This chapter considers the encounter of skepticism with the Kantian and post-Kantian philosophical enterprise and focuses on the intriguing feature whereby it is assimilated into this enterprise. In this period, skepticism becomes interchangeable with its other, which helps understand the proliferation of many kinds of views under its name and which forms the background for transforming skepticism into an anonymous, routine practice of raising objections and counter-objections to one’s own view. German philosophers of this era counterpose skepticism to dogmatism and (...) criticism, ancient to modern skepticism, and, importantly, conceptualize the transitions from one form to another, which forms the conceptual matrix in which new disciplinary forms, such as psychology, anthropology, and historicism contend for cultural-intellectual standing beside philosophy. I present this assimilationist trajectory by reviewing three well-known moments of this encounter of skepticism and idealism: (1) Kant’s idealization of skepticism as a floating position amidst various philosophical positions through the dialectic, polemics, systematics, and history of pure reason; (2) Fichte’s schematic conception of skepticism as a dispute of systems in the early Wissenschaftslehre following his review of the skeptic G. E. Schulze’s attacks on Critical philosophy; (3) Hegel’s historicizing conception of skepticism in the context of differences between subjective idealism and speculative thought and his early Jena review of another work by the same skeptic Schulze. (shrink)

In this article we examine one of the viewpoints linked to Platonic dialectics which directly concerns the conformity of the polis : the underlying questioning which the modus operandi of dialectics applies to everyday life, to social conventions, formalities, and generally accepted beliefs. We focus here on the passage in the Republic 537e-539e where dialectics is intimately linked to refutation. This procedure, which leads to the development of the dialectic method, requires distancing from the everyday and unconsciously assumed viewpoint, exercising (...) critical consciousness. Plato explores the dangers of dialectics at the border between questioning the norm and assuming responsibility towards the polis. (shrink)

Addresses the question of how language affects the subject of speech through readings of confessional, philosophical, and fictional writings.

Discutindo acerca das centenas de detecções de planetas extrassolares, que supostamente aconteceram desde 1989 e que ele considera (incorretamente) como instâncias de observações, Peter Kosso disse, justamente, que segundo os parâmetros de Bas van Fraassen esses objetos celestes seriam observáveis. Ora, tais astros poderiam sem dúvida ser observados diretamente (sem a necessidade de instrumentos), nas condições apropriadas. Mas, acrescenta Kosso, “esse tipo de epistemologia externalista, que permite que a justificação se baseie em informação que não temos a disposição (nós não (...) estamos em condição de ver planetas extrassolares a olho nu [atualmente]), não ajuda a decidir quais particulares afirmações científicas garantem a crença” (Kosso 2006, 225, nota 1). Van Fraassen provavelmente incorre em uma petição de princípio não muito diferente daquelas que ele muitas vezes desmascarou em textos de autores realistas, quando apela para o fato de o objeto detectado ser observável, para atribuir o estatuto de ‘observação’ a uma certa detecção. O ponto é, mais uma vez, entender o que vale como observação, particularmente quando isso envolve o uso de algum instrumento. Endossar aquilo que Otávio Bueno chama de ‘padrão internalista’ parece garantir solidez à qualificação de determinadas ações como observações. Uma das principais consequências dessa adoção é que tal critério, não operando nenhuma distinção relevante entre detecções ‘diretas’ e detecções mediadas por instrumentos, permite que a linha que separa observáveis e inobserváveis seja traçada de maneira diferente de como van Fraassen acredita que deveria ser, abarcando, entre os observáveis, mais (tipos de) entidades do que esse parece estar disposto a admitir. (shrink)

In deze bijdrage worden twee alternatieve visies op de verhouding van geloof en weten geschetst aan de hand van twee middeleeuwse denkers: Bernardus van Clairvaux en Thomas van Aquino. De auteur betoogt dat zowel de ‘rationalistische’ positie van Thomas van Aquino als de ‘anti-rationalistische’ positie van Bernardus van Clairvaux beide, geloof en rede, als op waarheid betrokken zien, waarmee zicht wordt geboden op het wijsgerige belang van dit vermeende anti-rationalisme.

