Despite a long tradition of research in applied genetics, particularly in agricultural research, in Italy the transition to the new knowledges and techniques of molecular biology was long and difficult. Political and financial constraints made academic institutions very slow to grasp the importance of molecular approaches to biology and medicine. In fact, the main studies concerning problems of molecular biology took place inside non-academic institutions. We reconstruct the complex paths leading to the birth of the International Laboratory of Genetics and (...) Biophysics (LIGB) in Naples, and describe its work and activities in the period in which it was directed by its creator, Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, between 1962 and 1969. The origins of the LIGB are inextricably bound to the growth of biophysical research at the University of Pavia and at the Higher Health Institute in Rome. For a short period, with the aid provided by Italian and European physicists to biological research on the effects of nuclear radiation, LIGB became a focal point in European molecular biology. In 1968 the scientific and educational activities of the LIGB dramatically fell victim to the contradictions of the Italian academic and scientific system, and to the political climate which emerged in Italy at the time. (shrink)

This article explores the problem of the foundation of the European Molecular Biology Organization, by reconstructing a broader institutional framework, which includes other international actors – EURATOM, UNESCO and the International Laboratory of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples – and a relevant, but still neglected figure, the Italian geneticist Adriano Buzzati-Traverso. The article considers the tension between centralized and federal models of organization in the field of life sciences not just as an EMBO internal controversy, but rather (...) as a structural issue of European scientific cooperation in fundamental biology in the early 1960s. Along with EMBO, the article analyzes in particular the EURATOM Biology Division Program and the constitution of UNESCO International Cell Research Organization. Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, as founder of ILGB and scientific consultant of EURATOM and UNESCO, played a crucial role in the complex negotiation which ultimately led to the foundation of EMBO. A synchronic treatment of ILGB, EURATOM, UNESCO-ICRO and EMBO opens a window on the early 1960s institutional configuration of molecular biology in Europe, showing how it basically incorporated the “Cold Spring Harbor” decentralized model rather than reproducing the “CERN” centralized model. (shrink)

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the Cold War but also the rise of a melancholic vision of history as a series of losses. For the political left, the cause lost was communism, and this trauma determined how leftists wrote the next chapter in their political struggle and how they have thought about their past since. Throughout the twentieth century, argues Left-Wing Melancholia, from classical Marxism to psychoanalysis to the advent of critical theory, a culture of (...) defeat and its emotional overlay of melancholy have characterized the leftist understanding of the political in history and in theoretical critique. Drawing on a vast and diverse archive in theory, testimony, and image and on such thinkers as Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and others, the intellectual historian Enzo Traverso explores the varying nature of left melancholy as it has manifested in a feeling of guilt for not sufficiently challenging authority, in a fear of surrendering in disarray and resignation, in mourning the human costs of the past, and in a sense of failure for not realizing utopian aspirations. Yet hidden within this melancholic tradition are the resources for a renewed challenge to prevailing regimes of historicity, a passion that has the power to reignite the dialectic of revolutionary thought. (shrink)

La sección de literatura de esta edición N.° 31, nos brinda un paisaje poético dibujado por el escritor Adriano (de San Martín) Corrales Arias, oriundo de Costa Rica, territorio cuyo relieve y herencia mesoamericana recorre a través de palabras sinuosas, vertidas en los poemas 12, 29 y 34 de su libro Vanitas, publicado en la capital costarricense por la Editorial Arlekín, en 2021.

The relationship of Marxism to the "Jewish Question" is far more complex than many have assumed. Despite the Jewish backgrounds of several Marxists, many showed a sense of indifference toward a sense of "Jewishness." Yet an increasingly virulent anti-Semitism - affecting sections of the working class and culminating in the Holocaust and in the growing strength of Zionism - became a problem that numerous Marxist thinkers were compelled to consider. In addition to examining the works of Marx, Karl Kautsky, Leon (...) Trotsky, Ber Borokhov, Abram Leon, and figures associated with the Frankfurt School, Traverso also investigates the actual policies in the socialist and communist movements and sensitively explores the unique history of the Jewish workers' movement in various countries. (shrink)

