What are the Early Memoranda?1 When were they written? What are their sources? What is their purpose and their relation to Hume's works? These questions, usually addressed separately, are in fact tightly interwoven: they require an articulated response that embraces them all. Our response could be summarised as follows: far from being current reading notes, or even less the exhaustive diary of Hume's intellectual experience, the Early Memoranda are most likely second-tier texts, or—as James Harris recently conjectured—"notes taken from notes."2 (...) More generally, the Memoranda, with some possible exceptions, are the result of a selection between those "loose bits of paper" and "uncorrect thoughts"3 which Hume began to... (shrink)

«Greek Love is a modern invention», asserts the classical scholar. David Hume can claim the title of inventor. In his 1751 Dialogue on morals he used the phrase to account for the relationship between a university boy and a man of merit. How did Hume come to this expression? Pederasty was a traditional sceptical topic against a universal standard for morals. What did Hume think of this practice and its origin? When he accounts for pederasty and homosocial arrangements by negative (...) epithets, is Hume seriously condemning them or he is «only» and prudentially following the common use? The Article tries to give a first answer to these questions by examining Hume's writings and their sources, and the views of the modern authors. The Article delineates the eighteenth-century debate, without projecting on it our views, and maintains that, like some ancient philosophers according to Sextus Empricus, and possibly like Smith, Hume would have declared practice in itself «indifferent». (shrink)

This chapter looks closely at the reception of Hume's ideas in the 18th-century ‘coterie de Milan’: Alessandro and Pietro Verri and Cesare Beccaria. Alessandro, a traveller to Paris and London in 1766–8, sees his own dispute with Beccaria reflected in Hume's dispute with Rousseau, and champions Hume's ‘meek’ (religious) thought against the radical views of the French ‘philosophes’ supported by his brother. Alessandro's interpretation of Hume's philosophical stance and of the Natural history of religion are used here to cast a (...) new light on Hume's alleged denial of ever having met an atheist and on his refusal to write an Ecclesiastical History. The way Alessandro was ‘cutting off the noble parts’ of Hume's work in order to make it religiously mild reminds us of some present-day appropriations and mis-readings. (shrink)

Why do Humean eyes matter? The subject of David Hume’s eyes and face leads us into some unexpected curiosities connected with events in his life and written works. We outline the scholars’ propensity to describe the face of their favourite philosopher and spread upon it their personal reading of his life and writings. We ask questions about portraits, their resemblance to the original as a standard of beauty. We survey eighteenth-century physiognomy, and the humourous paradox of the “fat philosopher,” both (...) clumsy and refined. We inquire into Hume’s use of physiognomy, his views on corpulence and his own vacant look. We observe the role of Ramsay’s portraits in the 1766 dispute between Rousseau and Hume. We outline the role the eyes play in the body of his written work. We finally recall that the picture which he deemed the “best likeness” has now disappeared. Yet, there remains something still engraved. (shrink)

Alternative Fakten sind in der Politik nicht neu. Verfechter der Staatsräson betrachteten die Lüge seit jeher als legitimes Mittel des Machterhalts. Für ›Tatsachen‹ begannen Wissenschaft und Presse sich erst später – und mit unterschiedlich ausgeprägter Neugier – zu interessieren. Inzwischen kehrt sich gegen beide ein gezielt gesätes Misstrauen. Der Beitrag geht dem Kalkül hinter den Lügen und Wahrheitszweifeln in der aktuellen Politik nach und versucht die Frage zu beantworten, wo darin die Staatsvernunft weiter regiert und wo nicht. Alternative facts are (...) by no means a new phenomenon in politics. Guardians of public policy have always considered lies an appropriate means by which to conserve power. It was only much later that science and the press became interested in ›facts‹ – and they did so with quite different concepts of inquisitiveness. In the meantime both have acquired a mistrust which has been purposefully plantedand carefully cultivated. This article investigates the scheming behind the lies and doubts of truth in the current political landscape and tries to answer the question in which cases alternative facts can still be considered a means of reason of state and in which cases they cannot. (shrink)

