The book links the concept of intention to human action. It provides answers to questions like: Why do we act intentionally? Which impact do reasons and motives have on our decisions? Certain events are identified as intentional actions when they are considered as being rationalized by reasons. The linguistic description of such events enables us to reveal the structure of intention. The mental and the linguistic constitute irreducible ways of understanding events. Among the topics discussed are intentionality, actions, the linguistic (...) form to talk about intentionality and actions, Brentano’s view of intentionality, the phenomenological approach to intention and Wittgenstein's proposals. The contributions by Wolfgang Künne, Peter Simons, Christian Bermes, Kevin Mulligan, Severin Schroeder, António Marques, Margit Gaffal, Michel Le Du, Jesús Padilla Gálvez, Bernhard Obsieger and Amir Horowitz show that actions and decisions are guided by intentional considerations. (shrink)

Van Helmont's chemistry and medicine played a prominent part in the seventeenth-century opposition to Aristotelian natural philosophy and to Galenic medicine. Helmontian works, which rapidly achieved great notoriety all over Europe, gave rise to the most influential version of the chemical philosophy. Helmontian terms such as Archeus, Gas and Alkahest all became part of the accepted vocabulary of seventeenth-century science and medicine.

La destrucción de arte rupestre en la península Burrup, llevada a cabo por varias industrias colosales, estratégicamente localizadas en la península desde la década de los años sesenta, me permite analizar el concepto de patrimonio y encontrar un significado en la difícil tarea de interpretar arte rupestre. La península Burrup no sólo alberga el sitio arqueológico de arte rupestre más grande del mundo, sino que también uno de los depósitos más grandes de gas, mineral de hierro y sal. Como consecuencia, (...) la tierra (sagrada para la comunidad aborigen), se ha convertido en un punto álgido ya que sostiene la economía creciente de Australia. En esta difícil negociación entre patrimonio y progreso, el arte rupestre encuentra nuevos significados y el patrimonio se torna efímero. Al no estar el sitio incluido en la lista de Patrimonio Mundial auspiciada por la UNESCO, los roles de identidad y memoria son impugnados por los dos grupos que representan ambos lados del debate: por un lado, los dueños tradicionales aborígenes y los arqueólogos; por el otro, el gobierno australiano y el es-tablecimiento cultural que le niega al arte rupestre una significancia estética al considerarlo “primitivo” y “arcaico”. El debate se torna cada vez más pertinente al darnos cuenta de que el gobierno australiano ha propuesto otros sitios y parques naturales para su introducción en la lista de Patrimonio Mundial, mientras que el arte rupestre de la península Burrup está catalogado como patrimonio nacional, mas no mundial. Como resultado, el concepto de patrimonio se puede definir en diferentes niveles: local, nacional e internacional. (shrink)

We study 944 shareholder proposals submitted to 343 U.S. firms on climate change issues during 2009–2022. We use logistic and two-stage regression to estimate the propensity for a firm to be targeted or subjected to a vote at the annual general meeting and, for voted proposals, the determinants of that vote. We also examine whether climate-related proposals affect investor returns and how they relate to firms’ future environmental performance and greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to a matched sample, we first find (...) that activists target larger, more carbon-intensive, and less R&D-active firms. Second, voting likelihood is higher for firms with repeated and operations-related proposals and lower pre-proposal environmental ratings. By contrast, disclosure-related proposals are likelier to be negotiated and withdrawn. Third, repeated and operations-related proposals receive higher votes in favor, whereas votes on carbon-intensive firms do not. Fourth, building on the theory that investors act as if they distinguish among the different shareholder proposals based on the expected cost to the firm, we find evidence to support this idea. We find that investors respond negatively to ex-ante costlier proposals, such as those that relate to emissions reduction and target carbon-intensive firms. Fifth, targets’ future environmental performance rating is almost twenty percent higher after a proposal than before compared to the matched sample, whereas emissions do not budge appreciably. (shrink)

