BackgroundAlthough values have increasingly received attention in psychiatric literature over the last three decades, their role has been only partially acknowledged in psychiatric classification endeavors. The review process of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders received harsh criticism, and was even considered secretive by some authors. Also, it lacked an official discussion of values at play. In this perspective paper we briefly discuss the interplay of some values in the scientific and non-scientific debate around (...) one of the most debated DSM-5 category proposals, the Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome. Then, we point out some ethical consequences of a facts-plus-values perspective in psychiatric classification.DiscussionDifferent stakeholders participated in the APS-debate and for analytical purposes we divided them into four groups: researchers in the field of high-risk mental states; the DSM-5 Psychotic Disorders Work Group; patient, carers and advocacy groups; and external stakeholders, not related to the previous groups, but which also publicly expressed their opinions about APS inclusion in DSM-5. We found that each group differently stressed the role of values we examined in the APS-debate. These values were ethical, but also epistemic, political, economic and ontological. The prominence given to some values, and the lack of discussion about others, generated divergent positions among stakeholders in the debate.SummaryAs exemplified by the APS discussion, although medicine is primarily an ethical endeavor, values of different kinds that take part in it also shape to a large extent the profession. Thus, it may be strategic to openly discuss values at play in the elaboration of diagnostic tools and classificatory systems. This task, more than scientifically or politically significant, is ethically important. (shrink)

Although values have increasingly received attention in psychiatric literature over the last three decades, their role has been only partially acknowledged in psychiatric classification endeavors. The review p..

A construção de modelos artificiais capazes de tomar decisões geralmente é contrastada à fraca estrutura de comportamento ético capaz de compreender o uso de inteligência artificial para a escolha moral. Neste artigo, discutimos o papel da ética de Hans Jonas e da filosofia crítica de Andrew Feenberg na determinação de princípios para uma ética destes modelos, indo na direção oposta às pesquisas e publicações recentes na área. Analisando o caso específico trazido em Boot et al., à luz de ambos filósofos, (...) podemos demonstrar como os avanços na técnica carecem da necessária crítica filosófica e estudo da nova ética na era da tecnologia. (shrink)

O presente artigo visa elucidar as relações entre Fernando Pessoa, Schopenhauer e a questão do livre arbítrio, tendo por base a leitura que o autor português fez da obra schopenhaueriana. Com efeito, ao longo dos escritos de Pessoa encontramos múltiplos testemunhos da leitura que o poeta e pensador português fez do pensamento schopenhaueriano. Um importante indício para o estudo da reapropriação pessoana do pensamento de Schopenhauer constata-se, desde logo, na Biblioteca Particular de Fernando Pessoa, onde encontramos uma tradução francesa do (...) texto Über die Freiheit des menschlichen Willens [Sobre a liberdade da vontade] de Schopenhauer. A leitura deste livro viria a ocasionar a produção de uma multiplicidade de escritos filosóficos que Fernando Pessoa atribui a duas das suas personalidades literárias fictícias inglesas do universo pré-heteronímico: Charles Robert Anon e Alexander Search. Assim, tendo por base todos estes indícios, pretendemos mostrar o impacto da leitura de Schopenhauer no universo literário pessoano. (shrink)

O presente ensaio pretende analisar o Cooperativismo Educacional no estado de São Paulo, em suas formas institucionais, agora voltados para a organização escolar a partir de 1980. O cooperativismo educacional ocupou um lugar de destaque, com um discurso aparentemente renovador, pois tanto pretendia formar o indivíduo integralmente, afirmando superar a ética da competição pela ética da cooperação, de modo a superar a tradição administrativa hierárquica da escola pública e privada e, apresentar, inclusive, supondo desencadear disposições políticas emancipatórias para todos os (...) envolvidos no processo de ensino aprendizagem. Tendo como referencial teórico Dermeval Saviani, na análise da organização da escola e os pressupostos filosóficos e políticos dessa trajetória, e de Antonio Gramsci, ao relacionar as transformações do trabalho e a questão da educação, pretendemos descrever a expansão do cooperativismo educacional e analisar os seus princípios pedagógicos, organizacionais e políticos. This essay aims to analyze the Cooperative Education in São Paulo in its institutional forms, now facing the school organization since 1980. The cooperative education occupied a prominent place, with a refreshing speech apparently because both wanted to form the whole person, claiming to overcome the ethics of competition for the ethics of cooperation, in order to overcome the administrative tradition of hierarchical public and private schools, and provide even emancipatory political arrangements for all involved in teaching and learning. The theoretical framework Dermeval Saviani, the analysis of school organization and the philosophical and political assumptions that trajectory, and Antonio Gramsci, to relate changes in work and the issue of education, we intend to describe the expansion of cooperative education and analyze the pedagogical principles , organizational and political. (shrink)

