El filósofo argentino Ricardo Maliandi destinó su larga trayectoria a elaborar una propuesta ética original que denominó «ética convergente» y que rebautizamos «convergética». La misma ha suscitado una serie de debates entre los especialistas en ética del mundo de habla hispana. En el marco de esas críticas es que se desarrolla nuestro trabajo, pero busca ofrecer una perspectiva desde dentro de la teoría convergente. Para ello se reconstruye la teoría de Maliandi en tres convergencias: la de teorías éticas precedentes (ética (...) axiológica de N. Hartmann y ética del discurso de K. O. Apel), la de principios éticos (los cuatro principios cardinales enunciados por Maliandi) y las dos esferas del ser humano (la esfera racional o lógos y la emocional o páthos). A partir de la elaboración de un experimento mental que llamamos «la nave letona» se ponen en cuestión las ideas nucleares de las dos primeras formas de convergencia en pos de sostener la primacía de la tercera convergencia. Nuestra hipótesis es que si la convergética abandona la aprioricidad de dos de los principios, que ligamos a la dimensión emocional y práctica del ser humano, salvaría así su coherencia interna y ofrecería una mejor guía para los agentes morales. (shrink)

La idea de utopía tiene una larga historia en América y un vasto conjunto de significados. En este trabajo se interpreta a las utopías a partir de un enfoque utopológico basado en las reflexiones principalmente de M. R. Ramírez Fierro, A. A. Roig, H. Cerutti Guldberg y E. Fernández Nadal. Desde ese marco teórico se analiza una utopía concreta contemporánea de la Patagonia argentina. Se trata del barrio intercultural proyectado en San Martín de los Andes por la comunidad mapuche “Curruhuinca” (...) y la Asociación Vecinos Sin Techo de esa ciudad. Aquí, describo el carácter utópico de dicho proyecto tomando como categorías de análisis los conceptos de función y tensión utópicas en relación a los distintos aspectos que ponen en juego la interculturalidad y la emergencia de nuevas subjetividades. The idea of utopia has a long history in America and a vast array of meanings. This paper interprets utopias from a utopological approach primarily based on the reflections of M. R. Ramirez Fierro, A. A. Roig, H. Cerutti Guldberg and E. Fernández Nadal. From this theoretical framework a contemporary concrete utopia of Argentine Patagonia is analyzed. It is an intercultural neighborhood in San Martin de los Andes projected by the Mapuche community “Curruhuinca” and the Homeless Neighbors Association of that city. Here, I describe the utopian character of the project taking the concepts of function and utopian tension as categories of analysis in relation to the different aspects that involve interculturality and the emergence of new subjectivities. (shrink)

The paper begins with the distinction between different ways of thinking about the posthuman. From the question about the possibility of the formulation of an ethics that goes beyond the precautionary principle the following thesis is defended: posthumanism, in its transhumanist interpretation, is the most consistent standpoint with normative ethics as we know it, if and only if the consequentialist approach characteristic of their supporters is complemented with the deontological one. For this two assumptions are made: the idea of a (...) continuity between humans and posthumans and the right of a human to exercise enhancements on himself/herself that take him/her to a state qualifiable as posthuman, provided that those do not conflict with human dignity. (shrink)

Much has been said about the need for improving the current definitions of scientific authorship, but an aspect that is often overlooked is how to formulate and communicate these definitions to ensure that they are comprehensible and useful for researchers, notably researchers active in international research consortia. In light of a rapid increase in international collaborations within natural sciences, this article uses authorship of this branch of sciences as an example and provides suggestions to improve the comprehensibility of the definitions (...) of authorship in natural sciences. It assesses whether the definition of authorship provided by the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity can deal with current issues and problems of scientific authorship. Notably, problems that are experienced in project groups with researchers coming from multiple countries. Using theories developed by Jürgen Habermas and Robert Merton, a normative framework is developed to articulate ethical authorship in natural sciences. Accordingly, enriching the current definition of authorship with normative elements and using discipline-specific metaphors to communicate them are introduced as possible ways of improving the comprehensibility of the definition of authorship in international environments. Finally, this article provides a proposal to be considered in the future revisions of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. (shrink)

