The authors undertake a thought experiment the purpose of which is to explore possibilities for understanding moral principles in analogy with cosmic order. The experiment is based on three proposals, which are described in detail: an ontological, a neurological, and a moral proposal. The ontological proposal accepts from the phenomena of quantum physics that there is a nonempirical domain of physical reality that consists not of material things but of what is philosophically conceptualized as a realm of nonmaterial forms. This (...) realm of forms is the realm of potentiality in physical reality that quantum physics posits as an indivisible Wholeness—the One. It is the ultimate reality because everything empirical is the actualization of its forms. The neurological proposal is the hypothesis that the brain is sensitive to the potentiality waves in the cosmic field, as ordinary measuring instruments in physics are sensitive to potentiality waves at the quantum level, so that the cosmic field can communicate with the human brain. The third proposal assumes that the communication with the cosmic field can translate into moral ideas and actions. Even though the three proposals underlying the thought experiment are highly speculative, they lead to definite implications that make sense in their own right and can be applied in a useful way. From the order of reality some simple rules of conduct follow that are identical with traditional moral rules but have the character of rules of well-ness, leading to new aspects of Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia and Kant's concept of the highest good. In analogy with the structure of physical reality, where all empirical phenomena are actualizations of nonempirical forms, it is suggested that the structure of morality, too, is that of a tacit, nonempirical form that actualizes in explicit principles and moral acts through our consciousness. The tacit form is thought to exist in the realm of cosmic potentiality, together with all the other forms that the empirical world actualizes. It can appear spontaneously in our consciousness when needed, offering its guidance to our judgment and free will. Because it does not appear in the form of commandments accompanied by threats, the actions of the tacit moral form define a higher level of morality, similar to that offered by some aspects of the Christian teaching, where one acts not out of fear but on the desire to do things right. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é retomar a leitura de Marcelo Marques do conceito de imagem do Sofista de Platão, tendo como recorte o capítulo sobre a “Aporía” do livro Platão, pensador da diferença. Além de retomar essa leitura, pretende-se reconstruir as pontes sugeridas pelas epígrafes que o comentador retirou de Faulkner e de Guimarães Rosa para ilustrar o estatuto paradoxal das imagens, que são definidas no diálogo platônico como um tipo de ser que é, mas que não é aquilo que (...) é. Com isso, pretende-se avaliar algumas imagens literárias utilizadas para falar de imagens na teoria filosófica de Platão. (shrink)

The main goals of this study were, to test the motivational determinants of athletes perceived effort in football considering the four-stage motivational sequence at the contextual level proposed by Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: task-involving, basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation and perceived effort. The multi-group analysis across different age-groups (U15, U17, U19, U21 years) and mediation role of basic psychological needs and self-determined motivation on the task-involving climate and the perceived effort were also analysed. Two independent samples of (...) male football athletes (N= 403, N= 403), aged 13-20 were enrolled in this study. The results demonstrated that structural model provided a good fit to data for all samples under analysis, and was invariant across U17, U19, and U21. However, it was not invariant across U15 and U17, U19 and U21. Additionally, in the results from the mediation analysis, there were significant indirect effects in all samples, supporting theoretical by self-determination theory assumptions, reinforcing the importance of basic psychological needs satisfaction and behavioral regulation in the relation in analysis. The results allow concluding that when coaches promote a task-involving climate, the basic psychological needs satisfaction of athletes improves. This climate will facilitate the regulation of their behaviors towards more autonomous forms of motivation, with positive results in the perceived effort of the athletes. (shrink)

We start by problematizing the way in which philosophical practice is generally conceived in our academic environment. In this article, we address an understanding of Philosophy as a process of serious and sincere investigation of existential questions and creation of theory. With this, we intend to question some of the most common diagnoses and solutions for the underdevelopment of philosophical practice in Brazil, as well as provide our contribution to the propagation of a philosophical practice that risks the leap from (...) commentary to creation. (shrink)

