It is widely agreed that deception of the enemy can be morally permissible in war. However, the question of the morally acceptable limits to deception in war has barely been explored in contemporary ethics. This paper defends the thesis that there are no moral limits on military deception per se, that is, no limits based on the ethics of truthfulness. Rather, all moral restriction against deception in war is based on another moral principle: military deception is morally unacceptable only when (...) it violates the principle of not harming those who do not intend to harm us. (shrink)

L’intérêt que Lacan porte aux probabilités, à la théorie des jeux et à la théorie de la décision, lui permet d’interpréter le calcul des partis et le fameux argument du pari. Partant d’une critique de l’esthétique transcendantale de Kant, que Lacan propose aux philosophes de remplacer par l’espace et le temps logiques de la théorie des jeux, le psychanalyste se tourne vers Pascal pour montrer qu’il est probablement l’ancêtre de la théorie des jeux et de la décision. Nombre d’interprétations de (...) Pascal qui auront cours dans les années 1970, devront, peut-être sans le savoir, à cette interprétation lacanienne, des éléments essentiels. (shrink)

Desde un futuro anterior el pensamiento de la deconstrucción _asedia_ a la filosofía del martillo nietzscheana, ya que nos permite re-escribirla a partir de la nueva perspectiva que inaugura. En este trabajo nos proponemos abordar principalmente los trabajos de Nietzsche _Sobre verdad y mentira en sentido extramoral_ y _Sobre la utilidad y el perjuicio de la historia para la vida_, para analizar el modo en que, en estos textos tempranos, la escritura derridiana reconfigura el entramado filosófico nietzscheano.

This paper discusses an argument for scientific realism put forward by Anthony Quinton in The Nature of Things. The argument – here called the controlled continuity argument – seems to have received no attention in the literature, apparently because it may easily be mistaken for a better-known argument, Grover Maxwell’s “argument from the continuum”. It is argued here that, in point of fact, the two are quite distinct and that Quinton’s argument has several advantages over Maxwell’s. The controlled continuity argument (...) is also compared to Ian Hacking’s “argument from coincidence”. It is pointed out that both arguments are to a large extent independent from considerations about high-level scientific theories, and that both are abductive arguments at the core. But these similarities do not dilute an important difference related to the fact that Quinton’s argument cleverly seeks to anchor belief in unobservable entities in realism about ordinary objects, which is a position shared by most contemporary scientific anti-realists. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis essay explores the philosophical insights of Zhu Xi, Wang YangMing, Kant, and Husserl and therefore proposes a new epistemic constructivism. It demonstrates that a knowing mind is a co...

The aim of this paper is to provide a dynamic interpretation of Kant’s logical hylomorphism. Firstly, various types of the logical hylomorphism will be illustrated. Secondly, I propose to reevaluate Kant’s constitutivity thesis about logic. Finally, I focus on the design of logical norms as specific kinds of artefacts.

A murder of an Afro-American detainee by a policeman at the end of May 2020 caused a public outrage in the United States, which led to a campaign against the monuments to historical figures whose reputation, according to the protesters, was marred by racism. Some German publicists, impressed by the campaign, initiated an analogous search for racists among the national thinkers and politicians of the past. Suddenly Kant emerged as a ‘scapegoat’. This statement is an attempt to assess such reactions (...) from the perspective of Russia’s experience. (shrink)

InLess Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism, Slavoj Žižek presents the results of his long meditation on the meaning and ultimate implications of Hegelian philosophy. In this review-article, I will first examine the stages of Žižek’s transformation of Hegelianism, and then analyse the main themes brought up inLess than Nothing. The development of a ‘polemological’ interpretation of the Hegelian concepts of ‘reconciliation’ and ‘absolute’ leads Žižek to emphasise the role of negativity and antagonism in the process of (...) constitution of reality and subject as part of reality itself. This implies a reinterpretation of dialectical materialism: reality is not something that simply precedes the subject, but which contains just multiplicities of multiplicities, and thus the Void itself. Žižek’s assertion that the ultimate reality is the Void itself then renders unavoidable the critique of Hegelian Marxism based on the centrality of the category of alienation. The last part of the review-article surveys, instead, how Žižek’s re-reading of Hegel affects his relation with Marx and also examines the role played by ‘contradiction’ in his theoretical proposal. (shrink)

