ABSTRACTAlthough a growing stream of research investigates the role of government in corporate social responsibility, little is known about how governmental CSR interventions interact in financial markets. This article addresses this gap through a longitudinal study of the socially responsible investment market in France. Building on the “CSR and government” and “regulative capitalism” literatures, we identify three modes of governmental CSR intervention—regulatory steering, delegated rowing, and microsteering—and show how they interact through the two mechanisms of layering and catalyzing. Our findings: (...) 1) challenge the notion that, in the neoliberal order, governments are confined to steering market actors—leading and guiding their behavior—while private actors are in charge of rowing—providing products and services; 2) show how governmental CSR interventions interact and are orchestrated; and 3) provide evidence that governments can mobilize financial markets to promote CSR. (shrink)

Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology By Daniel M. Hausman Cambridge University Press, 1992. Pp. 259. ISBN 0?521?41740?6. £35.00. Le Fondement de la morale: Essai d'éthiquephilosophique By André Léonard Cerf, 1991. Pp. 381. ISBN not available. FF240. The Philosophy of Time Edited By Robin Le Poidevin and Murray MacBeath Oxford University Press, 1993. Pp. 230. ISBN 0?19?823998?X. £27.50. The Ethics and Politics of Human Experimentation By Paul M. McNeill Cambridge University Press, 1993. Pp. 315. ISBN 0?521?41627?2. £35.00. Modern Conditions, Postmodern (...) Controversies By Barry Smart Routledge, 1991. Pp. 241. ISBN 0?415?06952. £10.99. Religion in Relation. Method, Application and Moral Location By Ivan Strenski Macmillan, 1993. Pp. ix + 257. ISBN 0?333?53469?7. £45.00. Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal State By Jonathan Wolff Polity Press, 1991. Pp. ix + 168. ISBN 0?7456?0603?2. £8.95 pbk. (shrink)

Metagenomics is a culture‐ and PCR‐independent approach that is now widely exploited for directly studying microbial evolution, microbial ecology, and developing biotechnologies. Observations and discoveries are critically dependent on DNA extraction methods, sequencing technologies, and bioinformatics tools. The potential pitfalls need to be understood and, to some degree, mastered if the resulting data are to survive scrutiny. In particular, methodological variations appear to affect results from different ecosystems differently, thus increasing the risk of biological and ecological misinterpretation. Part of the (...) difficulty is derived from the lack of knowledge concerning the true microbial diversity and because no approach can guarantee accessing microorganisms in the same proportion in which they exist in the environment. However, the variation between different approaches (e.g. DNA extraction techniques, sequence annotation systems) can be used to evaluate whether observations are meaningful. These methodological variations can be integrated into the error analysis before comparing microbial communities. (shrink)

Abstract Kaldor, one of the leading figures of the post?war ?Cambridge School?, has produced a large volume of methodological writings since the mid?1960s, which we will argue represents one of the major critiques of orthodox equilibrium economic theory produced this century. While Kaldor's position represents a fundamental and radical rejection of the methodological basis of equilibrium economics, he did not provide a systematically formulated alternative methodology for economics. Recent attempts at providing such a reconstruction has argued that scientific realism provides (...) the most convincing philosophical interpretation of Kaldor's methodological contributions. In this paper we will argue that van Fraassen's constructive empiricism represent a more compelling alternative methodological framework to realism for systematizing Kaldor's important contributions. In particular it will be argued that this constructive empiricist reading of Kaldor has the capacity to critically undermine the methodological basis of orthodox equilibrium economics. In addition we explore the potential of this alternative framework to provide a novel and challenging reconstruction of economic methodology. (shrink)

As interpretações referentes ao relacionamento entre Blaise Pascal e Renné Descartes costumam situar-se entre dois extremos. Algumas vezes, o autor dos Pensamentos é interpretado como uma espécie de cartesiano indeciso, incapaz de separar o seu discurso religioso das investigações científicas e filosóficas. Outras vezes, Pascal é estereotipado como uma espécie de anti-cartesiano empedernido, um apologista cuja fé não pode evitar o racionalismo. O presente busca evitar estas duas compreensões, tentando encontrar um Pascal que foi cartesiano em certa (...) medida, mas, ao mesmo tempo, crítico de Descartes, sem que, contudo, tal crítica justifique a acusação de irracionalismo. (shrink)

