È possibile rivalutare l’attenzione di Popper verso i presocratici in un quadro interpretativo più ampio rispetto a quanto sostenuto finora? Il lavoro propone una generale riconsiderazione del tema principalmente attraverso lo studio delle fonti utilizzate nella lettura di Parmenide e degli altri presocratici, con l’intento di evidenziarne i legami con il contesto generale della filosofia popperiana.

L’articolo intende mettere in luce i rapporti tra le fonti storiche del Medioevo russo e la resa cinematografica della narrazione medievale nelle poetiche di Ejzenštejn e Tarkovskij. Congelando le filmografie dei due autori sulle due rispettive pellicole che hanno raccontato il Medioevo russo, l’_Alexandr Nevskij_ di Ejzenštejn e l’_Andrej Rublёv_ di Tarkovskij, l’articolo propone un’indagine critica sulle modalità d’approccio divergenti dei due registi rispetto al materiale storiografico e l’analisi della portata storica che la narrazione del Medioevo assume in un (...) prodotto artistico cinematografico. Partendo dal pensiero di H. White sulla necessità di affiancare la forma narrativa al contenuto del lavoro storico, l’obiettivo dell’articolo è anzitutto la messa in discussione della presunta oggettività della verità storiografica, spostando l’attenzione, in un’ottica cinematografica, sui precisi processi che portano a compimento una narrazione storica _tout court_ in relazione al presente della narrazione e allo sguardo dello spettatore. _This contribution aims to highlight the relationship between the historical sources of the Russian Middle Ages and the cinematic rendering of the medieval narrative in Ejzenštejn and Tarkovskij’poetics. Focusing on two respective films that recounted the Russian Middle Ages, the _Alexandr Nevsky_ by Ejzenštejn and the _Andrej Rublёv_ by Tarkovskij, the article proposes a critical investigation into the divergent approaches of the two directors with respect to historiographical material and the analysis of the historical significance that the medieval narrative assumes in a cinematographic product. Starting from the thought of the philosophy of history’s expert H. White on the need to combine the narrative form with the content of the historical work, the objective of the contribution is primarily to question the alleged objectivity of the historiographical truth. Afterwards the focus will be on the precise processes that bring to completion an historical narrative _tout court_ in relation to the present of the narrative and the viewer’s gaze in a cinematographic perspective._. (shrink)

A substantial guide providing an overview of both physicalism and metaphysical naturalism, reviewing both questions of formulation and justification for both doctrines. Includes a diagnostic strategy for understanding talk of naturalism as a metaphysical thesis.

Resumen La experiencia religiosa y la experiencia política han subsistido, a pesar de que la Modernidad y de que nuestra época pretendió a menudo reducir lo político a un campo de relaciones técnicas y procedimientos administrativos. En este contexto es necesario formular la pregunta filosófica por el valor y legitimidad de la relación entre ambos campos en su versión contemporánea. En este artículo se indaga, en primer lugar, en la noción de legitimidad a partir de la obra de Schmitt, para (...) comprender los orígenes y la dependencia simbólica de la mencionada relación. Esta indagación mostrará una tensión entre dos experiencias: la expectativa de lo apocalíptico y la “administración” del tiempo, que atraviesa toda la reflexión teológica. En segundo lugar, se verá a partir de Voegelin el riesgo necesario que se corre en toda acción política. Finalmente, se mostrará a partir de Taubes y Metz cómo la tradición monoteísta de la memoria de la Ley y del sufrimiento postula el peso de una autoridad que permite un horizonte posible desde el cual juzgar y limitar los déficits de toda acción político-religiosa, y cómo se puede sostener la tensión entre ambas experiencias.Religious experience andpolitical experience have survived, despite the fact that Modernity and our age have often tried to reduce the political to a field of technical relations and administrative procedures. In this context, it is necessary to formulate the philosophical question about the value and legitimacy of the relationship between both fields in its contemporary version. This article investigates, firstly, the notion of legitimacy based on Schmitt's work, to understand the origins and symbolic dependence of the afore- mentioned relationship. This inquiry will show a tension between two experiences: the expectation of the apocalyptic and the “administration” of time, which runs through all theological reflection. Second, it will be seen from Voegelin the necessary risk that is run in all political action. Finally, it will be shown from Taubes and Metz how the monotheistic tradition of the memory of the Law and of suffering postulates the weight of an authority that allows a possible horigon from which to judge and limit the deficits of allpolitical-religious action, and how the tension between the two experiences can be sustained. (shrink)

