This work provides an original account of Francis Bacon's conception of natural inquiry. P'erez-Ramos sets Bacon in an epistemological tradition that postulates an intimate relation between objects of cognition and objects of construction, and regards the human knower as, fundamentally, a maker. By exploring the background to this tradition, and contrasting the responses of major philosophers of the 17th century with Bacon's own, the book charts Bacon's contribution to the modern philosophy of science.

Is it possible to think of the gift philosophically? How should we think of the gift in a world that seems to be regulated only with economic rules? These are two of the main questions that are treated in this essay. In order to deal with them, the author analyzes Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction of the gift and Jean-Luc Marion’s notion of givenness. Derrida and Marion are in agreement in refusing intentionality as an essential element of the logic of gift because (...) for them intentionality is always connected with economy. But they conceive economics in different ways and, as a consequence, their conceptions of gift are different. For Derrida, economics means credit and debit, while for Marion it means causality. This difference is the reason why Derrida thinks of the gift as either impossible or a moment of madness that overcomes credit and debit, while Marion thinks of it as a pure decision that comes from its givenness. As a result, for neither author does the gift have any element of need, motivation, or cause. The author argues that excess and decision cannot be the essence of the gift, but only reciprocity. This reciprocity is not an economic relation of giving and receiving but an asymmetrical reciprocity. (shrink)

L'analisi particolareggiata della morale cartesiana rileva il ruolo essenziale che la volontà riveste tanto nella morale provvisoria quanto nella cosiddetta morale definitiva o scientifica. Nella morale provvisoria l'influenza della volontà si rispecchia sulle due logiche opposte che vi convivono: quella pragmatica e quella intellettualista. Apparentemente, l'etica provvisoria ottiene di rendere compatibili le due logiche perché l'azione che momentaneamente è sufficiente a se stessa, nel futuro sarà subordinata alle verità teoriche scoperte; in realtà, è soltanto la volontà a far sì che (...) le due logiche siano possibili allo stesso tempo. (shrink)

The present review is a critical reflection on Kenny’s book ’What I believe’. The author tries to understand why Kenny is neither a theist nor an atheist, but an agnostic. He thinks that Kenny is not a theist because arguments for the existence of God always have for him logical weaknesses. According to the author, in this point appears Kenny’s "central belief", namely that human logic makes reality to be true. Nevertheless, the author shows that Kenny is closer to the (...) theist position, and that his conceptions of both the unity of the human being and of virtue are very similar to Christian moral teaching. The author also adds the comments on this review that Kenny has sent to him. (shrink)

To access to the emotion we have a two-way: the internal experience that allows us to analyze and evaluate the feeling, and the external one that allows us to observe the outside manifestations. Both experiencies, despite their usefulness, cannot be used separated; they have to be together. However, the connection between these two experiences must not be explained in terms of efficient cause, but in terms of intentionality and affection: an affection that is intentional and intention that is affective.

In Cartesian philosophy the study of emotion has great importance, because its only existence constitutes a real problem. In fact, through the passions, Descartes is located in front of the obscure and confused perceptions that, despite their not intellectual evidence, appear as manifestations of a third idea: the substantial union between res extensa and res cogitans. What is the type of evidence that underpin passions? How can you reach this evidence? These are some of the questions that the author tries (...) to answer. (shrink)

Convinced that anthropology constitutes the nucleus of K. Wojtyla's thought, the author attempts to discover what kind of anthropology is at the basis of Wojtyla's philosophical writings and the implications of that anthropology. The analysis of the basic structures of Wojtyla's anthropology (the experience of that which occurs and that of action, the structure of the person-act, the transcendence of the person in truth, gift, etc.) leads the author to hold that Wojtyla's philosophy can be considered a coherent metaphysics of (...) the person since the person who acts is not just the method (the conscience of the action), but also the object of study and, above all, the end, that is, to know and to make known to the person his special dignity. Regarding the contribution of Wojytla's anthropology, the author identifies two central themes: the relationship between person and act, and relationality. Regarding the former, Wojtyla effects a synthesis of metaphysics of being and phenomenology: the person is not relative to his acts, because he is a suppositum; nonetheless, the person is in close relationship to his acts. If it were not for these acts the person could not even know himself as subject and could not perfect himself as a person. Regarding the latter, Wojtyla sustains that the person is not person in the singular but in the plural, since each person is in relation with all the others, and this is shown from the phenomena of participation, solidarity, and, above all, donation. The author concludes by sustaining that the multiplicity and the original relationality of the person is one of the aspects of Wojtyla's anthropology that would be worthy of further study. (shrink)

