Esse livro reúne os textos críticos dispersos de Gérard Lebrun sobre a filosofia crítica de um dos maiores filósofos do idealismo alemão,Immanuel Kant, tornando-os agora acessíveis à maioria do público, que não tem o hábito de consultar revistas especializadas em filosofia.

A leitura que Hegel faz da antinomia em Kant permite entender que as considerações deste não estão isentas de pressupostos antropológicos e de que, portanto, ele estuda a finitude das categorias nelas mesmas, mas em sua pertinência ao "sujeito", que, no final das contas, é um sujeito "psicológico". Eis o interesse que há em retormar os textos de Hegel para fazer jus à "arte de ler" hegeliana.

O autor mostra neste ensaio quais são suas afinidades com a obra de Gérard Lebrun - obra animada por uma interrogação propriamente filosófica sobre a "ilusão como destino do pensamento" - e quais os aspectos em que dela se distancia: o "ponto de controvérsia" pode ser percebido na leitura distinta que ambos fazem da filosofia de Wittgenstein de Merleau-Ponty.

Author: Ioanna Bartsidi (Université Paris Nanterre). Translated by Pedro Sepúlveda Zambrano (UCSH). Gérard Gérard Lebrun (1930-1999) fue un historiador de la filosofía francés y estudioso de Hegel influido por el estructuralismo y la epistemología histórica francesa. Su libro de 1972 La patience du concept marcó el campo de los estudios hegelianos y se convirtió en un referente para las lecturas «no metafísicas» contemporáneas de Hegel en Francia. Insistiendo en la oposición entre discurso representacional y especulativo, Lebrun presenta el (...) pensamiento de Hegel como una filosofía no dogmática, a-sistemática y antifundacionalista de la creación de sentido. Para comprender plenamente lo que está en juego en la interpretación postestructuralista de Lebrun sobre Hegel, este trabajo propone comprenderla como una respuesta al antihegelianismo vehemente de los grandes filósofos franceses de los años 1960 y 1970. Para ello, en primer lugar, intento situar La patience du concept en su contexto filosófico a partir de una lectura comparada del Prefacio de Louis Althusser a Para leer El capital (1965) de Louis Althusser y El orden del discurso (1971) de Michel Foucault. Sostengo que la conceptualización de Lebrun de «lo especulativo hegeliano» como discurso pretende defender a Hegel contra las acusaciones de logocentrismo. Por último, subrayo el uso que Lebrun hace del concepto althusseriano de «corte epistemológico» contra el propio Althusser, en lo que considero un intento de formular una crítica del antihegelianismo como ideología «predicativa». (shrink)

Al netto di alcune eccezioni, non si può certo affermare che la concezione kantiana dell’organismo abbia rappresentato un modello frequente per le spiegazioni del funzionamento dell’organismo nella filosofia della biologia del ventesimo e del ventunesimo secolo. Tuttavia, il filosofo francese della biologia Philippe Huneman fa riferimento a questo tipo di concezione in alcune opere dedicate alla filosofia dell'organismo. Prendendo in analisi alcuni passaggi degli scritti del filosofo Gérard Lebrun, che fu il supervisore della tesi dottorale di Huneman, questo articolo (...) si propone di indagare le possibili influenze che la lettura di Kant proposta da Lebrun potrebbe aver avuto sulla biologia francese contemporanea, in particolare su Huneman. Kant; Lebrun; filosofia; biologia; organismo. (shrink)

The article focuses on the significance that the figural order of discourse, especially by means of syllepsis, has in Kant’s Critique. We follow as a thread the internal aporetic of Kant’s Writings, which the Kantian scholar Gérard Lebrun examined in different articles, in order to outline the reach of what the article displays as a Rhetoric within the limits of mere Reason. This work proposes to contribute to the clarification of the reciprocal dependence between the progress of the self-knowledge (...) process of reason and the formation of rhetorical figures — not only based on the discovery of analogies — which form also part of Kantian theory of objectivity. (shrink)

ESTE TEXTO É UMA TENTATIVA DE ILUMINAR ALGUNS ASPECTOS DO “MÉTODO” LEBRUNIANO DE FAZER HISTÓRIA DA FILOSOFIA.

