El propósito de este artículo, reside en mostrar y analizar, las metáforas más notables con las cuales el maestro dominico de vida espiritual Eckhart, transmite la reunión del alma humana creada y separada (existente) del Dios Creador, con lo Uno, o unidad esencial originaria, definida en su totalidad como Deidad. La atención se centra en alguno de sus sermones, donde se explican las alegorías del alma humana, la divinidad y la fusión o encuentro de ambas en la (...) Deidad. Se trata de un recorrido interpretativo por elementos centrales y alegóricos de su mística nihilista y de su teología negativa, donde la única y última conclusión sostenible es que “Todo se hace Nada”. (shrink)

Este artigo contribui para uma nova leitura do misticismo de Meister Eckhart, comparando-o com passagens chave do Itinerarium e da Legenda Maior de São Boaventura. A interpretação especulativa baseada na cristianização de Eckhart de Parmênides e na dialética é compensada pelo destaque da passividade do intelecto e da agência do amor divino no Nascimento de Deus dentro das profundezas da alma. A dialética se mostra, assim, como sendo apenas um momento de partilha com um todo feito também (...) de liturgia e ética. Pode-se argumentar que a veia ética específica do êxtase de Eckhart combinada com o papel da passividade no Nascimento de Deus poderia tornar seu misticismo de alguma forma próximo da concepção da ética em Levinas. (shrink)

En este artículo se revisa el lugar que ocupa Eckhart en L’essence de la manifestation, a fin de establecer correspondencias y afini­dades entre el místico renano y la peculiar concepción que de la fenomenología sostiene Michel Henry. Se trata de analizar la es­trecha cercanía entre el alma humana y Dios postulada por Meister Eckhart y su vinculación con la conocida noción de Vida presente en el autor francés. Henry es proclive a fundar una filosofía primera asociada a (...) la pura autoafección, describiendo la Vida sea como pura inmanencia, sea como una ipseidad algo problemática. En general, el trabajo teórico de los representantes del “giro teológico de la fenomenología francesa” (Janicaud) cuestiona al sujeto clásico de la Modernidad, sin por eso traer a colación la causa de un Dios Revelado ni el que resulta de una teología natural. Este trabajo, en suma, no es el esfuerzo de pensar a un Dios confesional ni tiene un propósito evangélico. Lejos de ello, se trata de precisar el nexo entre Henry y Eckhart, puesto en escena por aquél, y si tal nexo es coherente con lo que Henry piensa acerca de un modo de manifestación que ya no implica distancia fenomenológica alguna: la manifestación del pathos de la Vida. (shrink)

A lo largo de este artículo se aborda el contexto histórico, social, espiritual y teológico en el que se enmarca el pensamiento eckhartiano: la agitada situación de Alemania a finales del siglo XIII y principios del XIV, la incesante búsqueda espiritual de tantas mujeres, beguinas y monjas, de los grupos de amigos de Dios, y las desviaciones de los seguidores del Libre Espíritu. Junto a ello, la escuela filosófica de Colonia, establecida por San Alberto Magno, a la que perteneció el (...) Maestro Eckhart junto con sus discípulos, Suso y Tauler. Asimismo se presentan las principales nociones para comprender su teología mística, cómo concibe a Dios, al ser humano y su "fondo del alma", de qué manera se produce la unión del alma con Dios, la "irrupción" o el nacimiento del Verbo en el alma, y las condiciones para ello, como el desprendimiento de todo lo creado y de uno mismo, para recibir, por gracia, la Vida divina, la bienaventuranza eterna. (shrink)

Falando do ponto de vista da eternidade, Meister Eckhart era totalmente alheio ao milenarismo. No evento sempre renovado do nascimento do logos no fundo da alma, o tempo para o turíngio deixa de existir. A mística eckhartiana, ultrapassando a contraposição entre “místico” e “intelectual”, revela seus fundamentos filosófico-intelectualistas na afinidade com o pensamento neoplatônico e seu elo com os movimentos populares do Outono da Idade Média.