A presente investigação tem por objetivo responder à questão título considerando os argumentos apresentados, de um lado, pelos desenvolvimentistas e, de outro, pelos ambientalistas. Entendemos que os argumentos apresentados refletem um conflito de valores mais profundo que, se abordado por uma metodologia de solução de conflitos adequada, pode contribuir para elucidação da questão. A metodologia proposta é o personalismo ético de Scheler. A hierarquia de valores a ser aplicada na solução de conflitos traz (i) o valor pessoa como o mais (...) elevado, seguido dos (ii) valores espirituais, como a justiça, (iii) os vitais, como o bem estar e o útil, e (iv) os sensíveis. Através das ações de preferir e postergar, é possível encontrar pontos de equilíbrio numa permanente atitude crítica. O objetivo é contribuir para que as ações ocorram com a devida diligência para com os direitos humanos. A hipótese inicial é que, identificando os valores em conflito e aplicando a metodologia descrita, a solução de conflitos neste caso concreto permite pensar numa transição energética que concilie o desenvolvimento e o meio ambiente. Compreendemos que ambos têm como fim proteger o valor pessoa. Portanto, o que está em conflito de fato, sem com isso assumir uma postura ingênua, são os valores espirituais e vitais de cada uma das partes. Neste sentido, defendemos que, diante da inevitável demanda por energia da sociedade contemporânea e do alto custo da transição energética, é preciso conciliar o desenvolvimento com o meio ambiente a partir de uma programada transição energética financiada pela exploração do petróleo e gás, mas com metas definidas comprometidas com a neutralidade da emissão de GEE em 2050. Para tanto, é necessário regulamentação, monitoramento e fiscalização por parte do Estado e do governo federal com a finalidade de garantir a substituição dos combustíveis fósseis por fontes energéticas limpas. (shrink)

I call illocutionary externalism (IE) the approach to the study of illocutionary force that I favor. IE is inspired by Austin's seminal ideas on performatives and speech acts. According to IE, in the analysis of a paradigmatic illocutionary force we must essentially mention some aspects of the social and natural environment that cannot be reduced to the (de dicto) speakers' mental states, no matter how these are individuated. A difficult problem for IE derives from the possibility of making explicit the (...) force of an utterance. This fact invites us to focus our attention on the utterer (the person who makes the force explicit) and his mental states (illocutionary intentions), and to support a mentalist approach in the study of forces. In this article I shall argue for the compatibility of IE with the phenomenon of the explicitability of illocutionary force. (shrink)

In this essential rereading of Spinoza's (1632-1677) philosophical and political writings, Negri positions this thinker within the historical context of the development of the modern state and its attendant political economy.

The study of Buddhist texts can inform us of the way scriptures were composed, as well as illuminate the reasons behind their production. This study examines the phenomenon of borrowing and reusing portions of texts without attributing them to their ‘legitimate authors’ within the Buddhist world of contemporary Tibet. It shows that not only is such a practice not at all infrequent and is often socially accepted, but that it is used in this case as a platform to advance specific (...) claims and promote an explicit agenda. Therefore, rather than considering these as instances of plagiarism, this essay looks at the practice of copying and borrowing as an exercise in intertextuality, intended as the faithful retransmission of ancient truths, and as an indication of the public domain of texts in Tibet. (shrink)

Study of Yogaratnāvalī, work on the fundamentals of Yoga philosophy by Ṭhakkana Jhā Śarmā, 1884-1948; includes complete text.

Recent neuro-psychoanalytic literature has emphasized the view that our subjective identity rests on ancient subcortical neuro-psychic processes expressing unthinking forms of experience, which are “affectively intense without being known” (Solms and Panksepp, 2012). Devoid of internal representations, the emotional states of our “core-Self” (Panksepp, 1998b) are entirely “projected” towards the external world and tend to be discharged through instinctual action-patterns. However, due to the close connections between the subcortical and the cortical midline brain, the emotional drives may also find a (...) way to be reflected within an intrinsic self-referential processing, evident when the organism is not actively engaged with the external world. Thanks to such endogenous functioning, the core-Self emotional dispositions are not overtly executed, but they are organized within coherent dynamic mental structures, called “feeling-toned complexes” by C.G. Jung and “unconscious phantasies” by Melanie Klein. The intrinsic self-referential dynamism of the ‘brainmind’ originated from REM sleep arousal and then evolved in the resting-state activity of a complex of cortico-limbic midline brain structures (CMS), also called Default Mode Network (DMN). From our neuro-ethological perspective, it is sustained by an “introverted” SEEKING activity leading to the subjective exploration of internally constructed virtual scenarios. This “mind wandering” function, implicated in dreaming, fantasy processing, remembering and thinking, is the essence of the imaginative function and constitutes the first form of reflection, where intentions and drives gain a primordial form of conscious (but not self-conscious) representation. During postnatal development, this original (“archetypal”) imaginative function is slowly attuned in a relational “transitional” space and may be expressed first in non-verbal and eventually in abstract-verbal social communicative patterns. Our view has noticeable implications for psychotherapy. Instead of trying to directly modify interpersonal, extrinsic relationships (a top-down approach), dysfunctional emotional-relational patterns may be modified by a process in which the patient is helped to let-go of the perceived feeling-objects in favor of an immersion, via the actual feeling, from the superficial level of perception towards a void feeling-state, empty of images. Only starting from this “anoetic” feeling-state, the deep imaginal creative and re-structuring self-referential activity may be reactivated by a process of spontaneous imagination. (shrink)