Se analizziamo la posizione dell’uomo nel Cosmo osserviamo che il modo di abitare la Terra e di essere in relazione con le altre realtà manifesta una trascendenza non solo nei confronti del proprio pianeta, ma anche dell’intero Universo. C’è bisogno, di un’analisi dell’uomo sia nella sua struttura materiale, organica e vivente, sia nelle sue relazioni con le altre realtà. Attraverso l’analisi dell’uomo, questo saggio tenta dunque non soltanto di confrontare le proprietà dei diversi esseri nel mondo, in modo particolare i (...) viventi, ma soprattutto di stabilire qual è l’essenza dell’esistenza umana. (shrink)

The theme of ecology is much more than a trend or a politically correct subject. What is at stake is the maintenance of life upon the Earth, including the very human survival which depends on the environment. This article is an effort towards relating ethics with the environmental and ecological issues. It starts with the matter of free will which brings the fundamental need of ethics. Then there are a few considerations on ethics and the challenge to expand this concept (...) beyond the human scope. Some environmental issues are presented, among which the preservation of forests, the dignity of animals and meat consumption, with considerations based on ethical principles. Last but not least, there is the aid of Christian teachings, relating the Parable of the Good Samaritan with the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi, in the hope of contributing to a clearer view on the subject and perhaps touching a few hearts. (shrink)

Razones Medievales es una invitación a que el lector efectúe una aproximación al pensamiento medieval y escolástico en tanto se presenta éste como filosofía. Sigue teniendo, en efecto, un gran interés en la actualidad la tarea de hacer la valoración más objetiva posible de lo que hay de argumento racional en la obra de unos pensadores que fueron ante todo teólogos o creyentes, y todavía podemos, sin duda alguna, en el siglo XXI, aprender mucho indagando en qué medida la filosofía (...) de estos pensadores fue una respuesta a la altura de los problemas que les planteaba su época y haciendo el esfuerzo requerido para entenderlos en la circunstancia en la que transcurrió su vida, esto es, intentando comprender no sólo lo que pensaron sino también por qué pensaron como lo hicieron y evitando juzgar sus ideas a partir de criterios tan extraños al mundo del que formaron parte que resultara imposible cualquier comprensión de las mismas. (shrink)

Zubirian reflection on feeling is aimed at elucidating the essence of aesthetic feeling through three successive steps: first, to establish what is a feeling; Second, to indicate what is the relationship between feeling and reality; third and last one, to approach in what the aesthetic feeling consists. In our study we will limit ourselves to the first two stages, since it seems to us that, despite his penetrating intuitions, Zubiri has not revealed the essence of feeling for lack of a (...) third question that should be added to the first two: why does the feeling imply a relationship with reality? The answer to this question will be the objective of this brief essay. (shrink)

Beyond the terms used by the various pre-Socratic thinkers (thymós, kardia, eros, etc.) and beyond also the different settings adopted in their discussion,it is possible to find the reference to a reality which is susceptiblebut to be described in the three essential characteristics of desire:1) The change of a previous situation, which is almost always understood as an exit from one reality to another.2) The push, placed at the origin of this exit, which appears as opposition or attraction about another (...) reality. 3) Finally the achievement of a new situation, equal or very similar to the previous situation. (shrink)

This essay pretends just to try out the relationship between these realities, seemingly so distant and in reality so close, because - and this is the central thesis - the origin and destiny of human person is in his/her relationship with others. To support this thesis the author uses some data that sciences and humanities offer to anthropological reflection. Psychology, neuroscience and sociology are some of the disciplines from which to take inspiration to deepen this paradoxical relationship present in human (...) condition between the possibilities and limitations of the person, on the one hand, and the character of transcendental opening of human freedom, on the other. (shrink)

The subject we are discussing in this article is very complex, because it involves important questions about the method and the subject of Anthropology: what is the status of Anthropology as a philosophical discipline, that is, what is its place within philosophical knowledge, especially metaphysics, theory of knowledge and ethics? What is the most appropriate method for access to the study of the human person?

