Cancer research has been at the forefront of biomedical activity in recent decades, and advances in molecular biology have provided a growing amount of information on the mechanisms involved in the etiopathogenesis of tumors. Nevertheless, despite these advances, the complexity of cancer is more evident, especially as different levels of phenomena are considered to explain the heterogeneity of the neoplastic process. A synthetic analysis of advances in cancer research illustrates these changes. In attempting to overcome the limits of epistemological reductionism, (...) there is a move from a view of a genetic basis for cancer to a more comprehensive perspective aiming to integrate a large amount of information and to understand the neoplastic phenomenon at higher levels of biological complexity through a new interpretative framework. (shrink)

The central idea behind this paper is that presuppositions of soft triggers arise from the way our attention structures the informational content of a sentence. Some aspects of the information conveyed are such that we pay attention to them by default, even in the absence of contextual information. On the other hand, contextual cues or conversational goals can divert attention to types of information that we would not pay attention to by default. Either way, whatever we do not pay attention (...) to, be it by default, or in context, is what ends up presupposed by soft triggers. This paper attempts to predict what information in the sentence is likely to end up being the main point (i.e. what we pay attention to) and what information is independent from this, and therefore likely presupposed. It is proposed that this can be calculated by making reference to event times. The notion of aboutness used to calculate independence is based on that of Demolombe and Fariñas del Cerro (In: Holdobler S (ed) Intellectics and computational logic: papers in honor of Wolfgang Bibel, 2000). (shrink)

A complete, illustrated survey of Etienne-Jules Marey's work that investigates the far reaching effects of her inventions on stream-of-consciousness literature, psychoanalysis, Bergsonian philosophy, and the art of cubists and futurists.

Invention is an important source of technology, and, to understand invention, one needs a model system or prototype. A candidate model system is the hand tool. Using the hand tool as an example, the authors present a systematic approach to invention, dealing with description, classification, and joining or integrating simpler forms. Heuristics for when to integrate are presented. Finally, the authors introduce a new way of thinking about hand tools: simple spatial transformations applied to an abstract element make possible the (...) re-creation of a large number of tools. (shrink)

El presente artículo estudia el desarrollo y el sentido teórico de la posición epistemológica de Furio Jesi respecto al problema del mito y de la ciencia del mito. La comprensión de esta posición epistemológica requerirá un análisis breve de su relación con la ciencia del mito precedente y de la configuración del modelo gnoseológico de la “máquina mitológica”, así como de su potencia crítica y política. Finalmente, el artículo analizará la aplicación que Jesi diese a su modelo teórico para el (...) estudio de los neofascismos en Cultura di destra. (shrink)

RESUMEN Partiendo de la exposición que el propio Giorgio Agamben hace de sus intenciones teóricas y prácticas al inicio de Homo sacer I, así como del método con el que pretende afrontarlas, este ensayo muestra, mediante un análisis pormenorizado de dicho método, algunos de los límites del proyecto. Esta tarea crítica negativa se ve complementada con 1) una defensa de algunos de los gestos teóricos agambeanos frente a una cierta recepción de sus ideas sobre la "nuda vida", y 2) la (...) propuesta metodológica de una "precaución etnográfica" que posibilitase un saneamiento del proyecto y una superación de los límites descubiertos. Tales cuestiones se enmarcarían en una indagación en torno a la interdisciplinariedad y el canon y la esencia de la filosofía crítica. ABSTRACT Starting from the exposition provided by Giorgio Agamben himself of his theoretical and practical intentions at the beginning of Homo sacer I and from the method with which he intends to face them, this essay shows, through a detailed analysis of that method, some of the limits of the project. This negative critical task is complemented by 1) a defense of some of Agamben's theoretical gestures against a certain reception of his ideas about "bare life", and 2) the methodological proposal of an "ethnographic precaution" that would permit to sanitize the project and to overcome the discovered limits. Such questions would be embedded in an inquiry about interdisciplinarity and the canon and essence of critical philosophy. (shrink)

