Hume's discussion of the idea of space in his Treatise on Human Nature is fundamental to an understanding of his treatment of such central issues as the existence of external objects, the unity of the self, the relation between certainty and belief, and abstract ideas. Marina Frasca-Spada's rich and original study examines this difficult part of Hume's philosophical writings and connects it to eighteenth-century works in natural philosophy, mathematics and literature. Focusing on Hume's discussions of the infinite divisibility of (...) extension, the origin of the idea of space, geometry, and the notion of a vacuum, she shows that the central questions of Hume's 'science of human nature' - what does the 'science of human nature' reveal about the mind and its operations? what is experience? - underlie all of these discussions. Her analysis points the way to a reassessment of the central current interpretative problems in Hume studies. (shrink)

El artículo se propone elucidar el papel que juegan los usos de “raza” en los escritos de Nietzsche, situándolos e interpretándolos en conjunto con el léxico de transformación del ser humano y de su crítica de la cultura. Para ello, se estudia su empleo junto a otros conceptos fronterizos e ideas análogas como el tratamiento de la cuestión judía, su crítica del nacionalismo, la figura de los buenos europeos, la metáfora de la bestia rubia, los tipos humanos y el pensamiento (...) de la cría. Se concluye que “raza” posee un indudable carácter fisiológico y evolutivo, pero a través del proceso de incorporación (Einverleibung), el ámbito de la cultura y la moral intervienen de manera fundamental en su conformación, y como concepto, forma parte del mismo proyecto de transvaloración de los valores, la reforma de la cultura y de la humanidad. El artículo finaliza con una reflexión de la llamada a superar la raza (Über-Rasse). (shrink)

Nelson’s stochastic quantum mechanics provides an ideal arena to test how the Born rule is established from an initial probability distribution that is not identical to the square modulus of the wavefunction. Here, we investigate numerically this problem for three relevant cases: a double-slit interference setup, a harmonic oscillator, and a quantum particle in a uniform gravitational field. For all cases, Nelson’s stochastic trajectories are initially localized at a definite position, thereby violating the Born rule. For the double slit and (...) harmonic oscillator, typical quantum phenomena, such as interferences, always occur well after the establishment of the Born rule. In contrast, for the case of quantum particles free-falling in the gravity field of the Earth, an interference pattern is observed before the completion of the quantum relaxation. This finding may pave the way to experiments able to discriminate standard quantum mechanics, where the Born rule is always satisfied, from Nelson’s theory, for which an early subquantum dynamics may be present before full quantum relaxation has occurred. Although the mechanism through which a quantum particle might violate the Born rule remains unknown to date, we speculate that this may occur during fundamental processes, such as beta decay or particle-antiparticle pair production. (shrink)

Copredication is the phenomenon whereby two or more predicates seem to require that their argument denotes different things. The denotation of words that copredicate has been broadly discussed. In this paper, I investigate the metaphysics behind this question. Thus, mereological theories of dot objects claim that these nouns denote complex entities; Asher (Lexical meaning in context, Cambridge University Press, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511793936) thinks that they denote bare particulars; and the Activation Package Theory contends that they stand for multiple denotations. According to (...) the Activation Package Theory, copredicative nouns stand for complex knowledge structures that offer a range of multiple potential denotations. In this paper, I claim that the Activation Package Theory contributes to solve some of the metaphysical questions that arise from copredication. (shrink)

The article discusses the problems of philosophical geography, philosophical multipolarity, georationality. The debates on these issues are becoming interdisciplinary. Specialists in Eastern philosophies and cross-cultural communications as well as epistemologists, scientific methodologists, cognitive scholars, synergists became participants of the discussion held at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The problem of Eurocentrism in academic philosophy has become the main topic of discussion. The opponents of the “regional” multipolarity argued that the Western European tradition of rationality was (...) an example of the rationality per se. The proponents, who relied heavily on the ad professionem arguments, advocated multipolarity and demonstrated the irreducibility of the world-pictures, languages and ontologies of philosophical systems. A point of view was expressed that Eurocentrism had an ideological background. The disputants noted that there was need to redefine or clarify such fundamental concepts as logic, rationality, scientific rationality, universalism, processuality. The redefinition of the concept of rationality is for the studies of various types of rationality outside European cultures. Methodologists of science drew attention that the cognitive problems of intercultural communications turned out to be similar to the problems faced by theory of complexity. The analysis of philosophical, logical and other cases in various “zones of exchange” reveals a plurality of directions in the global and local socio-cultural spaces. The panelists raised the question of the role of philosophy in the global world and its responsibility in uniting nations. The authors of the article draw attention to many functions that the Western European conceptual system performs in the formation of philosophical language, mentality and communication. The dynamics of philosophical discussions, the dialogue of the West and the East lead to the clarification of philosophical positions, the emergence of new concepts and meanings as well as the formation of discourses of the future. (shrink)

