The rapid dynamics of COVID-19 calls for quick and effective tracking of virus transmission chains and early detection of outbreaks, especially in the “phase 2” of the pandemic, when lockdown and other restriction measures are progressively withdrawn, in order to avoid or minimize contagion resurgence. For this purpose, contact-tracing apps are being proposed for large scale adoption by many countries. A centralized approach, where data sensed by the app are all sent to a nation-wide server, raises concerns about citizens’ privacy (...) and needlessly strong digital surveillance, thus alerting us to the need to minimize personal data collection and avoiding location tracking. We advocate the conceptual advantage of a decentralized approach, where both contact and location data are collected exclusively in individual citizens’ “personal data stores”, to be shared separately and selectively, voluntarily, only when the citizen has tested positive for COVID-19, and with a privacy preserving level of granularity. This approach better protects the personal sphere of citizens and affords multiple benefits: it allows for detailed information gathering for infected people in a privacy-preserving fashion; and, in turn this enables both contact tracing, and, the early detection of outbreak hotspots on more finely-granulated geographic scale. The decentralized approach is also scalable to large populations, in that only the data of positive patients need be handled at a central level. Our recommendation is two-fold. First to extend existing decentralized architectures with a light touch, in order to manage the collection of location data locally on the device, and allow the user to share spatio-temporal aggregates—if and when they want and for specific aims—with health authorities, for instance. Second, we favour a longer-term pursuit of realizing a Personal Data Store vision, giving users the opportunity to contribute to collective good in the measure they want, enhancing self-awareness, and cultivating collective efforts for rebuilding society. (shrink)

A respectable assessment of priority-based ontic structuralism demands an elucidation of its metaphysical backbone. Here we focus on two theses that stand in need of clarification: the Fundamentality Thesis states that structures are fundamental, and the Priority Thesis states that these structures are prior to putative fundamental objects, if these exist. Candidate notions to illuminate and such as supervenience and ontological dependence failed at this task. Our purpose is to show that grounding is the best competitor to articulate and, and (...) regiment such theses in a desirable unified way. Our strategy is two-fold. First, we make the case that grounding does better than ontological dependence and supervenience. Second, we show that the distinction between partial and full grounds permits us to respond to an objection raised by Kerry McKenzie against the proposal of interpreting priority-based Ontic Structuralism in the idiom of metaphysical determination. Our conclusion is that priority ontic structuralists have compelling reasons for adopting a grounding-based approach. (shrink)

Este trabajo titulado " El Deber de Adoptar y los Derechos de la niñez en Chile" será incluido en el Volumen 24. Número 86(2024) de Revista Iberoamericana en la sección Foro de Debate denominada “Infancias Latinoamericanas: desafíos para la garantía de derechos en la región".

Ground is all the rage in contemporary metaphysics. But what is its nature? Some metaphysicians defend what we could call, following Skiles and Trogdon (2021), the inheritance view: it is because constitutive forms of metaphysical explanation are such-and-such that we should believe that ground is so-and-so. However, many putative instances of inheritance are not primarily motivated by scientific considerations. This limitation is harmless if one thinks that ground and science are best kept apart. Contrary to this view, we believe that (...) ground is a highly serviceable tool for investigating metaphysical areas of science. In this paper, we defend a naturalistic version of the inheritance view which takes constitutive scientific explanation as a better guide to ground. After illustrating the approach and its merits, we discuss some implications of the emerging scientific conception for the theory of ground at large. (shrink)