This essay examines the anthropological character of human sexuality. For this purpose there is, first, a review of the two most current ways of understanding sexuality: naturalistic and constructivist. Afterwards, the author shows how both ways reduce the anthropological significance of human sexuality, that should not be understood neither as something completely given nor as the result of a social construction or of an arbitrary choice, but as a structure composed of a plurality of elements that are to be integrated, (...) that is, the sexual condition. In addition to the body, the psyche and the spirit, the sexual condition takes account of generation, the experience of childhood with its periods of identification and differentiation respect to parental figures, interpersonal relationships, especially with persons belonging to the 'other sexual condition', and the call to self-giving in marriage and in celibacy. Therefore, the sexual condition is presented here as a key that allows us to understand the different phenomena related to human sexuality. In order to demonstrate this thesis, the author examines in detail the sexual desire, that contains implicitly the different elements that make up the sexual condition. (shrink)

It seems that the subject around which Wojtyla's philosophical always turns is the person, for whom one could speak of his philosophy as a coherent personalism. This consistency does not depend on the continuity of the same subject, but on the convergence between method, object of study and aim or end of the research. In fact, the person who acts is not only the method (the consciousness of the action), but also the object of study (the agent subject), and above (...) all the goal (to know and make known to the person his special dignity). (shrink)

Although Aristotle attributes to metaphor - as an instrument that makes poetic imitation possible to the highest degree - an important function, he does not arrive at the conclusion that the essence of poetics is the metaphor. This is due, on the one hand, to the almost total identification of the poem with the tragedy, showing little interest in what we consider lyric poetry; on the other hand, for the little attention given to religious poetry. If the Stagirite had analyzed (...) these genres, he would have discovered that both have in common the attempt to express the ineffable. Metaphor is the privileged tool to talk about something that we can not conceptualize, because it is partially unknown to us - subjectivity - or because this reality (the divine) transcends all kinds of sensible experience. Hence, the metaphor becomes not only an analogical knowledge of sensible reality, but also communication of ineffable realities. (shrink)

The article traces a history of what the author calls the cognitive theory of emotions. According to him, the overwhelming majority of cognitivists (from Aristotle to Lyons, passing by Arnold) argue that the object of emotion corresponds to the evaluation of a reality. Despite the careful cognitive analysis of the elements that constitute passion and emotion, they lack an adequate answer to the two central questions of every theory on emotion: what is the origin and function of evaluation? Why do (...) we judge the object in a positive or negative way? (shrink)

This work highlights the faith of Jesus as a response to the affiliate relationship between the Father and the Son. This intimate union, characterized by the word Abba, reveals that the very existence of Jesus took place in the bosom of the Father and it was developed in the intimacy with Him. It is in thi.s loving bosom of the Father that, from the beginning, Jesus constitutes the consciousness of a God who is close, loving and able to hear the (...) cries of his people. The Lordship of God is crystallized in the actions of Jesus through the proclamation of the Kingdom. The force that makes Jesus embrace the plan of God is the Spirit, making Jesus desirous and able to carry out the will of the Father. (shrink)

This volume explores the potential of employing a relational paradigm for the purposes of interdisciplinary exchange. Bringing together scholars from the social sciences, philosophy and theology, it seeks to bridge the gap between subject areas by focusing on real phenomena.Although these phenomena are studied by different disciplines, the editors demonstrate that it is also possible to study them from a common relational perspective that connects the different languages, theories and perspectives which characterize each discipline, by going beyond their differences to (...) the core of reality itself. As an experimental collection that highlights the potential that exists for cross-disciplinary work, this volume will appeal to scholars across a range of field concerned with critical realist approaches to research, collaborative work across subjects and the manner in which disciplines can offer one another new insights. (shrink)

José María Bozo -- Manuel Ignacio Salvatierra -- Manuel María Caballero -- Manuel Antonio Paniagua -- José Peredo Antelo.

