Una obra frecuentemente consultada por Jorge Luis Borges fue Matemáticas e imaginación, de E. Kasner y J. Newman, en la que se discute la teoría de los conjuntos , propuesta por el matemático Georg Cantor , y mediante la cual se crea la aritmética transifinita y se establece un sistema epistémico para representar los diversos niveles del infinito. Así, Cantor le asigna a estas infinitudes la primera letra del alfabeto hebreo, el Aleph, seguido de un determinado número, dependiendo del (...) nivel de infinitud . Borges, de esta manera, teje varias de sus narraciones en las que se trata el tema del infinito y del absoluto; un ejemplo de ello es la colección de relatos bajo el título El Aleph, que abre con el cuento "El inmortal" y cierra con el quele da el título a la colección. Este ensayo tiene el propósito de estudiar "El inmortal" bajo la óptica cantoriana, para hablar de un absoluto en particular: el yo, y sugerir que no es posible establecer un vocabulario final, o una definición definitiva sobre el tema en cuestión. Esta imposibilidad, propone Borges, está dada en parte por la finitud lingüística, mientras que por otro lado la falibilidad de la memoria juega también un papel crucialen todo intento de definición. Sin embargo, como buen ironista, Borges, a través de "El inmortal", es capaz de proveer una redescripción del tema en cuestión mediante un lenguaje transfinito, sin pretender establecer un vocabulario final sobre el tema sino, al contrario, tratando de resolver ciertas paradojas a la vez que revela otras, promoviendo de esta manera el permanente diálogo entre las distintas disciplinas. Aunque este ensayose enfoca en el análisis de "El inmortal", a fin de desarrollar el tema propuesto, también estudia otros relatos contenidos en El Aleph, y utiliza un acercamiento teórico que se enmarca en la filosofía de la lengua. Jorge Luis Borges often consulted Mathematics and Imagination, by E. Kasner and J. Newman, where set theory is addressed . This theory was proposed by Georg Cantor and by it transfinite arithmetic is established and an epistemic system is created to represent different levels of the infinite. This way Cantor labels the different levels of the infinite by assigning to each the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Aleph, followed by a number, depending on level of the infinite he is referring to . Following these ideas, Borges weaves several narratives in which the infinite and the absolute are discussed. An example of such narratives is the collection of stories compiled under the title The Aleph, which opens with "The Immortal" and closes with the story that gives the collection its title. The objective of this paper is to study "The Immortal" under the Cantorian lens to discuss one particular absolute, the self, and to suggest that it is impossible to establish a final vocabulary, or a definite definition, about this topic. This impossibility, Borges proposes, is in part due to the apparent finitude of language while at the same time the fallible attributes of human memory also is crucial when it comes to defining anything. However, as the ironist Borges is, he is capable of providing through "The Immortal" a re-description of these issues by means of a transfinite language that resolves some paradoxes while at the same time reveals others. By this way of writing, I propose, Borges fosters the continuation of the dialogue among the different disciplines. Though I will center my analysis on "The Immortal", to develop these ideas I also revisit other stories contained in The Aleph departing from a theoretical approach rooted in the philosophy of language. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:.. MERELY A MAN OF LETTERS" an interview with Jorge Luis Borges* Philosophy and Literature: Why don't you tell us about some of the philosophers who have influenced your work and in whom you have been the most interested? Jorge Luis Borges: Well, I think that's an easy one. You might talk in terms of two: Berkeley and Schopenhauer. But I suppose Hume might be worked in (...) also, because, after all, Hume refutes Berkeley. Really, he comes from Berkeley—even if Berkeley comes from Locke. You might think of Locke, of Berkeley, and of Hume as being three links in an argument..... But I suppose that when someone refutes someone else in philosophy, he is carrying on the argument. P&L: And Schopenhauer? Borges: Schopenhauer is very different from Hume. Of course, Schopenhauer had his idea of the Will. That is not to be found in Hume.... The case of Berkeley was different. I suppose he thought of God as being aware of all things all the time, if I don't get him wrong. If we go away, does this room disappear? No, because God is thinking about it. Now, in the case of Schopenhauer, I was rereading Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, The World as Will and Idea, and I was rather taken aback, or baffled I should say, puzzled by something that keeps on recurring in Schopenhauer. Of course it may have been a slip of the pen, but as he goes back to it, and as he was a very careful writer, I wonder if it is a slip of the pen. For example, Schopenhauer begins by saying that the universe, the stars, the spaces in between, the planets, *On April 14, 1976, two editors of Philosophy and Literature, along with an interested colleague, interviewed Jorge Luis Borges at Michigan State University, where he held a position as visiting professor for the winter term. These remarks are edited from the transcript of that conversation. 337 338Philosophy and Literature this planet, those things, have no existence—except in the mind which perceives them. But then, to my surprise—and I suppose you can explain this to me, since you are philosophers and I am not—what Schopenhauer says is that all those things have no existence except in the brain. And that the universe—I remember these words, I don't think I'm inventing them now—"ist ein Gehirnphänomen," that the world is a cerebral phenomenon. Now, I was baffled. Because, of course, if you think of the universe, I suppose the brain is as much a part of the external world as the stars or the moon. The brain after all is a system of visual, of tactile, perceptions. He keeps on insisting on the brain. I don't think, for example, that Bishop Berkeley insists on the brain, or Hume, who would have insisted on the mind, consciousness. P&L: People sometimes say that they see Berkeley in stories like "Orbis Tertius." Borges: Yes, I suppose they do. Well, of course. But in that story I was led by literary means also. P&L: How do you distinguish the literary from the philosophical means in that story? Could you explain that? Borges: Very easily.... Encyclopedias have been my chief reading. I have always been interested in encyclopedias. I used to go to the Biblioteca National in Buenos Aires—and since I was so shy, I felt I could not cope with asking for a book, so I looked on the shelves for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I would pick up any chance volume and I would read it. One night I was richly rewarded, because I read all about the Druses, Dryden and the Druids—a treasure trove, no?—all in the same volume, "Dr-." Then I came to the idea of how fine it would be to think of an encyclopedia... a very rigorous one of course, of an imaginary world, where everything should be linked. For example, you would have a language and then a literature, and then a history and so on. Then I thought I would write a story of a fancy encyclopedia. Of course that would require many different people to write it... (shrink)