"Commentateur aussi atypique que profond des œuvres de Kant, Hegel et Nietzsche auxquelles il a consacré trois livres, Kant et la fin de la métaphysique (1970), La Patience du Concept (1972) et L’Envers de la dialectique (2004), Gérard Lebrun gagne, peu à peu, une actualité grandissante, qui réside dans une entière occupation du temps. Après avoir reconsidéré le fameux problème de la « fin de la métaphysique » selon une perspective kantienne, et pour être resté lecteur de Hegel, mais (...) aussi de Hegel et de Nietzsche, quand presque toute la philosophie française des années 60 et 70 désertait la dialectique spéculative en laissant pour toute alternative Hegel ou Nietzsche, Gérard Lebrun a résisté, par le passé, aux passions de son temps. Il livre, au présent, une leçon fondamentale, de l’ordre de la perspective du texte. Sa lecture est sans marges, elle ne s’interrompt pas, elle ouvre sur une lisibilité des œuvres philosophiques indissociable de la maturation des problèmes et de la langue de cette maturation. Cette manière de lire compose toujours en même temps un non-lieu où est le livre (puisqu’il n’est ni un passé, ni un présent, et ni l’un ni l’autre), c’est-à-dire le lieu atopique et scripturaire d’une mémoire où ne cesse de se totaliser l’innombrable des lectures — une lisibilité pour esprit libre."--Page 4 de la couverture. (shrink)

Resumo: O objetivo do presente artigo é contrapor à acusação de tecnofóbico, erroneamente dirigida a Hans Jonas, a sua proposta de uma ethical turn da tecnologia, cujas bases estariam na capacidade ética de impor contenções ao avanço utópico do progresso técnico, algo que leva a ética da responsabilidade ao polêmico conceito de “heurística do temor”. Para tanto, parte-se de um exame sobre o projeto jonasiano de uma filosofia da tecnologia, cuja terceira perspectiva seria valorativa, sendo esta a que ele melhor (...) desenvolveu. A partir daí, analisa-se qual seria o valor da tecnologia, com base no ponto de vista da vida para então se examinar, estrategicamente, a posição de Gerard Lebrun, para quem Jonas estaria entre os filósofos tecnofóbicos. O intuito, nesse caso, é demonstrar a incoerência de tal interpretação, precisamente porque o pensador francês, com grande atuação no Brasil, confunde a proposta da reorientação ética com a imposição de um poder exterior, de cunho paralisante.: The purpose of this article is to counter against the accusation of technophobic, wrongly directed to Hans Jonas, his proposal for an ethical turn of technology, whose bases would be on the ethical capacity to impose restraint on the utopian advance of technical progress, something that leads to the ethics of responsibility to the controversial concept of “heuristic of fear”. To do so, we started from an examination of the Jonasian project of a philosophy of technology, whose third perspective would be valuable, which is the one he developed best. From there, we will analyze what would be the value of technology from the point of view of life and then strategically analyze the position of Gerard Lebrun for whom Jonas should be placed among technophobic philosophers. Our aim, in this case, is to demonstrate the inconsistency of such an interpretation, precisely because the French thinker with an important presence in Brazil, confuses the proposal of ethical reorientation with the imposition of an external power, of a paralyzing type. (shrink)

O presente artigo traz um estudo comparativo das obras de Herder e de Kant, no qual se pretende mostrar como cada um deles compreendia as relações entre o discurso próprio da ciência e o discurso próprio da filosofia. A fim de elucidar as especificidades de cada um desses dois tipos de discurso nas obras de ambos os autores, assumiremos, como ponto de partida de nossa análise, a diferenciação entre "explicar" e "interpretar" feita por Gerard Lebrun, em uma passagem de (...) seu livro Kant e o fim da metafísica. Veremos, por um lado, de que modo Kant procura demarcar os limites entre o discurso "explicativo" próprio do conhecimento científico e o discurso "interpretativo" próprio do saber filosófico; e, por outro, como Herder dissolve essa distinção entre os dois tipos de discurso ao afirmar a existência de uma continuidade entre as faculdades da mente humana. (shrink)

O objetivo do texto é discutir, a partir dos consagrados comentários de Gérard Lebrun e de Louis Guillermit, a importância sistemática da noção de apresentação na Crítica do juízo de Kant.

One effect of information technology is the increasing need to present information visually. The trend raises intriguing questions. What is the logical status of reasoning that employs visualization? What are the cognitive advantages and pitfalls of this reasoning? What kinds of tools can be developed to aid in the use of visual representation? This newest volume on the Studies in Logic and Computation series addresses the logical aspects of the visualization of information. The authors of these specially commissioned papers explore (...) the properties of diagrams, charts, and maps, and their use in problem solving and teaching basic reasoning skills. As computers make visual representations more commonplace, it is important for professionals, researchers and students in computer science, philosophy, and logic to develop an understanding of these tools; this book can clarify the relationship between visuals and information. (shrink)

This book is devoted to a thorough analysis of the role that models play in the practise of physical theory. The authors, a mathematical physicist and a philosopher of science, appeal to the logicians’ notion of model theory as well as to the concepts of physicists.

