and disclosure. Firms with good social responsibility reputation may improve relations with external actors. They may also attract better employees or increase current employees’ motivation, morale, commitment and loyalty to the firm. This article contributes to the understanding of why CSR may be seen as having strategic value for firms and how RBP can be used in such endeavour. (shrink)

This study compares the Internet (corporate web pages) and annual reports as media of social responsibility disclosure (SRD) and analyses what influences disclosure. It examines SRD on the Internet by Portuguese listed companies in 2004 and compares the Internet and 2003 annual reports as disclosure media. The results are interpreted through the lens of a multi-theoretical framework. According to the framework adopted, companies disclose social responsibility information to present a socially responsible image so that they can legitimise their behaviours to (...) their stakeholder groups and influence the external perception of reputation. Results suggest that a theoretical framework combining legitimacy theory and a resource-based perspective provides an explanatory basis for SRD by Portuguese listed companies. (shrink)

Este ensaio problematiza as relações entre a crítica e a liberdade conforme Michel Foucault. Apresenta o resultado de uma investigação especulativa baseada no estudo e em experiências interpretativas dos textos. A necessidade de desenvolver nos estudantes a capacidade crítica, é uma constante em muitos discursos pedagógicos da atualidade. A utilização da crítica como ferramenta de liberdade nos incentiva a criar novas práticas na escola.

O “Compêndio de Epistemologia”, publicado pela Editora Fi, é uma coletânea que reúne diversos artigos e ensaios de renomados filósofos e pesquisadores, oferecendo uma visão abrangente das principais questões e debates contemporâneos no campo da epistemologia. Organizado em seções temáticas, o compêndio aborda tópicos como a natureza do conhecimento, justificação, ceticismo, e as interseções entre epistemologia e outras áreas da filosofia. Cada capítulo apresenta análises profundas e críticas dos conceitos fundamentais, proporcionando ao leitor uma compreensão sólida dos desafios e perspectivas (...) atuais na teoria do conhecimento. Destinado a estudantes, acadêmicos e interessados em filosofia, este compêndio serve como um recurso valioso para aqueles que buscam aprofundar seu entendimento sobre as complexidades da epistemologia contemporânea. (shrink)

Within the framework of a general reflection on technical change, this paper is aimed at opposing an approach that assigns a primary role to the progress of biological knowledge in the evolution of the agro-food system. Instead, the importance of the complex and heterogeneous nature of the transformation under way is highlighted. Biotechnological research risks falling into a reductionist rut when it ignores the structural and organizational changes in the agro-food industry and the contribution of other technical innovations, especially in (...) the field of computers and in product innovation. If one really wants to speak of a biotechnology revolution, one must specify that it is essentially a scientific revolution: at the production level the contribution of the biotechnologies is still potential, while the agro-food sector is going through a period of profound change. (shrink)

Este artigo realiza uma incursão sobre os cadernos que Emmanuel Levinas escreveu durante o período que esteve em cativeiro em poder dos hitleristas, os chamados cadernos do cativeiro. Nossa análise terá por base, além destes cadernos, algumas observações que a filósofa portuguesa Fernanda Bernardo teceu sobre esse material levinasiano. Nossa hipótese é de que, conforme expressão de F. Bernardo, a assinatura ético-metafísica que Levinas gestou no seu período de cativeiro pode ser melhor entendida enquanto uma assinatura ético-socialista, ou seja, sustentaremos (...) que Levinas concebeu sua filosofia, sua ética, desde uma perspectiva declarada e consequentemente socialista. Palavras-chave: Socialismo, Liberalismo, Necessidade, Consumo, Propriedade. (shrink)

Araras, 4 de abril de 2017 Querido amigo José Esteves: Você não tem idéia do quanto fiquei contente ao receber a solicitação feita por sua amiga Cecília de uma bibliografia sobre o Centro Dom Vital. Foi você quem sugeriu que ela me telefonasse e eu fiquei feliz por ser lembrada depois de tanto tempo e lembrada por um amigo que me traz tantas e tão gratas recordações. Soube por ela, pela sua amiga, que você está aposentado e que continua (...) muito ativo, trabalhando em seus múltiplos interesses c... (shrink)

