Reason, we are told, is what makes us human, the source of our knowledge and wisdom. If reason is so useful, why didn't it also evolve in other animals? If reason is that reliable, why do we produce so much thoroughly reasoned nonsense? In their groundbreaking account of the evolution and workings of reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber set out to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue with a compelling mix of real-life and experimental evidence, is not (...) geared to solitary use, to arriving at better beliefs and decisions on our own. What reason does, rather, is help us justify our beliefs and actions to others, convince them through argumentation, and evaluate the justifications and arguments that others address to us. In other words, reason helps humans better exploit their uniquely rich social environment. This interactionist interpretation explains why reason may have evolved and how it fits with other cognitive mechanisms. It makes sense of strengths and weaknesses that have long puzzled philosophers and psychologists--why reason is biased in favor of what we already believe, why it may lead to terrible ideas and yet is indispensable to spreading good ones.--. (shrink)

Enigma and truth content are two of the most prominent terms in Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory. This essay explores the relation between enigma and truth content by considering the peculiar character of the experience that occurs in response to works of modern art. The enigma of modern art is also constitutive of it. The character of this self-contradicting existence is what makes the work of art into the occasion for a baffling and befuddling encounter. The complement to (...) class='Hi'>enigma in the work of art is its truth content. Key to engaging the work of art’s enigma and truth content will be the mimetic quality of the relation between experience and the work of art. So too is the misalignment between the work of art and experience an opportunity for encountering what exists as objective contradiction. The ongoing mimetic misalignments of object and subject, expressed in and through the blockages that come to be named artwork and experience, is where we find how much more snarled and entangled the artwork and experience become in order, according to Adorno, to thwart the continuing demands for clarity and meaning. The essay also includes abbreviated attempts to locate in Kant and Schiller’s aesthetics the first stirrings of what will later figure in Adorno’s elucidations of modernist art. (shrink)

In The Enigma of Reason, Mercier and Sperber (M&S) present and defend their interactionist account of reason. In this piece, I discuss briefly the points of agreement between M&S and myself and, more extensively, the points of disagreement, most of which pertain to details of the evolutionary components of their account. I discuss in particular the purported modular nature of reason; their account of myside bias as an optimum/adaptation; and the claim that reason thus construed must be an individual‐level (...) and not a group‐level adaptation. In the final section, I offer brief considerations on an alternative account of reasoning, where the focus is on how sociocultural environments may tune the social production and evaluation of arguments. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis article considers the relationship of Heidegger's metaphysics of Being-toward-death to what Heidegger describes as “the enigma of motion,” that is, to Dasein's “historicality.” In doing so, the article confronts a series of questions concerning fundamental realities of animate life, realities centering on angst in the face of death, but including curiosity and fear, for example, all such realities being what Heidegger terms “states-of-mind” or “moods.” Thus, the article basically questions Heidegger's elision of a Leibkörper, not only in terms (...) of feelings but in terms of an exaltation of language, an insular notion of Dasein's historicality, and a narrow and deficient depiction of animals in his “philosophical biology.” Through a critical examination of the phenomenological disclosure that Heidegger seeks in his metaphysics of Being-toward-death, the article shows that death and the very concept of death hinges on being a body, a temporally finite animate body. Thus, however metaphysical its exposition, Being-toward-death is existentially anchored in being a body. (shrink)

The most successful theory in all of science--and the basis of one third of our economy--says the strangest things about the world and about us. Can you believe that physical reality is created by our observation of it? Physicists were forced to this conclusion, the quantum enigma, by what they observed in their laboratories. Trying to understand the atom, physicists built quantum mechanics and found, to their embarrassment, that their theory intimately connects consciousness with the physical world. Quantum (...) class='Hi'>Enigma explores what that implies and why some founders of the theory became the foremost objectors to it. Schrodinger showed that it "absurdly" allowed a cat to be in a "superposition" simultaneously dead and alive. Einstein derided the theory's "spooky interactions." With Bell's Theorem, we now know Schrodinger's superpositions and Einstein's spooky interactions indeed exist. Authors Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner explain all of this in non-technical terms with help from some fanciful stories and bits about the theory's developers. They present the quantum mystery honestly, with an emphasis on what is and what is not speculation. Physics' encounter with consciousness is its skeleton in the closet. Because the authors open the closet and examine the skeleton, theirs is a controversial book. Quantum Enigma's description of the experimental quantum facts, and the quantum theory explaining them, is undisputed. Interpreting what it all means, however, is controversial. Every interpretation of quantum physics encounters consciousness. Rosenblum and Kuttner therefore turn to exploring consciousness itself--and encounter quantum physics. Free will and anthropic principles become crucial issues, and the connection of consciousness with the cosmos suggested by some leading quantum cosmologists is mind-blowing. Readers are brought to a boundary where the particular expertise of physicists is no longer a sure guide. They will find, instead, the facts and hints provided by quantum mechanics and the ability to speculate for themselves. (shrink)

