The Second Vatican Council has a special significance in Latin America. This is especially true due to the influence of the document Gaudium et Spes. This took place at the Medellín Conference when Bishop Marcus Gregorio McGrath, C.S.C., pointed to this influence through his keynote address “The Signs of the Times.” He was prepared for this moment through his earlier theological training in Europe and his pastoral missions, especially in Chile and Panama. It was his earlier practice of Catholic (...) Action among young lay persons that led him into the “bridge theology” that was to be promoted further by Pope Francis. (shrink)

The modern world was in part born as a reaction against Aristotelianism. However, the image of Aristotle to which modern philosophers reacted was partial, to say the least. Paradoxical though it may seem, today, more than twenty-three centuries on, we may now be in the most advantageous position for understanding the Stagirite's philosophy and applying it to contemporary problems. The present book contributes to the forming of an idea of Post-modern reason inspired by a constellation of Aristotelian concepts, such as (...) prudence (phronesis), practical truth (aletheia praktike), science in act (episteme en energeiai), metaphor (metaphora), similarity (homoiosis) and the imitation-creation pair (mimesis-poiesis). They all form an interconnected network and together they make up an idea of reason that may prove suitable for the present. These concepts offer the most promising basis for undertaking a series of urgent reconciliations: of facts and values, of means and ends, of theoretical and practical reason, of intelligence and emotion. Aristotle's notions could help solve many dualisms of modern times. He offers a third way between identity and difference in ontology and politics, between algorithm and anarchism in methodology, between naïve realism and plain relativism in epistemology, between equivocity and univocity in language, between Enlightenment and Romanticism in culture... On the way, this shift facilitates the relationships between science, arts and ethics - the three parts of the sphere of culture which Modernity had separated - as well as the integration of the sphere of culture itself with the world of life. (shrink)

This article aims to examine the notion of pleasure as a telos of the happy life in Epicurus. Understood as the first good and inherent to the human being, pleasure is presented as the beginning and the ultimate end of a happy life. Indeed, it should be noted that it is not the pleasures of the common people that Epicurus considers as the telos of a happy life, but the pleasure that is the absence of suffering in body and soul, (...) which is named by Epicurus of katastematic pleasure or static/at rest pleasure. In this sense, two concerns guide the present work: i) that of presenting pleasure as a telos of a happy life; ii) to expose the strict meaning that the concept of pleasure assumes in Epicurean philosophy, paying attention to the distinction between pleasure in movement and pleasure at rest. The present study is based mainly on passages from the epistle to Meneceus, in some Main Maxims and Vatican Sentences, texts in which Epicurus exposes the foundations of his hedonism, as well as in the testimonies of later disciples, such as Tito Lucrécio Caro, Diogenes Laertius and Diogenes de Enoanda. (shrink)

Este texto pretende discutir, do ponto de vista kantiano, o que pode ser ensinado e o que pode ser aprendido em Filosofia. Seu objetivo é construir os argumentos hipotéticos de Kant em face do método estruturalista de leitura de textos filosóficos. Para circunscrever este tema, aparentemente muito amplo, tomaremos como fio condutor um célebre texto de aula de I. Kant, publicado por G. B. Jäsche sob o título Manual dos Cursos de Lógica Geral. Kant ministrou este curso por mais de (...) quarenta anos, até o término de suas atividades docentes em 1797, e nele apresenta considerações bastante fecundas e atuais sobre o ensino da História da Filosofia e sobre a formação do filósofo. A partir da distinção entre conhecimento histórico e conhecimento racional, e da distinção entre o conceito de filosofia na escola e o conceito de filosofia no mundo (AK 9:24), procuraremos apresentar as contribuições kantianas que podem ainda ser consideradas pertinentes para se discutir o modo de ensinar Filosofia e a formação do filósofo. (shrink)