CADERNOS DE FILOSOFIA EXTRAVAGANTE - ANTÓNIO TELMO Vários Autores Um dos sinais do Quinto Império é que ainda há andorinhas O provérbio diz que uma andorinha não faz a Primavera Mas eu acho que faz Enquanto houver um homem onde resida a espiritualidade há sempre um princípio do Quinto Império António Telmo Este terceiro volume dos Cadernos de Filosofia Extravagante é o primeiro que se publica após a partida de António Telmo, que os imaginou, concebeu e fundou Constitui por isso, (...) na íntegra, um preito de homenagem ao autor da História Secreta de Portugal, nele se inserindo, bem a propósito, as actas do Colóquio A Obra e o Pensamento de António Telmo, realizado em 14 e 15 de Fevereiro de 2011, no Palácio da Independência, em Lisboa, por iniciativa do Instituto de Filosofia Luso-Brasileira, documento a que acrescem alguns testemunhos de amigos que, por uma ou outra razão, não puderam participar naquela comemoração, e duas entrevistas, uma das quais se encontrava por publicar, pelo filósofo concedidas na última década Por outro lado, nestas páginas o leitor poderá ainda encontrar dois escritos do autor de O Bateleur – um poema e um conto – nunca antes dados ao papel em letra de forma E, o que talvez seja mais, uma série significativa de correspondência epistolar até agora mantida inédita, tendo o filósofo por destinatário São missivas de Álvaro Ribeiro, José Marinho, Agostinho da Silva, Dalila Pereira da Costa e António Quadros, definindo um arco temporal que vai da publicação de Arte Poética, em 1963, à de Filosofia e Kabbalah, em 1990 Quase trinta anos de uma vida filosófica singular em que, a cada passo, são bem notórias a admiração e a amizade que mestres e condiscípulos lhe dedicam Autores- António Telmo, Pedro Martins, Renato Epifânio, Américo Rodrigues, Helena Estriga, António Braz Teixeira, Joaquim Domingues, Abel de Lacerda Botelho, Roque N Brás de Oliveira, M N Vieira, Luís Paixão, António Carlos Carvalho, Cynthia Guimarães Taveira, Rui Lopo, António Quadros Ferro, Carlos Aurélio, António Cândido Franco, Rodrigo Sobral Cunha, Carlos Vargas, Manuel Ferreira Patrício, Pedro Sinde, Paulo Santos, Pedro Paquim Ribeiro, Maurícia Teles da Silva, J Pinharanda Gomes, António Quadros, Avelino de Sousa, Elísio Gala, José Paulo Ribeiro Albuquerque, Helder Cortes, Eduardo Aroso, Isabel Xavier, Jesus Carlos, Álvaro Ribeiro, José Marinho, Agostinho da Silva, Dalila Pereira da Costa. (shrink)

Esta comunicación muestra que elpensamiento del filósofo mallorquín avanza conrelación ai estado de la doctrina tradicional sobrelas nociones clásicas de naturaleza y personaporque arranca de su teoria de las Dignidades,según la cual el ser se presenta como actividadformalizada. Si "pensar", "escuchar" y "ver" sonactos, lo son por el acto de ser, y tendrá que seréste, el acto en primer lugar diferenciado.Además, la importante teoria Juliana de las obraspropias y apropiadas permite una explicación dela naturaleza humana muy consistente con larealidad. Se (...) empieza por explicar cómo surge elhombre por su acto de ser. Según Llull, e! hombreradica en e! "soy", un "acto común" que conectaalma y cuerpo. La naturaleza humana es la únicaque reúne en si todo lo criado y es gracias a ellaque las criaturas pueden alcanzar su fin. Sedemuestra que el alma existe, es criada, y es máspor su fin que por su esencia, y es, porconsiguiente, eterna. Finalmente, Llull dice queexiste en nosotros un entender interior ypripligenio, siempre en acto, por media del cualtenemos noticia de nuestro ser, del ser de lascosas y de Dios. (shrink)

