En este ensayo planteo una dificultad que encuentro en la última propuesta de Quine sobre las oraciones observacionales. Argumento que esta dificultad impide que tales oraciones cumplan el rol que él les asigna en su filosofía y socavan su empirismo ilustrado. Luego exploro tentativamente un resquicio que encuentro en la propia filosofía quineana que eventualmente podría evitar los problemas derivados de dicha dificultad. El precio de seguir el camino apuntado por ese resquicio es, sin embargo, una cierta reinterpretación del espíritu (...) empirista de la filosofía de Quine. In this paper I set out a problem I find in Quine's last proposal on observation sentences. I argue that this problem prevents those sentences to play the role he ascribes to them in his philosophy and undermines his enlightened empiricism. Then I tentatively explore an option I find in Quine's own philosophy which can eventually avoid the issues raised by that problem. The price to pay in following this option, though, is a certain reinterpretation of the empiricist spirit of Quine's philosophy. Apresenta-se uma dificuldade na última proposta de Quine sobre as orações observacionais. Argumenta-se que essa dificuldade impede que essas orações cumpram o papel que ele concede a elas em sua filosofia e debilitam seu empirismo ilustrado. Explora-se tentativamente um resquício na própria filosofia quineana que eventualmente poderia evitar os problemas derivados dessa dificuldade. O preço de seguir o caminho indicado por esse resquício é, contudo, certa interpretação do espírito empirista da filosofia de Quine. (shrink)

Latina immigrant women who work as nannies or housekeepers and reside in Los Angeles while their children remain in their countries of origin constitute one variation in the organizational arrangements of motherhood. The authors call this arrangement “transnational motherhood.” On the basis of a survey, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic materials gathered in Los Angeles, they examine how Latina immigrant domestic workers transform the meanings of motherhood to accommodate these spatial and temporal separations. The article examines the emergent meanings of motherhood (...) and alternative child-rearing arrangements. It also discusses how the women view motherhood in relation to their employment, as well as their strategies for selectively developing emotional ties with their employers' children and for creating new rhetorics of mothering standards on the basis of what they view in their employers' homes. (shrink)

In this paper I examine the structure of hope and trust from a phenomenological perspective in order to analyze the kinds of beliefs, valuings, and practical dispositions involved in them. I claim that there are some basic aspects of the social world that would be inconceivable without the feeling components of these attitudes. However, since these attitudes are only rational in as far as they involve rational beliefs, valuings, and practical assumptions, a complex theory of reason that deals with these (...) three domains is necessary to understand what is at stake in them. Accordingly, I attempt to sketch central aspects of the Husserlian pluralistic conception of reason and highlight the way in which, when they are rational, the valuings involved both in hope and trust open new possibilities to act in rational or meaningful ways. This leads me to stress the role of the feelings involved in these attitudes, for I claim that such valuings or axiological assessments are based on them. I argue that hope allows us to act rationally in the face of uncertainty and what lies beyond our control. In the final part I elaborate on the idea that trust is founded on hope. I examine what happens when hope is expressed and how being found trustworthy by others implies being capable of establishing all kinds of social relationships, including relationships in which the trusted one is dominated. This opens the possibility of raising ethical questions concerning trusting and responding to the trust of others. (shrink)

Our aim in this paper is to propose an ontology for numbers that is compatible with an epistemology that does not invoke mysterious faculties. On the basis of my explanatory system, we find objects capable of being classified: horses, colors, etc. Once grouped, they can be reclassified in units, pairs, and so on. When they use expressions like “three horses”, in fact, I believe that what they mean is “a threesome of horses”. I call nonmathematical numbers those reclassification, and I (...) suggest that arithmetical numbers could be regarded as pictures of nonmathematical numbers, that are closely connected with empirical facts. (shrink)

The work of Anthony J. Steinbock on emotions―particularly moral emotions―and on religious experience is closely related to a methodological claim. This claim is that the concepts of “experience” and “manifestation” should be understood in a broader manner than that of classical phenomenology, particularly Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology. In this paper, I examine the way in which Steinbock understands and conceptualizes the kind of givenness to which he refers with the notion of “vertical experience”. I focus on his claim that vertical experiences (...) are irreducible to the kind of experiences that can be described in terms of what he calls “provocation”, “presentation” and the “noesis-noema structure”. Even though I make a criticism of his assertion that the latter implies that they should not be understood as forms of givenness founded on the above-mentioned structure, I agree with some major implications that he draws from them. In the last part of the paper, I discuss his suggestion that the Husserlian conceptualization of emotional givenness should be revised to set forward their structure in terms of what he calls “evocation” and try to give additional reasons, drawn from Husserl himself, to support this claim. The paper comes concludes by stressing the relevance of Steinbock’s analyses concerning what he calls “idolatry”. I argue that his analyses of attitudes that negate the vertical dimension of experience have far reaching implications that go beyond the field of philosophy of religion and open new, promising paths for phenomenological research on social and moral problems. (shrink)

Sports occupy an interesting ethical space from a pedagogic point of view, being included in physical education curricula in most Western countries. The approach of physical education to sports as vehicle for ethical education is too limited when it is restricted to their minimal functional, constitutive and regulatory goals. This essay’s aim is to argue the extent to which the ethical potential of physical education can embrace more than functional purposes, or whether that will be neglected in terms of limited (...) educational aspirations. We present data from nineteen exploratory interviews with experienced philosophy, sports and physical education researchers and teachers, from six different nations, concerning the ethical potentiality of physical education. We highlight five ethical themes: (i) the regulatory and normative structure of sports; (ii) the spirit of sports and its internal values; (iii) the right playing/doing of sports; (iv) the overcoming in sports; and (v) sports as an opportunity for a supererogatory ethics as fertile ground for future operationalization of the potential of physical education for ethical education through sports.El deporte ocupa un interesante espacio ético desde un punto de vista pedagógico, integrándose en los curricula de educación física en la mayoría de países occidentales. El planteamiento de la educación física como vehículo de la educación ética es limitado cuando restringido a sus objetivos mínimos funcionales, constitutivos y regulatorios. El objetivo de este estudio es discutir si el potencial ético de la educación física puede ir más allá de los propósitos funcionales, que considerados aisladamente constituyen un desperdicio de la experiencia pedagógica del deporte. Para conseguirlo, presentamos datos de diecinueve entrevistas exploratorias con experimentados investigadores y profesores de filosofía, deporte y educación física relacionadas con las potencialidades éticas de la educación física. La muestra incluye individuos de seis diferentes nacionalidades, cuyo trabajo demuestra preocupaciones con el tema. La argumentación resulta de cinco temáticas principales: (i) Estructura normativa y regulativa del deporte; (ii) El espírito del deporte y sus valores internos; (iii) El bien hacer deportivo; (iv) La superación deportiva; (v) El deporte como oportunidad de una ética supererogatoria como contexto fértil para la concretización del potencial ético de una educación deportiva. (shrink)

