Aborda el pensamiento educativo de George Steiner y un análisis crítico de la obra de John Henry Newman "La idea de universidad".

Cuando G. K. Chesterton en su corto ensayo Aproximación al tomismo quiere resumir los descarríos o los logros de los sabios sobre la realidad, muestra las tres controversias generales del pensamiento: (1) la disolución de las cosas en las soluciones químicas del escepticismo, que es la controversia entre el flujo o la transición informe; (2) la difícil clasificación de las unidades ideales, que es la controversia entre realismo y nominalismo; y (3) el reconocimiento, también arduo, de la variedad cuando a (...) la vez se admite la unidad, que es el viejo acertijo metafísico de la unidad y lo múltiple. Este libro se concentra en la segunda controversia, sin el olvido de los otros dos problemas, en la persona de Guillermo de Ockham, el lógico sagaz que vivió entre los siglos XIII y XIV d.C. Las relaciones de la Literatura con la Filosofía o con la ciencia no se acaban en la especulación poética o estética de motivos filosóficos, mucho más que esto, se extienden a la práctica o ejercicio de los conceptos filosóficos. Erguido en este principio, he rescatado a la figura de Guillermo de Ockham, así como al debate por la realidad o no de las Ideas, en composiciones literarias de Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, el ya mencionado G. K. Chesterton, y más. (shrink)

Aversive autobiographical memories sometimes prompt maladaptive emotional responses and contribute to affective dysfunction in anxiety and depression. One way to regulate the impact of such memories is to create a downward counterfactual thought–a mental simulation of how the event could have been worse–to put what occurred in a more positive light. Despite its intuitive appeal, counterfactual thinking has not been systematically studied for its regulatory efficacy. In the current study, we compared the regulatory impact of downward counterfactual thinking, temporal distancing, (...) and memory rehearsal in 54 adult participants representing a spectrum of trait anxiety. Participants recalled regretful experiences and rated them on valence, arousal, regret, and episodic detail. Two to six days later, they created a downward counterfactual of the remembered event, thought of how they might feel about it 10 years from now, or simply rehearsed it. A day later, participants re-rated the phenomenological characteristics of the events. Across all participants, downward counterfactual thinking, temporal distancing, and memory rehearsal were equally effective at reducing negative affect associated with a memory. However, in individuals with higher trait anxiety, downward counterfactual thinking was more effective than rehearsal for reducing regret, and it was as effective as distancing in reducing arousal. We discuss these results in light of the functional theory of counterfactual thinking and suggest that they motivate further investigation into downward counterfactual thinking as a means to intentionally regulate emotional memories in affective disorders. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to situate the problem of the conflict of interpretations in Paul Ricœur by placing it in the context of Ricœur’s anthropological reflections on the questions of fallibility and evil. The article invokes the distinction between fallibility and evil and analyses the symbolic language of evil as a reason for the hermeneutic turn of Ricœur’s thought. The implications of this topic for the philosophical analyses of language and consciousness are then put in relief. The article (...) explains the inner workings of the logic of the conflict of interpretations, showing its perspectival trait, and claims that this notion remains pertinent given that its method can today be applied to conflicts of interpretations other than those Ricœur dealt with. (shrink)

A entrevista que se segue foi concedida pela Professora Nilda Teves Ferreira no dia 15 de fevereiro de 2012, em seu apartamento na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, no bairro do Méier. O registro ocorreu com o propósito de integrar um livro que reuniria conversações com diversos intelectuais atuantes no RJ, projeto que não chegou a ser concluído. Participam da conversa os Professores Simone Freitas Chaves e Jorge Felipe Fonseca Moreira, ambos orientados em suas pesquisas sobre o discurso do (...) Imaginário Social por Nilda Teves; além do Prof. Roberto S. Kahlmeyer-Mertens, organizador do mencionado livro. (shrink)

Recently, much attention has been given to Buddhism as a precursor to contemporary holistic theories, and more specifically to the Huayan school’s radical holistic metaphysics (often given the metaphorical name of The Net of Indra), as well as to Huayan’s most elaborate theoretician, Fazang. Nevertheless, contemporary interpretations of Fazang have been weighted by either too strict an adherence to atomistic logic or by unfortunate translations. In this article, I present new translations of the key passages of Fazang’s “The Rafter Dialogue,” (...) as well as a philosophical commentary that explains his departure from atomism. I then proceed to argue that the six characteristics Fazang attributes to a whole that cannot be reduced to its parts are both sufficient and necessary for holism. (shrink)

Andrzej Wierciński’s "Existentia Hermeneutica: Understanding as the Mode of Being in the World" is absolutely innovative in its reflection on the hermeneutic relationship between philosophy and theology. It represents a profound analysis of the whole tradition of philosophical hermeneutics and Catholic theology, which drew upon the former for a new account of the problematic of faith.