In _The Enigma of Art. On the provenance of Artistic Creation_ Gino Zaccaria offers a meditation on art in light of its ancient Greek sense and of its task inaugurated by “artist-thinkers” like Cézanne, Boccioni and van Gogh.

How do we acquire knowledge through a sensory input from our environment? In The Enigma of Perception, D.L.C. Maclachlan revives the traditional causal representative theory of perception which dominated philosophical thinking for hundreds of years by revealing the important element of truth the theory contained. The traditional theory was not a complete explanation of perception, because it presupposed a causal system including both the physical objects and the subjective experiences. The pattern of inference from sensations to external objects, which (...) lies at its heart, is nevertheless legitimate, because the assumptions on which it depends are generally recognized as true. The emerging enigma is how to explain this original knowledge of the world on which the traditional theory depends. The key idea is that sense experience is constructed as a response to sensory input - an act whose purpose is to represent a reality beyond the cognitive subject. The Enigma of Perception develops original ideas to explain this process in detail, with help from numerous philosophers from John Locke to David Chalmers. (shrink)

What does it mean to give a "gift"? In this timely collection, distinguished anthropologists--Maurice Godelier, George Marcus, Stephen Tyler--and philosophers--Mark C. Taylor, John D. Caputo, Jean-Joseph Goux and Adriaan Peperzak, explore an enigma that has disturbed contemporary philosophers from Marcel Mauss to Jacques Derrida.The essays included in the volume: Some Things You Give, Some Things You Sell, But Some Things You Must Keep for Yourselves: What Mauss Did Not Say about Sacred Objects by Maurice Godelie.The Gift and Globalization: A (...) Prolegomenon to the Anthropological Study of Contemporary Finance Capital and Its Mentalities by George MarcusCapitalizing (on) Gifting by Mark C. Taylor"Even Steven" or "No Strings Attached" by Stephen TylerMothering, Co-muni-cation and the Gifts of Language by Genevieve VaughanThe Time of Giving, the Time of Forgiving by John D. CaputoSeneca against Derrida: Gift and Alterity by Jean-Joseph Goux Giving by Adriaan Peperzak. (shrink)

A crise do mundo contemporâneo pode ser interpretada em grande medida como uma crise da palavra. Levinas afirma que fazemos parte de uma civilização de afásicos, dominada por um silêncio desconcertante e desumanizante. Para ele, sem a palavra que vem de uma alteridade radical, o pensamento seria apenas um acúmulo de informações, sem nenhuma orientação. Tampouco conseguiríamos manter viva a busca da verdade, que é animada pelo desejo do outro. Argumentamos no sentido de mostrar que a palavra tem uma dupla (...) função: a) ensinar-nos o significado da orientação a objetos (luta para evitar mal-entendidos e obscuridades, ou, simplesmente, entrada no espaço das razões); b) significar por contraste ao fenômeno, ou seja, a palavra é um enigma, ela vai além da objetivação. Eis o sentido que nos permite pensar “mais” do que somos capazes de visar. Eis a condição para uma permanente e imprevisível renovação da vida cultural. (shrink)

Spontaneous Infra-Slow Fluctuations of the human EEG were discovered 60 years ago when appropriate amplifiers for their recordings were designed. To avoid skin-related artifacts the recording of EEG-ISFs required puncturing the skin under the electrode. In the beginning of the 21st century the interest in EEG-ISFs was renewed with the appearance of commercially available DC-coupled amplified and by observation of ISFs of the blood oxygen level–dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging signal at a similar frequency. The independent components of irregular EEG-ISFs (...) were shown to correlate with BOLD signals which in turn were driven by changes in arousal level measured by galvanic skin response, pupil size and HRV. There is no consensus regarding the temporal organization of EEG-ISFs: some studies emphasize the absence of peaks on EEG-ISFs spectra, some studies report prominent oscillations with frequency around 0.1 or 0.02 Hz, while some emphasize multiple discrete infraslow oscillations. No studies used parameters of EEG-ISFs as neuromarkers to discriminate psychiatric patients from healthy controls. Finally, a set of working hypotheses is suggested that must be tested in future research to solve the enigma of EEG-ISFs. (shrink)