Our aim in this paper is to propose an ontology for numbers that is compatible with an epistemology that does not invoke mysterious faculties. On the basis of my explanatory system, we find objects capable of being classified: horses, colors, etc. Once grouped, they can be reclassified in units, pairs, and so on. When they use expressions like “three horses”, in fact, I believe that what they mean is “a threesome of horses”. I call nonmathematical numbers those reclassification, and I (...) suggest that arithmetical numbers could be regarded as pictures of nonmathematical numbers, that are closely connected with empirical facts. (shrink)

En este breve comentario discuto algunos aspectos de la interpretación de la epistemología de Davidson que sugiere Willian Duica en su reciente libro. Luego de una presentación somera del libro me centro en tres asuntos centrales de la interpretación de Duica. En primer lugar, argumento que su lectura de la crítica de Davidson al dualismo esquema/contenido es muy restrictiva y deja abierta la posibilidad de un realismo directo empirista. En segundo lugar, argumento que en su lectura el propio Duica se (...) compromete inadvertidamente con un empirismo de este tipo y, de este modo, su interpretación entra en tensión con el coherentismo de Davidson. Finalmente, discuto algunos aspectos de la interpretación que hace Duica de la tesis davidsoniana de la triangulación. In this short comment I discuss some aspects of William Duica's interpretation of Davidson's epistemology in a recent book. After a brief review of the book, I focus on three central issues of Duica's interpretation. First, I argue that his reading of Davidson's criticism of the scheme/content dualism is too restrictive and leaves open the possibility of an empiricist direct realism. Second, I argue in his reading Duica inadvertently commits himself to an empiricism of this sort and, as a result, his interpretation is in tension with Davidson's own coherentism. Finally, I discuss some aspects of Duica's interpretation of Davidsonian triangulation. (shrink)

Resumen En este artículo reflexiono sobre la posibilidad de conceptualizar los derechos humanos como hechos institucionales, lo cual permite enmarcarlos en una perspectiva más amplia que las meramente jurídicas y morales. La propuesta se basa en la ontología social de John Searle, aunque intento replantearla desde la fenomenología de Edmund Husserl y la teoría de los actos sociales de Adolf Reinach. En la parte final introduzco problemáticas relacionadas con el papel de los Estados nacionales en la institucionalización de los derechos (...) humanos. Para ello me apoyo en la idea de Hannah Arendt de que los derechos humanos presuponen el derecho a tener derechos y la pongo en relación con observaciones más recientes de especialistas.In this paper I reflect on the possibility of conceptualizing human rights as institutional facts. This aims to frame them in a broader perspective than a merely legal or moral one. The proposal is based on John Searle’s social ontology, but I attempt to think it over with the support of Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology and Adolf Reinach’s theory of social acts. In the final part I set forward problems related with the role of national States in institutionalizing human rights. To elaborate this point, I draw on Hannah Arendt’s idea that human rights presuppose the right to have rights and relate it with more recent observations of experts. (shrink)

Miranda Fricker always focuses on the hearer in her account of testimonial injustice. It is the hearer who, in virtue of a prejudice, commits testimonial injustice against the speaker by giving her less credibility than she deserves. My purpose in this paper is to analyse a parallel type of testimonial injustice that runs in the opposite di- rection, from the speaker to the hearer. I characterise the inner structure of this type of injustice and sketch some of the forms it (...) can take. Then I explore some consequences of this kind of testimonial injustice by the speaker. (shrink)

In this article, I present the structural consequences generated by the continuous and systematic epistemic injustices carried out in certain communities or institutions. These injustices contribute to building a structure of silencing, denial of epistemic authority, cover-up and impunity. The importance of the normative aspect that guides the reflections about these injustices will be exposed in two senses: on the one hand, insofar as it is necessary to have criteria that allow establishing the truth in the background of evaluation of (...) epistemic injustices and, on the other, in the sense of specifying how systematically attempting against it produces almost irreversible epistemic damage and guarantees the perpetuation of the structure. It will be shown how this happens within the framework of a powerful institution such as the Catholic Church, which has exhibited a pattern of testimonial injustices and the cover-up of abuses within it for decades. (shrink)

In this paper I address the question of whether bodily awareness is a form of perceptual awareness or not. I discuss José Luis Bermúdez’s and Shaun Gallagher’s proposals about this issue and find them unsatisfactory. Then I suggest an alternative view and offer some reasons for it.

Formal models of argumentation have been investigated in several areas, from multi-agent systems and artificial intelligence (AI) to decision making, philosophy and law. In artificial intelligence, logic-based models have been the standard for the representation of argumentative reasoning. More recently, the standard logic-based models have been shown equivalent to standard connectionist models. This has created a new line of research where (i) neural networks can be used as a parallel computational model for argumentation and (ii) neural networks can be used (...) to combine argumentation, quantitative reasoning and statistical learning. At the same time, non-standard logic models of argumentation started to emerge. In this paper, we propose a connectionist cognitive model of argumentation that accounts for both standard and non-standard forms of argumentation. The model is shown to be an adequate framework for dealing with standard and non-standard argumentation, including joint-attacks, argument support, ordered attacks, disjunctive attacks, meta-level attacks, self-defeating attacks, argument accrual and uncertainty. We show that the neural cognitive approach offers an adequate way of modelling all of these different aspects of argumentation. We have applied the framework to the modelling of a public prosecution charging decision as part of a real legal decision making case study containing many of the above aspects of argumentation. The results show that the model can be a useful tool in the analysis of legal decision making, including the analysis of what-if questions and the analysis of alternative conclusions. The approach opens up two new perspectives in the short-term: the use of neural networks for computing prevailing arguments efficiently through the propagation in parallel of neuronal activations, and the use of the same networks to evolve the structure of the argumentation network through learning (e.g. to learn the strength of arguments from data). (shrink)