The epistemic, moral and political dimensions of Argentine anarchist writer Alberto Ghiraldo’s aesthetic discourse are examined here. This analysis is based upon his views of Jose Martí’s life and work as regards Ghiraldo’s attempt to edit the Cuban writer complete works ever since 1925. We hold Ghiraldo’s intent to give an epistemic and moralizing function to his writing tends to lose sight of the contingent forms of political articulation, and thus to dehistoricize practices on behalf benefit of the configuration of (...) an eschatological maximalism. (shrink)

Ugar and Malele 1 critique the use of ‘generic’ technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for mental health diagnoses, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries. They highlight how these AI medical tools often overlook traditional perspectives and local contexts. The article has the merit of working on ethical issues regarding the particularities and risks of using AI and ML for health diagnosis in the Global South, an urgent and neglected topic. According to the authors, the use of these (...) AI technologies leads to overgeneralisation in diagnosing mental disorders, which could be especially problematic in the mental health field because of value-laden judgements intrinsic to the definition of mental health disorders. This argument is theoretically grounded in the hybrid conceptualisation of mental disorders proposed by Wakefield. 2 This author’s perspective incorporates both factual and value components in defining mental disorders, framing them as context-dependent ‘harmful dysfunctions’... (shrink)

En esta investigación se analiza el pensamiento de Frantz Fanon, un pensador crítico del sistema colonial -especialmente (Caribe y África)-, se trabajará algunos elementos que se encuentran en el colonialismo, a través de sus obras más importantes como: Piel Negra, máscaras blancas y Los condenados de la tierra. Del mismo modo, se abordará un problema de carácter neurálgico en el planteamiento del autor como lo es el prejuicio del color y la visión de los europeos en relación a la problemática (...) étnica. Según Fanon, hay toda una empresa colonial en búsqueda de esclavizar, subyugar y dominar a los menos favorecidos. (shrink)

Scientist naturalism as pseudo religion and anti-natural theology After exposing the basic ideas of the naturalistic worldview, an attempt is made to show that naturalism is an interpretation of science that has an inescapable "mythological" dimension, in the sense that Midgley gives to this expression. This does not discredit it on principle but means that we cannot accept it uncritically by the mere fact that it appeals to the natural sciences to justify its validity. It is then argued that the (...) central commitment of naturalists is the affirmation of atheism. In fact, the most radical contemporary naturalisms can be interpreted as an attempt to make every natural theology impossible, i.e., they seek to destroy the grounds on which reason classically relies to affirm the existence of God. It is argued that naturalism does not necessarily enjoy a priori epistemological superiority over theism. (shrink)

Genetic engineering has been a topic of discussion for over 50 years, but it is only recently that gene editing has become a reality. CRISPR biotechnologies have made gene editing much safer, precise and feasible. We have witnessed the first cases of human germline genetic modification resulting in live births, conducted by He Jiankui. In this paper, we will analyse He Jiankui’s case in relation to one of the most difficult problems in procreative ethics (or the ethics of future generations): (...) the non‐identity problem. We believe that this analysis will help us to understand the ethics involved in gene editing and hopefully allow for a better, more philosophically grounded legislation on CRISPR and other gene‐editing technologies. (shrink)

We argue, contrary to epistemological orthodoxy, that knowledge is not purely epistemic—that knowledge is not simply a matter of truth‐related factors (evidence, reliability, etc.). We do this by arguing for a pragmatic condition on knowledge, KA: if a subject knows that p, then she is rational to act as if p. KA, together with fallibilism, entails that knowledge is not purely epistemic. We support KA by appealing to the role of knowledge‐citations in defending and criticizing actions, and by giving a (...) principled argument for KA, based on the inference rule KB: if a subject knows that A is the best thing she can do, she is rational to do A. In the second half of the paper, we consider and reject the two most promising objections to our case for KA, one based on the Gricean notion of conversational implicature and the other based on a contextualist maneuver. (shrink)

Some omissions seem to be causes. For example, suppose Barry promises to water Alice’s plant, doesn’t water it, and that the plant then dries up and dies. Barry’s not watering the plant – his omitting to water the plant – caused its death. But there is reason to believe that if omissions are ever causes, then there is far more causation by omission than we ordinarily think. In other words, there is reason to think the following thesis true.