This book deals with the complicated realm of metaphor, an enigma deeply embedded in language and cognition. There has been much discussion of metaphor in the past, but it was characterized by a certain fragmentation and lacked interdisciplinarity. In this field of study, the dominance of Cognitive Linguistics, epitomized by the Conceptual Metaphor Theory of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, has caused the marginalization of alternative perspectives. To fill this gap, this book embarks on an interdisciplinary journey, inviting different (...) theoretical frameworks to engage in a fruitful dialog. It navigates the labyrinth of theories and illuminates the nuanced facets of metaphor. At the center of this exploration are three central questions: whether metaphor belongs to the realm of style or thought, the intricate interplays between literal and metaphorical meanings and the integration of propositional and non-propositional elements in the construction of metaphorical meaning. Through a careful blend of historical analysis and contemporary hypotheses, the book unravels the complexities of metaphor, considering its evolution across the centuries and the myriad interpretations it evokes. By bringing together work from different fields, it ultimately shows that a definition of metaphor is theory-dependent and that metaphor is not a natural kind, but a complex and multifaceted philosophical concept whose study requires a multi-dimensional approach that transcends narrow theoretical boundaries. In this way, the book explores these considerations’ most important philosophical consequences and offers new insights into this fundamental aspect of human language. (shrink)

Literary criticism of Shakespeare’s Othello since the early 20th century leaves us with various complaints that Shakespeare fails to achieve poetic justice therein, or that this work leaves us, in the end, with a moral enigma—despite what seems to be Shakespeare’s intent to represent a plot and characters having moral probity and, thereby, to foster our moral edification through the tragedy that unfolds. Here a number of interpretive views concerning the morality proper to Othello are reviewed. Thereafter, it is (...) proposed that Heidegger’s thought about the relation of appearance, semblance, and reality enables a novel interpretation of the moral significance of this tragedy, thereby to resolve the question of moral enigma. (shrink)

Why do aircraft fly? How do their wings support them? In the early years of aviation, there was an intense dispute between British and German experts over the question of why and how an aircraft wing provides lift. The British, under the leadership of the great Cambridge mathematical physicist Lord Rayleigh, produced highly elaborate investigations of the nature of discontinuous flow, while the Germans, following Ludwig Prandtl in Göttingen, relied on the tradition called “technical mechanics” to explain the flow of (...) air around a wing. Much of the basis of modern aerodynamics emerged from this remarkable episode, yet it has never been subject to a detailed historical and sociological analysis. In The Enigma of the Aerofoil, David Bloor probes a neglected aspect of this important period in the history of aviation. Bloor draws upon papers by the participants—their restricted technical reports, meeting minutes, and personal correspondence, much of which has never before been published—and reveals the impact that the divergent mathematical traditions of Cambridge and Göttingen had on this great debate. Bloor also addresses why the British, even after discovering the failings of their own theory, remained resistant to the German circulation theory for more than a decade. The result is essential reading for anyone studying the history, philosophy, or sociology of science or technology—and for all those intrigued by flight. (shrink)

The work of the distinguished philosopher Sarah Kofman has, since her tragic death in 1994, become a focus for many scholars interested in contemporary French philosophy. The first critical collection on her thought to appear in English, Enigmas evaluates Kofman's most important contributions to philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, feminism, and literary theory. These insightful essays range from analyses of Kofman's first book, L'Enfance de l'art, to her last, L'Imposture de la beauté. This unique volume represents the major themes in Kofman's scholarship: (...) literature and aesthetics; philosophy and metaphor; women, feminism, and psychoanalysis; and Jews and German nationalism. Selected essays explore and diagnose Kofman's personal struggles as they are reflected in her writing. (shrink)