This paper offers a novel interpretation of the 1890 British Ultimatum, by bringing to the front of the stage its techno-diplomatic dimension, often invisible in the canonical diplomatic and military narratives. Furthermore, we use an unconventional historical source to grasp the British–Portuguese imperial conflict over the African hinterland via the building of railways: the cartoons of the politically committed and polyvalent Portuguese artist and journalist Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846–1905), published in his journal Ponto nos iis, from the end of 1889 (...) and throughout 1890. We argue that the Ponto nos iis cartoons played a so far overlooked role in the unfolding of British–Portuguese affairs, as they shaped at a distance a diplomatic exchange with the British satirical journal Punch. Attacking and counterattacking his fellow cartoonists in Britain, Pinheiro surged into the role of informal diplomat. This cartoon visual and public diplomacy unfolded in the pages of both journals and was tied to the two countries’ colonial conquests in Africa, where the Portuguese and British empires were competing to dominate the African hinterland through large technological systems. Hence the cartoons made visible to wider audiences the otherwise hidden role that technologies played in the two countries’ affairs. In turn, the cartoons aimed at persuading the Portuguese public and ruling classes alike that only regime change, from monarchic to republican, would restore the wounded Portuguese national pride. (shrink)

La Société qui vient [The Society to Come], a book edited by Princeton professor and current holder of the Chair of Public Health at the Collège de France, Didier Fassin, cannot be accused of sinning by modesty. This is a collective work of more than 1300 pages, grouped in seven parts and comprising no fewer than 64 chapters. Each chapter is devoted to a fundamental question of our present time and is written by an author who is an expert in (...) her or his domain or field of research. Each of the first six parts deals with a set of broad themes of general interest: ‘challenges ( enjeux), policies, worlds, inequalities, recognition and exploitation’. A seventh, final, and non-thematic part is free of a prior theme and is composed of non-French authors. (shrink)

Em um artigo intitulado “Whether certainty is a form of life”, Elizabeth Wolgast ataca por duas vias diversas a concepção witgensteiniana de proposição gramatical desenvolvida no Da Certeza. Ela acusa Wittgenstein de contradizer certas teses centrais das Investigações Filosóficas, ao estabelecer como significativas proposições sem uso em nossos jogos de linguagem correntes, e denuncia a precariedade da tese, supostamente presente no Da Certeza, de que proposições gramaticais descrevem nosso sistema de crenças. Procuro refutar ambas as objeções por meio de uma (...) apresentação de evidências de que proposições gramaticais podem ter uso efetivo em jogos de linguagem correntes, e da demonstração de que uma mesma proposição pode, a um só tempo, descrever o uso das palavras em uma língua e servir como exemplo (modelo) de uso. Busco apoio no artigo de Debrah Aidun, “Wittgenstein on gramatical propositions”, para efetuar essa investigação sobre o estatuto das proposições gramaticais e faço complementações a seus argumentos de modo a aproximar o último Wittgenstein das pesquisas sobre os atos de fala conforme desenvolvidas por Austin e Searle. (shrink)

Se a contemporaneidade filosófica nasceu com a crítica de Kant à Metafísica, o presente volume apresenta um percurso privilegiado pela formação da filosofia contemporânea. Especialistas do Brasil, Portugal e Espanha expõem perspectivas originais sobre temas centrais desse percurso, oferecendo um olhar diferenciado sobre várias estações constitutivas do pensamento contemporâneo. A ideia seminal do transcendentalismo kantiano dá unidade a uma panorâmica através de diversos temas e autores, abordados de pontos de vista inovadores. São objecto de estudo nos diferentes capítulos da obra (...) a definição da Lógica Transcendental de Kant, o seu desenvolvimento e dialectização na filosofia clássica alemã, com Schiller, Hegel, Fichte e Schelling, a recuperação crítica do transcendentalismo em Simmel, bem como a sua influência e superação progressiva no desenvolvimento do pensamento fenomenológico, hermenêutico e existencial, abordado em estudos sobre Fink, Heidegger, Marcel, Merleau-Ponty e Ricouer. (shrink)