El último libro de Habermas, Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie (2019), se propone reconstruir la genealogía histórica del pensamiento postmetafísico desde una perspectiva notable: la relación de creencia y conocimiento. En este trabajo se exponen dos elementos centrales de esta relación. En primer lugar, se analiza la noción de “proceso de aprendizaje”, su modo de operar en la historia del pensamiento y las instituciones, la progresiva “lingüistificación” de los contenidos de fe, las influencias de la interrelación de fe y conocimiento (...) en los procesos de aprendizaje, y el rol de la filosofía en esa historia. Habermas muestra cómo este proceso caracteriza la actividad que dio lugar al pensamiento postmetafísico, excede los límites europeos de su origen, y al mismo tiempo deviene operativo para pensar toda relación en un contexto postsecular. En segundo lugar, se presenta un aspecto particular vinculado con la filosofía práctica: los procesos de legitimación de las normas, instituciones y decisiones. En este sentido, se analiza el paso que la relación de creencia y conocimiento permitió en los problemas de legitimación política, moral y legal. Se mostrarán los principales hitos de los tres campos, su interrelación, y los paradigmas que fundamentaron las posiciones. Se mostrará cómo Habermas encuentra el origen de su posición universalista y procedimental en un recorrido donde la reflexión teológica sobre la experiencia religiosa es imprescindible. A lo largo de este recorrido se muestra el rol que Habermas considera todavía válido para el discurso religioso en el contexto secular. Finalmente se ofrecerá una breve reflexión crítica. (shrink)

Levinas ̓s work is explicitly placed within the heritage of the Phenomenological school. Nevertheless, he repeatedly uses notions drawn from the religious tradition, especially Jewish, up to the point of stating that Judaism is a “category of being”. This paper analyses the role of Judaism as a category, beginning with a reconstruction of this notion in the most influential authors within Levinas’s philosophy. Finally, the role and meaning that this categorial structure take on in Levinas will be shown, through the (...) examination of four main components: the exposition of alterity as separation and glory; the relationship of responsibility as election and substitution; the understanding of temporality as creation and redemption; and the prophetical understanding of language. (shrink)

Una característica influyente de la modernidad es la formalización burocrática de relaciones y procedimientos administrativos, lo que en el ámbito del patrimonio arquitectónico edificado ha tenido notables consecuencias. Por un lado, se pretende organizar administrativamente el trato con esas obras, pero por otro sucede también que el vínculo de los sujetos con el patrimonio se ve afectado. En este trabajo se propone una serie de elementos con base filosófica que puedan servir como hoja de ruta para un abordaje comprehensivo del (...) patrimonio desde la perspectiva latinoamericana. Ante todo se propondrá abordar la obra patrimonial edificada en clave de lectura. Este enfoque se complementa recurriendo, en primer lugar, a los aportes de la hermenéutica. Las diversas intenciones que la interpretación permite establecer a partir de la obra, la fusión de horizontes y la narración que vincula la historicidad personal de los sujetos con la obra, son aportes significativos para un vínculo de comprensión significativo respecto del patrimonio. Pero, en segundo lugar, la perspectiva pragmática, en la doble relación de verdad y acción respecto de los efectos de la obra, permite una respuesta a las limitaciones cognitivas y valorativas derivadas del abordaje formal de la modernidad. (shrink)

Inside What Would Plato Do?, you'll find the basics of philosophy, written in an easy, digestible way we can all understand, along with questions to help you apply these important theories to your own life. So, after you've learned about a philosophical concept, you'll then be challenged to test yourself and see how the results can impact your daily life. For instance, after learning about Kant's theory of morality and the importance of intention you're challenged with questions like: Can good (...) people do bad things? Was there a time when you intended to do something helpful that ended up being hurtful? Does that make you a good person (because you intended to do good) or a bad person (because the results were bad)? What Would Plato Do? will not only help you better understand some of the greatest thinkers ever but will also help you think of the world around you in a whole new way! (shrink)