What is the fundamental insight behind truth-functionality ? When is a logic interpretable by way of a truth-functional semantics? To address such questions in a satisfactory way, a formal definition of truth-functionality from the point of view of abstract logics is clearly called for. As a matter of fact, such a definition has been available at least since the 70s, though to this day it still remains not very widely well-known. A clear distinction can be drawn between logics characterizable through: (...) (1) genuinely finite-valued truth-tabular semantics; (2) no finite-valued but only an infinite-valued truthtabular semantics; (3) no truth-tabular semantics at all. Any of those logics, however, can in principle be characterized through non-truth-functional valuation semantics, at least as soon as their associated consequence relations respect the usual tarskian postulates. So, paradoxical as that might seem at first, it turns out that truth-functional logics may be adequately characterized by non-truth-functional semantics . Now, what feature of a given logic would guarantee it to dwell in class (1) or in class (2), irrespective of its circumstantial semantic characterization? (shrink)

An overcomplete logic is a logic that ‘ceases to make the difference’: According to such a logic, all inferences hold independently of the nature of the statements involved. A negation-inconsistent logic is a logic having at least one model that satisfies both some statement and its negation. A negation-incomplete logic has at least one model according to which neither some statement nor its negation are satisfied. Paraconsistent logics are negation-inconsistent yet non-overcomplete; paracomplete logics are negation-incomplete yet non-overcomplete. A paranormal logic (...) is simply a logic that is both paraconsistent and paracomplete. -/- Despite being perfectly consistent and complete with respect to classical negation, nearly every normal modal logic, in its ordinary language and interpretation, admits to some latent paranormality: It is paracomplete with respect to a negation defined as an impossibility operator, and paraconsistent with respect to a negation defined as non-necessity. In fact, as it will be shown here, even in languages without a primitive classical negation, normal modal logics can often be alternatively characterized directly by way of their paranormal negations and related operators. So, instead of talking about ‘necessity’, ‘possibility’, and so on, modal logics could be seen just as devices tailored for the study of (modal) negation. This paper shows how and to what extent this alternative characterization of modal logics can be realized. (shrink)

Walking through the supermarket, I see the avocados. I know they are avocados. Similarly, if you see a pumpkin on my office desk, you can know it’s a pumpkin from its looks. The phenomenology in such cases is that of “just seeing” that such and such. This phenomenology might suggest that the knowledge gained is immediate. This paper argues, to the contrary, that in these target cases, the knowledge is mediate, depending as it does on one’s knowledge of what the (...) relevant kind of thing looks like. To make the case requires examining the nature of knowing what Fs look like. Is such knowledge to be understood as knowledge of a fact, or rather as a kind of ability? From the conclusion that the knowledge in the target cases is not immediate, the paper concludes that perception does not afford us immediate knowledge concerning objects’ kinds. (shrink)

El presente artículo aborda un problema de gran actualidad en la filosofía contemporánea: la comprensión del ser animal y sus relaciones con el ser humano. En concreto, se analizará el tratamiento de esta cuestión por parte del filósofo español Ortega y Gasset, uno de los primeros autores en convertir este asunto en un tema específico y recurrente de su reflexión. Se mostrará cómo la filosofía de Ortega arriba a este problema, qué influjos intelectuales marcan su aproximación al animal, y qué (...) lugar ocupa en el contexto de su propuesta filosófica. Concluiremos que, al igual que gran parte de los autores más relevantes del siglo XX, el pensamiento de Ortega está enormemente marcado por sus consideraciones sobre el animal; y que estas ideas todavía pueden ser provechosas a la hora de estudiar estos importantes problemas relacionados con el estatuto y significación de la condición animal. (shrink)