Tencionamos, neste artigo, demonstrar os meandros constitutivos do que seja um formalismo moral em Immanuel Kant, tendo como pressuposto teórico sua compreensão de uma teoria da vontade. Este movimento de análise e demonstração teórica terá como fio condutor a ideia de autonomia que permeia a construção da vontade no formalismo kantiano, ou seja, a pressuposição de uma possível autonomia formal da razão é a base na qual se assenta a teoria moral deste pensador. Para execução de nossa pretensão será necessário (...) reconstituir os pontos nevrálgicos do que venha a ser uma teoria da vontade para em seguida analisar os pressupostos kantianos que realçam a centralidade da autonomia da razão na compreensão de uma vontade livre. Desta maneira, o que se pretende por em desnudo é a originalidade kantiana, em relação à tradição que promulga a vontade como marca da liberdade humana, a partir de seu pressuposto de autonomia formal na constituição moral do indivíduo humano. (shrink)

El paradigma del Juicio constituye un modelo de racionalidad que pretende elevarse como alternativa positiva ante los retos coyunturales introducidos por el giro lingüístico de la filosofía en el pensamiento contemporáneo. Frente a la difícil tarea de defender principios universalistas en la cultura actual, este modelo aspira a pronunciarse positivamente sobre cuestiones tales como la de la validez normativa que pueda afectar las relaciones entre acción humana y deliberación. Para alcanzar su objetivo, el paradigma del Juicio patrocina una forma de (...) la normatividad sin principios (validez ejemplar), enraizada en el juicio reflexionante kantiano y en el sensus communis (sentido común) de la tradición retórico-humanista. El objetivo de este artículo es la presentación de dicho modelo de racionalidad dentro de la filosofía kantiana y, por medio de la exploración de sus antecedentes histórico-filosóficos (Gadamer), y gracias a un rodeo por la tradición retórico-humanista (Aristóteles y Vico), se busca soslayar el énfasis estético que la fundamentación de Kant acentuó. Finalmente, se pondera el alcance y pertinencia que posee dicho paradigma en la reapropiación de dos de sus intérpretes en la filosofía contemporánea: Alessandro Ferrara y Hannah Arendt. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta la cuestión de si las creencias religiosas son o no razonables, es decir, si tienen o no una evidencia razonable que las sustente. El interés no es comprobar la existencia de Dios, sino simplemente saber si el lenguaje religioso como tal tiene o no sentido. Para esto, primero veremos la concepción de la creencia en general. A continuación, trataremos las creencias religiosas bajo dos puntos de vistas totalmente opuestos: por un lado, se expondrá la posición de autores (...) que dicen que las creencias religiosas sí tienen una evidencia razonable que las sustenta y, por otro, nos encontraremos con autores que afirman que dichas creencias no pueden ser justificadas racionalmente porque lo espiritual refiere el ámbito de lo indecible, en el cual no es factible afirmar que los enunciados religiosos son apropiados a ser verdaderos o falsos. (shrink)

Este presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar a crítica de Richard Rorty à filosofia representacionista, buscando apresentar uma resposta de Rorty ao representacionismo. Rorty se opõe as ideias tradicionais em filosofia, oriundas de uma tradição mentalista, descritas por meio dos conceitos de “essência”, “natureza” e “fundamento”. Ao contrário deste vocabulário, ele apresenta a ideia de antirrepresentacionismo, etnocentrismo e liberalismo. Nesse sentido, o projeto tomará por base a obra clássica de Rorty: A filosofia e o espelho da natureza, bem como (...) a obra Objetivismo, relativismo e verdade. Para Rorty, não existe uma representação da mente e da linguagem que seja exata ou que possa formular uma verdade objetiva. A crítica rortyana se estabeleceu a partir de uma concepção de conhecimento como “representação acurada” da realidade, uma concepção de conhecimento que, conforme a interpretação rortyana, pressupõe supostamente que a “mente” e a “linguagem” desempenham um papel principal na construção de “representações” necessárias à compreensão da realidade, uma vez que “conhecer é representar, acuradamente, o que está fora da mente, assim, compreender a possibilidade da natureza do conhecimento é compreender o modo pelo qual a mente é capaz de construir representações”. Para Rorty, ao contrário dessa explicação, conhecer é tomar consciência das diversas descrições e vocabulários disponíveis ao sujeito num processo interacionista constante. (shrink)