Partner preferences are expressed by many social species, including humans. They are commonly observed as selective contacts with an individual, more time spent together, and directed courtship behavior that leads to selective copulation. This review discusses the effect of conditioning on the development of heterosexual and homosexual partner preferences in rodents. Learned preferences may develop when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is associated in contingency with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that functions as a reinforcer. Consequently, an individual may display preference for (...) a partner that bears a CS. Some UCS may be more or less reinforcing, depending on when they are experienced, and may be different for males and females. For example, it could be that, only during periods of early development, that stimuli associated with nurture and juvenile play become conditioned. In adulthood, other stimuli such as sexual reward, cohabitation, mild stress, or even pharmacological manipulations may function as reinforcers to condition partner preferences. Evolutionary biologists and psychologists must take into consideration the idea that an individual’s experience with reward (i.e. sexual and pharmacological) can override presumably ‘innate’ mate choices (e.g. assortativeness and orientation) or mate strategies (e.g. monogamy or polygamy) by means of Pavlovian and operant contingencies. In fact, it is likely as innate to learn about the environment in ways that maximize reward and minimize aversive outcomes, making so-called ‘proximate’ causes (e.g. pleasure) ultimately more powerful predictors of social behavior and choice than so-called ‘ultimate’ causes (e.g. genetic or reproductive fitness). Keywords: pavlovian; operant; learning; sex; copulation (Published: 15 March 2012) Citation: Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 2012, 2 : 17340 - DOI: 10.3402/snp.v2i0.17340. (shrink)

In this paper I reconstruct and defend John Rawls' The Law of Peoples, including the distinction between liberal and decent peoples. A “decent people” is defined as a people who possesses a comprehensive doctrine and uses that doctrine as the ground of political legitimacy, while liberal peoples do not possess a comprehensive doctrine. I argue that liberal and decent peoples are bound by the same normative requirements with the qualification that decent peoples accept the same normative demands when they are (...) reasonably interpreted and from their comprehensive doctrine, not from political liberalism. Normative standards for peoples appear in a law of peoples in two places: as internal constraints carried forward from political liberalism which regulate domestic affairs and as principles derived from a second original position that provide the normative ground for a society of peoples. This first source of normative standards was unfortunately obscured in Rawls' account. I use this model to defeat the claim that Rawls has accommodated decent peoples without sufficient warrant and to argue that all reasonable citizens of both liberal and decent peoples would accept the political authority of the state as legitimate. Although my reconstruction differs from Rawls on key points, such as modifying the idea of decency and rejecting a place for decent peoples within a second original position, overall I defend the theoretical completeness of political liberalism and show how a law of peoples provides reasonable principles of international justice. (shrink)

In Chapter 7 of The Varieties of Reference Evans implicitly outlines a view to the effect that bodily awareness plays no role in perceptual self-location or in the specification of our perceptual perspective of the world. In this paper I discuss this story and offer an alternative proposal. Then I explore some consequences of this account for our understanding of the elusiveness of the self in perceptual experience.

In this paper, I discuss Noë’s enactive account of our perceptual encounter with the intrinsic properties of the surrounding objects. First, I argue that this view falls into a dilemma in which either we are left without a satisfactory explanation of this encounter or, in order to keep Noë’s view, we must abandon our ordinary intuitions about the ontological status of the intrinsic properties of objects. Then, I show that, strikingly, there is a suggestive unofficial strand running in Noë that (...) avoids this dilemma. Finally, I argue this unofficial thread leads to a view about the perspectival character of perceptual experience and the place of sensorimotor understanding in perceptual content that is to be preferred over Noë’s official view about these issues. (shrink)

In a Society of Peoples as Rawls conceives it, human rights function as “criteria for toleration.” This paper defends the conception of human rights that appears in Rawls’ The Law of Peoples as normatively and theoretically adequate. I claim that human rights function as criteria for determining whether or not a given society or legal system can be tolerated. As such, “human rights” are not themselves basic facts or judgments or ascriptions, but rather the means by which we collectively attempt (...) to secure public criteria for evaluating what can and cannot be tolerated. Human rights are one expression of the fundamental value commitments of Political Liberalism to reasonableness and tolerance. If correct, this account provides good reasons for concluding that Political Liberalism has a normatively adequate conception of global justice. (shrink)