O artigo investiga a noção de corporeidade apresentada por Merleau-Ponty em O olho e o espírito. Na crítica aos modelos filosóficos constituídos pela filosofia reflexivas e seu modo de compreensão do corpo, Merleau-Ponty evidencia, ao longo de O olho e o espírito, a reflexividade corporal a partir da noção de estesiologia e suas consequências filosóficas. Enfatiza, no contexto de sua nova ontologia, o enigma do corpo e o delírio da visão, a partir da duplicidade do sentir. Aproximando-se da arte (...) e do gesto do pintor, o filósofo compreende o corpo no quiasma sensível e senciente e a visão como interrogação das coisas sensíveis do mundo. (shrink)

PurposeIn Western society, the measurement of weight is prioritized over a person’s bodily experience. Hermeneutic philosopher Gadamer warned against the emphasis on measurement, rather than experience, in the medical sciences. An examination of the complexity of the experience of weight provides the opportunity to shift focus from quantifying the connection between health and weight to the experience of the person being weighed.MethodsThis qualitative hermeneutic study aims to understand people’s experiences of weight from the interviews of professionals and lay experts. Interviews (...) were analyzed using an interpretive hermeneutic method.ResultsThe interviews revealed that weight was experienced as a number imbued with meaning and bias, as a number that could be manipulated, and as a constant and anticipated bodily change. Weight change was expected and often unwelcomed, despite weight being a quality of the body that is always in flux. External measures of weight meant to monitor wellness and health inadvertently became an unhealthy fixation that prevented some participants from fully participating in life events and appreciating the stages their bodies were in.ConclusionWeight change is a necessary condition of being human, and bodies are and will be constantly changing. To achieve health and harmony, one must fit together the acceptance of change and their bodily experience of weight. It is often the preoccupation with weight, not weight itself, that gets in the way of living. (shrink)

The disruption -- Capital assembled -- Capital goes to work -- Capital goes to market -- Capital evolves -- The geography of it all -- Creative destruction on the land -- What is to be done? And who is going to do it?

The aim of this paper is to show, based on Heidegger’s ontology of being and Husserl’s ontological aspects of phenomenology, the ways in which may be highlighted the ontological turned epistemological (and vice versa) enigma of the actual presence of being-in-the-world. In such perspective the content of the philosophical term ‘being there’, in the sense of an original presence in the actuality of the world, is the key issue of discussion both in terms of the ontological implication of the (...) accompanying notion of transcendence and the epistemological relevance it can have by virtue of a phenomenon within the world. Concerning the latter in particular, except for some prompts from formal-mathematical theory, a special attention is drawn to the incompleteness of quantum theory with regard to the treatment of certain ‘ontological’ aspects of the measurement question in a quantum context. The clarification of certain epistemological ‘black box’ cases as this one by virtue of a subjectively based interpretation of the ‘being there’ is a main goal of this article as well as the ontological foundation of the ‘being there’ per se. (shrink)

The Enigma of Desire: Sex, Longing and Belonging in Psychoanalysis, introduces new perspectives on desire and longing, in and outside of the analytic relationship._ _This exciting volume explores the known and unknown, ghosts and demons, sexuality and lust. Galit Atlas discusses the subjects of sex and desire and explores what she terms the Enigmatic and the Pragmatic aspects of sexuality, longing, female desire, sexual inhibition, pregnancy, parenthood and creativity. The author focuses on the levels of communication that take place (...) in the most intimate settings: between mothers and their babies; between lovers; in the unconscious bond of two people— in the consulting room, where two individuals sit alone in one room, looking and listening, breathing and dreaming. Atlas examines the ways in which different languages, translations and integrations focus on birth, death, sexuality, and human bonds. In _The Enigma of Desire_ each chapter opens with a narrative, a therapeutic story which illustrates both the analyst’s and patient’s desires and the ways these interact and emerge in the consulting room. This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in the intricacies of sex and desire and of great appeal to psychoanalysts, therapists and mental health professionals. (shrink)