This paper´s aim is to outline the foundation of Paul Ricœur´s ethics, which we believe to be a hermeneutical experience of recognition of existence´s original claim, a thesis that he takes from his master Jean Nabert. Although the question of recognition appears only in the last work of Ricœur, we hold that it is already present since the earliest works, particularly in The Symbolism of Evil , insofar as, through symbolic language, the contrasting experience of evil leads to the whole (...) hermeneutical process of recognition and interpretation of an original affirmation, despite evil. The very theme of man´s capability, including the issue of self-esteem, shall be understood on the basis of this original affirmation, which reveals his plural condition in the plan of responsibility in the context of applied ethics. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to reflect the contribution of Philosophical Hermeneutics to Psychotherapy. We first start by clarifying the meaning of Philosophical Hermeneutics and by analyzing its object. Second, finding a support in the two most important names of contemporary Hermeneutics, both H.G. Gadamer and Paul Ricœur, we reject the naturalism to which Psychotherapy reduces itself insofar as it does not take into account the close connection between man ‘s world-of-life and its temporal, linguistic and narrative dimension. Indeed, (...) the very center of the contribution of Hermeneutics lies in the constitution of identity through ethical, linguistic and institutional mediation. (shrink)

Este trabajo presenta el proyecto “Educación sin Fronteras”, realizado por la administración de la Institu-ción universitaria Tecnológico de Antioquia —TdeA— entre 2008 y 2010 para la ampliación de la cobertura en educa-ción superior en las subregiones del departamento de Antioquia. El trabajo esboza la plataforma de los planes de desa-rrollo del departamento de Antioquia y del TdeA; plantea el modelo de regionalización de la educación superior y presenta estadísticas del programa. Se examinan los municipios atendidos, la cobertura de estudiantes, el (...) número de grupos, los egresados efectivos, los programas académicos, la correspondencia entre el programa y la vocación econó-mica de la municipalidad, etc. Termina con un análisis financiero del modelo de regionalización y concluye con los principales retos del modelo. (shrink)

Counterfactual thinking, or simulating alternative versions of occurred events, is a common psychological strategy people use to process events in their lives. However, CFT is also a core com...