Este artigo visa apresentar a pesquisa bibliográfica, descritiva com abordagem qualitativa diante do contexto educacional dos anos de 1960 a 1970, com o objetivo de estabelecer as relações entre a democratização do ensino em Anísio Teixeira e as experiências dos Ginásios Vocacionais do estado de São Paulo. Busca-se a interpretação das ações de Anísio Teixeira no âmbito da educação escolar e no projeto pedagógico dos Ginásios Vocacionais, em seu ambiente e contexto social, como resposta aos desafios educacionais. O texto está (...) estruturado em duas partes: primeira apresenta um breve histórico de Anísio Teixeira e do surgimento dos Ginásios Vocacionais e na segunda parte desenvolve-se as ideias do pensamento educacional de Teixeira e as possíveis semelhanças com a filosofia educacional dos Vocacionais. As correlações entre os vocacionais e Teixeira estão fundamentadas na pesquisa bibliográfica de autores como: Daniel Chiozzini ; Clarice Nunes; Anísio Spínola Teixeira e Maria Nilde Mascellani. Os resultados apontam que, embora os ginásios vocacionais não tenham sido explicitamente concebidos por Anísio Teixeira, é possível relacionar possíveis semelhanças entre ambos, as quais residem na: valorização e participação ativa dos alunos no processo de ensino-aprendizagem; prática de ensino participativa e colaborativa; e na formação social e politica dos discentes. (shrink)

Objetiva-se no texto analisar o ensino de história na formação inicial e continuada, através do estágio docente obrigatório em espaços escolares, tematizando o racismo institucional e o sexismo. O conceito de racismo institucional será interseccionado com o de sexismo, pois a análise destaca fenômenos observados com jovens estudantes negras, licenciandas do Curso de História da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Sob a perspectiva da abordagem qualitativa, consideram-se as práticas pedagógicas, construídas em processos de ensino e pesquisa, desenvolvidas a (...) partir de autorreflexões e entrevistas abertas com estudantes negras em formação inicial. Problematiza-se a presença da branquitude, do sexismo e do racismo nas formas de viver e pensar essas práticas pedagógicas. Fundamenta-se em autoras como bell hooks, Grada Kilomba, Nilma Lino Gomes e Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves e Silva, em associação com produções do campo específico do ensino de história no Brasil. As considerações parciais apontam a presença hegemônica das maneiras de agir e de pensar da branquitude no imaginário das comunidades escolares e universitárias, produzindo ações de discriminação racial e de gênero. (shrink)

Este artigo representa uma segunda etapa da minha pesquisa sobre o trabalho do matemático francês René Thom. Foco principalmente em dois artigos da teoria dos signos de Thom: Do ícone ao símbolo (De l’icône au symbole), 1973 e O Espaço e os signos (L’espace et les signes), 1980b. Neste artigo, explorando a concepção topológica de significação de Thom, exponho sua ideia de que todas as formas de semiose (como processos de significado) desenvolvem uma forma espacial. É a partir do seu (...) trabalho na reconstrução de formas globais na topologia que Thom define seu programa semiótico. Em particular, como mostrarei, Thom converte a classificação triádica de signos de Charles S. Peirce (ícones, índices e símbolos) em uma interpretação espaço-vetorial. Avançando meu estudo sobre a obra de René Thom (Araujo, 2022), exploro sua teoria topológica da significação segundo a qual a semiose pode ser entendida como um espaço topológico. Paralelamente ao seu trabalho sobre morfodinâmica em biologia, Thom redefine a dinâmica do signo, do objeto e do interpretante (segundo suas interconexões mútuas) que configuram topologicamente o próprio espaço da semiose. (shrink)

