Faced with the confused meanings of the concept of generation, this article defends the need to move from Karl Mannheim’s excessive emphasis on political and intellectual self-awareness as a pre-condition for generation formation to an enlarged social and cultural definition of generations. By developing the concept of social generations, we argue that rather than concrete groups, generations are better conceived as discourses with which individuals relate in order to build self-identification. Individuals living in similar historical contexts may share mental and (...) practical dispositions, but must always position themselves in face of the narratives that have come to be dominant to describe a given generational location. Such a contention implies redressing Mannheim’s culturalist view through a reformulation of his hierarchical view of the scheme of generations. By replacing generation-units by dominant ideas, we contend that generations are better conceived as discursive formations in the Foucauldian sense. (shrink)

This paper criticizes the thesis of the neutrality of moral values of artifacts, and makes the case for a proposal known as Value Sensitive Design, which states that moral values must be considered in the construction and analysis of artifacts. First, (1) we will present the best defense of the thesis of the neutrality of moral values of artifacts, made by Joseph Pitt. In the following, (2) we will criticize each of the arguments presented by Pitt in favor of the (...) neutrality thesis. Finally, (3) we will consider the Value Sensitive Design proposal presented by Ibo van de Poel and Peter Kroes and explain how it would be suitable for a critique of the values and moral issues that artifacts can represent. (shrink)

This paper examines political philosophy of Pedro Albizu Campos, a 20th Century political leader and public philosopher from Puerto Rico. It argues that his apparent similarity to other anti-colonial thinkers of his day like José Vasconcelos and José Martí belies a deeper difference. It uses commentaries of his work by scholars such as Carlos Rojas Osorio and Antonio Steven-Arroyo to show that Albizu’s unflinching resistance against imperialism that cost him nearly three decades of freedom and ultimately his life (...) was in his mind not the defiant act of a political rebel but the faithful obedience of a devout Catholic. It argues that Albizu’s radical Catholic nationalism marks him as an eclectic political thinker of the Americas whose work complicates common narratives about the history of political philosophy in Latin America and the geography of anti-colonialism in the Americas. Most importantly, Albizu offers much needed insight into Puerto Rico’s present crisis. (shrink)

No vastíssimo campo de estudos da obra de Platão, constatamos que os (as) especialistas mais respeitados (as) têm posições por vezes completamente divergentes. Em parte, por um lado, isso decorre da riqueza e da complexidade dessa obra; em boa medida, por outro lado, também decorre de diferentes métodos ou formas de abordar os Diálogos que os (as) intérpretes adotam. Diante disso, surge naturalmente a questão de como deveríamos ler essas obras. No entanto, analisando as diferentes abordagens usadas, pode-se notar que (...) as respostas a uma questão anterior frequentemente acabam determinando, não raro de modo tácito, as respotas a como ler os Diálogos e a abordagem adotada na prática. Essa questão anterior é a de qual seria a função precípua dos Diálogos, que tende a se confundir com a questão de o que no fundo seriam os Diálogos. Por exemplo, os (as) estudiosos (as) que na sua interpretação tendem a focar nas teses e nos argumentos (em detrimento dos elementos dramáticos e literários) supõem em geral que estão lidando com obras "filosóficas" e que devem cumprir, portanto, funções "filosóficas", como (segundo determinada concepção em geral pressuposta de filosofia) definir um conceito, responder uma questão teórica com argumentos racionais, fundamentar (ou questionar) a possibilidade de uma ciência do mundo e coisas desse jaez. Por outro lado, estudiosos (as) que focam nos aspectos dramáticos e literários consideram que estão interpretando obras literárias e que, portanto, não necessariamente cumpririam funções ou atividades filosóficas, mas antes fariam aquilo que seria próprio de obras literárias. Diante disso, eu gostaria de abordar uma dessas hipóteses frequentemente utilizadas, de forma explícita ou não, acerca da função dos Diálogos, qual seja, a de que essas obras ou pelo menos algumas delas fariam a defesa de Sócrates da acusação pela qual foi condenado à morte. Comparando a acusação com passagens dos Diálogos, pretendo mostrar que deveríamos descartar essa hipótese ao lê-los. Os ganhos exegéticos disso seriam consideráveis; um deles seria pararmos de tentar tornar corretos a todo custo, e muitas vezes em detrimento do próprio texto, os argumentos de Sócrates e passarmos, em vez disso, a analisá-los de forma mais crítica. (shrink)