We are immersed within an odorous sea of chemical currents that we parse into individual odors with complex structures. Odors have been posited as determined by the structural relation between the molecules that compose the chemical compounds and their interactions with the receptor site. But, naturally occurring smells are parsed from gaseous odor plumes. To give a comprehensive account of the nature of odors the chemosciences must account for these large distributed entities as well. We offer a focused review of (...) what is known about the perception of odor plumes for olfactory navigation and tracking, which we then connect to what is known about the role odorants play as properties of the plume in determining odor identity with respect to odor quality. We end by motivating our central claim that more research needs to be conducted on the role that odorants play within the odor plume in determining odor identity. (shrink)

This is a book grounded in the real ethical challenges of modern business practice, with a world-religious perspective so necessary in an era of globalization.

We perceive smells as perduring complex entities within a distal array that might be conceived of as smellscapes. However, the philosophical orthodoxy of Odor Theories has been to deny that smells are perceived as having a distal location. Recent challenges have been mounted to Odor Theories’ veracity in handling the timescale of olfactory perception, how it individuates odors as a distal entities, and their claim that olfactory perception is not spatial. The paper does not aim to dispute these criticisms. Rather, (...) what will be shown is that Molecular Structure Theory, a refinement of Odor Theory, can be further developed to handle these challenges. The theory is further refined by focusing on distal perception that requires considering the perceptual object as mereologically complex persisting odor against a background scene conceived of as a smellscape. What will be offered is an expansion of Molecular Structure Theory to account for distal smell perception within natural environments. (shrink)

Reflection Principles are commonly thought to produce only strong axioms of infinity consistent with V = L. It would be desirable to have some notion of strong reflection to remedy this, and we have proposed Global Reflection Principles based on a somewhat Cantorian view of the universe. Such principles justify the kind of cardinals needed for, inter alia , Woodin’s Ω-Logic.

This chapter explores the debate between contemporary projectivists or expressivists, and the advocates of sensibility theory. Both positions are best viewed as forms of sentimentalism — the theory that evaluative concepts must be explicated by appeal to the sentiments. It argues that the sophisticated interpretation of such notions as “true” and “objective” that are offered by defenders of these competing views ultimately undermines the significance of their meta-ethical disputes over “cognitivism” and “realism” about value. Their fundamental disagreement lies in moral (...) psychology; it concerns how best to understand the emotions to which sentimentalist theories must appeal. (shrink)

When it originated in the late 19th century, psychometrics was a field with both a scientific and a social mission: psychometrics provided new methods for research into individual differences, and at the same time, these psychometric instruments were considered a means to create a new social order. In contrast, contemporary psychometrics - due to its highly technical nature and its limited involvement in substantive psychological research - has created the impression of being a value-free discipline. In this article, we develop (...) a contrasting characterization of contemporary psychometrics as a value-laden discipline. We expose four such values: that individual differences are quantitative (rather than qualitative), that measurement should be objective in a specific sense, that test items should be fair, and that utility of a model is more important than its truth. Our goal is not to criticize psychometrics for employing these values, but rather to bring them into the open and to show that these values are not inevitable and are in need of systematic evaluation. (shrink)

First collected in Italy in 1985, _Art's Claim to Truth_ is considered by many philosophers to be one of Gianni Vattimo's most important works. Newly revised for English readers, the book begins with a challenge to Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel, who viewed art as a metaphysical aspect of reality rather than a futuristic anticipation of it. Following Martin Heidegger's interpretation of the history of philosophy, Vattimo outlines the existential ontological conditions of aesthetics, paying particular attention to the works of (...) Kandinsky, which reaffirm the ontological implications of art. Vattimo then builds on Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of aesthetics and provides an alternative to a rationalistic-positivistic criticism of art. This is the heart of Vattimo's argument, and with it he demonstrates how hermeneutical philosophy reaffirms art's ontological status and makes clear the importance of hermeneutics for aesthetic studies. In the book's final section, Vattimo articulates the consequences of reclaiming the ontological status of aesthetics without its metaphysical implications, holding Aristotle's concept of beauty responsible for the dissolution of metaphysics itself. In its direct engagement with the works of Gadamer, Heidegger, and Luigi Pareyson, _Art's Claim to Truth_ offers a better understanding of the work of Vattimo and a deeper knowledge of ontology, hermeneutics, and the philosophical examination of truth. (shrink)