Agradezco sinceramente a Aníbal Zorrilla por su traducción al español – PM.: En Pourparlers, a principios de la década de 1990, Deleuze planteó la idea de que las sociedades contemporáneas no son, como las sociedades del siglo XIX y comienzos del siglo XX analizadas por Foucault, “sociedades disciplinarias”, sino “sociedades de control” que no funcionan “por confinamiento, sino por control continuo y comunicación instantánea”. 25 años más tarde, la especificidad política del mundo que ahora - Comment penser le pouvoir dans (...) le monde contemporain? (shrink)

Traduçáo do texto: Colóquio com o Senhor de Saci Sobre Epicteto e Montaigne, de Blaise Pascal, por Traduçáo: Jaimir Conte.

A acusação de entusiasmo é um dos temas mais paradoxais da polêmica entabulada por Berkeley no Alciphron contra o livre-pensamento. Com efeito, o entusiasmo designa tradicionalmente uma forma de iluminação religiosa aparentemente incompatível com as pretensões do livre-pensamento à racionalidade crítica. Ora, essa acusação não se dirige aos principais deistas como Toland e Collins (antes qualificados como racionalistas obstinados) mas principalmente a Shaftesbury, cuja análise inovadora do entusiasmo como paixão universal, criativa ou destrutiva segundo o temperamento do indivíduo, é recusada (...) por Berkeley. Este artigo quer mostrar que a recusa de Berkeley traz subentendida uma concepção da razão como disciplina educativa heterônoma e que ela reenvia a uma imagem tradicional do homem, cuja natureza só é bestial antes ou sem a educação religiosa, contra a reavaliação do papel epistemológico e moral conferido pela análise shaftesburiana do entusiasmo ao desejo e ao sentimento individuais. Freethinking: an Enthusiasm of Reason?In the polemic raised by Berkeleys Alciphron against Freethinking, one of the most paradoxical topics is the accusation of enthusiasm. For enthusiasm traditionnally means a kind of religious illumination seemingly incompatible with the critical rationalism the freethinkers pretend to assume. Now this accusation is not raised against the foremost british deists like Toland and Collins (rather dismissed as rationalistic bigots), but against Shaftesbury, whose new analysis of enthusiasm as a universal passion, creative or destructive following only the temper of the individual, is strongly rejected by Berkeley. This papers aim is to show that Berkeleys rejection of this modern sense of enthusiasm involves a traditional and conservative conception of reason as an heteronomous, educational discipline of man, whose nature would only be bestial before -or withoutreligious education, against the new epistemological and moral role given to desire and sentiment by Shaftesburys analysis of enthusiasm. (shrink)

Este artigo mostra a importância de Pascal no pensamento de Nietzsche, através da análise da expressão “cristão lógico”, que ele especificamente dedica a ele. Segundo Nietzsche, a figura icônica de Port-Royal personifica o conflito entre o cristianismo e a moral derivada dele e, portanto, entre a fé cristã e a probidade científica, ambas ligadas pela ideia de que Deus é a verdade, que a verdade é divina. Como ele considera seu próprio pensamento como um caminho para o cristianismo se (...) superar, Nietzsche não hesita em considerar Pascal como um de seus precursores. (shrink)

Le livre d’O. Le Cour Grandmaison est un bel exemple, comme le dit E. Balibar dans sa préface, d’un ouvrage de « philosophie populaire » éclairant et suggestif. Pourquoi un ouvrage de philosophie populaire ? Parce qu’il s’agit, à partir de la pensée spinoziste, d’analyser la nature et les effets d’un affect particulier – la haine – dans le champ des relations interhumaines ; et il s’agit de le faire philosophiquement, c’est-à-dire non pas en évaluant normativement tel ou tel comportement (...) hai.. (shrink)

C’est à Rufisque, à quelques kilomètres de Dakar, dans les locaux d’une ancienne maison de commerce, qu’est installée en décembre 1938 la première École normale d’institutrices africaines de l’Afrique Occidentale Française. Cette école accueille en 1943 une jeune Sénégalaise de quatorze ans, Mariama Bâ. Confiée à ses grands-parents après la mort prématurée de sa mère, Mariama a été élevée en milieu musulman. Son père, fonctionnaire de l’administration coloniale, l’a toutefois inscrite à l’éco...