Divisão do trabalho e apologia da ordem em Thomas Hobbes e Norbert Elias Resumo: O artigo expõe os juízos afirmativos granjeados por Thomas Hobbes e Norbert Elias a respeito da divisão do trabalho e de suas relações com a ordem social, a despeito das diferenças de métodos e de métricas dos autores em pauta. De Thomas Hobbes, recolhe-se a demonstração, com subjacência no raciocínio hipotético-dedutivo do filósofo inglês, de que, do indivíduo, palmilha-se à sociedade, do contrato que edifica o Estado, (...) envereda-se à divisão do trabalho como uma das maneiras de estatuir o conforto necessário à manutenção da sociedade civil. De Norbert Elias, apanha-se a relação processual entre sociogênese e psicogênese que, sem opor indivíduo e sociedade, trata da formação da divisão do trabalho e da individualidade como fenômenos inseparáveis e peculiares ao processo civilizador. Palavras-chave: Divisão do trabalho. Ordem social. Thomas Hobbes. Norbert Elias. Division of work and apology of the order in thomas hobbes and norbert elias: The article exposes the assertive judgments made by Thomas Hobbes and Norbert Elias concerning the division of labor and its relations with the social order, despite the differences of methods and metrics of the authors in question. From Thomas Hobbes, the demonstration, based on the hypothetical-deductive reasoning of the English philosopher, is gathered from the demonstration that, from the individual, ingrained in society, from the contract that builds the State, the division of labor is divided as one of the ways of establishing the comfort necessary for the maintenance of civil society. From Norbert Elias, one picks up the procedural relation between sociogenesis and psychogenesis that, without opposing individual and society, deals with the formation of the division of labor and individuality as inseparable phenomena peculiar to the civilizing process. Key-words: Division of labor. Social order. Thomas Hobbes. Norbert Elias. División del trabajo y apología del orden en thomas hobbes y norbert elias Resumen: El artículo expone los juicios afirmativos desmenuzados por Thomas Hobbes y Norbert Elias acerca de la división del trabajo y de sus relaciones con el orden social, a pesar de las diferencias de métodos y de métricas de los autores en pauta. De Thomas Hobbes, se recoge la demostración, con subyacencia en el razonamiento hipotético-deductivo del filósofo inglés, de que, del individuo, se adapta a la sociedad, del contrato que edifica el Estado, se entra en la división del trabajo como una de las formas de estatuir el confort necesario para el mantenimiento de la sociedad civil. De Norbert Elias, se recoge la relación procesal entre sociogénesis y psicogénesis que, sin oponer individuo y sociedad, trata de la formación de la división del trabajo y de la individualidad como fenómenos inseparables y peculiares al proceso civilizador. Palabras clave: División del trabajo. Orden social. Thomas Hobbes. Norbert Elias. (shrink)

Osteopathy is a person-centred healthcare discipline that emphasizes the body’s structure-function interrelationship—and its self-regulatory mechanisms—to inform a whole-person approach to health and wellbeing. This paper aims to provide a theoretical framework for developing an integrative hypothesis in osteopathy, which is based on the enactivist and active inference accounts. We propose that osteopathic care can be reconceptualised under active inference as a unifying framework. Active inference suggests that action-perception cycles operate to minimize uncertainty and optimize an individual’s internal model of the (...) lived world and, crucially, the consequences of their behaviour. We argue that active inference offers an integrative framework for osteopathy, which can evince the mechanisms underlying dyadic and triadic exchanges and osteopathic care outcomes. We propose that this theoretical framework can underpin osteopathic care across the lifespan, from preterm infants to the elderly and those with persistent pain and other physical symptoms. In situations of chronicity, as an ecological niche, the patient-practitioner dyad provides the osteopath and the patient with a set of affordances, i.e., possibilities for action provided by the environment, that through shared intentionally, can promote adaptations and restoration of productive agency. Through a dyadic therapeutic relationship, as they engage with their ecological niche’s affordances—a structured set of affordances shared by agents—osteopath and patient actively construct a shared sense-making narrative and realise a shared generative model of their relation to the niche. In general, touch plays a critical role in developing a robust therapeutic alliance, mental state alignment, and biobehavioural synchrony between patient and practitioner. However, its role is particularly crucial in the fields of neonatology and paediatrics, where it becomes central in regulating allostasis and restoring homeostasis. We argue that from an active inference standpoint, the dyadic shared ecological niche underwrites a robust therapeutic alliance, which is crucial to the effectiveness of osteopathic care. Considerations and implications of this model—to clinical practice and research, both within- and outside osteopathy—are critically discussed. (shrink)

Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar un modelo de comprensión tal que permita a la investigación pastoral reflexionar sobre cómo la traditio fidei se puede realizar con el recurso de entornos digitales. Para eso, recurre a la mediología de Régis Debray, reflexionando sobre el modo como los componentes de la cultura digital pueden estar al servicio de la transmisión cultural.