The method of cases (MOC), as standardly construed, involves an evidential appeal to intuitions. Philosophers, however, often argue for their case verdicts, they offer reasons for accepting their truth. According to Max Deutsch and Herman Cappelen – whose ground-breaking case studies first drew attention to this underappreciated phenomenon – their reason-giving would constitute compelling evidence that, contrary to the received view, philosophers relying on MOC regard arguments, not intuitions, as their main justificatory source. This explanatory hypothesis has met with substantial (...) resistance among metaphilosophers. The main goal of this paper is to broaden the theoretical playing field by considering a yet unexplored alternative hypothesis. I argue that said phenomenon in fact admits of an alternative, intuition-friendly explanation in light of a fundamental distinction in justification theory which has been entirely overlooked by the current debate – i.e. the one between justifying a belief and being justified in holding it. This distinction, I suggest, allows one to naturally construe philosophers’ justifying activity as a dialectically motivated kind of proactive reasoning geared toward the goal of maximizing consensus over their verdicts. Once thus construed, it remains compatible with philosophers thinking of intuitions as the main source of their justification. (shrink)

O principal ponto de desacordo sobre a abordagem kantiana do problema da verdade é se ela pode ser compreendida nos moldes da filosofia contemporânea como coerentista ou como correspondentista. Primando por uma consideração sistemática da argumentação de Kant em confronto com a literatura existente sobre o problema, este trabalho defende a segunda alternativa. Sustentase a tese de que a definição da verdade como a “concordância do conhecimento com o seu objeto” é cogente em todo o percurso do pensamento kantiano e (...) que, nessa acepção, a verdade culmina por ser abordada não a partir de uma teoria estabelecida, mas como um problema cuja solução não pode ser dada nos limites da filosofia crítico-transcendental. Pondera-se, primeiramente, a literatura que situa Kant quer como coerentista quer como correspondentista e sistematiza-se a segunda alternativa em quatro grupos: a leitura ontológica, a leitura isomórfica, a leitura “consequencialista” e a leitura regulativa. Num segundo momento, em atenção ao período pré-crítico, argumenta-se que a alternativa coerentista deixa de se confirmar já nessa mesma época e que, na década de 1750, Kant descarta uma suposta teoria correspondentista isomórfica. Num último momento, considera-se a argumentação crítica e defende-se que a mesma concebe a verdade como um problema fundamental que não cabe ao tratamento de uma teoria correspondentista concebida de modo “consequencialista” ou regulativo. (shrink)

RESUMO Não há Estado sem os indivíduos. Para Rousseau a construção do Estado requer a participação direta dos cidadãos. A participação ativa dos cidadãos resultará na expressão da vontade geral. É a vontade geral que, via pacto social, dará vida e união ao Estado. O Estado é um projeto de corpo político. A participação ativa dos cidadãos com vistas a impedir a corrupção e a dissolução da sociedade remete à concepção da soberania popular. Nessa modalidade de soberania, os cidadãos seriam (...) capazes de construir e manter os fundamentos da sociedade civil. Rousseau, como um contratualista, pensa a sua época e as soluções políticas para os problemas reais de seu tempo. Portanto, é desse cenário entre a teoria e a prática que Rousseau partirá para configurar a distinção e a relação desse importante tripé: soberano, Legislador e príncipe. ABSTRACT There is no State without subjects. For Rousseau, statebuilding requires the direct participation of citizens. The active participation of citizens will result in the expression of the general will. It is the general will that via social pact, will give life and unity to the state. The state is a political body design. The active participation of citizens in order to prevent corruption and dissolution of the society refers to the conception of popular sovereignty. In this mode of sovereignty, citizens would be able to build and maintain the foundations of civil society. Rousseau, as a contractualist, thinks his time and political solutions for the real issues of his time. So it is this scenario between theory and practice, which Rousseau will start to set up the distinction and the relationship of this important tripod: Sovereign, Legislator and Prince. (shrink)

O trabalho de Kurt Goldstein ainda é pouco conhecido no Brasil. Sendo um dos fatores quedificultam o acesso aos seus escritos a ausência de traduções das suas obras para a línguaportuguesa. No entanto, sua influência está presente em diversas áreas do conhecimento, aexemplo da Neurologia, Neuropsicologia, Psicologia e Filosofia. Desse modo, com o intuitode resgatar os fundamentos de conhecimentos e práticas realizadas nos camposinfluenciados por ele, esse artigo apresenta uma introdução à sua obra. Foram utilizadoscomo base os escritos The Organism: (...) A holistic approach to biology derived frompathological data in man e Human Nature in the light of psychopathology. A partir daanálise dessas obras foram selecionados três grandes temas a serem explorados: a questãodo método para o autor, a teoria do organismo apresentada por ele e a noção de naturezahumana presente em seus trabalhos. Por meio dessa retomada da obra do autor, pretendeseapontar para sua “fenomenologia”, além de abrir caminho para novas discussões sobresua influência. (shrink)