It is rare in the extreme for a judge to embed an enigma, here an intentionally encrypted message, in the text of a judgment. Using the occasion of the cypher inserted into the judgment of Peter Smith J in Baigent v Random House, this article patiently reconstructs the humanist concept of aenigmata iuris or legal enigmas so as properly to interpret this recent use. Legal enigmas are shown to be the residues of forgotten histories, references to lost texts, marks (...) left by encounters between law and its now marginal literary and poetic sources. Where current legal use treats enigmas as mere obscurities, this article argues that the enigma should be apprehended and appreciated as an image of juristic invention, the moment of devising a decision, the instant of creative encounter between ‘the sciences liberall’, doctrine and law. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis article considers the relationship of Heidegger's metaphysics of Being-toward-death to what Heidegger describes as “the enigma of motion,” that is, to Dasein's “historicality.” In doing so, the article confronts a series of questions concerning fundamental realities of animate life, realities centering on angst in the face of death, but including curiosity and fear, for example, all such realities being what Heidegger terms “states-of-mind” or “moods.” Thus, the article basically questions Heidegger's elision of a Leibkörper, not only in terms (...) of feelings but in terms of an exaltation of language, an insular notion of Dasein's historicality, and a narrow and deficient depiction of animals in his “philosophical biology.” Through a critical examination of the phenomenological disclosure that Heidegger seeks in his metaphysics of Being-toward-death, the article shows that death and the very concept of death hinges on being a body, a temporally finite animate body. Thus, however metaphysical its exposition, Being-toward-death is existentially anchored in being a body. (shrink)

The notion of divine love was essential to medieval Christian conceptions of God. Jewish thinkers, though, had a much more ambivalent attitude about this issue. While Maimonides was reluctant to ascribe love, or any other affect, to God, Gersonides and Crescas celebrated God’s love. Though Spinoza is clearly sympathetic to Maimonides’ rejection of divine love as anthropomorphism, he attributes love to God nevertheless, unfolding his notion of amor Dei intellectualis at the conclusion of his Ethics. But is this a legitimate (...) notion within his system? In the first part of this article, I will explain some of the problems surrounding this notion, and then turn, in the second part, to consider two unsatisfactory solutions. In the third part, I will attempt to rework Spinoza’s amor Dei intellectualis from his definitions of love and the other affects in part three of the Ethics. In the fourth part, I will examine closely how Spinoza tweaks his definition of love in order to allow for the possibility of divine intellectual love, and conclude by trying to explain what motivated this move. (shrink)

There are two phrases in Heidegger's Sein und Zeit that provide a clue to what is going on in that book: Dasein ist geworfener Entwurf and Dasein existiert faktisch (Dasein is thrown projection and Dasein exists factically). I begin by trying to show how an interpretation of these phrases can help clarify Heidegger's philosophical claim about what it means to be human. I then try and explain why it is that, in a couple of important passages in Sein und Zeit, (...) Heidegger describes thrown projection as an enigma (ein Rätsel). After considering the meaning and etymology of the word ‘enigma’, I trace its usage in Sein und Zeit, and try and show how and why the relations between Heidegger's central conceptual pairings – state‐of‐mind (Befindlichkeit) and understanding (Verstehen), thrownness and projection, facticity and existentiality – are described by Heidegger as enigmatic. My thesis is that at the heart of Sein und Zeit, that is, at the heart of the central claim of the Dasein‐analytic as to the temporal character of thrown‐projective being‐in‐the‐world, there lies an enigmatic apriori. That is to say, there is something resiliently opaque at the basis of the constitution of Dasein's being‐in‐the‐world which both resists phenomenological description and which, I shall claim, is that in virtue of which the phenomenologist describes. In the more critical part of the paper, I try and show precisely how this notion of the enigmatic apriori changes the basic experience of understanding Sein und Zeit. I explore this in relation to three examples from Division II: death, conscience and temporality. I try and read Heidegger's analyses of each of these concepts against the grain in order to bring into view much more resilient notions of facticity and thrownness that place in doubt the move to existentiality, projection and authenticity. The perspective I develop can be described as originary inauthenticity. As should become evident, such an interpretation of Sein und Zeit is not without political consequences. (shrink)

Este artículo se centra en ciertas reflexiones tempranas de la filosofía de Walter Benjamin y sostiene que en ellas se advierte un pasaje del concepto de verdad comprendido como misterio [Geheimnis] a uno en que la verdad es abordada en cuanto enigma [Rätsel]. En primer lugar, se establece la determinación de la preminencia subjetivista de la modernidad y se muestra en qué sentido el programa benjaminiano de una filosofía venidera avanza hacia una reflexión liberada del yo, capaz de experimentar (...) lo no-dicho por la totalidad subjetivista. Luego, se señala por qué la búsqueda de una relación sujeto-objeto distinta a la de la síntesis se concentra en la objetividad estética. A continuación, se indica la aproximación entre verdad y belleza efectuada por el filósofo y se sugiereuna conexión entre tal aproximación y la actualización benjaminiana de la filosofía platónica, fundamentalmente, la asociada a la figura medial de Eros. Por eso, finalmente, se expone el abordaje de la búsqueda tensional del δαίμων como la vía benjaminiana para desmontar la concepción misteriosa de la verdad y afirmar, en cambio, su carácter enigmático. (shrink)