This article argues that the discovery of unconscious elements grounding consciousness and its formation processes has favored since Kant a critical vision of the sense of history and a new comprehension of the role of mythology for human consciousnes. The study of this critical movement of reason begins 1) with some discoveries in German Classical Philosophy about the pressupositions of consciousness, which led the subsequent thought 2) to understand history as a “fall”. Schelling’s analysis of the landmarks of the past (...) – ruins, megaliths, archaic texts – shows thus historical consciousness grounded on an immemorial past from which it frees itself by a revelation. 3) The discussion of mythology as an essential phemomenon for historical consciousness leads, according to Schelling, to a litteral or “tautegorical” interpretation of myths, and 4) to an essentially mythological conception of language and meaning in general. 5) Schelling conceptions are then compared with some philosophical thought about history in the 20th century, viz. Husserl’s thesis about the relation between history and consciousness and 6) Adorno and Horkheimer’s thought about the relation between myth and Aufklärung. As a conclusion, 7) Schelling’s idea of a philosophy of identity is compared with Adorno’s conception of the non-identical, specially regarding the comprehension of historical time and its birth, and the European consciousness of colonization and violence. (shrink)

Neste breve texto é apresentado o Dossier temático dedicado à recente publicação, por Klaus Vieweg, de uma nova biografia de Hegel. Trata‑se de um importate acontecimento editorial e para o assinalar, este Dossier reúne uma entrevista com o autor e uma tradução de algumas páginas onde Klaus Vieweg nos oferece um contexto introdutório da vida de Hegel.

No presente trabalho, procuro mostrar que um esclarecimento prévio acerca do papel da metáfora nas barganhas de significado é elemento imprescindível para a constituição de uma Filosofia da Retórica. Para tanto, recorro ao tratamento precursor conferido por I.A. Richards ao tema da metáfora na obra intitulada The Philosophy of Rhetoric e proponho complementações ao mesmo a partir de uma concepção de aprendizado da linguagem de orientação wittgensteiniana.

In the third book of Republic, Plato analyzed the epic, the tragedy and the dithyramb styles of narration, explaining a little how is the lógos of what the poets say. Aristotle dealt with it when he talked about the poetic lexis, at times in the Poetic, stating that the dialogue is the meter discovered by the tragedy, and at other times in the Rhetoric, stating that the dialogue is the most dramatic way to write. Before this general aspect of exchanges (...) among the characters, the notion of imitation of the Socratic talks in Plato deserves new reflections, mainly aiming to understand what is being disputed in the quarrel between philosophy and poetry in the tenth book of Republic and, also, how much Plato radically goes apart from a simple drama. (shrink)

Pierre Bourdieu, inspirado pelos estudos de Panofsky, delineou o conceito de habitus para tratar da relação entre indivíduo e sociedade. Para ele, habitus tem um papel mediador: é criado a partir da internalização das estruturas sociais em que um sujeito se encontra e prepara a ação futura desse indivíduo na sociedade. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar habitus como um signo, sob a ótica da filosofia de Charles Sanders Peirce, e a relação entre indivíduo e sociedade como um processo semiótico (...) e pragmático de fixação de crenças. Para isso, será apresentada a base escolástica comum aos conceitos de habitus em Bourdieu e de hábito em Peirce, para então serem apresentados os conceitos peircianos. Assim, se tornará mais evidente como o habitus participa de um processo de evolução contínuo que pode manter os modelos de uma sociedade ou transformá-los por meio das ações inventivas dos agentes. (shrink)