This paper is focused on dismissive metaontological views about ontology. The paper's first section deals with radical dismissivism: a view which I interpret as Carnap's. The second section approaches moderate dismissivism: a view which I interpret as Hirsch's. My first claim is stated in section three: that there are significant differences between the mentioned authors. However, current literature on metaontology, not only does not emphasize such differences, but also insinuates that they do not exist. The authors I have in mind (...) here are Eklund and Bennett. In the fourth section, I compare Carnap's radical dismissivism with Hirsch's moderate dismissivism. My second claim is stated in section five: that Carnap's radical dismissivism is more persuasive than Hirsch's moderate one. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Experience Without Qualities: Boredom and ModernityFelipe GutterriezExperience Without Qualities: Boredom and Modernity. Elizabeth Goodstein. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005. Pp. 461. $50.00, cloth.Winner of the Modern Language Association's 2005 award for Best First Book, Elizabeth Goodstein's Experience Without Qualities: Boredom and Modernity is a work impressive for its erudition and rigorous analysis. Experience Without Qualities is a genealogical study of the modern "modern discourse on boredom," a phrase (...) referring both to a family of experiences and to the uses of language associated with them. (Although somewhat murkily introduced, a further distinction operates in Goodstein's account of the modern discourse on boredom, a distinction between language of boredom, language that is part of the expression of boredom, and language on boredom, language that is part of the reflection on boredom. It's the difference between saying, "I'm bored, there's nothing to do," and saying, "Powerlessness is the cause of boredom.") Goodstein believes the modern discourse on boredom exemplifies the modern rhetoric of reflection, the way of understanding and interpreting human experience that is historically and culturally specific to modernity. Through her genealogy of the modern discourse on boredom she hopes "to further the historical task of coming to terms with the fragmentation of subjective experience in the face of the dissolution of metanarratives that is the legacy of the Enlightenment." Experience without Qualities is a dense and complex text over 450 pages in length, and the account that follows necessarily fails to capture the richness that is a principal strength of the text.As an introduction to her genealogy proper, Goodstein examines two contrasting contemporary accounts of boredom. These accounts serve as paradigmatic examples of idealist and materialist accounts of boredom and, by implication, subjectivity generally. Reinhard Kuhn's idealist account treats all social and historical forms of boredom as either incidental to or a manifestation of "ennui," an ahistorical feature of the human condition, an "encounter with nothingness" that is productive of human creativity. Wolf Lepenies's materialist account treats boredom as epiphenomenal, a symptom of "action-inhibition" and a way of legitimating a feeling of powerlessness. On one level, the two accounts provide competing types of explanations, but on another level both are [End Page 257] examples of the characteristic fallacy of the modern rhetoric of reflection, the abstraction of categories of language and their reification into things. Although Goodstein does not use the term, this fallacy could be called the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness." (This is a phrase that Alfred North Whitehead coined in connection with his critique of scientific materialism. Its use suggests the affinities between his critique and Goodstein's account of the modern rhetoric of reflection.)In the case of Kuhn, the fallacy of misplaced concreteness takes the form of an abstraction drawn from the historically and culturally specific language of boredom that Kuhn and his audience share and its reification as an ahistorical principle that grounds Kuhn's idealist language on boredom. In the case of Lepenies, this fallacy takes the form of an abstraction drawn from the language of boredom and reified as the social practices that ground Lepenies's language on boredom. Neither Kuhn's idealist history nor Lepenies's materialist sociology recognize the historicity of the modern discourse on boredom.Goodstein faults Kuhn and Lepenies for their failure to think through the relationship between the language of boredom and the language on boredom. The conditions that make this failure possible are addressed in Chapter 3, "Boredom and the Modernization of Subjectivity." This chapter describes the spread of Enlightenment skepticism in an environment of rapid political and economic change. Beginning toward the end of the eighteenth century and continuing to the middle of the nineteenth, a discursive paradigm shift occurs. The result is a rhetoric of reflection organized around a radically isolated subjectivity and a "clocktime" view of temporality, time as a series of empty, meaningless moments stretching forward in linear progression. This rhetoric of reflection maintains a tension between idealist and materialist accounts of experience within a materialist framework that medicalizes subjectivity.Goodstein's genealogy of the modern discourse on boredom is strongly reminiscent of Foucault's genealogy of modernity... (shrink)

In this paper we argue that defenders of Frankfurt-style counterexamples to the Principle of Alternative Possibilities do not need to construct a metaphysically possible scenario in which an agent is morally responsible despite lacking the ability to do otherwise. Rather, there is a weaker (but equally legitimate) sense in which Frankfurt-style counterexamples can succeed. All that's needed is the claim that the ability to do otherwise is no part of what grounds moral responsibility, when the agent is indeed morally responsible.

A key premise of the kalam cosmological argument is that the universe began to exist. However, while a number of philosophers have offered powerful criticisms of William Lane Craig’s defense of the premise, J.P. Moreland has also offered a number of unique arguments in support of it, and to date, little attention has been paid to these in the literature. In this paper, I attempt to go some way toward redressing this matter. In particular, I shall argue that Moreland’s philosophical (...) arguments against the possibility of traversing a beginningless past are unsuccessful. (shrink)

Most people's intuitive reaction after considering Nozick's experience machine thought-experiment seems to be just like his: we feel very little inclination to plug in to a virtual reality machine capable of providing us with pleasurable experiences. Many philosophers take this empirical fact as sufficient reason to believe that, more than pleasurable experiences, people care about “living in contact with reality.” Such claim, however, assumes that people's reaction to the experience machine thought-experiment is due to the fact that they value reality (...) over virtual experiences—an assumption that has seldom (if ever) been questioned. This paper challenges that very assumption. I report some experimental evidence suggesting that the intuition elicited by the thought-experiment may be explainable by the fact that people are averse to abandon the life they have been experiencing so far, regardless of whether such life is virtual or real. I use then an explanatory model, derived from what behavioral economists and psychologists call the status quo bias, to make sense of these results. Finally, I argue that since this explanation also accounts for people's reaction toward Nozick's thought-experiment, it would be wrong to take such intuition as evidence that people value being in touch with reality. (shrink)