En la poesía española contemporánea resulta cada vez más frecuente la relación de la poesía con otras disciplinas artísticas y, en especial, con las artes visuales. El poemario “A orillas del Ems”, de María Victoria Atencia, que combina lo fotográfico y lo poético, puede verse como un ejemplo de este tipo de interrelación. Tomando como punto de partida el libro de fotografías “Telgte in Erinnerung”, de Renate Kruchen, la autora realiza una recreación poética, sirviéndose del mecanismo compositivo de la “écfrasis”. (...) En esta recreación, se mezclan o se combinan lo ajeno con lo propio y lo objetivo con lo subjetivo. A las imágenes de los otros se va superponiendo o entrelazando la voz, las experiencias y los recuerdos personales de su autora, en la construcción de un discurso en el que, aunque de forma velada, pueden encontrarse elementos personales, subjetivos y autobiográficos. A lo largo del texto se estudiarán algunas de las formas en las que estos elementos se introducen en el poemario, entre las que se encuentran la selección y ordenación del material fotográfico y poético; las superposiciones o coincidencias entre los dos discursos, el visual y el verbal; la relación entre lo presente y lo ausente; y la interacción de la hablante con los personajes de las fotografías y las relaciones ficticias de parentesco que establece con ellos. (shrink)

Las críticas contra Martin Heidegger por su supuesto suprahistoricismo o el desarraigo empírico de su ontología fundamental han sido abundantes y de diverso tipo. El presente artículo pretende confrontarlas con el estudio minucioso de la analítica del acontecer del Dasein, por cuanto el autor encuentra en ella justo la base teórica de una filosofía consciente de los límites infranqueables de la existencia histórica y de la forma como la realidad empírica articula significados, valores, pautas de comportamiento, narrativas… en definitiva, un (...) sentido. De esta forma encontramos en la analítica del acontecer del Dasein el suelo teórico sobre el que cabe pensar el proyecto de una ontología del presente. En favor de esta segunda tesis, se desarrollan algunas reflexiones sobre lo específico de nuestra realidad contemporánea buscando medir el alcance de las tesis heideggerianas. Lo que este artículo halla finalmente es la existencia de un componente crítico inherente a la filosofía heideggeriana, a partir del cual puede comprenderse sin misticismos la idea del Destino. (shrink)

To dwell in finitude. The first movement of human existence as residential settlement in Jan Pato?ka’s phenomenological thought Resumen: El presente estudio se centra en la interpretación del primero de los tres movimientos de la existencia humana postulados por el fenomenólogo checo Jan Patocka, como un procedimiento orientado a ocultar la originaria alteridad del Ser y, consecuentemente, a favorecer el habitar humano en el mundo. La propia estructura de nuestra percepción y nuestra relación original con los otros formarían parte de (...) ese mecanismo de inserción residencial que caracteriza al movimiento de “anclaje” o “enraizamiento”. Palabras clave: Patocka, habitar, movimiento de la existencia, enraizamiento.: The present work focuses on the interpretation of the first of the three movements of human existence postulated by the Czech phenomenologist Jan Patocka, as a procedure tending towards the concealing of the original alterity of Being and, in consequence, to favour human dwelling in the world. The structure of our perception itself and our original relation with the others would form part of that residential insertion that characterizes the movement of “anchorage” or “rooting”. Keywords: Patocka, dwelling, movement of existence, rooting. (shrink)

Resumen: En este estudio nos proponemos abordar la cuestión de la esencia de la relación entre sujeto y mundo, entre Ser y subjetividad, en el marco de la “fenomenología asubjetiva” elaborada por el filósofo checo Jan Patočka. Para ello, examinamos algunas de las nociones de “mundo” presentes en diferentes lugares de la fragmentaria obra de Patočka con objeto de confrontarlas con su concepción de la subjetividad como aquello que se retira para permitir la manifestación efectiva de todo lo demás. La (...) conclusión es que el pensamiento de Patočka pertenece plenamente a un tipo de fenomenología “objetivista” opuesta a la perspectiva fenomenológica “inmanentista” o “intersubjetiva” adoptada por pensadores como Henry o Levinas.: The purpose of this study is to broach the question about the essence of the relation between subject and world, between Being and subjectivity, in the context of the “asubjective phenomenology” developed by the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka. To do so, we examine some of the concepts of “world” that can be found in different spots of Patočka´s fragmentary work in order to contrast them with his conception of subjectivity. Subjectivity understood as what withdraws to allow for the effective manifestation of everything else. Our conclusion is that Patočka´s thought entirely belongs to an “objectivist” kind of phenomenology opposed to the “immanentist” or “intersubjective” phenomenological outlook adopted by thinkers such as Henry or Levinas. (shrink)