Na semana de Pentecostes de 1923, reuniu-se em um hotel na cidade de Ilmenau na Turíngia, região central da Alemanha, um grupo de intelectuais em um encontro que foi denominado “Semana de Trabalho Marxista” (Marxistische Arbeitswoche). Dele participaram seu idealizador – Felix Weil – e cerca de 20 pessoas. Destacaram-se entre os participantes Friedrich Pollock e Karl August Wittfogel. A intenção da “Semana de Trabalho Marxista” era discutir as obras Marxismo e filosofia, de Karl Korsch, e História e consciência de (...) classe, de Georg Lukács – autores um pouco mais velhos, mas igualmente jovens intelectuais cujas contribuições teóricas foram tidas como alento e retomada das reflexões marxistas a partir da perspectiva do jovem Marx. As ideias apresentadas por Korsch e Lukács se afastaram do marxismo clássico e ortodoxo até então em evidência na Europa Central. A “Semana de Trabalho Marxista” foi o embrião para a criação, um ano depois, do Instituto de Pesquisas Sociais, igualmente por iniciativa desses jovens e de seu mentor intelectual e agora patrono financeiro Felix Weil. Esse Instituto foi sediado como um anexo da Universidade de Frankfurt, totalmente custeado pelo aporte financeiro do pai de Felix Weil, o senhor Hermann Weil. Ao longo dos anos, o conhecimento teórico ali produzido ou a menção ao local em que esse conhecimento foi gestado se impuseram como marcas que passaram para a história do pensamento contemporâneo: Teoria Crítica e Escola de Frankfurt são nomes que praticamente se confundem quando se trata da concepção teórica produzida pelo Instituto de Pesquisas Sociais. As referências aos seus pensadores mais significativos – Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse e Walter Benjamin – tornaram-se realidade a partir do momento em que Max Horkheimer chegou à posição de diretor do Instituto, em 1930, pois sob sua gestão foram formuladas as diretrizes teóricas, combinadas à realização de pesquisas empíricas com base nos métodos e campos de investigação das demais ciências parcelares (Psicologia, Sociologia, Economia, Direito etc.), em articulação com a Filosofia que caracterizam essa escola de pensamento à qual estes nomes estão umbilicalmente ligados. Sob sua “ditadura”[1] Horkheimer tentou, quando possível, conservar as diferenças de temas e objetos de estudo de cada autor, congregando os diferentes campos de conhecimento. Esses primeiros pensadores foram responsáveis por um movimento de ideias que cobriu boa parte do século XX, estendendo-se de 1930 a 1979. Uma segunda geração de teóricos ligados ao Instituto prosseguiu as reflexões iniciais, expandindo-as; outros se distanciaram delas. A teoria crítica da sociedade, assim, constituiu-se como uma fonte de pensamento e método de investigação e análise da realidade na qual fenômenos sociais, bem como determinados temas e objetos de estudo, vinculados a tal realidade, em seu movimento histórico, tornaram-se alvos de crítica permanente. Dentre tais aspectos a serem destacados, mencionamos o legado deixado pelos autores da teoria crítica – especificamente, Adorno, Horkheimer, Erich Fromm, dentre outros – de dados, discussões e análises de pesquisa empírica, de caráter interdisciplinar, voltados aos temas do autoritarismo, preconceito e formação do indivíduo sob as contradições sociais do capitalismo e seus desdobramentos histórico-sociais. Neste movimento, as ciências parcelares, já apontadas acima, tais como a Psicologia, Psicanálise, Economia, Ciências Sociais dentre outras foram convocadas como momentos teórico-metodológicos específicos para compor o projeto interdisciplinar do Instituto de Pesquisa Social, juntamente com a Filosofia, promovendo a premissa epistemológica fundamental da Teoria crítica: a pesquisa interdisciplinar. Em 2021, o Grupo de Pesquisa “Teoria Crítica e Filosofia Social”, sediado na UFU e desde 2003 registrado no Diretório de Grupos de Pesquisa do CNPq, organizou e realizou o “I Colóquio de Teoria Crítica da UFU: aporias da emancipação”. Foi a tentativa de integrar, em um evento online dos tempos da pandemia do Covid-19, as pesquisas desenvolvidas por professores da UFU espalhados em alguns de seus institutos e faculdades com outros pesquisadores do Brasil em torno das diversas possibilidades de apropriação da Teoria Crítica da Escola de Frankfurt. Os autores da primeira geração da Escola, que herdaram as reflexões e transformações históricas oriundas do Iluminismo, não apresentaram formulações unívocas ou romantizadas nas suas análises acerca dos limites da Racionalidade burguesa: suas reflexões esbarraram em dificuldades e essa constatação abre a possibilidade de se seguir problematizando, na esteira desta primeira geração, questões decisivas da teoria social nos dias de hoje. Em 2023, o encontro de Ilmenau, que foi o acontecimento propulsor da Teoria Crítica, completa 100 anos. A proposição do dossiê “Teoria Crítica 100 anos” pretende ser uma comemoração, um Festschrift ao centenário de uma data bastante emblemática e marcante para o pensamento filosófico do século XX. O núcleo do dossiê é constituído por algumas palestras proferidas no evento de 2021 que foram transformadas em artigos pelos seus apresentadores. Mais do que isso, com a intenção de ser um Festschrift representativo, o dossiê conta com a contribuição de um pesquisador internacional que não participou do evento. Por ser a Teoria Crítica uma corrente filosófica multifacetada, suas reflexões abrangem os campos da filosofia social, filosofia da história, filosofia política, estética, literatura, música, psicanálise e educação junto à teoria social. Atentos a essa diversidade, sua riqueza temática ficará preservada na proposta do dossiê. Além disso, é importante resgatar a atualidade da centenária Teoria Crítica. O dossiê é constituído por uma entrevista, seis artigos e uma tradução. O entrevistado será o professor Rodrigo Duarte, da UFMG, que fará um balanço da Teoria Crítica, sobre sua recepção no Brasil anterior a 1990 e posterior a essa data. Embora a recepção desta escola de pensamento tenha se dado já na década de 1960, por nomes como Cohn, Merquior, Kothe e Konder, a partir dos anos 1990, Rodrigo Duarte se transformou em uma das principais referências para a sua continuidade em solo nacional. Daí essa entrevista ser um reconhecimento de sua contribuição. [...] [1] A expressão “ditadura do diretor” foi o termo empregado por Horkheimer para indicar o tipo de trabalho interdisciplinar que seria desenvolvido a partir de sua gestão à frente do Instituto. (shrink)

En este ensayo intento mostrar el estrecho vínculo entre el asunto de la fijación de la extensión de los términos de clase natural y el problema de la proyectabilidad puesto de relieve por Goodman con su nuevo enigma de la inducción. Por un lado argumento que el nuevo enigma de la inducción pone de manifiesto la presencia de un elemento fregeano en la teoría de la referencia directa de Putnam y, por el otro, señalo la necesidad de que una respuesta (...) realista a dicho enigma se articule con una tesis epistemológica de cómo conocemos las presuntas propiedades intrínsecas de los objetos. /// This paper intends to show the tight link between the question of fixation of extension of natural kind terms and the problem of projectibility pointed out by Goodman's new riddle of induction. I will argue that, on the one hand, the new riddle of induction enables us to show that Putnam's theory of reference has a Fregean element. On the other, I will point out that a realist answer to the new riddle must be articulated with an epistemological thesis about our knowledge of pretended intrinsic properties of objects. (shrink)