This paper is inspired by one of Freud’s last notes, which is famous for its astonishing conclusion: “Psyche is extended; knows nothing about it,” which describes the perception of space as a product of the extension of the psychic apparatus, and compares it with Kant’s a priori categorie s. The Author reconstructs the historical background of this idea as part of a long discussion between Freud and his pupil Marie Bonaparte in the second half of 1938, and shows how the (...) relationship between body and psychic functions in Freud’s thought was influenced by his intellectual debt to Kant. Through an outline of the influence of Kantian philosophy on the emerging Naturphilosophie in fin de siècle Vienna, the Author aims to show the profound influence of Kantian philosophy on the development of Freu d’s thought. By committing to a modern and non -dualistic conception of the relationship between body and mind, Freud conceives an indissoluble bond between the mind and, not only the brain, but the whole body and its spatial extension. The Author concludes by identifying a close link between the aphorism of 1938 and Kantian pre-Critique thought, and, more generally, highlighting the influence of the Königsberg philosopher on the relationship between mind and body and on the perception of time and space in Freudian thought. (shrink)

Pretendemos analisar o conceito de substrato supra-sensível da humanidade presente na dialética da faculdade do juízo na terceira crítica. Kant entende a sociabilidade legal como a disposição de deixar-se guiar por princípios do direito, o homem como sociável (e não originariamente social) e o direito como condição de possibilidade da sociedade. Esse conceito aparece ligado, na terceira crítica, a um conceito de humanidade. Queremos investigar o conceito de humanidade no contexto estético examinando seu caráter suprasensível.

O presente artigo aborda numa perspectiva filosófica a relação entre a divisão das artes belas propostas por Kant e Hegel. Objetiva explicitar as aproximações e distanciamentos entre a divisão das belas artes apresentadas pelos filósofos citados, apontando suas semelhanças e diferenças. Fundamenta sua análise nas obras Crítica da Faculdade do Juízo de 1790 e Cursos de Estética de 1820-21, respectivamente elaboradas por Immanuel Kant e Friedrich Hegel. Realiza uma análise comparativa entre a divisão das artes belas kantiana e hegeliana. Apresenta (...) inicialmente a divisão das artes belas na perspectiva kantiana, abordando o conceito de arte bela, sua classificação e sua hierarquia, segundo o filósofo de Königsberg. Em seguida, expõe a divisão das artes segundo Hegel, apresentando o seu conceito de belo artístico, as formas de arte simbólica, clássica e romântica, expondo e analisando também as artes particulares de acordo com o filósofo de Stuttgart. Conclui afirmando que, apesar das diferenças entre ambas análises sobre a divisão das belas artes, tais como a defesa de Hegel em relação belo artístico e a de Kant ao belo natural, a afirmação hegeliana que há uma ciência do belo enquanto a concepção kantiana é de que não há ciência do belo, por exemplo, os filósofos em destaque concordam, entre outros aspectos, que a poesia ocupa o lugar mais alto na hierarquia das belas artes, sendo a mais livre e espiritual delas. (shrink)

O presente trabalho investiga a crítica de Rorty à teoria do conhecimento como essência especular. Considerando a ideia presente na tradição filosófica de que o conhecimento verdadeiro é aquele que representa fidedignamente a realidade, Rorty se insurge contra esta posição, argumentado que, o pensamento representacionista se ergueu a partir da crença de que é possível construir descrições do mundo que espelhem sua própria natureza, ou seja, descrições que representem de maneira fidedigna realidade, que é objeto do conhecimento e do mundo, (...) tal como ela é em si mesma, no qual a filosofia criou uma teoria do conhecimento como essência especular. Desse modo, o trabalho direciona-se para a seguinte questão: de que forma, a teoria do conhecimento como essência especular ocasionou peseudosproblemas para a filosofia antirrepresentacionista de Richard Rorty? Sendo assim, este trabalho tentará encontrar uma resposta ou um direcionamento para a resolução desse problema. (shrink)