I am grateful to Donald Ainslie, Lisa Austin, Michael Blake, Abraham Drassinower, David Dyzenhaus, George Fletcher, Robert Gibbs, Louis-Philippe Hodgson, Sari Kisilevsky, Dennis Klimchuk, Christopher Morris, Scott Shapiro, Horacio Spector, Sergio Tenenbaum, Malcolm Thorburn, Ernest Weinrib, Karen Weisman, and the Editors of Philosophy & Public Affairs for comments, and audiences in the UCLA Philosophy Department and Columbia Law School for their questions.

This paper considers four lines of objection to the efficacy or worth of Grice's cancellability test for conversational implicatures – the coherence objection, the entailment objection, the sarcasm objection, and the ambiguity objection. I argue that the test survives these objections relatively unscathed; and hence conclude that the cancellability test is still a significant, useful, reliable indicator at the semantics/pragmatics interface.

This book offers an introduction to the way art is perceived, interpreted, and felt and approaches these mindful events from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Miguel de Cervantes, no último capítulo de sua obra O engenhoso fidalgo Dom Quixote de La Mancha, retrata o falecimento de seu protagonista, decorrente de uma profunda tristeza. O cavaleiro, depois de vencido, sente-se obrigado a retornar ao seu povoado e a renunciar à cavalaria andante, o que lhe causa a transformação de sua realidade e de seu estado mental - da loucura à cordura -, além do seu direcionamento à morte. Assim como faz Cervantes no início do século XVII, (...) Espinosa, ao final do mesmo século, também parece estabelecer analogias entre as ideias de transformação e morte, ao apontar, em sua Ética, a relação entre a natureza do ser e sua proporção de movimento e repouso, responsável pelas inconstâncias humanas. A partir de tais considerações, este trabalho pretende aproximar o último capítulo da obra Dom Quixote à proposição 39 da Quarta Parte da Ética espinosana, de forma a ressaltar as devidas semelhanças entre o conceito de morte como transformação, retratado tanto pelo escritor espanhol quanto pelo filósofo holandês, uma vez que a morte, para ambos, demonstra estar vinculada à mesma ideia. (shrink)

Functional language is ubiquitous in ecology, mainly in the researches about biodiversity and ecosystem function. However, it has not been adequately investigated by ecologists or philosophers of ecology. In the contemporary philosophy of ecology we can recognize a kind of implicit consensus about this issue: while the etiological approaches cannot offer a good concept of function in ecology, Cummins’ systemic approach can. Here we propose to go beyond this implicit consensus, because we think these approaches are not adequate for ecology. (...) We argue that a sound epistemological framework to function in ecology is to be found in organizational approaches. In this line, we define function in ecology as a precise effect of a given constraint on the ecosystem flow of matter and energy performed by a given item of biodiversity, within a closure of constraints. We elaborate on this definition by developing a case study of a bromeliad ecosystem. (shrink)

"The past two decades have seen renewed scholarly and popular interest in the law and morality of war. Positions that originated in the late Middle Ages through the 17th century have received more sophisticated philosophical elaboration. Although many contemporary writers draw on ideas that figure prominently in Kant's moral philosophy, his explicit discussions of war have not been brought into their proper place within these discussions and debates. Kant argues that a special morality governs the permissible use of force because (...) of wars distinctive immorality. He characterizes war as barbaric, because in war might makes right - which side prevails does not depend on who is in the right. The very thing that makes war wrongful also provides the appropriate standard for evaluating the conduct of war, and the only basis for law governing war"--. (shrink)