Journal Name: Semiotica Issue: Ahead of print.

The main purpose of this work is to provide a semiotic ontology for redescription of active cognitive externalism, recently developed by the paradigm 4E (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended cognition). In our approach, distributed cognitive systems (DCSs) are described as semiosis, signs in action. We explored the relationship between semiosis and cognition, as conceived by C. S. Peirce, in association with the notion of distributed cognitive system (DCS). We introduce Peircean externalist approach with an emphasis on the notion of temporal distribution (...) of semiosis, and describe DCSs, and their elements, as “sign in action”. To develop this argument, we describe an example of DCS -- verbal-musical improvisation of repente, repentismo, or viola singing. It is a phenomenon of verbal-musical improvisation that takes the form of a challenge in versified oral poetry. We describe the phenomenon as the embodiment of the formal structure of a cognitive task and an inferential process. This embodiment corresponds to a semiotization of the repente performances as DCSs. The temporally distributed tendency of repentismo organizes the DCS as a system that performs metasemiotic experiments on the action of signs. (shrink)

Resumo: Este artigo busca compreender a situaçáo filosófica de alguns dos autores cujas vidas e cujos pensamentos estiveram entre Kant e Hegel. Romantismo alemáo foi como ficou conhecida esta época. Dentre seus primeiros autores, estiveram Friedrich Schlegel e Novalis, além de Hölderlin. Tais pensadores buscaram superar a crítica feita por Kant à pretensáo do conhecimento filosófico de alcançar a verdade absoluta, as coisas como sáo em si mesmas. Essa superaçáo, contudo, jamais conseguiu, para eles, completar-se – como aconteceria depois no (...) sistema de Hegel, para quem contradições só seriam aceitas como etapas do que chamou de dialética, cuja essência era, ao fim, solucioná-las na figura da síntese. Limitaçáo finita do homem diante do todo do ser, como firmara Kant, era o que ficava para trás com Hegel. Schlegel, Novalis e Hölderlin náo se contentam com a crítica de Kant, mas tampouco acreditam na síntese de Hegel. Parecem sugerir outro caminho para a modernidade ocidental, que náo se jogava na sanha hegeliana pelo saber absoluto sem despertá-la, toda vez, pela consciência crítica kantiana – e que náo se contentava com esta sem sonhar com aquela. Tal caminho é o que este artigo busca compreender. Palavras-chave: Hegel; Kant; Romantismo. (shrink)

Written in the 12th century in Arabic by a faithful Jewish man, "The Guide" is a work that explores the contradiction a very intelligent mind clearly saw between the tradition he was raised to believe inherently and the growing philosophy of Arabian and Western culture. In Maimonides' time, there was an emerging disparity between the Law and a new level of philosophical sophistication, which he attempts to bridge in this work, primarily through the use of metaphor, though also acknowledging this (...) method's limitations. "The Guide" follows the form of a three-volume letter to a student, which was quickly translated to Hebrew and spread throughout the known world and carefully read by Jews and non-Jewish philosophers alike well through the Middle Ages. This work was so successful in its organization and arguments that it has long been a classic of the Jewish religion and of the secular world of philosophy. (shrink)