The paper presents, firstly, a brief review of the long history\nof information ethics beginning with the Greek concept of parrhesia\nor freedom of speech as analyzed by Michel Foucault. The recent concept\nof information ethics is related particularly to problems which arose\nin the last century with the development of computer technology and\nthe internet. A broader concept of information ethics as dealing\nwith the digital reconstruction of all possible phenomena leads to\nquestions relating to digital ontology. Following Heidegger{\textquoteright}s\nconception of the relation between ontology and metaphysics, (...) the\nauthor argues that ontology has to do with Being itself and not just\nwith the Being of beings which is the matter of metaphysics. The\nprimary aim of an ontological foundation of information ethics is\nto question the metaphysical ambitions of digital ontology understood\nas today{\textquoteright}s pervading understanding of Being. The\nauthor analyzes some challenges of digital technology, particularly\nwith regard to the moral status of digital agents. The author argues\nthat information ethics does not only deal with ethical questions\nrelating to the infosphere. This view is contrasted with arguments\npresented by Luciano Floridi on the foundation of information ethics\nas well as on the moral status of digital agents. It is argued that\na reductionist view of the human body as digital data overlooks the\nlimits of digital ontology and gives up one basis for ethical orientation.\nFinally issues related to the digital divide as well as to intercultural\naspects of information ethics are explored {\textendash} and long\nand short-term agendas for appropriate responses are presented. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide an original account of the distinction between the spheres of Sitten that goes beyond the traditional one based on the nature of incentives, since this underestimates some of their characteristics. First, the paper identifies in obligatio a common source between Ethics and Right. Then, it explores how in the Metaphysics of Morals the connection between law and incentive constitutes a more relevant criterion to distinguish ethical lawgiving from juridical lawgiving. Specifically, it demonstrates (...) that such connection: to be ethical should be linear, understood as a necessary self-determined process of connecting law to incentive; to be juridical should be mediated, namely it comprises an inclusive disjunction between two modalities of connecting law to incentive: a non-necessary linear and a divergent one. It concludes by exploring the implications of such perspective on the notions of internalisation and externalisation associated to each lawgiving. (shrink)

Arendt a écrit deux volumes dédiés à la pensée et la volonté qui sont réunis dans le texte La vie de l’esprit, mais en raison de sa mort inopportune, son travail consacré au jugement, et plus spécialement au jugement politique, n’a jamais été achevé. Cependant, nous disposons d’une quantité significative d’écrits sur ce thème, provenant de ses conférences sur la troisième Critique de Kant. Le jugement et la pensée sont essentiels pour empêcher ce qu’Arendt appelle «la banalité du mal». En (...) s’inspirant de saint Augustin et du travail d’Arendt sur Augustin, cet article entend démontrer qu’une autre forme de mal sérieux trouve sa racine dans ce qu’Augustin appelle la libido habendi et la libido dominandi, le désir ou la pulsion de dominer et posséder. Nous essaierons de montrer que la solution d’Arendt au problème de la banalité du mal peut aussi s’appliquer au désir et au plaisir très humains de causer ou d’infliger du mal. (shrink)

Drawing on Lennart Nordenfelt’s distinction between the four distinct senses of dignity, I elucidate the meaning of dignity in the context of research involving human subjects. I acknowledge that different interpretations of the personal senses of dignity may be acceptable in human subject research, but that inherent dignity (Menschenwürde) is not open to interpretation in the same way. In order to map out the grounds for interpreting dignity, I examine the unique application of the principle of respect for dignity in (...) Canada’s research ethics guidelines. These guidelines are unique because they consider dignity to be a foundational concept and the protection of the dignity of research subjects is regarded as a measure that prevents “the impoverishment of humanity as a whole”. While the conception of humanity invoked here is incomplete, Canada’s research ethics guidelines nevertheless represent a more European approach to biomedical policy. Finally, in order to correct a pervasive blind spot in contemporary policy on research involving human subjects, I sketch a functional model for attributing inherent dignity that avoids the untenable connotations of speciesism. (shrink)