Plus que jamais, sans doute, nous avons besoin de strategies critiques pour l'emancipation. Or, lisant la philosophie des deux derniers siecles, on decouvre les attitudes les plus contrastees dans ce domaine. Kant, qui definit les Lumieres comme - la sortie de l'homme de la minorite dont il est lui-meme responsable -, incite son lecteur a devenir adulte. Par contre, Deleuze (seul ou avec Guattari) met en avant un devenir-mineur et insiste sur un devenir-enfant qui soit un devenir-force. En meme temps, (...) cette opposition immediate de Kant et Deleuze esquive tout ce qui a mene de l'un a l'autre. Lorsqu'on reprend le fil qui les lie, des figures inattendues surgissent: Sartre, Bataille et Foucault deviennent alors les personnages d'une histoire tissee autour de Baudelaire, par rapport auquel les trois philosophes-ecrivains prennent des positions radicalement divergentes. Si on veut donc comprendre ce qui semble etre le renversement du devenir-majeur kantien par le devenir-mineur deleuzien, c'est ce parcours qu'il devient necessaire de reconstituer. a la fin, on aura reconstruit quelques strategies emancipatrices, utiles pour nous aujourd'hui.". (shrink)

Given the need to explore the factors that can account for a better understanding of the intention-behavior gap in exercise practice in health club settings, and considering the emergence of hedonic assumptions related to exercise adherence, this cross-sectional study aimed to test the moderation effect of the intensity traits agreement/disagreement in three relevant outcomes of exercise enjoyment: exercise habit, intention to continue exercising, and exercise frequency. A sample consisted of 273 exercisers (male = 127; Mage = 36.21; SD = 11.29) (...) enrolled in nine health clubs who voluntarily fulfilled a battery of questionnaires. All analyses were performed using SPSS v. 23.0/PROCESS v. 3.5. The results of the study presented a moderation effect of exercise intensity traits agreement on three relevant enjoyment outcomes: exercise habit, intention to continue exercising, and exercise frequency. No relevant results emerged from intensity traits disagreement. The results suggest that assessing and tailoring exercise prescription and supervision in order to customize exercise intensity may influence future exercise participation. (shrink)

Este artigo estuda alguns aspectos de uma das maiores transformações na história do pensamento estético, nomeadamente, a teorização estética do feio. A seguir a referências a concepções estéticas do feio em E. Lessing e F. Schlegel, é estudada a concepção dialética do feio segundo o Sistema da Estética (1830) de Ch. H. Weisse, da escola hegeliana. O feio é entendido então como a aparição não sublimada da contradição inerente ao finito. Esta concepção abre caminho à Estética do Feio, de K. (...) Rosenkranz, a única e certamente primeira estética do feio, completa, independente e sistemática. Através do estudo das suas teses principais e de alguns exemplos citados pelo autor, mostra-se como a estética do feio de Rosenkranz, apesar da sua pertença ainda em parte a cânones clássicos, abre o caminho para a autonomização do feio e à substituição de uma estética da beleza por outros valores, participando de um movimento de transformação da razão mais geral iniciado no final do séc. XVIII. (shrink)

Apresentamos as linhas gerais da teoria epicurista tentando dar consistência ao conceito de ataraxia como meio de encontrar quer o conhecimento, quer a felicidade, e como isso se reflecte na vida em comunidade.

Four points are discussed in this paper. 1: A long lasting issue in the WL. This point tries to show that the WL in its different versions contains a demonstration of incompleteness as a necessary condition of human consciousness and forms of knowledge. The necessary form of the system of human experience is conditioned by the impossibility of a purely conceptual explanation of human knowing. 2.1: From the Grundlage to the Nova methodo. This point explains the main errors in the (...) exposition of the Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre, which led to the conception of the WL Nova methodo. 2.2: From the Nova methodo to the Exposition of 1801/1802. The main changes in the exposition of the WL 1801/1802 are discussed in the light of the new philosophical challenges from 1799 onwards. 2.3: The emergence of the Image theory in the first WL of 1804 is addressed in the last point. In accordance with the point 1 above, it is finally shown that Fichte’s Theory of image is both a transformed critical and transcendental philosophy, and an answer to questions raised in the preceding development of the WL. (shrink)

In this paper, we intend to demonstrate that the asylum request process can have its semantic and politic structures evidenced from an access via philosophy of language. In order to elucidate the normative nature of this social practice and to take a critical stance in relation to the treatment given to the refuge interview as it has been done in our country, we resort to certain concepts developed by the so called later Wittgenstein. Looking for a more complete treatment of (...) our object of study, we also turn to the authors of Bakhtin’s Circle, which explore communicational dimensions that the Viennese philosopher did not properly explore – with special emphasis on “value accents”. In order to collect empirical evidence relevant to our purposes, a field research was carried out with professionals and volunteers involved in the asylum request interviews. The resulting reports provided us with more basis for the considerations we make about the normative fragility of the interview language game and the intricate value system that guides the interaction between interviewer, interpreter and interviewee. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é defender que o caráter ontológico da imagem no Sofista de Platão é uma solução estranha e extraordinária (ou atópica) para o paradoxo (aporía) do falso. E isso tem relação com o embate educacional sobre os fundamentos dos discursos filosóficos e o combate à tese radicalizada de alguns sofistas que defendiam a impossibilidade de dizer o falso. Será apontado que o ser do falso e o ser do não-ser possuem uma conexão com o ser da imagem, (...) contra aqueles que recusam ao mesmo tempo a possibilidade de existir e de dizer o falso, o não-ser e as imagens. Contra eles é preciso permitir a ontologia e a linguagem do falso, do não-ser e das imagens. A existência estranha das imagens é responsável por oferecer um primeiro entrelaçamento entre ser e não-ser que será fundamental para enfrentar o paradoxo da impossibilidade do falso, como provaremos. (shrink)

« M. Rougier, however, has been an independent contributor to logical empiricism in his own right. (...) In Paralogismes du Rationalisme he anticipated Carnap’s Scheinprobleme with an unequalled wealth of examples »« (...) Pascal introduced a distinction between l’esprit de géométrie and l’esprit de finesse. M. Rougier in his magisterial work [Traité de la connaissance] has expounded the method of geometry with a fitness of insight that is almost unique in the experience of this reviewer. »V....

O principal objetivo deste texto será o de procurar reconstituir o processo de institucionalização do ensino universitário de História na Universidade do Paraná entre 1938 e 1971, dando ênfase ao processo de mudança curricular que o curso de Geografia e História passou até se tornarem autônomos no início dos anos 1960. Entre 1938 e 1961 o curso de História esteve unificado ao de Geografia, processo similar ao que ocorreu em São Paulo e no Rio de Janeiro.

In this paper, we focus on some misconceptions about Critical Pragmatics, what it is, what it assumes and what it proposes. Doubtless, some of these misconceptions are due to clumsy writing on our part; perhaps others are due to inattentive reading. And some may be due to an effort to shield us from the apparent implausibility of what we said—and in fact meant. It does not matter much. We focus on those misunderstandings that most matter to us, either because, by (...) repetition, they have ended up being annoying, even if they are not, perhaps, that important; or because they are substantial enough to represent a distortion of the basic picture of Critical Pragmatics and its theoretical foundations, namely, Critical Referentialism—also known as the Reflexive-referential Theory—and, more generally, Perry’s fundamental views on meaning and content(s). (shrink)

The physician of fifty years ago is barely recognizable today. Rural, autonomous, and isolated, he did everything from mending broken bones to pronouncing people dead. He was responsible for a well-circumscribed community, who came to him for all their medical needs, regardless of the hour.

In this article, we reassess two of Mises’ core methodological claims. The first claim is that action is necessarily rational. The second claim is that all human minds share a logical structure. Neither claim can be unreservedly accepted but, we argue, both contain truth: Mises’ reflections remain important contributions to our understanding of action and the mind, hence to economics.

