Throughout the bulk of the Reformed Tradition’s history within both Europe and the United States, most scholars have dismissed pastor and theologian Moïse Amyraut as a seventeenth century French heretic whose actions and theology led to the demise of the Huguenots in France. However, upon further introspection into Amyraut’s claims as being closer to Calvin (soteriologically) than his Genevan successors, one finds uncanny parallels in the scriptural commentaries and biblical insight into the expiation of Christ between Calvin (...) and Amyraut. By comparing key scriptural passages concerning the atonement, this article demonstrates that Reformed theologian Moïse Amyraut in fact propagated a universal atonement theory which parallels Calvin’s, both men ascribing to biblical faithfulness, a (humanistic) theological method, and similar hermeneutic. As such, both Calvin and Amyraut scripturally contend that God desires and provided the means for the salvation of the whole world. Further, the article demonstrates that Calvin’s successor, Theodore de Beza, could not in fact make the same claims as Amyraut, this article demonstrating that Beza went beyond Calvin’s scriptural approach to Christ’s expiation. Therefore, this article supports a more centrist approach from within and outside the Reformed tradition by demonstrating that Calvin and Amyraut concentrically held to God’s gracious provision in Christ for the saving of the whole world, for those who would believe in Christ for salvation. (shrink)

This dissertation develops an original interpretation of the relationship between reason and religious belief in the work of Pierre Bayle, a seventeenth-century skeptic, that I call “philosophical fideism.” The underdetermined, and often paradoxical, nature of Bayle’s writing makes interpreting him a formidable task; I therefore begin by sketching out the contemporary interpretive landscape of Bayle studies, currently deeply divided over the issue of Bayle’s conception of the reason-faith relationship. I subsequently examine other conceptions of the reason-faith relationship among rationalists and (...) skeptics of the seventeenth century, and argue that Bayle’s position on this issue is deeply influenced by his Cartesian inheritance. I argue that the central, but neglected, factor in understanding Bayle on the reason-faith question is the influence of seventeenth-century Calvinist rationalism, particularly that of Moïse Amyraut. I show how Amyraut’s tripartite distinction of revealed truths provides the framework for a central element of Bayle’s philosophical fideism, and argue that a small group of revealed truths that Bayle calls “the Christian mysteries” form the core of Bayle’s philosophical fideism. I attribute a conception of reason to Bayle that I call “qualified Academic skepticism,” in contrast to the “supersceptical” interpretation of Richard Popkin on the one hand, and the Stratonian interpretation of Gianluca Mori on the other. Finally, I explain the grounds of Bayle's claims about the erring conscience and the justification for religious toleration. Conscience plays a crucial role in Bayle’s philosophical fideism, not only epistemologically, but also morally. The erring conscience supports the interpretation of Christian mysteries as Bayle’s own religious first principles, greatly increasing the significance of Bayle's doctrine of the erring conscience. If the conscience is the source of one’s core beliefs and of their moral force, then reason, though still able to examine critically the claims of conscience, would be impotent to mitigate the moral force of the duties and rights of conscience. One cannot in good conscience, therefore, be intolerant of those who articulate alternative "first principles" since their source is the individual conscience itself. This account thus establishes a ground for religious toleration that is independent of, but compatible with, religious first principles. (shrink)

This paper presents a formalism that combines useful properties of both logic and probabilities. Like logic, the formalism admits qualitative sentences and provides symbolic machinery for deriving deductively closed beliefs and, like probability, it permits us to express if-then rules with different levels of firmness and to retract beliefs in response to changing observations. Rules are interpreted as order-of-magnitude approximations of conditional probabilities which impose constraints over the rankings of worlds. Inferences are supported by a unique priority ordering on rules (...) which is syntactically derived from the knowledge base. This ordering accounts for rule interactions, respects specificity considerations and facilitates the construction of coherent states of beliefs. Practical algorithms are developed and analyzed for testing consistency, computing rule ordering, and answering queries. Imprecise observations are incorporated using qualitative versions of Jeffrey's rule and Bayesian updating, with the result that coherent belief revision is embodied naturally and tractably. Finally, causal rules are interpreted as imposing Markovian conditions that further constrain world rankings to reflect the modularity of causal organizations. These constraints are shown to facilitate reasoning about causal projections, explanations, actions and change. (shrink)

We defend the moral and legal right to secede in accordance with plebiscitary theory. Our paper has three main goals. First, by offering a schematic characterization of plebiscitary theory, the main arguments in its favour (and the main objections to them), we contribute to clarify the structure of this complex debate. Second, we stress the point that, if the moral right to secede is established, the resistance for its inclusion into positive law is unjustified. Finally, by addressing old and new (...) objections to plebiscitary theory, we hope to make a compelling case for a wider recognition of secessionist rights. (shrink)