On the assumption that romantic partners tend to act from a first-person plural perspective, how should the love that binds them be understood? This paper approaches this question by focusing on romantic practical integration, understood as the tendency of romantic partners to integrate their practical perspectives in such a way that allows them to have ‘reasons-for-us’: reasons for action that apply to them as a group, in a collective and non-distributive sense (Westlund Citation2009). After dispelling some reservations about the connection (...) between romantic love and the first-person plural perspective, I argue that the resources offered by one leading account of love, due to Bennett Helm, fall short of accounting for romantic practical integration. Building on Stephen Darwall’s account of romantic love as a ‘second-personal attitude of the heart’, I develop an alternative proposal. The proposed view foregrounds the relational and non-deontic normative character of romantic love, by conceptualizing it as an addressing attitude that intrinsically seeks – but doesn’t demand – reciprocation. On this view, the attitude of romantic love co-involves the addressee of the attitude as a (potential or actual) member of a narratively unified interpersonal community, in light of which putative reasons-for-us may be taken on board or rejected. (shrink)

Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sample of 86,310 individual responses collected across 90 countries. If romantic love is universally perceived as a force that fosters commitment between long-term partners, we expected that individuals likely to (...) suffer greater losses from the termination of their relationships—including people of lower socioeconomic status, those with many children, and women—would place a higher value on romantic love compared to people with higher status, those with fewer children, and men. These predictions were supported. Additionally, we observed that individuals from countries with a higher (vs. lower) Human Development Index placed a greater level of importance on romantic love, suggesting that modernization might influence how romantic love is evaluated. On average, participants worldwide were unwilling to commit to a long-term romantic relationship without love, highlighting romantic love’s universal importance. (shrink)

This essay presupposes that Friedrich Nietzsche and Rudolf Carnap champion contrasting reactions to the fact that, throughout history, persons have been engaged in metaphysical disputes. Nietzsche embraces a libertarian reaction that is in agreement with his anti-democratic aristocratic political views, whereas Carnap endorses an egalitarian reaction aligned with his democratic and socialist political views. After characterizing these reactions, the essay argues for two claims. The first claim is that the stated contrasting reactions are to be considered, not only by the (...) few scholars who are interested both in Nietzsche’s and Carnap’s writings, but by a far larger group that includes those who have addressed the continental-analytic gap; those who are concerned with the development of contemporary philosophy; and/or those who are interested in the writings of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, David Lewis and/or Peter van Inwagen. The second claim is that we have to entertain a synthesis of Nietzsche’s libertarian and Carnap’s egalitarian reaction in order to overcome the continental-analytic gap. (shrink)

This essay focuses on the similarities between Nietzsche’s and Carnap’s views on metaphysics, without ignoring their obvious differences. The essay argues that Nietzsche and Carnap endorse but interpret differently an overcoming metametaphysics characterized by the conjunction of the following three claims: an overcoming of metaphysics ought to be performed; this overcoming is to be performed by adopting a method of linguistic analysis that is suspicious of the metaphysical use of language and that interprets such use through a different use of (...) language which aims to avoid metaphysics; and this overcoming contributes to the political task of resisting “diseased” metaphysical practices and promoting “healthy” non-metaphysical practices. (shrink)

The reward system of science is the priority rule. The first scientist making a new discovery is rewarded with prestige, while second runners get little or nothing. Michael Strevens, following Philip Kitcher, defends this reward system, arguing that it incentivizes an efficient division of cognitive labor. I argue that this assessment depends on strong implicit assumptions about the replicability of findings. I question these assumptions on the basis of metascientific evidence and argue that the priority rule systematically discourages replication. My (...) analysis leads us to qualify Kitcher and Strevens’s contention that a priority-based reward system is normatively desirable for science. (shrink)