The present narrative review seeks to unravel where we are now, and where we need to go to delineate the active ingredients in psychotherapy delivered by conversational agents (e.g., chatbots). While psychotherapy delivered by conversational agents has shown promising effectiveness for depression, anxiety, and psychological distress across several randomized controlled trials, little emphasis has been placed on the therapeutic processes in these interventions. The theoretical framework of this narrative review is grounded in prominent perspectives on the active ingredients in psychotherapy. (...) Based on search terms derived from various theoretical perspectives, we conducted a systematic literature search of four scientific databases and identified 17 studies. Across the selected studies, three themes emerged: relationship variables, emotional venting, and cognitive factors. While methodological issues compromise the epistemic value of this evidence base, core questions also remain to be answered. Such questions include, but are not limited to, whether humans can form affectionate bonds to inanimate beings and whether these kind of mental health treatments should be understood as psychotherapy or something else. Researchers should therefore be cautious when applying theories of psychotherapy in the realm of conversational agents. We conclude the paper by introducing recommendations for future research, which we hope will help instigate methodologically sound studies in this field. (shrink)

Social distance often motivates consumers to increase their interactions through social networking sites. This study identifies antecedents of consumer brand usage and brand connection of SNSs, under the influence of consumer perceived ethics (CPE), during the COVID pandemic and afterward (N = 308). The proposed model was tested using partial least squares-structural equation modeling with AMOS 23. In both periods, this study shows CPE consistently affects consumer engagement and involvement. The results demonstrate that in social isolation, affective engagement has higher (...) relevance to driving Self-Brand Connection (SBC) among consumers and SNSs. On the other hand, CPE was demonstrated to provide consistent and significant effects in both periods, showing its stable capacity to impact brand involvement, engagement, use, and self-connection. In the context of the pandemic, this study demonstrates the consistent effects of CPE and other impacts of Consumer Brand Engagement (CBE) on brand usage and self-connection of SNSs. (shrink)

This brief introduction to a special issue of Disputatio succinctly summarizes John Perry’s pluri-propositionalist reflexive framework and notes some potential applications to varieties of context-sensitivity.

My point of departure is a passage in which Coffa claims: “Wittgenstein’s and Carnap’s insights on the a priori belong in the same family as Kant’s... What we witness circa 1930 is a Copernican turn that, like Kant’s, bears the closest connection to the a priori; but its topic is meaning rather than experience” [Coffa, 1991, p. 263]. I draw out Kantian resonances in Wittgenstein’s and Carnap’s work on logic, grammar, and theoretical frameworks. In the end, Coffa’s remark comes out (...) as significantly illuminating for a variety of questions, issues, and dynamic historical trends. (shrink)

This book examines responsibility and luck as these issues arise in tort law, criminal law, and distributive justice. The central question is: whose bad luck is a particular piece of misfortune? Arthur Ripstein argues that there is a general set of principles to be found that clarifies responsibility in those cases where luck is most obviously an issue: accidents, mistakes, emergencies, and failed attempts at crime. In revealing how the problems that arise in tort and criminal law as well (...) as distributive justice invite structurally parallel solutions, the author also shows the deep connection between individual responsibility and social equality. This is a challenging and provocative book that will be of special interest to moral and political philosophers, legal theorists, and political scientists. (shrink)

I plot accounts of slurs on a [semanticist – non-semanticist] spectrum, and then I give some original arguments in favor of semanticist approaches. Two core, related pro-semanticist considerations which animate this work are: first, that the pejorative dimension of a slur is non-cancellable; and, second, that ignorance of the pejorative dimension should be counted as ignorance of literal, linguistic meaning, as opposed to a mistake about conditions for appropriate usage. I bolster these considerations via cases in which slurs are embedded (...) within complex constructions, in which cases the pejorative dimension of a slur gets ensnared within the compositional semantic machinery. (shrink)

Ripstein's lectures, which constitute the central texts of this book, focus on the two bodies of rules governing war: the jus ad bellum, which regulates resort to armed force, and the jus in bello, which sets forth rules governing the conduct of armed force and applies equally to all parties. The lectures argue that both sets of rules constitute prohibitions rather than permissions, and that recognizing them as distinctive prohibitions can reconcile the seeming tension between them. By understanding that the (...) central wrong of war is that war is the condition which force decides, Ripstein contends that the law and morality of war are in fact aligned; the rules governing the conduct of hostilities must apply equally to parties in the right and parties in the wrong in an armed conflict, because the prohibitions outlined in the rules governing war are prohibitions that restrain war. Ripstein's method of analysis and the substantive argument he puts forward offer an opportunity for rigorous critical engagement in subsequent essays by commentators Hathaway, Kutz, and McMahan, followed by a response from Ripstein. (shrink)