Se suele olvidar que los presocráticos, más que “filósofos” en el sentido actual de la palabra fueron hombres que sus contemporáneos tuvieron por sabios. He aquí una pequeña muestra de lo lejos que el Poema de Parménides se halla del tipo de lenguaje conceptual que occidente llama “filosófico”. La lengua del eléata es palabra viva y creadora como la de los poetas, pero también oscura y ambigua como la de los dioses. Quien lea a Parménides en la perspectiva de la (...) metafísica occidental y pase por alto su contenido poético, religioso, político y “preconceptual”, quizá termine lejos de su pensamiento originario. (shrink)

In these essays, Gadamer justifies the reasons for a philosophical interest in health and medicine, and a corresponding need for health practitioners to enter into a dialogue with philosophy.

Human dignity is an omnipresent current concept exhibiting a seemingly unparalleled normative force and moral authority. However, the recent inflated occurrence of this concept made it subject to harsh criticisms echoing the assertion of it constituting a void quasi-moralistic artifice. In the pursuit of refuting dignity scepticism and highlighting the normative significance of the concept of human dignity, this paper draws on different approaches to human dignity. Firstly, the term “human dignity” shall be approached from a systematic and historical perspective. (...) Secondly, possible justifications of human dignity throughout the history of ideas shall be approached. Thirdly, the emergence of the legal conception of human dignity and its central importance in normative systems shall briefly be touched upon. (shrink)

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

There are two phrases in Heidegger's Sein und Zeit that provide a clue to what is going on in that book: Dasein ist geworfener Entwurf and Dasein existiert faktisch . I begin by trying to show how an interpretation of these phrases can help clarify Heidegger's philosophical claim about what it means to be human. I then try and explain why it is that, in a couple of important passages in Sein und Zeit, Heidegger describes thrown projection as an (...) class='Hi'>enigma . After considering the meaning and etymology of the word ‘enigma’, I trace its usage in Sein und Zeit, and try and show how and why the relations between Heidegger's central conceptual pairings – state‐of‐mind and understanding , thrownness and projection, facticity and existentiality – are described by Heidegger as enigmatic. My thesis is that at the heart of Sein und Zeit, that is, at the heart of the central claim of the Dasein‐analytic as to the temporal character of thrown‐projective being‐in‐the‐world, there lies an enigmatic apriori. That is to say, there is something resiliently opaque at the basis of the constitution of Dasein's being‐in‐the‐world which both resists phenomenological description and which, I shall claim, is that in virtue of which the phenomenologist describes. In the more critical part of the paper, I try and show precisely how this notion of the enigmatic apriori changes the basic experience of understanding Sein und Zeit. I explore this in relation to three examples from Division II: death, conscience and temporality. I try and read Heidegger's analyses of each of these concepts against the grain in order to bring into view much more resilient notions of facticity and thrownness that place in doubt the move to existentiality, projection and authenticity. The perspective I develop can be described as originary inauthenticity. As should become evident, such an interpretation of Sein und Zeit is not without political consequences. (shrink)

Se suele olvidar que los presocráticos, más que “filósofos” en el sentido actual de la palabra fueron hombres que sus contemporáneos tuvieron por sabios. He aquí una pequeña muestra de lo lejos que el Poema de Parménides se halla del tipo de lenguaje conceptual que occidente llama “filosófico”. La lengua del eléata es palabra viva y creadora como la de los poetas, pero también oscura y ambigua como la de los dioses. Quien lea a Parménides en la perspectiva de la (...) metafísica occidental y pase por alto su contenido poético, religioso, político y “preconceptual”, quizá termine lejos de su pensamiento originario. (shrink)

Phenomenology has attended often to the theme of pain, but less to suffering. Careful study of the latter leads to results that correspond with observations appearing in the philosophy of medicine and in literature. The difference between pain and suffering exposes the fact that in some instances the latter defies conceptions of subjectivity widely accepted in phenomenology. The subject who suffers is a subject who struggles to give meaning to his or her experience, and in some instances loses the capacity (...) entirely. A phenomenological account of these possibilities sharpens the challenge brought to the theology that, under the heading of theodicy, defends the unitary meaning of all experience. The theology that abandons theodicy may thereby recover a strong sense of its own biblical roots, which nurture a love of the God-man who suffers out of love for us. (shrink)