Existen diversas interpretaciones de la teoría económica de Keynes que rivalizan acerca de cuál es su verdadera aportación. Ni siquiera las matematizaciones y reconstrucciones lógicas que se han hecho de tal teoría coinciden en algunos aspectos esenciales. A partir de esto, la propuesta de este trabajo es que una reconstrucción estructuralista, por su énfasis en los términos T-teóricos, puede ayudar a esclarecer la identidad de esa teoría. Así, a partir del análisis de los criterios de T-teoricidad de la concepción estructuralista, (...) así como del análisis de algunas reconstrucciones estructuralistas de la teoría keynesiana, se propone aquí qué términos Keynes-teóricos pueden darnos algunos de los rasgos de identidad más importantes de esta teoría. /// There are several interpretations of the Keynes's economical theory which corrival about what is the truly insight of this theory. Even the mathematical or logical models of this theory do not coincide in some essential aspects. The proposal of this work is that a structuralist reconstruction of the Keynes's theory, because of its emphasis on the T-theoretical terms, can be a help for the clarification of the identity of the said theory. Then, on the basis of an analysis about the criterions for the T-theoretical terms, and about some structuralist reconstructions of the Keynesian theory, I suggest here which Keynes-theoretical terms can give us an important part of the identity of that theory. (shrink)

The target article criticises neural-symbolic systems as inadequate for analogical reasoning and proposes a model of analogy as transformation (i.e., learning). We accept the importance of learning, but we argue that, instead of conflicting, integrated reasoning and learning would model analogy much more adequately. In this new perspective, modern neural-symbolic systems become the natural candidates for modelling analogy.

Teresa of Avila's desire for suffering cannot be interpreted as the mere passive assumption of a feminine sacrificial role. On the contrary, Teresa was able to transform her suffering into the incarnated performance of her relationship with God: By desiring suffering and by understanding it and her ability to confront it as proof of divine love, she was able to reinforce her self‐confidence and strength. This article discusses Teresa of Avila's experience and interpretation of suffering in the context of the (...) female ascetic‐mystic Christian tradition. It criticizes Teresa's positive conceptualization of suffering but examines in depth the potential of her ability to actively manage and control it. Although Teresa was able to affirm her personality through ascetic practices such as self‐humiliation and mortification, the general applicability of such practices to the management of suffering is fraught since they leave the suffering individual in a vulnerable position. Although Teresa of Avila finds fulfillment and, paradoxically, self‐actualization through self‐denial and the surrender of her will, such practices entail the substantial risk of total self‐annihilation. (shrink)

Para justificar este trabajo bastaría el título que se le ha dado porque versa sobre el proceso que sufrió Juan de Ávila en la Inquisición de Sevilla que se inició por denuncias presentadas en 1531 y que culminó en 1532-1533. Conocido hasta ahora por la única parte del mismo que ha sobrevivido, con el documento inédito que aquí publicamos, procedente del escrito que el mismo Juan de Ávila elaboró para su defensa, esperamos contribuir a un mejor conocimiento de (...) la persona y de las circunstancias históricas en que vivió quien con el tiempo se convertiría en el Apóstol de Andalucía. En este estudio, que será continuado por otro posterior, se expone un análisis histórico de este extraordinario testimonio que nos ayuda a entender mejor a esta figura fundamental de la espiritualidad española del XVI abriendo, además, una vía que nos pone en contacto con problemas de la historia religiosa que preocupan a la historia social y cultural más reciente. (shrink)

RESUMEN El artículo responde algunas críticas planteadas por Ignacio Ávila a mi interpretación de la epistemología davidsoniana. Presento argumentos en contra de: a) que sea necesario distinguir entre representaciones epistemológicamente “peligrosas”e “inofensivas”; b) que el empirismo mínimo sea un tipo de realismo directo; c) que mi uso de la expresión “evidencia distal” y el interés por la teoría de la correspondencia sean asuntos ajenos a Davidson. Finalmente, sostengo que la triangulación es un elemento fundamental de la epistemología davidsoniana, pues (...) permite sortear la ansiedad realista manteniéndose en una postura no representacionalista. ABSTRACT In this article, I respond to some of Ignacio Ávila's criticisms of my interpretation of Davidson’s epistemology. I argue against: a) the need to distinguish between epistemologically “dangerous” and “harmless” representations; b) the idea that minimal empiricism is a kind of direct realism; and c) the claim that my usage of the expression “distal evidence” and interest in the theory of correspondence are issues that do not pertain to Davidson. Finally, I claim that triangulation is a key element in Davidsonian epistemology since it allows us to deal with the realist anxiety while maintaining a non-representationalist viewpoint. (shrink)

W artykule przedstawiono wybrane staropolskie teksty mistyczne kobiet (zarówno świeckie, jak i pozostających w kręgu zakonnym) na tle tradycji mistyków hiszpańskich Złotego Wieku. W tekście nakreślono sytuację geopolityczną Rzeczpospolitej i Hiszpanii w okresie XVI–XVIII wieku z naciskiem na specyfikę życia kobiet na peryferiach europejskich. W analizie posiłkowano się ustaleniami z zakresu geopoetyki oraz border studies, gałęzi literaturoznawstwa, które obecnie coraz częściej aplikuje się do badań komparatystycznych. Artykuł przybliża kobiece utwory anonimowe powstałe w kręgu karmelitańskim, które są interpretacjami wątków terezjańskich lub (...) aluzjami do konkretnych tekstów świętej Teresy i świętego Jana od Krzyża. Ponadto przytoczono tu teksty najbardziej znanych staropolskich pisarek zakonnych, Magdaleny Mortęskiej i Marianny Marchockiej, wskazując na zapożyczenia z ascetyczno-mistycznej literatury hiszpańskiej. W artykule zaprezentowano także wybrane wątki pisarek świeckich, których utwory mogą wskazywać na specyfikę życia na peryferiach – mogącą przyczynić się do wyboru ścieżki mistycznej. (shrink)