Atas do III Colóquio Internacional de Metafísica. [ISBN 978-85-7273-730-2]. Sumário: 1. Prazer, desejo e amor-paixão no texto de Lucrécio, por Antonio Júlio Garcia Freire; 2. Anaximandro: física, metafísica e direito, por Celso Martins Azar Filho; 3. Carta a Guimarães Rosa, por Cícero Cunha Bezerra; 4. Ante ens, non ens: La primacía de La negación em El neoplatonismo medievel, por Claudia D’Amico; 5. Metafísica e neoplatonismo, por David G. Santos; 6. Movimento e tempo no pensamento de Epicuro, por Everton da Silva (...) Rocha; 7. Críticas e elogios de Nietzche a Sócrates, por Fernanda Bulhões; 8. Sobre a Metafísica ou a respeito do jejum, por Gilvan Fogel; 9. A origem estética da ontologia hermenêutica de Luigi Pareyson, por Íris Fátima da Silva; 10. A Natureza da filosofia de Hume, por Jaimir Conte; 11. Logique ET métaphysique, por Jean-Baptiste Jainet; 12. Blaise Pascal: da recusa da metafísica da raison à metafísica do « estudo do homem », por João Emiliano Fotaleza de Aquino; 13. O niilismo no prólogo de Assim Falou Zaratustra. Por José Elielton de Sousa; 14. Presencia;Ausência: de Plotino a Procolo, por José Maria Zamora; 15. A natureza do Eros platônico, por Jovelina Maria Ramos de Souza; 16. Breve comentário acerca da origem da Gelassenheit de Heidegger a partir da mística de mestre Eckkart, por Luiz Fernando Fontes-Teixeira; 17. Humanismo e domesticação em Regras para o parque humano, por Luiz Roberto Alves dos Santos; 18. Contra a teoria de dois mundos na filosofia de Platão (República V 476e-478e), por Marcelo Pimenta Marques; 19. Sensações, impressões, projeções: as afecções do pensamento, por Markus Figueira da Silva; 20. Contribuições à história de uma metáfora: Heidegger e Nicolau de Cusa, por Oscar Federico Bauchwitz; 21. Uma impossibilidade ontológica em Schopenhauer, por Paulo César Oliveira Vasconcelos; 22. Ser e fenômeno: a Fenomenologia como teoria estética da ciência, por Pedro Paulo Coroa; 23. Para que serve a Metafísica de Aristóteles? O exemplo do movimento animal, por Pierre-marie Morel; 24. Contribuições para uma ontologia digital, por Rafael Capurro; 25. O que é o fim da metafísica, por Rodrigo Ribeiro Alves Neto; 26. A Physis na conformação do logos: linguagem e pensamento no corpus epicúreo, por Rodrigo Vidal do Nascimento; 27. O acontecimento de mundo na era da informação, por Soraya Guimarães da Silva; 28. Apofaticismo e abstração em Mark Rothko, por Vanessa Alves de Lacerda Santos. -/- . (shrink)

O aumento da participação feminina no mercado de trabalho formal e informal, decorrente dos movimentos feministas, começou a ameaçar em larga escala um dos pilares da desigualdade, o provimento econômico e autonomia sobre a vida das mulheres, dessa forma, as estruturas sociais se reorganizam para reproduzir a lógica de poder opressora. Por meio de ambientes organizacionais, diversos e inclusivos, especialmente no que se refere a gênero, as mulheres poderão experienciar a valorização social, a influência no poder de decisão, o pertencimento (...) e engajamento no grupo de trabalho, a autenticidade e reconhecimento de diversidade (sentimento de interação justa), e essa experiência impactará a vida profissional e concomitantemente a pessoal/privada. O objetivo principal é mapear como é abordado a violência contra a mulher no ambiente de trabalho na literatura nacional. O método utilizado será a revisão de literatura integrativa, definida como o compêndio de literatura existente objetivando a sumarização e discussão de um corpo de conhecimento relacionado ao tema. Em suma, os resultados desta revisão integrativa reforçam a necessidade de ação conjunta por parte da comunidade para combater a violência contra a mulher no ambiente de trabalho, pois ao reconhecer que se trata de um problema social que afeta a sociedade como um todo, é possível fortalecer os laços de solidariedade e incentivar ações coletivas para estabelecer um ambiente de trabalho seguro e inclusivo. (shrink)