It is still an open question how senses of inherent polysemous words are represented and interpreted. Empirical results are not conclusive about the representation of polysemy. Therefore, different representation models try to give an answer about the puzzle of representation of polysemous words in general and of inherent polysemous words in particular. Inherent polysemous words are those that have several related senses that allow copredication, which occurs when one polysemous word is used to express simultaneously two related senses in a (...) sentence. Ortega-Andrés and Vicente, 2019) propose a rich semantic approach that explains the interpretation of copredicative sentences. This chapter has three goals: I discuss and classify underspecification approaches about the representation of polysemous words; I analyze some empirical results and their contributions to the debate about the representation of polysemy and inherent polysemy; and I argue that the rich account that Ortega-Andrés and Vicente give a plausible explanation about the representation of inherent polysemous words. (shrink)

Tão aberto como um sonho, este artigo de teor ensaístico aborda alguns estudos em filosofia e psicologia que tratam sobre a interpretação e a função social do sonho, aproximando escrita e educação. Essa educação sensível torna-se crítica e artística ao lidar com evocações de imagens e sensações do inconsciente individual e do coletivo. Pelo diapasão da Filosofia da Diferença, traçamos proposições a pensar pelo ritmo do sonho, sentir suas ressonâncias sociais e para a elaboração da escrita em educação. Aulas-sonho, sonhografias (...) e não lugares emergem do inconsciente em imagens a-traduzir, isto é, do que está para ser traduzido diante da linguagem. Nesse revezamento entre o corpo, o real e o sonho, dimensionamos alguns apontamentos acerca do feminino e do trauma como disparadores sociais para problematizarmos esses afetos ao corpo do docente que pensa e sonha empiricamente, diante do real da educação. Nesse arquivo de uma educação latente, e, a partir dessa abordagem em labor de sonho, uma poética é traduzida. Assim como os quadros oníricos alimentam a realidade, a realidade alimenta nossos pensamentos, sonhos, valorações e interpretações da vida. A proposta da escrita que sonha é maneira de uma prática de si transindividual, por isso educativa e filosófica. Operacionalizando o pensar pela interpretação de sonhos, mas dela perspectivando um método de sonhar a escrita, apresentamos propostas de exercícios sonhográficos para este jogo de pensamento, que não é apenas da memória descritiva, mas da evocação de signos pré-linguagem. Tais signos traduzem a sonhografia como prática de si. O desejo docente não é uma falta, mas vontade de poesia didática que opera nos currículos ao afirmar a aula-sonho como potência de pensamento. Palavras-chave: Sonho. Educação. Escrita. Educação da Diferença. (shrink)

We present a new theoretical construct labeled motivational readiness. It is defined as the inclination, whether or not ultimately implemented, to satisfy a desire. A general model of readiness is described which builds on the work of prior theories, including animal learning models and personality approaches, and which aims to integrate a variety of research findings across different domains of motivational research. Components of this model include the Want state, and the Expectancy of being able to satisfy that Want. We (...) maintain that the Want concept is the critical ingredient in motivational readiness: without it, readiness cannot exist. In contrast, some motivational readiness can exist without Expectancy. We also discuss the role of incentive in motivational readiness. Incentive is presently conceived of in terms of a Match between a Want and a Perceived Situational Affordance. Whereas in classic models incentive was portrayed as a first order determinant of motivational readiness, here we describe it as a second order factor which affects readiness by influencing Want, Expectancy, or both. The new model’s relation to its theoretical predecessors, and its implications for future research, also are discussed. (shrink)

This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the glamorization of the courtesan image as proposed by Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge. The film sparked the appearance of high-street fashion inspired by the image of the 19th-century Parisian courtesan, which prompted the authors to examine how and why such images might appeal to female consumers. The critical analysis reaches beyond the images themselves to identify and discuss the modes of circulation of such images, and their function in achieving both the material (...) ends of capitalism and the promotion of one of the system’s core values. Moreover, the article hopes to illustrate the possibilities offered by integrating cultural and structural analyses of current social phenomena. (shrink)