In a well-known apocryphal story, Theresa of Avila falls off the donkey she was riding, straight into mud, and injures herself. In response, she seems to blame God for her fall. A playful if indignant back and forth ensues. But this is puzzling. Theresa should never think that God is blameworthy. Why? Apparently, one cannot blame what one worships. For to worship something is to show it a kind of reverence, respect, or adoration. To worship is, at least in part, (...) to praise. You cannot praise and blame simultaneously. Indeed, Paul counsels against “back-talk” against God, suggesting we lack the standing to blame our creator (Romans 9:20). Drawing on Strawsonian theorizing about praise and blame, this paper argues that, surprisingly, a person can both blame and worship God. Although blameful worship is possibly epistemically akratic, it may sometimes be acceptable given our nature as finite, emotional beings. In fact, blaming God might on occasion be the only way we have to stand with God’s goodness despite apparent evidence of evil in the world. This suggestion, I’ll argue, should change the way we think about the problem of evil. The problem has interpersonal and moral psychological dimensions that merit serious attention. (shrink)

Despite what you have heard over the years, the famous evil deceiver argument in Meditation One is not original to Descartes. Early modern meditators often struggle with deceptive demons. The author of the Meditations is merely giving a new spin to a common rhetorical device. Equally surprising is the fact that Descartes’ epistemological rendering of the demon trope is probably inspired by a Spanish nun, Teresa of Ávila, whose works have been ignored by historians of philosophy, although they were (...) a global phenomenon during Descartes’ formative years. In this paper, I first answer the obvious question as to why previous early modernists have missed something so important as the fact that Descartes’ most famous publication relies on a well-established genre and that his deceiver argument bears a striking similarity to ideas in Teresa’s final work, El Castillo Interior? I discuss the meditative tradition at the end of which Descartes’ Meditations stands, present evidence to support the claim that Descartes was familiar with Teresa’s proposals, contrast their meditative goals, and make a point-by-point comparison between the meditative steps in Teresa’s Interior Castle and those in Descartes’ Meditations which constitute their common deceiver strategy. My conclusion makes a case for a broader and more inclusive history of philosophy. (shrink)

What follows is but the attempt to draw the lessons from the mystical and visionary text of Teresa of Ávila in order to consider today issues that concern us, questions that are asked of Aesthetics, and not only as theoretical discipline that theorises on the arts and considers the beautiful, but as a reflection on aísthesis, of sensitivity, of the sensitive edge exposed by a constituent relationship which installs the human in a world. Consideration, then, of the happening, of (...) entering the world, creative experience. This essay seeks to consider the relationship between the image and the body via the visionary discourse of the mystics, because their writings question and lend shape to a large number of formulae of thought that can help us better understand the questions facing us today. Let us imagine that the mystics made of their body a frontier or a support where what by definition has no place could take place. Place: part of space occupied by a body, the boundary of a containing object. This then is what is addressed here, a question of boundaries. (shrink)

Apontamentos retóricos sobre o conceito de oração em Teresa d'Ávila: rumo a uma pedagogia mística Resumo: Neste texto apresento algumas reflexões que se constituíram por meio de leituras do pensamento filosófico e religioso de Teresa D’Ávila. Meus objetivos concentram-se em identificar elementos teóricos vinculados à educação do pensamento renascentista-moderno na Espanha. Dentre os conceitos investigados, ressalto a relação entre ensino, oração e praxis no discurso cristão, inferindo, neste contexto, sobre a possibilidade de uma pedagogia teresiana. O foco de (...) minha análise repousa na obra Castelo interior, a qual, do ponto de vista retórico, configura-se como um relato da experiência vivida pela autora. Tal fato leva-me a refletir os escritos da monja carmelita como um certo tipo de ensino, fundado na experiência mística. Assim, a estrutura do conceito de oração em Teresa desvela-se em uma prática de meditação que gera e impulsiona o conhecimento de si e para o outro. A oração, então, pode ser apreendida tal como qualquer outro tipo de instrução (técnica), por meio de etapas (método), e apresentando um resultado: a união entre a alma e Deus. Dessa união resulta um tipo subjetivo de conhecimento, a saber: o conhecimento místico. Palavras chaves: oração; técnica; ensino; retórica; conhecimento. Rhetorical notes on the concept of prayer in Teresa of Ávila: towards a mystical pedagogy Abstract: In this paper, I present some reflections resulting from readings on Teresa of Ávila philosophical and religious thought. My objectives are focused on identifying theoretical elements that are linked to education in the Renaissance Modern thought in Spain. Among the concepts investigated, I highlight the relationship between teaching, prayer and praxis in Christian discourse, inferring, in this context, the existence of a Teresian pedagogy. The focus of my analysis is on Interior castle, which, from a rhetorical point of view, is configured as an account of the experience lived by the author. This fact leads me to reflect on the writings of the Carmelite nun as a certain type of teaching, based on mystical experience. Thus, the structure of the concept of prayer in Teresa is revealed in a meditation practice that generates and impels knowledge of oneself and for the other. Prayer, then, can be apprehended just like any other kind of instruction (technique), through stages (method), and presenting a result: the union between the soul and God (mystical knowledge). From this union results a subjective type of knowledge, namely: mystical knowledge. Key-words: prayer; technique; teaching, rhetoric; knowledge. Note retoriche sul concetto preghiera in pensiero teresiano: verso uma pedagogia mistica Astratto: In questo testo presentiamo alcune riflessioni che sono state costituite attraverso letture del pensiero filosofico e religioso di Teresa de Ávila. Nostri obiettivi sono focalizzati sull'individuazione di elementi teorici legati all'educazione del pensiero medievale. Tra i concetti indagati, si evidenzia il rapporto tra insegnamento, preghiera e prassi nel discorso cristiano, inferendo, in questo contesto, la possibilità di una pedagogia teresiana. Il fulcro della nostra analisi poggia sull'opera Castelo interior, che, da un punto di vista retorico, si configura come racconto dell'esperienza vissuta dall'autore. Questo fatto ci porta a riflettere gli scritti della monaca carmelitana come un certo tipo di insegnamento, basato sull'esperienza mistica. Così, la struttura del concetto di preghiera in Teresa si rivela in una pratica meditativa che genera e spinge alla conoscenza di sé e per l'altro. La preghiera, quindi, può essere appresa proprio come qualsiasi altro tipo di istruzione (tecnica), attraverso passaggi (metodo), e presentando un risultato finale: l'unione tra l'anima e Dio (conoscenza mistica). Parola chiave: preghiera; técnica; insgnamento; retorica; conoscenza. Data de registro: 19/02/2021 Data de aceite: 20/10/2021. (shrink)