The uncertainty concerning the genre of the Ḥorvat ʿUza ostracon 1 is problematized through the lens of linguistic anthropology. Although a denotative approach to the linguistic forms in this Hebrew ostracon is well attested, less attention has been paid to the indexical meaning of specific stylistic features and their semi- otic register implications. Several linguistic-ideological concepts are drawn upon to examine how the act of inscription and specialized linguistic forms align the discursive genre of the ostracon with prophecy. I seek (...) to determine what salient discourse forms in the ostracon index the employment of habitual utterance styles of prophecy that construct context, genre, and social identity. (shrink)

Os sites institucionais das universidades são ferramentas importantes para que os estudantes acessem as informações referentes à instituição. Espera-se que as informações distribuídas nos sites sejam de fácil acesso e contemplem informações completas. Considera-se o cuidado com a saúde mental discente um assunto muito importante, mas pouco explorado e/ou investido. Esse estudo tem por objetivo problematizar e discutir sobre os serviços de saúde mental discente encontrados através das informações apresentadas nos sites institucionais das universidades e avaliar a facilidade de acesso (...) às informações. Foram escolhidas 11 universidades federais da região sul do Brasil por amostra de conveniência, sendo uma pesquisa qualitativa onde foi utilizado o método descritivo e interpretativo com o auxílio da etnografia virtual para construção dos dados. Ao longo da pesquisa, percebeu-se uma dificuldade em encontrar informações sobre suporte à saúde mental e informações completas sobre os serviços estudados. Durante o estudo houve o questionamento sobre a necessidade de pensar a saúde mental discente além do viés biomédico centralizado em dificuldades cognitivas e/ou possíveis adoecimentos no meio acadêmico. Existe uma urgência de criar propostas de prevenção e promoção à saúde mental universitária ampliando os campos de atuação do psicólogo escolar. (shrink)

La tesis o hipótesis que se sostiene en el artículo es que la puesta en relación de formas explícitas e implícitas de vida compartida en las sociedades contemporáneas conlleva el auge de identidades híbridas, múltiples o complejas. Entendiendo por identidades híbridas la confluencia de múltiples identificaciones en la biografía personal. Siendo la globalización y la pluralización cultural las formas fundamentales de la sociedad contemporánea, la movilidad se convierte en su principal ingrediente. Se describe la presencia de distintos elementos culturales conformadores (...) de identidad en Chiapas. Internet, la emigración a Estados Unidos o el Tratado de Libre Comercio entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá se hibrida con la heterogeneidad identitaria (religiosa, étnica, lingüística) existente en el territorio. Se discute el carácter híbrido de las sociedades contemporáneas y las consecuencias sociales y políticas que conlleva. (shrink)

El trabajo vivo no es una categoría económica, sino que forma parte de la actividad práctica humana que surge del fundamento mismo de la vida. Sin embargo, en el sistema de producción capitalista el trabajo vivo es convertido en la determinación esencial del capital en su proceso de valorización. Así, mientras lo activo y lo subjetivo queda transformado en una objetividad muerta para los propios productores, el capital llega a su plena perfección con ello: el plusvalor. Partiendo de un análisis (...) ontológico de la actividad laboral encontramos que el trabajo vivo es la categoría simple sobre la que se articula el resto de categorías económicas. La perspectiva filosófica ha de permitirnos analizar, mostrar y especificar las íntimas relaciones que se establecen entre el capital y el trabajo, así como las metamorfosis y transformaciones que ha de sufrir el trabajo vivo para convertirse en entelequia del capital, es decir, el tránsito de lo vivo a lo muerto. (shrink)

El término aventura resumiría lo que de impulso inmanentista encierra el bergsonismo. Dicha aventura, empero, se ve finalmente empañada por las más diversas consideraciones de tipo espiritualista y de modo especial por la inquietud teológica del último Bergson. Llevar a cabo esa aventura implicaría formar un "circuito" entre lo virtual y lo posible. Sería así desarticulada en la ontología bergsoniana la inquietud antes mencionada y pensado el futuro con condiciones humanistas.