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) argues that social contracts must be recreated if they are to fulfil the promise of human rights. In The Remaking of Social Contracts, leading thinkers and activists address a wide range of concerns - global economic governance, militarism, ecological tipping points, the nation state, movement-building, sexuality and reproduction, and religious fundamentalism. These themes are of wide-ranging importance for the survival and well-being of us all, and reflect the many dimensions and inter-connectedness (...) of our lives. Using feminist lenses, the book puts forward a holistic and radical understanding of the synergies, tensions and contradictions between social movements and global, regional and local power structures and processes, and it points to other alternatives and possibilities for this fierce new world."--Publisher's description. (shrink)

La educación tradicional concebida en compartimientos estancos que coquetean en torno al árbol de la ciencia, ha formado a un individuo descontextualizado, sin capacidad de respuesta para enfrentar la complejidad del mundo actual. La Multiversidad Mundo Real “Edgar Morin” asume la misión de una enseñanza educativa basada en los postulados del Pensamiento Complejo de Edgar Morin; pero aún quedan pendientes nuevas definiciones que rompan con los esquemas de la educación basada en el paradigma simplificador. La meta es emprender el gran (...) viraje que haga posible que la reforma paradigmática implique también una reforma de las mentes y del lenguaje, porque nombrar lo nuevo con la palabra vieja dificulta a nivel inconsciente detonar el cambio. Superar los bloqueos propios y los adquiridos por la educación que nos ha conducido a ser individuos desarticulados del contexto, ese es el gran reto de la Multiversidad. (shrink)

This paper examines whether classical extensional mereology is adequate for formalizing the whole–parts relation in quantum chemical systems. Although other philosophers have argued that classical extensional and summative mereology does not adequately formalize whole–parts relation within organic wholes and social wholes, such critiques often assume that summative mereology is appropriate for formalizing the whole–parts relation in inorganic wholes such as atoms and molecules. However, my discussion of atoms and molecules as they are conceptualized in quantum chemistry will establish that standard (...) mereology cannot adequately fulfill this task, since the properties and behavior of such wholes are context-dependent and cannot simply be reduced to the summative properties of their parts. To the extent that philosophers of chemistry have called for the development of an alternative mereology for quantum chemical systems, this paper ends by proposing behavioral mereology as a promising step in that direction. According to behavioral mereology, considerations of what constitutes a part of a whole is dependent upon the observable behavior displayed by these entities. Thus, relationality and context-dependence are stipulated from the outset and this makes behavioral mereology particularly well-suited as a mereology of quantum chemical wholes. The question of which mereology is appropriate for formalizing the whole–parts relation in quantum chemical systems is relevant to contemporary philosophy of chemistry, since this issue is related to the more general questions of the reducibility of chemical wholes to their parts and of the reducibility of chemistry to physics, which have been of central importance within the philosophy of chemistry for several decades. More generally, this paper puts contemporary discussions of mereology within the philosophy of chemistry into a broader historical and philosophical context. In doing so, this paper also bridges the gap between formal mereology, conceived as a branch of formal ontology, and “applied” mereology, conceived as a branch of philosophy of science. (shrink)

Se propone una lectura de El laberinto de la soledad desde la imagología literaria, línea de trabajo de la literatura comparada contemporánea, que estudia las representaciones del extranjero y la alteridad en los textos literarios. La indagación sobre la alteridad produce imágenes de identidad. Se busca comprender las imágenes de la mexicanidad en la obra de Octavio Paz a partir de los contrastes con la alteridad. Estas imágenes corresponden a un periodo histórico específico. Proponemos un diálogo con los imaginarios representados (...) en obras de Carlos Fuentes y Juan Rulfo, para mostrar de qué manera El laberinto de la soledad proporciona claves para leer la cultura de su época. (shrink)

We investigate two main sources of information inaccuracies in demand information sharing along the supply chain. Firstly, we perform a systematic literature review on inaccuracy in demand information sharing and its impact on supply chain dynamics. Secondly, we model several SC settings using system dynamics and assess the impact of such information inaccuracies on SC performance. More specifically, we study the impact of four factors using three SC dynamic performance indicators. The results suggest that demand error has a negative impact (...) on SC performance, which is exacerbated by the magnitude of the error and by low demand variability scenarios. In contrast, demand delay produces a nonlinear behavior in the supply chain response, being influenced by the supply chain configuration. (shrink)