A internet revolucionou o mundo da informação e da comunicação ao fornecer matéria-prima para o conhecimento e o acesso a novos vínculos cognitivos. Com isso, configura-se um contexto próprio para a renovação do rol de compromissos educacionais. A partir dessa percepção, este ensaio aborda desafios que ganharam relevância, como é caso do apreço à autoria; da paciência para aprender e do cuidado com a disciplina intelectual; do zelo na escolha; do convívio amigável com as incertezas; e da ousadia na construção (...) de projetos. Vive-se uma oportunidade convidativa à liberação da imaginação em busca de utopias com vistas à reconstrução das práticas educativas. (shrink)

Since at least Hume and Kant, philosophers working on the nature of aesthetic judgment have generally agreed that common sense does not treat aesthetic judgments in the same way as typical expressions of subjective preferences—rather, it endows them with intersubjective validity, the property of being right or wrong regardless of disagreement. Moreover, this apparent intersubjective validity has been taken to constitute one of the main explananda for philosophical accounts of aesthetic judgment. But is it really the case that most people (...) spontaneously treat aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity? In this paper, we report the results of a cross‐cultural study with over 2,000 respondents spanning 19 countries. Despite significant geographical variations, these results suggest that most people do not treat their own aesthetic judgments as having intersubjective validity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for theories of aesthetic judgment and the purpose of aesthetics in general. (shrink)

A complexidade crescente da rede mundial de dependências, e o tempo acelerado da mudança, ultrapassaram as capacidades, as rotinas, e a criatividade dessas estruturas, que se tinham arquitectado em tempo demorado, os Estados perderam de regra a eficácia do modelo da centralidade da direcção, e, sem grande diferença qualitativa entre poderosos e pequenos, multiplicam, por todas as áreas das competências que guardam, os centros de intervenção que se articulam em redes internacionais, sem que isso tenha necessária réplica em redes internas (...) que mantenham a corrente da informação entre todos.Pregadores da urgência da verdade no exercício da política como foi Ana Arendt, e da importância do diálogo como sustentam todos, dificilmente podem conciliar-se com o panorama desta época que se pretende que seja da informação e do saber, longe também da sabedoria que invocaram. Inverter o ritmo, isto é, regressar ao modelo de pensar antes de correr, exige uma profunda remodelação dos aparelhos diplomáticos, de modo que a coordenação volte a ser um valor reconhecido, não apenas pela filosofia de governo de cada Estado, também pela dos grandes espaços em que os Estados se articulam. (shrink)

Philosophers have long debated whether, if determinism is true, we should hold people morally responsible for their actions since in a deterministic universe, people are arguably not the ultimate source of their actions nor could they have done otherwise if initial conditions and the laws of nature are held fixed. To reveal how non-philosophers ordinarily reason about the conditions for free will, we conducted a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic survey (N = 5,268) spanning twenty countries and sixteen languages. Overall, participants tended (...) to ascribe moral responsibility whether the perpetrator lacked sourcehood or alternate possibilities. However, for American, European, and Middle Eastern participants, being the ultimate source of one’s actions promoted perceptions of free will and control as well as ascriptions of blame and punishment. By contrast, being the source of one’s actions was not particularly salient to Asian participants. Finally, across cultures, participants exhibiting greater cognitive reflection were more likely to view free will as incompatible with causal determinism. We discuss these findings in light of documented cultural differences in the tendency toward dispositional versus situational attributions. (shrink)

O presente artigo analisa as possibilidades e limites da discricionariedade administrativa no Estado Social e Democrático de Direito, propondo a releitura dos princípios da legalidade, da supremacia do interesse público e da igualdade perante a administração. Apresenta critérios distintivos entre ato administrativo vinculado e discricionário, além de discorrer sobre os parâmetros constitucionais e legais que devem nortear a decisão discricionária. Inspirando nas luzes pós-positivistas, a pesquisa conta com a revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema e, adotando o método dedutivo, busca aproximar (...) os preceitos constitucionais da atuação discricionária do administrador público. (shrink)