The central insight of Darwin's Origin of Species is that evolution is an ecological phenomenon, arising from the activities of organisms in the 'struggle for life'. By contrast, the Modern Synthesis theory of evolution, which rose to prominence in the twentieth century, presents evolution as a fundamentally molecular phenomenon, occurring in populations of sub-organismal entities - genes. After nearly a century of success, the Modern Synthesis theory is now being challenged by empirical advances in the study of organismal development and (...) inheritance. In this important study, D. M. Walsh shows that the principal defect of the Modern Synthesis resides in its rejection of Darwin's organismal perspective, and argues for 'situated Darwinism': an alternative, organism-centred conception of evolution that prioritises organisms as adaptive agents. His book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of evolutionary biology and the philosophy of biology. (shrink)

In Nicomachean Ethics X.7–8, Aristotle defends a striking view about the good for human beings. According to Aristotle, the single happiest way of life is organized around philosophical contemplation. According to the narrowness worry, however, Aristotle's contemplative ideal is unduly Procrustean, restrictive, inflexible, and oblivious of human diversity. In this paper, I argue that Aristotle has resources for responding to the narrowness worry, and that his contemplative ideal can take due account of human diversity.

In Plato’s Symposium, the mysterious Apollodorus recounts to an unnamed comrade, and to us, Aristodemus’ story of just what happened at Agathon’s drinking party. Since Apollodorus did not attend the party, however, it is unclear what relevance he could have to our understanding of Socrates’ speech, or to the Alcibiadean “satyr and silenic drama” (222d) that follows. The strangeness of Apollodorus is accentuated by his recession into the background after only two Stephanus pages. What difference—if any—does Apollodorus make to the (...) Symposium? Does his inclusion call the dramatic and philosophical unity of the work into question? I argue that despite initial appearances, Plato has important philosophical reasons for including Apollodorus as a character. Far from being an odd appendage to an otherwise complete narrative, the figure of Apollodorus is useful for our understanding of Socrates’s conception of eros later in the work. (shrink)

The claim that Spinoza has a conception of animal mentality and consciousness that is superior to Descartes's is criticized. It is also argued that Spinoza fails to provide a coherent way of establishing what he considers to be our morally unconstrained “rights” with regard to brutes. Despite Spinoza's claim that brutes “feel,” i.e., are capable of sentience, his view that we are nonetheless entitled to treat animals in any way convenient to us is criticized. Questions are also raised as to (...) whether Spinoza is entitled to distinguish human from bestial nature on the basis of the possession of reason. (shrink)

First collected in Italy in 1985, _Art's Claim to Truth_ is considered by many philosophers to be one of Gianni Vattimo's most important works. Newly revised for English readers, the book begins with a challenge to Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel, who viewed art as a metaphysical aspect of reality rather than a futuristic anticipation of it. Following Martin Heidegger's interpretation of the history of philosophy, Vattimo outlines the existential ontological conditions of aesthetics, paying particular attention to the works of (...) Kandinsky, which reaffirm the ontological implications of art. Vattimo then builds on Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of aesthetics and provides an alternative to a rationalistic-positivistic criticism of art. This is the heart of Vattimo's argument, and with it he demonstrates how hermeneutical philosophy reaffirms art's ontological status and makes clear the importance of hermeneutics for aesthetic studies. In the book's final section, Vattimo articulates the consequences of reclaiming the ontological status of aesthetics without its metaphysical implications, holding Aristotle's concept of beauty responsible for the dissolution of metaphysics itself. In its direct engagement with the works of Gadamer, Heidegger, and Luigi Pareyson, _Art's Claim to Truth_ offers a better understanding of the work of Vattimo and a deeper knowledge of ontology, hermeneutics, and the philosophical examination of truth. (shrink)

According to historical theories of biological function, a trait's function is determined by natural selection in the past. I argue that, in addition to historical functions, ahistorical functions ought to be recognized. I propose a theory of biological function which accommodates both. The function of a trait is the way it contributes to fitness and fitness can only be determined relative to a selective regime. Therefore, the function of a trait can only be specified relative to a selective regime. Apart (...) from its desirable pluralism, only this view of relational function can support the function/accident and function/malfunction distinctions commonly thought to be part of the concept of function. Furthermore, only relational function correctly characterizes the explanatory consequences of function attributions in evolutionary biology. (shrink)