Much has been said about the need for improving the current definitions of scientific authorship, but an aspect that is often overlooked is how to formulate and communicate these definitions to ensure that they are comprehensible and useful for researchers, notably researchers active in international research consortia. In light of a rapid increase in international collaborations within natural sciences, this article uses authorship of this branch of sciences as an example and provides suggestions to improve the comprehensibility of the definitions (...) of authorship in natural sciences. It assesses whether the definition of authorship provided by the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity can deal with current issues and problems of scientific authorship. Notably, problems that are experienced in project groups with researchers coming from multiple countries. Using theories developed by Jürgen Habermas and Robert Merton, a normative framework is developed to articulate ethical authorship in natural sciences. Accordingly, enriching the current definition of authorship with normative elements and using discipline-specific metaphors to communicate them are introduced as possible ways of improving the comprehensibility of the definition of authorship in international environments. Finally, this article provides a proposal to be considered in the future revisions of the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. (shrink)

This book is a collection of secondary essays on America's most important philosophic thinkers—statesmen, judges, writers, educators, and activists—from the colonial period to the present. Each essay is a comprehensive introduction to the thought of a noted American on the fundamental meaning of the American regime.

Zamyatin and Kantian Ethics: Freedom and Happiness in We Resumen: Nosotros cumple un siglo y, a diferencia de otras distopías, no existen muchos estudios en español sobre ella. En este trabajo se analiza la perspectiva de la ética retratada en la novela y en especial el conflicto entre libertad y felicidad como una dicotomía en la cual se privilegia a la felicidad sobre la libertad. Tras analizar las referencias a Kant en la obra, se concluye que es verosímil considerar que (...) la postura del escritor ruso se asemeja a la de la ética kantiana. Finalmente, se sostiene que la dicotomía entre libertad y felicidad es una falsa dicotomía.: Since a century ago when it has been written, We has not been the focus of the Spanish critical attention, in contradistinction to other dystopias This work analyzes the perspective on ethics portrayed in the novel and especially the conflict between freedom and happiness as a dichotomy in which happiness is privileged over freedom. After analyzing the references to Kant in the work, it is concluded that it is plausible to consider that the position of the Russian writer is similar to that of Kantian ethics. Finally, it is argued that the dichotomy between freedom and happiness is a false dichotomy. (shrink)

Utopía y Derecho son conceptualmente compatibles. Para mostrarlo se hace un estudio del lugar que ocupa el Derecho en el autor utópico por antonomasia: Tomás Moro. Se abordan tres aspectos clave de su obra: Primero, se describe el lugar de Utopía en el marco de su vida y pensamiento, resaltando sus tensiones. Segundo, se analiza el libro I de Utopía en el cual se detallan algunos lineamientos de una teoría de la justicia y del rol de los intelectuales en su (...) defensa. Tercero, se analizan las instituciones jurídicas y políticas del libro II destacando sus limitaciones. En conclusión, se defiende una interpretación moderada de Utopía en la cual Moro emplea su obra como una crítica social. Utopía es interpretada como un experimento mental destinado a ejercer la crítica del presente, en el cual el Derecho juega un rol insoslayable. (shrink)

Reseña del último libro del filósofo argentino Guillermo Lariguet.

Aquí se analiza la crítica al utopismo realizada por Hans Jonas y se compara su propuesta de una élite responsable con la propuesta platónica de una polis de guardianes-filósofos, para poner de manifiesto el carácter sesgado de su concepción de la responsabilidad. En contrapartida, se ofrece una con..

