This paper argues that some of the misunderstandings surrounding the meaning and function of the concept of human dignity in bioethics arise from a lack of distinction between two different roles that this notion plays: one as an overarching policy principle, and the other as a moral standard of patient care. While the former is a very general concept which fulfils a foundational and a guiding role of the normative framework governing biomedical issues, the latter reflects a much more concrete (...) and context-specific understanding of the patient as a “person”. The importance of dignity as a policy principle will be described by appealing to the distinction between principles and rules as developed by some legal philosophers. The value of dignity as a standard of patient care will be illustrated with the help of concrete examples and by drawing on the taxonomies of dignity proposed by Jonathan Mann and other scholars. The overall scope of the article is to highlight this double and complementary role of human dignity in bioethics. (shrink)

According to the Bayesian view, scientific hypotheses must be appraised in terms of their posterior probabilities relative to the available experimental data. Such posterior probabilities are derived from the prior probabilities of the hypotheses by applying Bayes'theorem. One of the most important problems arising within the Bayesian approach to scientific methodology is the choice of prior probabilities. Here this problem is considered in detail w.r.t. two applications of the Bayesian approach: (1) the theory of inductive probabilities (TIP) developed by Rudolf (...) Carnap and other epistomologists and (2) the analysis of the multinational inferences provided by Bayesian statstics (BS). ... Zie: Summary. (shrink)

Introduction -- Inquiry as the logic of practical reasoning -- From reasoning to judgment -- Expressive inquiry -- The public sphere -- Pragmatism, pluralism, and the fact of relativism -- A pragmatic theory of objectivity -- Why justification matters? -- Pragmatism as an epistemology of practice.

El presente esfuerzo se encuentra animado por la factura de un análisis comparativo entre Ernst Cassirer y Eduardo Nicol en torno al fenómeno de la expresión. Ambos autores tienen en común la preocupación precisamente por el tema de la expresión. Sin embargo, desde el punto de vista de Cassirer, ésta posee dos notas sobresalientes, a saber, por un lado, la expresión queda constreñida al ámbito del lenguaje, y por otro, ésta posee diferentes estratos, por así decirlo, geológicos de evolución. Por (...) su parte en Eduardo Nicol, la expresión no es reductible al lenguaje, ni va a tener estratos geológicos, sino más bien va a poseer un matiz estrictamente ontológico, es decir, la expresión va a ser la manera como el hombre va intentar en todo momento paliar su insuficiencia ontológica. Nicol va esbozar una nueva imagen del conocimiento a partir precisamente de una metafísica de la expresión. (shrink)

Riassunto: Il presente contributo intende vagliare l’attualità della riflessione antropologica proposta da Heinrich Rickert, comparandone gli esiti ultimi con i risultati più fecondi ottenuti dalle recenti ricerche condotte nel campo dell’antropologia evolutiva e filosofica. A tale scopo sono presentate nel testo due tesi rickertiane di notevole interesse teoretico: il profilo sociale-comunitario quale cifra dell’essere umano e la capitale funzione svolta dalla dimensione corporea nel processo di costituzione del mondo culturale. La prima tesi, sviluppata da Rickert in campo assiologico, si connette (...) alla definizione di uomo declinata da Michael Tomasello nei termini di ultra-social animal, mentre la seconda tesi contribuisce, in modo originale, a quella rivalutazione della sfera corporea dell’uomo, che riveste, a partire dal secolo scorso, un ruolo centrale in alcuni ambiti di ricerca del frastagliato scenario filosofico. Parole chiave: Antropologia Filosofica; Antropologia Evolutiva; Neokantismo; Teoria dei valori; Heinrich Rickert Sociality, Corporeity, and Values. The Current Significance of Rickertian Axiological Anthropology: This paper aims at assessing the current significance of the anthropological reflections of Heinrich Rickert, comparing his most important contributions to recent results in the fields of evolutionary and philosophical anthropology. With this aim in mind, we examine two Rickertian theses of considerable theoretical interest: the fundamental value of sociality in being human and the foundation role of the corporeal in the cultural world. The first thesis, developed by Rickert in the field of axiology, closely relates to Michael Tomasello’s definition of man as an ultra-social animal. The second thesis represents an original contribution to the re-evaluation of the corporeal basis of human experience, which has continued to play a central role in some areas of philosophical research since the last century. Keywords: Philosophical Anthropology; Evolutionary Anthropology; Neo-Kantianism; Theory of Value; Heinrich Rickert. (shrink)

This book presents a new theoretical framework for the analysis of production processes. It is based on a rigorous reconstruction of the intellectual heritage of economics, but also considers issues traditionally left aside by economists, such as the distinction between three dimensions of the production process, the organizational approach to scale and size, and the idea that different institutional set-ups may be compatible with the same objective standard of efficiency.

