The authors of Habits of the Heart charge that America is losing the institutions that help “to create the kind of person who could sustain a connection to a wider political community and thus ultimately support the maintenance of free institutions.” Bellah fears that “individualism may have grown cancerous – that it may be destroying those social integuments that Tocqueville saw as moderating its more destructive potentials, that it may be threatening the survival of freedom itself.” Proponents of the liberal (...) free market order should, I will argue, take seriously the concerns that motivate Bellah and company: citizens of a liberal regime cannot live by exchanges alone. Liberal constitutionalism depends upon a certain level and quality of citizen virtue. But while the need for virtue is often neglected by liberal theorists, it is far from clear that the actual workings of liberal institutions have drastically undermined virtue in the way Bellah's dire account suggests. That analysis serves, moreover, as the springboard for a radically transformist argument that seeks, not so much to elevate and shape, but to transcend and deny, the self-interestedness that the free market exercises. Having argued against Bellah's analysis and prescriptions, I shall attempt to show how the phenomena he describes are open to an interpretation that is happier from the point of view of a concern with virtue. I shall end by using Tocqueville to suggest that combining liberal capitalism with intermediate associations like voluntary groups and state and local government helps elevate and shape self-interest, promoting a citizenry capable of and insistent upon liberal self-government. (shrink)

"It's the animal in us," we often hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality. -/- In this provocative book, primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes. Science has thus exacerbated our reciprocal habits of blaming nature when we act badly and labeling (...) the good things we do as "humane." Seeking the origin of human morality not in evolution but in human culture, science insists that we are moral by choice, not by nature. -/- Citing remarkable evidence based on his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal attacks "Veneer Theory," which posits morality as a thin overlay on an otherwise nasty nature. He explains how we evolved from a long line of animals that care for the weak and build cooperation with reciprocal transactions. Drawing on both Darwin and recent scientific advances, de Waal demonstrates a strong continuity between human and animal behavior. In the process, he also probes issues such as anthropomorphism and human responsibilities toward animals. -/- Based on the Tanner Lectures de Waal delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2004, Primates and Philosophers includes responses by the philosophers Peter Singer, Christine M. Korsgaard, and Philip Kitcher and the science writer Robert Wright. They press de Waal to clarify the differences between humans and other animals, yielding a lively debate that will fascinate all those who wonder about the origins and reach of human goodness. (shrink)

The banner of deliberative democracy is attracting increasing numbers of supporters, in both the world's older and newer democracies. This effort to renew democratic politics is widely seen as a reaction to the dominance of liberal constitutionalism. But many questions surround this new project. What does deliberative democracy stand for? What difference would deliberative practices make in the real world of political conflict and public policy design? What is the relationship between deliberative politics and liberal constitutional arrangements? The 1996 publication (...) of Amy Gutmann and Dennis F. Thompsons Democracy and Disagreement was a signal contribution to the ongoing debate over the role of moral deliberation in democratic politics. In Deliberative Politics an all-star cast of political, legal, and moral commentators seek to criticize, extend, or provide alternatives to Gutmann and Thompson's hopeful model of democratic deliberation. The essays discuss the value and limits of moral deliberation in politics, and take up practical policy issues such as abortion, affirmative action, and health care reform. Among the impressive roster of contributors are Norman Daniels, Stanley Fish, William A. Galston, Jane Mansbridge, Cass R. Sunstein, Michael Walzer, and Iris Marion Young, and the editor of the volume, Stephen Macedo. The book concludes with a thoughtful response from Gutmann and Thompson to their esteemed critics. This fine collection is essential reading for anyone who takes seriously the call for a more deliberative politics. (shrink)

Resenha do livro "Marilena Chaui: pensamento, afetos e análise da obra", de Daysi Bregantini (Org.).