The ancient dualism of a sensible and an intelligible world important in Neoplatonic and medieval philosophy, down to Descartes and Kant, would seem to be supplanted today by a scientific view of mind-in-nature. Here, we revive the old dualism in a modified form, and describe mind as a symbolic language, founded in linguistic recursive computation according to the Church-Turing thesis, constituting a world L that serves the human organism as a map of the Universe U. This methodological distinction of L (...) vs. U helps to understand how and why structures of phenomena come to be opposed to their nature in human thought, a central topic in Heideggerian philosophy. U is uncountable according to Georg Cantor’s set theory but Language L, based on the recursive function system, is countable, and anchored in a Gray Area within U of observable phenomena, typically symbols, prelinguistic structures, genetic-historical records of their origins. Symbols, the phenomena most familiar to mathematicians, are capable of being addressed in L-processing. The Gray Area is the human Environment E, where we can live comfortably, that we manipulate to create our niche within hostile U, with L offering overall competence of the species to survive. The human being is seen in the light of his or her linguistic recursively computational mind. Nature U, by contrast, is the unfathomable abyss of being, infinite labyrinth of darkness, impenetrable and hostile to man. The U-man, biological organism, is a stranger in L-man, the mind-controlled rational person, as expounded by Saint Paul. Noumena can now be seen to reside in L, and are not fully supported by phenomena. Kant’s noumenal cause is the mental L-image of only partly phenomenal causation. Mathematics occurs naturally in pre-linguistic phenomena, including natural laws, which give rise to pure mathematical structures in the world of L. Mathematical foundation within philosophy is reversed to where natural mathematics in the Gray Area of pre-linguistic phenomena can be seen to be a prerequisite for intellectual discourse. Lesser, nonverbal versions of L based on images are shared with animals. (shrink)

The present paper suggests to consider Kierkegaard’s use of Abraham’s story in Fear and Trembling in regulative terms, that is, to consider it as a model – not for our moral behaviour but rather for our religious behaviour. To do so, I first rely on recent literature to argue that Kierkegaard should be regarded as a distinctively post-Kantian philosopher: namely, a philosopher who goes beyond Kant in a way that is nevertheless true to the spirit of Kant’s original critical philosophy. (...) Then, I present a post-Kantian reading of Fear and Trembling, focusing on the problematic implications that result from comparing this text with Hegel’s theory of recognition. Finally, I submit that sacrifice in Fear and Trembling is a regulative notion in a Kantian sense. This interpretation addresses some of the most problematic aspects of the text. I conclude that the regulativity of sacrifice may be regarded as an important and perhaps an essential component of Kierkegaard’s overall philosophical strategy. (shrink)

J. E. Grunig's seminal work on excellence theory and subsequent works by other scholars advance the two-way symmetrical model as a best-practice approach to public relations. In part, two-way symmetry is preferred because of an assertion that it is the most ethical form of practice. However, only within a means-based deontological framework do two-way symmetry and the principle of dialogue emerge as universally ethical. Taking an ends-based utilitarian standpoint makes the potential ethical flaws of two-way symmetry apparent. Issues of moral (...) luck, hegemony, and the limitations of dialogue also pose problems for the moral primacy claims surrounding two-way symmetry. The analysis that follows points toward a need for a more relative and contingent approach to PR ethics, and by extension to PR practice itself. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é a análise das críticas de Hannah Arendt à concepção dos direitos humanos, introduzida pelo pensamento dos filósofos contratualistas e efetivada, politicamente, pelas revoluções americanas e francesas no final do século XVIII. Contudo, este objetivo não seria plenamente alcançado sem a avaliação da proposta de Arendt para a superação de suas próprias críticas: a reconstrução dos direitos humanos através do reconhecimento que cada indivíduo tem direito a ter direitos, independente das fronteiras do Estado-nação. Arendt vai buscar (...) na moral universalista e cosmopolita kantiana o conceito de humanidade e dá a ele as dimensões ontológicas e políticas necessárias para se construir um espaço público internacional, onde o direito a ter direito seja decorrente do mero pertencimento à humanidade, não se dissolvendo nos limites de cada Estado-nação. The purpose of this article is the analysis of the criticisms of Hannah Arendt's conception of human rights, introduced by the thought of the contractual philosophers and made effective, politically, by American and French revolutions in the late eighteenth century. However, this aim would not be fully achieved without the review of Arendt's proposal to overcome her own criticisms: the reconstruction of human rights by recognizing that every individual has the right to have rights, regardless of borders of the Nation-State. Arendt tries to discover in the universal and cosmopolitan moral of Kant the concept of humanity and gives him the ontological and political dimensions needed to build an international public space where the right to have rights is due to the mere belonging to the humanity, not dissolving itself in the limits of each Nation-State. (shrink)