RESUMO Este artigo, um recorte de nossa dissertação de mestrado, tem como objetivo apresentar uma análise da peça A última gravação de Krapp, de Samuel Beckett, a partir de conceitos teóricos provenientes dos escritos do teórico da literatura russo Mikhail Bakhtin, tais como dialogismo, polifonia, cronotopo e grotesco. Com o intuito de problematizar a questão das vozes presentes na peça, de acordo com a estrutura dramatúrgica criada por Samuel Beckett, tais conceitos servirão de suporte para uma reflexão que busque compreender (...) a questão das relações existentes entre Krapp e suas alteridades; os jogos e conflitos desenvolvidos entre as diferentes consciências dos diferentes Krapps presentes no texto a partir da materialidade de suas gravações; a questão do espaço-tempo proposto por Beckett na peça; bem como a caracterização grotesca de Krapp e sua relação com a gênese do personagem, dentro do que denominamos, em nossa pesquisa, de poética do fracasso. Este trabalho foi originalmente apresentado como parte de nossa dissertação de mestrado1. ABSTRACT This article aims to present an analysis of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, based on theoretical concepts from the writings of Russian literature theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, such as dialogism, polyphony, chronotope and grotesque in order to investigate the voices present in the play, according to the dramaturgical structure created by Samuel Beckett. Such concepts will serve as a support for a reflection that seeks to understand the relations between Krapp and his alterities as well as the games and conflicts developed through the different selves of the different Krapps present in the text, sprung from the materiality of his recordings. It will focus on the space-time question proposed by Beckett in the play, as well as the grotesque characterization of Krapp and its relation to the genesis of the character, within what we call in our research of poetics of failure. This work was originally presented as part of our master’s thesis.1. (shrink)

In order to evaluate the validity and implications of Donald Davidson’s arguments against the need for conventions in order for linguistic communication, the theoretical considerations behind his conclusions are traced through several of his essays. Once Davidson’s ideas on communication, radical interpretation, and the lack of strict nomological connections between physical and mental events have been pointed out as necessary for his argument, it will be seen that these imply the need for something very close to linguistic conventions. The article (...) closes by considering a few possible counterarguments this last conclusion. (shrink)

This study provides a thorough exegesis of the names of metaphysics according to the proem of the Disputationes metaphysicae by Francis Suarez. The key to its consideration lies in the simultaneous unity between this science and the names assigned to it mainly by Aristotle. Due to the scant attention devoted to this work, this study emphasizes that the epistemic unity of metaphysics is given beforehand –prior to the final consideration and determination of its proper object, which is the entity insofar (...) real entity– by the complementarity of the different perspectives each name of metaphysics denotes. (shrink)

ABSTRACT An often-adopted use of the predicate, “to be colonized”, is one that applies it loosely, not in reference to original Africans or indigenous people enslaved by Europeans or heirs of enslaved persons, but to academics who are citizens of former colonies like Brazil, their ways of thinking, philosophical works, academic communities, etc. But under what conditions one is to do that? And how can one avoid the attribution of such predicate to oneself or one’s works? These issues have not (...) received much attention. While dialoguing with authors associated with decolonial studies, Brazilian, continental and analytic philosophers, this essay aims to contribute to change this situation. It does so by proposing an alternative use of the predicate, “to be ‘subtly’ philosophically colonized”, according to which this predicate is to be applied to philosophical works that have the thirteen features described in the essay or at least most of them. It is argued that this alternative use is to be endorsed because it is: precise; exemplified in a detailed way by at least one philosophical work; and “inexplosive” in not suggesting the “explosive” claim that practically all Western philosophical works are colonized by Western metaphysics. RESUMO Um uso recorrente do predicado, “ser colonizado”, é um que o aplica imprecisamente, não em referência aos africanos e aos povos indígenas originais escravizados pelos europeus ou a descendentes de pessoas escravizadas, mas, sim, a acadêmicos que são cidadãos de ex-colônias como o Brasil, seus modos de pensar, trabalhos filosóficos, comunidades acadêmicas etc. Mas sob quais condições se deve proceder desse modo? E como é possível evitar que tal predicado seja atribuído a si ou a um trabalho autoral? Essas questões não têm recebido muita atenção. Ao dialogar com autores associados aos estudos decoloniais, filósofos brasileiros, continentais e analíticos, este artigo procura contribuir para mudar essa situação. Ele assim o faz ao propor um uso alternativo do predicado, “ser ‘sutilmente’ colonizado filosoficamente”, segundo o qual esse predicado deve ser aplicado em referência a trabalhos filosóficos que possuem as treze características descritas neste artigo ou ao menos a maioria delas. Argumenta-se que esse uso alternativo deve ser aceito porque ele é: preciso; exemplificado de modo detalhado por ao menos um trabalho filosófico; e “inexplosivo” ao não sugerir a alegação “explosiva” de que praticamente todos os trabalhos filosóficos ocidentais são colonizados pela metafísica ocidental. (shrink)