O prazer da leitura, a formação do leitor e os novos conhecimentos promovidos pela interpretação do ator Odilon Esteves são salientados neste capítulo para fomentar uma reflexão sobre o uso didático das palestras cênicas na formação cultural e na ressignificação da vida na contemporaneidade. O universo poético acessado pelo ator-leitor é composto de contos, poesia e prosa recheados de subjetividade e paixão na visitação das obras literárias a que teve acesso pela via dos afetos. Sob a égide do paradigma do (...) questionamento do mundo, as obras são visitadas e estudadas em busca de compreensão das razões de existência e permanência. Na decifração das palavras, por um processo de apreensão do subjetivo e do singular, o ator-leitor-autor utiliza a percepção crítica da realidade e a reescrita do lido para apreender os múltiplos significados dos textos apresentados. Enfim, um convite a uma travessia afetiva por livros e autores que aguçam a curiosidade e ampliam o conhecimento do leitor. (shrink)

The irrecusable consolidation of an expansion-consumption-tolerance regime rectifies every symbolic manifestation of the present in a common life. The symptoms of today's civilization of consumption, in subjectivities and in their bodies, sum up the composition of suitable orders - of individual and collective relations - under the signs of economic development, legal guarantees, vulgar erotomania, and banal liberalities; who have magnetized themselves, minions, at all levels of experience and culture in the present time. The present signs and codes of a (...) kind of generalized indifference convolve all the complex structures and performances of power into increasingly precise scripts, upon which the desubstantiation of reality and the experiences of a paroxysmal absence become ontologically imprinted. In our attempt to analyze and unleash the new reality of technology, control and consumption without locks, we will evoke the last Foucault, who formulates - in the synthesis of an original ontology of the present - the prospect of possible new ethical dispositions of the subjects and their bodies, specifically by updating a singular aesthetization of their own existences. (shrink)

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo expor as implicações do conceito de estrangeiro no campo político da cidadania. Dito de outro modo, a propõe-se aqui compreender o que torna o ser humano um cidadão, elemento inserido na rotina e na jurisdição da cidade, e o estrangeiro, ente esvaziado de características políticas, e como a polaridade cidadão-estrangeiro se configura na relação entre países após a Modernidade. Para tal, foram visitados os acordos internacionais vigentes de direitos do homem, bem como os textos (...) do filósofo grego Aristóteles confrontados com as ideias do pensador italiano Giorgio Agamben sobre a mesma questão. (shrink)

Em sua obra Sufismo e Taoísmo, Toshihiko Izutsu aponta o paralelismo existente entre estas duas correntes aparentemente díspares. Um ponto fulcral no qual se apoia o estudo comparativo de Izutsu é a origem xamânica dos dois movimentos sapienciais. Tomando como correta esta raiz apontada por Izutsu, pretendemos discutir neste artigo como estas “experiências xamânicas” podem ter dado origem a filosofias tão sofisticadas e elaboradas. Isso será realizado através do questionamento da localização destes dois fenômenos entre a filosofia e a religião, (...) passando pela discussão do significado do termo Sufismo e seguindo em direção à caracterização destes como expressões de experiências que só podem ser entendidas no âmbito da mística que, sob alguns aspectos, é diferente tanto da religião quanto da filosofia. (shrink)

In the U.S., and elsewhere, populism has been democracy’s way of shaking elites up. We can view populism in part as a revolt of the losers, or perceived losers, of globalization. Yet elites have often paid too little heed to the domestic distributive impact of high immigration and globalized trade. Immigration and globalization are also spurring forms of nativism and demagoguery that threaten both democratic deliberation and undermine progressive political coalitions. The challenge now is to find the most reasonable – (...) or least unreasonable – responses to the new politics of resentment: ways that recognize that egalitarian liberalism and social democracy are national projects and preserve progressive political coalitions, while also acknowledging our interconnections, duties, and moral obligations to those beyond our borders. (shrink)

Se analiza el concepto de actividad infinita del yo, desarrollado en la Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre de 1794-1795. Se afirma la gran relevancia de este concepto para la reconstrucción de la teoría fichteana de la autoconciencia, al desvelar la estructura interna de la actividad del yo y su relación con conceptos como reflexión e impulso inicial (Anstoβ), lo que aporta elementos relevantes para la comprensión del sistema.