Sir John Hicks was a leading economic theorist of the twentieth century, and along with Kenneth Arrow was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1972. His work addressed central topics in economic theory, such as value, money, capital and growth. An important unifying theme was the attention for economic rationality 'in time' and his acknowledgement that apparent rigidities and frictions might exert a positive role as a buffer against excessive fluctuations in output, prices and employment. This emphasis on the virtue of (...) imperfection significantly distances Hicksian economics from both the Keynesian and Monetarist approaches. Containing contributions from distinguished theorists in their own right, this volume examines Hicks's intellectual heritage and discusses how his ideas suggest a distinct approach to economic theory and policy making. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of economic theory and the history of economic thought. (shrink)

The notion of the "impolitical" developed in this volume draws its meaning from the exhaustion of modernity's political categories, which have become incapable of giving voice to any genuinely radical perspective. The impolitical is not the opposite of the political but rather its outer limit: the border from which we might glimpse a trajectory away from all forms of political theology and the depoliticizing tendencies of a completed modernity. The book's reconstruction of the impolitical lineage-which is anything but uniform-begins with (...) the extreme conclusions reached by Carl Schmitt and Romano Guardini in their reflections on the political and then moves through a series of encounters between several great twentieth-century texts: from Hannah Arendt's On Revolution to Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil, to Elias Canetti's Crowds and Power; from Simone Weil's The Need for Roots to Georges Bataille's Sovereignty to Ernst Junger's An der Zeitmauer. The trail forged by this analysis offers a defiant counterpoint to the modern political lexicon, but at the same time a contribution to our understanding of its categories. (shrink)

Subversion and inspiration are fundamental concepts in the poetics of Octavio Paz. Following the programs of creacionismo and surrealism they are part of a self-reflexive and emancipatoric poetological position of the author. They are used by him to produce figures of transpersonal speech (as in his essay ›El arco y la lira‹) and to underline the ambiguity of the poetic word (as in his poem ›Blanco‹).

La ciencia aritmética ha sido un interés constante en toda la reflexión de Giovanni Piana. El objetivo de este ensayo es mostrar de qué forma este interés pueda ayudar para ilustrar las articulaciones principales del pensamiento del fenomenólogo italiano. Este camino pasa por la diferencia, establecida por Piana, entre un nivel pre-aritmético y un nivel aritmético como re-flejo de la distinción husserliana entre un nivel ante-predicativo y un nivel predicativo. Ade-más, el par prearitmético/aritmético, trae la distinción entre antepredicativo y predicativo (...) más allá de la esfera del lenguaje verbal en el que tiene lugar la predicación. Como se verá, el re-sultado es una diferenciación generalizada entre un nivel pre-lingüístico y un nivel lingüístico, cuyo alcance potencial encuentra en la música un ejemplo de grande valor. (shrink)

This book contains a selection of papers presented at the V South Cone Meeting of Philosophy and History of Science. The language of the chapters is Portuguese, Spanish or English. Published by the South Cone Association for Philosophy and History of Science, www.afhic.org.

