Nuestro propósito en este artículo es analizar desde un punto de vista epistemológico el debate científico sobre el niño “salvaje” de Aveyron que se inicia en la Ilustración tardía, en el ámbito del método y prácticas médico-pedagógicas, y que se extiende a mediados del siglo XX en el campo de las ciencias sociales. Consideramos que la metodología de investigación científica y los tratamientos aplicados para educar y transformar al niño “salvaje”, a través del disciplinamiento de sus sentidos, la enseñanza del (...) lenguaje y la adopción de costumbres civilizadas lo convierten no solo en un “caso” u “objeto” de investigación científica, sino también en un ser “anormal”, expuesto al encierro, la experimentación y la degradación física. Cuestionamos, en esta ocasión, el dispositivo denominado “máquina antropológica” que articula la antinomia epistemológica naturaleza y cultura, que constituye ontológicamente el estatus inferior del niño “salvaje” como “criatura”. A través de la postulación de la teoría filosófica de la infancia de G. Agamben como alternativa crítica, desarrollamos los conceptos de “silencio”, “resistencia” e “irrupción epistemológica” para abordar las cuestiones ontológicas y epistémicas que conciernen a Víctor de Aveyron desde una nueva perspectiva filosófica. (shrink)

El presente artículo intenta estudiar la concepción del mundo que subyace a la modernidad política peruana. Según nuestro punto de vista, esta concepción del mundo está caracterizada por lo que llamaremos ethos barroco. Aunque no es la única, su manifestación más importante es el fenómeno de la corrupción, desarrollado en el marco de la relación entre una forma de pensar y una forma de actuar: la utopía (derivada de una visión fantasiosa de la sociedad) y la anomia (resultado del incumplimiento (...) de las normas sociales). En este sentido, queremos mostrar la paradójica doble relación entre ambos elementos, consistente, por un lado, en la contradicción discursiva entre el pensamiento utópico y la anomia política, y, por otro lado, en su articulación complementaria en el fenómeno de la corrupción. Debido a esta enigmática y compleja relación, en el Perú se ha instaurado un Estado que promueve la anomia y una Constitución que carece de legitimidad, en lugar de un verdadero Estado de Derecho. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo determinar el fundamento teológico del concepto de soberanía propuesto por el jurista alemán Carl Schmitt. Según nuestra hipótesis, tal fundamento teológico se encuentra en la filosofía del pensador danés Søren Kierkegaard, quien, en diferentes obras, desarrolló los importantes conceptos de excepción, decisión y suspensión teleológica de la ética en relación a la experiencia religiosa de la repetición. Como veremos, tales conceptos forman parte del fundamento teológico de la famosa definición schmittiana de la soberanía: “soberano (...) es quien decide sobre el estado de excepción”, la cual define el decisionismo del jurista alemán. Así, por medio del concepto de decisión, extraído de la obra kierkegaardiana e introducido en la doctrina de la soberanía, Schmitt logra tres objetivos. Por un lado, no solo inicia la crítica al parlamentarismo liberal y al Estado burgués de Derecho, sino que revela el fundamento teológico-existencial de la unidad política del Estado moderno. En segundo lugar, en el marco jurídico-político, actualiza la teología fideísta desarrollada por Kierkegaard en su obra. Finalmente, en el marco teológico-metafísico, introduce el papel de la decisión como actualizador del rol público de la trascendencia en la modernidad secularizada frente a la reserva escatológica de la teología. Para lograr nuestro objetivo, utilizaremos el método de la analogía conceptual teológico-política creado y aplicado por el mismo Carl Schmitt a la historia de la soberanía europea. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to clarify what is properly common to the common good and to support its irreducibility as a guarantee of overcoming an atomistic conception of civil society. We begin by addressing the notion of individual freedom and the questioning of the selfish condition of the human being. Then, we delve into the normative possibilities offered by an ethical interpretation of the common good. The difference of the common good from other notions used in late-modern discourses (...) is key in determining the intrinsic commonality of social relations. In concluding, we argue for a conception of the common good that accommodates individual freedom, understanding it no longer in isolation, but as part of intersubjectivity. (shrink)