The debate on moral bioenhancement—expressed in the acronym MB-is in fact influenced by the requirements of both the market and scientific research and philosophy must avoid an ideological use of its arguments. The moral phenomenon is highly complex and it does not seem likely that MB will be able to produce the desired effects without undermining human freedom, which, however, is a constitutive element of personal morality. There is the risk that MB perceives the human being as “something” to be (...) perfected to the detriment of being “someone” to respect and not to manipulate. If MB were to guarantee the exercise of freedom it would not differ from plain and simple enhancement of human capabilities, and therefore there would be no assurance that an enhanced human being might be extra good, and not, instead, extra evil. In addition there are values associated with the plurality of moral experience that risk being compromised and lost if the trust in human relations as a growth factor of moral personality were to be replaced with a trust in pharmacy and in technology, creating a new form of impersonal dependency. (shrink)

The normative phenomenon is ubiquitous in human interactions, emerging in a wide range of fields studied by social science and considered as one of the essential traits of human’s way of life. The modern subjectivist tradition of social science has been based on a model in which elements like self, freedom and reason play the most relevant roles in explaining normativity by connecting beliefs to behaviors by means of motives that are non-reducible to preferences, desires or impulses. In this paper (...) I will discuss normativity in general in order to turn into normativity as it is conceived in social science and then with a focus on normativity based on reasons. I will argue in favor of a naturalistic approach to normativity by means of a defense of a concept of will, which can provide a bridge between social and natural science, rather than giving further reason to sustain a dualistic approach to them. Moreover, I will claim that mental qualities usually alleged to be essential for assigning personality, agency, and moral responsibility, such as rationality, self-consciousness, and freedom, are neither sufficient nor necessary for a naturalistic characterization of moral agents, or for explaining normativity in human evaluative practices. (shrink)

BackgroundIn Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a collective trauma. Post-traumatic growth has been defined as the subjective experience of positive psychological changes as a result of a traumatic event. PTG can involve changes in five psychological main dimensions: relating to others, new possibilities, personal strength, spiritual change, and appreciation of life. In the context of national emergencies, those PTG dimensions encompassing changes at the social level can play a role in coping strategies that involve a renewed sense of self (...) and one’s social identities, including national identities, and in turn, foster a stronger sense of trust and connection to others.AimTo investigate how each of the five PTG dimensions mediates the association between the salience of national identity and interpersonal trust in a sample of Italian young adults. Trust in national and European institutions were expected to positively predict the strength of the Italian national identity which in turn was expected to be positively associated with interpersonal trust, and the PTG relating to others dimension to mediate this association.MethodThis study involves the secondary analysis of data from a representative sample of 2,000 Italian young adults. Participants completed a web survey during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis in Italy with measures of trust in EU and national institutions, national identity, interpersonal trust, and the PTG Inventory. Structural equation modeling procedures were employed for key hypotheses tests.ResultsTrust in national institutions positively predicted national identity, which in turn was positively associated with interpersonal trust. Evidence of a full mediation effect of the PTG relating to others dimension on the association between national identity and interpersonal trust was found.DiscussionFindings contribute to clarify the psychological responses to collective traumas. In the context of Italy’s COVID-19 crisis, trust in national institutions reinforced Italian national identity, which was in turn associated with greater interpersonal trust, but only when psychological responses to the trauma involved changes in how individuals perceived and related to others, and not merely a focus on the self. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

Is behavioral integration a necessary feature of belief in folk psychology? Our data from over 5,000 people across 26 samples, spanning 22 countries suggests that it is not. Given the surprising cross-cultural robustness of our findings, we argue that the types of evidence for the ascription of a belief are, at least in some circumstances, lexicographically ordered: assertions are first taken into account, and when an agent sincerely asserts that p, nonlinguistic behavioral evidence is disregarded. In light of this, we (...) take ourselves to have discovered a universal principle governing the ascription of beliefs in folk psychology. (shrink)

Historians don’t seem to be concerned by the “back to Marx” trend observed in many fields during the last decade. After an initial, very limited breakthrough in the inter-war years, Marxism irrupted in the academy in the 1960’s, when it established its hegemony on historical studies, merging with a multiplicity of social sciences. This “golden age” was followed by an epoch of decline, the climax of which was reached in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin’s wall. Since this turning (...) point, historiography has being shaped by the return to neoconservative tendencies as well as by the emergence of postmodernism, which marginalized the traditional Marxist paradigms. Instead of reducing this change to a theoretical battle, the author interprets the decline of Marxist historiography as the result of a political defeat. The absence of any utopian horizon at the beginning of the twentieth first century explains the persistence of this decline. Once liberated from both teleology and Eurocentric views – its secret tendencies from the time of its transformation into a “science” – Marxist historiography could reinvent itself and redefine its goal, which does not consist in the “application” a preformed theory but, according to E.P. Thompson, in “recovering, explaining and to understanding its object : real history”. Such a reinvention means, in the wake of W. Benjamin, to conceive the past not as definitely closed but as a whole of experiences and recollections to “reactivate” in the struggles of the present. (shrink)