Resumo Moisés Maimônides é um dos mais importantes pensadores medievais. Sua obra filosófica o Guia dos perplexos não apenas se tornou uma referência fundamental para os pensadores judeus até os dias atuais, mas também exerceu intensa influência sobre os autores latinos durante a escolástica cristã. O Guia aborda diversos temas, dentre eles, há a questão do mal. Maimônides não acredita na existência de um mal substancial. Sem estatuto ontológico próprio, o mal é meramente privação do bem e se divide em (...) três classes: mal natural, o mal que um homem inflige a outro ou aos demais em geral e aquele mal que o homem causa a si mesmo. Este artigo visa expor a perspectiva racionalista de Maimônides sobre a questão do mal e a fundamentação desta na matéria, a importância da Lei, bem como sua consequente proposta de conduta ética.Moses Maimonides is one of the most important medieval thinkers. His philosophical work, The Guide for the Perplexed, has not only became a fundamental reference for Jewish thinkers up to the present day, but it also exerted a strong influence on Latin philosophers during the Scholastic period. The Guide covers several themes, and among them is the issue of evil. Maimonides does not believe in the existence of a substantial evil. Evil does not have ontological status and is merely the privation of good. It can be divided into three types: natural evil, the evil that a man imposes on others, and the evil that a man causes to himself. This article intends to explain Maimonides’ rationalistic approach to the question of evil and its grounding in matter, the importance of Jewish Law, as well as the notion of ethical conduct that follows from this approach. (shrink)

Stephen Macedo; Multiculturalism for the Religious Right? Defending Liberal Civic Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 29, Issue 2, 30 May 2006.

I address the long-standing problem of toleration in diverse liberal societies in light of the progress of same-sex marriage and continued vehement opposition to it from a significant portion of the population. I advance a view that contrasts with recent discussions by Teresa Bejan, Mere Civility, and especially Cecile Laborde, Liberalism’s Religion. Laborde emphasizes the importance of state sovereignty in fixing the boundaries of church and state, emphasizing the priority of public authority and constitutional supremacy. I argue that emphasis on (...) priority needs to be complemented by a recognition of the importance of forms of reconciliation that go beyond ‘mere civility’. Reflections on toleration in the liberal and democratic traditions – including in the canonical discussions of Locke, Rousseau, Smith and Tocqueville, and in more recent political science – have recognized that the health of liberal democracy benefits enormously from the educative and morally formative resources furnished by religious c... (shrink)

The essays in Part III of the book, on liberal constraints and traditionalist education, argue for a more regulatory conception of liberal education and emphasize the need for some controls over cultural and religious educational authority. In the last chapter, on liberalism and group rights, according to Stephen Macedo, while the commitment of liberalism to individual freedom and equality is far more easily reconciled with group-based remedies for group-based inequalities than the critics of liberalism allow, the liberal commitment to (...) freedom of association imposes limits on group recognition by insisting on intragroup openness and diversity. The chapter has two main parts. Section 15.1, Liberalism, Education, and Group Identities, rebuts the charge that a liberal public philosophy embraces a narrow individualism that is incompatible with tackling group-based forms of inequality, and surveys some of the myriad liberal reforms of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s that promoted more equal respect for differing group identities, especially in schools. Section 15.2, Special Exemptions and the Rights of Traditional Communities, focuses on the difficulties raised by “traditionalistic” groups that seek special accommodations in part because they reject liberal values of equal freedom for all, and makes the point that a liberal regime should not seek to be equally hospitable or accommodating to groups that accept and those that reject educational policies designed to promote the equal freedom of all persons; various examples are presented and discussed. (shrink)

"It's the animal in us," we often hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality. In this provocative book, primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes. Science has thus exacerbated our reciprocal habits of blaming nature when we act badly and labeling the (...) good things we do as "humane." Seeking the origin of human morality not in evolution but in human culture, science insists that we are moral by choice, not by nature. Citing remarkable evidence based on his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal attacks "Veneer Theory," which posits morality as a thin overlay on an otherwise nasty nature. He explains how we evolved from a long line of animals that care for the weak and build cooperation with reciprocal transactions. Drawing on both Darwin and recent scientific advances, de Waal demonstrates a strong continuity between human and animal behavior. In the process, he also probes issues such as anthropomorphism and human responsibilities toward animals. Based on the Tanner Lectures de Waal delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2004, Primates and Philosophers includes responses by the philosophers Peter Singer, Christine M. Korsgaard, and Philip Kitcher and the science writer Robert Wright. They press de Waal to clarify the differences between humans and other animals, yielding a lively debate that will fascinate all those who wonder about the origins and reach of human goodness. (shrink)