El propósito del presente estudio es clarificar el modo en el que los últimos desarrollos de la fenomenología de Merleau-Ponty tratan de abordar el problema de la escisión entre conciencia y objetividad que aún se hallaba presente en las primeras obras de este pensador francés. A este respecto, la noción de "carne del mundo" desempeña un papel decisivo, dado que en torno a ella Merleau-Ponty construye -en su obra póstuma e inconclusa Lo visible y lo invisible- una teoría narcisista de (...) la percepción que puede interpretarse a la vez como una ontología especular en la cual el Ser, "la carne de las cosas", se capta a sí mismo a través de la percepción humana del mundo. Se trataría, pues, de una ontología de la reconciliación entre lo objetivo y lo subjetivo. The aim of the present study is to clarify the way in which the last developments of Merleau-Pontys phenomenology try to approach the problem of the split between conscience and objectivity that had remained unsolved in the French thinker's first works. In this discussion the notion of "flesh of the world" plays a decisive role since Merleau-Ponty builds around it -in his posthumous and unfinished work Le Visible et l'invisible- a narcissistic theory of perception that can be interpreted at the same time as a specular ontology in which Being, "the flesh of things", grasps itself through the human perception of the world -which makes it an ontology of reconciliation between the objective and the subjective. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: I II III IV References Further Reading.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels believed that their political project involved a commitment to democracy, and many subsequent Marxists have claimed that Marxism’s conception of socialism and communism represents a supremely democratic social arrangement. Many of Marxism’s critics, however, reject this belief, holding that the Marxist conception of socialism and communism entails anti-democratic policies, practices and institutions. While the position of Marxism’s critics is, without question, the predominant view today, it turns out that the arguments used to support this position (...) are highly problematic, insofar as they proceed from certain liberal-democratic assumptions about democracy that Marxists can reasonably reject. (shrink)

El presente estudio constituye un examen crítico de las posibles aporías e inconsistencias teóricas en las que incurre el pensamiento hermenéutico de Vattimo cuando extrae las consecuencias práctico-políticas implícitas en sus postulados de carácter ontológico. En particular, se trata de mostrar en qué medida el propio modo en el cual la ontología hermenéutica justifica sus posiciones antirrealistas y antidescriptivas implica, en la esfera de lo público, la adopción de una encubierta óptica descriptiva que busca en último término la legitimación de (...) una opción práctico-política objetiva diferente a aquella que supuestamente derivaría del realismo metafísico. (shrink)

Major depression etiopathogenesis is related to a wide variety of genetics, demographic and psychosocial factors, as well as to environmental factors. The objective of this study is to analyze sociodemographic and environmental variables that are related to the prevalence of depression through correlation analysis and to develop a regression model that explains the behavior of this disease from an ecological perspective. This is an ecological, retrospective, cross-sectional study. The target population was 1,148,430 individuals over the age of 16 who were (...) registered in Aragon (Spain) during 2010, with electronic medical records in the community’s primary health care centers. The spatial unit was the Basic Health Area (BHA). The dependent variable was the diagnosis of Depression and the ecological independent variables were: Demographic variables (gender and age), population distribution, typology of the entity, population structure by sex and age, by nationality, by education, by work, by salary, by marital status, structure of the household by number of members, and state of the buildings. The results show moderate and positive correlations appear with higher rates of depression in areas having a higher femininity index, higher population density, areas with a higher unemployment rate and higher average salary. The results of the linear regression show that aging +75 and rural entities act as protective factors for depression, while urban areas and deficient buildings act as risk factors. In conclusion, the ecological methodology may be a useful tool which, together with the statistical epidemiological analysis, can help in the political decision making process. (shrink)

Software vulnerabilities are the root cause for a multitude of security problems in computer systems. Owing to their efficiency and tight control over low-level system resources, the C and C++ programming languages are extensively used for a myriad of purposes, from implementing operating system kernels to user-space applications. However, insufficient or improper memory management frequently leads to invalid memory accesses, eventually resulting in memory corruption vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are used as a foothold for elaborated attacks that bypass existing defense methods. (...) In this paper, we summarise the main memory safety violation types (i.e. memory errors), and analyse how they are exploited by attackers and the main mitigation methods proposed in the research community. We further systematise the most relevant techniques with regards to memory corruption identification in current programs. (shrink)