The first-order logical theory Th $({\mathbb{N}},x + 1,F(x))$ is proved to be complete for the class ATIME-ALT $(2^{O(n)},O(n))$ when $F(x) = 2^{x}$ , and the same result holds for $F(x) = c^{x}, x^{c} (c \in {\mathbb{N}}, c \ge 2)$ , and F(x) = tower of x powers of two. The difficult part is the upper bound, which is obtained by using a bounded Ehrenfeucht–Fraïssé game.

Tadeusz Kotarbiński never formulates explicitly the project of an intellectual ethics, but we can reconstruct his answer from his Traktat o dobrej robocie (1955; Eng. transl.: Praxiology: An introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action, 1965) and his ethical writings. Kotarbiński does not formulate an explicit meta-ethics of values, and seems to develop a purely functionalist conception according to which there is nothing more in intellectual ethics than a conception of efficient action. However, he has a theory of practical values (...) and skills that can be applied to the aims and norms of the epistemic domain. But can he secure a genuine conception of intellectual values if these are merely immanent to “efficient work”? (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Dispelling the Myth of the Non-Singer:Embracing Two Aesthetics for SingingLouise M. PascaleI entered the Music Workshop course with trepidation. Of all the courses in my Master's program, I feared this one the most. My experiences with music have always been negative ones. As I entered the classroom, memories surfaced of the time I was told to mouth the words so I would not throw the rest of the class (...) off key and when I was laughed off the stage after a friend and I attempted a rendition of "Rolling O'er the Billows." After that, I was convinced I should not sing.1Maxine Greene reminds us how easy it is to get caught in the "main text of life," one that is "negotiated mostly by convention, routine, habit, duty and one we have very little choice in."2 Our long-held acceptance of the "singer" and "non-singer" provides a perfect example of Greene's metaphor. The traditional meaning of "singing" is created out of convention and habit, perpetuated by the "main text" (white, middle class) values of American society.Singing, as it is understood in today's educational settings, settled into its role in American music education as a result of a number of significant decisions made as early as the 1600s by prominent leaders of the church.3 Each of these decisions added to the growth and strength of the view of singing that became [End Page 165] what I refer to as a "taproot"4 in music education. This taproot continued to settle comfortably into the groundwork of music education and has had major and long-lasting effects on how we generally perceive and experience singing.The Western perspective of singing is wedded to a multitude of assumptions and beliefs and, over a period of time, has taken on complex meaning. It is associated with subtle nuances, such as valuing the high, lilting soprano voice over the alto. It is connected to various philosophies and strongly held convictions, such as improving vocal performance through the mastery of musical literacy, and even exclusionary practices, such as selecting out the "better singers" and suggesting that others refrain from singing at all.Perhaps the most profound consequence of this entrenched taproot is that it has left American society with a very limited perception of "singing." This singular, well-supported root, albeit strong, impenetrable, and closely connected with a number of cultural and societal assumptions, effectively narrows the scope of our perceptions, our language, our philosophy, and our teaching practices in the domain of singing in education. Illustration of the powerful ways music relates to and directly expresses the social attitudes and cognitive processes of a culture are found in the work of John Blacking and John Miller Chernoff.5 Their work provides an opportunity to reflect on the cultural and societal influences of the "taproot" philosophy of music education and the ways these have created limitations on who expresses themselves musically, why, how, and for whom.One of the most critical of those limitations is that we have classroom teachers who rarely, if ever, sing with their students. The gap between those in education who sing and offer musical activities to their students and those who do not is greater than ever. The "non-singer" mentality persists in educational communities and is not being addressed in music education circles. Singing continues to be considered, by most educators, to be a complicated skill that must be learned and requires training in breathing, vocal technique, and diction, and a basic knowledge of note reading.Many have strong feelings about singing; it is not a neutral subject. When the topic of singing is brought up, some involved in the conversation are likely to personalize it and be eager to share stories about their singing ability and to express their opinions about whether or not they qualify as a "singer." Sometimes the reactions can be extreme. Some people shy completely away from singing, to the point of running from the room at the mere suggestion that they might be asked to participate in singing in public. Others have an opposite reaction and experience singing as an enjoyable activity... (shrink)