: Suppose a scientist discovers a new, unpredicted phenomenon. How can one ascertain the causes, properties and laws of the phenomenon? How can one plan the investigation of the circumstances that affect the phenomenon, and of the effects that the new phenomenon could produce? If the phenomenon is completely unexpected and does not fit any previous theory, it is impossible to provide a theoretical prediction of its likely properties. In the empiricist tradition, therefore, the recommended method was to investigate all (...) possibilities, because in such cases it is impossible to exclude a priori anything. William Stanley Jevons provided a clear criticism of this method. It is impossible to investigate all possibilities, because they are boundless. Is it then impossible to plan the research of unexpected new phenomena? No. Jevons pointed out an alternative. According to Jevons, a scientist confronting a new, unexpected phenomenon, should compare it to other known phenomena to establish analogies. This comparison should allow the researcher to find out one or several known phenomena similar to the new one. This paper will present and discuss Jevons’ proposal in the context of late 19th century methodology of science. Keywords: scientific method; empirical research; analogy; Jevons, William Stanley. (shrink)

El artículo destaca la importancia de distinguir entre dos roles diversos que la noción de dignidad humana juega en bioética: uno, como principio de orden jurídico-político, y otro, como estándar moral del trato debido al paciente. Cuando la dignidad es entendida en el primer sentido, nos encontramos con un concepto muy general, que cumple un rol fundacional y de orientación de las normas relacionadas con las prácticas biomédicas. En cambio, cuando es utilizada en el segundo sentido, intenta captar la exigencia (...) moral de tratar siempre al paciente como “persona”, es decir, con el mayor cuidado y respeto. Para clarificar el significado de la dignidad como principio, se apela a la distinción entre principios y normas elaborada en el campo de la filosofía jurídica. La dignidad como estándar moral de la relación médico-paciente se ilustra en base a una serie de estudios empíricos. (shrink)

If the values of younger citizens and voters are the trend of the future, in what direction do they point? Scholars have long noted a decline in political engagement and knowledge among youth in developed democracies, with the fear that this may undermine the stability of liberal institutions. However, youth electoral behaviour appears inconsistent: in much of continental Western Europe, younger voters support populist parties of both left and right, but in the United States and the United Kingdom, only left-wing (...) populist movements benefit from youth mobilization. We explain this divergence by arguing for a distinction between democratic apathy and democratic antipathy. Democratic apathy is characterized by scepticism regarding the value of democratic institutions, low turnout and lack of interest in politics, whereas democratic antipathy involves the active embrace of illiberal movements hostile to pluralistic institutions. In societies where youth do not face economic and social discrimination, democratic apathy is the more common trend, whereas in parts of continental Europe where youth face systematic social exclusion, apathy has become active antipathy. (shrink)

The article deals with John Hermann Randall’s theory of history, namely, the philosophical account of what it takes for an object to be a historical object. The goal of the article is to highlight the deep connections existing between Randall’s philosophical views on history and the writing of history, heavily indebted to Dewey’s and Woodbridge naturalism (the so-called Columbia Naturalism), and his historiographical work. In the first section, I briefly sketch some major aspects of originality of Randall’s historiographical work, as (...) well as the intellectual context to which he belonged. In the second section I lay out the most important features of Columbia Naturalism. In the third section I discuss in detail Randall’s theory of history, focusing on its ontological, epistemic, and epistemological features. In the fourth section, I confront Lovejoy and Randall’s historiographical works in order to show how philosophical theories affect historiographical practices. (shrink)

Este é um estudo sobre o conceito de vontade na história da filosofia. O centro de interesse está na obra De libero arbítrio, de Agostinho. Tanto se procura descrever a suposta “descoberta” da vontade por Agostinho quanto analisar a coerência do conceito obtido. Trata-se do segundo de dois estudos sobre a vontade e a liberdade em De libero arbítrio I.

This essay discusses political disorientation and what I define as a legibility crisis ushered in by the election of Donald Trump in 2016. After defining these concepts, it provides evidence for them and fleshes out how they were expressed in prophecies about Trump in white evangelical communities. A legibility crisis is the realization that some fundamental aspects of the symbolic domain (language, civic values, political practices, and institutions) are no longer binding or recognizable. There is a loss of touch with (...) what was once expected political conduct, but this loss gravitates toward something that is not fully graspable in its conceptual and emotional dimensions. In examining political disorientation, I refer to a three-dimensional condition encompassing the personal, the institutional, and the analytical. This disorientation challenges our expectations about institutional norms and forces us to realize that the respectability and legitimacy of those institutions have been hollowed out. This essay will also address the culture of prophecy in some evangelical groups and how prophetic utterances shape these groups’ understanding of the American Constitution and political reality. (shrink)