The main idea of the article is that there is a complementary link between utopia and law. Thus, the purpose is to show, through a conceptual and historical analysis, that denying such a link, at least, means the existence of an unclear and biased view of the concept of utopia and its historical development. For this purpose, it presents a provisional definition of utopia along with two assumptions underlying such definition: an economical and an anthropological one. It also presents a (...) typology of utopias. Based on this, the idea that utopia is both subversive and perfectionist is rejected by acknowledging two different models of utopia: closed and open utopias. It is concluded that possible tensions between utopia and law are overcome by means of an open model of utopia. (shrink)

RESUMEN Este artículo explora si hay algún fundamento sólido para atribuir a Leonardo da Vinci prioridad en la formulación del símil que lleva a concebir el ojo como una cámara obscura. Aquí, se defiende una posición pesimista. No obstante, el artículo resalta algunos aportes del pintor renacentista que pueden considerarse contribuciones a la consolidación del símil. ABSTRACT The article explores whether there is any solid basis for attributing to Leonardo da Vinci the priority in formulating the simile that leads to (...) conceiving the eye as a camera obscura. Here, a pessimistic position is defended, however, the article highlights some of Leonardo's contributions to the consolidation of the simile. (shrink)

This book discusses Aristotle’s notions of essence and substance as they are developed in Metaphysics ZH. I examine Aristotle's argument at length and defends an unorthodox interpretation according to which his motivation is to provide an answer against a conflation between criteria for existential priority (delivering substances as primary beings) and criteria for explanatory priority (delivering essences as primary principles).

Neurofeedback has been suggested as a potential complementary therapy to different psychiatric disorders. Of interest for this approach is the prediction of individual performance and outcomes. In this study, we applied functional connectivity-based modeling using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) modalities to (i) investigate whether resting-state connectivity predicts performance during an affective neurofeedback task and (ii) evaluate the extent to which predictive connectivity profiles are correlated across EEG and fNIRS techniques. The fNIRS oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations and the (...) EEG beta and gamma bands modulated by the alpha frequency band (beta-m-alpha and gamma-m-alpha, respectively) recorded over the frontal cortex of healthy subjects were used to estimate functional connectivity from each neuroimaging modality. For each connectivity matrix, relevant edges were selected in a leave-one-subject-out procedure, summed into “connectivity summary scores” (CSS), and submitted as inputs to a support vector regressor (SVR). Then, the performance of the left-out-subject was predicted using the trained SVR model. Linear relationships between the CSS across both modalities were evaluated using Pearson’s correlation. The predictive model showed a mean absolute error smaller than 20%, and the fNIRS oxyhemoglobin CSS was significantly correlated with the EEG gamma-m-alpha CSS (r = −0.456, p = 0.030). These results support that pre-task electrophysiological and hemodynamic resting-state connectivity are potential predictors of neurofeedback performance and are meaningfully coupled. This investigation motivates the use of joint EEG-fNIRS connectivity as outcome predictors, as well as a tool for functional connectivity coupling investigation. (shrink)

We invoke the ideal of tolerance in response to conflict, but what does it mean to answer conflict with a call for tolerance? Is tolerance a way of resolving conflicts or a means of sustaining them? Does it transform conflicts into productive tensions, or does it perpetuate underlying power relations? To what extent does tolerance hide its involvement with power and act as a form of depoliticization? Wendy Brown and Rainer Forst debate the uses and misuses of tolerance, an exchange (...) that highlights the fundamental differences in their critical practice despite a number of political similarities. Both scholars address the normative premises, limits, and political implications of various conceptions of tolerance. Brown offers a genealogical critique of contemporary discourses on tolerance in Western liberal societies, focusing on their inherent ties to colonialism and imperialism, and Forst reconstructs an intellectual history of tolerance that attempts to redeem its political virtue in democratic societies. Brown and Forst work from different perspectives and traditions, yet they each remain wary of the subjection and abnegation embodied in toleration discourses, among other issues. The result is a dialogue rich in critical and conceptual reflections on power, justice, discourse, rationality, and identity. (shrink)

This volume explores the relation between ethics and spirituality in Islam through an examination of the genres of Sufi adab, including manuals and hagiographical accounts, from the formative period of Sufism until modernity.

Translation of Aristotle's Physics I-II into Portuguese, with commentaries. Tradução para o português dos livros I e II da Física de Aristóteles, com comentários.