This article aims to expose and comment on the theory of meaning presented by Heidegger in his "habilitation dissertation” on the Grammatica Speculativa in that time attributed to Duns Scotus. Heidegger, in his interpretation, interweaves elements of the theory of meaning present in Husserl and Duns Scotus. The doctrine of modes of meaning, of understanding and of being, of the Grammatica Speculativa, is read since an intentional phenomenological analysis. This article tries to expose this interlacement, point out the correspondences between (...) the Husserl’s theory of meaning and the doctrine of the modes of meaning, of understanding and of being, in the Grammatica Speculativa. (shrink)

La relecture patiente du fameux texte de Freud sur le « fort-da » permet de souligner -en deçà de sa reprise lacanienne à la lumière d’une théorie de la naissance au symbolique langagier-, le motif de la disparition de l’autre aimé rapporté à la question de l’invisibilité. la promotion d’un rapport ludique à l’absent se fonde originairement, en effet, sur la tolérance à l’endroit de son disparaître inaugural. Avant de tolérer que l’autre ne soit pas là, il nous revient toujours (...) de supporter qu’il s’éloigne, c’est-à-dire qu’il se rende invisible, fût-ce pour un temps. Mais, à quel titre devons-nous penser avec Freud le disparaître de l’autre désiré comme une performance culturelle? Faut-il à la manière dont la religion juive ordonne l’adoration d’un Autre invisible, nous soumettre à l’expérience, non plus seulement discontinue de la présence de l’autre aimé, mais à l’éprecue de sa définitive soustraction à l’ordre de l’apparaître ? (shrink)

Pretende-se, nesse texto, argumentar sobre a centralidade da justiça na teoria moral de Santo Anselmo. Para tanto, adota-se a seguinte estrutura: em primeiro lugar, falar-se-á da teoria moral de Anselmo e da centralidade da sua teoria da justiça em seu interior; em segundo lugar, dar-se-á tratamento à questão da justiça nos escritos do Monologium e do Proslogium, nos quais fala-se da justiça como atributo de Deus; num terceiro momento, abordar-se-á a questão da justiça, tal como é desenvolvida no De Veritate, (...) no qual a justiça em questão diz respeito ao ser humano e, em última instância, à Deus, suma justiça ; por fim, em quarto lugar, desenvolver-se-á uma reflexão na qual serão cotejados aspectos da justiça relacionados à dimensão prática da moralidade humana, de tal forma que a ação justa deve ser realizada em vista da própria retidão, isto é, a consciência da retidão para que seja moralmente correta e justa. (shrink)

Ex 5,22-6.1 presents Moses appealing to the Lord and God's answer to the prophet. Moses' prayer is configured as a cry of despair stemming from a bewilderment of his vocation as a promoter of liberty, subdued by human conditions. The prophet of failure is paradoxical, since it reveals both as a personal and divine failure. For these reasons, Moses has faith put to the test. His reaction shown by a fiery prayer and full of fervor. God responds with the renewal (...) of the promise of liberation. (shrink)

El artículo expone la propuesta de filosofía de la historia de José Ortega y Gasset. Tras mostrar su constante interés por la historia en prácticamente todos sus escritos tanto de juventud como de madurez, pasa a exponer su proyecto de historiología. Para ello, centra la atención en dos conceptos clave: la teoría de las creencias y la teoría de las generaciones. Este recorrido se lleva a cabo en paralelo a un análisis del influjo crítico de Hegel, mostrando las continuidades y (...) rupturas entre ambos. (shrink)

La ciencia cognitiva ha evolucionado bastante y, en la actualidad, ha logrado generar grandes cambios en el pensamiento filosófico que, referido al ámbito científico, nos permite indagar respecto al proceso de generar ciencia y conocer mejor cómo ocurre la elección de teorías científicas; algo que por mucho tiempo fue entendido por los filósofos como un proceso puramente racional, en el que no había cabida para las emociones, pero ahora podemos decir que esto ha cambiado significativamente, dándole a los científicos su (...) lugar como seres humanos más que como entidades lógicas. (shrink)

