ABSTRACT The current article is inserted in the domain of legal theory, having as objective to discuss the concept and the centrality of authority in contemporaneous debate around legal positivism, just as offer an alternative position, sustained by Pashukanis and based on legal subject (a nearly forgotten category, overshadowed by the horizon of legal norm and its authority). The study proceeds with a comparative analysis of the notion of authority in legal positivism’s classical authors (Austin, Kelsen e Hart), pointing out (...) how this perspective is still hegemonic in contemporaneous legal thinking, even in the contemporaneous versions of legal positivism. The next step is the contrast of authority-based conception with Evgeni Pashukanis’ conception, whose core is legal subjectivity. By comparing the main theoretical propositions with the Pashukanian perspective of legal form, it is noted that authority is a void concept, unable to define the historical specificity of law. Understood as state repressive power, as socially recognized power or as (self proclaimed) legitimate reason to act, authority can not provide legal phenomenon’s conceptual boundaries. (shrink)

I show how the Cosmological Argument (CA) is undermined by one of its own premises: the Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR). First, I explain the type of CA that I am thinking about. Second, I explain a traditional modal objection against the PSR, which is ultimately based upon our intuitions in favor of contingency. Third, I show how this modal objection begs the question against the necessitarian, and then I reformulate the CA in more neutral terms. Fourth, using this more (...) neutral version of the CA, I argue that the main problem with the PSR goes way beyond its apparent necessitarian consequences. As an argument used by Bradley shows, embracing the rationalist path that underlies the PSR seems to commit us to a form of Radical Monism. I conclude by showing how this result ultimately undermines the CA. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this article we propose to study the way in which the conceptualization of death carried out by Hegel has been read by a series of authors. In this way, in a first section we will restore Heidegger’s interpretation of Hegel to, in a second moment, recover Kojève’s decisive reading of the same author, and end with a replacement of the hermeneutics carried out by Bataille of the German idealist philosopher. Thus, in the conclusion to this article, the existence (...) of repeated and extremely similar motifs present in the three recently named thinkers will be exposed, for whom the figure of Hegel has certainly constituted an unavoidable inheritance. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Neurath’s scientific utopianism is the proposal that the social sciences should engage in the elaboration, development, and comparison of counterfactual scenarios, the ‘utopias’. Such scenarios can be understood as centerpieces of scientific thought experiments, that is, in exercises of imagination that not only promote conceptual revision, but also stimulate creativity to deal with experienced problems, as utopias are efforts to imagine what the future could look like. Moreover, utopian thought experiments can offer scientific knowledge to inform political debates and (...) decisions, contributing to the shaping of society. This essay reconstructs a historical event as an example of Neurath’s utopianist methodology. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a scientific and political commission appointed by the Western German Parliament devised and compared four scenarios for future energetic-economic policies. Conclusions of the commission informed political decisions that put Western (later reunified) Germany in a route towards becoming a green industrial power. A fundamental part of the commission’s work involved an appeal to imagination, allowing for the characterization under Neurath’s methodology. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article reconstructs Oskar Negt and Alexander Kluge’s critical theory by articulating some of the key concepts of History and Obstinacy, their second collaboration. The objective is to detail the grounds of their critical theory and to show how it acquires its normative character. To this aim, in a first step, I reconstruct the basis of the anthropology developed by Negt and Kluge. This anthropology allows them to argue that subjects-insofar as they are creative beings-possess ‘obstinacy’, which they understand (...) as an intrinsic and material power to resist oppression. Following this, I discuss the concept of ‘primitive accumulation’, which is used by Negt and Kluge to expose the relation between capitalism and obstinacy. Finally, I clarify the way Negt and Kluge appeal to the concept of ‘human nature’ in order to show how their theory derives its normative character. To do so, I rely on Christoph Menke’s work on ‘inner nature’. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this article we analyze the attempt that young Simone Weil made for thinking time and change, and for deciphering the participation that the world and the mind may have in its configuration. To achieve this, we set out to elucidate two concepts that we believe synthesize her approach: the first one is astonishment, understood both in its quality of incessant intuition that reveals the human impotence to understand the present, and in its quality as a mediating instance between (...) ignorance and approximate human science of the phenomenal field. The second concept we analyze is that of directed time, significant of the first Weilian philosophy in that it reveals the subjugation of man to the present, the only tangible time. This determination allows us to understand the meaning of the past as an abolished existence, and the future as a virtual nucleus of possibilities towards which the human being prepares his action and work thanks to his faculty to devise projects. Finally, we try to show the problematic tension that young Weil discerned between the law of the immediacy of the world, and the law of time that imposes intermediate steps to the realization of all human activity. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The article analyzes the subject of musical listening of time in Vladimir Jankélévitch philosophy, seeking to assess what is the phenomenal proof alleged by Jankélévitch to support the thesis that musical listening of time carries the same properties as Henri Bergson’s concept of durée. We conclude that (1) Jankélévitch’s temporal descriptions are not sufficient to sustain that listening to music is equivalent to listening to the properties of durée, and that (2) this fact implies a problem both for the (...) maxim “music is the art of time” and for the general capacity of Bergsonism, verified in other authors, to founding a philosophy of music. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that one of the reasons for Hegel’s failure in consummating the project of “construct the absolute for consciousness” presented in 1801 in his Writing on Difference consisted in the patent mismatch between the negativity to which the determinations of finitude would be submitted and the conception of the absolute still substantially thought. Precisely, what we call here the archaism of substantiality would set the tone of this mismatch that still entailed the (...) heterogeneity between finitude, with its way of ascending to the absolute, and the absolute itself. Among other things, this will become clearer observing the formalism of the intuitionist proposal that Hegel presents at that time, aiming to safeguard the elevation of consciousness without its intrinsic negativity tainting the absolutity of the principle to which it was elevated. (shrink)

RESUMO O artigo examina a função da noção de obrigação política no pensamento do filósofo italiano da política e do direito Alessandro Passerin d’Entrèves (1902-1985), especialmente em sua relação com o regime democrático e as formas de resistência por parte dos cidadãos. Pela análise dos principais argumentos do autor a esse respeito, o artigo procura demonstrar a flexibilidade do conceito de Estado do autor e a importância da filosofia enquanto ponto de intersecção entre a moral e o direito, constituindo-se como (...) instrumento de abordagem fenomenológica das formas de associação humana. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article maintains that in Stoicism physics depends epistemologically on ethics because the theological theses (which are part of stoic physics) about that the gods are beneficial and care about human beings depend on knowledge of the ethical realm of philosophy to be sustained or established forcefully. It is possible appreciate that dependence in the response Stoics would have given to the criticism of other philosophical schools to some of the Stoic theological theses. This is not a minor issue, (...) because the question about whether there are foundational relationships between ethics and physics or not depends on it. The proposal in this article intends to support the negative answer to this question under discussion in contemporary studies on Stoicism. (shrink)

RESUMO Em geral, podemos encontrar na literatura (tanto na popular quanto na acadêmica) atribuições de deveres coletivos complexos a coletivos não estruturados extensos de indivíduos. Por “deveres coletivos complexos”, quero dizer deveres coletivos que, de maneira plausível, exigem que os membros individuais de um coletivo não estruturado extenso empreguem tipos diferentes de ações contributivas para alcançarem um objetivo coletivo - por exemplo, o suposto dever coletivo universal de acabar com a pobreza mundial. Neste artigo, defendo que esses deveres não orientam (...) a ação. O motivo é por que eles não passam no que chamo de “teste de orientação de ação”. Esse teste pressupõe a crença intuitiva de que um dever moral orienta a ação apenas se, para o portador do dever, estiver claro o tipo de ação que ele deve praticar após a atribuição do dever. Deveres coletivos complexos atribuídos a coletivos não estruturados extensos não passam nesse teste porque, embora cada portador do dever (ou seja, cada membro do coletivo) receba orientação sobre o fim que se deve atingir em conjunto, não está claro para esses agentes o tipo de ação que cada um deles deve por em prática. (shrink)