In this article, we review the Agrarian Question focusing on dairy farms. We have the dual aim of adding to the debate surrounding the economic profitability of small and large dairy farms and increasing what is known about the decline of dairy farms. The agrarian question at the heart of our research centres on the paradoxical endurance of family farms, despite predictions from both liberal and Marxist perspectives that they would diminish in number over time. By addressing these complex issues, (...) we hope to shed light on the challenges and opportunities facing the dairy industry today. We focus on analysing dairy farms in the European Union countries, using panel regressions from 2008 to 2018 to define the relationship between the average number of cows per farm, profit margins and Farm Net Income. The most important results show that (i) paradoxically, profits were higher on smaller farms; (ii) however, empirical data show that small dairy farms are disappearing; (iii) this is because when including subsidies, farms with a higher number of cows are more profitable than smaller farms. (shrink)

Los constantes cambios que sacuden el mundo actual han hecho entrar en una situación organizacional de ruptura paradigmática; hoy los viejos lenguajes son insuficientes para llegar a ser éticos, sensitivos y rentables en el día a día. Las organizaciones que aprenden, concebidas como sistemas complejos, deben ser autoconscientes y estar en proceso de construcción y deconstrucción permanente que posibiliten el desarrollo de valores para un ambiente de trabajo dinámico y potenciador. Se propone el concepto de “fárbices caórdicas” como elemento esencial (...) de un conjunto que resulta parte indeclinable de la composición de otros elementos que coinciden en resonancia sinérgica, en un todo llamado globalización. (shrink)

¿Por qué hay que suscribir tratados que prohiban la clonación de individuos humanos? Las implicaciones de la reciente clonación de Dolly y las posibilidades técnicamente abiertas a la clonación de humanos requiere que reflexionemos acerca de lo que estaría mal si la humanidad, ahora en un futuro que ya no esta más lejos de nuestro alcance, comienza a clonar individuos humanos. En primer lugar, examino y explico en que consiste una clonación a partir de células somáticas. En segundo lugar, analizo (...) los problemas e implicaciones del procedimiento desde el punto de vista ético. (shrink)

In all cultures, ethnomedical practices are largely the same for animals and people, whether in mode of administration of materia medica, in the materials themselves, or in surgical, mechanical, behavioral, medico-religious, and other realms. Below, parallels between veterinary and human ethnomedical techniques are outlined. Taken together, they suggest that a number of benefits could be gained by closer collaboration between veterinary and human medicine in the delivery of basic healthcare information and services.

El proceso de aprendizaje en un adulto es diferente al que ocurre en la etapa de la niñez; el adulto posee un piso de competencias al que es capaz de integrarla adquisición de nuevos conocimientos y asume su aprendizaje como un proceso electivo en función de sus motivaciones e intereses. El adulto como totalidad “bio-psico-sociológica” siente, vive, actúa y otorga significado a lo que aprende como parte de la realidad y del paradigma en el que se halla inserto. Considerar al (...) adulto descontextualizado de esta compleja realidad que representa, es cercenar su naturaleza y condenarlo a formarse en la incomprensión de su propia racionalidad. Concebir un proceso de autorregulación en el aprendizaje de un individuo, es reconocer en él la capacidad de tomar las riendas de ese ser que representa; reconocerlo capaz de asumir la responsabilidad para consigo, para con los otros, para con el todo del vivir y existir, respetando el proceso que lo revela como un ente, quees -por naturaleza propia- único e irrepetible. (shrink)

Come pensavano il tempo i Greci di eta arcaica, prima che Platone ed Aristotele ne formulassero una definizione? Nei miti, il tempo della natura, ciclico e rassicurante, non era messo a confronto con quello umano, imprevedibile anche se inesorabilmente determinato. Il ritmo scandito dal sole non era sovrapponibile a quelle della vita umana, l'avvicendarsi delle stagioni non misurava la durata della stirpe. Solo in eta sapienziale (VII-V secolo a.C.) si comincio a pensare il tempo in modo onnicomprensivo e si avverti (...) l'esigenza di misurarne il flusso. In quell'epoca, Eraclito tratteggio una concezione del tempo assolutamente innovativa, capace di ribaltare le visione del mondo trasmessa dai miti. Penso al tempo delle stagioni in analogia con quello interiore e vide nell'inesauribile creativita dell'anima umana lo specchio dell'infinita potenzialita della natura. La concezione offerta da Eraclito, avversata dai filosofi di eta classica e misconosciuta dalla scienza, trasmette ancora oggi, a chi legge con attenzione i frammenti rimasti della sua opera, un fiducioso messaggio di speranza nella capacita umana di vivere creativamente il tempo. (shrink)