A política da morte tem atravessado o mundo contemporâneo de forma cada vez mais agressiva. Como enfrentamento, a produção de arte e conhecimento tem resistido das maneiras que lhe são viáveis. A geopoética (WHITE, 2016) – uma poética da terra – pode ser considerada, nesse e noutros contextos, uma ferramenta teórico-crítica para reavaliar a posição humana perante o planeta, ante si enquanto espécie e diante da alteridade. Assim, aproveitando o conceito referido, abordarei textos literários ao mesmo tempo em que discutirei (...) pontos relacionados à geopoética, um possível operador de leitura, sobretudo contrapondo-se à necropolítica, na tentativa de uma ressignificação. (shrink)

This book compares the respective concepts of the law of nations put forward by the Spanish theologian Francisco Suárez and by the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius. This comparison is based on the fact that both thinkers developed quite similar notions and were the first to depart from the Roman conception, which persisted throughout the entire Middle Ages and the early Renaissance. In Rome, jus gentium was a law that applied to foreigners within the Empire, and one which was often mistaken (...) for Natural Law itself. These two features can be found even in the works of writers such as Francisco de Vitória and Alberico Gentili. In Suárez and Grotius, the law of nations is applicable to an extra-national domain and inarguably becomes positive law. Yet, it also contains an ethical element that prevents it from transforming into a mere reflection of state interests. This work argues that this resemblance is hardly a coincidence: Grotius has read Suárez, and that influence has modified the foundations of his early thoughts on jus gentium. This should not be taken to imply that the Dutch jurist wasn't original: in both authors, the definition of the law of nations pursues his own internal logic. Nevertheless, Suárez's oeuvre allowed Grotius to solve a fundamental problem touched on in his early writings that had remained unanswered. Accordingly, his oeuvre promises to clarify one of the most significant moments in the History of International Law. (shrink)

Democracy is in crisis and one core feature is a communications crisis: a failure of institutions to reliably generate and curate the circulation of information and communications. Capitalism, the internet and Covid have all been unkind to journalism: newspapers and their reporters have been decimated. Newer media – such as Facebook, Twitter and Google – have amassed enormous power in a remarkably short time. They are the new gatekeepers of free expression, as witnessed by the Twitter ban of Donald Trump. (...) Social media platforms are also the bullhorns of disinformation: they seem to exacerbate polarization, sow distrust, speed the spread of misinformation and encourage conspiracist thinking. Can the media companies be trusted to self-regulate? What alternatives do we have? I argue in the end that the Facebook Oversight Board offers a hopeful model. (shrink)

This paper reviews computational models of surprise, with a specific focus on the authors’ probabilistic, contrast model. The contrast model casts surprise, and its intensity, as emerging from the difference between the probability of the surprising event and the probability of the highest expected‐event in a given situation. Strong arguments are made for the central role of surprise in creativity and learning by natural and artificial agents.

RESUMO Este artigo apresenta uma investigação sobre narrativas de gênero produzidas por um grupo de acadêmicas cabo-verdianas, focando nas suas perspectivas acerca dos discursos recentes sobre feminismo. Ao nível analítico lexical, a análise das narrativas teve como suporte o Sistema de Avaliatividade. Ao nível analítico interpretativo, as representações das narradoras foram analisadas e acordo com a abordagem de Fairclough em conjuntos de conceitos de Estudos feministas. Os resultados apontam que o termo gênero foi usado como sinônimo de equilíbrio entre os (...) sexos. Esta perspectiva permitiu que as narradoras se posicionassem no sentido de que as relações desiguais de gênero afetam ambos os gêneros, mesmo tendo conhecimento que historicamente as condições de vida mulheres foram construídas em de desvantagem em relação aos homens. O pouco uso dos termos feminista/feminismo foi atrelado a significados atributivos e avaliativos que os representavam como ‘muito fortes’. Neste sentido, estes termos parecem se referir a uma agenda excludente que diz respeito apenas às necessidades das mulheres. Em conclusão, as avaliações das participantes sobre as categorias gênero e feminismo expressam a complexidade de suas experiências locais, que algumas vezes são representadas como contraditórias. (shrink)