Based on the concept of intentionality, I argue for an integrative view of mental life as a higher function of the living organism, beyond the classical oppositions and dualisms between mind and body. Next, I claim in thesis that Phenomenology has never truly isolated and addressed the problem of consciousness, given the persistent confusion between it and intentionality. Similarly, I also isolate attention from consciousness and argue, based on experience, for the existence of both conscious and unconscious mental processes. In (...) the third section, I attempt a phenomenological description of consciousness as such, showing its high impact on mental life. Finally, some remarks are made about the difference between the concept of consciousness I propose and the classical analyses on qualia and sentience. (shrink)

In what follows, I intend to address an issue which is at the boundaries of the phenomenological method of reflective explication, and that, in this sense, points to some limitations of the phenomenological approach to consciousness and mind. I am referring to an aporetic situation that is at the heart of the phenomenological analysis of passivity. On the one hand, phenomenology shows, at least indirectly, a passive life that is beyond the first steps of the activity of the ego in (...) the receptive, affective life. This is something that is beyond the rising of an ego, and from which a phenomenology of the ego-form of subjective life could be addressed. On the other hand, the analytic and conceptual tools of the phenomenological method have no grips on this basic realm of subjective life. As a result, Husserl’s analysis of passivity starts with the evidence of a pre-affective, pre-egoic realm, from which a phenomenology of the ego could be developed. However, Husserl’s analyses end up with the denegation of this dimension, as if it was invisible for the phenomenological method. As a consequence, the starting point of the analysis is not passivity proper, but rather the primitive forms of receptivity, which is already a first layer of the activity of the ego. Instead of an analysis of the ego-polarization (the “birth” of the ego), the egoic layer of conscious life is simply presupposed. A phenomenology of the ego-form is, thus, at the same time promised and denied. This aporetic situation is visible in the alteration of the concept of a passive pre-givenness in Husserl’s Analysis Concerning Passive Synthesis. (shrink)

Lakebrink, B. La interpretación existencial del concepto tomista del acto de ser.--Inciarte, F. El problema de la verdad en la filosofía actual y en Santo Tomás.--Millán Puelles, A. El ser y el deber.--Beck, H. Dialéctica materialista y acto de ser tomista.--Pieper, J. La criatura humana.--García López, J. Armonía entre lo natural y lo sobrenatural en Tomás de Aquino.--Gherardini, B. La tradición agustiniana en la síntesis tomista.--Illanes, J. L. La sabiduría teológica.--Clavel, L. La metafísica como instrumento de la ciencia teológica.--García de (...) Haro, R. La noción teológica de ley natural.--Mateo Seco, L. F. Muerte y pecado original en la doctrina de Santo Tomás de Aquino.--Rodríguez, P. La resurrección de Cristo en el pensamiento teológico de Santo Tomás de Aquino.--Haerdelin, A. Dos caminos para aproximarse a la teología sacramentaria de Santo Tomás de Aquino.--Miralles, A. La noción de sacramento en Santo Tomás. (shrink)