A base de todas as discussões políticas de John Locke é o conceito de direito natural; e o desenvolvimento das suas ideias políticas é acompanhado pelas interpretações que ele nos deu deste conceito, em especial daquelas que norteiam as suas concepções de liberdade e propriedade. Locke argumenta que não é a força nem a tradição, mas somente o “consentimento” expresso dos governados que se constitui como a única fonte de um poder político que se quer legítimo. Tal consentimento deriva-se da (...) liberdade que existe no estado de natureza e fundamentará os alicerces da sociedade civil. (shrink)

Which sounds composed the first spoken languages? Archetypal sounds are not phylogenetically or archeologically recoverable, but comparative linguistics and primatology provide an alternative approach. Labial articulations are the most common speech sound, being virtually universal across the world's languages. Of all labials, the plosive ‘p’ sound, as in ‘Pablo Picasso’, transcribed /p/, is the most predominant voiceless sound globally and one of the first sounds to emerge in human infant canonical babbling. Global omnipresence and ontogenetic precocity imply that /p/‐like sounds (...) could predate the first major linguistic diversification event(s) in humans. Indeed, great ape vocal data support this view, namely, the only cultural sound shared across all great ape genera is articulatorily homologous to a rolling or trilled /p/, the ‘raspberry’. /p/‐like labial sounds represent an ‘articulatory attractor’ among living hominids and are likely among the oldest phonological features to have ever emerged in linguistic systems. (shrink)

This book discusses key ethical and deontological problems concerning the use of the most common information and communication devices. It focuses on the challenges of the new environments we now find ourselves in thanks to these technologies, and the issues arising from the newly established relationship between the virtual sphere and the real world. Each aspect is analysed by starting from a very specific example or a case study presenting a dilemma that can only be resolved by making a reasoned (...) ethical choice. Rather than thematically addressing only one of the many aspects mentioned above, the book presents a comprehensive introduction to, and a co-ordinated overview of, the various deontological and ethical issues regarding the spread of the most common information and communication technologies. (shrink)

A partir dos anos 1950, no auge do processo de descolonização afro-asiática, Portugal sofreu diversas pressões internacionais devido à sua política colonial. Marcado historicamente por sua debilidade econômica, o país havia implementado um modelo colonialista baseado na abertura de seus domínios ultramarinos à atuação do capital internacional, em um modelo de colonialismo dependente. Este fato, aliado aos interesses estratégicos dos EUA e da OTAN, no contexto da Guerra Fria, fez com que as grandes potências acabassem esvaziando as pressões contrárias ao (...) colonialismo português. Assim, apesar da política isolacionista implementada pelo regime salazarista e da condenação da opinião pública internacional, os interesses econômicos e financeiros das grandes potências e as determinações político-estratégicas da conjuntura internacional acabaram por garantir alguma sobrevida ao Império Colonial Luso até meados da década de 1970.The crisis of the last empire: the Cold War and the final decades of Portuguese colonialism From the 1950s onwards, at the height of the process of Afro-Asian decolonization, Portugal underwent various international pressures due to its colonial policy. Historically marked by its economic weakness, the country had implemented a dependent colonialist model based on the opening of its overseas domains to the international capital. In addition, the strategic interests of the United States and NATO within the context of the Cold War resulted in a deflation of the pressures against Portuguese colonialism by the great powers. Hence, despite the isolationist policy implemented by the Salazar regime and the condemnation of colonialism by international public opinion, the economic and financial interests of the great powers, as well the political and strategic constraints of the international conjuncture, granted the survival to the Portuguese Colonial Empire until the mid-1970s. Resumen La crisis del último imperio: la Guerra Fría y las últimas décadas del colonialismo portugués Desde la década de 1950, en el apogeo del proceso de descolonización africano-asiática, Portugal sufrió varias presiones internacionales debido a su política colonial. Marcado históricamente por su debilidad económica, el país había implementado un modelo colonialista basado en la apertura de sus dominios de ultramar a la actuación del capital internacional, en un modelo de colonialismo dependiente. Este hecho, junto con los intereses estratégicos de los EE.UU. y la OTAN en el contexto de la Guerra Fría, hizo que las grandes potencias acabaran por vaciar las presiones contra el colonialismo portugués. Así, a pesar de la política aislacionista implementada por el régimen salazarista y la condena por la opinión pública internacional, los intereses económicos y financieros de las grandes potencias y las determinaciones político-estratégicas de la coyuntura internacional acabaron por garantizar alguna sobrevida al Imperio Colonial Luso hasta mediados de la década de 1970. (shrink)