This is the text of the Claudio Rozzoni's interview with Jorge Molder that took place in Portuguese on June 21, 2018, at the artist's atelier in Lisbon. English translation by Claudio Rozzoni.

This is the first book-length study of Descartes's metaphysics to place it in its immediate historical context, the Late Scholastic philosophy of thinkers such as Suárez against which Descartes reacted. Jorge Secada views Cartesian philosophy as an 'essentialist' reply to the 'existentialism' of the School, and his discussion includes careful analyses and original interpretations of such central Cartesian themes as the role of scepticism, intentionality and the doctrine of the material falsity of ideas, universals and the relation between sense (...) and understanding, causation and the proofs of the existence of God, the theory of substance, and the dualism of mind and matter. His study offers a picture of Descartes's metaphysics that is both novel and philosophically illuminating. (shrink)

Martin Buber believed that life's deepest truth lies in human relationships. In this classic work he puts this belief into practice, applying it to the concrete problems of contemporary society.

In this unique book, leading legal scholars and philosophers provide a breadth of perspectives and inspire stimulating debate around the transformations of jurisprudence in a globalized world. Traditionally the central debates surrounding jurisprudence and legal theory are concerned with the elucidation of the particularities of state-law. This innovative book considers that this orthodox picture may no longer be tenable, given the increasing standardization of technologies, systems and information worldwide.Split across four thematic parts, this timely book provides a broad overview of (...) the topic, followed by in depth analyses investigating the modifications to jurisprudence's methodological approaches driven by globalization, the concepts and theoretical tools required to account for putative new forms of legal phenomena, and normative issues relating to the legitimacy and democratic character of these legal orders. Chapters cover legal encounters with alterity in a post-monist mode, normative legal pluralism, relating law and power in a historical global context, cosmopolitan legitimacy and human rights and dignity in a corporate world.Jurisprudence in a Globalized World will be a key resource for students and scholars working in global transnational law, public international law and legal theory and philosophy. (shrink)