Autonomy has been central to moral and political philosophy for millenia, and has been positioned as a critical aspect of both justice and wellbeing. Research in psychology supports this position, providing empirical evidence that autonomy is critical to motivation, personal growth and psychological wellness. Responsible AI will require an understanding of, and ability to effectively design for, human autonomy (rather than just machine autonomy) if it is to genuinely benefit humanity. Yet the effects on human autonomy of digital experiences are (...) neither straightforward nor consistent, and are complicated by commercial interests and tensions around compulsive overuse. This multi-layered reality requires an analysis that is itself multidimensional and that takes into account human experience at various levels of resolution. We borrow from HCI and psychological research to apply a model (“METUX”) that identifies six distinct spheres of technology experience. We demonstrate the value of the model for understanding human autonomy in a technology ethics context at multiple levels by applying it to the real-world case study of an AI-enhanced video recommender system. In the process we argue for the following three claims: 1) There are autonomy-related consequences to algorithms representing the interests of third parties, and they are not impartial and rational extensions of the self, as is often perceived; 2) Designing for autonomy is an ethical imperative critical to the future design of responsible AI; and 3) Autonomy-support must be analysed from at least six spheres of experience in order to approriately capture contradictory and downstream effects. (shrink)

Corporations perform actions that can inflict harm with different levels of intensity, from death to material loss, to both companies’ internal and external stakeholders. Research has analysed corporate harm using the notions of corporate social irresponsibility and corporate crime. Critical management studies have been subjecting management and organizational practices and knowledge to critical analysis, and corporate harm has been one of the main concerns of CMS. However, CMS has rarely been deployed to analyse CSIR and corporate crime. Thus, the aim (...) of this paper is to critically analyse the perspectives of CSIR and corporate crimes on corporate harm via CMS in general and postcolonial studies in particular. The paper contributes by arguing that research on CSIR and corporate crime could be perceived as producing research that does not challenge the essence of contemporary corporation profit-seeking activities that ultimately produces corporate harm. We argue that CSIR and corporate crime are ideologies that assist in disguising the contradiction between producing shareholder value and the social good that is at the heart of the modern corporation system and the current economic system. Furthermore, the postcolonial view of CSIR and corporate crime highlights how they are based on a Western-centric view of corporate harm that ignores the realities and perspectives of the Global South, especially in situations where corporate harm leads to death in the Global South. (shrink)

– This paper aims to examine the present status of the research field intercultural information ethics including the foundational debate as well as specific issues., – A critical overview of the recent literature of the field is given., – The present IIE debate focuses on a narrow view of the field leaving aside comparative studies with non‐digital media as well as with other epochs and cultures. There is an emphasis on the question of privacy but other issues such as online (...) communities, governmentality, gender issues, mobile phones, health care and the digital divide are on the agenda., – The paper addresses basic issues of IIE that may open new vistas for research and practice in this field. (shrink)

In this paper, I survey and defend the use of quantitative methods in philosophy of language. Quantitative methods in philosophy of language include a wide variety of methods, ranging from model‐based techniques (computer simulations and mathematical models) to data‐driven approaches (experimental philosophy and corpus‐based studies). After offering a few case studies of these methodologies in action, I single out some debates in philosophy of language that are especially well served by their use. These are cases in which quantitative methods increase (...) precision, improve the accuracy and reliability of results, and allow philosophers of language to borrow from other fields the best epistemic practices available. I conclude with some far‐reaching considerations about the role of qualitative and quantitative methods in debates about philosophical methodology. (shrink)

The paper deals with the "deuteros plous", literally ‘the second voyage’, proverbially ‘the next best way’, discussed in Plato’s "Phaedo", the key passage being Phd. 99e4–100a3. The second voyage refers to what Plato’s Socrates calls his “flight into the logoi”. Elaborating on the subject, the author first (I) provides a non-standard interpretation of the passage in question, and then (II) outlines the philosophical problem that it seems to imply, and, finally, (III) tries to apply this philosophical problem to the "ultimate (...) final proof" of immortality and to draw an analogy with the ontological argument for the existence of God, as proposed by Descartes in his 5th "Meditation". The main points are as follows: (a) the “flight into the logoi” can have two different interpretations, a common one and an astonishing one, and (b) there is a structural analogy between Descartes’s ontological argument for the existence of God in his 5th "Meditation" and the "ultimate final proof" for the immortality of the soul in the "Phaedo". (shrink)

In his Vermischte Bemerkungen 43, Wittgenstein notices that he was also influenced by Oswald Spengler. The paper deals with the question of in which way Spengler influenced Wittgenstein’s late works and if it really was influence or only a coincidence of ideas. It is put forward that Spengler’s rather unknown philosophy of language influenced Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, especially the concepts of family resemblance, antiessentialism, and language-game (Sprachspiel). A picture of the famous Neapolitan gesture of “negation” which motivated Wittgenstein to (...) give up the picture theory of language is also shown with an example taken from Andrea de Jorio, La mimica degli antichi investigala nel gestire napoletano, Napoli 1832. (shrink)

Book review of: Donald R. Morrison (Hg.), The Cambridge Companion to Socrates, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2010.