Alternative facts are by no means a new phenomenon in politics. Guardians of public policy have always considered lies an appropriate means by which to conserve power. It was only much later that science and the press became interested in ›facts‹ – and they did so with quite different concepts of inquisitiveness. In the meantime both have acquired a mistrust which has been purposefully plantedand carefully cultivated. This article investigates the scheming behind the lies and doubts of truth in the (...) current political landscape and tries to answer the question in which cases alternative facts can still be considered a means of reason of state and in which cases they canno. (shrink)

The act of iudicare hostes (‘declare public enemy’) was a formal pronouncement of the Roman Senate, voted for the first time in 88 BCE following a proposal by L. Cornelius Sulla after his first march on Rome. Legal historians have generally interpreted it as an emergency measure intended to preserve legality in a situation of civil strife and viewed it as a consistently defined institutional framework throughout the final decades of the Republic. Through an analysis of Sulla’s performative political communication, (...) before, during and in the immediate aftermath of the march, this paper argues that the act of judging (iudicare) someone a public enemy (hostis publicus) was first deployed as a political action, void of legal effects. Later instances of iudicare suggest that this act underwent a process of institutionalization after 63 BCE. (shrink)

The topic of the present reflection is Christian religious belief. Specifically, we will use Husserlian tools in order to examine the positional nature of this particular type of belief. We will be less interested in the question concerning the success conditions of this experience and more in its noetic structure. According to our proposal, to believe by faith supposes (although it is not exhausted by) accepting the existence of mundane evidence speaking against this fundamental belief. The believer acknowledges the existence (...) of this contradicting en-doxical basis and nevertheless believes what she believes. We will refer to this simultaneous movement of accepting and cancelling as the concessive structure of the religious attitude. The para-doxical movement of experiencing conflicting evidence as being subjectively ineffective is a key component of this attitude. At least some inchoative conflict with the world is required in order for the religious belief to be religious. Lastly, we will try to show that, with a distinctive terminology, the idea that the Christian religious attitude involves a conflict between subjectivity and world is present not only in Kierkegaard but also in phenomenological figures like Scheler and even Husserl. (shrink)

In this paper I attempt to bring together (at least) two very different debates: one on justice, mercy and particularity, the other on the play of exclusionary reasons. My aim is to show how the discussion of the uneasy co-existence of justice and mercy pivots on the question of particularity. And, secondly, that the debate on exclusionary reasons can show us why law may fail to do justice in this context.

La decouverte de plus en plus profonde de la signification du christianisme a transforme la pensee de Fichte. Reciproquement, Fichte s'engage dans la voie d'une transformation du christianisme, au sens d'une metamorphose de la croyance en vision; il saisit la foi comme un stade imparfait de la science et souligne que seule cette derniere est a meme de supprimer l'exteriorite de l'Absolu. Le present ouvrage allie les points de vue genetique et systematique. De ses cinq parties, les quatre premieres exposent, (...) en suivant l'ordre chronologique, l'evolution de la theorie fichteenne du christianisme, depuis les textes prekantiens jusqu'a la Doctrine de l'Etat de 1813. La longue cinquieme partie, structuree thematiquement plutot que chronologiquement, est reservee non seulement a la reprise synthetique, mais aussi a la confrontation critique. Elle examine les differents aspects de la conception fichteenne du christianisme, notamment sa position a l'egard du Nouveau Testament, de la dogmatique, de la morale et de la mystique chretiennes. (shrink)

v. 1. pt. 1. Rationalisme, empirisme et crise des croyances au XVIIe siècle -- v. 1. pt. 2. Le procès du Christianisme dans la pensée du XVIIIe siècle -- v. 1. pt. 3. La philosophie de la religion chrétienne chez Kant et les postkantiens -- v. 1. pt. 4. La critique du Christianisme au XIXe siècle -- v. 2. pt 5. Philosophie chrétienne, philosophie du Christianisme au XIXe siècle -- v. 2. pt. 6. Vingtième XVIIe siècle. Index.