Here's an exercise: take a piece of paper. Grab a pen, pencil, crayon - any drawing utensil within reach. Now, draw a typical family. The shape of family has changed in the 21st century. While the nuclear family still exists, many more types of kinship surround us. Kin is an investigation into what influences us to have children and the new ways that have made parenthood possible. It delves into the experiences of couples without children, single parents by choice and (...) rainbow families, and investigates the impacts of adoption, sperm donation, IVF and surrogacy, and the potential for a future of designer babies. Assisted reproductive technology has developed quickly, and the ways in which we think and speak about its implications - both legally and ethically - need to catch up. Written by journalist Marina Kamenev, Kin: Family in the 21st century is an incisive and powerful look at how families are created today, and how they might be created in the future. 'A careful and compassionate exploration of the creativity, pain and power involved in the eternally imperfect art of family making.' - Gina Rushton, author of The Most Important Job in the World 'A forensically researched book that's impossible to put down, Kamenev deftly demonstrates how society's understanding of family has changed through the generations and what it might mean now. You'll be thinking about the issues she explores for years to come.' - Isabelle Oderberg, author of Hard to Bear: Investigating the science and silence of miscarriage 'Kin is a veritable tome on family - from its evolution to the unique ways we build it - that makes clear Western society's concepts of family, reproduction and kinship need updating. Kamenev's thoughtful and often witty voice combined with meticulously researched stories makes Kin a fascinating read.' - Roz Bellamy, author of Mood: A memoir of love, identity and mental health and editor-in-chief of Archer magazine 'Well researched and animated by a multitude of voices, Kin is a complex and moving account of how our capacity to create new forms of family has not always been accompanied by sufficient reflection. Kin is an important addition to our understanding of how modern kinship relations are understood, generated, and regulated.' - Fiona Kelly, Dean of La Trobe University law school and an expert in family and health law. (shrink)

We present here for the first time an italian translation of Rang’s Vom Weg messianischer Deutung : the introductory essay on the work on Shakespeare’s sonnets. This work remained unfinished and was only partially published posthumously by Rang’s son, Bernhard, in 1954, with the title Shakespeare der Christ. Eine Deutung der Sonette. The translation is accompanied by a comment essay on Rang’s text. This comment essay firstly aims to contextualize both the work on Shakespeare and the very complex and still (...) little researched figure of Florens Christian Rang; secondly, it addresses the most important conceptual issues that the essay presents. With a strongly programmatic nature and, at the same time, with an expressionistic style, which is as obscure as it is visionary, Vom Weg messianischer Deutung presents the method of messianic interpretation in contrast with the classical-romantic one of the pneumatic interpretation. What is at stake is a perspective that challenges the autonomy of art in order to place the Kunstwerk in the series of all the works of divine creation to transform it in faith work. It is the point of view of the Last Judgment that leads the way. The messianic critique of art reveals to be only a particular case of messianic world critique, literally a critique of the world, which redirects itself to the world. It is the movement of conversion which breaks with the false dualism of Romanticism, according to which the spirit is divided in two: on the one hand, there are the experience, the world, the science, on the other hand, there is the art as pure mirroring of forms. Through the messianic interpretation, the spirit returns to be body, flesh. It follows the permanent movement of creation, namely the continuous conversion from God to the world and from the world to God. In this sense, according to Rang, Shakespeare’s sonnets exemplify the faith work: their poetic word names the messianic unity of body and spirit. They are crystals within which all creatural life, the great stages of the divine creation, are concentrated. (shrink)