Despite the fact that natural language has always been one of the most important resources for the study of ontology, many authors continue to regard it as a deceptive guide to the inquiry into what there is. The notion of natural language as a trap is carried over into contemporary metaontological studies, which typically reject natural language as ontologically committing. From a deflationary perspective, this paper aims to argue that ontological commitment occurs in natural languages, with implications for the linguistic (...) relativity hypothesis. To this end, a view based on naturalized epistemology and other aspects of Quine’s philosophy is presented. The perspective of Natural Language Ontology proposed by Moltmann is also introduced, with the goal of offering a new approach that allows a specific analysis of the ontological commitments of natural languages. While Moltmann herself indicates some motivations for this, its potential attractiveness for the study of linguistic relativity will be emphasized here. Finally, it will be suggested that there may be a linguistic bias around the proposed criteria of ontological commitment. (shrink)

BackgroundThis study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the activities of a Bioethics Unit (BU) 5 years since its implementation (2016–2020). The BU is a research unit providing empirical research on ethical issues related to clinical practice, clinical ethics consultation, and ethical education for health care professionals (HPS).MethodsWe performed an explanatory, sequential, mixed-method, observational study, using the subsequent qualitative data to explain the initial quantitative findings. Quantitative data were collected from an internal database and analyzed by descriptive analysis. Qualitative evaluation (...) was performed by semi-structured interviews with 18 HPs who were differently involved in the BU’s activities and analyzed by framework analysis.ResultsQuantitative results showed an extensive increment of the number of BU research projects over the years and the number of work collaborations with other units and wards. Qualitative findings revealed four main themes, concerning: 1. the reasons for contacting the BU and the type of collaboration; 2. the role of the bioethicist; 3. the impact of BU activities on HPs, in terms of developing deeper and more mature thinking; 4. the need to extend ethics support to other settings. Overall, our results showed that performing both empirical bioethics research and more traditional clinical ethics activities at the same unit would produce an impetus to increase collaboration and spread an 'ethical culture' among local HPs.ConclusionsOur findings contribute to a growing body of literature on the models of clinical ethics support services and the role of empirical research in bioethics internationally. They also prepare the ground for the implementation of a multidisciplinary Clinical Ethics Committee (CEC) that aims to support the BU’s ethics consultation service within the local context. (shrink)

One influential explanation for the apparent shortcomings of Latin American philosophy is the “culture of domination” thesis, defended by Augusto Salazar Bondy (1926–1974). According to Salazar Bondy, the ultimate source of the problems besetting Latin American philosophy was to be found in the “culture of domination” that characterized Latin America countries and decisively shaped the philosophical activity of the thinkers working in those countries. In defending his thesis, Salazar Bondy introduced a number of ideas that remain useful for understanding various (...) aspects of Latin American philosophy. However, his commitment to a rather excessive determinism and his endorsement of a certain kind of essentialism ultimately undermine the plausibility of both the “culture of domination” thesis and his proposals for the regeneration of Latin American philosophy. (shrink)

El propósito del presente artículo es mostrar el modo en el cual la hermenéutica del ídolo de Jean-Luc Marion, es decir, su fenomenología de la imagen pictórica, supone un paso adelante en la consideración de la teoría fenomenológica de la intuición. Las nociones de “admiración”, “detención de la mirada” o “mostración de lo invisto” cumplen, en este sentido, la función de poner de manifiesto cómo el cuadro logra mostrarse como un elemento visible en cuyo interior tiene lugar el acontecimiento de (...) la apoteosis absoluta de la visión. Tal grado supremo de la mirada implica un cuestionamiento “estético” de las teorías metafísicas acerca del fenómeno artístico, a la vez que un desarrollo de las iniciales posiciones husserlianas en referencia a la constitución del objeto fenoménicamente dado.The aim of this paper is to show the way in which Jean-Luc Marion´s hermeneutics of the idol involves a step forward in the consideration of phenomenological theory of intuition. The concepts of “admiration”, “pause of the gaze” or “exhibition of the unseen” accomplish, in this sense, the role of showing how a painting manages to appear as a visible element in whose interior the event of the absolute apotheosis of visión takes place. This supreme degree of the gaze implies an “aesthetical” questioning of metaphysical theories about artistic phenomenon and, at the same time, a development of the first husserlian positions in reference to the constitution of the phenomenomenically given object. (shrink)

Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of giveness constitutes one of the most outstanding attempts to set up a universal theory of the phenomenologically given as a whole within the framework of contemporary philosophical thought. The aim of the present study is to apply the main categories of this phenomenological theory concerning gift to the singular type of phenomenon represented by the pure indeterminate and anonymous being to which Emmanuel Levinas refers by the name of il y a in his early writings. Therefore, (...) this concerns examining the multiple specific modes of giveness proper to the impersonal “there is” and also its paradoxical relationship both with the donor and with the receiver of such gift in order to show the possibility of a “third way” of phenomenological investigation. This is a way equally distant from the western traditional concept of Being as “stable presence” and from Levinas’ proposal geared to substitute ontology for ethics as “first philosophy”. (shrink)

RESUMENLas posturas estéticas de Hölderlin y Schiller convergen en un decisivo punto de confluencia: la voluntad de reconciliación entre lo finito y lo infinito, entre lo definido y lo ilimitado. El objetivo último pretendido por esta armonización de potencias opuestas radica en el intento de restañar la originaria fisura entre la subjetividad incondicionada y el mundo natural que se alza ante ella como resistencia y obstáculo. El presente estudio trata de mostrar el modo en el que ambos artistas-pensadores intentan favorecer (...) tal conciliación a través de una común referencia al vínculo estético existente entre lo indeterminado y lo finito.PALABRAS CLAVESchiller, Hölderlin, determinabilidad, reconciliación, formaABSTRACTHölderlin and Schiller´s aesthetical stances concur on a decisive point of confluence: the will to reconciliation between the finite and the infinite, between the defined and the unlimited. The last aim sought by this harmonization of opposed powers has its root in the attempt to stanch the original fissure between the unconditioned subjectivity and the natural world that arises in front of it as a resistance and as an obstacle. The present study tries to show the way in which both artist-thinkers attempt to favor such conciliation through a common reference to the aesthetical bond that exists between the indeterminate and the finite.KEYWORDSSchiller, Hölderlin, determinability, reconciliation, form. (shrink)

El propósito del presente artículo se localiza en la elaboración de una crítica dirigida al modo en que Levinas rechaza aquellos planteamientos ontológicos definidos por la primacía atribuida al ser neutro sobre la consideración de los “entes concretos”. Se trata de mostrar cómo esta “filosofía de lo neutro”, identificada por Levinas con una singular forma de materialismo, constituye precisamente el fundamento último al que remite todo pensamiento orientado hacia la posición en plano preeminente de la alteridad radical, y por tanto, (...) su subsiguiente apología del desarraigo y la falta de instalación intramundana por parte del hombre. (shrink)

The term “political prisoner” plays an important role in contemporary affairs. But how coherent is the concept behind the term, and is use of this term essentially unobjectionable? As it turns out,...

En Tauroética, Fernando Savater pretende ofrecer una refutación tanto de los argumentos que se esgrimen para condenar (moralmente) las corridas de toros como de las razones que suelen aducirse para justificar una mayor consideración moral hacia los animales. Este intento de refutación se basa en varias tesis: los seres humanos no tenemos obligaciones morales con los animales, los animales no tienen "intereses", la argumentación antitaurina estriba en una equiparación equivocada de los animales con los seres humanos, quienes condenan las corridas (...) sostienen una postura ética muy contradictoria y prohibir las corridas sería atentar contra la libertad personal. El presente ensayo proporciona un análisis crítico de estos argumentos con el objetivo de demostrar que son muy defectuosos. In Tauroética Fernando Savater aims to offer a refutation of both the arguments used to condemn bullfighting on moral grounds and the reasons that are commonly cited to justify greater moral consideration for animals. Savater's attempted refutation rests on a number of distinct claims: human beings have no moral obligations toward animals; animals do not have interests; anti-bullfighting arguments illegitimately equate animals with human beings; those who condemn bullfighting maintain a contradictory moral position; and the prohibition of bullfighting would constitute an unjust curtailment of personal freedom. This essay provides a critical analysis of these claims and demonstrates that all of them are in fact untenable. (shrink)

The present article seeks to show the convergence between the “anthropological” conceptions derived from Heidegger and Severino’s theses concerning the truth of being. Both philosophical proposals conserve several essential points of coincidence in reference to their common consideration of the human as a “place” or tópos in which the manifestation of being occurs, and where being gains access to illumination and language (in spite of their divergent points of view about relation between being and temporality). In opposition to the theoretical (...) perspective shared by both philosophers, the study proposes the surmounting of the underlying intuition to this perspective, and its replacement by an equally non-metaphysical understanding concerning relation between man and being that resorts to a kind of link between them more original than the bond indicated by the concept of “mutual belonging”. (shrink)

This book offers a philosophically-informed exploration of Che Guevara’s most important contributions to radical political and social theory.