Providing the first English translation of Análisis del ser del mexicano, this book features a full biography of Uranga, a detailed overview of the translated text, and discussion of Uranga's relevance to contemporary debates in the phenomenology of culture, the philosophy of liberation, Latin American philosophy and phenomenology itself. Reading Uranga's brilliant words expertly translated and introduced by Carlos Alberto Sánchez finally allows us to understand why this Mexican philosopher is considered one of the most fearless and original thinkers of (...) the 20th century. (shrink)

Publicada en 1979, Violence se desarrolla en la ciudad nigeriana de Benín, durante el boom petrolífero de la década de 1970. La narrativa se centra en dos matrimonios que representan ambos extremos del espectro social, cuyos caminos se cruzan mientras sortean diversos obstáculos. La novela de Iyayi constituye una crítica marxista de la violencia ejercida por la pobreza y la desigualdad extrema. Violence muestra cómo ciertos cuerpos humanos se cosifican y explotan de manera sistemática, a la vez que aquellos que (...) no generan ganancias son descartados sin el menor rastro de humanidad. Desde la perspectiva de la ecocrítica urbana, este artículo examina instancias de cosificación corporal en la novela y, específicamente, de comoditización de energía y materia humanas entendidas como recursos naturales. El estudio propone que Iyayi no solo critica esta comoditización al presentarla como una consecuencia del proyecto capitalista, sino que también la cuestiona mediante actos de cuidado resistente que devuelven a los cuerpos cosificados su calidad de sujeto. Estos actos de cuidado constituyen una forma de refutar la separación artificial de Naturaleza y Sociedad, contenida en el dualismo de cuerpo y mente, que históricamente ha justificado la explotación y expropiación capitalista (neo)colonial. El presente artículo contribuye entonces tanto al campo de los estudios poscoloniales como a los de ecocrítica urbana y literaturas africanas, centrándose en una obra relativamente poco analizada y en problemáticas sumamente relevantes para la Nigeria contemporánea. (shrink)

While federal action on climate change is stalled, regional organizing strategies are proving effective. Leveraging regional economic opportunities available through climate protection offers high odds to gain support from constituencies that have raised economic objections to global warming abatement. An emerging clean energy technology revolution offers opportunities to turn them into allies. The clean energy revolution is a branch of the high tech potentially attractive to investors. Clean energy generation and end-use efficiency represent a $3.5 trillion market over the coming (...) 20 years, even with no new public priority. Clean energy production entails use of a wider landscape than fossil fuels, offering rural development opportunities. Climate Solutions, an advocacy group, has jointly issued a clean energy market and policy analysis with major Northwest utilities and economic development agencies. Climate Solutions is also organizing Northwest rural constituencies to take full advantage of the clean energy revolution. (shrink)

This article aims to present four case studies of the different responses to governmental measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by supreme and constitutional courts, especially in cases of jurisdictions that have been facing democratic erosion. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic demanded immediate public policies and other political decisions from the branches of government. Executive authorities were the main actors in effecting constitutional public health norms. The expectation was that they will abide by the rule of law in fulfilling (...) their duties; that has not been the case under governments that promoted democratic erosion. The different contexts of the threats posed to the constitutional democracies led populist and illiberal leaders to opportunistically either try to—and then be contained by courts—or effectively consolidate the expansion of powers under the conditions of the pandemic. Concentrating on four jurisdictions (the USA, Hungary, El Salvador, and Brazil), the article demonstrates that courts can effectively work as bulwarks against waves of democratic erosion, especially in situations of stress, as it was the case in the global COVID-19 pandemic. This hypothesis is also proven by episodes in which courts did not sufficiently operate to curb illiberalism because they were already captured. The analyses enable classifying the court’s responses to the COVID-19 executive measures in a threefold pattern: deferential, restrictive, and of forced capitulation. (shrink)