Nosso objetivo neste artigo é apresentar o capitalismo como religião contemporânea, tendo o dinheiro como Deus e o marxismo e o liberalismo como correntes proféticas. O texto se divide em três momentos. Na primeira parte, buscamos definir “religião” a partir do conceito fundamental de Pulsão, tal como definido pelo psicanalista MD Magno. Na segunda parte, com base no texto clássico de Walter Benjamin e no recém-lançado “The enchantments of Mammon” de Eugene McCarragher, buscamos caracterizar o capitalismo como religião do nosso (...) tempo. E por fim, analisando passagens das obras de Marx, Smith, Mises e Hayek, procuramos demonstrar que marxismo e liberalismo são vertentes proféticas da religião capitalista. (shrink)

Singular terms without referents are called empty or vacuous terms. But not all of them are equally empty. In particular, not all proper names that fail to name an existing object fail in the same way: although they are all empty, they are not all equally vacuous. “Vulcan,” “Jacob Horn,” “Odysseus,” and “Sherlock Holmes,” for instance, are all empty. They have no referents. But they are not entirely vacuous or useless. Sometimes they are used in statements that are true or (...) false. We are basically referentialists about proper names. The ordinary semantic function of a proper name is to refer to an object, and to do it directly, that is, without semantically providing any identifying condition that the object should meet to be the referent. To put it differently, we agree that statements containing proper names express singular propositions, i.e., that their truth-conditions involve the referent of the proper name, if it exists, and not any identifying condition of it. Now, since empty names lack a referent, and therefore would not express such a singular proposition, how do we explain that many, if not all, statements containing them have a truth-value? Answering this question for the case of fictional names, in particular, is the aim of this paper. (shrink)

Nesse artigo tratamos do niilismo como experiência existencial fundamental e não apenas como diagnóstico de uma época histórica. Investigando a compreensão do niilismo como diagnóstico para a contemporânea desvalorização dos valores supremos cultivados e cultuados pelo ocidente, vimos que essa compreensão histórica do niilismo pode ser ela própria historicizada. Assim, tal caracterização do niilismo aparece como modo de pensamento próprio da concepção de tempo vigente no século XIX. O historicismo próprio ao século XIX atinge seu auge no pensamento heideggeriano do (...) Ser. Restringindo qualquer possibilidade de referência ao ente a um horizonte histórico de significabilidade e compreensibilidade, Heidegger apresenta o caso mais extremo daquilo que Meillassoux chamou de correlacionismo: a crença – de inspiração kantiana – de que não podemos nunca nos referir ao real. Mas na obra do próprio Heidegger, identificamos um elemento a-histórico, capaz de romper as barreiras do correlacioniso e reestabelecer nossa relação com o Real: o Nada. Exploramos os conceitos de angústia e Nada em articulação com o conceito psicanalítico de Real a fim de pensar o niilismo como experiência existencial fundamental capaz de revelar o Nada como mais fundamental que o Ser e a experiência de Haver Existência como Real. (shrink)

A fresh approach to learning Sanskrit aimed specifically at the TT and serious yoga student market and based in an original combination of traditional pedagogy (oral instruction and textual memorization) and academic linguistics (grammar and syntax) and utilizing central yoga texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras.

Machiavelli is known chiefly for The Prince, but his main considerations on politics are in his most profound and later work Discourses on Livy, the complexity, length and style of which have often discouraged new readers and interpreters of Machiavelli, despite its historical and theoretical importance. For this reason, the Discourses has not been given the attention it deserves. This volume of newly commissioned essays by some of the world's leading experts on Machiavelli overcomes this gap. It is the first (...) collective volume dedicated specifically to this work, ranging over topics such as Machiavelli's republicanism, the relation between liberty and tyranny, the role of religion, his conception of history, his writing style, his view of society as a plural and conflictive body, his suggestion of how a free state should be organized, or his notions of the people and virtù. Contributors include: Jérémie Barthas, Thomas Berns, Alessandro Campi, J. Patrick Coby, Marie Gaille, Marco Geuna, Mark Jurdjevic, Cary J. Nederman, Gabriele Pedullà, Diogo Pires Aurélio, Fabio Raimondi, Andre Santos Campos, Miguel Vatter, and Camila Vergara. (shrink)