Explores the origin and evolution of the Greek concept of nature up until the time of Plato.

Current research findings on metaphor in language and thought may be interpreted as producing a paradox of metaphor; that is, most metaphor is not processed metaphorically by a cross-domain mapping involving some form of comparison. This paradox can be resolved by attending to one crucial aspect of metaphor in communication: the question whether metaphor is used as deliberately metaphorical or not. It is likely that most deliberate metaphor is processed metaphorically (by comparison), as opposed to most nondeliberate metaphor, which may (...) be assumed to be typically not processed metaphorically (that is, by categorization). This resolves the paradox of metaphor because it suggests that all “metaphor in communication” (all deliberate metaphor) is processed metaphorically. Detailed comments are offered on the notion of metaphor deliberateness and on the nature of a three-dimensional model of metaphor in discourse involving metaphor in language, thought, and communication. (shrink)

Unlike the first generation of critical theorists, contemporary critical theory has largely ignored technology. This is to the detriment of a critical theory of society – technology is now a central feature of our daily lives and integral to the contemporary form of capitalism. Rather than seek to rescue the first generation’s substantive theory of technology, which has been partly outmoded by historical developments, the approach adopted in this article is to engage with today’s technology through the conceptual apparatus offered (...) by the early Frankfurt School. This rationale is guided by the conviction that the core ideas of critical theory still offer a sound basis for assessing the nature of technology today. Through a reconstruction and engagement with some of the core concepts of first-generation critical theory, as well as the work of Bernard Stiegler and Andrew Feenberg, we can arrive at a more robust theory of technology, capable of critically interrogating the role of technology in contemporary society. (shrink)

Fast moving classical variables can generate quantum mechanical behavior. We demonstrate how this can happen in a model. The key point is that in classically evolving systems one can still define a conserved quantum energy. For the fast variables, the energy levels are far separated, such that one may assume these variables to stay in their ground state. This forces them to be entangled, so that, consequently, the slow variables are entangled as well. The fast variables could be the vacuum (...) fluctuations caused by unknown super heavy particles. The emerging quantum effects in the light particles are expressed by a Hamiltonian that can have almost any form. The entire system is ontological, and yet allows one to generate interference effects in computer models. This seemed to lead to an inexplicable paradox, which is now resolved: exactly what happens in our models if we run a quantum interference experiment in a classical computer is explained. The restriction that very fast variables stay predominantly in their ground state appears to be due to smearing of the physical states in the time direction, preventing their direct detection. Discussions are added of the emergence of quantum mechanics, and the ontology of an EPR/Bell Gedanken experiment. (shrink)

Arif Ahmed has recently argued that causal decision theory is dynamically inconsistent and that we should therefore prefer evidential decision theory. However, the principal formulation of the evidential theory, Richard Jeffrey’s Logic of Decision, has a mixed record of its own when it comes to evaluating plans consistently across time. This note probes that neglected record, establishing the dynamic consistency of evidential decision theory within a restricted class of problems but then illustrating how evidentialists can fall into sequential incoherence outside (...) of this class. Uncovering the evidentialist’s own dynamic inconsistencies reveals, contra Ahmed, that sequential choice considerations do not significantly favor the evidentialist’s theory over the causalist’s. (shrink)

This paper examines patterns of metaphor in usage. Four samples of text excerpts of on average 47,000 words each were taken from the British National Corpus and annotated for metaphor. The linguistic metaphor data were collected by five analysts on the basis of a highly explicit identification procedure that is a variant of the approach developed by the Pragglejaz Group (Metaphor and Symbol 22: 1–39, 2007). Part of this paper is a report of the protocol and the reliability of the (...) procedure. Data analysis shows that, on average, one in every seven and a half lexical units in the corpus is related to metaphor defined as a potential cross-domain mapping in conceptual structure. It also appears that the bulk of the expression of metaphor in discourse consists of non-signalled metaphorically used words, not similes. The distribution of metaphor-related words, finally, turns out to be quite variable between the four registers examined in this study: academic texts have 18.5%, news 16.4%, fiction 11.7%, and conversation 7.7%. The systematic comparative investigation of these registers raises new questions about the relation between cognitive linguistic and other approaches to metaphor. (shrink)

In ‘An argument against causal decision theory’, Jack Spencer shows that standard formulations of causal decision theory run afoul of his Guaranteed Principle. In the sequential choice problem he employs to make this case, the transgression stems from an awkward discrepancy between how causalists typically value present vs future acts. This note suggests a version of causal decision theory that avoids this incongruity and so respects the Guaranteed Principle in Spencer’s problem. However, this formulation, and hence symmetric appraisal of present (...) and future acts, is also shown to be insufficient to secure causalist satisfaction of the Guaranteed Principle in general. (shrink)