Este texto trata do conceito de existência a partir do pensamento fenomenológico, ontológico-fundamental e ontológico-histórico, de Heidegger. De início, trata do conceito metafísico de existência e de sua transformação na época da consumação da metafísica, especialmente em Kierkegaard. A consumação da metafísica apela por outro princípio do pensar. “Ser e Tempo” inaugura a tentativa de operar uma passagem para este outro princípio. O empenho do pensamento se volta então para a tarefa de pensar a diferença ontológica e de considerar a (...) existência humana à luz de sua referência para com o ser enquanto diferença ontológica. Daí surge um novo conceito de existência: como insistência extática na verdade do ser. (shrink)

Este artigo empreende uma avaliação da historiografia produzida sobre os exílios políticos no contexto social das ditaduras latino-americanas do cone sul. Apresenta como referência três obras publicadas entre os anos de 2007 a 2013. Seu objetivo é destacar os modos de inserção e visibilidade mais frequentes que o tema exilar alcançou na pauta dos historiadores, a partir da percepção e descoberta sobre a magnitude do fenômeno. Neste sentido, desenvolve um debate em torno dos seguintes eixos propositivos: como os trabalhos apontados (...) ajudaram a consolidar o objeto “exílio” nos termos de uma grade sistemática de interpretação; e de que modos se formalizou uma rede interdisciplinar e transnacional de estudiosos cuja experiência com os problemas de pesquisa mostrou-se fundamental para renovar os sentidos teóricos, historiográficos e metodológicos relacionados ao tema. Conclui que tais intervenções acabaram por conferir um estatuto de legitimidade heurística às investigações sobre os exílios. (shrink)

Una revisión filosófico-histórica a las diversas caras de la Modernidad refleja la primera experiencia del Yo europeo con el extranjero bajo esquemas de dominación y violencia. La ontología europea no surge de la nada: el ‘yo conquisto’ antecede histórica y fundacionalmente al ‘yo pienso’ cartesiano. Ir más allá la Razón excluyente, alimentada con los mitos que todavía mantienen a Europa, exige el abandono del discurso eurocéntrico y de su racionalidad, cuyo logos univocista se mantiene en pie a pesar de las (...) múltiples sospechas que levanta. Desde los mimbres transformadores de Lèvinas y Vattimo, dos de los filósofos con más conciencia de las otredades, este ensayo no trata de negar la Razón, sino que invita a ir más allá de ésta, allí donde no necesariamente se encuentran la sin-razón ni la irracionalidad. Para que la esperanza de las víctimas no quede definitivamente frustrada. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar o aspecto revolucionário do pessimismo e da melancolia de Walter Benjamin. Para tanto, realizamos um resgate histórico do conceito de melancolia, desde a teoria hipocrática dos humores, passando pelo "Problema XXX" de Aristóteles, até "Luto e Melancolia", de Freud. Em seguida, realizamos uma exposição de um excerto da obra "Origem do drama trágico alemão", onde Walter Benjamin apresenta uma breve análise da noção de melancolia no período Barroco, sobre o qual seu texto se (...) detém. Finalmente, analisamos o ensaio "O surrealismo: o último instantâneo da inteligência europeia", de autoria de Walter Benjamin, onde cremos estar presente a gênese dos elementos que virão a ser a base do entendimento do autor sobre a melancolia, fundamentalmente a ideia de uma necessária organização do pessimismo, visando à revolução. Ao distanciar-se das noções sobre o sentimento melancólico previamente concebidas, Walter Benjamin inaugura uma nova visão sobre a melancolia, não mais apática, mas ativa e revolucionária. (shrink)