Resumen: Se aborda el vínculo entre intervención social y espacio en el campo del trabajo social, a partir de la revisión de aspectos centrales de la obra de Henri Lefebvre y sus implicancias para la comprensión de la intervención social. En primer lugar, se concluye de forma general que lo espacial constituye una dimensión ineludible de toda intervención. Ello tiene como implicancias que es necesario avanzar hacia una perspectiva socioespacial transdisciplinaria de la intervención, superar la fragmentación de los procesos de (...) intervención, y repensar el rol de las profesiones de la intervención social en la transformación socioespacial. Los desafíos de estas resultan ser no solo de carácter epistemológico sino también ético-político.: The link between social intervention and space in the field of social work is addressed, based on the review of central aspects of Henri Lefebvre's work and its implications for the understanding of social intervention. In the first place, it is generally concluded that space constitutes an unavoidable dimension of any intervention. This has as implications that it is necessary to move towards a transdisciplinary socio-spatial perspective about intervention, breaking the fragmentation of the intervention processes, and rethinking social intervention professions role in socio-spatial transformation. In this context, the challenges are not only epistemological but also ethical-political. (shrink)

Immigration, one of the most important contemporary phenomena, coupled with political and social factors that generate a series of imaginary social around the immigrant's own transit and immigration. This essay intends to approach the issue from a comprehensive perspective, analyzing the pillars of the host society, while giving prominence to the vision of an immigrant. To do so, it addresses the characteristics of the process, the definition of social imaginary, the elements of conflict and risk endured by the immigrant, the (...) construction of ethnic identity, the quest for new imaginary, associations as imaginary spaces emerging, the role of the state. (shrink)

The experimental interventions that provide evidence of causal relations are notably similar to those that provide evidence of constitutive relevance relations. In the first two sections, I show that this similarity creates a tension: there is an inconsistent triad between Woodward’s popular interventionist theory of causation, Craver’s mutual manipulability account of constitutive relevance in mechanisms, and a variety of arguments for the incoherence of inter-level causation. I argue for an interpretation of the views in which the tension is merely apparent. (...) I propose to explain inter-level relations without inter-level causation by appealing to the notion of fat-handed interventions, and an argument against inter-level causation which dissolves the problem. (shrink)

Consider three widely shared claims that have not been discussed vis-à-vis one another. In his Proslogion, Saint Anselm argued that the claim “God exists” is true. If an intuition that a claim c is a useful a-priori justificatory resource, this can only be because such an intuition is a justification that c is true. And if an intuition that c is a justification that c is true, c can stand, not only for mathematical or logical claims, but also for controversial (...) philosophical ones, e.g., “God exists”. This essay addresses to while dialoguing with the literature on Anselm and intuition and articulating an alternative reading of the Proslogion. The alternative reading is that regardless of whether the Proslogion backs up or aims to back up the claim that “God exists” is true, it implicitly articulates the Meaning Argument whose conclusion is that all persons of faith are able to understand that the claim “God exists” is meaningful. This argument, it is argued, is evidence that an intuition that c may be a useful a-priori justificatory resource even if such intuition does not track truth, but merely meaning in being a justification for taking c to be meaningful. It is also supported that an intuition that “God exists” is not a justification that this claim is true. This is an indication that there may be reasons for thinking that the same applies to other controversial philosophical claims. (shrink)