Taking into account the debate about the continuity or discontinuity in Heb 1-12 and Heb 13, with the implication of whether the hortatory material in chapter 13 is consistent with chapters 1-12 or it is a list of miscellaneous exhortations instead, this article seeks to discern connections between the concept of marriage in 13:4 with the ideas stated in 12:28–13:6. This endeavor is informed by a reading of 12:28-13:6 made in three steps. First, 12:28-29 is read as a transition for (...) the hortatory material in chapter 13. Second, 13:1-6 is traced as a conceptual structure for the understanding of marriage in 13:4. Third, the article identifies connections of the exhortation about marriage in 13:4 with ideas developed in 12:28-29 and 13:1-6. (shrink)

This article aims to review the standard objections to dualism and to argue that will either fail to convince someone committed to dualism or are flawed on independent grounds. I begin by presenting the taxonomy of metaphysical positions on concrete particulars as they relate to the dispute between materialists and dualists, and in particular substance dualism is defined. In the first section, several kinds of substance dualism are distinguished and the relevant varieties of this kind of dualism are selected. The (...) remaining sections are analyses of the standard objections to substance dualism : It is uninformative, has troubles accounting for soul individuation, causal pairing and interaction, violates laws of physics, is made implausible by the development of neuroscience and it postulates entities beyond necessity. I conclude that none of these objections is successful. (shrink)

This paper introduces the logic of evidence and truth \ as an extension of the Belnap–Dunn four-valued logic \. \ is a slightly modified version of the logic \, presented in Carnielli and Rodrigues. While \ is equipped only with a classicality operator \, \ is equipped with a non-classicality operator \ as well, dual to \. Both \ and \ are logics of formal inconsistency and undeterminedness in which the operator \ recovers classical logic for propositions in its (...) scope. Evidence is a notion weaker than truth in the sense that there may be evidence for a proposition \ even if \ is not true. As well as \, \ is able to express preservation of evidence and preservation of truth. The primary aim of this paper is to propose a probabilistic semantics for \ where statements \\) and \\) express, respectively, the amount of evidence available for \ and the degree to which the evidence for \ is expected to behave classically—or non-classically for \ \). A probabilistic scenario is paracomplete when \ + P 1\), and in both cases, \ < 1\). If \ = 1\), or \ = 0\), classical probability is recovered for \. The proposition \, a theorem of \, partitions what we call the information space, and thus allows us to obtain some new versions of known results of standard probability theory. (shrink)

Ethics has powerful teeth, but these are barely being used in the ethics of AI today – it is no wonder the ethics of AI is then blamed for having no teeth. This article argues that ‘ethics’ in the current AI ethics field is largely ineffective, trapped in an ‘ethical principles’ approach and as such particularly prone to manipulation, especially by industry actors. Using ethics as a substitute for law risks its abuse and misuse. This significantly limits what ethics can (...) achieve and is a great loss to the AI field and its impacts on individuals and society. This article discusses these risks and then highlights the teeth of ethics and the essential value they can – and should – bring to AI ethics now. (shrink)