RESUMO Trata o presente artigo de um estudo sobre o modo como Merleau-Ponty busca extrair, da teoria freudiana dos sonhos, consequências ontológicas concernentes à vinculação expressiva entre as diferentes dimensões da experiência onírica, especificamente sobre o papel dos restos diurnos na descarga da libido, na realização do simbolismo ou, o que é a mesma coisa, na conversão do simbolismo em algo narrativo e sensível, especificamente afetivo. Conforme se mostrará, para Merleau-Ponty, seja no sonho sonhado seja no sonho relatado podemos verificar, (...) entre a dimensão imaginária introduzida pelos restos diurnos, por um lado, e a dimensão simbólica expressa como significante esquecido, por outro; uma sorte de unidade sem coincidência, uma indivisão meramente expressiva. A pergunta deste artigo é ‒ do ponto de vista ontológico ‒ de que modo a indivisão expressiva entre o sonhado e o relatado dispensa o recurso à ideia de uma interioridade transparente? ABSTRACT This article deals with a study on how Merleau-Ponty seeks to extract, from Freud’s theory of dreams, ontological consequences concerning the expressive link between the different dimensions of the dream experience, specifically on the role of daytime remains in the discharge of libido, in realization of symbolism or, what is the same thing, in the conversion of symbolism into something narrative and sensitive, specifically affective. As it will be shown, for Merleau-Ponty, whether in the dreamed dream or in the reported dream, we can verify between the imaginary dimension introduced by the daytime remains, on the one hand; and the symbolic dimension expressed as a forgotten signifier, on the other; a sort of unity without coincidence, a merely expressive indivisibility. The question of this article is - from an ontological point of view - how does the expressive division between the dreamed and the reported dispense the recourse to the idea of a transparent interiority? (shrink)

As a literary genre and practice, philosophical and political epistolography seems to have been alive and well in the fourth-century Roman empire. We have fragments of twenty letters of the late third- and early fourth-centuryc.e. Platonist philosopher Iamblichus of Chalcis to former students and other contemporaries, some of whom appear to have been imperial officeholders ; theEpistle to Himeriusof Sopater the Younger to his brother Himerius on the latter's assumption of an unknown governorship in the East, probably sometime in the (...) 340s or 350s ; the Emperor Julian'sEpistle to Themistius, which was likely written and publishedc.December 361/early 362; and theEpistle to Julianof the Aristotelian philosopher Themistius on proper rule, which seems to have been a response, in part, to Julian'sEpistle to Themistiusand perhaps was written to the emperor when both men likely resided in Constantinople at the same time. These philosophical and political letters are but a few examples from this period. All four authors mentioned above, who are representative of intellectual life in the East during the fourth century, produced epistles which reflect Greek political theory in a Roman imperial context. (shrink)

ResumoNo início do século xviii, Isaac Newton publicou seu principal trabalho sobre óptica, o Opticks. Impregnado por uma perspectiva indutiva, o livro logo se tornou a principal referência para os estudos sobre a luz e as cores, sendo amplamente popularizado pelos seguidores de Newton. Neste artigo, analisamos como dois importantes livros contribuíram para essa popularização e também qual era a imagem de ciência que tencionavam propagar, o Élements de la philosophie de Newton de Voltaire e o Newtonianismo per le dame (...) de Algarotti. Será possível perceber que ambos os autores distorceram o conteúdo do livro de Newton, no intuito de propagar uma imagem idealizada das ideias newtonianas e da própria filosofia natural.In the beginning of 18th century, Newton published his main work about light and colors, the Opticks. Impregnated by an inductive perspective, the book became the major reference for the studies about light and colors, being widely popularized by Newton's followers. In this article, we analyze how two important works contributed to this process of popularization and also what image of science they intended to propagate: Voltaire's Elements of Newton's philosophie and Algarotti's Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy explain'd for the use of the ladies. We will be notice that both authors distorted the content of the Opticks, in order to propagate an idealized image of Newtonian ideas and natural philosophy itself. (shrink)

Dentre os movimentos religiosos do século XI, destaca-se o de Roberto d' Arbrissel, fundador da Ordem de Fontevraud, na qual conviviam homens e mulheres, cabendo a estas a direção. O projeto não teve longa duração em uma igreja de celibatários misóginos, e Roberto, apesar de suas virtudes, não foi canonizado.