El propósito de este trabajo apunta, en primer lugar, a dilucidar en la _Fenomenología de la percepción_, el marco a partir del cual el autor comprende la historia y, en particular, el acontecimiento histórico. Según mi opinión, la descripción de este marco, de fuerte carácter existencialista, nos permitirá, en un segundo momento, avanzar hacia los rasgos específicos del acontecimiento histórico: singularidad, generalidad y contingencia, que ofrecen la clave para comprender en qué medida el acontecimiento es, desde la mirada merleau-pontyana, (...) class='Hi'>enigma y huella. Finalmente, una mirada prospectiva de la obra del autor nos permitirá ubicar la posición merleau-pontyana en el contexto de la discusión actual. (shrink)

What is human reason, how did it arise, how is it connected to animal reason? In The Enigma of Reason (ER) Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber (2017) suggest that reason evolved driven by the need to support communication and coordination in small human groups. They contrast this to the idea that the function of reason is to enable humans to make better decisions and develop more accurate beliefs. After a summation of the ER argument, the theory is critiqued and (...) two of their assumptions -- that human cognition is based on massive modularity and that reason co-evolved with and is dependent upon language -- are challenged. Alternatives to these assumptions are presented from the perspective of pattern matching processes in neural dynamical systems, which it is asserted provides a more realistic approach to the functioning of the brain and mind. (shrink)

"Based on the reading of the only twelfth-century manuscript of the Enigma extant, Charleville MS. 114, and an examination of the fifteenth-century manuscript Uppsala C. 79." Revision of the editor's thesis, Catholic University of America, 1971, presented under title: The enigma fidei of William of Saint Thierry, a translation and commentary. Bibliography: p. 119-120.

Sergio Moravia's The Enigma of the Mind offers a broad and lucid critical and historical survey of one of the fundamental debates in the philosophy of mind - the relationship of mind and body. This problem continues to raise deep questions concerning the nature of man. The book has two central aims. First, Professor Moravia sketches the major recent contributions to the mind/body problem from philosophers of mind. Having established this framework Professor Moravia pursues his second aim - the (...) articulation of a particular interpretation of the mental and the mind-body problem. The book's detailed and systematic treatment of this fundamental philosophical issue make it ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in epistemology and the philosophy of mind. It should also prove provocative reading for psychologists and cognitive scientists. (shrink)

Justice is a cultural and historical constant, characterized by plurality and incommensurate theories. This book identifies regulative and critical dimensions in the works of Kant, Hegel, Heller, and Honneth. The significance of the categorical imperative mediating plurality leads to a dynamic idea of justice that resists relativism.

Festa, E., Roux, S. (2008). The Enigma of the Inclined Plane from Heron to Galileo. In: Laird, W.R., Roux, S. (eds) Mechanics and Natural Philosophy Before the Scientific Revolution. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 254. Springer, Dordrecht.

O conceito de narratividade tem sido frequentemente utilizado entre filósofos da mente que pretendem compreender criticamente a questão da identidade pessoal na filosofia contemporânea. Trata-se de pensá-la como uma teia narrativa que se desenrola durante a vida. Ao personagem narrado chamaríamos ‘eu’. Daniel Dennett e David Velleman são dois eminentes defensores deste tipo de visão. O presente artigo visa expor brevemente os pontos de aproximação entre estes autores, mas principalmente discutir um importante momento de afastamento entre eles, especialmente no que (...) tange à ideia de um módulo central narrativo, introduzida por Velleman e criticada por Dennett. Como contraposição à visão narrativa será, por fim, contraposta outra proposta de se pensar a identidade pessoal, como negação da narratividade, presente no pensamento de Galen Strawson. (shrink)

Este texto mostra como, no primeiro volume do que atualmente chamaríamos de “trilogia”: Justine ou les Infortunes de la vertu (1787), Justine ou les Malheurs de la vertu (1791) e La Nouvelle Justine ou les Malheurs de la vertu, suivie de l'Histoire de Juliette, sa soeur (1797), Sade foi o último protagonista do grande debate filosófico e moral que percorre a Ilustração, dos primórdios ao seu final.