La biosemiótica contemporánea presenta un carácter multifacético, o plural, para expresarlo en términos más actuales. De hecho, se ha descrito como un campo inter- o incluso transdisciplinario, por lo que tiene mucho sentido plantearse la pregunta con respecto a su relación con la biología. Tanto desde el punto de vista teórico, como desde el histórico o incluso del sociológico, esta pregunta resulta interesante. Sin embargo, dadas tanto su naturaleza peculiar en términos disciplinarios, como algunas de las tesis que sostiene, es (...) necesario considerar si la biosemiótica es una nueva teoría biológica, si se trata más bien de una aplicación de la semiótica a la biología (algo similar a disciplinas como la biofísica, la bioquímica, la bioestadística, etc.), o si es una propuesta filosófica más que científica. Para responder a algunas de estas preguntas, este trabajo se centrará, principalmente, en el aspecto teórico a fin de analizar dos tesis centrales de la biosemiótica (la dualidad de código y la interpretación orgánica), las implicaciones de su irrupción para la biología contemporánea y su relación con otras teorías biológicas. Después de este examen, se propone que incluso cuando la biosemiótica, entendida en sentido amplio, tiene algunas conexiones con otras disciplinas más allá de la biología, tales como la semiótica y la filosofía, en términos estrictos se trata de una nueva teoría biológica que articula una manera original de aproximarse a los seres vivos y a los procesos biológicos. (shrink)

This paper was motivated by the following two questions which arise in the theory of complexity for computation over ordered rings in the now famous computational model introduced by Blum, Shub and Smale: 1. is the answer to the question P = ?NP the same in every real-closed field?2. if P ≠ NP for , does there exist a problem of which is NP but neither P nor NP-complete ?Some unclassical complexity classes arise naturally in the study of these questions. (...) They are still open, but we could obtain unconditional results of independent interest.Michaux introduced/const complexity classes in an effort to attack question . We show that , answering a question of his. Here A is the class of real problems which are algorithmic in bounded time. We also prove the stronger result: , where PAR stands for parallel polynomial time. In our terminology, we say that is A-saturated and PAR-saturated. We also prove, at the nonuniform level, the above results for every real-closed field. It is not known whether is P-saturated. In the case of the reals with addition and order we obtain P-saturation ). More generally, we show that an ordered -vector space is P-saturated at the nonuniform level ).We also study a stronger notion that we call P-stability. Blum, Cucker, Shub and Smale have shown that fields of characteristic 0 are P-stable. We show that the reals with addition and order are P-stable, but real-closed fields are not.Questions and and the/const complexity classes have some model theoretic flavor. This leads to the theory of complexity over “arbitrary” structures as introduced by Poizat. We give a summary of this theory with a special emphasis on the connections with model theory and we study/const complexity classes from this point of view. Note also that our proof of the PAR-saturation of shows that an o-minimal structure which admits quantifier elimination is A-saturated at the nonuniform level. (shrink)

William James' lecture on "The Will to Believe" has kindled spirited controversy. In this reappraisal of that controversy, Father O'Connell contributes some : that James' argument should be viewed against his indebtedness to Pascal and Renouvier; that it works primarily to validate our "over-beliefs" ; and most surprising perhaps, that James envisages our "passional nature" as intervening, not after, but before and throughout, our intellectual weighing of the evidence for belief. --From publisher's description.

The Odyssey, Paradise Lost, The Canterbury Tales: great literature can be read by anyone, with a little help. The eminent British philosopher Anthony O’Hear leads the way with this captivating journey through two-and-a-half millennia of books as powerful, thrilling, erotic, politically astute, and awe-inspiring as any modern bestseller. O’Hear begins with Homer, whose poems of epic struggle have made him the father of Western literature. After Greek tragedy, Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid comes Ovid, whose encyclopedic Metamorphoses is an inexhaustible source (...) for European art and literature. Via Saint Augustine, O’Hear reaches Dante and his terrifying and sublime Divine Comedy. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Pascal, Racine, and finally Goethe complete the cast list. In each case, O’Hear patiently draws out themes, focuses on key passages, and explains why they are important. Not simply a grand work of reference, The Great Books is also a narrative history shot through with a love of literature and the author’s deeply held belief in its power to enrich and enliven everyone’s world. (shrink)

Este ensayo pretende abordar de nuevo el conocido símil de la línea para extraer de él su significado político, situándolo en su contexto: un diálogo en que se pregunta por la justicia. Pero trata a la vez de interpretar la pregunta por la justicia como una cuestión que no es meramente moral o política, sino decididamente ontológica: la pregunta por aquello que hace posible toda delimitación y todo discernimiento. El lugar en que confluyen ambos asuntos no es otro que la (...) pólis, el lugar en que se mantiene viva la ausencia de principio, la ausencia de arkhé. (shrink)

Dans cet article je présente des réflexions sur l�amour-propre, un élément important de l�anthropologie philosophique de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. À la suite de cet exposé, j�examine brièvement des anticipations de ces idées de Rousseau dans les écrits de deux philosophes du siècle précédent, Blaise Pascal et Pierre Nicole.