Resumen: El propósito de este trabajo es mostrar cómo la propuesta de la nueva retórica de Chaïm Perelman se constituye fundamentalmente en una teoría de la racionalidad práctica en perspectiva argumentativa. Para el desarrollo de esta tesis procedemos de la siguiente manera: primero se describe el giro pragmático que lleva a Perelman a señalar los límites de la lógica formal deductivista para el campo de los valores en algunos de sus textos de juventud; a continuación se muestra la apuesta de (...) Perelman por una nueva retórica como un tipo de aplicación de la racionalidad, desarrollada en su Tratado de la argumentación y algunos textos posteriores a 1958; y finalmente se desarrolla la noción perelmaniana de lo razonable en el marco de la argumentación jurídica, para mostrar cómo, desde esta perspectiva, Perelman se vincula al debate de la segunda mitad del siglo XX conocido como la “doctrina de los casos difíciles en derecho”.: The purpose of this work is to show how Chaïm Perelman’s new rhetoric proposal fundamentally constitutes a theory of practical rationality in an argumentative perspective. To develop this thesis, we proceed as follows: first, we describe the pragmatic turn that leads Perelman to point out the limits of formal deductivist logic in the field of values, in some of his youth texts; then, Perelman’s bet on new rhetoric is presented as a kind of application of rationality, developed in his Treaty of Argumentation and in some texts written after 1958; finally, the Perelmanian notion of reason is developed in the framework of legal argumentation, to show how, from this perspective, Perelman is linked to the debate of the second half of the twentieth century known as the “doctrine of difficult cases in law”. (shrink)

Este artigo pretende abordar, por um viés filosófico, o problema dos Direitos Humanos enunciados em Declarações dos séculos XVIII e XX. A questão de fundo consiste nos Direitos do Homem a partir do “ideal de humanidade” ou “dignidade humana” considerando duas ideias: 1) o paradoxo da Declaração dos Direitos do Homem e do Cidadão e a noção de que só se sente um “humano” com direitos garantidos alguém que se vê contemplado no bojo jurídico de uma nação. 2) A humanidade (...) como “grande família”, e o mundo como “grande nação”. Para tanto, promovemos neste trabalho um debate entre três pensadores: Diderot, com sua noção de vontade geral do gênero humano; Rousseau, com sua refutação à tese de Diderot, negando que exista uma “sociedade natural ou geral entre os homens”; e Kant, que no seu À Paz Perpétua retoma, a seu modo, a noção de cosmopolitismo negada por Rousseau e aponta para a possibilidade do direito se estender a toda a humanidade. (shrink)

The vertebrate body is organized in segments, easily visible in the consecutive vertebrae of the skeleton. These are first defined in the embryo by the formation of somites. Somites are generated at regular intervals from the presomitic mesoderm by a combination of oscillating signals, known as the segmentation clock, which establish the pace at which new somites are formed, and signaling gradients that set the location of new intersomitic borders. Using a microarray approach, Dequéant et al.1 have now shown that (...) the segmentation clock is more complex than previously thought and includes oscillating expression of genes from at least three signaling pathways organized in coordinated networks. BioEssays 29:412–415, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

In moral and political philosophy many contractualist views appeal to hypothetical consent when justifying their proposed normative contents. In this paper I argue that all of them fail. In particular, I defend three claims. First, I consider and develop what I call the common objection to contractualism: that the stipulation of a hypothetical consent adds nothing to the independent reasons offered in contractualist procedures in favor of the normative content in question. Second, I hold that this objection gives rise to (...) what I call the contractualist dilemma. Third, in light of the dilemma, I argue that contractualism should be understood in a non-justificatory way. These three claims might sound familiar to readers versed on the contractualist tradition. It is striking, however, how many contemporary authors continue to defend contractualism as a method of justification despite these arguments. This paper is thus a strong invitation to finally abandon the justificatory interpretation of this view. (shrink)

Llamamiento. -Marcelino Garcia Flamenco. -Juicios sobre M. Vincenzi. -Critica trascendental (autocritica) -Leuconoe. -Principios de critica. -Critilo y Teofilo. -El mago azul. -Juan M. Dihigo y sus obras. -Paulino y Suetonio.

El artículo examina la idea popperiana del Mundo 3 como un caso de verdad práctica. El hecho de que Popper hable del conocimiento como de una habilidad práctica da pie a analizar su propuesta en los términos de la filosofía práctica de la ciencia, tal y como ha sido desarrollada por Alfredo Marcos. Este enfoque ofrece una visión más coherente del pensamiento popperiano en el que no cabría distinguir dos etapas incoherentes, una crítica y otra ontológica, sino un mismo pensamiento (...) en el que la relación entre sujeto y objeto de conocimiento no es tan simple como suponen el psicologismo subjetivista ni el objetivismo esencialista (extremos que Popper pretendió evitar siempre). (shrink)