We present a game mechanic called pseudo-visibility for games inhabited by non-player characters (NPCs) driven by reinforcement learning (RL). NPCs are incentivized to pretend they cannot see pseudo-visible players: the training environment simulates an NPC to determine how the NPC would act if the pseudo-visible player were invisible, and penalizes the NPC for acting differently. NPCs are thereby trained to selectively ignore pseudo-visible players, except when they judge that the reaction penalty is an acceptable tradeoff (e.g., a guard might accept (...) the penalty in order to protect a treasure because losing the treasure would hurt even more). We describe an RL agent transformation which allows RL agents that would not otherwise do so to perform some limited self-reflection to learn the training environments in question. (shrink)

Objective: Illness perceptions are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors.Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed (...) considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors.Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context.Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution. (shrink)

A fundamental question asked in modal logic is whether a given theory is consistent. But consistent with what? A typical way to address this question identifies a choice of background knowledge axioms (say, S4, D, etc.) and then shows the assumptions codified by the theory in question to be consistent with those background axioms. But determining the specific choice and division of background axioms is, at least sometimes, little more than tradition. This paper introduces generic theories for propositional modal logic (...) to address consistency results in a more robust way. As building blocks for background knowledge, generic theories provide a standard for categorical determinations of consistency. We argue that the results and methods of this paper help to elucidate problems in epistemology and enjoy sufficient scope and power to have purchase on problems bearing on modalities in judgement, inference, and decision making. (shrink)

In congenitally or prelingually deaf childrencochlear implantation is open to seriousethical challenge. The ethical dimension ofthis technology is closely related to both asocial standard of quality of life and to theuncertainty of the overall results of cochlearimplantation. Uncertainty with regards theacquisition of oral communicative skills.However, in the western world, available datasuggest that deafness is associated with thelowest educational level and the lowest familyincome. Notwithstanding the existence of aDeaf-World, deafness should be considered as ahandicap. Therefore, society should provide themeans for the (...) fulfilment of a deaf child'sspecific needs.For the time being there is no definitiveanswer with regard the best way to rehabilitatea particular deaf child. Therefore,communitarian values may be acceptable. If thedeaf child parents' decide not to implant,their decision should be respected. Guardiansare entitled to determine which standard ofbest interest to use in a specificcircumstance. They are the proper judges ofwhat (re)habilitation process is best for theirdeaf child. However, most deaf children areborn to two hearing parents. Probably, theywill not be acculturated in the Deaf-World. Itfollows that cochlear implantation is awelcomed (re)habilitation technology.If auditory (re)habilitation will in the futureprovide the necessary communicative skills, inparticular oral language acquisition, customs,values and attitudes of the hearing worldshould be regarded as necessary to accomplish adeaf child's right to an open future. Ifcochlear implantation technology will provideall deaf children with the capacity to developacceptable oral communicative skills –whatever the hearing status of the family andthe cultural environment – then auditory(re)habilitation will be an ethical imperative. (shrink)

I am grateful to Micah Gläser, Ryan Liss, and Marcela Prieto Rudolphy for their generous, careful, and provocative engagements with my work. Each of them advances the discussion by proposing modifi...

We explore the extent to which ancient Greek authors formulated concepts that approximate or encompass our modern notions of precision and accuracy. First, we focus on estimates and measurements of geographic features, astronomical times and positions, and weight. These raise further questions about whether the quantities reported were measured, estimated, or rounded. While ancient sources discuss the use of instruments, it is not always clear that the aim was to achieve what we would today regard as ‘precision’. Next, we briefly (...) consider round numbers, observing that they could carry symbolic meaning, while unrounded numbers could give an impression of hard-won achievement. Finally, we examine uses of the word akribeia. This is often translated as ‘precision’ or ‘exactness’, and Greek writers sometimes used akribeia to denote an ideal for their inquiries. A brief look at its uses by a number of Greek writers will on the one hand show the mismatch with our term ‘precision’, and on the other hand throw some light on the aims of Greek investigators. (shrink)