In the first part of this paper we try to show how the discussion of Meinong’s distinction between distributed and undistributed objects was crucial for Husserl’s thinking about the phenomenology of time consciousness. The criticism of Meinong’s thesis that the representation of a distributed object (temporal object) is an undistributed act is presented as the central point for the development of Husserl’s own thesis about the perception as a continuum of continua and about consciousness as an unitary flux of temporal (...) phases. In a second part, we move to Brentano’s theory about original associations in the constitution of the “presence-time”. Brentano’s position about the function of phantasy as the origin of our representation of time is refused by Husserl and, as a result, the structural composition of time consciousness in phases of primal-impression, fresh memory (later “retention”) and immediate expectation (later “protention”) appears as the core form to the intuition of the present and the constitution of time. In a last section, we follow Husserl’s revision of his own analysis of fresh memory in order to understand his final position about retention as a primitive form of Vergegenwärtigung. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss the consistency and accuracy of Husserl’s sketch of a theory about non-declarative sentences in the last chapter of Logical Investigations. Whereas the consistency is acknowledged, the accuracy is denied, because Husserl’s treatment of non-declarative phrases such as questions or orders implies that those phrases contain, in some way, a declarative sentence and an objectifying act. To construct a question like “is A B?” as being equivalent to a pseudo-declarative sentence such as “I ask whether A (...) is B” is, however, a false phenomenological analysis, because to ask o r to order or to beg is not to assert. I turn, then, to John Austin ‘s theory of performative (as opposed to constatative) utterances and illocutionary acts in order to find a more accurate approach to the logical-semantic content of non-declarative sentences. Eventually, I show how this Husserlian theory of non-declarative sentences has a negative impact on the phenomenological theory of social ·acts and communication. (shrink)

My goal is to illustrate Descartes’ reliance on two quite different and competing interpretations of objective reality by explaining how each is used in defending his causal axioms. The initial criticism comes from Caterus (and is later taken up by Gassendi) who charges that Descartes makes it appear as if the thought in its objective aspect (the intentional entity) is really distinct from the thought qua modification of the mind (i.e., the thought in its formal aspect). This implies that the (...) object-of-the-thought is actually distinct from the thought-of-the-object in which case, (a) Descartes cannot account for the purported relation between the two, and (b) the intentional entity must exemplify properties which belong neither “immaterially” to mental substance nor concretely to physical substance. Descartes rejects Caterus’ assessment of his position: he has not introduced a fourth kind of real entity into the causal order distinct from the mind, its modifications, and the physical object thought of. However, in responding to Caterus, Descartes implicitly appeals to a Suarezian theory of intentionality in which reference to the ostensibly separate reality of the objective entity is reducible to the formal concept: the thought-of-the-object is not really distinct from the object-of-thought. Clearly, Descartes cannot explicitly use the Suarezian theory because it relies on a system of causal explanation (the doctrine of the species “flitting through the air”) which Descartes rejects on scientific grounds. I shall argue that Descartes is committed to a notion of the “form” of the mind, viz., a modification of mind, which should allow for a non-relational modeling of the thought qua modification of the mind and its intentional object, but that he cannot consistently attribute to mental acts enough structure to support his theory. (shrink)

In this paper, I discuss the possible relations between Fritz London’s account of the status of the observer in quantum physics and transcendental phenomenology. Firstly, I discuss Steven French’s interpretation of London’s thesis as a phenomenological account of the status of the observer, along with the objections Otávio Bueno has brought forward. Secondly, refusing in part both French’s and Bueno’s theses for several reasons, I propose another way of reading London’s thesis in the framework of transcendental phenomenology. Namely, I put (...) London’s account of the observer against the backdrop of Husserl’s analyses of the objectifying acts and objectual constitution. Finally, I end this article with some criticisms of what seems to me the ontological indigency of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, to whose “spirit” London also belongs. (shrink)

Berkeley’s general tenet about immaterialism is presented and discussed. I examined apart the several theses that concur to the immaterialist theory. After that, the general argument is presented and discussed. In particular, I stress Berkeley’s assumption that a world without matter and a world with matter would be indistinguishable from the point of view of the content of perceptions, natural science. I stress that this assumption depends on a relative account of circular motion, generating the centrifugal forces, as Newton shows (...) in his bucket experiment. In spite of the efforts by Leibniz and Huygens, such a relative account of rotational motion was never presented. So the thesis about the scientific and perceptual identity between worlds with and without matter remains a simple case of wishful thinking in need for a justification. (shrink)

(10) Examples (13) meaning as functional classification (14) meaning as functional classification (14) Introduces dot-quotes (15) “stand for” is a special case of functional classification (19) classical problem of “participation”.