Neste artigo, traremos a distinção entre vontade própria e liberdade, para designar como a relação do homem não é a de domínio com as coisas, tampouco de si mesmo, e sim um desprendimento que une a alma com a dimensão plena e livre de Deus em si mesmo. As noções de sujeição e obediência se mostram aí em sentido ontológico, nas quais o homem mantém uma ligação de dependência no ser com o transbordamento de tal dimensão maior. Ao se (...) retirar da posição de apego consigo próprio e com um entendimento de ser enquanto materialidade definitiva, o homem muda a relação com o mundo e passa a ver e a ter Deus em todas as coisas, na sua soltura e desprendimento de categorização e pré-determinação. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente artículo es múltiple. Primero, pondera una serie de razones por las cuales la mística aún es relevante para el análisis de la condición humana del hombre actual. Segundo, propone a la promesa y a la ausencia como dispositivos de la mística. Tercero, expone, desde la lectura que hacen Alois Haas y Amador Vega de algunos sermones alemanes del Maestro Eckhart y de El peregrino querúbico de Angelus Silesius, los planteamientos fundamentales de la mística de estos (...) autores, a saber: el vaciamiento del alma, el coengendramiento, el abismo de Dios y la unión mística. Al mismo tiempo esboza cómo el pensamiento de Eckhart y Silesius, además de ser estudiado, produce ecos en algunas de las formulaciones filosóficas más importantes del siglo XX. The aim of this article is multiple. First, it weighs a series of reasons for which mysticism is still relevant for the analysis of man’s current human condition. Second, it proposes promise and absence as the devices of mysticism. Third, it exhibits, according to the reading of Alois Haas and Amador Vega of some of Meister Eckhart’s German sermons and Angelus Silesius’ The Cherubic Wanderer, the fundamental expositions of these authors’ mysticism, namely: voidance of the soul, co-conceivement, God’s abyss and mystical union. At the same time it outlines how the thought of Eckhart and Silesius, besides being studied, produces echoes in some of the most important philosophical formulations of the 20th century. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to understand from a sociological perspective how the moral question of euthanasia, framed as the “right to die”, emerges and is dealt with in society. It takes France and Germany as case studies, two countries in which euthanasia is prohibited and which have similar legislation on the issue. I presuppose that, and explore how, each society has its own specificities in terms of practical, social and political norms that affect the ways in which they (...) deal with these issues. The paper thus seeks to understand how requests for the “right to die” emerge in each society, through both the debate (analysis of daily newspapers, medical and philosophical literature, legal texts) and the practices (ethnographic work in three French and two German hospitals) that elucidate the phenomenon. It does so, however, without attempting to solve the moral question of euthanasia. In spite of the differences observed between these two countries, the central issue at stake in their respective debates is the question of the individual’s autonomy to choose the conditions in which he or she wishes to die; these conditions depend, amongst others, on the doctor-patient relationship, the organisation of end-of-life care in hospital settings, and more generally, on the way autonomy is defined and handled in the public debate. (shrink)

It has been suggested that a substitutional semantics for quantification theory lends itself to nominalistic aims. I should like in this paper to explore that claim.

Subject & Object is a thematic collection of classic works by Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, designed to foreground the authors' philosophical concerns, especially in the areas of epistemology, ontology, and method. The volume, which includes lucid introductions to all of the selections, illustrates Frankfurt School approaches to questions such as the nature of reason; the limits of empiricism, pragmatism and Kantian transcendental idealism; the case for materialism; the difficulty of thinking counterfactually; and the ideological character of mainstream (...) social science. Many of the pieces in the volume are otherwise out of print. Subject & Object will be a resource for social, political, and cultural theorists who may be less familiar with the philosophical aspects of the Frankfurt School, for analytic philosophers who may not have had previous exposure to their work at all, and for anyone wanting access to these seminal texts. (shrink)

Research has downplayed the complex discursive processes and practices through which decisions are constructed and blurs the relationship between macro- and micro-levels. The article argues for a critical and ecologically valid approach that articulates how discursive practices are influenced by, and in turn shape, the organizational settings in which they occur. It makes a methodological contribution using decision-making episodes of a senior management team meeting of a multinational company to demonstrate the insights that can be obtained from embedding the Discourse-Historical (...) Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis within a longitudinal ethnography. The approach illuminates the latent and intricate power dynamics and range of potentials of agents, triangulating micro-level discursive strategies with macro-level historical sources and background knowledge on the social and political fields. The article also makes a theoretical contribution by demonstrating the dependency of decision outcomes on often unpredictable and subtle changes in the power—context relationship. (shrink)

Suppose lightning strikes a dead tree in a swamp; I am standing nearby. My body is reduced to its elements, while entirely by coincidence (and out of different molecules) the tree is turned into my physical replica. My replica, The Swampman.....moves into my house and seems to write articles on radical interpretation. No one can tell the difference.