In this paper we present the problem of a noisy lexical taxonomy and suggest two tasks as potential remedies. The first task is to identify and eliminate incorrect hypernymy links, and the second is to repopulate the taxonomy with new relations. The first task consists of revising the entire taxonomy and returning a Boolean for each assertion of hypernymy between two nouns (e.g. brie is a kind of cheese). The second task consists of recursively producing a chain of hypernyms for (...) a given noun, until the most general node in the taxonomy is reached (e.g. brie → cheese → food → etc.). In order to achieve these goals, we implemented a hybrid hypernym-detection algorithm that incorporates various intuitions, such as syntagmatic, paradigmatic and morphological association measures as well as lexical patterns. We evaluate these algorithms individually and collectively and report findings in Spanish, English and French. (shrink)

The article treats again the question of whether «the Idea of the Good is a Reality in the Universe, or beyond it. Is it immanent or transcendent ?» (Rufus Jones, 1863 1948). Plato scholars such as Matthias Baltes (1940 2003) and Luc Brisson have defended the thesis that Plato’s Idea of the Good is, on the one hand, beyond being (epekeina tês ousias) in dignity and power, but on the other, is nevertheless not transcendent over being. The article delivers first (...) (I.) the most important arguments for the thesis of Baltes and Brisson. Then (II.), it gives two counterarguments against the thesis. Third (III.), it concludes with some general questions concerning the deflationist interpretation of Plato’s Republic 509b9 10 and defends again the transcendence of the Idea of the Good. (shrink)

One core question in contemporary political economy is whether economic liberties should be constitutionally protected as basic rights. In this article I do not provide a positive argument for the view that economic liberties are basic rights. Rather, I seek to provide a reason for not embracing the opposing view, i.e. that economic liberties should not be constitutionally protected as basic rights. Based on Hayek’s theory of price as signal, I argue that price control, a view usually associated with high (...) liberals, and sometimes endorsed by moderate welfarists, is environmentally sub-optimal. (shrink)

The paper puts forward that the basic principle of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (4.0312) transforms the supreme principle of all synthetic judgments a priori in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (A158/B197) from a level of reason to the level of language. Both philosophers, Kant and Wittgenstein, put forward a transcendental principle and both hold a formal identity true, Kant an identity between the form of experience and the form of the object of experience, Wittgenstein an identity between the form of a sentence (...) and the form of a fact. (shrink)

Despite the fact that Aristotle and Frege/Russell differ in how to understand the ambiguity in the meaning of the word “is”, their theories share a common feature: “is” does not have a normative meaning. This paper, however, (I) shows (a) that there is a normative meaning of “is” (and correspondingly a constative meaning of the word “ought”) and (b) that the ambiguity of “is” is itself ambiguous. Furthermore, it proposes (c) a performative criterion for making a distinction between constative and (...) normative “is”. Thereby, (II) a new interpretation of Kant’s critique of the ontological argument (CPR A 598/B626) makes sense: The difference between being as a real predicate and being as a position depends on the difference between “is” as a descriptive and “is” as a normative predicate. (III) The criterion also makes possible a new answer to Leibniz’s and Schelling’s question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?”: The “is” in “there is something” is normative and the question means “Why shall there be something rather than nothing?”. As “there shall be nothing” is self-refuting, the question evokes an ultimate foundation in a practical sense. (shrink)