Integration Area C. Nature, sources, and limits of human knowledge; roles of perception, reason, testimony, and intuition in acquiring rational beliefs; e.g. science, mathematics, values, the arts, religion, social issues, and psychological states. G.E. Integration IC.

This is the first book to offer a systematic comparison of the philosophies of Albert Camus and Frantz Fanon. It shows how the ethical, political, and psychological outlooks of these two influential thinkers can further our understandings of how to bring about justice in the face of deep power imbalances. The author foregrounds the bloody Algerian War of Independence in his analysis of the philosophies of Camus and Fanon. Although neither supported French colonial occupation of Algeria, they held radically different (...) views of the conflict. Fanon supported emancipation through violence, which the author argues has been uncritically romanticized. Camus, on the other hand, supported an ethics of moderation that shunned indiscriminate violence. The author argues that Camus has been unfairly accused of being an apologist for colonialism. Finally, the author draws out the common endorsement of humanist values that drive both Camus' and Fanon's thought. Camus and Fanon on the Algerian Question will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in twentieth-century Continental philosophy, postcolonialism, existentialism, and African philosophy. (shrink)

Over time, several authors have argued that, for Aristotle, dialectic is a method of discovery or establishment of the principles of science in general. In this article, I will present four arguments against this view and propose a deflationary view of the role of dialectic in this regard. Accord ing to this view, such a role consists only in the defence of common principles against potential eristic attacks. Keywords: Science, dialectic, first principles, common principles, proper principles.

The importance of an author can be evaluated by the extent to which his theoretical contribution transforms a certain area of knowledge: major researchers create new vistas. This certainly applies to Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), one of the most brilliant authors of contemporary psychology. His work, owing to its originality, is of epistemological interest to several areas of knowledge. In fact, Vygotsky was at the center of a historical time of change in twentieth-century Russia, in which Mikhail Bakhtin, Roman Jakobson, Serguei (...) Eisenstein, Alexander Luria, and Yuri Lotman took part. Their theoretical proposals had repercussions in several areas of knowledge: in literature, semiotics, film, and .. (shrink)

El artículo presenta hechos estilizados sobre los doscientos años de historia económica brasileña según los liberales clásicos, nacionalistas y marxistas. Para ello se eligen algunos autores clásicos de cada orientación teórica por la influencia de sus interpretaciones. Mientras que los liberales clásicos alaban la dependencia económica y critican la lucha política por superar las herencias coloniales y neocoloniales, los nacionalistas y marxistas, de diferentes maneras, critican la dependencia y proponen superarla políticamente. En Brasil, los marxistas nunca han estado en el (...) poder, pero es claro un péndulo entre liberales y nacionalistas. La relevancia de la clasificación propuesta se ilustra al recordar que, hoy, Brasil es gobernado por un líder en la tradición del neoliberalismo autoritario latinoamericano inaugurado por Augusto Pinochet en 1973. Sin embargo, poco después de conmemorarse los 200 años de la independencia política en 07 de septiembre de 2022, la elección presidencial de octubre de 2022 puede marcar un nuevo giro en el péndulo hacia una visión nacionalista del pasado y el futuro de Brasil. (shrink)