This article discusses women's positions in higher education in Europe and compares these with a case study analysis of senior women at one `new' UK university. The study comprises interview data from 22 senior women in both academic schools and departments and in functional departments. The main findings include substantial differences between younger and older women in their career progression. While for both groups having children was a major in uence, the older women, especially the academics, had to weave their (...) career developments around those of their husbands and caring for their children. Nevertheless, they displayed strong entrepreneurial tendencies, becoming highly skilled at spotting and seizing opportunities. The younger women were more selfconfident in a `postfeminist' period where young women often assume equality has been achieved and material support systems such as childcare is well established. In contrast with the older women, they fitted their family lives around their careers. Balancing their gender had become central to both their private and their work lives. The older women were sensitive to the subtle homosocial culture, attitudes and norms in the university, while the younger women relied more on a meritocratic approach to their careers, and were seemingly less aware of the institutional gendered power relations. Neither group showed signs of collective working or networking in the interests of themselves or women generally in the university. These characteristics imply that while the proportion of senior women may continue to increase, the strongly gendered culture is less likely to be challenged. (shrink)

The genealogy of the Postumii Albini from the second half of the second century bce onwards is uncertain and debated. This article attempts a new discussion of the evidence. Its main contention is that A. Postumius Albinus, cos. 99, should be distinguished from the homonymous legate, brother of Sp. Postumius Albinus, cos. 110; that the two moneyers A. Postumii Albini were, in all likelihood, not directly related to each other and were probably sons of the last two consuls of the (...) family; and, as a consequence, that at least two lines of descent between the second and the first century bce can be discerned. On the basis of these results, a new stemma of the ancient patrician family of the Albini is put forward. (shrink)

This paper reconsiders the political facets and purposes of Caracalla's imitatio Alexandri and esteem for Sulla. Both emulations represented the result of a well-pondered political way of thinking and acting. On the one hand, Caracalla reclaimed the exemplum Sullanum displayed by his father, and sought to lead fruitfully the edgy relationships with the Roman political class also through the political role-model embodied by Sulla; on the other hand, by activating the cultural and historical heritage of Alexander in the hellenophone and (...) Near Eastern provinces, the Emperor aimed to interact effectively with the local communities, elites, and populations. (shrink)

Recent experimental evidence suggests that most of the genome is transcribed into non‐coding RNAs. The initial transcripts undergo further processing generating shorter, metabolically stable RNAs with diverse functions. Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are non‐coding RNAs that modify rRNAs, tRNAs, and snRNAs that were considered stable. We review evidence that snoRNAs undergo further processing. High‐throughput sequencing and RNase protection experiments showed widespread expression of snoRNA fragments, known as snoRNA‐derived RNAs (sdRNAs). Some sdRNAs resemble miRNAs, these can associate with argonaute proteins and (...) influence translation. Other sdRNAs are longer, form complexes with hnRNPs and influence gene expression. C/D box snoRNA fragmentation patterns are conserved across multiple cell types, suggesting a processing event, rather than degradation. The loss of expression from genetic loci that generate canonical snoRNAs and processed snoRNAs results in diseases, such as Prader‐Willi Syndrome, indicating possible physiological roles for processed snoRNAs. We propose that processed snoRNAs acquire new roles in gene expression and represent a new class of regulatory RNAs distinct from canonical snoRNAs.Also watch the Video Abstract. (shrink)

If psychology requires a taxonomy that categorizes mental states according to their causal powers, the common sense method of individuating mental states (a taxonomy by intentional content) is unacceptable because mental states can have different intentional content, but identical causal powers. This difference threatens both the vindication of belief/desire psychology and the viability of scientific theories whose posits include intentional states. To resolve this conflict, Fodor has proposed that for scientific purposes mental states should be classified by their narrow content. (...) Such a classification is supposed to correspond to a classification by causal powers. Yet a state's narrow content is also supposed to determine its (broad) intentional content whenever that state is 'anchored' to a context. I examine the two most plausible accounts of narrow content implicit in Fodor's work, arguing that neither account can accomplish both goals. (shrink)

In his article on « Vampires », in the Dictionnaire philosophique, Voltaire both evokes the phenomenon of the so-called « vampire plague » which hit Central Europe during the 1730s and recalls the controversial interpretations of this phenomenon in France and abroad. He takes advantage of the occasion to renew his anti-religious polemic, with a caustic irony that doesn’t spare even a sincere Voltairian like Jean Baptiste Boyer d’Argens, who had offered a penetrating analysis of this phenomenon in his Lettres (...) Juives. In his text, Voltaire chooses satire rather than an inquiry into causes of the phenomenon, revealing a superficial anthropological approach as well as the limits of an argument conceived as pure ideology. (shrink)