El crecimiento y el desarrollo de la complejidad cultural a lo largo de la historia humana, poseen la forma de una espiral en movimiento que se abre a las posibilidades; desde un punto se extienden una serie de círculos concéntricos que amplían el espectro cultural. Esta apertura la podemos percibir desde un concepto clave en la obra wittgensteineana, a saber, la noción de ver aspectos. Por otra parte, con ella también podemos distinguir y entender otro punto clave en esa dinámica (...) cultural, ello es: la idea de cambio y conflicto social. Así pues, la idea del presente trabajo es mostrar las estructuras epistémicas con las que operan los conflictos y los cambios socioculturales -tan relevantes para el desarrollo social y la teoría antropológica-, tomando como fondo la idea wittgensteineana de visión de aspectos. Con lo que encontramos, que el presente artículo además de ser una contribución al “estudio cultural” con base en un interés epistemológico, pretende vincular la filosofía wittgensteineana con la antropología científica.Palabras clave: Visión de aspectos, conflicto, cambio social, Wittgenstein, epistemología.The growth and development of cultural complexity throughout human history has had the form of a moving spiral that opens to possibilities; from one point, a series of concentric circles is extended that expand the cultural spectrum. This opening can be perceived from a key concept in Wittgenstein’s thought, namely, the notion of seeing aspects. On the other hand, with this concept we can also identify and understand another key point in that cultural dynamic: the idea of change and social conflict. Thus, the idea of this paper is to show the epistemic structures through which conflicts and socio-cultural changes operate, which are so relevant to social development and the anthropological theory, taking the Wittgensteinian idea of seeing aspects as a background. This article is not only a contribution to “cultural study” based on an epistemological interest, but it also tries to link Wittgenstein’s philosophy with scientific anthropology.Key words: Vision of aspects, conflict, social change, Wittgenstein, epistemology. (shrink)

Unas cuantas –aunque quizá no suficientes- líneas dedicadas a la Erinnerung del Maestro de siempre, acompañadas de la exégesis de un texto de su autoría: El concepto de “Saber aparente” en Hegel o la ilusión del método. Se trata de un ensayo de Giulio F. Pagallo que, hasta el presente, no ha sido publicado, aun cuando sí presentado como papel de trabajo en el marco de un Seminario organizado por el Instituto de Filosofía de la UCV a finales de los (...) años ’70. Quizá sea éste uno de los ensayos más importantes de su interpretación de la filosofía hegeliana, particularmente de la Fenomenología del Espíritu, y de sus estrechas relaciones de fondo con el Tractatus de Intellectus emendationis de Spinoza. Todo ello, animado por la firme convicción de contribuir al debate contemporáneo con el estructuralismo marxista y con el neopositivismo, como respuesta frente a las malversaciones propias de un uso maniqueo del concepto de ideología. Amicus IuliusSome –but maybe not enough- lines devoted to de Erinnerung of the Master forever, together with the exegesis of a text of his authorship: The concept of “Apparent Knowledge” in Hegel or the illusion of the method . This is a Giulio F. Pagallo’s essay which has not been published until today, even though it was presented as paperwork in a seminar organized by the Institute of Philosophy of the UCV in the last years of the 70`s decade. Perhaps, this is one of the most important essays of his Hegelian philosophy interpretation, particularly of the Phenomenology of the Spirit , and its tight and deep relationship with the Spinoza’s Tractatus de Intellectus emendationis . All of this is animated by the firm conviction to contribute with the contemporary debate with Marxist structuralism and new positivism, as a response upon the manichaean use of the concept of ideology. (shrink)

Parties are central agents of democratic representation. The literature assumes that this function is an automatic consequence of social structure and/or a product of incentives derived from electoral competition. However, representation is contingent upon the organizational structure of parties. The connection between a party and an organized constituency is not limited to electoral strategy; it includes an organic connection through permanent formal or informal linkages that bind party programmatic positions to social groups’ preferences, regardless of the electoral returns. This article (...) analyzes how the Movimiento al Socialismo in Bolivia and the Frente Amplio in Uruguay developed two different forms of relationship with social organizations that result from the interplay of historical factors traceable to the parties’ formative phases and party organizational attributes. Party organizational features that grant voice to grassroots activists serve as crucial mechanisms for bottom-up incorporation of societal interests and demands. (shrink)

This is a report on the II Symposium Platonicum, which took place in Perugia, Italy, September 1-6, 1989, and on the founding of the International Plato Society, which took place in Bevagna, Province of Perugia, Umbria, Italy, September 3, 1989.