Neste artigo, discutimos o papel das explicações teleológicas na teoriaGaia. Mostramos que seu principal proponente, James Lovelock, pretendeevitá-las devido a uma interpretação equivocada da natureza de taisexplicações. Na tentativa de evitar compromissos com a teleologia,Lovelock recorre ao conceito de propriedades emergentes. Esta não é,contudo, uma saída consistente, porque os conceitos de propriedadesemergentes e teleologia não são mutuamente excludentes. Discutimostambém as dificuldades de uma interpretação de Gaia de uma perspectivateleonômica, considerando problemas como o da noção de superorganismo.Para avaliar o estatuto das (...) explicações teleológicas em Gaia, examinamoso caso da interação entre algas e nuvens, que resultou num novo campo depesquisas e expõe as contribuições teóricas e empíricas que Gaia podeoferecer. Com base nos argumentos apresentados ao longo do artigo,sugerimos uma reorganização da estrutura do programa de pesquisa Gaia,visando à continuação de seu progresso teórico e empírico.In this paper, we discuss the role of teleological explanations in Gaia theory.We show that its main proponent, James Lovelock, intends to avoid themdue to a misinterpretation of the nature of teleological explanations. Inorder to avoid a commitment to teleology, Lovelock appeals to the conceptof emergent properties. This is not a consistent solution, however, since the concepts of emergent properties and teleology are not mutuallyexclusive. We also discuss difficulties in an interpretation of Gaia from ateleonomic perspective, discussing problems such as that of the notion ofsuperorganism. In order to appraise the status of teleological explanationsin Gaia, we examine the case of the interaction between algae and clouds,which gave birth to a new research field and show the theoretical andempirical contributions that Gaia can bring. Based on the argumentsdeveloped in the paper, we suggest a reorganization of the structure ofGaia research program, in order to go on with its theoretical and empiricalprogress. (shrink)

The increasing costs of healthcare delivery led to different political and administrative approaches trying to preserve the core values of the welfare state. This approach has well documented weaknesses namely with regard to healthcare rationing. The objective of this paper is to evaluate if independent healthcare regulation is an important tool with regard to the construction of fair processes for setting limits to healthcare. Methodologically the authors depart from Norman Daniels’ and James Sabin’s theory of accountability for reasonableness and try (...) to determine if new regulatory models—namely independent agencies—perform better with regard to the public disclosure of the reasons and rationales of healthcare rationing. In publicly financed healthcare systems independent regulation is an important tool to assure fair and reasonable procedures of prioritising services. In accordance with the principle of public accountability, independent regulatory agencies are particularly well suited to assure publicity of the decision-making processes, relevance of the rationale involved and particularly mechanisms for challenge and dispute resolution regarding limit setting decisions. It follows that independent healthcare regulation could be regarded not only as an instrument for performance improvement but also as a tool of social justice. The authors conclude by stating that accountability for reasonableness should be regarded as a landmark of any healthcare reform. And therefore regulators have the social task of assuring that the rationales for limit-setting decisions are clearly accessible to the public. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo fazer um diálogo entre os direitos humanos à democracia e à internet, dando ênfase ao surgimento da democracia digital, como forma de participação política dos cidadãos. Assim, parte-se do seguinte questionamento: é possível haver participação política dos cidadãos através da relação entre democracia e internet? Tem-se como hipótese que a internet se trata de uma ferramenta capaz de viabilizar a participação política dos cidadãos. Para averiguá-la, são utilizadas as técnicas de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, (...) bem como um estudo realizado pela rede Technology for Transparency da organização não governamental denominada Global Voices. (shrink)

This article offers a libertarian re-examination of Brazilian political history focusing mainly on the first few decades of the 19th century. The article finds two main tendencies lurking behind the various political parties and labels of the time: one, associated mainly with the Conservative Party, leaned dangerously away from the individual liberties advocated by classical liberalism and instead more toward authoritarian forms of government. The other, associated mainly with the Liberal Party, was more libertarian in nature. This article also concludes (...) that other examinations of these budding political parties fall short by overlooking a potentially authoritarian state underlying the Conservative project that dominated politics in Brazil at the time. (shrink)