William James (1842-1910) was both a philosopher and a psychologist, nowadays most closely associated with the pragmatic theory of truth. The essays in this Companion deal with the full range of his thought as well as other issues, including technical philosophical issues, religious speculation, moral philosophy and political controversies of his time. The relationship between James and other philosophers of his time, as well as his brother Henry, are also examined. By placing James in his intellectual landscape the volume will (...) be particularly useful to teachers and students outside philosophy in such areas as religious studies, history of ideas, and American studies. New readers and nonspecialists will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to James currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of James. (shrink)

According to conciliatory views about peer disagreement, both peers must accord their disagreeing peer some weight, and move towards him. Non‐conciliatory views allow one peer, the one who responded correctly to the evidence, to remain steadfast. In this paper, I consider the suggestion that it may be rational for both disagreeing peers to hold steadfastly to their opinion. To this end, I contend with arguments adduced against the permissiveness the supposition involves, and identify some ways in which different responses for (...) different agents to the evidence might be reasonable. (shrink)

This article presents a sociological analysis of the changing role of women in the Catholic church over the past twenty years. The theoretical framework is drawn from The Social Construction of Reality by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. Data are derived from the documents of Vatican II, the revised Code of Canon Law, research from 1965 to the present, and exploratory interviews with Catholic women recently appointed as church administrators. The article concludes with a discussion of future prospects regarding the (...) new social reality for Catholic women. (shrink)

‘Stories of unlikeliness’ are woven through this paper that explores a question of significant relevance to the Oxford Center for Mission Studies and its educational and missiological endeavor: How can Christians from powerful and powerless places of the world engage as unlikely but true partners in God’s reconciling mission in spite of all the differences and distances between them? The writer begins with a brief explanation of the belongings out of which she faces the question. She then invites readers to (...) walk with the disciple Nathanael through skepticism to proclamation of Jesus, the unlikely Servant King from insignificant Nazareth, and to consider how that confession bears on matters of power, money, belonging, global fellowship and mission. Finally, she presents some pointers for OCMS to open the door to unlikely contributions and to engage with the International Fellowship for Mission Theologians. (shrink)

Drawing on insights from conversation analysis, discursive psychology and social psychology, this article describes some interactional features of two celebrity TV confessionals and the resources used by the TV interviewers and celebrity guests to attribute, accept or deny responsibility for their transgressions. The analytic interest lies in how confessions are locally and interactionally managed, that is, how ‘doing confessing’ is achieved in the television interview context. We show how the host’s opening turn constrains the celebrity guest’s contribution and secures overt (...) admission of guilt, while simultaneously inviting the celebrity guest to tell their side of the story. We also show how celebrity guests produce descriptions which minimize the extent and severity of their transgressions, reduce agency and transform the character of their transgression. In doing so, we argue that celebrity interviewees can convey mitigations and extenuations which diminish the extent of their responsibility – calling into question the very nature of their confession. We propose that our findings demonstrate the hybrid nature of interviewing in the celebrity TV confessional and contribute to our understanding of how ‘doing confessing’ in the public eye is discursively and interactionally negotiated. (shrink)

Research Ethics, Volume 18, Issue 3, Page 210-225, July 2022. Interview-based research in multilingual situations can present researchers with specific ethical challenges relating to language-based power play, data handling and presentation. Studies indicate favouring the L1 as an interviewing language may produce better quality data, but external pressures can favour English as the dominant research language. This article examines researcher perceptions and experiences of the ethical consequences of language choice and the practical issues involved. Interviews were conducted with five European (...) researchers working on an interview-based project with experiences of diverse interviewing scenarios. The four moral principles of respect for autonomy, justice, beneficence and non-maleficence were used as a framework for analysis. The analysis revealed a nuanced picture of ethical issues in both L1- and English-oriented scenarios. This included potential misrepresentation and deculturalisation of the data in the former, and language-based power asymmetries in the latter. The findings highlight the importance of documenting ethics-related methodological details of language use, and advocates publication practices favouring the inclusion and foregrounding of L1 data. (shrink)

It is shown that violation of the Born Rule leads to a breakdown of the correspondence between the quantum electromagnetic field and its classical counterpart. Specifically, the relationship of the quantum coherent state to the classical electromagnetic field turns out to imply that if the Born Rule were violated, this could result in apparent deviations from the energy conservation law applying to the field and its sources. The result, which is fully general and independent of interpretations of quantum theory, suggests (...) that the Born Rule is just as fundamental a law of Nature as are the field conservation laws. (shrink)

In a memorable passage near the beginning of William James asks us to imagine a world in which all our dearest social utopias are realized, and then to imagine that this world is offered to us at the price of one lost soul at the farthest edge of the universe suffering eternal, intense, lonely pain. Then he asks.

Este artículo analiza la obra de dos beguinas del s. XIII pertenecientes a la denominada teología vernácula. Se propone caracterizar las obras de Matilde de Magdeburgo,La luz que fluye de la divinidad, y de Margarita Porete, El espejo de las almas simples, a fin de determinar las notas más distintivas de las autoras. En ambos trabajos el amor es central, a la vez que está íntimamente vinculado con el conocimiento. Aun así, la lectura de los textos y su detenido examen (...) permite proponer que la obra de Matilde está principalmente relacionada con la literatura del amor cortés mientras que la de Margarita, a la vez que incluye estos elementos, está más enraizada en la mística de la nada, que será luego ampliamente conocida en la tradición por el trabajo de Meister Eckhart. Por esta razón, el lugar otorgado a los sentidos y la corporalidad adquiere mayor relevancia en la obra de Matilde, mientras que en Margarita la experiencia amorosa unitiva es puramente espiritual. Estos matices en las caracterizaciones de la unión con la divinidad deben ser leídos en su contexto histórico, dado que durante el s. XIII y el siguiente se desarrolló una polémica sobre el carácter afectivo o intelectual de la unión mística. Estas diferentes maneras de entender el amor que encontramos en los trabajos de estas autoras medievales representan otro modo de abordar la idea y la función del eros, que desde Platón en adelante ha sido uno de los temas centrales de la reflexión filosófica. (shrink)