We draw from Eisenstadt’s (2002) conceptualization of multiple modernities which he pro­posed to analyze processes marking modernity and their different versions in contemporary societies. These processes do not delete all pre-existing orientations, value affinities and social arrangements, and while modernity is recognizable everywhere, modern societies also differ at other respects. We formulate a similar contention for globalization. We point to three interacting and intermingling movers of social reality—globalization, multiculturalism and the national principle—which concretize everywhere, and according to contexts and a (...) priori features, specific models qualifying for the notion of multiple globalizations. Beyond the variety of multiple globalizations, this notion underlines the newness of our time and hints the “next society”. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la dificultad y los límites para comprender el significado ético de las decisiones profesionales. Éstas denotan tensiones dialécticas entre lo que el individuo considera su responsabilidad directa y las condiciones en las cuales se ve obligado a actuar y no puede controlar. En otras palabras, se cree actuar con buenas intenciones y razones legítimas y termina determinado por una cadena de acciones que lo llevan a un colapso del significado moral, tanto de sí (...) mismo y del valor del acto en sí, lo cual se convierte en un argumento para justificar la violencia de sus actos. Proponemos que la ética puede comprender estas tensiones si se toman en cuenta las problemáticas existenciales internas de la persona que decide, como son la angustia y la desesperación en conjunto con las aportaciones de las teorías del comportamiento y la comunicación organizacional. Para ello se analiza el caso de las decisiones del fraude financiero llevado a cabo por Bernard Madoff. (shrink)

Recent attention to complex group-level behavior amongst bacteria has led some to conceive of multicellular clusters of bacteria as individuals. In this article, I assess these recent claims by first drawing a distinction between two concepts of individuality: physiological and evolutionary. I then survey cases that are representative of three different modes of growth: myxobacteria (surface-attached agglomerative growth), Bacillus subtilis (agglomerative growth not attached to a surface), and cyanobacteria (filamentous growth). A closer look at these cases indicates that multicellular individuality (...) among bacteria is remarkably complex. Physiologically, the three cases of multicellular clusters do not form physiological individuals. But matters are different when it comes to evolutionary individuality; although multicellular clusters that grow by agglomeration are not highly individuated, filament-forming groups achieve a relatively high degree of individuality. I also suggest that debates about bacterial multicellular individuality may have been obscured by a failure to see that selection on highly individuated groups is by no means the only mechanism to bring about the complex group-level behaviors that have led some to view bacteria as multicellular individuals. (shrink)

When examining the current form that modern society has acquired, it is hard to overlook the emergence of a systemic dimension that has become far removed from its social-symbolic roots. This systemic dimension is the result of a process of functional differentiation and simultaneous growth that has led to the gradual formation of social systems that, alongside their coordinating effect, give rise to multiple conflicts or crises. But how are the crises of modern societies to be understood in light of (...) this logic of functional differentiation and internal growth? The purpose of this article is to postulate one particular form of crisis, which will be understood as the result of a consubstantial tendency towards systemic growth. The trend takes the form of a concentration of the performances of social systems that recreates modern schemes of stratification, homogenizes the diversity of options and selections of these systems and, by becoming caught up in thoughtless patterns of growth, produces critical scenarios. (shrink)

Las palabras iniciales del Gorgias son una pista importante para comprender la caracterización literaria y filosófica del personaje Calicles dentro del diálogo platónico. Así, que Platón colocara en boca de Calicles un saludo donde se mencionan explícitamente la guerra y el enfrentamiento muestra lo importante que estas actividades son para este personaje. El resto del diálogo sirve para desarrollar este aspecto del alma de Calicles, quien, tanto en sus intervenciones como en su accionar en la conversación, deja clara su defensa (...) de un modo de vida definido por el honor y el reconocimiento público en el ámbito político, el sometimiento de otros, así como la satisfacción de toda clase de apetitos y deseos como elementos constitutivos de una vida feliz. En tal sentido, las primeras palabras del diálogo nos ofrecen un primer vistazo del personaje Calicles que es coherente con la presentación de este en todo el diálogo. (shrink)

Este artículo plantea la posibilidad de hallar un surgimiento de la literatura autobiográfica en la obra de Michel Foucault a partir del momento en que este filósofo deja de interesarse por la literatura como un espacio autorreferencial para adentrarse en la historia de criminales, locos, anormales, vidas minúsculas e infames, cuyos relatos se encuentran comprometidos dentro de diferentes prácticas discursivas promovidas por mecanismos de poder. En este sentido, los diarios de Pierre Rivière, Herculine Barbine o Alexina B. y del anónimo (...) inglés de _My secret life_, no sólo cuestionarán la voluntad de saber sobre el crimen y la sexualidad que comenzaba a surgir en términos médicos, psiquiátricos y legales a fines del siglo XVIII y comienzos del XIX, sino que también pondrán en tela de juicio la institucionalidad literaria a partir de una especie de genealogía de la literatura autobiográfica, nacida, en su generalidad, dentro de prácticas confesionales. De este modo, Foucault demuestra un interés previo por la autobiografía antes de que esta práctica de escritura sea situada dentro de una ética y estética de sí. (shrink)