This paper critically examines five key theoretical errors in Thomas Aquinas' philosophy, particularly in his quinque viae (five ways) from the Summa Theologiae. The analysis begins with a discussion on translation issues regarding Aquinas' terminology, emphasizing the distinction between esse (being) and existence. The identified errors include: (1) the conflation of esse and essentia in God, leading to an incoherent notion of divine nature; (2) the contradiction arising from treating essence as distinct from being, rendering essence as "nothing"; (3) the (...) presupposition of a dimension beyond God's being, undermining His ultimate condition; (4) the misidentification of God with the supreme being (maxime ens) in the quinque viae, rather than as ipsum esse subsistens; and (5) the failure of the five ways to truly demonstrate the "Being of God" rather than a mere supreme entity. The study also critiques Aquinas’ use of actus purus (pure act) and causality, suggesting that these categories improperly constrain the concept of God. Ultimately, it argues that Aquinas partially reaches an understanding of Being but remains entangled in outdated Scholastic frameworks, leading to conceptual and methodological inconsistencies. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to critically examine Rawls’ discussions of the method of a moral theory spread through his book A Theory of Justice. First, Kant’s reasons for rejecting the attempt to employ in philosophy a method inspired in mathematics, respectively, in geometry are considered. This provides a basis for rejecting the interpretation given by Maria Carolina and Zeljko Loparic, according to which Rawls would have allegedly followed Kant’s indications, and applied methodological developments of the Greek geometry to (...) the solution of philosophical problems. Second, a brief analysis of some passages in Rawls’ book is given from which it becomes clear that despite his references to several methodological guidelines his real inspiration comes from Chomsky’s linguistics. The aims and method of Chomsky’s linguistics is then discussed to show the parallelism between them and Rawls’ own statements on the aims and method of his moral theory. Finally, it is argued that the purported parallelism collapses because, among other things, the data of a philosophical moral theory are completely different in nature from the data in linguistics. (shrink)

El pensamiento estético ha sido una constante en la tradición filosófica española contemporánea, y seguramente no ha sido por casualidad. Podemos preguntarnos por qué. Como es sabido, nuestro pensamiento durante el siglo XX ha tenido como uno de sus principales focos de atención «lo vital» o, mejor dicho, la integración de razón y vida: desde el gran paso que supuso el raciovitalismo orteguiano, la preocupación por este tema ha sido una constante entre nuestros autores. Con su pensamiento Ortega se une (...) a una tradición de autores como Schopenhauer, Nietzsche o Bergson, en la que se pone de manifiesto cómo es preciso pensar en diversos modos de ejercer la razón al meramente conceptual o teorético. Esta nueva dimensión se encuentra vinculada al ámbito de lo estético. Así, lo estético deja de ser únicamente una reflexión sobre el arte y la belleza, para erigirse en un modo diverso de acceso a lo real, tal y como se puede apreciar en el mismo Ortega, en d’Ors, Zambrano... y Zubiri, quien con su inteligencia sentiente lleva a su máxima expresión —a mi modo de ver— el acceso estético a la realidad, tal y como explica en sus breves «Reflexiones filosóficas sobre lo estético». (shrink)

Ce travail s’insère dans un projet intitulé « Le discours aux frontières du social », qui vise à analyser, dans des films documentaires, l’entrecroisement des différents matériaux en jeu dans ces productions. Pour comprendre comment se formule la critique sociale, j’ai choisi d’analyser deux documentaires ayant pour thème des conflits sociaux : Tereza (« Thérèse », qui met en scène la vie des détenus dans une prison de Campinas) et Boca de Lixo (« Décharge publique », qui présente la vie (...) de personnes qui habitent et travaillent dans les dépôts d’ordures). (shrink)

Uma das formas de aplicação de penas na Roma Antiga passava pela encenação na arena de narrativas mitológicas, cujos protagonistas – como Ícaro, Dirce, Pasífae, Átis e Hércules – não tinham um final feliz. Essas personagens eram interpretadas por condenados, que desse modo reviviam em tempo real as histórias fatais que por certo proporcionavam espectáculos e experiências marcantes na sociedade romana antiga. Este estudo analisa as fontes que dão conta deste fenómeno sociocultural e propõe uma leitura histórico-sociológica para a compreensão (...) desta vivência colectiva da justiça na Antiguidade Clássica. (shrink)

The Portuguese animal rights movement has been extremely active in campaigning against bullfighting. Indeed, from 2002 to 2014, this was their main priority in terms of campaigns. In this article, I assess how these campaigns have been carried out, arguing that the animal rights movement in Portugal has been othering supporters and practitioners of bullfights in their campaigns. In other words, their campaigns have consisted of drawing a sharp contrast between bullfight supporters and practitioners and the rest of the population. (...) I argue that a consequence of this is that the speciesist practices of the majority of Portuguese have become normalised; consequently, leading to the reinforcement of some speciesist norms. (shrink)

