I argue in this paper that Gorgias’ Helen has a didactic element that has been overlooked by contemporary critique. I show in section I that Gorgias’ presents a commonsensical pattern of argumentation (the Gods and physical violence) to prepare the reader to the following digressions on logos and on love. I analyze in section II the argument on logos and argue that its reasoning structure depends on the two previous arguments, i.e., that Gorgias transforms logos into a sort of violence. (...) I argue in section III that the argument on love depends on the same transformation. In the end, I show that Helen is both a coherent and a didactic speech. (shrink)

Este artigo discute uma hipótese hermenêutica da exegese de Platão com o intuito de mostrar que, ante os paradigmas de leitura existentes, ela oferece resposta original para o problema da crítica aos diálogos médios contida nos diálogos tardios. Depois de comentar algumas dificuldades da interpretação de Platão (seção I) e a vigência de diferentes paradigmas de interpretação dos Diálogos, a hipótese basanística é apresentada (seção II) com auxílio de dois trechos da República. Em seguida, são analisadas algumas de suas vantagens (...) (seção III) e alguns de seus problemas (seção IV). A conclusão aponta para seu caráter inovador e sua eficiência como ferramenta de leitura dos Diálogos. (shrink)

We live today in the first global system of sovereign states in history, encompassing all of the world's polities, peoples, religions and civilizations. Christian Reus-Smit presents a new account of how this system came to be, one in which struggles for individual rights play a central role. The international system expanded from its original European core in five great waves, each involving the fragmentation of one or more empires into a host of successor sovereign states. In the most important, (...) associated with the Westphalian settlement, the independence of Latin America, and post-1945 decolonization, the mobilization of new ideas about individual rights challenged imperial legitimacy, and when empires failed to recognize these new rights, subject peoples sought sovereign independence. Combining theoretical innovation with detailed historical case studies, this book advances a new understanding of human rights and world politics, with individual rights deeply implicated in the making of the global sovereign order. (shrink)

This book seeks to explain why different systems of sovereign states have built different types of fundamental institutions to govern interstate relations. Why, for example, did the ancient Greeks operate a successful system of third-party arbitration, while international society today rests on a combination of international law and multilateral diplomacy? Why did the city-states of Renaissance Italy develop a system of oratorical diplomacy, while the states of absolutist Europe relied on naturalist international law and "old diplomacy"? Conventional explanations of basic (...) institutional practices have difficulty accounting for such variation. Christian Reus-Smit addresses this problem by presenting an alternative, "constructivist" theory of international institutional development, one that emphasizes the relationship between the social identity of the state and the nature and origin of basic institutional practices. Reus-Smit argues that international societies are shaped by deep constitutional structures that are based on prevailing beliefs about the moral purpose of the state, the organizing principle of sovereignty, and the norm of procedural justice. These structures inform the imaginations of institutional architects as they develop and adjust institutional arrangements between states. As he shows with detailed reference to ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, absolutist Europe, and the modern world, different cultural and historical contexts lead to profoundly different constitutional structures and institutional practices. The first major study of its kind, this book is a significant addition to our theoretical and empirical understanding of international relations, past and present. (shrink)

Strategic nonviolent action has reasserted itself as a potent force in shaping public debate and forcing political change. Whether it is an explosive surge of protest calling for racial justice in the United States, a demand for democratic reform in Hong Kong or Mexico, a wave of uprisings against dictatorship in the Middle East, or a tent city on Wall Street that spreads throughout the country, when mass movements erupt onto our television screens, the media portrays them as being as (...) spontaneous and unpredictable. In This is an Uprising, political analysts Mark and Paul Engler uncover the organization and well-planned strategies behind such outbursts of protest, examining core principles that have been used to spark and guide moments of transformative unrest. This is an Uprising traces the evolution of civil resistance, providing new insights into the contributions of early experimenters such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., groundbreaking theorists such as Gene Sharp and Frances Fox Piven, and contemporary practitioners who have toppled repressive regimes in countries such as South Africa, Serbia, and Egypt. Drawing from discussions with activists now working to defend human rights, challenge corporate corruption, and combat climate change, the Englers show how people with few resources and little influence in conventional politics can nevertheless engineer momentous upheavals. Although it continues to prove its importance in political life, the strategic use of nonviolent action is poorly understood. Nonviolence is usually studied as a philosophy or moral code, rather than as a method of political conflict, disruption, and escalation. This is an Uprising corrects this oversight. It argues that if we are always taken by surprise by dramatic outbreaks of revolt, and if we decline to incorporate them into our view of how societies progress, then we pass up the chance to fully grasp a critical phenomenon-and to harness its power to create lasting change. (shrink)

