CONTENIDO: Itinerarios nietzscheanos / Aníbal Córdoba M. / - Nietzscher y la historia / Luis Antonio Restrepo A. / - Lenguaje, genealogía e interpretación / Jairo Montoya G. / - El amor y la muerte en la vida y el pensamiento de Nietzsche / Carlos Mario González R. / - La caverna de la interpretación / Jorge Mario Mejía T. / - Genealogía y poder / Jean Paul Margot / - Nietzche y la escritura / Jorge Alberto Naranjo M. (...) / - Salud, enfermedad, música. Reflexiones sobre la filosofía de Friedrich Nietzsche / Javier Escobar I / - Nietzche y Deleuze: encuentros / Juan Gonzalo Moreno V. (shrink)

There has been a call for a potentially revolutionary change to our existing understanding of the psychological concept of personal identity. Apparently, people can psychologically represent people, including themselves, as multiple individuals at the same time. Here we ask whether the intransitive judgments found in these studies truly reflect the operation of an intransitive concept of personal identity. We manipulate several factors that arbitrate between transitivity and intransitivity and find most support for transitivity: in contrast to prior work, most participants (...) do not make intransitive judgments when there is any reason to favor one individual over another. People change which single individual they personally identify with, depending on which individual competes more strongly or weakly for identity, rather than identifying with both individuals. Even when two individuals are identical and therefore both entitled to be the same person, we find that people make more transitive judgments once they understand the practical commitments of their responses (Experiment 4), and report not being able to actually imagine two perspectives simultaneously when reasoning about the scenario (Experiment 5). In short, we suggest that while people may make intransitive judgments, these do not reflect that they psychologically represent identity in an intransitive manner. (shrink)

In the first year of the twentieth century, in Gottingen, Husserl delivered two talks dealing with a problem that proved central in his philosophical development, that of imaginary elements in mathematics. In order to solve this problem Husserl introduced a logical notion, called “definiteness”, and variants of it, that are somehow related, he claimed, to Hilbert’s notions of completeness. Many different interpretations of what precisely Husserl meant by this notion, and its relations with Hilbert’s ones, have been proposed, but no (...) consensus has been reached. In this paper I approach this question afresh and thoroughly, taking into consideration not only the relevant texts and context, as others have also done before, but, more importantly, Husserl’s philosophy, his intuition-based epistemology in particular. Based on a system of clearly defined concepts that I here present, I reinforce an interpretation—definiteness as a form of syntactic completeness—that has, I believe, some advantages vis-à-vis alternative interpretations. It is in conformity with the available texts; it makes clear that Husserl’s notion of definiteness is indeed close to Hilbert’s notions of completeness; it solves the important problem of imaginaries for which it was created; and last, but not least, it fits naturally into Husserl’s system of concepts and ideas. (shrink)

This article is mainly about two things: first, exploring the gatherings of studying in the university. And second, it is about describing new relations to understand studying practices beyond the normative interventions carried out inside learning environments and the clearly demarcated functions imposed to their practice. In a certain sense, common assumptions about study recognize its importance for achieving learning goals and its capacity to be designed according to pre-conceived intentions. However, in an attempt to reconsider our understanding about studying, (...) the basic arguments here is that studying practices are constituted by open-ended activities that are guided by present interests to things that matter. Based on Theodore Schatzki’s practice theory, activities of studying were observed through scenes, where students and study-materiality join together in the event of studying at the Agora Learning Centre of KU Leuven in Belgium. Adopting a particular sensibility and narrative to describe and attend to actions and material entities entangled on studying activities, the article attempts to take a look at these activities beyond their functionality. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to take a look at ‘what is going on’ in studying practices. (shrink)

SUÁREZ MOLANO, José Olimpo. Syllabus sobre filosofía política. Medellín: Colección Pensamiento Político Contemporáneo, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana-Concejo de Medellín, No 3, 2003, 179 p.

The purpose of this investigation is to establish the interference of Artificial Intelligence in the legal field, with special attention to the legal decision. For this, a descriptive analysis of its use in judicial, administrative and legislative decisions is carried out addressing scenarios of substantive, procedural and probative law in order to solve the following legal question: Is artificial intelligence an instrument to adopt legal decisions or Is it a new entity that generates legal decisions? This question is developed taking (...) into account different sources of law, including judicial pronouncements, doctrine and legislation that develops the use of artificial intelligence, which are analyzed with government and state policies that have raised their incorporation into the field of law. (shrink)

RESUMO O objetivo do presente trabalho consiste em explicitar o itinerário ou linha argumentativa de Gilles Deleuze no artigo intitulado "A concepção da diferença em Bergson", de 1954. Postula-se que nesse trabalho de 1954, Deleuze exponha a noção de 'diferença', que está presente na obra de Henri Bergson, por meio da relação entre três dimensões: metodológica, cosmológica e ontológica. Para tanto, caracteriza-se o conjunto do pensamento de Deleuze em relação à História da Filosofia. Em seguida, identifica-se o percurso das pesquisas (...) de Deleuze sobre a obra de Bergson no contexto de sua versão para a História da Filosofia. Por fim, explicita-se o itinerário de Deleuze no artigo de 1954: "A concepção da diferença em Bergson". ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to explain the itinerary or argumentative line of Gilles Deleuze in the article named "The conception of difference in Bergson" of 1954. It is postulated that in this work of 1954, Deleuze exposes the notion of "difference", which is present in the work of Henri Bergson, through the relation between three dimensions: the methodological, cosmological and ontological ones. For that purpose, the whole of Deleuze's thought in relation to the History of Philosophy is characterized. Then, we identify the course of Deleuze's research on Bergson's work in the context of his version for the History of Philosophy. Finally, we explain the itinerary of Deleuze in the article of 1954: "The conception of difference in Bergson". (shrink)

This book expands the landscape of research in mathematics education by analyzing how the body influences mathematical thinking.

En el año 2002, el profesor Jairo Urrea Henao impulsó en el Programa de Filosofía de la Universidad del Quindío, la conformación de áreas de saber para que los profesores se agruparan en torno a sus intereses disciplinares. La propuesta proyectó las áreas de Lenguaje y ciencia, Ética y política y Bioética y educación.

En oposición al escepticismo declarado por Callender y Cohen respecto de la existencia de algún problema en torno a la representación científica, el objetivo de este artículo es mostrar un conjunto de características peculiares de la representación científica, aunque no exclusivas, que una teoría satisfactoria debe explicar. Estas son: la predicación, la posibilidad de ser una representación incorrecta, el razonamiento subrogatorio y la independencia entre el contenido y la denotación. Además, se argumenta que una teoría satisfactoria de la representación debe (...) ofrecer una definición de sus medios representacionales, es decir, de lo que es un modelo científico. Finalmente, se propone que para dar cuenta de estas características basta responder la pregunta: ¿Cómo nos permiten los modelos científicos ganar información sobre el objeto representado? (shrink)

Resumen El sujeto es negatividad, pero esto no es ninguna carencia o falta, al contrario, es potencia: La sustancia, su autocontracción en un punto vacío, es la singularidad como lo opuesto a la particularidad el sujeto es el poder de la negatividad. Así la negatividad del sujeto es eso que va más allá de cualquier sustancia particular. La negatividad de la que plantea este trabajo tomará la vía que se propone desde la propuesta del filósofo esloveno Zizek desde su apuesta (...) hegeliano- lacaniana. En esa propuesta ya no se trata de poder recuperar a ese Otro a como dé lugar, situación que podría explicar muchas de las manifestaciones subjetivas en el siglo XXI, donde el sujeto al pretender reactivamente taponar la inconsistencia del Otro, tapona la fisura de mismo del sujeto. La practica psicoanalítica desde la negatividad apuesta por un trabajo que bordee ese agujero, dicha práctica en vez de apuntar a un yo positivizado para llenar ese vacío constitutivo del sujeto, se apuesta por el vacío no sólo del sujeto sino del Otro para constituir un proyecto común donde la negatividad sea tratada desde un saber hacer que no la desconozca sino la enfrente. (shrink)

¿Qué es el materialismo y cómo este opera en la praxis psicoanalítica? Esa es la pregunta a la cual este artículo intenta responder, para eso se realiza un breve recorrido histórico conceptual por algunas apuestas teórico-prácticas desde Freud, pasando por Lacan hasta pensadores contemporáneos. Se profundizó en algunas nociones de Slavoj Žižek, específicamente en su concepción materialista o lo que él mismo denomina «una refundación del materialismo dialéctico», donde se presenta una mezcla inconsciente no-toda. Es a propósito de dicha perspectiva (...) teórica que en este trabajo se ponen en tela de juicio algunos debates clínicos desde la filosofía y el psicoanálisis. (shrink)

O tema deste artigo são as relações entre mídia e cultura, através do conflito simbólico que se instala a partir de um blow up: a torcedora Patrícia Moreira, em 2014, no jogo entre Grêmio e Santos, gritando a palavra 'ma-ca-co'. Esse tema é construído enquanto circulação midiática. Esse objeto, amplo e diversificado, é aqui abordado em torno de uma questão específica: a incerteza nos processos midiáticos. A metodologia é de análise das interações entre atores, instituições midiáticas e midiatizadas, configurando um (...) ambiente-circuito imprevisível. A proposição é que os dilemas e impasses sócio-antropológicos não são apenas atualizados nos processos midiáticos, mas são também transformados pelo contato entre territórios antes estabilizados. A instabilidade nas interações é sugerida como núcleo ativador do processo circulatório. (shrink)

The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies, by Marcel Mauss, is an important reference in Social Sciences for thinking about the theme of the gift, proposed in this congress. This brief work has as goal to present a rereading of The Gift by contemporary authors that try to think today’s society under this perspective. It’s a literature review of books and articles by Allain Caillé, Jacques Godbout and some Brazilian authors: Eric Sabourin, Marcos Lanna, Paulo Henrique Martins (...) and Jorge Luiz Villela. It is important to emphasize, according to Caillé, 1998, that “the paradigm of the gift is not a machine for blowing solutions, but for inspiring questions”. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente artigo é apresentar e confrontar os pressupostos de duas tradições interpretativas _Leviatã _de Thomas Hobbes. Pretendo demonstrar como, a partir dos pressupostos e dos critérios de interpretação de cada uma delas, teremos não apenas duas abordagens diversas, mas resultados e soluções distintas para problemas políticos e morais que o próprio Hobbes buscou solucionar com essa obra. Na primeira parte do artigo, apresentarei os aspectos inovadores da nova interpretação do _Leviatã_ em contraposição às interpretações tradicionais ou ortodoxas. (...) Na segunda parte, confrontarei essa abordagem com a abordagem tradicional sobre um problema específico, mas central na filosofia de Hobbes: o problema da desordem social. Apresentarei a tese tradicional segundo a qual a solução para o problema da desordem seria criar um poder capaz de impor sanções que não permitissem que o interesse racional egoísta atuasse de forma irrestrita. Em seguida, apresentarei a solução revisionista segundo a qual a solução seria produzir uma estável e apropriada reconfiguração dos diversos interesses morais e religiosos dos cidadãos através de um processo de educação contínua responsável pelo consenso social. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss the version of predicative analysis put forward by Hermann Weyl in "Das Kontinuum". I try to establish how much of the underlying motivation for Weyl's position may be due to his acceptance of a phenomenological philosophical perspective. More specifically, I analyze Weyl's philosophical ideas in connexion with the work of Husserl, in particular "Logische Untersuchungen" and "Ideen I". I believe that this interpretation of Weyl can clarify the views on mathematical existence and mathematical intuition which (...) are implicit in "Das Kontinuum". (shrink)

People sometimes explain behavior by appealing to an essentialist concept of the self, often referred to as the true self. Existing studies suggest that people tend to believe that the true self is morally virtuous; that is deep inside, every person is motivated to behave in morally good ways. Is this belief particular to individuals with optimistic beliefs or people from Western cultures, or does it reflect a widely held cognitive bias in how people understand the self? To address this (...) question, we tested the good true self theory against two potential boundary conditions that are known to elicit different beliefs about the self as a whole. Study 1 tested whether individual differences in misanthropy—the tendency to view humans negatively—predict beliefs about the good true self in an American sample. The results indicate a consistent belief in a good true self, even among individuals who have an explicitly pessimistic view of others. Study 2 compared true self-attributions across cultural groups, by comparing samples from an independent country and a diverse set of interdependent countries. Results indicated that the direction and magnitude of the effect are comparable across all groups we tested. The belief in a good true self appears robust across groups varying in cultural orientation or misanthropy, suggesting a consistent psychological tendency to view the true self as morally good. (shrink)

For a long while the dilemma between ‘not being’ and ‘being other’ has haunted the history of Brazil. The country's mixed-race condition lay at the heart of the dilemma which reached its apogee in the second half of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. At that point in its history, that is, its emergence as a nation-state, the construction of a national identity became an imperative for the political and intellectual elites of Brazil. In this context, a (...) European, the German naturalist, Carl von Martius, made himself particularly notable for having been one of the first, after Independence, to point out the significance of miscegenation in the composition of Brazilian identity. (shrink)

A growing body of research has examined how people judge the persistence of identity over time—that is, how they decide that a particular individual is the same entity from one time to the next. While a great deal of progress has been made in understanding the types of features that people typically consider when making such judgments, to date, existing work has not explored how these judgments may be shaped by normative considerations. The present studies demonstrate that normative beliefs do (...) appear to play an important role in people's beliefs about persistence. Specifically, people are more likely to judge that the identity of a given entity remains the same when its features improve than when its features deteriorate. Study 1 provides a basic demonstration of this effect. Study 2 shows that this effect is moderated by individual differences in normative beliefs. Study 3 examines the underlying mechanism, which is the belief that, in general, various entities are essentially good. Study 4 directly manipulates beliefs about essence to show that the positivity bias regarding essences is causally responsible for the effect. (shrink)

Para este ensayo es necesario introducir un concepto que se denominará premisas de la conversación, teniendo en cuenta el planteamiento de los teóricos de la argumentación en su propuesta de premisas de la argumentación. Dichas premisas son tomadas de algunos estudiosos del lenguaje que han observado qué estructuras, normas y ceremonias se perfilan para que se dé la conversación. No basta, como sugieren los teóricos de la nueva retórica, con hablar un idioma para desarrollar una conversación, pues, se requiere de (...) mucho más, y esto es, de normas y estructuras que subyacen en ella misma; y agregan, nadie lo sabe mejor que el autor de Alicia en el país de las maravillas. La Alicia de Carroll, tanto en el país de las maravillas como a través del espejo, le es casi imposible entablar una conversación con alguno de los personajes fantásticos que se presentan en las dos obras. Porque además de saber usar unas reglas gramaticales y un léxico, es necesario saber que, al usar la lengua, o como lo llama Austin acto locucionario, también hay que ser consciente de que el uso de la lengua es social, por lo que requiere de ciertas condiciones, ceremonias y reglas que a continuación expondremos. (shrink)

Jairo Moreno adapts the methodologies and nomenclature of Foucault’s "archaeology of knowledge" and applies it through individual case studies to the theoretical writings of Zarlino, Descartes, Rameau, and Weber. His conclusion summarizes the conditions—musical, philosophical, and historical—that "make a certain form of thought about music necessary and possible at the time it emerges." Musical Meaning and Interpretation—Robert S. Hatten, editor.

El profesor Patiño logra en este libro dos objetivos claves para el estudioso de la Filosofía del Lenguaje y la comunicación: por un lado, sintetiza temáticamente los principales aportes que se han hecho para que surja y se consolide la Filosofía del Lenguaje y su estudio sistemático sobre los actos de habla o actos de lenguaje que intervienen en la comunicación; y por otro lado, de una manera crítica, actualiza los temas y problemas que se han discutido en diferentes campos (...) relacionados con el tema. (shrink)

El presente artículo se propone hacer un rastreo a través de un corpus epistolar del siglo XVI, con el fin de obtener algunos datos lingüísticos acerca de las variedades árabes que se hablaban en esa época en la parte occidental de Marruecos. Asimismo, este estudio trata de arrojar luz acerca del desarrollo histórico de varios rasgos dialectales, los cuales pueden ayudarnos a comprender mejor la evolución de los dialectos árabes en Marruecos y en el Magreb. Nuestro estudio se basa en (...) el análisis lingüístico de algunas de las cartas luso-marroquíes que se conservan en el Archivo Nacional de la Torre do Tombo (Lisboa). (shrink)

This article argues that New Granadian and Co-lombian leaders examined models of material and intellectual progress in the United States and in their neighboring countries within the hemisphere. For many Spanish-Americans, the material progress already achieved by the United States and the North Atlantic overall was an idealized end, and they looked at some U.S. institutions as potential templates. As for the means to meet such an idealized end, influential people in New Granada and Colombia found among their neighboring countries (...) a more pragmatic set of experiences that would help them foster progress in their own right. Over the second half of the nineteenth century, and more acti-vely when turning into the twentieth, some Colombian leaders sought to follow the example of countries such as Argentina, one of the front-runners of Latin American contemporary progress. (shrink)

Resumen: El artículo es la primera parte de un trabajo académico que estudia los fundamentos teórico-conceptuales de la propuesta metodológica de Norman Fairclough e Isabela Fairclough, especialmente la relación entre el concepto de contexto y deliberación con los que sustentan que el discurso político de un determinado actor político para ser político debe pertenecer a un contexto institucionalizado. Tesis que defienden desde la naturaleza política de Aristóteles concebida como un medio para llegar cooperativamente y a través de la acción de (...) la deliberación a asuntos de interés común. Si bien la naturaleza de la política en Aristóteles tiene como esencia la acción humana y la deliberación, también es claro en su política que los esclavos no deliberan. Se pretende mostrar la manera como Norman Fairclough e Isabela Fairclough lidian con la exclusión aristotélica para contribuir al desarrollo teórico-conceptual del análisis crítico del discurso.: This article is the first part of an academic work that studies the theoretical-conceptual foundations of the methodological proposal of Norman Fairclough and Isabela Fairclough, especially the relationship between the concept of context and deliberation with those who support that the political discourse of a given political actor must belong to an institutionalized context. Thesis that they defend from the concept of political nature from Aristotle, conceived to arrive cooperatively and through the action of deliberation to matters of common interest. While the nature of Aristotle's politics is based on human action and deliberation, it is also clear in its policy that slaves do not deliberate. It is intended to show the way Norman Fairclough and Isabela Fairclough deal with Aristotelian exclusion to contribute to the theoretical-conceptual development of critical discourse analysis. (shrink)

Popper's thesis that the growth of knowledge lies in the emergence of problems out of criticism and takes place in an autonomous world of products of the human mind (his so-called world-3) raises two questions: (1) Why does criticism lead to new problems, and (2) Why can only a limited number of tentative solutions arise at a given time? I propose the following answer: Criticism entails an overlooked evolutionary world-3 mechanism, namely, the migration of piece meal conceptual schemes from one (...) research tradition to another. Popper by passed the questions above because he relied very heavily on the selective power of criticism. (shrink)

In this paper we show that the class of fork squares has a complete orthodox axiomatization in fork arrow logic (FAL). This result may be seen as an orthodox counterpart of Venema's non-orthodox axiomatization for the class of squares in arrow logic. FAL is the modal logic of fork algebras (FAs) just as arrow logic is the modal logic of relation algebras (RAs). FAs extend RAs by a binary fork operator and are axiomatized by adding three equations to RAs equational (...) axiomatization. A proper FA is an algebra of relations where the fork is induced by an injective operation coding pair formation. In contrast to RAs, FAs are representable by proper ones and their equational theory has the expressive power of full first-order logic. A square semantics (the set of arrows is ᵎ x ᵎ for some set ᵎ) for arrow logic was defined by Y. Venema. Due to the negative results about the finite axiomatizability of representable RAs, Venema provided a non-orthodox finite axiomatization for arrow logic by adding a new rule governing the applications of a difference operator. We address here the question of extending the type of relational structures to define orthodox axiomatizations for the class of squares. Given the connections between this problem and the finitization problem addressed by I. Németi, we suspect that this cannot be done by using only logical operations. The modal version of the FA equations provides an orthodox axiomatization for FAL which is complete in view of the representability of FAs. Here we review this result and carry it further to prove that this orthodox axiomatization for FAL also axiomatizes the class of fork squares. (shrink)

Desde la antigüedad greco-latina viene planteado un problema que aún persiste en nuestrosdías ¿cuál es el estatuto que nos permite distinguir claramente la especificidad de un textoescrito? La necesidad de presentar a uno de los filósofos más emblemáticos, Sócrates, a lasnuevas generaciones creó un reto difícil de superar. El hecho de que este pensador nodejara obra escrita ni planteara una teoría específica, pero al tiempo fuese un ejemplo depensador y de vida, hizo a los que le conocieron, se propusieran reconstruir (...) esta difícilfaceta de una forma vívida. Tanto Platón, Jenofonte, Antístenes y Esquines, los másconocidos biógrafos de Sócrates, tuvieron que ingeniárselas para hacer pasar a la historia aeste genial filósofo. Según noticias de Werner Jeager en la época de estos filósofos seusaba una forma estilística denominada Enkonion o Elkonion, para hacer un retrato escritode una persona importante, una especie de panegírico que Aristóteles en su Retóricaclasifica como perteneciente uno de los géneros de la argumentación: el género epidíctico.En el análisis de este género discursivo se puede observar tal problemática. Por ejemplo losDiálogos de Platón, cuyo personaje central es Sócrates, están a medio camino entre lo quehoy conocemos como filosofía, retórica y literatura, y que en aquella época no se hacía taldistinción tajante como se hace hoy en día. Analizando la estructura de las diferentespresentaciones del filósofo podemos ver claramente que el problema que se les presentó alos biógrafos fue de retórica que es la base que fundamenta los discursos filosóficos yliterarios. (shrink)

The whole of Montaigne's work can be read as a great educational proposal: to know oneself better in order to build oneself better and face life better. In this article we will examine a reading from a vital dialectic of education in, The Essays. A dialectic that starts from Montaigne's individual experience, moves through the entire human condition, and returns to the reader willing to be analyzed. From this dialogical perspective, training in judgment is studied as a nodal point in (...) the educational process, in which the teacher plays a fundamental role. In conclusion, a tentative proposal of Montaigne’s curriculum is asserted in which philosophy has a fundamental role, by offering elements to converse with life. (shrink)

El artículo pretende mostrar que son cuatro los momentos esenciales que constituyen el Timeo de Platón y que sólo la consideración conjunta de ellos nos da una combinación adecuada para abrir el enigma del diálogo. Estos cuatro momentos son: l. El problema de lo divino y su relación con el mundo; 2. La relación entre Eikos- Logos, Cosmos y Filosofía; 3. La teoría de los elementos y su relación con el espacio; 4. El problema del Tiempo y la necesidad.

Este ensayo tiene como propósito la interpretación del pasaje 37d5-7 del Timeo de Platón, en el cual se dice que el tiempo es una imagen móvil eónica del aión que permanece en lo uno y que marcha según el número. La tesis central es que el tiempo es entendido por Platón desde la dimensión del lenguaje (lógos) y la dimensión de la necesidad (anánké), que se entrecruzan en el tiempo. Para ello se discuten brevemente estos conceptos, así como la manera (...) en que ambos participan en la determinación de aquello que llamamos tiempo. También se trata de pensar un concepto de aión como vida que esté libre de la connotación de eternidad introducida por la tradición cristiana. Se quiere además mostrar como los conceptos de lógos y anánké, de lenguaje y necesidad, son los conceptos que subyacen a toda su filosofía. (shrink)

This article is a product of research about global public policies. In this is proposes an ethical basis of international cooperation as a GPP capable of providing public world goods of the international system. Through an analysis of the recent theoretical framework of IC it is concluded that such theories, even those that do not declare it explicitly, are based on Kantian cosmopolitan ethics. Even those theories that are based on the hobbesian premise of natural anarchy in state of war. (...) In this article also is suggests the urgency of an international governance system with a GPP focused in cooperation and capable to providing the world's supreme public good: The peace with human security. (shrink)

The paper advances the hypothesis that George Berkeley's philosophy does not overcome solipsism. In order to do this, it presents four difficulties on his arguments for other existences: (I) the argument about the existence of an external cause for sensitive ideas faces the difficulty of not eliminating the possibility that the mind itself is the cause of these ideas; (II) the argument present in the Dialogues to prove the existence of God is circular: it presupposes the existence of objects distinct (...) from the mind, however, the argument for the existence of these objects presupposes the existence of God; (III) the argument in favor of the existence of those objects, besides being related to the mentioned circularity, is developed without Berkeley presenting a clear notion of what these objects are; (IV) the argument for the existence of other minds, in what appears to be their most plausible interpretation – which states that it is possible to infer the existence of other minds from the observation of irregular, inconstant, and vicious actions in subjects –, faces the difficulty that, in a scenario where such actions do not exist, Berkeley loses the evidence for the existence of other minds. (shrink)

The paper states a hypothesis concerning Thomas Reid's moderation in his reply to skepticism. It is initially argued that commonsense beliefs, though due to reliable faculties, are doubtful, fallible, and correctable. They are not completely immune to skeptical attack. It is further argued that Reid intends to reply only to one form of skepticism, the partial one – the skepticism of authors who accept at least one mental faculty as a reliable source of knowledge. Reid does not intend to argue (...) with the skeptic who equally denies his assent to the reliability of all faculties – that is, the radical skeptic. This radical form of skepticism is harmless to practical life and philosophy and, for that reason, is not a threat. Finally, the hypothesis advanced is discussed considering other interpretations of Reid’s reply to skepticism. (shrink)

The paper discusses the notions of ‘consciousness’ and ‘reflection’ in John Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding. It attempts to present two criteria by means of which it would be possible to distinguish between these mental activities. Firstly, consciousness is a passive, involuntary activity and does not depend on attention to be exerted, unlike reflection, which is, at least in one of its degrees – since Locke conceives the existence of two degrees of reflection –, an active, voluntary, and attentive (...) activity of mind. Second, consciousness may be distinguished from reflection in that it is a mental activity that produces judgments / beliefs, unlike reflection, whose activities only produce ideas. While consciousness allows human beings to know – to judge about and to believe the existence of their mental phenomena –, reflection is only a mental capacity to have ideas and, as such, it is not true or false. (shrink)