Jörg Baur compares the the entries ‘orthodoxe’, ‘orthodoxie’, ‘l’hérésie’ and ‘l’hérétique’ of the classic ‘Encyclopédie’ with the corresponding articles in the less well-known ‘Encyclopédie Méthodique’ of Abbé Bergier, who was confessor to members of the Royal Household in Paris. With France as the model, the analysis of these short texts serves to cast some light on the complex process which led to the dissolution of the ‘Constantinian’ alliance between the ruling political forces on the one hand and the church and (...) the faith it propagated on the other. The aim of the articles published in 1765 is obvious: No single religious conviction, nor any ecclesiastical institution representing it, should have the support of the ‘King’ in making presumptuous claims of exclusive and universal prevalence. Consequently, any social discrimination or psychological defamation of ‘heretics’ is denounced. Interestingly, this critical approach does not result in a fundamental rejection of Christianity itself. Rather, on the eve of the Revolution, the ecclesiastical texts see traditional religion endangered by the ‘forceful minds’ and their potentially violent, destructive determination. They foresee antireligious pressure, but have nothing to set against it except helpless protestations of the innocence of the true believers. This ecclesiastical impotence compels us today to analyse with an open mind the distortions of the Christian project of ‘orthodoxy’, a project which was originally intended to combine the collective validity of universal truth with the liberating influence of individual insight. (shrink)

En mayo de 2003 se celebró la duodécima edición de las «Conferencias Aranguren». Jorge Semprún dictó tres conferencias magistrales tituladas «Kant y la mochila del maquis», «El mal radical y las letrinas de Buchenwald» y «Literatura y memoria del mal: de Sartre a Paul Ricoeur», agrupadas todas ellas bajo el título genérico de Memoria del mal. El hilo conductor de las tres intervenciones fue la experiencia de Semprún como deportado político en el campo de concentración de Buchenwald, tan cercano (...) al Weimar de Schiller y Goethe. Allí pudo experimentar el mal radical, pero también la fraternidad, a través de los grupos de resistencia antifascista que coordinaban en el campo los distintos grupos políticos clandestinos. Esta experiencia le sirvió para repasar las lecturas filosóficas que había realizado en su época de estudiante de Filosofía en la Sorbona, así como las que le interesaron una vez terminada la guerra. De esta forma, Semprún hizo un recorrido por distintos autores argumentando la relación de los mismos con el problema del mal. (shrink)

A first-of-its-kind book that seriously and profoundly examines what it means philosophically to be Latino and where Latinos fit in American society. Offers a fresh perspective and clearer understanding of Latin American thought and culture, rejecting answers based on stereotypes and fear Takes an interdisciplinary approach to the philosophical, social, and political elements of Hispanic/Latino identity, touching upon anthropology, history, cultural studies and sociology, as well as philosophy Written by Jorge J. E. Gracia, one of the most influential thinkers (...) of Hispanic/Latino descent. (shrink)

Der Artikel beschreibt in anthropologischen und kulturwissenschaftlichen Zugängen zu den Begriffen Risiko und Gefahr, Kontingenz und Angst sowie zu ihren Kompensationstechniken wie Prävention, Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung, Versicherung und Risikowissen mit Blick auf die Geschichte wie auf systematische Aspekte die Bedeutung des Risikos für das menschliche Leben. Die größte anthropologische Gefahr bei einem am Risiko orientierten Leben besteht wohl darin, dieses nur unter den Aspekten der Kalkulation zu verstehen. Wenn Wirklichkeit letztlich nichts anderes ist als ein kalkulierbares Risiko, dann gerät die Realität unter (...) das Vorzeichen der Virtualität, zu einem abstrakten Raum von Kontingenzen, den man auch anders beschreiben oder berechnen kann. Der Mensch wird zu einer abstrakten Fiktion, zu einem homo oeconomicus als homo virtualis – der errechnet und kalkuliert werden kann. „Auf Sicht zu fahren beziehungsweise Sichtfahrbetrieb bedeutet, dass bei der Bewegung eines Fahrzeugs der Fahrzeugführer zumindest anteilig selbst durch Hinsehen feststellt, dass die Fahrt gefahrlos möglich ist.“ Wikipedia. (shrink)

By elaborating on the results presented in Lógica cuántica, Nmatrices y adecuación I, here we discuss the notions of adequacy and truth functionality in quantum logic from the point of view of a non-deterministic semantics based on Nmatrices. We present a proof of the impossibility of providing a functional semantics for the quantum lattice. An advantage of our proof is that it is independent of the number of truth values involved, generalizing previous works. Due to the impossibility of defining adequate (...) interpreting sets for the conjunction and disjunction (as was shown in our previous work), it follows that a homomorphism between the lattice of quantum projections and a Boolean algebra of n-elements cannot exist. (shrink)