In the care of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), some ethical difficulties stem from the challenges of accurate diagnosis and the uncertainty of prognosis. Current neuroimaging research on these disorders could eventually improve the accuracy of diagnoses and prognoses and therefore change the context of end-of-life decision making. However, the perspective of healthcare professionals on these disorders remains poorly understood and may constitute an obstacle to the integration of research. We conducted a qualitative study involving healthcare professionals from an (...) acute care university medical center. A short questionnaire captured demographic data as well as the experience of participants with DOC patients. A semi-structured interview was used to explore attitudes toward ethical issues identified in a previous literature review. Qualitative content analysis of interviews was conducted with the NVivo software. Accurate diagnosis among DOC is often regarded as a challenge, but this was generally not the case for our participants because most reported high confidence in DOC diagnoses. However, participants reported struggling with prognosis, especially because of its essential role for end-of-life decision making and communication with families. Variability of opinion between healthcare professionals was reported and identified by some as a minor issue while others stressed how families struggle with different medical opinions. End-of-life decision making encompassed a large proportion of ethical challenges in these patients, and the removal of artificial nutrition and hydration created significant discomfort in a minority of participants. The concept of futility was subject to wide-ranging understandings with both favorable and unfavorable opinions. Our data suggest that to ensure the incorporation of new evidence-based advances, attention should be directed to the real-world practices and challenges of accurate diagnosis and prognosis. Given pervasive challenges in end-of-life care, we recommend improved training of healthcare professionals in the care of patients with DOC, particularly in end-of life care, understanding the context of decision making, and determining how to optimally integrate new neuroscience research on the care of patients with DOC. (shrink)

In his thesis 'Para uma Teoria Geral dos Homomorfismos' (1944) the Portuguese mathematician José Sebastião e Silva constructed an abstract or generalized Galois theory, that is intimately linked to F. Klein’s Erlangen Program and that foreshadows some notions and results of today’s model theory; an analogous theory was independently worked out by M. Krasner in 1938. In this paper, we present a version of the theory making use of tools which were not at Silva’s disposal. At the same time, we (...) tried to keep in mind, so much as possible, the gist of his standpoint. (shrink)

A continuing challenge for researchers and practitioners alike is the lack of data on the effectiveness of corporate–community investment programmes. The focus of this article is on the minerals industry, where companies currently face the challenge of matching corporate drivers for strategic partnership with community needs for programmes that contribute to local and regional sustainability. While many global mining companies advocate a strategic approach to partnerships, there is no evidence currently available that suggests companies are monitoring these partnerships to see (...) if they do, in fact, represent ‘strategic’ investments. This article argues that applying the management concept of ‘investment performance’ to corporate–community partnerships requires questioning traditional evaluation methods that focus on the results of programmes or activities. We adopt a case study approach to introduce an evaluation framework that considers performance from both corporate and community perspectives and that conceptualises partnership performance as comprising four aspects: (1) the contribution of the partnership to the overall portfolio of a company’s community investment programmes, (2) the appropriateness of the partnership model, (3) the effectiveness of the partnering relationship and (4) the ability of the partners to achieve programme goals. The application of this evaluation framework to an established corporate–community partnership programme provided some useful insights as to how partnership performance can be improved. (shrink)

This paper presents the alethic-modal argument as a rigorous philosophicalconceptual demonstration of the necessity of the Absolute Being. It is argued that if everything were contingent, absolute nothingness would be possible; however, such a hypothesis proves to be logically and metaphysically incoherent, as it contradicts the conditions of intelligibility and truth. It is concluded, therefore, that an absolute necessity must be affirmed. The argument maintains that necessity, as an alethic modality, presupposes a foundation in Being and cannot be reduced to (...) mere logical formality. Thus, the affirmed necessity is not merely epistemic or formal, but metaphysicalwhich justifies identifying God as the Absolute and Necessary Being in the final decisive step. (shrink)