We invoke the ideal of tolerance in response to conflict, but what does it mean to answer conflict with a call for tolerance? Is tolerance a way of resolving conflicts or a means of sustaining them? Does it transform conflicts into productive tensions, or does it perpetuate underlying power relations? To what extent does tolerance hide its involvement with power and act as a form of depoliticization? Wendy Brown and Rainer Forst debate the uses and misuses of tolerance, an exchange (...) that highlights the fundamental differences in their critical practice despite a number of political similarities. Both scholars address the normative premises, limits, and political implications of various conceptions of tolerance. Brown offers a genealogical critique of contemporary discourses on tolerance in Western liberal societies, focusing on their inherent ties to colonialism and imperialism, and Forst reconstructs an intellectual history of tolerance that attempts to redeem its political virtue in democratic societies. Brown and Forst work from different perspectives and traditions, yet they each remain wary of the subjection and abnegation embodied in toleration discourses, among other issues. The result is a dialogue rich in critical and conceptual reflections on power, justice, discourse, rationality, and identity. (shrink)

Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics IV and VI, with notes. The translation is preliminary and intended as a provisional teaching tool to be also used in seminars and discussions with peers in order to reach a more elaborated version.

Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics I-III into Portuguese, with a few notes and introduction. The translation, which was made at 2007, is preliminary and its publication was intended to provide a didactic tool for courses as well as a provisional resource in research seminars. It needs some revision. I am currently working (slowly...) on the revision of the translation and a new revised one will surely appear at some point.

Collective volume with papers by alumni and students from the Campinas Aristotle Group.

As emerging technologies support new ways in which people relate, ethical discourse is important to help guide designers of new technologies. This article endeavors to do just that by presenting an ethical analysis and design of technology intended to gather and act upon information on behalf of its users. The article elaborates on socio-technological factors that affect the development of technology to support ethical action. Research and practice implications are outlined.

Este livro é um 'ancestral' em pré-print do meu livro de 2006, Introdução à Teoria da Predicação em Aristóteles (ISBN 978-85-268-0716-1), publicado pela Editora da Unicamp (ver https://www.academia.edu/6912408/Introdu%C3%A7%C3%A3o_%C3%A0_teoria_da_predica%C3%A7%C3%A3o_em_Arist %C3%B3teles). O ancestral foi felizmente muito citado, mesmo depois da aparição do livro definitivo em 2006. -/- This is an ancestor (in pré-print) of my 2006 Book, 'Introdução à Teoria da Predicação em Aristóteles' (ISBN 978-85-268-0716-1), published by Editora da Unicamp (see https://www.academia.edu/6912408/Introdu%C3%A7%C3%A3o_%C3%A0_teoria_da_predica%C3%A7%C3%A3o_em_Arist %C3%B3teles). The ancestor was cited by many, even after the definitive book (...) appeared in 2006. (shrink)

I discuss the exact meaning of the thesis according to which the object of scientific knowledge is necessary. The thesis is expressed by Aristotle in the Posterior Analytics, in his definition of scientific knowledge. The traditional interpretation understands this definition as depending on two parallel and independent requirements, the causality requirement and the necessity requirement. Against this interpretation, I try to show, through the examination of several passages that refer to the definition of scientific knowledge, that the necessity requirement specifies (...) more exactly the causality requirement: what cannot be otherwise is the explanatory relation between the explanandum and the cause by which it is what it is. (shrink)

Translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics IX and X (Theta & Iota) into Portuguese, with a few notes, experimental glossary and introduction. The translation, which was made at 2004, is preliminary and its publication was intended to provide a didactic tool for courses as well as a provisional resource in research seminars. It needs some revision. I am currently working (slowly...) on the revision of the translation and a new revised one will surely appear at some point.

This chapter argues in favour of three interrelated points. First, I argue that demonstration (as expression of scientific knowledge) is fundamentally defined as knowledge of the appropriate cause for a given explanandum: to have scientific knowledge of the explanandum is to explain it through its fully appropriate cause. Secondly, I stress that Aristotle’s notion of cause has a “triadic” structure, which fundamentally depends on the predicative formulation (or “regimentation”) of the explanandum. Thirdly, I argue that what has motivated Aristotle to (...) choose the syllogism as a demonstrative tool was precisely the fact that syllogisms are apt to express causal relations in their triadic structure. Instead of complaining against Aristotle’s preference for the syllogisms as demonstrative tools, I argue that Aristotle was fully aware of the advantages of regimenting the explanandum into a predication. One of these advantages is to abandon a purely extensional standpoint and to highlight the importance of the notion of relevancy in explanation. (shrink)

Tradução preliminar em pré-print. A Tradução definitiva é a de 2009.

These are commentaries to the translation into Portuguese of Nicomachean Ethics VI, found in the same volume of Dissertatio.

One of the most pressing challenges that occupy the Russellian panpsychist’s agenda is to come up with a way to reconcile the traditional argument from categorical properties (Seager, 2006; Alter & Nagasawa, 2015) with H. H. Mørch’s dispositionalism-friendly argument from the experience of causation (2014, 2018, 2020) — on the way to a unitary, all-encompassing case for the view. In this regard, Mørch claims that, via the commitment to the Identity theory of properties, one can consistently hold both panpsychist arguments (...) without contradiction (2020: 281) — I shall refer to such proposal as Reconciliation. In my paper, I shall argue that this is not the case. To this extent, I will first consider H. Taylor’s argument that the Identity theorists have the exact same resources as the dispositionalists (as, after careful enquiry, their views on the metaphysics of properties turn out to coincide (2018: 1438)), and thus contend that Reconciliation fails to obtain. Then, I will suggest that one can avoid the problem and reconcile the arguments by adopting a different version of the powerful qualities view, namely the Compound view — and thus advance a reformulated version of the claim, i.e. Reconciliation*. Finally, even though pursuing my proposed solution might expose Russellian panpsychism to the risk of epiphenomenalism, I shall conclude that such specific form of epiphenomenalism is a rather benign one, and thus that, via Reconciliation*, the constitution of a unitary case for panpsychism as a positive proposal (and not as a mere alternative to dualism and physicalism) can be achieved. (shrink)

Tradução dos livros Z e H da Metafísica de Aristóteles, com introdução e notas. Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics Books VII and VIII into Portuguese, with Introduction and Notes.

Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda into Portuguese.

I argue that Aristotle’s teleology in natural science (more specifically, in biology) is not incompatible with his admissions of the “brute necessity” of the movements of matter. Aristotle thinks that the brute necessity emerging from the movements of matter is not sufficient to explain why living beings are what they are and behave the way they behave. Nevertheless, Aristotle takes this brute necessity to be a sine qua non condition in biological explanations. The full explanation of the features of living (...) beings requires the hylomorphic model, in which the brute necessity belonging to the matter is subordinated to the teleological causality of the form. The model for which I argue is pretty much Balme’s “cybernetic”. However, I explore some aspects of Aristotle’s texts that have not received much attention in the recent literature. (shrink)

My object is Aristotle's discussion of principle of non-contradiction in the first stretch of Metaphysics IV.4. My main focus rests on the connections between Aristotle's discussion of the principle and some key notions of his (explicit or implied) semantics.

I discuss three kinds of relationship between ends and means (or "things that promote ends") in the Aristotelian ethical theory, in order to clarify how moral virtues and phronesis are related both in adopting ends and in determining means for virtuous actions. Phronesis seems to be mainly charged with determining means for an end given by the moral virtues, but it must involve some conception of ends too. Phronesis cannot be parasitic on moral virtue concerning the conception of ends, for (...) otherwise it will lack intrinsic moral value. I argue that the intrinsic moral value of phronesis can be better understood through a certain kind of relation between means and ends that has not received much attention. (shrink)

This chapter discusses the first part of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics A-33, 88b30-89a10. I claim that Aristotle is not concerned with an epistemological distinction between knowledge and belief in general. He is rather making a contrast between scientific knowledge (which is equivalent to explanation by the primarily appropriate cause) and some explanatory beliefs that falls short of capturing the primarily appropriate cause.

This paper examines some difficulties in Aristotle’s argument in Metaphysics VII 3 and proposes a point of view in which there is no serious conflict between ousia taken as hypokeimenon and ousia taken as eidos.