Resumen: En el presente estudio tratamos de aportar algunas concisas indicaciones relativas a la posibilidad de reconstruir una “teoría estética” a partir de las indicaciones formuladas en este sentido por el filósofo checo Jan Patočka. Partiendo de su distinción entre “arte tradicional” y “arte moderno”, esto es, entre el arte concebido como “signo” y el arte entendido de forma autónoma, se trata de mostrar el modo en el que Patočka localiza la esencia del arte en el acto de revelar la (...) cara oculta de lo real. Aquella dimensión extraordinaria de las cosas que se pone de manifiesto en su puro y simple aparecer: más allá de toda mirada pragmática o utilitaria.: In the present work we try to provide some concise remarks concerning the possibility of rebuilding an “aesthetical theory” from the indications framed in this respect by the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka. On the basis of his distinction between “traditional art” and “modern art”, that is, between the art conceived as a “sign” and the art intended in an authonomous manner, we try to show the way in which Patočka places the essence of art in the act of revealing the hidden side of reality. It would be that extraordinary dimension of the things that is revealed in its pure and simple appearing: beyond all utilitarian or pragmatic gaze. (shrink)

This paper aims to discuss the coherence and consistency of the Stoic and the Nietzschean “art of dying at the right time”. Throughout this paper, we will use this expression to refer to the Stoics’ and Nietzsche’s treatment both of involuntary and voluntary death, inasmuch as both seem to be strongly connected to and grounded on the notion of timeliness. Taking this notion as a guiding thread, we will emphasize the several similarities that link their approach to suicide. Indeed, as (...) will be shown, it is plausible to assume that Nietzsche’s understanding of voluntary death is particularly influenced by the Stoic tradition. At the same time, we will point out the relevant differences that make these two approaches differ. In dealing with the Stoic and the Nietzschean attitude towards suicide, the underlying question will be whether the legitimization and defense of voluntary death is compatible—and if so, to which extent—with their teachings, in particular, with their notions of happiness and affirmation of life, on the one hand, and their ideals of living in accordance with nature and amor fati, on the other. (shrink)

No Aggression, Only Teasing: The Pragmatics of Teasing and Banter A bone of contention among researchers is whether the primary function of humour is the expression of aggression against the hearer or the promotion of solidarity between the interlocutors. It is commonly averred that teasing boasts a dichotomous nature, i.e. malignant and benevolent. The former coincides with the potential for criticising, mocking and ostracising the interlocutor, whereas the latter accounts for playfulness and bonding capacity.The overriding goal of the paper is (...) to expound the rapport-building function, which is here postulated to be inherent to teasing. First and foremost, I will determine the scope of interest differentiating between putdown humour and teases, which may assume the form of retorts and develop into multi-turn teases, i.e. banter. Subtypes of teasing will be discussed with a view to proving that it is inherently devoid of genuine aggressiveness. The underlying premise is that teases, even if ostensibly aggressive, i.e. face-threatening, are geared towards solidarity, in conformity with the framework of politeness, including mock impoliteness, holding between intimates. Also, teases fulfil a few subordinate functions such as defunctionalisation or mitigation of face-threatening messages they may carry. (shrink)

Os Discursos à Nação Alemã de Fichte foram considerados durante muito tempo uma importante contribuição para o desenvolvimento do nacionalismo alemão e do pensamento nacionalista em geral Todavia, embora os Discursos continuem sendo lidos como um prenúncio das aspirações nacionalistas alemãs, grande parte de seu contendo substantivo é hoje ignorado. Neste artigo, o Autor examina um aspecto deveras negligenciado dos Discursos, a saber, o “sistema de educação nacional” neles propostos e que merecem séria consideração pelo modo como Fichte concebe e (...) articula o papel e função da intelligentsia em busca de salvação nacional. Argumenta-se, de modo especial, que é através da exaltação da educação que Fichte legitima sua proposta de governo por uma elite erudita, um tipo de despotismo esclareci do. Mostra-se ainda que o escopo dos privilégios concedidos aos “eruditos” na reforma educacional de Fichte solapa seu potencial radicalmente igualitarista, e que sua proposta termina por mostrar-se incoerente e inconsistente em seus próprios termos, na medida em que os propósitos explícitos de seu sistema e os resultados prometidos invalidariam completamente, se levados a cabo, a reivindicação dos esclarecidos de governa, se não a necessidade de tais governantes. (shrink)