RESUMO Este artigo analisa as disputas de sentido envolvendo o corpo homossexual masculino caracterizado como urso. Considerando o aporte teórico-metodológico da Análise Dialógica do Discurso, foi analisada uma postagem com três sequências de comentários que tematizavam o corpo urso em um grupo da rede social Facebook. A análise revelou que o centro da disputa de sentidos nos enunciados se detém em duas valorações distintas: (i) o urso identificado como um corpo gordo e peludo e (ii) o urso identificado como um (...) corpo padrão e com (alguns) pelos. Por meio das oposições gordo/não gordo e pelos/não pelos, o gay de corpo padrão disputa características do corpo urso, notadamente os pelos, para demonstrar mais traços de masculinidade. Contudo, essa posição gera, em tom quase sempre irônico e crítico, protesto daqueles que defendem que os ursos representam a resistência de uma categoria que se enquadra, acima de tudo, ao corpo gordo. (shrink)

El propósito del presente artículo es el de desarrollar y proyectar una interpretación de la filosofía de la historia elaborada por el pensador donostiarra Eugenio Ímaz. Dicha exposición estará dirigida al objetivo de explicitar cómo el optimismo histórico de Ímaz basado en la noción de utopía lidió con los trágicos acontecimientos que aquel vivió durante los años treinta en España. En este sentido, la confianza de Eugenio Ímaz en el régimen republicano se vio fracturada por los acontecimientos bélicos que le (...) llevaron al exilio. Esta lectura nos permitirá apreciar cómo la metabolización de estos eventos desde el marco de su teoría de la historia coadyuvó a un agotamiento de la noción de utopía que nos permite vincular el horizonte histórico e intelectual de Ímaz con el contexto europeo de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. (shrink)

The article focuses first of all on the peculiar kind of anthropology implicit in the thought of Millán-Puelles. In the second part it underlines the relevance of the distinction between nature and freedom in the political anthropology of the author, as well as the outstandig importance of the idea of liberty with its several significant nuances of meaning.

The point of the article is that representation is primarily an activity in the realm of knowledge while participation belongs to the will. Representation and participation are two dimensions of human life, at the same time personal and political. One cannot expect real participation in the absence of true representation. The present democracies have a real problem regarding the participation of the people in politics.

A good will is not so much an "ethical concept" as one that refers to the nucleus of human existence and the meaning of life. If the intellect is a function of identity, the will is a function of otherness. Together, the intellect and the will render an account of that arcane principle of all reality which is unity-diversity or limit. Such arcana is manifested in the following: the intellect is the limit of the will and the will is the (...) limit of the intellect. The perfection of the will -the will that becomes good- requires self-knowledge. In order to give an account of the other I have to take myself seriously and realize that I only know myself through the other. A good will, therefore, has many other related dimensions aside from that of love and respect. (shrink)

Few Philosophers have been able to give to their work a deep an wise visíon of the world applicable to everyday existence. Among them we find Joseph Pieper, extraordinary writer and philosopher whose works (edited by Berthold Wald) confirm his socratic character of wisdom lover (filo-sophos).

Accord ing to the neoplatonist tradition, the article emphasizes the outstanding relevance of the concept of limit or mesure, specially in relation to the practical realm. Diverging from the apparences, reachingt he limits of one's own possibiliti es doesn't me an for the human being to get locked in itself, but to become great. The greatness of the soul is born in th eadequate conscience of one's own lim its and it is the most relevant virtue.

Pure being, without reference to negativity and otherness, is unthinkable and unreal. Being with regard to negativity is giving: being gives what it is not. The radical act of giving is to produce the other in itself; the derived act is to create. Being in relation to non-being is having. There is no existence other than in having. Giving, donation, implies a having which is had, consciousness, freedom, reflection. Without reflection, there is no giving. Being is knowing; having, loving. There (...) is no donation without love. The notion of "pure exchange" is infrahuman. (shrink)

This article underlines the significance of the new interpretation of Plato's Parmenides. The platonic "protology" found in the Parmenides connects directly with neoplatonic tradition. Christian Neoplatonism, through its trinitarian speculation, is the philosophical movement which best captures the deepest implications of the unity-diversity theory of the Parmenides. The author suggests that the christian neoplatonic solution to the unity-diversity issue is superior to those offered by Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger.