Dissertação: FREIRE, Gerson Bento. Sociedade de Teologia e Ciências da Religião : constituição, percurso e abordagens. 2014. Dissertação , Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Religião, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte.

Knowing Persons is an original study of Plato's account of personhood. For Plato, embodied persons are images of a disembodied ideal. The ideal person is a knower. Hence, the lives of embodied persons need to be understood according to Plato's metaphysics of imagery. For Gerson, Plato's account of embodied personhood is not accurately conflated with Cartesian dualism. Plato's dualism is more appropriately seen in the contrast between the ideal disembodied person and the embodied one than in the contrast between (...) mind or soul and body. (shrink)

Discusses the role of education in liberating the oppressed people of the Third World.

THE PRE-SOCRATIC ORIGINS OF NATURAL THEOLOGY § INTRODUCTION St Augustine informs us that pagan philosophers divided theology into three parts: () civic ...

In the past few decades, liberal and democratic thought has been subjected to attacks from the adherents of nationalism, populism, and social radicalism. Much of these attacks involve suspicions about liberalism’s association with the contents and purveyors of structured knowledge, scientific and humanistic alike. I suggest that an examination of the history of liberal beliefs may add to our understanding of what is at stake. Such an examination may reveal how liberal thought in the twentieth century shifted away from its (...) earlier individualist and constitutional position towards the pluralist position that grants a special place to educated knowledge, to experts and professionals, and thus invites allegations of elitism. In particular, I focus on the differences between the ideas that conventional liberal authors elaborated during early modernity and the nineteenth century, on the one hand, and the version of liberal values and the polity based on them that were tacitly adopted during the mid-twentieth century, on the other hand. The examination involves highlighting the common denominators of mid-century authors on right, left, and centre, such as Laski, Popper and Hayek, as well as asking what in their shared worldview could attract allegations of elitism from later generations. (shrink)

Por incorporar a esperança na pedagogia crítica para, um só tempo, humanizar radicalmente a educação e transformar a sociedade, ele faz aumentar nossas expectativas sobre o que são capazes de fazer uma teoria e uma pedagogia ao construir um caminho que demonstra a indissociabilidade de ordem teórica e prática.

In this book, we come to understand the author's pedagogical thinking even better, through the critical seriousness, humanistic objectivity, and engaged ...

English summary: In its core, this book represents a defense of the thesis that we are essentially biological creatures of the species Homo sapiens - and not essentially persons. This thesis has consequences for the problem of personal identity. An important aspect of its defense - and the book's second central line of argumentation - is, therefore, to substantiate that ours are the diachronic identity conditions of biological beings. Attempting to reach both argumentation goals, one has to overcome some obstacles, (...) from motivating an appropriate ontological framework via explaining the concept of the animate being to demonstrating that essentialism is still a viable option today. In this way, a picture gradually emerges which places us humans, as living beings among other living beings, in a biological world, without, however, playing down that we are, at least typically, also persons with a rich spiritual life. German description: Das Buch ist im Kern eine Verteidigung der These, dass wir wesentlich biologische Lebewesen der Spezies Homo sapiens sind - und nicht etwa wesentlich Personen. Diese These hat Konsequenzen fur das Problem der personalen Identitat. Ein wichtiger Aspekt ihrer Verteidigung - und der zweite zentrale Argumentationsstrang des Buchs - liegt demnach darin, zu begrunden, dass wir die diachronen Identitatsbedingungen biologischer Lebewesen haben. Der Versuch, beide Argumentstationsziele zu erreichen, muss einige Hurden nehmen: angefangen von einer Motivierung eines passenden ontologischen Rahmens uber eine Erlauterung des Begriffs des Lebewesens bis hin zu dem Nachweis, dass ein Essentialismus heutzutage noch eine gangbare Option ist. Auf diese Weise entsteht nach und nach ein Bild, das uns Menschen, als Lebewesen unter anderen Lebewesen, in eine biologische Welt einordnet, ohne dabei aber kleinzureden, dass wir, zumindest typischerweise, auch Personen mit einem reichhaltigen geistigen Leben sind. (shrink)