In this article, the author traces the response of liberation theologians to human rights initiatives through three distinct stages over the past thirty years: from an initial avoidance of the concept, to an early critique, and then to a nuanced theological appropriation. He contends that liberation theology brings a thoroughgoing concern for the poor and an innovative methodology of historicization to the discussion of human rights. In clarifying the treatment of human rights within a specific religious movement, the author also (...) addresses larger questions about the specific role of human rights language. To this end, the article shows how liberation theologians have grappled concretely with the divisions among different "generations" of rights, various rights discourses, and diverse options for rights advocacy. (shrink)

Discuto neste artigo o fragmento de Protágoras sobre a existência dos deuses e a sua coerência teórica com outras teses do sofista. Primeiramente, utilizo dados históricos e biográficos para iluminar o subjetivismo da primeira linha do fragmento. Em seguida, discuto os obstáculos epistemológicos mencionados por Protágoras e sugiro uma nova tradução para o termo brachýs, um dos conceitos centrais que ele propõe. Na seção 2, analiso o ataque à transcendência que distingue suas ideias sobre a matemática e a percepção sensível. (...) Finalmente, na seção 3, mostro como a sua postura teológica está de acordo com a tese do homo-mensura e com a sua abordagem antilógica. A conclusão ressalta a unidade do pensamento de Protágoras e a sua posição no Iluminismo grego. (shrink)

This paper proposes substitutional definitions of logical truth and consequence in terms of relative interpretations that are extensionally equivalent to the model-theoretic definitions for any relational first-order language. Our philosophical motivation to consider substitutional definitions is based on the hope to simplify the meta-theory of logical consequence. We discuss to what extent our definitions can contribute to that.

Kant's first antinomy uses a notion of infinity that is tied to the concept of (finitary) successive synthesis. It is commonly objected that (i) this notion is inadequate by modern mathematical standards, and that (ii) it is unable to establish the stark ontological assumption required for the thesis that an infinite series cannot exist. In this paper, I argue that Kant's notion of infinity is adequate for the set-up and the purpose of the antinomy. Regarding (i), I show that contrary (...) to appearance, the Critique can even accommodate a modern notion of infinity without consequences for the antinomy; and regarding (ii), that the ‘ontological’ consequence indeed follows once its covertly epistemic character is adequately understood. (shrink)

English summary: Fynn Ole Engler investigates the two main positions in the modern philosophy of science from an historical and a systematic point of view, thereby separating the realistic and the naturalistic program from each other.

This article looks at two sorts of conceptual work in Cristina Rocha’s John of God: The Globalization of Brazilian Faith Healing : theoretical appliqué and comparative contextualization. The first involves using an ad hoc set of concepts to set out series of partial interpretations. Despite not offering one unified interpretation, this approach has the advantages of respecting the complexity of the case and indicating a range of relevant interpretative pathways. The second involves the standard work, in the study of religion, (...) of placing the religious movement or other object of study in relation to its religious landscape, influences and competitors, by comparing and contrasting beliefs and practices. Though the book would be better if both of these dimensions of conceptual work had been pushed further, Rocha’s theoretical appliqué is worth considering for its value as a model for other work. The goal of this article is to highlight the value of theoretical appliqué and to suggest how it could be done effectively. (shrink)

Resumo: No texto A necessidade metafísica do homem, Schopenhauer elabora considerações fundamentais sobre sua metafísica imanente e, na ânsia de explicar por que o homem filosofa, alia-se a uma longa tradição de pensadores que viram na admiração o impulso metafísico do homem. Ele reinterpreta as duas mais famosas sentenças sobre o tema consoante o tom de sua filosofia. A origem da filosofia torna-se o resultado de fatores como a separação entre vontade e intelecto e a constatação de que o mundo, (...) tal como agora é, possui caráter contingente e poderia deixar de ser. A isso se unem a contemplação dos males do mundo e a consciência da finitude humana. No fim, desse conjunto emergem os sistemas metafísicos e religiosos. Este artigo comenta detidamente essas ideias, mostra sua relação com os filósofos antigos através de cinco tópoi e, ao fim, tenta localizar a originalidade da concepção schopenhaueriana, a qual se baseia na reinterpretação do primeiro tópos.: In the text entitled On man’s need of metaphysics, Schopenhauer makes important remarks on his immanent metaphysics and, trying to explain why men philosophize, joins a long tradition of thinkers who see in admiration man’s real metaphysical impulse. He reinterprets then the two most famous statements on this subject in accordance with the tone of his philosophy. The origin of philosophy becomes the result of phenomena such as the separation between will and intellect and the perception that this world, which currently is, could just as well not be. The contemplation of the world’s misfortunes and the consciousness of human finitude is also dealt with. Metaphysical and religious systems emerge from these factors. This paper discusses in detail these ideas and analyzes their relationship with the ancient philosophers and the five tópoi. It also seeks to discover the originality of Schopenhauer’s conception, which is based on the reinterpretation of the first topos. (shrink)