Varios autores afines al proyecto del liberalismo político han propuesto diferentes modelos de razón pública para enfrentar la situación de desacuerdo moral permanente en las sociedades liberales. En este trabajo presentamos un modelo que defiende dos argumentos. Primero, argumentamos a favor de una interpretación deflacionista de las razones que son aceptables para los ciudadanos razonables. Segundo, introducimos una nueva terminología que distingue entre lo que llamamos razones dependientes, accesibles y aceptables. Sostenemos que sólo las segundas y las terceras son medios (...) adecuados de discusión dentro de la razón pública, y las terceras son un estándar correcto de justificación de política pública. (shrink)

A platitude in epistemology is that an individual’s belief does not qualify as knowledge if it is true by luck. Individuals, however, are not the only bearers of knowledge. Many epistemologists agree that groups can also possess knowledge in a way that is genuinely collective. If groups can know, it is natural to think that, just as true individual beliefs fall short of knowledge due to individual epistemic luck, true collective beliefs may fall short of knowledge because of collective epistemic (...) luck. This paper argues, first, that the dominant view of epistemic luck in the literature, the modal view, does not yield a satisfactory account of lucky collective beliefs. Second, it argues that collective epistemic luck is better explained in terms of groups lacking forms of control over collective belief formation that are specific to the different procedures for forming collective beliefs. One of the main implications of this, we will argue, is that groups whose beliefs are formed via internal deliberation are more vulnerable to knowledge-undermining collective luck than groups that form their beliefs via non-deliberative methods, such as non-deliberative anonymous voting. The bottom line is that the greater exposure to knowledge-undermining luck that deliberation gives rise to provides a reason for thinking that non-deliberative methods of group belief formation have greater epistemic value. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to expand the theoretical field of discursive injustice by identifying a specific kind of discursive injustice, namely, the kind we are subject to when we are unjustly prevented from exchanging reasons with others. Broadly speaking, discursive injustice is the kind of injustice we suffer when we are unjustly harmed as language users, most notably when we are prevented from using language in ways we are entitled to. The dominant approach to discursive injustice has focused (...) on the corruption of the illocutionary force of a speech act due to the hearer’s improper uptake. I claim that there is a genuinely distinct kind of discursive injustice, which I label as deliberative injustice, that cannot be accounted for by the dominant approach to discursive injustice. In my view, what makes deliberative injustice discursively unjust is that it amounts to denying someone a normative position that she is entitled to as a language user, which I understand in terms of being a source of reasons. Moreover, I explore two ways of trying to illuminate deliberative injustice by appealing to the social level of analysis, namely, by resorting to a structural explanation to explain how it comes about, and by asking what it signifies for the collective life of groups. In this regard, I show that the structural explanation has some explanatory limitations, and that deliberative injustice essentially constitutes a collective failure. (shrink)

Este artigo tem como objetivo contribuir com a crítica aos PNPG e suas determinações na produção do conhecimento dos professores de Educação Física das IES do estado da Bahia no período de 1982 a 2012, através da análise epistemológica. Trata-se de uma pesquisa documental, cujos dados foram analisado a luz do método do materialismo histórico e dialético. Os resultados apontam que os PNPG apresentam em seus objetivos e diretrizes uma concepção de pós-graduação que estimula o produtivismo acadêmico e a aproximação (...) da ciência ao capital que determinam uma produção predominantemente desenvolvida com base na lógica formal. (shrink)

O seguinte artigo tem como objetivo apresentar a interpretação realizada pelo filósofo e místico alemão Mestre Eckhart, das figuras de Marta e Maria no sermão de número 86 A Excelência de Marta sobre Maria. Apoiado neste sermão, faremos algumas análises filosóficas dos conceitos de vida contemplativa e vida ativa, pois compreendemos que ao realizar a interpretação da superioridade de Marta sobre Maria, Mestre Eckhart estabelece um novo paradigma interpretativo da vida contemplativa e ativa na filosofia medieval. Palavras-chaves: Mestre Eckhart. Mística. (...) Vida contemplativa. Vida ativa. Marta e Maria. (shrink)

Beyond the techniques and instruments it employs, medicine has an intrinsic value that enables it to be interpretative, dramatic, and above all, real. In this essay, the aesthetic that emerges through the medical examination is thoroughly discussed. The piece deconstructs the qualities of the medical examination in a manner that facilitates medical practice to be perceived as an art form. The signifiers found in a medical diagnosis and its aesthetic consequences are reviewed. The nature of the diagnosis positions medical practice (...) as a dramatic art. (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)

The aim of this article is to present the vision that Merleau-Ponty has on the human body approached in a way that could be called the phenomenology of corporeality – in which what is actually important is the experience of being embodied, perception, bodily scheme, the structural unit and the meaning. By deliberately blending ambiguity and clarity of allegations, Merleau-Ponty creates a background which supports perception as a way of access toward the Being.