Hoy en día, la mayoría de las grandes instituciones públicas y privadas está marcada por el escándalo de los abusos sexuales. La saturación en los medios de estos escándalos no se restringe a alguna organización, afecta a todas, ya sea gubernamental, no gubernamental, religiosa o política Hay miles de víctimas. Desafortunadamente, en torno a estos abusos inaceptables, nace un nuevo tipo de marketing que «folcloriza» el dolor, transformándolo en negocio. Estamos presenciando el surgimiento de una nueva clase de víctima y (...) de una nueva forma de ser una víctima. Es un victimismo sutil lo que se discute aquí, el mismo que ve la condición de víctima como una situación ventajosa de la cual obtener grandes ganancias. La reflexión que sigue explora la cuestión del victimismo, así como sus desafíos en la Iglesia Católica y en una tendencia del feminismo contemporáneo. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Medieval Heritage in Early Modern Metaphysics and Modal Theory, 1400–1700Jean-Pascal AnfrayRussell L. Friedman and Lauge O. Nielsen, editors. The Medieval Heritage in Early Modern Metaphysics and Modal Theory, 1400–1700. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003. Pp. vi + 346. Cloth, $149.00.This volume contains contributions that aim to show the continuity between late medieval thought and early modern philosophy, or, as the editors say, to investigate "the way that medieval (...) thought served as a fertile basis for developments in the early modern period" (3). As the title indicates, most papers treat topics more or less connected to modalities, either from a logical or from an ontological point of view. The nature of modalities is indeed at the core of metaphysics and philosophical theology. Ludger Honnefelder, Joël Biard, and Fabrizio Mondori all show the influence of Duns Scotus on the setting of modern metaphysics. The importance of theological matters in the development of philosophical thought has been acknowledged for a long time. Thus Chris Schabel ("Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom: Auriol, Pomponazzi, and Luther on 'Scholastic Subtleties'") sketches the story of the controversy over God's foreknowledge and future contingents from its setting in the early fourteenth century to Lutheran Reformation. He stresses the underestimated influence of Peter Auriol in this continuing debate. Still, revealed theology too exercised influence on the philosophy of logic. Trinity constitutes an until now little studied case, which is the subject matter of Simo Knuuttila's contribution ("The Question of the Validity of Logic in Late Medieval Thought"). He partly rehearses some of his well-known theses about the source of logical truths and modalities and analyses the constructivist aspects of Descartes's position, in so far as the laws of logic are said to depend on God's will. But the most original part of the study bears on the effects of Trinitarian constraints within the field of logic, especially in syllogistics. Medieval thinkers had to cope with syllogisms like: "The divine essence is the father; the divine essence is the Son; therefore the Son is the Father." In order to avoid the absurdity of the conclusion, many answers were elaborated: Robert Holcot removed the Trinity from the domain of validity of syllogistics, thereby relativizing it. Luther's claim that the principles of theology contradict those of logic looks like a radical version of this position. Adam Wodeham maintained contrariwise the universality of syllogistics: he held that the premisses are not syllogistic if they are interpreted as true (130). His account is based on the identity theory of predication and on the distinction between intensional and extensional identity, which both date back to Abelard.In the period covered by the volume, early modern scholastic, chiefly the Jesuit scholastic, holds a central place. Two articles insist on its originality and intrinsic value. Jeffrey Coombs ("The Ontological Source of Logical Possibility in Catholic Second Scholasticism") [End Page 208] analyzes the various metaphysics of modalities. He claims that three theories of the source of logical modalities were entertained during the early seventeenth century, which he labels respectively "transcendentalism," "modal voluntarism," and "divine conceptualism." All of these positions can be traced back to medieval theories; however, they received an extensive treatment in late scholastic thought. Coombs is especially illuminating when he emphasizes the importance of the grounding metaphysical structure: essences and their systematic relations through "Porphyrian trees." This generated two different accounts of the ontological status of essences: according to essentialist theories, complete Porphyrian trees are the basis of necessity and possibility, while according to a "string theories," only the logical connections between the components of the essential structure are available eternally (196).Yet the most striking novelty of the time lies in the systematization of a statistical interpretation of modalities through the "moral modalities," originating in post-Tridentine Catholic theology. In contrast to Hacking's thesis (see The Taming of Chance [Cambridge, 1990]), Sven Knebel ("The Renaissance of Statistical Modalities in Early Modern Scholasticism") contends that the concept of aleatory probability was first developed within this context. That an event-type Q is morally necessary means that Q is always the case, and that not-Q actually is never the case (236... (shrink)

O objetivo deste trabalho é refletir acerca da perspectiva anticartesiana que se manifesta nas obras de Pascal e Hume, especificamente no que se refere à concepção filosófica dos primeiros princípios do conhecimento. Partindo da enunciação da mathesis universalis em Descartes, buscamos identificar como Pascal e Hume apresentam uma posição alternativa, assim como refletir acerca das semelhanças e divergências entre esses dois autores. As principais fontes de Pascal a serem consideradas são o opúsculo Do Espírito Geométrico e o (...) fragmento 72 dos Pensamentos. No caso de Hume, focaremos na Parte I do Livro I do Tratado acerca da natureza humana e na Investigação sobre o entendimento humano. (shrink)

This collection of essays is a sequel to the editors' 1976 volume Studies in Nietzsche and the Classical Tradition. Philosophers, theologians, and literary historians discuss important aspects of Nietzsche's attack on Judaism and Christianity. The book contains studies of his view of biblical figures, Luther and Pascal as well as comparisons of his thought with that of Spinoza, Lessing, Heine, and Kierkegaard. Nietzsche's critique of the Old Testament, the Jewish religion of the diaspora, and historical Christianity are also investigated. (...) Of the eighteen articles included here, thirteen were prepared expressly for this volume--five were translated from German, one from French, and one from Hebrew. Contributors to this volume are: Eugen Biser, Harry Neumann, Israel Eldad, Charles Lewis, Jorg Salaquarda, Joan Stambaugh, Max L. Baeumer, Brendan Donellan, Diana Behler, Sander L. Gilman, Gerd-Gunther Grau, Josef Simon, James C. O'Flaherty, Bernd Magnus, Georges Goedert, Hans Lung, and Karl Barth. (shrink)