This essay reads Julia Kristeva’s ‘novel-essay’ on St. Teresa of Avila, Thérèse mon amour, as a form of relationship to literature we can also see suggested, though not theorized, in Kristeva’s critical thought. Thérèse mon amour performs feats of interpretation and intimacy with St. Teresa’s writing that rehearse key tenets of her theology, but that also revive and re-open questions at the heart of Kristeva’s theoretical matrix, questions of narcissism and love, metaphor and language. The essay traces these questions in (...) Kristeva’s oeuvre, proposing that Thérèse mon amour exposes unexpected affinities between a Kristevan ethics of relationship and the radical dilemma of faith in St. Teresa. The two are united, I suggest, by the fraught project of writing love. (shrink)

What follows is but the attempt to draw the lessons from the mystical and visionary text of Teresa of?vila in order to consider today issues that concern us, questions that are asked of Aesthetics, and not only as theoretical discipline that theorises on the arts and considers the beautiful, but as a reflection on a?sthesis, of sensitivity, of the sensitive edge exposed by a constituent relationship which installs the human in a world. Consideration, then, of the happening, of entering the (...) world, creative experience. This essay seeks to consider the relationship between the image and the body via the visionary discourse of the mystics, because their writings question and lend shape to a large number of formulae of thought that can help us better understand the questions facing us today. Let us imagine that the mystics made of their body a frontier or a support where what by definition has no place could take place. Place: part of space occupied by a body, the boundary of a containing object. This then is what is addressed here, a question of boundaries. nema. (shrink)

In Part I of this paper, I argued that the mystical experiences of Teresa of Avila are well explained by the anthropological theory of I. M. Lewis. In Part II, I discuss how the causal gap between the social circumstances identified by Lewis and individual phenomenology can be filled in. I then show that Lewis's theory, thus supplemented, is a genuine competitor to the theistic understanding of mystical experience, and that it is much more strongly confirmed by the available evidence (...) than the latter view. If that is right, then Alston and Wainwright, among others, are mistaken in claiming that science cannot offer serious competition to theism in this arena. (shrink)

In queste pagine è delineata la vicenda esistenziale e intellettuale di Edith Stein. Donna straordinaria, è stata capace di racchiudere nella sua persona molte "possibili" vite. Le ha realizzate come ebrea e cattolica, fenomenologa e filosofa cristiana, docente e monaca carmelitana, agnostica e santa. Si tratta di un processo vitale dagli apparenti salti qualitativi, i quali si volgono all'ascolto di un medesimo nucleo identitario. Questa viva "formazione di sé" ha condotto Edith Stein a una "donazione di sé", culminata nell'Olocausto. Il (...) Diario di Edith si sovrappone ai pensieri di Angela Ales Bello, in veste di narratrice d'eccezione. Con la sentita partecipazione della narratrice, e insieme mantenendo il distacco critico della studiosa, viene scoperta la storia di un'anima. Le emozioni e le conquiste intellettuali trovano una sintesi grazie al peculiare approccio ai "fenomeni" che Edith Stein aveva appreso alla scuola di Edmund Husserl, di Tommaso d'Aquino e di Teresa D'Avila. Sintesi mirabile di pensatori che "si danno la mano" al di là dello spazio e del tempo--Front flap. (shrink)

"Unlike Freud, I do not claim that religion is just an illusion and a source of neurosis. The time has come to recognize, without being afraid of 'frightening' either the faithful or the agnostics, that the history of Christianity prepared the world for humanism." So writes Julia Kristeva in this provocative work, which skillfully upends our entrenched ideas about religion, belief, and the thought and work of a renowned psychoanalyst and critic. With dialogue and essay, Kristeva analyzes our "incredible need (...) to believe"--the inexorable push toward faith that, for Kristeva, lies at the heart of the psyche and the history of society. Examining the lives, theories, and convictions of Saint Teresa of Avila, Sigmund Freud, Donald Winnicott, Hannah Arendt, and other individuals, she investigates the intersection between the desire for God and the shadowy zone in which belief resides. Kristeva suggests that human beings are formed by their need to believe, beginning with our first attempts at speech and following through to our adolescent search for identity and meaning. Kristeva then applies her insight to contemporary religious clashes and the plight of immigrant populations, especially those of Islamic origin. Even if we no longer have faith in God, Kristeva argues, we must believe in human destiny and creative possibility. Reclaiming Christianity's openness to self-questioning and the search for knowledge, Kristeva urges a "new kind of politics," one that restores the integrity of the human community. (shrink)

RESUMEN El artículo responde algunas críticas planteadas por Ignacio Ávila a mi interpretación de la epistemología davidsoniana. Presento argumentos en contra de: a) que sea necesario distinguir entre representaciones epistemológicamente “peligrosas”e “inofensivas”; b) que el empirismo mínimo sea un tipo de realismo directo; c) que mi uso de la expresión “evidencia distal” y el interés por la teoría de la correspondencia sean asuntos ajenos a Davidson. Finalmente, sostengo que la triangulación es un elemento fundamental de la epistemología davidsoniana, pues (...) permite sortear la ansiedad realista manteniéndose en una postura no representacionalista. ABSTRACT In this article, I respond to some of Ignacio Ávila's criticisms of my interpretation of Davidson’s epistemology. I argue against: a) the need to distinguish between epistemologically “dangerous” and “harmless” representations; b) the idea that minimal empiricism is a kind of direct realism; and c) the claim that my usage of the expression “distal evidence” and interest in the theory of correspondence are issues that do not pertain to Davidson. Finally, I claim that triangulation is a key element in Davidsonian epistemology since it allows us to deal with the realist anxiety while maintaining a non-representationalist viewpoint. (shrink)

In this article I make links between melancholia, creativity and communion with God at a personal level, referencing John’s gospel, ‘God’s house has many rooms’ and ‘The Mansions’, a text written by Theresa of Avila where the ‘mansion’ is an analogy for the space in which God’s omniscient love is realized. My paintings were formed from the day-to-day lived experience of ‘psycheache’ and are a graphic representation of a non-explainable reality. I see in these paintings a transcendent reality for they (...) are the markings I made to express a state-of-being that could not be articulated. During this episode of Depression I painted dark interiors with rambling corridors, flights of steps and doorways leading into rooms empty of people. (shrink)