There is currently an unrecognised conflict between the utilitarian nature of the overall NHS and the basic deontology of the doctor-patient interaction. This conflict leads to mistrust and misunderstanding between managers and clinicians. This misunderstanding is bad for both doctors and managers, and also leads to waste of time and resources, and poorer services to patients. The utilitarian thinkers tend to value finite, short term, evidence based technical interventions, delivered according to specifications and contracts. They appear happy to break care (...) up into smaller pieces, which can then be commissioned from multiple providers. The deontological thinkers tend to think about care delivered through a long term continuous relationship, and regard that relationship as therapeutic and salutogenic in itself. To them breaking care up into smaller fragments is a denial of what caring is really about. Very rarely are either or both sides of this debate fully aware of where their powerfully felt and often well argued positions start from. In this paper we offer an appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of both moral viewpoints as applied in the UK NHS context and we suggest a way in which they can be reconciled, provided neither is pushed too far or too hard against the other. We believe this reconciliation would be good for patients, doctors, managers and improve the service as a whole. (shrink)

Aristotle's _Nicomachean Ethics_ is one of the most important texts in western philosophy, and arguably the most influential text on contemporary moral theory. This _GuideBook_ introduces and assesses: * Aristotle's life and the background to the _Nicomachean Ethics_ * The ideas and text of the _Nicomachean Ethics_ * Aristotle's central role in philosophy and his continuing contribution to our ethical thought.

There is no general agreement among scholars that Aristotle had a unified concept of phantasia. That is evident from the most cursory glance through the literature. Freudenthal speaks of the contradictions into which Aristotle seems to fall in his remarks about phantasia, and explains the contradictions as due to the border position which phantasia occupies between Wahrnehmung and thinking. Ross, in Aristotle, p. 143, talks of passages on phantasia in De Anima 3. 3 which constitute ‘a reversal of his doctrine (...) of sensation’ and perhaps do not ‘represent his deliberate view’. This is a serious state of affairs, since De Anima 3. 3 is Aristotle’s main discussion of phantasia. Of passages on phantasia, appearances and images in De Anima 3. 3, Hamlyn says: ‘There is clearly little consistency here’. Even Schofield, who is more optimistic about saving the unity of Aristotle’s concept than the last two scholars, grants that ‘some of the inconsistencies of Aristotle’s account seem more than merely apparent’.1 He thinks of Aristotle’s phantasia as a ‘loose-knit, family concept’. My purpose here is to suggest that Aristotle is more consistent in his use of phantasia than his critics will allow him to be. The translation of the term as imagination frequently adds unnecessarily to the confusion, so I shall avoid it and use transliteration instead. (shrink)

Trolley problems and like cases are often thought to show the inadequacy of purely consequentialist moral theories. In particular, they are often taken to reveal that consequentialists unduly neglect the moral significance of the causal structure of decision problems. To precisify such critiques and one sort of deontological morality they motivate, I develop a formal modeling framework within which trolley problems can be represented as suitably supplemented structural causal models and various consequentialist and double effect-inspired moral theories can be viewed (...) as disagreeing over the inputs of a common decision rule. (shrink)

Teaching requires much emotion work which takes its toll on teachers. Emotion work is usually studied from one of two perspectives, a job or an individual perspective. In this study, we assessed the relative importance of these two perspectives in predicting emotional exhaustion. More than 200 teachers completed a questionnaire comprising the DISQ , the Dutch Questionnaire on Emotional Labour , and the UBOS . In line with previous studies, our findings indicated that emotional exhaustion is positively associated with emotional (...) job demands and surface acting. The relative importance of the two operationalisations of emotion work was assessed by comparing the results of two regression analyses. Whereas the model with job demands explained 18% of the variance, the model with emotional labour explained only 5%. In understanding what might contribute to emotional exhaustion in teachers, the emotional job demands might be much more important than the self‐regulation perspective that is measured with emotional labour. (shrink)

In the standard formalism of quantum gravity, black holes appear to form statistical distributions of quantum states. Now, however, we can present a theory that yields pure quantum states. It shows how particles entering a black hole can generate firewalls, which however can be removed, replacing them by the ‘footprints’ they produce in the out-going particles. This procedure can preserve the quantum information stored inside and around the black hole. We then focus on a subtle but unavoidable modification of the (...) topology of the Schwarzschild metric: antipodal identification of points on the horizon. If it is true that vacuum fluctuations include virtual black holes, then the structure of space-time is radically different from what is usually thought. (shrink)