Existe una tendencia en los estudios CTS contemporáneos a contraponer modelos deficitarios y modelos democráticos de divulgación científica. Esta contraposición suele apoyarse en lo que se conoce como el nuevo contrato social sobre ciencia y tecnología, y puede formularse así: mientras el viejo contrato social implicaba un modelo deficitario de divulgación científica, el nuevo contrato social implica un modelo democrático, que no es deficitario. En este artículo, defiendo la tesis de que dicha contraposición está mal fundada por dos razones. En (...) primer lugar, el nuevo contrato social es compatible con diversos modelos democráticos de divulgación científica, y estos modelos no son compatibles entre sí necesariamente. En segundo lugar, algunos de estos modelos democráticos pueden calificarse también como deficitarios. Esto deja abierta la pregunta de cómo entender la divulgación científica en el marco del nuevo contrato social sobre ciencia y tecnología. (shrink)

In this work, we discuss the failure of the principle of truth functionality in the quantum formalism. By exploiting this failure, we import the formalism of N-matrix theory and non-deterministic semantics to the foundations of quantum mechanics. This is done by describing quantum states as particular valuations associated with infinite non-deterministic truth tables. This allows us to introduce a natural interpretation of quantum states in terms of a non-deterministic semantics. We also provide a similar construction for arbitrary probabilistic theories based (...) in orthomodular lattices, allowing to study post-quantum models using logical techniques. (shrink)

The issue of happiness makes a significant re-entrance into contemporary philosophical thought. From the perspective of individual ethics, two aspects take center-stage: the continuation of the program of Eudaimonia as reasonable self-determination towards good and the experience of momentary episodic happiness which surpasses the individual quest. This essay tries to combine these elements into a theological notion ofhappiness by arguing for re-evaluation ofthe quest-driven approach ofEudaimonia that in turn has obtained its impulse through a momentary experience of transcendence.

Anlässlich des 75. Todestages von Rudolf Otto veranstaltete die Philipps-Universität Marburg einen Internationalen Kongress. Ottos Religionsbegriff basiert auf der Erfahrung des Heiligen. Das stellt für die gegenwärtigen Debatten in der Theologie, der Religionsphilosophie, der Religionsästhetik und schließlich auch wieder in der Religionswissenschaft ein beachtliches Anregungspotenzial bereit. Der Band dokumentiert die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der gegenwärtigen Beschäftigung mit Otto in internationaler Perspektive.

Guiado pela investigação lógica e buscando sistematicamente denunciar e desfazer anacronismos, este discreto estudo questiona a tradução mais recorrente do verbete grego agathos, isto é, “Bom/Bem”, e, confirmando sua limitação e, em alguns casos, sua total inaplicabilidade, propõe “sentir-se bem” como tradução correta. De fato, uma vez testada a nova semântica nos textos aqui estudados, confirmou-se ser ela a mais apropriada e verdadeira.

This book gathers an interdisciplinary group of thinkers to ask if intersubjective acts of relating can be transferred to artificial beings without remainder. Using the uncanny valley model developed by Masahiro Mori, this significant contribution to performance philosophy presents a clear framework to consider aesthetic experience beyond mimesis.

In his philosophical works, Aquinas spends some effort establishing why cognitive beings differ from those that are not able to have a cognitive, i.e., intentional, grasp of the exterior world. Prima facie, the matter is clear, since only those beings acquire knowledge that have the proper powers to do so. One remark, however, while discussing the nature of change in the process of visual perception, strikes the reader as particularly odd, since Aquinas states that “a ‘spiritual alteration’ occurs in virtue (...) of a species’ being received in a sense organ or in the medium in the manner of an intention.” Whereas it is not problematic to think that perceptions and thoughts are intentional, it seems peculiar to talk of the species in the medium as being received “in the manner of an intention.” While current interpretations propose that Aquinas’s account is either erroneous or in need of rectification, I would like to argue that the notion of mind-independent or non-cognitive intentions, which follows the Avicennian tradition, is rooted in a peculiar theory of sensible form. Given that the intentions in the medium make sense, it is, however, important to show that they differ from those intentions that are apprehended by cognitive powers. For this purpose, I will try to trace the underlying physics for cognitive change, showing that an account in terms of qualitative change leads one to posit a proper recipient of sensible forms, i.e., the sense powers. (shrink)