A study of the methods, approaches, prayers, etc to realize the 'unity experience' with THE ONE REAL SELF (Vedanta, Hinduism, ) God (Judaism), Gottheit (Christianity), Buddha mind (Buddhism), The Beloved (Sufism, Islam) of a number of mystics from several religious traditions. I wrote about this in a number of books and articles, for example about methods, techniques, practices and methodology here: as well as exploring and illustrating the subject-matter of philosophizing here: Explorations, questions and searches not put down on paper (...) are probably more important than the ones mentioned above. These were occurrences for almost as long as I can remember. They took many forms, endless questions about everything under the sun, unsatisfied with unexplained socio-cultural institutions, communities, social relationships, social roles, behaviour, values, norms and much more – I had to question them rather than merely submit to them or act in accordance with them. Although I expressed these questions and queries about the status quo in many areas such as sport, art, social sciences, endless reading and marginal groups and relationships I realized that they form part of the philosophical discourse. Not the discourse that has become the expression of the professionalization of philosophy the last few hundred years, but of the not-institutionalized practice of original thinking, of creative philosophical thinking. As examples of the latter, Socrates, of course, the pre-Socratics, Plato, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Plotinus, writers on Mysticism such as Meister Eckhart, van Ruysbroeck, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, from Advaita, Zen and other Buddhist schools, Wittgenstein, Hume, German Idealists, Rumi, novelists and poets, Paul Klee and other visual artists and many names who form part of the seeking for the unity-experience as explored in History of Mysticism (those who seek the unity experience, to become ONE with THE ONE, Godhead, the one real Self, Buddha mind, Sophos, etc). History of Mysticism *was first published by Atma Books in 1987, now and is a unique compendium of the lives and teachings of the world's best known mystics. They are presented in chronological order, and include representatives of every religious tradition, revealing the broad universality of genuine religious experience. expanded and revised Thirtieth Anniversary edition is available as a free downloadable PDF document on this website at my Downloads page. This book is fundamental for seasoned scholars of philosophy and religion as well as anyone new to the study of Mysticism. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:diacritics 35.1 (2005) 8-21MuseSearchJournalsThis JournalContents[Access article in PDF]Klossowski's Reading of Nietzsche Impulses, Phantasms, Simulacra, StereotypesDaniel W. SmithIn his writings on Nietzsche, Pierre Klossowski makes use of various concepts—such as intensities, phantasms, simulacra and stereotypes, resemblance and dissemblance, gregariousness and singularity—that have no place in Nietzsche's own oeuvre. These concepts are Klossowski's own creations, his own contributions to thought. Although Klossowski consistently refused to characterize himself as a philosopher ("Je (...) suis une 'maniaque,'" he once said, "Un point, c'est tout!"),1 his work in its entirety was marked by an extraordinary conceptual creation. From this point of view, his Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle can be read as a work in philosophy—at least in the idiosyncratic sense given to this term by Gilles Deleuze, who defined philosophy as the creation or invention of concepts [Deleuze and Guattari 2]. No doubt, Klossowski remains an almost unclassifiable figure—philosopher, novelist, essayist, translator, artist—and attempting to analyze his work through the prism of philosophy may seem to be a reductive approach that belies the complexity of his exceptional oeuvre. Reading Klossowski as a conceptual innovator, however, at least has the advantage of allowing us to chart a consistent trajectory through his difficult and often labyrinthine text, without denying its other dimensions (affective, perceptive, literary, and so on). In what follows, then, I would like to examine three of Klossowski's most characteristic and important concepts—impulses and their intensities, phantasms, and simulacra and their stereotypes—as well as the precise interrelations he establishes among them. Taken together, these three concepts describe what Klossowski terms the tripartite economy of soul, which constitutes the implicit model through which he interprets Nietzsche's thought.1Impulses as Fluctuating IntensitiesKlossowski describes his books on both Nietzsche and Sade as "essays devoted not to ideologies but to the physiognomies of problematic thinkers who differ greatly from each other" ["Postface" 137, emphasis added]. This emphasis on the "physiognomy" of thinkers reflects Nietzsche's insistence on taking the body rather than the mind as a guide for philosophy since the body is a more accessible phenomenon, less surrounded by myth and superstition. "The body and physiology as the starting point," Nietzsche wrote. "Why?... The phenomenon of the body is the richer, clearer, more tangible [End Page 8] phenomenon.... Belief in the body is more fundamental than belief in the soul" [WP §§492, 489, 491]. Klossowski himself, however, when writing of the intensive status of the impulses, frequently makes use of the term "soul" (âme), owing in part, no doubt, to his interest in the theological literature of the mystics, such as Meister Eckhardt and Teresa of Avila. For the mystics, the depth of the soul is something irreducible and uncreated: it eludes the exercise of the created intellect, and can only be grasped negatively.2 Nonetheless, if one can find a similar apophaticism (or "negative theology") in Klossowski, it is related exclusively to the immanent and chaotic movements of the soul's intensive affects, and not to the transcendence of God. What is incommunicable in the soul (or body) are its "impulses"—their fluctuations of intensity, their rises and falls, their manic elations and depressive descents, which are in constant variation.Nietzsche himself had recourse to a highly varied vocabulary to describe what Klossowski summarizes in the term "impulse": "drive" (Triebe), "desire" (Begierden), "instinct" (Instinke), "power" (Mächte), "force" (Kräfte), "impulse" (Reize, Impulse), "passion" (Leidenschaften), "feeling" (Gefülen), "affect" (Affekte), "pathos" (Pathos), and so on.3 Klossowski frequently employs the musical term tonalité to describe these states of the soul's fluctuating intensities—their diverse tones, timbres, and changing amplitudes—which can take on various forms ("aggressiveness, tolerance, intimidation, anguish, the need for solitude, the forgetting of oneself" [NVC 6]). At bottom, what these impulses express are what Klossowski calls the "obstinate singularity" of the human soul, which is by nature noncommunicable; they constitute "the unexchangeable depth" (le fond inéchangeable) or "the unintelligible depth" (le fond unintelligible) of the soul. What makes every individual... (shrink)

Critical study on with special reference to peripatetics, Avicenna, 980-1037.