The notion of social mechanisms has experienced an increasing use in the social sciences as an alternative explanatory framework to the logic of co-variation present in multivariate analyses, emphasizing the causal explanation of social phenomena over their mere description. This paper seeks two goals. In the one hand, summarise recent literature on social mechanisms in order to clarify their meanings, different modes of use and their contribution to empirical research. In the other hand, we will shed some light onto the (...) relation between social mechanisms and the micro-macro problem in social sciences. We argue that the search for social mechanisms and reductionism in social sciences correspond to two interrelated but analytically distinguishable questions: while the first one seeks to define intermediary processes and causal connections between causes and effects, the second question asks for the different levels of reality in which the relation between initial conditions and effects shall be understood. Following Daniel Little´s methodological localism, we will suggest that social mechanisms can well take place at the supra-individual level, and that the reduction of social phenomena to their micro-foundations is not a methodological prescription, but rather depends on the state of art of specific fields of inquiry. La noción de mecanismos sociales ha experimentado un uso creciente en ciencias sociales. Estos se han consolidado como un marco explicativo alternativo a la lógica de co-variación propia del análisis multivariado, enfatizando además la explicación causal de los fenómenos sociales por sobre su mera descripción. Este artículo tiene dos objetivos. Primero, sistematizar la reciente literatura sobre mecanismos sociales, con el fin de clarificar sus significados, modos de uso y aporte a la investigación empírica. Y segundo, entregaremos luces a la relación entre mecanismos sociales y el problema de la relación macro-micro en ciencias sociales. Sostendremos la idea de que la búsqueda de mecanismos sociales y el reduccionismo en ciencias sociales corresponden a dos preguntas relacionadas pero analíticamente distinguibles: mientras la primera busca definir procesos intermedios y conexiones causales entre condiciones iniciales y efectos, la segunda se pregunta por los distintos niveles de la realidad en los cuales la relación entre condiciones iniciales y efectos deben ser entendidos. Siguiendo el localismo metodológico de Daniel Little, sugeriremos que los mecanismos sociales pueden bien operar a niveles supra-individuales, y que la reducción de fenómenos sociales a interacciones individuales no es una prescripción metodológica, sino que se desprende del estado del arte de campos de investigación específicos. (shrink)

Current research on second-person relations has often overlooked that this is not a new topic. Addressed mostly under the heading of the “I–thou relation,” second-person relations were discussed by central figures of the phenomenological tradition, including Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, but also quite extensively by much lesser-known authors, such as Karl Löwith, Ludwig Binswanger, and Semyon L. Frank, whose work has been undeservedly neglected in current research. This paper starts off by arguing that, in spite of the rightly acknowledged (...) differences between the Husserlian and the Heideggerian approaches to the investigation of the social world, both approaches converge in the claim that the I–thou relation is founded on more basic forms of sociality. In a second step, against the background of Frank’s and Binswanger’s challenges to that claim, I argue that Löwith’s proposal that the I–thou relation is a primordial form of sociality can be vindicated by conceptualizing I–thou relations as close personal relationships (paradigmatically exemplified by companion friendships and romantic partnerships). After assessing how Löwith’s approach to the I–thou relation stands vis-à-vis Heidegger’s and Husserl’s views, I conclude by suggesting how Löwith’s approach can contribute to current research on second-person relations. (shrink)

Avoiding whinges from various and potentially conflicting stakeholders is a major challenge for sustainable development and for the identification of sustainability scenarios or policies for biodiversity and ecosystem services. It turns out that independently complying with whinge thresholds and constraints of these stakeholders is not sufficient because dynamic ecological-economic interactions and uncertainties occur. Thus more demanding no whinge standards are needed. In this paper, we first argue that these new boundaries can be endogenously exhibited with the mathematical concepts of viability (...) kernel and viable controls. Second, it is shown how these no whinge kernels have components, such as harvesting of resources, that should remain within safe corridor while some other components, in particular biodiversity, have only lower conservation limits. Thus, using radar charts, we show how this no whinge kernels can take the shape of a tree that we name viability tree. These trees of viability capture the idea that the unbounded renewal potential of biodiversity combined with a bounded use of the different ecosystem services are crucial ingredients for the sustainability of socio-ecosystems and the design of no whinge policies reconciling the different stakeholders involved. (shrink)