One of the most extensive yet least conclusive methodological debates within religious studies revolves around the question of what, precisely, the phenomenology of religion is and what contribution it can make to the study of religion. I do not intend to answer this important question here. To do so satisfactorily would require a range of historical, philosophical and methodological inquiry which would go quite beyond the bounds of a single article. My intention in this paper is, by comparison, unambitious. It (...) is to take one view of what phenomenology of religion is and to consider an area outside that usually explored by students of religion which can, nonetheless, shed some light on how religions might be studied in a way which is in accordance with the phenomenology of religion so understood. What follows will offer an answer to the question of what contribution one particular understanding of phenomenology might make to the study of religion, but no attempt will be made to establish whether or not this particular understanding ought to be regarded as normative. (shrink)

Alfred North Whitehead famously compares the philosophical method of knowledge acquisition with the process of flying an airplane. Likewise, “shamanic flight” marks stages of cognitive processing in navigation through perceptible and imperceptible worlds. This article focuses on the cosmovision of the Amazon people Huni Kuin, the Whiteheadian method of imaginative rationalization, and the concept of Amerindian perspectivism. This study also investigates shamanism as an experience of knowledge generation. Furthermore, “shamanic flight,” as an ecstatic technique experienced in many diverse Amerindian rituals, (...) will be explored as a method in the discovery and organization of nonhuman alterities. Finally, Amazonian-based shamanic epistemology will be discussed within a “multinaturalist” ontology. (shrink)

Whiteheadian concepts of life, food, "empty" and "occupied space" provide a theoretical basis to unpack an ontogenetic perspective on aging. Focusing on the so-called "Selective Optimization with Compensation " strategy, this work will explore this concept in relation to some scientific evidence in the fields of "epigenetics " and molecular nutrition. Further, the role of caloric restriction in health and longevity will be discussed as a SOC strategy, based on the metabolic theory of aging. SOC strategy applied to the processes (...) of aging, when linked with Whitehead's philosophy of organism, makes it possible for us to think about life as a selective process provided by "empty space. " A continuum within the physical field optimizes a "living society," which evolves in permanent social deficit, by means of compensation by nutritional metabolism. (shrink)

La musique occupe une place singulière au sein de la philosophie de G.W. Leibniz (1646-1716). Si les développements que ce dernier y consacre sont peu nombreux et dispersés à travers son œuvre, ils n'en dessinent pas moins les contours d'une philosophie de la musique aussi pénétrante que méconnue. Celle-ci apparait tout à la fois comme l'expression et le modèle privilégié de sa métaphysique générale, dont la portée esthétique reste largement à explorer. Une œuvre en particulier, cependant, semble avoir déjà donné (...) corps à cette esthétique musicale. Cette œuvre est celle de Jean-Sébastien Bach (1685-1750), dont l'écriture contrapuntique manifeste plus que toute autre une parenté structurelle avec la philosophie de Leibniz. À scruter l'architecture complexe de ses compositions, on peut y déceler comme un miroir de l'univers leibnizien, une expression sensible des principes mêmes de l'harmonie universelle. Au vu du contexte intellectuel dans lequel évoluait J.-S. Bach, cette parenté n'est du reste pas sans fondement historique. Il n'est ici que de mentionner l'implication du Cantor dans la société philosophique dirigée par Lorenz Mizler (1711-1778), élève de Wolff et héritier de Leibniz, à laquelle il dédia plusieurs de ses œuvres les plus hautement formelles, dont la dernière, inachevée, devait être 'L'Art de la fugue'. À travers l'étude de la conception leibnizienne de la musique, envisagée dans son rapport à la pensée musicale de J.-S. Bach, cet ouvrage explore les relations entre métaphysique et musique à la lumière du concept d'harmonie comme "unité dans la diversité. (shrink)

1. bd. Einleitung. Die Kantische philosophie als eingang in die deutsche spekulation des XIX. jahrhunderts. Der naive pantheismus. Ser spekulative thelsmus.--2. bd. Der speculative theismus (fortsetzung) Der atheismus. Der antitheistische pantheismus.