Recently the educational task of the public school has been repeatedly challenged. Citizenship has not been spared from criticism and its legitimacy has been questioned. The article discusses the issue of the legitimacy of citizenship education in public schools, specifying the meaning of neutrality of which it proposes a narrow interpretation. On this basis the article examines four philosophical models of citizenship education (communitarianism, civic humanism, liberalism, republicanism). The analysis suggests that the republican model of citizenship education is the most (...) appropriate; it needs however a liberal adaptation. The proposed solution of a liberal republicanism is illustrated with a critical examination of the duty of civility. (shrink)

With the publication of the First Discourse, Rousseau initiated a famous debate over the social value of the arts and sciences. As this debate developed, however, it transformed into a question of the value of the intellectuals as a social class and touched upon questions of identity formation. While the philosophes were lobbying to become a new cultural aristocracy, Rousseau believed the ideological glorification of intellectual talent demeaned the peasants and working classes. This essay argues that amour propre, as put (...) forth in the Second Discourse, was in part designed to address this concern and is an attempt to highlight the dangers of making talent the measure of a human. (shrink)

Paternalism, understood as coercive intervention with the behavior of a person in order to prevent her from causing harm to herself, is a highly controversial issue, because it implies a departure from the widely recognized principle of harm to others. Some conceptual differences between legal paternalism and other forms of state coercion that also depart from the principle of harm to others will be indicated. This is followed by an analysis of the arguments that are usually brought forth against legal (...) paternalism. And finally, the possibility of determining ethically justifiable types of legal paternalism is explored. (shrink)

Resumen Este artículo defenderá la tesis de que es posible identificar los cimientos de la filosofía de la libertad desarrollada a partir de Kant en el pensamiento y la obra de Rousseau, en especial en su concepción de la relación esencial entre libertad y humanidad. Por medio de una metodología hermenéutica y crítica, el análisis estará concentrado en dilucidar el sentido histórico y filosófico de la concepción antropológica consolidada por Rousseau principalmente en sus dos primeros Discursos, para demostrar que la (...) libertad adquiere en ellos la significación inaudita de ser el principio que configura la humanidad del hombre y su destino. Se pondrá en evidencia también que esta nueva idea de humanidad sienta la base común desde la que parte el pensamiento filosófico posterior. En tal sentido, la argumentación mostrará la significación decisiva de la obra de Rousseau en relación con la conciencia moderna de la libertad.This paper will demonstrate that it is possible to identify the foundations of the philosophy of freedom that began with Kant in the work of Rousseau, specifically in his vision of an essential relationship between freedom and humanity. By means of a critical and hermeneutical method, the analysis focuses on elucidating the historical and philosophical meaning of the anthropological conception consolidated in his first two Discourses. The aim is to show that freedom acquires the unprecedented significance of becoming the principle of humanity and the ground that determines humankind's destiny. The results of this study suggest that this idea of humanity, defined by freedom, sets the basis for subsequent philosophical thinking and evidence the decisive importance of Rousseau for the modern consciousness of freedom. (shrink)

O ensaio investiga o problema da unidade entre o Segundo Discurso, o Émile e Do Contrato Social, consideradas como obras filosóficas principais do pensamento de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Reconstrói duas tradições interpretativas, uma favorável e outra contrária à unidade. A primeira, representada por Voughan, Guéroult e Kersting, procura mostrar a incompatibilidade entre o diagnóstico pessimista do Segundo Discurso e o ideal normativo atribuído ao Estado pelo Do Contrato Social. A segunda tradição interpretativa, que remonta a Immanuel Kant, postula a unidade focando (...) no papel normativo que o Émile atribui à educação como forma de correção da maldade humana e da corrupção social e política. Ao assumir partido favorável a esta segunda interpretação, o ensaio destaca a centralidade que o Émile ocupa na arquitetônica do pensamento de Rousseau. Disso resulta importância da teoria educacional na elaboração do ideal republicano e democrático baseado na vida livre de iguais entre iguais. (shrink)

Baron d’Holbach was a critic of established religion, or a philosophe, in late 18 th -century France. His work is often perceived as less inventive than the work of other materialist philosophes, such as Helvétius and Diderot. However, I claim that d’Holbach makes an original, unjustly overlooked move in the criticism of religious moral teaching. According to the materialist philosophes, this teaching claims that true happiness is only possible in the afterlife. As an alternative, Helvétius and Diderot offer theories according (...) to which the experience of pleasure constitutes happiness, the end of all human desire. In contemporary terms, these theories would represent psychological hedonism. But, as Diderot himself admits, they have a problem in accounting for why people seem to naturally regard some pleasures as preferable to others. I argue that in response to this challenge, instead of accepting the psychological hedonism of his fellow materialists, d’Holbach shows how one can abstain from reducing happiness to pleasure and yet remain a materialist. (shrink)

. Legal theory has so far focused exclusively on judicial activity, not on legislation. This is due to the specific legal framework of reasoning, upon which it is essential to act upon rules, wherever they come from. This form of legalism is criticized and replaced by weak legalism. Weak legalism makes it possible to detect the principles of legislation that underly the activity of the legislator. Legisprudence is the theory of these principles.

The Author offers three interpretations of the Rawlsian conception of liberty. At the same time he compares this formal version of civil and political liberty with the substantive version produced by the republican theory of liberty. The first question is this: Can liberties be unequal? Here the liberal concept of liberty is discussed linking human will of liberty and equality. The second question is: Can liberties be equal when their respective values are not? The Author stresses the Rawlsian distinction between (...) liberty and the value of liberty showing the risk of reducing the less powerful to dependency. The third question is: Can political liberty be limited for the sake of personal liberties? From a republican perspective the answer to the Rawlsian instrumental conception of political liberty is that all personal liberties are necessarily founded on political liberty.*. (shrink)

El propósito de este artículo es discutir y comparar las concepciones de Rousseau y Kant sobre la paz perpetua. Como escritores de la Ilustración, ambos tuvieron el interés filosófico de establecer los fundamentos para un orden internacional justo que permitiera a las naciones coexistir y desarrollarse pacíficamente. En nuestro análisis nos centramos en las estrategias discursivas que ambos filósofos emplearon a fin de presentar y justificar sus proyectos. Asimismo, realizamos una comparación entre el procedimiento pragmático de Rousseau y la postura (...) moral de Kant. Con ello ponemos de relieve los defectos de la postura de Rousseau y presentamos la postura kantiana como un proyecto robusto que puede presentar una base normativa adecuada de cara al fin de la paz perpetua. (shrink)