Wedding vows seem to be promises. So they go: I promise to love, honour, and cherish .... But this poses a problem. Divorce is not widely seen as a serious moral wrong, but breaking a promise is. I first consider, and defend against preliminary objections, a ‘hard-line’ response: divorce is indeed prima facie impermissible promise-breaking. I next consider the ‘hardship’ response—the hardship of failed marriages overrides the prima facie duty to keep promises. However, this would release promisors in far too (...) many cases. I resolve the triad by considering the content of the vows. Vows concerning love are not promises at all. We cannot promise to do acts the performance of which is outside our control, and love involves states of mind outside our control. Vows concerning spousal roles are complicated by diverse social understandings of marriage and the centrality of emotion to the roles. (shrink)

Recent Darwin scholarship has provided grounds for recognising the Origin as a literary as well as a scientific achievement. While Darwin was an acute observer, a gifted experimentalist and indefatigable theorist, this essay argues that it was also crucial to his impact that the Origin transcended the putative divide between the scientific and the literary. Analysis of Darwin's development as a writer between his journal-keeping on HMS Beagle and his construction of the Origin argues the latter draws on the pattern (...) of the Romantic or Kantian sublime. The Origin repeatedly uses strategies which challenge the natural-theological appeal to the imagination in conceiving nature. Darwin's sublime coaches the Origin's readers into a position from which to envision nature that reduces and contains its otherwise overwhelming complexity. As such, it was Darwin's literary achievement that enabled him to fashion a new 'habit of looking at things in a given way' that is the centrepiece of the scientific revolution bearing his name. (shrink)

This paper explains the nature and origin of what I am calling Transgressive Realism, a middle path between realism and anti-realism which tries to combine their strengths while avoiding their weaknesses. Kierkegaard created the position by merging Hegel’s insistence that we must have some kind of contact with anything we can call real (thus rejecting noumena), with Kant’s belief that reality fundamentally exceeds our understanding; human reason should not be the criterion of the real. The result is the idea that (...) our most vivid encounters with reality come in experiences that shatter our categories, the way God’s commandment to kill Isaac irreconcilably clashes with the best understanding of ethics we are capable of. I explain the genesis of this idea, and then show it at work in Heidegger and Levinas’ thought. Understanding this position illuminates important aspects of the history of continental philosophy and offers a new perspective on realism. (shrink)

Le principe d’induction est lié à la définition des nombres entiers d’une façon à la fois essentielle et sujette à controverse. Fonde-t-il ces nombres, ou bien trouve-t-il en eux son fondement ? Son statut lui-même peut être conçu de diverses manières. Est-il donné par l’expérience, par l’intuition, par la logique, par convention ? Ces questions furent l’objet d’une âpre discussion, autour des années 1905-1906, dans le cadre plus large d’un débat sur les fondements des mathématiques qui opposa Poincaré aux logicistes (...) et aux « axiomatistes » . Nous proposons dans cet article de faire le point sur les termes et les enjeux de cette discussion. Nous montrerons en outre qu’elle fut l’occasion d’une redéfinition de l’analytique et, par suite, des frontières de la logique.The principle of induction is linked essentially to the definition of “integers”, but at the same time has been the subject of controversy : Is the principle founded on integers or, on the contrary, are integers founded on it ? The principle itself can be understood in different ways : as a result of experiment, intuition, logic or convention. These topics were hotly debated in the years 1905-06, in the context of a larger debate on the foundations of mathematics, in which Poincaré opposed the logicists and the “axiomatists” . This article reconsiders what is at stake by looking at the debate in detail and also shows that the debate provided an opportunity for redefining analyticity, and in doing so, redefining the domain of logic. (shrink)

By starting from the idea of processes of numerical assignment, an explication, á la Kant, of the concept of property is proposed. In this way two results are achieved: on the one hand, the Kantian doctrine of explication is revaluated; on the other hand, the notion of property is tackled from an empiricist point of view based on the representational theory of measurement.