ABSTRACT For a long time, the question of the existence of free will has fueled philosophical debate with no definitive solution. Libet’s paradigm (1983) seemed to demonstrate that simple and apparently voluntary movements could be triggered not by consciousness, but by preconscious or random brain processes. Such findings had wide repercussions in the academic and scientific circles, triggering an extensive discussion among neuroscientists, philosophers and jurists. Exploring the interfaces between neuroscience and free will, the present work aims to formulate an (...) updated synthesis of the diverse problematizations about the Libetian findings. It appears that Libet’s essay, although repeatedly analyzed and replicated in recent decades, still lacks a definitive interpretation, in part due to methodological controversies and specific conceptual shortcomings. The deepening of these investigations, combined with the new discoveries offered by neuroscience, can enrich research on free will in the coming years. (shrink)

This paper aims to map the different theoretical options related to the Precautionary Principle (PP). Great part of the literature on it can be systematized by answering to three different questions: is there a basic structure in the PP? If so, in which interpretation of the PP does this structure express itself? Finally, are its damage or knowledge conditions fixed or adjustable? The first question separates realist from non-realist approaches. The second question allows us to discriminate monist, dualist, or pluralist (...) positions in relation to the three interpretations of the PP: decision rule, procedural requirement, or epistemic rule. Finally, the third question distinguishes rigid from non-rigid formulations of the principle. Based on this mapping, one can not only navigate through the different formulations of the PP present both in official documents and in specialized literature, but also deflect some of its common objections, and understand Hans Jonas’ eventual connection with PP. Notwithstanding, this mapping does not capture other important themes attached to PP, which motivates a final distinction between narrow and broader forms of PP. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this paper I propose that examining Locke’s response to skepticism requires us to consider at least three distinct senses in which skepticism appears on the horizon of the Essay. Skepticism is addressed, directly or indirectly, (i) as a general outcome of philosophical inquiry, (ii) as a methodical decision to doubt, and also (iii) as the result of a particular problem that challenges the claim to knowledge. I think that by examining how Locke reacts to such issues, we get (...) a more accurate and nuanced picture of Locke’s relationship to skeptical philosophy. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The work of Giorgio Agamben is punctuated by constant references to Michel Foucault’s work, so that the latter appears as an important theoretical framework for the former. However, an effort to bring the two authors together proves to be quite problematic as it is perceived that the Italian philosopher operates certain methodological and conceptual categories fundamental to Foucauldian thought in a radically different way from the French philosopher. Such incompatibility is presented with greater clarity when we propose to explore (...) the theme of the destituent in Agamben’s work, from which ontology, politics and ethics intersect, revealing the differences between the two philosophers. Thus, in order to expose the limits of this approximation, it will first be explored the methodological distinctions between the two authors in their approach of the problem of ‘power’, as well as the way in which the concept is formulated in the work of each of them. Next, the general lines of the agambenian ‘modal ontology’ and the ‘ethics of inoperability’ will be presented in order to conclusively explain the divergence between the ethical solutions proposed by Foucault and Agamben in their later works. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In the following pages we will address the internal and external dimensions of the Hegelian conceptualization of political economy in the analytical context of the Rechstphilosophie of 1820. We will understand by internal dimensions the moments proper to the Hegelian argument in its logical coherence and consistency and, by external dimensions, the validity and representativeness of that same argument in relation to the problems of political economy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. To this end, we will (...) focus especially on the relationship between capitalism and mercantilism in its physiocratic and cameralist forms in order to establish the logical and historical horizon of the Hegelian exposition. Finally, on the basis of this relationship and its conceptualization, we will summarily address the limits of the meaning of political economy as a representation of the present in Rechtsphilosophie. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In “L’Eau et la folie”, Michel Foucault points towards a possible relation between water and madness in the “Western imaginary landscapes” – a relation that already made herself present in Histoire de la folie. Through the analysis of some of the key points of that work, such as the emergence of the Ship of Fools between the 15th and 16th centuries, and the therapeutic-punitive uses of the water in the 17th and 19th centuries, we intend to examine the triad (...) water-morals-madness. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article aims to analyze the theses of Albert Camus on the Gnostic movements that had a great influence on early Christianity. Therefore, it starts with an examination of the relationship between Gnosticism and modernity, and then demonstrates how, according to the French-Algerian thinker, the Gnostic sects represent the fil rouge that links the Greek tradition (of rationality) to Christian perspectives (mainly the idea of redemption). In addition, the analysis intends to demonstrate how, for Camus, Gnosticism and modernity maintain (...) close ties, mainly due to the concept of man’s exile in the world. Thus, it is understood how Camus appropriates this feeling to formulate his own philosophical and literary work, articulating Gnostic nihilism and contemporary nihilism. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this paper I attempt to show how an important traditional line of interpretation of Kantian philosophy went astray by the fact that Kant works in its practical philosophy with two distinct and apparently conflicting conceptions of the freedom of human will, namely, freedom as noumenal causality and freedom as the power of choice between alternative possibilities. Firstly, I argue that no conception of freedom in Kant`s philosophy can possibly conflict with that asserted in his most foundational works on (...) practical philosophy, which defines freedom as the actual exercise of moral rationality. I next endeavor to show, by means of both textual and conceptual arguments, the inconsistency of the dominant adoption of a wrong version of the second alternative, namely that of freedom of choice as a supposed free power of choosing for or against morality. Finally, I defend that the only consistent way of conceiving Kant’s freedom of choice in accordance with his freedom as the actual exercise of morality reveals a real conceptual difficulty in Kant`s practical philosophy, namely, the problem of the accountability of immoral decisions. The guiding-thread of this exposition is an interpretation of Karl Ameriks’s article of 2002: “Pure Reason of Itself Alone Suffices to Determine the Will”. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In Eric Weil’s Logic of Philosophy, the work appears as a rupture with the absolute, an attitude of pure violence, whose opposition is realized by acting, therefore, it is mute. And yet, this attitude has a language. This paper seeks to understand how this contradiction is possible, characterizing the language that the work makes use of. To this end, we have divided this paper into three sections. In the first section, we present the distinction between language and discourse as (...) understood by Weil. Thus arises the resource through which the loan of a discourse to violence is understood, which allows access to its language. In the second section we propose a division of the language of the work into three levels: phenomenon, formality and form. In this section we also discuss an example of the formality with the condition category. In the last section, we propose six features that constitute the third level of the language of the work: myth, metaphor, feeling, usefulness, proposition and imperative. The paper concludes with a review of the aspects worked in the light of the lie and with the proposal of an imperative that is opposed to the imperative of the work, therefore, to its language. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The aim of this article was to develop an interpretation of the relation between Deleuzian transcendental empiricism and Deleuze-Guattarian political philosophy in the “Treatise on Nomadology,” which focuses on the concept of the nomadic war machine. To understand this concept, it is necessary to keep in mind that this is a transcendental Idea or virtual multiplicity, correlated of an effondement (‘ungrounding’), which sustains a difference by right in relation to the State apparatus and the military institution. On the basis (...) of this premise, the three aspects of the nomadic war machine are analyzed: a spatial-geographical one (the smooth space), a numerical one (the numbering number), and an affective one (the weapons). Finally, we conclude with an examination of the authors’ critical reading of the notion of absolute war in Clausewitz, which allows us to strengthen the interpretation of the concept of nomadic war machine as transcendental Idea. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper offers an interpretation of Deleuze’s concept of difference. Deleuze has sought to think difference without its traditional subordination to identity, trying to think difference for itself. In this regard, Deleuze concludes that difference is being itself in the famous thesis of the univocity of being. What would be the status of this claim? What elements make possible such a sounding ontological statement? In this paper, we shall answer these questions by interpretating the concept of difference as a (...) speculative one, arguing that difference is only thinkable, but not cognoscible. In order to do so, we analyze Deleuze’s critical engagement with Kant to demonstrate that there is a post-critical ontology in Deleuze’s thinking. (shrink)