die besagten Begriffe zunachst als synonyme Bezeichnungen fUr die Methode der Philosophie betrachtet werden konnen. Erst am Ende der Abhandlung zeichnet sich die Moglichkeit einer Bedeutungstren nung zwischen EpocM und Reduktion ab - allerdings nicht mehr ganz im Sinne HusserIs. Die Aufgabe, Philosophie als absolute Wissenschaft zu begriinden, ist fUr HusserI im Grunde das Problem der Gewinnung eines Ver fahrens, durch das der sich philosophisch Besinnende die absolute Ge wiBheit erIangt, daB er im Gang seiner Besinnungen keine ungepriif ten, unkritisch (...) hingenommenen Erkenntnisse voraussetzt, kein Vorur teil mitgelten laBt, das die wissenschaftliche Reinheit des gedanklichen Gebaudes zerstOren wiirde. DaB die Philosophie es bisher nicht fertig gebracht hat, sich als solche absolut gerechtfertigte Wissenschaft zu konstituieren, bezeugt fUr HusserI ihre Unfahigkeit, in voller Radika litat alle Voraussetzungen aus dem Wege zu raumen, die der Voraus setzungslosigkeit einer absoluten Wissenschaft im Wege stehen. Ihrem eingeborenen Telos der Letztverantwortung hat die Philosophie nie gerecht werden konnen, obschon in ihrer Geschichte zu alIer Zeit ein Streben, eine intentio auf dieses ihr Ziel der absoluten Reinheit hin wirksam war. Diese intentio war stets die "Motivation", der "Ent wicklungstrieb" des philosophischen Denkens: "In einigen Philoso phien zeitweilig relativ befriedigt, und doch nie letztbefriedigt, wird die Philosophie zu immer neuen methodischen Besinnungen fortgetrieben; sie nimmt immer neue methodische Gestalten an und kommt dabei doch nie zu Ende. (shrink)

This paper begins with a discussion of the scientia sexualis/ars erotica distinction, which Foucault first advances in History of Sexuality Vol. 1, and which has been employed by many scholars to do a variety of analytical work. Though Foucault has expressed his doubts regarding his conceptualization of the differences between Western and Eastern discourses of desire, he never entirely disowns the distinction. In fact, Foucault remains convinced that China must have an ars erotica. I will explore Foucault’s sources of authority. (...) To this end, I introduce the work of famous Dutch sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik, who published the tremendously influential Sexual Life in Ancient China in 1961, and also explore Joseph Needham’s view on Chinese sex. I argue that, Foucault, in his fierce polemic against the “Repressive Hypothesis”, himself imagined a utopian Other where pleasure and desire were organised differently. I end on a discuss on Orientalism and the project of “Sinography” of comparative literature scholars Haun Saussy, Eric Hayot and others. (shrink)

El artículo explora algunos de los principales rasgos políticos de la época globalizada y defiende la necesidad de entidades políticas representativas que superen el marco del Estado nación. A continuación se pregunta bajo qué presupuestos ético-políticos podría defenderse un modelo político-jurídico global para un mundo axiológicamente diverso y qué concepciones políticas y valores podrían proponerse como referente normativo para una gobernanza global cuya meta habría de ser el ejercicio legítimo del poder. Teniendo en cuenta las dificultades de tal empresa, se (...) presentan posibles estrategias y razones que invitan a considerar que la posibilidad de un acuerdo global no es del todo implausible. (shrink)

The interview, conceived and conducted by researchers from the Philosophy, Education and Social Praxis Research Group - FEPráxiS, aims to present the foundations of Antônio Joaquim Severino’s thinking. The interviewee discusses his own educational path and the philosophical sources that have influenced him, presents the theses he has been developing in the field of Philosophy of Education and advances on the unwavering anthropological, ethical and political commitments of Brazilian education.

We give a overview of the main areas in theoretical physics, with emphasis on their relation to Lagrangian formalism in classical mechanics. This review covers classical mechanics; the road from classical mechanics to Schrödinger’s quantum mechanics; electromagnetism, special and general relativity, and gauge field theory and the Higgs mechanism. We shun mathematical rigor in favor of a straightforward presentation.