“Teleosemantics and Pushmi-Pullyu Representations” (call it “TP-PR,” this journal 2014 79.3, 545–566) argues that core teleosemantics, particularly as defined in Millikan (Language, thought and other biological categories, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1984, J Philos 86(6):281–297, 1989, White queen psychology and other essays for Alice, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1993, Philosophical perspectives, Ridgeview Publishing, Alascadero, 1996, Varieties of meaning, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2004–2008), seems to imply that all descriptive representations are at the same time directive and that directives are at the same time (...) descriptive, hence that all representations are pushmi-pullyu representations. A pushmi-pullyu representation is at once indicative and imperative, telling both what the case is and what to do about it. The usefulness at all of the notion of a pushmi-pullyu representation is then questioned. I have recently found several new papers, dissertations, discussions, in which TP-PR is treated as definitive. However, the conclusions of TP-PR rest on misunderstandings of my position, so although the date is late, clarification seems still to be in order. I will indicate a few significant corrections that need to be made to TP-PR’s description of my position (originally called “biosemantics”) and explain central features of biosemantics that are omitted in TP-PR’s description of basic teleosemantics and which are incompatible with the main argument and conclusions of TP-PR. I will try to clarify and explain the value of the notion of a pushmi-pullyu representation. (shrink)

What elements lie at the core of patriarchal consciousness and give it its particular expressions? Beneath the hatred of women, at its source, is a profound, dissociating fear: the fear of non-being, the Absence beyond Death. In an effort to escape death and non-being, the patriarchs have constructed a conception of existence which is split in two, with eternal life, God, meaning and spirit on one side and bodily death on the other. The masculist association of women with bodies, nature (...) and the birthing-dying cycle places us clearly on the side of death, in the realm of being which is and necessarily must be despised and controlled. Alienation from the rhythms of life, giving rise to a crisis of meaning; the denial of death, which leads paradoxically to an adoration of death; and a hysterical ambivalence to sex and sensuality all coalesce and find concrete expression in the personal and institutionalized hatred of Woman. (shrink)

In view of a resurgence of concern about the measurement problem, it is pointed out that the Relativistic Transactional Interpretation remedies issues previously considered as drawbacks or refutations of the original TI. Specifically, once one takes into account relativistic processes that are not representable at the non-relativistic level, absorption is quantitatively defined in unambiguous physical terms. RTI therefore provides a well-defined terminus to what appears to be a necessary infinite regress concerning ‘absorption’ when only the non-relativistic level is considered. In (...) addition, specifics of the relativistic transactional model demonstrate that the Maudlin ‘contingent absorber’ challenge to the original TI cannot even be mounted: basic features of established relativistic field theories dictate that the ‘slow-moving offer wave’ required for the challenge scenario cannot exist. It is concluded that issues previously considered obstacles for TI are no longer legitimately viewed as such, and that reconsideration of the transactional picture is warranted in connection with solving the measurement problem. (shrink)

En este artículo se reconstruye el vínculo sistemático entre el tratamiento aporético del conocimiento en el diálogo platónico tardío Teetetos y la definición conceptual del conocimiento en parte de la epistemología analítica contemporánea. A través de dicha vinculación se muestra, por una parte, la presencia de los problemas presentados por Platón en la epistemología actual, así como la persistencia de la aporía del dialogo en cuestión. Con ello, se pretende también iluminar desde una clave histórica aspectos esenciales del debate epistemológico (...) en general. (shrink)

Most of Christine Swanton’s quotations from and references to Nietzsche are drawn The Genealogy of Morals, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Beyond Good and Evil. I suggest that Human, All too Human and Daybreak, two of Nietzsche’s most neglected works, provide rich resources for Swanton’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s view of self-love and its defining role in genuinely ethical action. Self-love assumes a central place in these writings, as do its cognate concepts of egoism and vanity. I outline some of the reasons (...) why these two middle period writings recommend themselves powerfully for Swanton’s philosophical purposes. I examine to what extent passages on self-love from these neglected works nourish, but also to what extent they challenge or upset, the central place accorded to self-love in Swanton’s recalibration of virtue ethics. (shrink)