Se realizó una investigación descriptiva con el objetivo de caracterizar la esfera afectiva de mujeres diagnosticadas con trastornos depresivos, en el período comprendido entre 2012 y 2015. La muestra estuvo conformada por 46 mujeres residentes en la provincia de Camagüey, seleccionadas de manera intencional, a partir de los criterios establecidos por los autores del estudio. Se aplicó el Psicodiagnóstico de Rorschach, según la codificación e interpretación del Sistema Comprehensivo de Exner. Como principales resultados se obtuvo que, en la mayoría de (...) las mujeres, predominó la combinación del Índice de depresión negativo y el Índice de inhabilidad social positivo, el estilo vivencial coartado e introversivo, proporción afectiva baja y Lambda alta. A descriptive study was conducted to characterize the affective sphere of women diagnosed with depressive disorders during a period between 2012 and 2015. The sample consisted of 46 women living in Camagüey, who were selected intentionally using criteria established by the investigation authors. A Rorschach Test was applied, with regard to the encoding and interpretation of Exner´s Comprehensive System. Results suggested that most women exhibited a combination of the negative depression index and the positive social disability index, constricted and introversive experiential style, low affective proportion and high Lambda. (shrink)

RESUMEN A pesar de que la reducción de R. Descartes de los animales a meras máquinas puede explicarse como una consecuencia lógica de su punto de partida metafísico y gnoseológico, se puede argüir que esta reducción parece muy difícil de defender, puesto que se nos antoja contradictoria con nuestra experiencia cotidiana. Por otra parte, uno de los propósitos de la filosofía de Descartes es la “conservación de la salud”, que puede conseguirse mediante el establecimiento de una medicina “fundada en demostraciones (...) infalibles”. De cara a conseguir tal medicina el primer paso es alcanzar el conocimiento más preciso posible del cuerpo humano a fin de tener éxito en la práctica de la cirugía. De ahí que sea bastante plausible afirmar que la metafísica y la teoría del conocimiento de Descartes no serían sus principales intereses teóricos, sino solamente una explicación y justificación ingeniosas de lo que la ciencia de su tiempo llevaba haciendo no menos de cien años antes de él, así como una inteligente manera de obviar los escrúpulos cuando se anatomizaban cadáveres humanos y animales. En consecuencia, en este artículo mantendremos que el mecanicismo y dualismo cartesianos son una verdadera filosofía de la ciencia, desde el momento en que ambos estaban dedicados a explicar y justificar lo que la ciencia estaba haciendo en la práctica. ABSTRACT Despite of the fact that R. Descartes’s reduction of animals to mere machines can be explained as a logical consequence of his metaphysical and gnoseological starting point, one can argue that this reduction seems to be very difficult to defend, since it appears to be contradictory to our everyday experience. On the other hand, one of the explicitly confessed purposes of Descartes’s philosophy is the “conservation of health”, which can be achieved by establishing a medicine “founded in infallible demonstrations”. The first step in order to get such medicine is to acquire the most accurate as possible knowledge of the human body in order to be successful in practicing surgery. That is why it is fairly plausible to state that Descartes’s metaphysics and theory of knowledge were not his main theoretical concerns, but only a witty explanation and justification of what the science of his time was doing for no less than one century before him, as well as a clever manner to avoid scruples when anatomising both human corpses and animals. Consequently, in this paper we will claim that Cartesian mechanicism and dualism are actual philosophies of science, given the fact that both were devoted to explain and justify what science was in practice doing. (shrink)

Palace of the End is a dense triptych of monologues exploring alternative narratives - albeit based in real facts - behind the events and the headlines surrounding the war in Iraq. Borrowing its title from the former royal palace where Saddam Hussein’s torture chamber was located, Thompson’s docudrama is structured as a chain of monologues telling three real-life stories set in the context of the war in Iraq. The play conveys three unconventional interpretations of the realities of war: that of (...) a young American soldier convicted for her misconduct at Abu Ghraib, the prison that stands as one of the most controversial symbols of the American-led Iraq invasion; a British scientist and weapons inspector who denounces what he understands as the false arguments given by his country’s leaders for engaging in a distant war; and an Iraqi mother whose life was shattered firstly by Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian regime, and later by the American first Gulf War. Each story is an enthralling and gut-wrenching reflection of one of the contemporary world’s most studied and controversial conflicts. The play gives voice to three different kinds of war victims, insofar as their political subjectivities and their moral conundrums are concerned. (shrink)