There are several kinds of studies about science (metascientific): empirical studies (grounded upon historical, sociological and other factual data); formal studies (analytic studies, that is, grounded upon logical analysis, definitions, formal distinctions); and axiological studies (grounded on value analysis). Those approaches are epistemologically independent from each other, in the sense that from one of them it is impossible to draw conclusions pertaining to the others. Every normative proposal concerning science is essentially axiological, because it is associated to value judgments (what (...) is valid or invalid in science), and it is impossible to justify norms from empirical or analytical studies. It is important, therefore, to avoid confounding those three approaches, or passing from one of them to another without due notice, because this would lead to epistemological error. In order to emphasize those distinctions, the paper proposes the names "science of science" to describe empirical studies, "scientific methodology" for axiological studies on science that are grounded on internal values, and "analytical epistemology" to refer to formal studies, that merely offer coherent alternative descriptions of science. RESUMO: Os estudos sobre o conhecimento científico (metacientíficos) podem ser de vários tipos: empíricos (baseados em dados históricos, sociológicos, etc.), formais (analíticos, ou seja, baseados em análise lógica, definições e distinções formais) e axiológicos (baseados em análise de valores). Essas três formas de abordagem são epistemologicamente independentes, no sentido de que uma delas não permite tirar conclusões sobre as outras. Toda proposta normativa sobre a ciência é essencialmente axiológica, por estar associada a juízos de valores sobre o que é válido ou não na ciência, e não se pode justificar normas a partir de estudos empíricos ou a partir de estudos analíticos. É importante, por isso, não confundir os três tipos de abordagem, nem tentar passar inconscientemente de uma para outra, pois isso levaria a falhas epistemológicas graves. Para enfatizar essas distinções, o artigo propõe os nomes "ciência da ciência" para os estudos de base empírica, "metodologia científica" para os estudos axiológicos sobre a ciência, baseados em valores internos, e "epistemologia analítica" para estudos formais, que estabeleçam meras alternativas coerentes para a descrição da ciência. (shrink)

Einstein knew and accepted some philosophical ideas similar to Bridgman's operationalism, at the time when he developed the theory of relativity. It is possible to detect the influence of those ideas both in the special and the general theories. Some of the basic steps taken by Einstein were essentially operationalistic: they could not be justified without epistemological principles of that kind. The common opinion is held that the special theory of relativity embodied a complete and coherent operational elucidation of physical (...) magnitudes. This paper, however, points out some instances of physical magnitudes used in special relativity – such as the force that acts upon a moving body, its mass and its temperature – that could not be measured. It is claimed that this shows an early empistemological inconsistency in Einstein's work. RESUMO: Einstein conhecia e aceitava idéias filosóficas aparentadas ao operacionalismo de Bridgman na época em que desenvolvia a teoria da relatividade. Pode-se detectar essa influência nas teorias especial e geral da relatividade. Alguns dos passos básicos de Einstein foram essencialmente operacionalistas. Assim, é comum a opinião que supõe ter sido completamente efetuada, na teoria especial, de modo coerente, a elucidação operacional das grandezas físicas. Neste artigo, porém, apresentam-se exemplos de grandezas físicas utilizadas na relatividade especial – como a força que age sobre um corpo em movimento, sua massa e sua temperatura – que não eram mensuráveis. Isso revela uma inconsistência epistemológica no trabalho inicial de Einstein. (shrink)

The Peruvian Franciscan thinker Jerónimo Valera published in 1610 his Commentarii ac quaestiones in universam Aristotelis ac Subtilissimi Doctoris Ioannis Duns Scoti logicam, which was the first philosophical work printed in South America. Both in his Summulae dialecticae and in the Books that comprise his Commentarii he deals with metaphysical questions. In this paper, we illustrate how he inserts important Scotist logical-metaphysical doctrines in his logical work, in this case the account of transcendental concepts given in his Summulae.

Roberto Frega & Giovanni Maddelena – Can you recollect what the situation was concerning the study of pragmatism when you were in college? Richard J. Bernstein – I was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago from 1949 to 1951. At the time the “Hutchins College” was an unusual institution. The entire curriculum was fixed and it was organized around reading many of the great books of the Western tradition. From the time I arrived, I was reading Plato, Aristotle, (...) Galileo, Darwin, Herodotus... (shrink)