English summary: The monograph-length study of Marsilio Ficino examines the Renaissance Neoplatonists philosophy from a metaphysical and anthropological point of view. Ficino was not only the first Latin translator of Platos entire works, but also a creative thinker in his own right whose religious and philosophical program troubled his native Florence and agitated his Christian contemporaries. French description: Marsile Ficin ne fut pas seulement le traducteur et le commentateur de Platon et des neoplatoniciens, comme Plotin et Proclus. Ce fut un (...) philosophe a part entiere, qui puisa de maniere creative aux ressources de la tradition platonicienne pour resoudre les questions agitees dans la Florence de son temps ou heritees de discussions universitaires medievales. Il elabora sa pensee a partir des possibilites conceptuelles inedites offertes par la philosophie de l'Un pour repenser l'ontologie. Cette monographie analyse l'originalite et la coherence de sa philosophie aussi bien sur le plan metaphysique qu'anthropologique, repondant ainsi a l'exigence d'une etude systematique qui fait defaut depuis longtemps. On y examine autant la specificite du projet ficinien de renouvellement philosophique et religieux que les aspects qui devoilent sa profonde incompatibilite avec le christianisme. (shrink)

Qual o lugar da política em nossas modernas sociedades capitalistas? De que política se trata? Como a democracia deve se haver com uma economia que provoca riqueza gerando desigualdades insalubres? Essas são algumas das questões sobre as quais se debruçam os filósofos José Arthur Giannotti e Luiz Damon Moutinho em Os limites da política. Instigado pelo alcance e profundidade do e-book A política no limite do pensar, de Giannotti, publicado pela Companhia das Letras em 2014, Luiz Damon reagiu (...) escrevendo um ensaio em que refletia sobre as bases filosóficas dos argumentos do colega. As provocações de Damon levaram Giannotti a acentuar ou corrigir algumas de suas ideias. Os limites da política nasceu de um intenso debate entre os dois filósofos, com réplicas e tréplicas, agora reunidas em um só volume juntamente ao ensaio original que deu origem à polêmica. (shrink)

The Legacy of Aristotelian Enthymeme provides a historical-logical analysis of Aristotle's rhetorical syllogism, the enthymeme, through its Medieval and Renaissance interpretations. Bringing together notions of credibility and proof, an international team of scholars highlight the fierce debates around this form of argumentation during two key periods for Aristotle's beliefs.Reflecting on medieval and humanist thinkers, philosophers, poets and theologians, this volume joins up dialectical and rhetorical argumentation as key to the enthymeme's interpretation and shows how the enthymeme was the source of (...) a major interpretive conflict. As a method for achieving the standards for proof and credibility that persist across diverse fields of study today including the law, politics, medicine and morality, this book takes in Latin and Persian interpretations of the enthymeme and casts contemporary argumentation in a new historical light. (shrink)

Dispositionality and qualitativity are key notions to describe the world that we inhabit. Dispositionality is a matter of what a thing is disposed to do in certain circumstances. Qualitativity is a matter of how a thing is like. According to the Identity Theory of powers, every fundamental property is at once dispositional and qualitative, or a powerful quality. Canonically, the Identity Theory holds a contentious identity claim between a property’s dispositionality and its qualitativity. In the literature, this view faces a (...) contradiction objection that undermines its merits. We should therefore consider an alternative version that does not embrace the identity claim. My aim is to show that we can enjoy the benefits of the Identity Theory without embracing the identity between the dispositional and the qualitative. I shall argue that a distinction between two senses of dispositionality and qualitativity serves the purpose. I will then discuss three readings of the identity claim that can be formulated in light of such a distinction. I will conclude that even if the identity were to fail in any of the suggested readings, it would be possible to hold an account of fundamental powerful qualities. (shrink)

Depuis la philosophie ancienne, notamment avec Aristote, la dialectique et la rhétorique se partagent le domaine de l’argumentation plausible et crédible, mais leurs stratégies de preuve aussi bien que leurs buts diffèrent. Une fois ces différences mises en lumière, il est possible de suggérer que l’humanisme n’a pas été tant un moment marqué par le renouveau de la rhétorique que d’une multiplicité de formes de décomposition et de recomposition des modalités rhétoriques et dialectiques. Cet article cherche à montrer en particulier (...) la nature dialectique du projet de l’humaniste Lorenzo Valla dans sa « Repastinatio dialectice et philosophie », en soulignant la reprise réfléchie et novatrice de la réflexion grecque et latine sur les arts du discours. (shrink)