Experiencing ethics not only refers to being confronted with a situation in which one must choose a course of action; it also makes reference to giving a narrative account of the circumstances and chain of events leading to such crossroads. Between both there is a chasm, a space of indeterminacy into which R. Musil and L. Sterne delve with aesthetic means. Their poetics move in opposite directions, but by following them to their last critical consequences this study reveals a kindred (...) ethical stance. This interpretation sheds light on the ethics revolving around character construction by examining the constraints thwarting any attempt to complete a biographical account or convey a protagonist that led his or her life. Neither Musil nor Sterne posit a narrative agenda that could reach a last chapter or lead to a groundwork determining their ethics. A closer look into their tight-knit prose reveals that both rely on the narrating, on a skill that must be incessantly cultivated through a digressive or essayistic style. Equipped with a vast theoretical repertoire, this approach makes a strong case for a new constellation in comparative literature. (shrink)

En este artículo damos a conocer ciertos documentos que nos aportan nuevos indicios para conocer cuál ha sido la trayectoria seguida por un cuadro atribuido a Zurbarán que perteneció a la Congregación del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri de Sevilla y que, con el tiempo, pasó amanos diferentes. Tal circunstancia nos sirve de pretexto para trazar, bien que someramente, un breve relato acerca de las vicisitudes en las que se vieron inmersos los patrimonios artísticos de los dos templos que sirvieron (...) de marco a las celebraciones religiosas de los oratorianos sevillanos, a saber, la desaparecida iglesia de San Felipe Neri y el templo del antiguo colegio carmelitano de San Alberto. (shrink)

The questions inherent to the relationship between time and freedom reach their maturity in the works of Hegel and Schelling. In this article, we will attend particularly to the latter since the way opened by his "Investigations on the essence of human freedom" derives quite clearly into the successive attempts of exposition of a system of time in the "Ages of the World" and in the Lessons of München . Following Schelling's development, then, we will try to understand why in (...) the post-Kantian idealism the search for a philosophy of the spirit as a system of freedom leads to treat "time" not only as an a priori intuition of sensibility but as an inherent determination of the absolute, and in that sense, why in Schelling's thought system of freedom and system of time are equivalent to the exposition of the absolute.Las cuestiones inherentes a la relación entre tiempo y libertad alcanzan su madurez en las obras de Hegel y Schelling. En el presente artículo atenderemos de manera particular a este último, ya que el camino abierto por sus Investigaciones sobre la esencia de la libertad humana deriva con cierta claridad en los sucesivos intentos de exposición de un sistema del tiempo en las Edades del mundo y en las Lecciones de München . Siguiendo el desarrollo de Schelling, pues, intentaremos comprender por qué en el idealismo postkantiano la búsqueda de una filosofía del espíritu como sistema de la libertad conduce a tratar el "tiempo" ya no sólo como una intuición a priori de la sensibilidad sino como una determinación inherente al absoluto, y, en tal sentido, por qué en el pensamiento de Schelling sistema de la libertad y sistema del tiempo equivalen a la exposición del absoluto. (shrink)

O presente artigo analisa como funcionam os processos de avaliação da crítica musical em função de um distanciamento estético-temporal, seus modos de construir ou reverberar valores de obras artísticas e/ou objetos culturais. Assim, nos debruçamos sobre críticas musicais do álbum Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, da banda The Beatles, produzidas em 1967 e 2017. O disco é considerado icônico tanto para a cultura pop quanto para o gênero rock, de modo que interpretamos as transformações nos valores culturais associados à (...) obra e demonstramos as marcas estéticas que emergem na relação com o álbum, originalmente lançado em 1967. (shrink)

Este artículo rastrea la presencia del realismo, el empirismo y el sinequismo en las teorías de la cognición de Aristóteles y de Charles S. Peirce. Los dos primeros términos se relacionan comúnmente con ambos autores, pero aquí se quiere precisar en detalle qué semejanzas y diferencias hay entre el realismo y el empirismo de estos dos filósofos. De otro lado, el sinequismo se relaciona solo con Peirce, mientras que a Aristóteles se le ubica precisamente como opositor a cualquier idea de (...) continuidad e infinito. Lo que se quiere mostrar aquí es que, al menos en el ámbito de la cognición, Aristóteles es también un sinequista. Otro punto importante del artículo es que intenta criticar y corregir la interpretación que hace Peirce del empirismo de Aristóteles al intentar erróneamente de afirmar que el filósofo griego es un intuicionista. (shrink)