_ Source: _Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 65 - 94 In his highly influential 1928 article ‘The _Parmenides_ of Plato and the Origin of the Neoplatonic “One”,’ E.R. Dodds argued, _inter alia_, that among the so-called Neoplatonists Plotinus was the first to interpret Plato’s _Parmenides_ in terms of the distinctive three ‘hypostases’, One, Intellect, and Soul. Dodds argued that this interpretation was embraced and extensively developed by Proclus, among others. In this paper, I argue that although Plotinus took _Parmenides_ to (...) contain a sort of outline of the true metaphysical principles, he understood the One of the first hypothesis of the second part of the dialogue in a way importantly different from the way that Proclus understood it. The characterization of this One, especially its identity with the Idea of the Good of _Republic_, has significant ramification for Plotinus’ philosophy that set it apart from Proclus’ philosophy in ways hitherto infrequently noted. The widely accepted reasons for rejecting Proclus’ interpretation do not apply to the interpretation of Plotinus. The two different interpretations help explain why Proclus’ notorious proliferation of entities in the intelligible realm is not found in Plotinus. (shrink)

v. 1. A alma é o corpo -- v. 2. A arma é o corpo.

Parece haver quase um consenso, entre os comentadores, em torno da tese segundo a qual o “primeiro Wittgenstein” nada veria de problemático na ideia de um infinito atual, ao contrário do que claramente ocorre com o “segundo Wittgenstein”. O que eu gostaria de fazer aqui não é tentar reverter esse veredicto, mas sugerir que o exame das provas que o sustentam merece ser refeito. Para tanto, começarei por tentar mostrar como a letra dos aforismos 5.526 e 5.5262 parece levantar uma (...) dificuldade para a tese consensual. Em seguida, procurarei encontrar, sob a letra, o espírito dessa dificuldade, isto é, buscarei nos princípios mais básicos do Tractatus as razões que subjazem às afirmações desses aforismos. Para finalizar, após fazer um balanço desse exame no que diz respeito à tese consensual, procurarei mostrar como ele aponta para a relevância da notação para o infinito, que João Vergílio Cuter prescreve para o Tractatus. (shrink)

São variadas as interpretações da crítica berkeleyana às idéias abstratas, mas elas costumam concordar na tese de que essa crítica gira em torno da natureza das “idéias”. Isto é, se “idéia” for o mesmo que “imagem”, então a abstração lockeana é impossível, caso contrário, não. Neste artigo eu procuro mostrar que essa crítica não depende de idéia ser ou não uma imagem e que Locke está parcialmente consciente do problema levantado por Berkeley. Locke's general triangle and Berkeley's partial considerationThere are (...) many different interpretations of Berkeley's attack on abstract ideas, but they usually agree in sustaining that this attack depends on the nature of "ideas". That is, if "idea" is the same as "image", then lockean abstraction is impossible, but otherwise not. In this paper I show that this attack on abstract ideas does not depend on the issue concerning the nature of idea as image, and that Locke is partially aware of the problem raised by Berkeley. (shrink)

Is consistency the sort of thing that could provide a guide to mathematical ontology? If so, which notion of consistency suits this purpose? Mark Balaguer holds such a view in the context of platonism, the view that mathematical objects are non-causal, non-spatiotemporal, and non-mental. For the purposes of this paper, we will examine several notions of consistency with respect to how they can provide a platon-ist epistemology of mathematics. Only a Gödelian notion, we suggest, can provide a satisfactory guide to (...) a platonist ontology. Is consistency the sort of thing that could provide a guide to mathematical ontology? If so, which notion of consistency suits this purpose? Mark Bala-guer holds such a view in the context of platonism, the view that mathematical objects are non-causal, non-spatiotemporal, and non-mental. Balaguer's version of Platonism, Full-Blooded Platonism (FBP), is the view that "there are as many abstract mathematical objects as there could be-i.e., there actually exist abstract mathematical objects of all possible kinds" (Balaguer, 2017, p. 381). He continues: Since FBP says that there are abstract mathematical objects of all possible kinds, it follows that if FBP is true, then every purely mathematical theory that could be true-i.e., that is internally consistent-accurately describes some collection of actually existing abstract objects. Thus it follows from FBP that in order to acquire knowledge of abstract objects, all we have to do is come up with an internally consistent purely mathematical theory (and know that it is internally consistent). (Balaguer, 2017, p. 381) * To be published in 43rd International Wittgenstein Symposium proceedings. (shrink)

A indagação que motiva o diálogo Protágoras sobre a possibilidade ou não de se ensinar a virtude, perpassa também diversos outros diálogos platônicos. Na verdade, virtude e conhecimento são temas centrais para se pensar o ânthropos, a pólis, a ética, o ser e a razão, no contexto do corpus platônico. Em As Leis, última obra escrita pelo fundador da Academia, a relação conhecimento/virtude volta a ganhar destaque no processo de reelaboração de um novo projeto para salvar o homem e a (...) cidade de suas mazelas. A arte/ciência da justa medida indicada no Protágoras (357 b) será a chave para a viabilização do projeto legislativo, ético e político em As Leis. Será pela correta educação dos sentidos e da razão que se alcançará a virtude responsável pela condução da cidade livre, amiga de si e ponderada (Leis, 701 d). Por sua vez, a educação virtuosa é fruto do conhecimento assimilado pelos costumes, pelo aprendizado, pelo discernimento racional e pelo domínio das paixões, o que assegurará o devido equilíbrio mediante o amparo das leis e das instituições da pólis. Isto se pode constatar, especialmente, na leitura dos livros I, II,VI e VII de As Leis, embora tais questões estejam entrelaçadas no conjunto da obra. (shrink)

Em Pedagogia da esperança, escrito em 1992, Paulo Freire faz uma reflexão sobre Pedagogia do oprimido, publicado em 1968, durante o seu exílio no Chile. Nesse reencontro, analisa suas experiências pedagógicas em quase três décadas nos mais diferentes países. Um relato valioso, elaborado com cientificidade, humildade e coerência, que recusa o determinismo e mostra a história humana como um feixe de possibilidades. O livro conta ainda com a colaboração de Ana Maria Araújo Freire, através das notas explicativas, e (...) prefácio de Leonardo Boff. (shrink)

A passagem 140e-141d do diálogo Parmênides nos remete a uma das conseqüências lógicas em relação ao “um”, isto é, estar fora do tempo, como parte da demonstração argumentativa do filósofo eleata ao admitir a primeira hipótese de que “o um é” e as conseqüências disso para si mesmo. Aceitar a existência do “um” implica, segundo o método de análise utilizado por Parmênides, verificar cada uma das hipóteses possíveis nesses casos, em relação às suas predicações, para si e para outras coisas. (...) Igualmente, o mesmo exercício deve ser feito se a hipótese for oposta, “se o um não é”. Como podemos identificar na estrutura do diálogo nesta parte, duas hipóteses são levantadas em que “o um é” e suas nove consequências; no primeiro movimento, as possíveis predicações para este são negadas, e no segundo movimento tais predicações e seus desdobramentos são reconhecidos. É a partir desse posicionamento que desenvolvemos nossa análise sobre a questão da temporalidade presente no diálogo e suas implicações metodológicas e teóricas. (shrink)

Knowing Persons is an original study of Plato's account of personhood. For Plato, embodied persons are images of a disembodied ideal. The ideal person is a knower. Hence, the lives of embodied persons need to be understood according to Plato's metaphysics of imagery.For Gerson, Plato's account of embodied personhood is not accurately conflated with Cartesian dualism. Plato's dualism is more appropriately seen in the contrast between the ideal disembodied person and the embodied one than in the contrast between mind (...) or soul and body.This study argues that Plato's analysis of personhood is intended to cohere with his two-world metaphysics as well as a radical separation of knowledge and belief. Gerson demonstrates that Plato's account of persons plays a key role not just in his theory of mind, but in his theory of knowledge, his metaphysics, and his ethics. A proper understanding of Plato's account of persons must therefore place it in the context of his doctrines in these areas. Knowing Persons fills a significant gap by showing the way to such an understanding. (shrink)

Este artigo visa apresentar a pesquisa bibliográfica, descritiva com abordagem qualitativa diante do contexto educacional dos anos de 1960 a 1970, com o objetivo de estabelecer as relações entre a democratização do ensino em Anísio Teixeira e as experiências dos Ginásios Vocacionais do estado de São Paulo. Busca-se a interpretação das ações de Anísio Teixeira no âmbito da educação escolar e no projeto pedagógico dos Ginásios Vocacionais, em seu ambiente e contexto social, como resposta aos desafios educacionais. O texto está (...) estruturado em duas partes: primeira apresenta um breve histórico de Anísio Teixeira e do surgimento dos Ginásios Vocacionais e na segunda parte desenvolve-se as ideias do pensamento educacional de Teixeira e as possíveis semelhanças com a filosofia educacional dos Vocacionais. As correlações entre os vocacionais e Teixeira estão fundamentadas na pesquisa bibliográfica de autores como: Daniel Chiozzini ; Clarice Nunes; Anísio Spínola Teixeira e Maria Nilde Mascellani. Os resultados apontam que, embora os ginásios vocacionais não tenham sido explicitamente concebidos por Anísio Teixeira, é possível relacionar possíveis semelhanças entre ambos, as quais residem na: valorização e participação ativa dos alunos no processo de ensino-aprendizagem; prática de ensino participativa e colaborativa; e na formação social e politica dos discentes. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this work we argue for relevant logics as a basis for paraconsistent epistemic logics. In order to do so, a paraconsistent nonmonotonic multi-agent epistemic logic, MDR (for Modal Defeasible Relevant), is briefly introduced. In MDR each agent has two kinds of belief: an absolute belief that P, represented by AiP, and a defeasible belief that P, represented by DiP. Therefore, an agent can reason with his own absolute and defeasible beliefs about the world and also reason about his (...) beliefs about other agents' beliefs both absolute and defeasible. A theorem is presented showing some patterns of reasoning in MDR. Avron's relevant logic RMI? s compared proof theoretically with Anderson and Belnap's relevant logics R and RM and also with Da Costa's paraconsistent logic CI, with respect to some desired properties of absolute and defeasible beliefs. Then we can understand why RMI was chosen to be the underlying logic for the monotonie part (the absolute beliefs) of MDR, and had to be modified and integrated with a nonmonotonic logic in order to be the underlying logic for the nonmonotonic part (defeasible beliefs). (shrink)

No contexto da recepção e da transformação do "platonismo" na Filosofia Patrística oriental, o presente artigo examina de que modo Gregório de Nissa (ca. 335-ca. 394), em sua obra De anima et resurrectione, assume categorias filosóficas, especialmente as do Fédon de Platão, para fundamentar a sua crença na ressurreição dos mortos. Segundo o artigo, o Diálogo de Gregórío de Nissa pode ser considerado como uma transposição do Fédon de Platão para uma linguagem de cunho cristão. Mostra-se, com efeito, de que (...) modo a analogia entre os dois diálogos é inequívoca quando se trata da questão da imortalidade da alma: a alma é uma essência inteligível e invisível e tem uma natureza totalmente oposta à do corpo (cf. Patrologia Græca 46, 36 a 13-14 e Fédon 80 b). /// The aim of the present article is, in the context of the reception and transformation of "platonism" in the philosophy of the Church Fathers, to examine the way in which Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335-ca.394), particularly in his work De anima et resurrectione, appropriates certain philosophical categories, especially derived from Plato's Phaedon, in order to ground his belief in the resurrection of the dead. According to the article, the dialogue by Gregory of Nyssa can be considered as a transposition of Plato's Phaedo into a Christian language. In fact, the article shows that the analogy between the two dialogues is unmistakable when it comes to the question about the immortality of the soul: the soul is an intelligible essence and invisible and is endowed with a nature totally opposite to the one of the body. (cf. Patrologia Græca 46, 36 a 13-14 e Phaedo 80 b). (shrink)

resumo Este trabalho visa mostrar que as Vermischte Bemerkungen não ocupam lugar marginal na obra de Wittgenstein. Pelo contrário, constituiriam, com as reflexões sobre cultura, arte e religião, uma chave essencial para a compreensão do núcleo lógico ou gramatical dessa filosofia. Para além das notórias transformações ou diferentes fases da ou na concepção da linguagem, poderiam também dar a ver algo como uma profunda continuidade do pensamento ou da obra de Wittgenstein. O caráter essencialmente indireto da linguagem e do trabalho (...) da filosofia, entre a prosa e a poesia, estaria no coração do pensamento de Wittgenstein ao longo de toda sua obra e seria indispensável mesmo para a compreensão das transformações por que foi obrigado a passar ao longo das décadas. palavras-chave linguagem – arte – religião - expressão. (shrink)

A close examina t ion of Sartre's discussion of the limits of the self in Being and Nothingness may shed light on his ideas on the nature of Metaphysics, O ntology and Phenomenology. Some implicatio ns of his discussion are presented, centered on his de f e nse of the irre ducibility of the phe nome non of being to the being of the phenomenon when dealing with the passage from phenomenology to ontology, which culminates in his phe nomenological ontology (...) the telos of Being and Nothingness. T he passage to me t a p hy s ics can be fruitfully cont rasted with Bergson's enterprise, because for Sartre metaphysics has a regulative rather than a constitutive function. (shrink)

The philosophy of Bernard Williams, recognised as a prominent expression of ethical thought, presents an intense dialogue with ancient Greek tragic culture. Combining erudition and elegance, Williams evokes Greek tragedies to discuss modern ethical ideas and conceptions. Our article intends to consider Williams’ thought from a cultural point of view: we propose analysing Williams’ cultural methodology, which may be described as a way of thinking beyond the traditional dichotomies between the ancient and the modern, especially concerning the notion of the (...) tragic. Accordingly, we shall examine the affinities between ancient and modern tragic cultures by identifying common narrative and poetical elements. To do so, we shall consider the interpretation of Hamlet, developed by the classicist scholar H.D.F. Kitto. In Form and Meaning in Drama: A Study of Six Greek Plays and of “Hamlet” (1956), Kitto proposes reading Hamlet in close alliance with Oedipus Tyrannus. Kitto maintains that both tragedies are poetical expressions of a shared tragic element: miasma, or “pollution”, a concept thoroughly treated by Williams in the third chapter of Shame and Necessity. Our article aims to combine Williams’ cultural methodology—we may call it the deconstruction of the repeated theoretical frameworks regarding the differences between the ancient and the modern—and Kitto’s reading of Hamlet in line with Oedipus Tyrannus, which may be understood as an illustration of the persistence of common tragic elements beyond time and the historical separation of cultural periods. Our perspective shall be both cultural and aesthetical. (shrink)

Social and environmental shocks associated with freshwater management are inherently tied with the lives and well-being of all global citizens. Thus, exploring key actors’ roles is a critical element of this grand challenge. Utilizing an inductive multiple case study, we explore sustainability leadership and subsequent organizational perspective-taking behaviours initiated by actors within freshwater management in response to the grand challenge. A vibrant inductive model elicited three main themes: identifying conditions for organizational perspective-taking, modifying organizational frames of reference and emergence of (...) multi-level influence. The discussion extracts critical insights for sustainability leadership and highlights complexities involved in facilitating effective decision-making among diverse actors. Fundamentally, this article contributes a distinct multi-level systems framework for sustainability leadership drawing from social–ecological systems theory and organizational resilience. We conclude by offering future research opportunities within sustainability leadership designed to bridge the gap between grand challenges and our abilities to solve them. (shrink)

O tema é programa de reavaliação filosófica da retórica da economia proposta por McCloskey. Bento Prado (I e II) argumenta que uma teoria da retórica para a qual “vale tudo” não deveria ser inferida da justa crítica que McCloskey endereça ao positivismo. Em III (M. Julian Cass) são discutidas algumas aporias filosóficas presentes nos textos de McCloskey.

O artigo analisa a finalidade interna da arte, ou seja, como ela se estrutura, que tipo de relação há entre suas partes e sua origem comum com a forma geral do ajuizamento estético. O argumento principal, seguindo as teses expostas na Crítica da Faculdade do Juízo de Kant, é que as características do juízo sobre o belo encontram na arte um “caso de aplicação” compatível uma vez que as estruturas formais de ambos coincidem. Na produção da arte, quem realiza tal (...) coincidência, na peculiar definição de Kant, é o gênio. (shrink)

This paper is a commentary of David -Ménard’s Répétition et invention en Deleuze et Freud.

Querer investigar, num curto ensaio, as diversas facetas das situações-limite, bem como suas consequências para a existência humana, revelaria uma pretensão descabida. O que intencionamos aqui é simplesmente explorar, a partir de indicações fornecidas por Karl Jaspers, alguns momentos que as constituem. Optamos por nos aproximar do tema a partir de cinco perspectivas: o limite, o sentido, o nada, o sofrimento e a finitude. Em o sofrimento, empreenderemos uma breve crítica textual de passagens de duas obras centrais de Karl Jaspers: (...) Psychologie der Weltanschauungen, de 1919, e Philosophie, de 1932. Perceberemos aí uma modificação no modo como o sofrimento é apresentado. Embora sutil, essa alteração leva-nos não somente a precisar o papel das situações-limite na filosofia da existência jaspersiana, mas também a vislumbrar uma tensão entre situações-limite e experiências com situações-limite. (shrink)

Naturalistic understandings of the mind face certain hurdles. Many authors believe that some such hurdles are even insurmountable. A frequently used but rarely developed and tested argumentative move claims that, because they are made from the so-called observer perspective, naturalization efforts inevitably fail for reasons connected to our first-person perspective. We are not convinced. However, this article primarily attempts to gain a better understanding of the point and scope of this move by discussing an argument by Holm Tetens from which (...) the basic incompleteness of the observer perspective is supposed to follow. Depending on how one interprets the incompleteness in question, one gets different readings of the argument: ontological, semantic, epistemic, or explanatory. First, we will develop two ontological readings of this argument in more detail ‐ mainly because they are the most obvious challenges to naturalism. We will then systematically explore the prospects of the alternative readings. These considerations lead to a more fundamental discussion about the requirements for naturalistic explanations. As it turns out, to defend such an incompleteness argument, you face some inconvenient hurdles yourself. (shrink)

O artigo examina o papel das emoções na experiência com a música (instrumental), desenvolvendo três teses básicas: 1) a música pode ser considerada como um “texto narrativo”, que realiza um modo específico de engajamento; 2) as emoções aparecem na experiência musical basicamente de duas formas: como expressão (ou “clarificação”), onde o agente psicológico portador de tais emoções é a persona musical, e como algo que deve constituir a experiência do ouvinte; 3) as respostas emocionais do ouvinte constituem um processo ativo (...) e necessário para o preenchimento das “lacunas” da narrativa musical e compõem decisivamente o processo de compreensão da obra musical. (shrink)

Lives of the stoics (Zeno, Aristo, Herillus, Cleanthes, Sphaerus, Chrysippus) on philosophy -- Logic and theory of knowledge -- Perception, knowledge, and sceptical attack -- The stoic-academic debate and Cicero's testimony -- Conceptions and rationality -- Physics -- Theology -- Bodily and non-bodily realities -- Structures and powers -- The soul -- Fate -- Ethics -- The general account in Diogenes Lartius -- The account preserved by Stobaeus -- The account in Cicero on goals -- Other evidence for stoic ethics (...) -- Passions and the goal : criticism within the stoic school and the evidence of Galen -- A critique from the academic-peripatetic point of view -- Pyrrhonist critique of basic ethical concepts -- Later stoic ethics : a sampler -- Musonius Rufus -- Seneca -- Epictetus. (shrink)

Tras analizar sucintamente las consecuencias científicas y filosóficas de la identidad mente-cerebro, se señalan argumentos a favor y en contra de mantener el debate mente-cerebro. En particular se consideran las nuevas técnicas de exploración del cerebro como argumento en contra de tal debate. Las deficiencias e insuficiencias de tales técnicas aconsejan mantener el debate mente-cerebro y no asumir el materialismo.

This compact essay aims at promoting an approaching of some core aspects related to the Idea of communication of existence philosophy of Karl Jaspers and some extracts of the exposition of the philia that Aristotle presents in his Nicomachean Ethics. It does not convey an accurate and detailed exegesis, but a daring attempt of conceiving a possible dialog between mentioned philosophers comprising various facets of this phenomenon: friendship.

Esse artigo pretende aproximar-se do fenômeno da técnica, a partir de uma discussão do texto “A questão da técnica”, de Martin Heidegger. Após uma breve introdução que apresenta diversos momentos de concepções antropológicas da técnica, a discussão analisará passagens centrais da proposta heideggeriana em que a essência da técnica é compreendida como um acontecimento da verdade. Finalmente, o artigo tecerá algumas reflexões, inspiradas em um trabalho de Alfred Nordmann, sobre os limites que o pensamento de Heidegger nos impõe quando pretendemos (...) pensar outras possibilidades de uma filosofia da técnica. (shrink)

The widely held belief that classical instrumental music has some kind of content - whether it is supposed to be some language-like meaning or some distinctive and possibly untranslatable musical content - is notoriously difficult to defend. One of the probably rather few promising options of analysing our experiences of hearing ‘content in music’ starts with the assumption that we, the listeners of music, endow the heard musical sequences with content. In the paper, I defend this anti-realism concerning musical content (...) by spelling out the idea that due to the operation of our imagination we sometimes, in listening to music, undergo episodes of hearing-as - close relatives of the more familiar episodes of seeing-as. Drawing on Colin McGinn’s analysis of seeing-as, I develop the idea that an episode of hearing-as is a kind of hybrid mental phenomenon, a co-production of our imagination and our ‘plain hearing’ of musical parameters. (shrink)

Animalism is the view that we are primarily living beings of the species Homo sapiens. Being alive consists in the realization of biological processes. Accordingly, our conditions of existence and persistence have nothing to do with things like mental continuity. Hence, mental capabilities seem to be irrelevant to understanding the core of our nature as human beings. In recent years, the debate on animalism has focused on certain intractable ontological puzzles. However important these puzzles may be, they do not get (...) to the heart of the widespread reluctance to accept animalism. One crucial reason lies in the fact that this view does not seem to respect our deeply entrenched understanding of ourselves as mental beings. The aim of my paper is thus to provide a stronger conception of the ontological relevance of our mental capabilities – without giving up the cen- tral claims of animalism. In particular, I discuss three proposals: first, the idea that being a human being involves the potential to develop mental capabilities; second, the idea that it is an essential feature of human beings to have a brain with the natural function of developing mental capabilities; and third, the idea that the ontological relevance of mental capabilities may emerge in the context of specifying something like the general human form of life. (shrink)

We are used to describe instrumental music in semantic terms. Many of our judgements about music – at least if taken literally – seem to implicate that music is capable of expressing thoughts and emotions, for example. Moreover, in the course of listening to music, we actually seem to hear that music has such (and similar) contents. The main aim of the paper consists in presenting reasons for being skeptical towards such claims. Not only are these claims less plausible than (...) one might think at first glance. What is more, at least some of these ways of talking about music are dispensable: we can give them up without any actual loss. The paper is not solely critical, though. It introduces two ideas aiming to show that some claims which are deeply anchored in our practice of articulating musical experiences can be understood without presupposing that the perceived music has some kind of content. (shrink)

One of the central claims in Ansgar Beckermann’s Gehirn, Ich, Freiheit is that we are biological beings. Somewhat strikingly, the book manages to convey the impression that this is a rather uncontroversial claim. Actually, the opposite is closer to the truth – or so I will try to argue. That it is a controversial claim can be shown by pointing out some of its problematic and seemingly implausible consequences. These consequences come into view by attempting to answer the questions, what (...) biological beings exactly are, and which conditions of diachronic identity they have. Highlighting these problems, I do not try to argue against the claim that we are biological beings, though. In the first place, it shall simply gain profile. Secondly, some options for solving these problems are discussed. In this way, the paper contributes to a defense of the claim that we are biological beings. For although this claim raises serious theoretical problems, it is most likely true. (shrink)