Este artigo tem como objetivo um olhar histórico-teológico para a reflexão do mistério pascal principalmente no que diz respeito à questão celebrativa. No caminhar de dois milênios é notória a divisão deste tema em dois momentos: No primeiro milênio a força teológico-celebrativa do mistério pascal. No segundo milênio o caminho mudou sua rota com atitudes que levaram a se distanciar da proposta inicial na sua teologia e na sua celebração. O Concílio Vaticano II, momento eclesial de extrema importância (...) tenta retomar o caminho desviado e propõe uma volta às fontes a fim de que o mistério celebrado seja realmente o mistério de Jesus, ou seja, o Mistério Pascal na sua originalidade e inteireza. Vale lembrar que esta reflexão e também a liturgia não esgotam o tema. A teologia em seus desdobramentos e sua amplitude tem um vasto campo para sempre mais ajudar a refletir e celebrar este mistério. (shrink)

Charting a genealogy of the modern idea of the self, Felix Ó Murchadha explores the accounts of self-identity expounded by key Early Modern philosophers, Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Hume and Kant. The question of the self as we would discuss it today only came to the forefront of philosophical concern with Modernity, beginning with an appeal to the inherited models of the self found in Stoicism, Scepticism, Augustinianism and Pelagianism, before continuing to develop as a subject of philosophical debate. (...) Exploring this trajectory, The Formation of the Modern Self pursues a number of themes central to the Early Modern development of selfhood, including, amongst others, grace and passion. It examines on the one hand the deep-rooted dependence on the divine and the longing for salvation and, on the other hand, the distancing from the Stoic ideal of apatheia, as philosophers from Descartes to Spinoza recognised the passions as essential to human agency. Fundamental to the new question of the self was the relation of faith and reason. Uncovering commonalities and differences amongst Early Modern philosophers, Ó Murchadha traces how the voluntarism of Modernity led to the sceptical approach to the self in Montaigne and Hume and how, by way of Hamann and Jacobi's reception of Hume, this sceptical strand, in turn, culminated in Kant's rational faith. More than a history of the self in philosophy, The Formation of the Modern Self inspires a fresh look at self-identity, uncovering not only how our modern idea of selfhood developed but just how embedded the concept of self is in external considerations: from ethics, to reason, to religion. (shrink)

This paper examines the relationship between morality and reasoning in a general sense. Following a broadly Aristotelian framework, it is shown that reasoning well about morality requires good character and a grounding in virtue and experience. Topic neutral ‘critical thinking’ on its own is not enough and may even be detrimental to morality. This has important consequences both for philosophy and for education. While morality is objective and universal, it should not be seen purely in terms of the intellectual grasp (...) of true propositions. As Simone Weil shows, it emerges from very basic aspects of our nature. As well as reasoning in an abstract sense we need what Pascal calls esprit de finesse based in our humanity as a whole, in sens, raison et coeur. The paper concludes with some reflections on our propensity to fail morally and on the relationship between virtue and happiness. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente trabalho é fazer uma discussão acerca da temática da natureza humana, presente na obra “Pensées” (Pensamentos) de Blaise Pascal. Quando se trata de analisar o homem, Pascal constata a ausência de determinados princípios morais e antropológicos, responsáveis pela fundamentação da esfera prática. Não havendo tais princípios, o homem passa a viver uma existência com valores fabricados pelo hábito e pela imaginação e pautada no divertimento. Em última instância, Pascal vai concluir, que a não (...) existência de tais princípios aponta para a questão da ausência de um referencial maior, a própria natureza humana. Segundo o pensador francês, o princípio cristão do pecado original é capaz de explicar a falta desse referencial maior, mostrando que a primeira natureza do homem, existente antes da queda, foi irremediavelmente perdida. Desse modo, a postura de Pascal acerca do homem pode ser pensada como religiosa e antinaturalista. Assim, aquilo que nos guiará, como eixo condutor de nosso trabalho, é justamente a temática do antinaturalismo religioso de Pascal e suas consequências para o conhecimento antropológico. (shrink)