This article illustrates some implications of the view that data, theory and methods should be treated as a matched set. They are inseparable companions, equally essential parts of processes of scholarly research and dissemination. When we focus on one of these dimensions, the others are always implicit. When focus on all of them, our work is more complete, consistent and defensible. This contribution to this special issue highlights the value of focusing more explicitly on the inter-relations between all four levels (...) of scholarly work. (shrink)

Einstein's theories of special and general relativity are unanimously praised by scientists for their extraordinary beauty to the extent that some consider the latter to be the most beautiful theory in physics. The grounds for these assertions are assessed here and it is concluded that the beauty of Einstein's theories can be attributed to two of their aspects. The first is that they incorporate all possible ingredients that constitute the beauty of theories: simplicity, symmetry, invariance, unification, etc. The second concerns (...) the perfect logical consistency of Einstein's theories, a crucial factor in the unanimous praise of their beauty. Theories other than Einstein's are also assessed here, namely, electromagnetism and the various quantum theories, and it is concluded that all these suffer from logical flaws. This has resulted in a lack of consensus among scientists with respect to their beauty. Consequently, the unanimous claim that Einstein's theories are of superior beauty as compared to other theories in physics is hereby substantiated. (shrink)

Este artigo discute formas de analisar criticamente o conceito de _tradição_. _Tradição_ é frequentemente sinônimo de _religião_. Isto aponta para dimensões ideológicas da suposta relação entre a religião e o passado. Uma discussão sobre “a invenção da tradição” leva a três recomendações metodológicas para o estudo crítico da tradição: _tradição_ é relacional, enquadrada com pares de conceitos opostos; é vista como independente de ações intencionais; e sua relação com o passado é uma reivindicação estratégica e ideológica, não como uma característica (...) inerente das religiões. Dois exemplos, o Candomblé e o pereneismo, explicam o contraste entre perspectivas religiosas/essencialistas e críticas/históricas. As visões essencialistas veem a tradição como algo fora da história, enquanto a Ciência da Religião tem a visão oposta, investigando processos de concepção, transmissão, recepção, reconfiguração e (re)invenção de tradições em contextos específicos. O estudo crítico de _tradição _não analisa a tradição em si, mas os discursos sobre ela. (shrink)

This essay explores the concept of knowledge as it emerges in the development of sigmund freud's thought by clarifying his academic understanding of the problem and contrasting that with the actual view of knowledge which became operative in his work. The study suggests that freud's statements about knowledge were pervasively ambiguous, And that this ambiguity is such that freud can be shown to have transcended his initial cartesian perspective and brought forth a new understanding of knowledge as a doing rather (...) than a thinking, Which arises out of the relations between persons and which intrinsically involves the entire range of psychosexual activities. (shrink)

A canonical formalism for the relativistic classical mechanics of many particles is proposed. The evolution equations for a charged particle in an electromagnetic field are obtained and the relativistic two-body problem with an invariant interaction is treated. Along the same line a quantum formalism for the spinless relativistic particle is obtained by means of imprimitivity systems according to Mackey theory. A quantum formalism for the spin-1/2 particle is constructed and a new definition of spin1/2 in relativity is proposed. An evolution (...) equation for the spin-1/2 particle in an external electromagnetic field is given. The Bargmann Michel, and Telegdi equation follows from this formalism as a quasiclassical approximation. Finally, a new relativistic model for hydrogenlike atoms is proposed. The spectrum predicted is in agreement with Dirac's when radiative corrections have been added. (shrink)

The theoretical physicist Paul Dirac rejected, explicitly on aesthetic grounds, a successful theory known as quantum electrodynamics (QED), which is the prototype for the family of theories known as quantum field theories (QFTs). Remarkably, the theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg, also largely on aesthetic grounds, supports QED and other QFTs. In order to evaluate these opposing aesthetic views a short introduction to the physical properties of QFTs is presented together with a detailed analysis of the aesthetic claims of Dirac and Weinberg. (...) It turns out that Dirac rejected QED, without regard to its success, because this theory fails to yield to what he perceived as beautiful mathematics, whereas Weinberg's support of QFTs is founded primarily on the physical concepts of the theories. In particular, he relies on symmetries that are the basis for the construction of the extremely successful current fundamental theories of particles physics. This success was decisive in leading to Weinberg's conviction of the beauty of QFTs. As a result of the evaluation of these approaches, the factors causing scientists to perceive a theory as being a fundamentally beautiful theory are discussed in detail. (shrink)

The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religions is a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the academic study of religions. Written by leading experts in the field, the volume offers an interdisciplinary survey of religious studies. Presented in seven parts, the Handbook examines conceptual issues of religion, theoretical approaches, modes, environments, topics, and an overview of the history of the discipline. Each chapter references at least two different religions, often providing fresh and innovative perspectives on key issues.

Editorial - Dossiê: Teorias da Religião.