O presente artigo se ocupa do problema funcional da consciência referente às questões do porquê a consciência evoluiu e se é relevante para os organismos. A hipótese defendida é que a consciência tem a função comunicativa capaz de recrutar a memória de trabalho, especialmente, os seus subcomponentes especialistas em linguagem, e o sistema cognitivo-computacional, que tem, em seu núcleo, uma estrutura sintática para codificar simbolicamente a informação implícita no organismo. Aos organismos que possuem esses recursos, foi conferida uma vantagem adaptativa, (...) uma vez que tais organismos vivem numa organização socialmente interdependente e, assim, puderam comunicar aos outros organismos, com mais complexidade e precisão do que a comunicação comportamental não simbólica, os seus estados internos e implícitos, tais como o estado dos seus corpos, as suas intenções, os seus planos, e as características do ambiente. A metodologia possui duas fases: primeiro, uma abordagem teórico-conceitual, com base em variados modelos explicativos teórico-experimentais, na qual foram comparadas diferentes definições teórico-conceituais para a origem da consciência. Depois, modelos filogenéticos de estudos comparativos forneceram insights válidos sobre a consciência em animais humanos e não-humanos. Assim, o objetivo geral aqui consiste em postular uma definição conceitual de consciência. Os resultados sugeriram quais as condições necessárias para a emergência da consciência no tocante à memória de trabalho, atenção, representações de alta-ordem e linguagem. Concluiu-se que a pesquisa está em uma fase de brainstorming. Nessa fase, a hipótese é avaliada criticamente e submetida a testes de aproximação com diferentes modelos. Se for bem-sucedida, ela poderá ser aplicada experimentalmente no futuro. (shrink)

What is the true significance of biological kinship? During the last decades, it seemed to be uncontroversial that abandoned and even adopted people feel the negative impact of biological parents’ absence throughout life in several ways (Miller et al. 2000; Keyes, Margaret A., Anu Sharma, Irene J Elkins, and William G. Iacono, Matt McGue. 2008. The Mental Health of US Adolescents Adopted in Infancy. Archive Pediatric Adolescense Medicine 162(5): 419–425.). However, in the case of people conceived via “third-party reproduction”, especially (...) in sperm donation, the disruption of the kinship network derived from natural bonds tends to be presented as something irrelevant. This article disputes that assumption, explores its relationship with a deconstructivist vision that presents kinship as a purely social construct and defends the personal and existential value of a person’s biological bonds with her parents. While analysing the anthropological shift inherent to the way some political discourses present the nuclear family and heterologous biotechnology, it proposes renewed philosophical attention on the significance of filiation and human affinity. This article argues for the density of genealogical ties and defends that the consecration of an individual “right to a child”, namely (but not exclusively) through the normalised access to sperm banks, is incompatible with the rights of the child, since it deprives people from knowing not only who but also how is their father. (shrink)

Before being considered as independent fields, business cycles and productivity growth had long been regarded as closely interrelated dynamics. Growth and cycles theories and models developed independently. On one side, the growth analysis developed analyzing the existence and stability of a long-run deterministic growth path. On the other side, business cycles theory focused on the understanding of detrended data movements considering growth as an exogenous trend, independent of the cycle. This dichotomy is still present in the modern literature. _Business Cycles (...) and Growth Theory_ examines the role of monetary and financial factors in growth cycles dynamics interaction. It offers new perspectives for modelling growth cycles dynamics underlining the possibility of building an 'incomplete business cycles theory', as well as highlighting the existence of a convergence between the last theoretical developments of both growth and business cycles literatures. A significant read, this book demonstrates that such a convergence can provide benchmarks for a new paradigm of models in which endogenous growth mechanism, because it offers a strong propagation for shocks, can be the core of a new business cycles dynamics. (shrink)