Grounding is claimed to offer a promising characterization of the fundamental as thatwhich is ungrounded. Detractors of this view argue that there can be fundamental and yet mutuallygrounded entities. Such a possibility undermines the denition of the fundamental as theungrounded. I aim to show, however, that the possibility of fundamental mutually grounded entitiesdoes not force us to renounce the prospects of characterizing fundamentality in terms of ground-ing. To accomplish this aim, I defend a grounding-based view that accommodates fundamentalmutually grounded entities (...) straightforwardly. My denition of fundamentality is similar to, butimportantly different from, one that Karen Bennett discusses. I conclude by resisting two objec-tions raised by Jessica Wilson against the Bennettian framework that also target theproposed view. (shrink)

What grounds facts of ground? Some metaphysicians invoke fundamental grounding laws to answer this question. These are general principles that link grounded facts to their grounds. The main business of this paper is to advance the debate about the metaphysics of grounding laws by exploring the prospects of a plausible yet underexplored minimalist account, one which is structurally analogous to a familiar Humean conception of natural laws. In the positive part of this paper, I articulate such a novel view and (...) argue for its merits. The minimalist account shuns essences and takes laws to be unmysterious elite regularities. Therefore, it is a promising alternative for theorists of ground who spurn the acceptance of essentialism about the grounding laws but think that these are needed in our theorizing. In the negative part, I argue that widely accepted principles of ground, coupled with the tenets of minimalism, jeopardize the fundamentality of the grounding laws. I discuss two immediately available and prima facie appealing strategies to evade this threat. However, I show that both have undesirable theoretical costs. I conclude by casting doubts on whether the benefits of a minimalist account of fundamental grounding laws outweigh such costs. (shrink)

In contemporary metaphysics, the doctrine that the fundamental facts are those which are wholly ungrounded is the received view or something near enough. Against this radical brutalism, several metaphysicians argued in favour of the existence of fundamental facts that are moderately brute or merely partially grounded. However, the arguments for moderately brute facts rely on controversial metaphysical scenarios. This paper aims to counteract the tendency in favour of radical brutalism on scientific grounds. It does so by showing that naturalistic metaphysicians (...) can appeal to plausible considerations from physical theory to establish the existence of moderately brute facts. But should the naturalistic metaphysician embrace moderate brutalism, namely the view that the fundamental facts are those which are merely partially ungrounded? Here I argue for a negative answer, recommending a more inclusive pluralism about the kinds of brute facts we can expect to find in nature. (shrink)

resumo A terceira Crítica configura um papel inédito para a reflexão: a conformação da natureza em gêneros e espécies aparece como pressuposto de uma forma de pensar que é vaga na medida em que empresta sentido a modos particulares de finalidade. No entanto, como esse sentido vai ser pensado depende de uma leitura da lógica formal, quer porque fica subordinada a uma gramática universal, no caso de Husserl, quer porque se dissolve ela mesma numa linguagem, como em Wittgenstein. palavras-chaves sentido (...) - lógica formal - jogo de linguagem. (shrink)

Dispositional essentialism is the view that all or many fundamental properties are essentially dispositional, orpowers. The literature on the dispositional essence of powers is abundant. In contrast, the question of how to understand the fundamentality of fundamental powers has received scarce interest. Therefore, the fundamentality of powers stands in need of clarification. There are four main conceptions of the fundamental, namely as that which is (i)metaphysically independent; or (ii)belonging to a minimally complete basis; or (iii)perfectly natural; or (iv)metaphysically primitive. Here, (...) I present and discuss each of these approaches from the viewpoint of dispositional essentialism. I show that (i) is incompatible with the metaphysics of powers and (ii)–(iv) have more drawbacks than merits. Therefore, my conclusion is that the dispositional essentialist should seek an alternative. Although I offer no positive account, I pave the way to more fruitful views by identifying the shortcoming of these unpromising options. (shrink)

Uma entrevista inédita de Giannotti sobre Artigas.