Sponges branch basally in the metazoan phylogenetic tree and are believed to be composed of four distinct lineages with still uncertain relationships. Indeed, some molecular studies propose that Homoscleromorpha may be a fourth Sponge lineage, distinct from Demospongiae in which they were traditionally classified. They harbour many features that distinguish them from other sponges and are more evocative of those of the eumetazoans. They are notably the only sponges to possess a basement membrane with collagen IV and specialized cell‐junctions, thus (...) possessing true epithelia. Among Homoscleromorphs, we have chosen Oscarella lobularis as a model species. This common and easily accessible sponge is characterized by relatively simple histology and cell composition, absence of skeleton, and strongly pronounced epithelial structure. In this review, we explore the specific features that make O. lobularis a promising homoscleromorph sponge model for evolutionary and developmental researches. (shrink)

O presente estudo é uma proposta de aplicação do triângulo de Pascal às generalizações das possibilidades de valores de verdade das proposições elementares do Tractatus de Wittgenstein. O Objetivo da aplicação desta notação é facilitar a manipulação e a análise de uma grande quantidade de proposições elementares preservando o escopo de possibilidades de verdade, algo que a notação das tabelas de verdade de Wittgenstein não é capaz de satisfazer. Para realizar esta tarefa, executo os seguintes passos: introduzo a teoria (...) da figuração, apresento como o autor expressa as possibilidades de verdade das proposições, além de expor o método e a notação de generalização das possibilidades de verdade. Em seguida, defino e exemplifico o triângulo de Pascal como notação alternativa e, por fim, verifico a validade da notação do triângulo no contexto das definições de número, soma e produto aritmético do Tractatus, de modo a preservar a consistência da notação com o pensamento do filósofo. (shrink)

O presente artigo visa explorar as relações entre Pascal e Pessoa tendo por base o impacto da obra do autor francês tanto na estruturação quanto nas temáticas presentes ao longo do projeto do Livro do Desassossego. Com efeito, na Biblioteca Particular de Pessoa encontramos livros de e sobre Pascal que se encontram sublinhados e anotados pelo autor português e nos possibilitam certificar o interesse de Pessoa pelo pensamento pascaliano. Para além disso, o espólio de Pessoa oferece-nos um conjunto (...) de fragmentos que nos permitem elucidar até que ponto a leitura da obra de Pascal viria a ser importante para a elaboração dos fragmentos do Livro do Desassossego. Assim, tendo por base a análise da presença do nome e do pensamento de Pascal em fragmentos do espólio de Pessoa, o presente artigo explicita qual o papel da leitura pessoana de Pascal na elaboração do projeto do Livro do Desassossego. (shrink)

Se suele decir que la fenomenología de la donación de Jean-Luc Marion se fundamenta de manera paradigmática en la obra de René Descartes. Esta afirmación se basa en el gran número de textos que Marion dedicó al pensador francés, renovando su interpretación a mediados de los años 1970, así como en el papel central que ocupa en su obra. Sin embargo, el autor muestra que, paradójicamente, lo que le interesa a Marion en Descartes, son los problemas que éste no pudo (...) resolver, así como los fracasos de su voluntad de cuantificar la totalidad de los campos como lo evidencian tanto el problema de la carne como el de la idea del infinito. Así, se abre la posibilidad de otro fundamento de la fenomenología de la donación ya no en Descartes sino en Pascal, quien asumió la necesidad, para la filosofía, de liberarse de la metafísica y de pensar desde un orden superior al del espíritu: el orden de la caridad. (shrink)

Pascal e Camus ousaram pensar os limites do homem em meio a momentos históricos de hegemonia do racionalismo. Suas indagações nos remetem à contestaçáo de conceitos caros à filosofia, tais como razáo, justiça e história lançando lúcida suspeita sobre os alicerces da civilizaçáo ocidental. Veremos, nos dois autores, a crítica implacável das pretensões racionalistas e a denúncia dos impasses e das frustrações resultantes das escolhas da modernidade.