This es say pres ents some philo soph i cal con sid er ations on the concepto of eth i cal interpelation and jus tice in the phi los o phy of Em man uel Levitas. It deals with his thought in its assymetric re la tion with the “other” in ab so lute and in fi nite alterity. Sub jec tiv ity is af ..

v. 1 Dottrina del peccato originale. -- v. 2. Le nozioni di peccato e colpa.

Se hace un análisis comparativo de los conceptos de ciencia, maestro y discípulo tal como aparecen en el De Magistro de san Agustín y en la cuestión 11, "De Magistro", de la disputación De Veritate de santo Tomás de Aquino. La ciencia agustiniana de las verdades inteligibles y eternas se adquiere por una visión mental del entendimiento y la razón y supone la buena voluntad del sujeto ; la tomista consiste más bien en el conjunto de formas inteligibles adquiridas a (...) partir de un proceso deductivo, lógico-necesario, que se inicia con los primeros principios y axiomas evidentes. Para Agustín, hay sólo un maestro de las verdades inteligibles que se encuentra en el interior de cada alma racional y que se manifiesta sólo al hombre interior o aquel en el que domina la buena voluntad. Para Tomás de Aquino, existen dos maestros: uno principal e interior, que es Dios, y otro secundario y externo, pero también maestro, el cual ayuda al discípulo a adquirir la habilidad y el hábito de deducir verdades a partir de los primeros principios y axiomas evidentes y con él el número de formas inteligibles. Para Agustín todos somos discípulos del único maestro de la Verdad que es Cristo y seremos buenos o malos discípulos de acuerdo con la buena o mala voluntad que lo domine. Para Tomás de Aquino, el discípulo posee a medias las nociones o verdades que va a aprender, es decir, en sus primeros principios o axiomas evidentes y adquirirá con la ayuda importante del maestro a adquirir la habilidad y el hábito de deducir y desplegar las nociones y verdades encerradas en los primeros principios y axiomas evidentes. (shrink)

O ensaio trata do problema da invisibilidade da matéria e do vazio em Dererum natura Como é possível a Lucrécio sustentar, por um lado, que o ânimo ématerial e que o conhecimento é sensível, e, por outro, que os primórdios dascoisas, bem como o vazio e os simulacros dos corpos, são invisíveis e, no limite,inacessíveis aos sentidos? O problema é desenvolvido mediante um comentário aotexto de Lucrécio que retoma criticamente a interpretação de Deleuze em Lógica dosentido com foco na relação (...) entre o caráter oculto da natureza e a diferença develocidade entre, de um lado, sentidos e pe nsamento e, de outro, simulacros ecorpos. A partir disso, o ensaio tira conclusões a respeito da natureza do discurso deLucrécio sobre a natureza das coisas. (shrink)

Cooperative learning (CL) is one of the pedagogical models that has had more application in the area of Physical Education (PE) in recent years, being highly worked in the initial training of teachers. The aim of the study is to check to what extent future PE teachers are able to apply in the classroom the PE training they have received at university, deepening their fears, insecurities and problems when carrying it out. Thirteen future PE teachers (7 girls and 6 boys) (...) aged 20.87±1.43 participated and, after having been trained in CL in various subjects, applied it in the classroom during their internship. A qualitative methodology was used, being the interviews, the teaching diaries and the seminars with the tutor the instruments of data collection used. Three categories of analysis were used: a) initial expectations in the application of the CL; b) problems encountered in its implementation; c) reflection about its application in the future. The results showed how the future teachers did not see their expectations of success fulfilled, encountering resistance from both students and teachers in PE. Furthermore, they reflect the need to continue training in a model that has infinite nuances so that it can be implemented satisfactorily. It is necessary to continue researching a pedagogical model with so many possibilities in the area of PE and with so much transversality on a social level. (shrink)