There is no consensus on the most adequate conception of the fundamental properties of our world. The pure powers view and the identity theory of powerful qualities claim to be promising alternatives to categoricalism, the view that all fundamental properties essentially contribute to the qualitative make-up of things that have them. The pure powers view holds that fundamental properties essentially empower things that have them with a distinctive causal profile. On the identity theory, fundamental properties are dispositional as well as (...) qualitative, or powerful qualities. Despite the manifest difference, Taylor (2018) argues that pure powers and powerful qualities collapse into the same ontology. If this collapse objection were sound, the debate between the pure powers view and the identity theory of powerful qualities would be illusory: these views could claim the same advantages and would suffer the same problems. Here I defend an ontologically robust distinction between pure powers and powerful qualities. To accomplish this aim, I show that the collapse between pure powers and powerful qualities can be resisted. I conclude by drawing some positive implications of this result. (shrink)

Metaphysical orthodoxy holds that a privileged minority of properties carve reality at its joints. These are the so-called fundamental properties. This thesis concerns the contemporary philosophical debate about the nature of fundamental properties. In particular, it aims to answer two questions: What is the most adequate conception of fundamental properties? What is the “big picture” world-view that emerges by adopting such a conception? I argue that a satisfactory answer to both questions requires us to embrace a novel conception of powerful (...) qualities, according to which properties are at once dispositional and qualitative. By adopting the proposed conception of powerful qualities, an original theory of fundamental properties comes to light. I call it Dual-Aspect Account. In this thesis, I defend the Dual-Aspect Account and its superiority with respect to rival views of fundamental properties. I illustrate this claim by examining Dispositionalism, the view defended among others by Alexander Bird and Stephen Mumford, Categoricalism, which has been advocated notably by David Lewis and David Armstrong, and the Identity Theory of powerful qualities, primarily championed by C. B. Martin and John Heil. The latter is the standard conception of powerful qualities. However, in the literature, the Identity Theory faces the charge of contradiction. A preliminary task is therefore to show that a conception of powerful qualities is coherent. To accomplish this aim, I introduce the notion of an aspect of a property. On this interpretation, powerful qualities can be thought of as having dispositional and qualitative aspects. I show that such a conception allows us to disambiguate the claim that a property’s dispositionality is identical with its qualitativity, and evade the charge of contradiction. Aspects bring us other theoretical benefits. I illustrate this claim by showing how the Dual-Aspect Account offers us a promising theory of resemblance. I then compare its merits with David Armstrong’s theory of partial identity. The conclusion of this thesis is that the Dual-Aspect Account is better suited to capturing the world as we find it in everyday life and scientific investigation as compared to the theoretical positions examined. (shrink)

The notion of fundamentality is supposed to play an important role in philosophical inquiry and scientific theorising. Yet there is no consensus on how to formulate it in precise terms. According to a promising view, fundamentality is a form of ontological independence. This view has the merit of capturing a natural connection between fundamentality and ontological dependence. However, it has been recently argued that it is possible that there are fundamental and yet ontologically dependent entities; therefore, we should not characterise (...) the fundamental in terms of ontological independence. My aim is to show that such a possibility does not threaten a conception of fundamentality as a form of ontological independence. I illustrate this claim by providing a definition of equifundamentality and showing that fundamental and yet ontologically dependent entities can be treated as equifundamental. (shrink)

Este livro não é propriamente uma monografia, mas um ajuste de contas. Desde os anos 60, J. A. Giannotti se preocupa com a possibilidade de uma dialética materialista. No seu último livro, Trabalho e reflexão, percebeu que a tentativa de uma "inversão" da dialética hegeliana conduzia a uma investigação lógica sobre esquemas operatórios capazes de ligar normas às condutas que as seguem. No fundo, tocava no conceito wittgensteiniano de jogo de linguagem não-verbal, sem tirar dele as conseqüências devidas. Impunha-se (...) assim uma reflexão mais penetrante sobre questões elementares da lógica. Esta Apresentação do mundo resulta dessa reflexão, de um esforço de dez anos e, se de novo tenta remar contra a maré, é porque nasce mais duma obsessão do que de um diálogo com seus contemporâneos. (shrink)