Este texto pretende apresentar, de forma sucinta, um conjunto de estratégias de ?folósofos modernos para a retomada e crítica do ceticismo antigo, procurando destacar algumas semelhanças e diferenças.

No presente artigo investigaremos o sentido político da história na Filosofia da História de Kant e Hegel. Ambos atribuem, cada um à sua maneira, à concretização de um determinado projeto político – cujo cerne é a estruturação do Estado Constitucional – a realização da finalidade suprema da história humana. Analisaremos, para este fim, as obras Ideia de uma história universal de um ponto de vista cosmopolita, escrita por Kant em 1784, cinco anos antes da Revolução Francesa e A Razão na (...) História – uma introdução geral à Filosofia da História, obra organizada a partir dos cursos proferidos por Hegel em sua maturidade. Nas considerações finais, procuraremos problematizar as noções de “sentido” e “finalidade” da História. (shrink)

L’azione morale è soltanto la conclusione e il compimento di un più complesso e stratificato processo deliberativo. Uno dei passaggi cruciali riguarda il ruolo svolto dal «movente». Se da un lato occorre infatti giungere ad una chiara presa di posizione circa l’azione da ritenere realmente morale, dall’altro risulta necessario trovare lo sprone capace di spingerci ad agire in tal senso. L’indagine sul movente riguarda esattamente lo studio del ruolo e della natura di questo sprone. A tematizzare con grande lucidità l’imprescindibile (...) azione del movente morale fu Kant. Egli non soltanto lo distinse dall’individuazione delle ragioni di fondo atte a rendere giusta un’azione, ma cercò anche di inquadrarlo e caratterizzarlo nei propri scritti di filosofia pratica, presentandolo come l’impulso necessario per la conversione di una decisione morale in azione morale. Invero, il contributo offerto dal filosofo prussiano non è privo di difficoltà ed ambiguità. Nelle righe dei suoi testi sembrano emergere più soluzioni per la definizione e la comprensione del movente. È proprio questa difficoltà a stimolare una ricerca più ampia, in cui il confronto fra l’indagine trascendentale e le ipotesi teoriche sul movente si chiarifichino vicendevolmente, testimoniando la lungimiranza filosofica dell’indagine kantiana e la profonda salienza del tema del movente. (shrink)

Focusing on media actions surrounding the initial shootout between the Branch Davidian religious group and agents of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms outside Waco, Texas, in 1993, this article examines legal and ethical duties of the media. Using the legal concept of negligence and the work of several philosophers, the article concludes first that the media did not violate their legal duties but did violate the ethical duty to minimize harm and second that although law and ethical (...) intertwine and often share vocabulary, they are different. (shrink)

On the assumption that theistic religious commitment takes place in the face of evidential ambiguity, the question arises under what conditions it is permissible to make a doxastic venture beyond one’s evidence in favour of a religious proposition. In this paper I explore the implications for orthodox theistic commitment of adopting, in answer to that question, a modest, moral coherentist, fideism. This extended Jamesian fideism crucially requires positive ethical evaluation of both the motivation and content of religious doxastic ventures. I (...) suggest that, even though the existence of horrendous evil does not resolve evidential ambiguity in favour of atheism, there are reasonable value commitments that would preclude those who hold them from satisfying extended Jamesian fideist conditions for committing themselves to classical theism. I then begin a discussion of a possible revisionary theistic alternative (in the Christian tradition) which – one might hope – may meet those conditions. An earlier, shorter, version of this paper was delivered as a keynote address at the APA Pacific 2007 Mini-Conference on Models of God. (shrink)