Daniel Bensaïd was a leading figure of May ’68, a Marxist thinker and an influential French public intellectual. His theoretical and political trajectory is divided into two distinct periods separated by the historical turn of 1989: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of theussr. This also coincided with an existential turn due to his contractingaids, which brought him close to death. After this turn, he played the role of a ‘border-crosser’ between generations, intellectual currents and geopolitical areas (...) within the radical left. In the 1990s, he began a critical rereading of Marx and tried to transcend Trotskyism, confronting its legacy with other currents of critical thought, notably the Frankfurt School. Since this pivotal moment, his writings reveal a permanent and intense dialogue with the work of Walter Benjamin, which he reinterpreted in a contemporary, political perspective, rethinking the political dilemmas of the twenty-first century through a Messianic vision of history. This article emphasises the affinities between two historical constellations – 1939 and 1989 – which, in spite of their obvious differences, were equally shaped by a feeling of defeat, and allowed a fruitful ‘encounter’ between French and German philosophers. (shrink)

Pretendo apresentar, neste artigo, alguns dos conceitos kantianos na Crítica da faculdade do juízo apropriados na análise política arendtiana do juízo estético kantiano:juízo, imaginação, mentalidade alargada, senso comum. A despeito das dificuldades resultantes do caráter inacabado da abordagem arendtiana da vida do espírito, buscamos explicitar que ela encontra, na obra kantiana, os elementos básicos de sua análise da atividade mental do juízo. Ela sustenta não apenas que o juízo reflexionante estético pode ser apropriado politicamente, mas que na Crítica da faculdade (...) do juízo encontra-se a filosofia política oculta da obra kantiana. A tal posição polêmica iremos apenas aludir, analisando os conceitos de pensamento crítico e mentalidade alargada. (shrink)

Pretendo apresentar, neste artigo, alguns dos conceitos kantianos na Crítica da faculdade do juízo apropriados na análise política arendtiana do juízo estético kantiano:juízo, imaginação, mentalidade alargada, senso comum. A despeito das dificuldades resultantes do caráter inacabado da abordagem arendtiana da vida do espírito, buscamos explicitar que ela encontra, na obra kantiana, os elementos básicos de sua análise da atividade mental do juízo. Ela sustenta não apenas que o juízo reflexionante estético pode ser apropriado politicamente, mas que na Crítica da faculdade (...) do juízo encontra-se a filosofia política oculta da obra kantiana. A tal posição polêmica iremos apenas aludir, analisando os conceitos de pensamento crítico e mentalidade alargada. (shrink)

Resumo: O avanço da internet propiciou uma situação em que a visibilidade que alguns indivíduos, grupos e entidades alcançam dentro de determinados círculos, e até mesmo em todo o globo, tem chegado a níveis de idolatria e reverência que só podem ser comparadas a um culto, uma religião ou seita. Essa construção de significados é processada através da chamada “autocomunicação de massa”, termo cunhado por Manuel Castells, na qual os próprios indivíduos estabelecem quem possui algum tipo de poder. E são (...) essas novas relações midiáticas que constroem novos ídolos para adoração, elevados da noite para o dia da condição de mortais a deuses. O que se pretende apresentar neste texto é como a Teoria do Mundo Ideal de Platão explica a criação de um novo paraíso, um local idílico e perfeito dentro da internet e como, neste “novo céu”, os usuários da rede estão entronizando esses novos deuses e, consequentemente, prestando sua adoração, alimentando e dando poder a esse panteão forjado a partir de likes. Em contraposição a essa situação, iremos entender como a proposta da inversão das ideias de Platão, idealizada por Nietzsche, pode nos ajudar a compreender este fenômeno social e, quem sabe, superar esta idolatria. Palavras chaves: Platão; Mundo Ideal; Ciberespaço; Redes Sociais; Nietzsche. (shrink)