The strangeness caused by the cynic gesture and verb is well known since ancient times regarding philosophical praxis. This paper will challenge, in cynical terms and according to his way of living and thinking, the notions of culture and beauty, but from a modern reading of such school, producing a critical thinking exercise. As a result, a current and lively mode of artistic philosophizing will be revealed, at least as written verb in a literary and philosophical way. This challenge can (...) be ironically understood in two ways: the one that the cynics apply when valuing corporal ascesis in its ponos in contrast to institutionalized philosophy schooling; and the one that we apply when the cynicism becomes a subject of the critical proof of our thinking. (shrink)

Artikkelini käsittelee Jari Kaukuan monografiaa ’Self-awareness in Islamic Philosophy’. Kommenteissani pohdin ensimmäisen persoonan tematiikkaa ja ensimmäisen persoonan kokemusta keskiajan filosofiassa, sekä keskustelen lyhyesti Avicennan kuuluisasta lentävää miestä koskevasta argumentista. Tämän lisäksi esittelen latinalaisen keskiajan perinteen parissa käytyä tematiikkaa niin sanotusta kristillisestä sokratismista. Tässä yhteydessä kysyn, onko islamilaisessa perinteessä vastaavia näkemyksiä siitä, miten ihmisen itseen suuntautuva tutkimus voi toimia lähtökohtana Jumalan ymmärtämiselle. Antamani esimerkit ja paralleelit sijoittuvat 1100-luvun latinalaiseen mielenfilosofiaan. Toisena artikkelini teemana on tätä laajempi mielenfilosofinen kysymys minän rakentumisesta. Erityisen kiinnostava (...) on Kaukuan teoksessa usein toistuvat itsensä tunnistamisen tai tunnustamisen teema. Arvioin tätä aihetta suhteessa klassisiin ajattelijoihin sekä läntiseen keskiajan mielenfilosofiaan. Läntisessä modernissa kirjallisuudessa on tutkimuskirjallisuudessa käyty jo pitkään keskustelua siitä, onko ”minä” autonominen, itseohjautuva ja itse itsensä määrittelevä entiteetti, vai heteronominen, sosiaalisissa vuorovaikutussuhteissa rakentuva olio. Esitän kysymyksen, miten islamilainen mielenfilosofia suhtautuu tähän jaotteluun. Lopuksi totean, miten Kaukuan teoksessa itseä tai minuutta koskeva filosofinen peruskysymyksenasettelu pysyy lukuisista detaljeista ja argumenttien analyyseistä huolimatta selkeänä. Hänen teoksensa perusteella on selvää, että Islamilaisten filosofien itsetietoisuuden ilmiöille antama huomattava painoarvo ja keskustelujen analyyttinen tarkkuus kertovat, miten itsetietoisuus filosofisena kysymyksenä ja psykologisena ilmiönä ei ole uudella ajalla syntynyt uusi filosofinen teema. Se ei ole myös missään tapauksessa keskustelu, joka olisi ainoastaan läntisen kulttuuripiirin omistama tai hallitsema. (shrink)

L’authenticité de l’Alcibiade majeur est depuis le xixe siècle souvent remise en cause; on y voit notamment un mélange incongru de socratisme et de platonisme. Inséparable du débat sur l’authenticité du dialogue, l’étude du passage clé sur la connaissance de soi est confrontée à deux interprétations opposées, habituellement estimées irréconciliables, soit les lectures théocentrique et anthropocentrique. Le commentaire d’Olympiodore a le mérite d’unir habilement, à la lumière du contexte dramatique, les dimensions «érotique» et «démonique» des activités pédagogiques de Socrate et (...) par là de concilier ces deux lectures. (shrink)

Resumen Es bien conocida esa extrañeza que desde la Antigüedad provocan, en relación con el quehacer filosófico, el gesto y el verbo cínicos; además de convocar intelectualmente en un modo moderno a esa escuela o esa manera de vivir filosóficamente, se cuestionará la noción de cultura y la de lo bello, para así provocar un ejercicio crítico del pensamiento y revelar la figuración viva y actual de un modo de filosofar artísticamente, por lo menos desde el verbo escrito en su (...) modalidad literaria y filosófica. Esa provocación se entenderá irónicamente en una doble figuración: la que opera, ciertamente, el cinismo al valorar una ascesis del cuerpo en su ponos frente a la institucionalización escolar de la filosofía, y la que operamos en tanto que el cinismo se vuelve un sujeto de la prueba crítica de nuestro pensamiento.The strangeness caused by the cynic gesture and verb is well known since ancient times regarding philosophical praxis. This paper will challenge, in cynical terms and according to his way ofliving and thinking, the notions of culture and beauty, but from a modern reading of such school, producing a critical thinking exercise. As a result, a current and lively mode of artistic philosophizing will be revealed, at least as written verb in a literary and philosophical way. This challenge can be ironically understood in two ways: the one that the cynics apply when valuing corporal ascesis in its ponos in contrast to institutionalized philosophy schooling; and the one that we apply when the cynicism becomes a subject of the critical proof of our thinking. (shrink)