-/- In this article I deal with the question “How could we renew and enrich computer technology with Kant's help?”. By this I would like to invite computer scientists and engineers to initiate or intensify their cooperation with Kant experts. -/- What I am looking for is a better “method of definition” for software systems, particularly for the development of object-oriented and knowledge-based systems. -/- After a description of the “software crisis”, I deal first with the question why this crisis (...) could not yet be overcome. A way out of this software crisis can be expected from systems which are adapted to the human faculty of thinking. I show which foundation is in my opinion necessary and sketch the principles according to which a “human-centred” method of definition for sych systems could be developed on that foundation with Kant's help. (shrink)

Cancer research is experiencing ‘paradigm instability’, since there are two rival theories of carcinogenesis which confront themselves, namely the somatic mutation theory and the tissue organization field theory. Despite this theoretical uncertainty, a huge quantity of data is available thanks to the improvement of genome sequencing techniques. Some authors think that the development of new statistical tools will be able to overcome the lack of a shared theoretical perspective on cancer by amalgamating as many data as possible. We think instead (...) that a deeper understanding of cancer can be achieved by means of more theoretical work, rather than by merely accumulating more data. To support our thesis, we introduce the analytic view of theory development, which rests on the concept of plausibility, and make clear in what sense plausibility and probability are distinct concepts. Then, the concept of plausibility is used to point out the ineliminable role played by the epistemic subject in the development of statistical tools and in the process of theory assessment. We then move to address a central issue in cancer research, namely the relevance of computational tools developed by bioinformaticists to detect driver mutations in the debate between the two main rival theories of carcinogenesis. Finally, we briefly extend our considerations on the role that plausibility plays in evidence amalgamation from cancer research to the more general issue of the divergences between frequentists and Bayesians in the philosophy of medicine and statistics. We argue that taking into account plausibility-based considerations can lead to clarify some epistemological shortcomings that afflict both these perspectives. (shrink)

This paper presents a critique of a prevailing conception of the relation between moral reasoning and judgment on the one hand, and moral goodness on the other. I argue that moral reasoning is inescapably vulnerable to moral, as opposed to merely theoretical, failure. This, I argue, means that there is something deeply misleading in the way that Kant's moral theory, and some of its main rivals, have invited us to conceive of their subject matter.

Social networks merge the real and the virtual in virtual actuality that forms the basis of human networks. In this sense, the anthropology of technology, in conjunction with cyberanthropology, allows the diagnosis of a new identity of human beingsstemming from the phenomenon of social networks. Do the intersubjective relations established in different contexts of publicity and pluralism of meanings emerging from the interface with social networks, which dilute the limits of human communication and boundaries, still allow usto understand the real (...) and the virtual in a dualistic way? Or, rather, what is the immanent logic of the antagonism of unsociable human sociability that allows the scenarios of “outrage and hope” in global self-communication? The following interdisciplinary study aims first to involve cyberanthropology, anthropology of technology and philosophy to show the cultural implications of the identity of human beings connected to social networks. Then, we study the genealogy of the anthropology of techno-science and Kant’s antagonism in unsociable human sociability. Finally, we describe the Hegelian logic of reflexive manifestation between free objectivity and subjectivity, and communication as virtuality. (shrink)

O presente artigo conta investigar o processo de constituição da estética musical a partir da teoria da arte elaborada por F. W. J. von Schelling. Para tanto, espera-se mostrar a maneira pela qual o filósofo alemão procura redimensionar as bases que davam sustentação à chamada estética sistemática para, a partir de uma ponderação extremamente inovadora, caracterizar a música como um objeto original de saber.

Resumo Longe de pretender esgotar possíveis semelhanças entre Nietzsche e Quine, o texto que se segue tenciona mostrar, mediante comparações paradigmáticas e admissíveis convergências metodológicas, como ambos os autores, lançando mão de hipóteses naturalistas para interpretar o conhecimento e a estética, respectivamente, tornam possível pensar num naturalismo menos confinante e mais inventivo, livre dos prejuízos do cientificismo e mais condizente com a sensibilidade artística em geral.Far from intending to exhaust all the possible similarities between Nietzsche and Quine, the following text (...) aims at showing, through paradigmatic comparisons and admissible methodological convergences, how both authors - by making naturalistic assumptions to interpret knowledge and aesthetics respectively - allow us to think of a less confining and more creative naturalism, free from the prejudices of scientism and more compatible with the artistic sensibility in general. (shrink)