In this paper I offer a critical reading of some aspects of Heidegger’s late philosophy and evaluate how these relate to his nationalist claim that we need to stay rooted in the soil of our homeland. In response to this claim, Žižek suggests thet being-rootless is the primordial state of being-human and that what we represent as our roots are secondary attempts to obfuscate this dimension. First, I will present Heidegger’s philosophy of technology to elucidate his thesis that the essence (...) of modern technology determinates the way we come to experience the totality of beings in our times as “standing reserve”. In the second section, I expound his aesthetics where art is seen as a mode of approaching entities that follows a different logic to that of the Gestell. However, this analysis of Heidegger’s philosophy of art will reveal a political dimension to the concept of earth which I take to be a reactionary attempt to neutralize the eventual dimension of the Gestell. In the third section, I offer a critical re-interpretation of Heidegger’s philosophy following Žižek’s clue. I argue that modern art is characterized by its self-reflexive character which can be deemed transcendental once we accept the ontological dimension of art following Heidegger. These works offer a rooting in our own rootless condition analogous to the grounding in the Abgrund of Hegel’s absolute knowledge. Finally, I offer an analysis of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorius Basterds from the perspective of the conceptual framework developed in the previous pages. (shrink)

Resumo O fundamento teórico deste artigo compreende uma análise teológica, com especial interesse pelo diálogo com a sociologia e com a antropologia. Investiga as relações de dominação, com enfoque específico nas relações de gênero que se engendram a partir dos ritos religiosos ou profanos, Objetiva-se verificar a importância dos ritos para a construção da realidade social, sobretudo das noções de gênero e das relações que delas advêm; expor com embasamento antropológico e sociológico esta premissa, visando contribuir para a discussão da (...) função social da religiosidade como construtora da realidade social; oferecer uma compreensão dos ritos enquanto espaços nos quais podem surgir relações mais igualitárias entre homens e mulheres. Através da pesquisa bibliográfica, procurar-se-á na sociologia de Pierre Bourdieu conceituar o poder simbólico e compreender de que maneira ele é elemento que constrói noções de gênero; posteriormente, serão averiguados em obras da área da antropologia, conceitos de rito, estabelecendo sua ligação com o poder simbólico e seu possível potencial construtor da realidade social e das noções de gênero que orientam as relações entre mulheres e homens. A conclusão buscará apontar de que maneira podem os ritos se tornar espaços para a articulação de um novo modo de relações de gênero. Palavras-chave: Ritos, Sociedade, Gênero.The theoretical basis of this article consists of a theological analysis, with emphasis on a dialogue with sociology and anthropology. It investigates dominance relationships, focusing particularly on gender relationships engendered by religious or profane rites. The objective is to verify the importance of rites for the construction of social reality, above all of gender notions and the relationships that result from them; to expose this premise on an anthropological and sociological basis, seeking to contribute to the discussion of the social function of religiosity as builder of social reality; and to provide an understanding of rites as spaces where more egalitarian relationships between men and women can take place. Through bibliographical research, especially into Pierre Bourdieu's sociology, the text tries to describe symbolic power and to understand how this element builds gender notions. Then, it verifies concepts of rite in anthropological texts, establishing its connection with symbolic power and its potential to construct social reality and gender notions that guide the relationships between women and men. The conclusion tries to indicate how rites can become spaces for the articulation of a new mode of gender relationships. Key words: Rites, Society, Gender. (shrink)

Resumen Este trabajo revisa algunas de las objeciones más frecuentes contra la versión que Nozick ofrece de la estipulación lockeana. Se detiene especialmente en dos de ellas: aquella que afirma que la estipulación es contraproducente y aquella que, por el contrario, sostiene que es insuficiente. Se rechazarán ambas críticas. La primera porque pasa por alto la distinción que Nozick hace entre no disminuir las oportunidades de usar un bien y las oportunidades de apropiárselo; la segunda porque asume erróneamente que la (...) línea de base de la estipulación se encuentra siempre en el estado de naturaleza. Finalmente se ofrece una formulación del principio de justicia en la adquisición que recoge las restricciones de estipulación.This paper reviews some of the most frequent objections against Nozick's version of Lockean Proviso. In particular, it examines two of them: the one that affirms that the stipulation is self-defeating and the one that, on the contrary, maintains that it is insufficient or to weak. Both criticisms are rejected. The first because it ignores Nozick's distinction between not diminishing the opportunities to use a specific good and the opportunities to appropriate it; the second because it erroneously assumes that the baseline of the stipulation is always in the state of nature. Finally, a formulation is offered on the principle of justice in acquisition that includes the stipulation restrictions. (shrink)