Este artigo examina criticamente cinco erros teóricos fundamentais na filosofia de Tomás de Aquino, especialmente em suas quinque viae (cinco vias) da Summa Theologiae. A análise começa com uma discussão sobre problemas de tradução nos termos tomasianos, destacando a distinção entre esse (ser) e existência. Os erros identificados incluem: (1) a confusão entre esse e essentia em Deus, resultando em uma noção incoerente da natureza divina; (2) a contradição ao tratar a essência como distinta do ser, o que implicaria que (...) a essência é "nada"; (3) a suposição de uma dimensão além do ser de Deus, o que comprometeria Sua posição de condição última; (4) a identificação equivocada de Deus com o maxime ens (ente supremo) nas quinque viae, em vez de com o ipsum esse subsistens (o próprio ser subsistente); e (5) a falha das cinco vias em demonstrar verdadeiramente o "Ser de Deus", limitando-se a postular um ente supremo. O estudo também critica o uso que Tomás faz dos conceitos de actus purus (ato puro) e causalidade, argumentando que essas categorias restringem indevidamente o conceito de Deus. Conclui-se que Tomás, apesar de parcialmente alcançar uma compreensão do Ser, permanece preso a esquemas escolásticos ultrapassados, levando a inconsistências conceituais e metodológicas. (shrink)

Este texto propõe uma distinção fundamental entre o estruturalismo francês clássico e o estruturalismo metafísico, apresentando este último como uma reformulação metafísica e radical da ideia de estrutura. Enquanto o estruturalismo francês permaneceu no plano epistêmico, analítico e imanente aos sistemas simbólicos e linguísticos, o estruturalismo metafísico reivindica a estrutura como princípio estável, anterior e condicionante de toda possibilidade de relação, linguagem e existência. Sustenta-se que a estrutura não é apenas um arranjo de elementos diferenciais, mas a própria realidade do (...) Ser, que se manifesta como ordenamento relacional autoimanente, processual e não-redutível a qualquer instância empírica. Ao substituir a noção substancialista de Ser por uma concepção estrutural auto-organizante e autossuficiente, o estruturalismo metafísico se consolida como uma einailogia/ontologia de fundamento relacional, coerente e universal, capaz de integrar e superar as limitações internas do estruturalismo tradicional. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta o argumento alético-modal como uma demonstração filosófico-conceitual rigorosa da necessidade do Ser Absoluto. Argumenta-se que, se tudo fosse contingente, o nada absoluto seria possível; no entanto, tal hipótese revela-se logicamente e metafisicamente incoerente, pois contradiz as condições de inteligibilidade e de verdade. Conclui-se, portanto, que uma necessidade absoluta deve ser afirmada. O argumento defende que a necessidade, enquanto modalidade alética, pressupõe um fundamento no Ser e não pode ser reduzida à pura formalidade lógica. Assim, a necessidade afirmada (...) não é meramente epistêmica ou formal, mas metafísica - o que justifica a identificação de Deus como o Ser Absoluto e Necessário no passo final decisivo. (shrink)

The rapid development of AI in recent years has brought the problem of AI's moral status to the fore. In this article, we combine Afro-communitarian ethics with a cognitive perspective and argue that some AI can hold a moral status to the extent that it can be both a subject and an object of communion. Further, different kinds of AI have different degrees of moral status, depending on their communal capacities. To demonstrate this, we show that AI can engage in (...) moral behavior and be morally disposed to act in certain ways. We defend that this theory deserves consideration along with other theories of moral status. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant challenges to healthcare systems worldwide, and in Africa, given the lack of resources, they are likely to be even more acute. The usefulness of Traditional African Healers in helping to mitigate the effects of pandemic has been neglected. We argue from an ethical perspective that these healers can and should have an important role in informing and guiding local communities in Africa on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Particularly, we argue not only (...) that much of the philosophy underlying Traditional African Medicine is adequate and compatible with preventive measures for COVID-19, but also that Traditional African Healers have some unique cultural capital for influencing and enforcing such preventive measures. The paper therefore suggests that not only given the cultural context of Africa where Traditional African Healers have a special role, but also because of the normative strength of the Afro-communitarian philosophy that informs it, there are good ethical reasons to endorse policies that involve Traditional Healers in the fight against COVID-19. We also maintain that concerns about Traditional African Healers objectionably violating patient confidentiality or being paternalistic are much weaker in the face of COVID-19. (shrink)