O marxismo tem recebido atestado de óbito de autores renomados. MAs o fim de uma ideologia oficial, simbolizada dramaticamente pela queda do muro de Berlim, esgotaria a capacidade dos textos de Marx para compreender aspectos decisivos da nossa contemporaneidade? Se O capital pretendeu criticar o processo de produção capitalista, continuando no plano teórico o movimento de contestação efetivado pelo proletariado, já não teria agora a dimensão clássica das grandes obras filosóficas do passado?Mas então, se esse texto se tornou clássico, conjunto (...) de idéias com as quais convivemos sem ter como aderir a elas por inteiro, é preciso iluminar os tópicos que ainda podem nos servir de ponto de partida. NÃo se trata de distinguir nele o vivo e o morto, mas de pensar seu núcleo mais vivo - precisamente, sua crítica da racionalidade com que o capital se apresenta. CErta herança marxista procura reler Marx do ponto de vista de sua posteridade, acentuando aquela traição que o reanima. (shrink)

Com sua noção de "tempo lógico", o método estrutural goldschmitiano é avesso à temporalidade e à história? O tempo lógico não seria, ao contrário, uma nova articulação dos "instantes" em que cada sistema verdadeiramente filosófico se põe em ligação com os demais? Se Goldschmidt retira os sistemas do tempo, não é para acusar o encapsulamento dogmático de cada um deles, como interpreta Porchat, mas para recolocá-los numa dimensão em que esses "átomos" podem ser articulados.

Este artigo procura delinear os contornos da amizade na sociedade contemporânea, distinguindo-a de outros modelos de ação a ela adjacentes, como a intimidade e o companheirismo.

The paper examines three examples of Saint Jerome’s contemporary reception. First, in Sous l’invocation de Saint Jérôme, the essay by the French writer and translator Valery Larbaud (1946), Jerome’s life is imagined as the large city of Hiéronymopolis where three itineraries are possible: one that is imaginary to Stridon, Rome, and Bethlehem; one that is iconographical through the paintings of Raffaello, Correggio, and Domenichino, and one that is literary through Jerome’s works, divided into many “city districts,” where an impressive bridge, (...) the Vulgata, connects Jerusalem to Rome. – In the eccentric novel Jérôme ou de la traduction by the French-Canadian writer Jean Marcel (1990), Hieronymus’s famous lion narrates the main episodes of the Saint’s life, especially regarding his translations. This is an existential metaphor for the passage from the ancient eastern world to early Christian Rome. – The poetic movie by the Brasilian director Júlio Bressane, São Jerônimo (1999), is not a biographical reconstruction of Jerome’s life, but rather a fresco, which consists of some moments of his life and some iconic symbols (the skull, the lion, the desert). (shrink)

On voudrait interroger ici le propos de Cicéron, selon lequel l ’ argument est « rationem quae dubiae faciat fidem », afin d ’ étudier le lien particulier qui est établi entre la preuve et la croyance, sans réduire celle-ci à un effet psychologique, celle-là à une raison que l ’ on serait obligé d ’ accepter.

Often, when Seneca wants to defend a thesis that seems original to him in relation to the Stoic school, he claims to enjoy distracting himself with subtle games that quickly become boring puzzles....

L’article se propose de montrer que le principe d’équité, formulé dans le cadre de l’hermeneutica generalis du XVIIe et du XVIIIe siècle, a été anticipé par la pratique philologique des humanistes italiens du XVe siècle, et notamment par les stratégies élaborées pour combattre le mauvais interprète, le « calomniateur ». Toutefois on met en avant les différences théoriques majeures entre l’humanisme et l’hermeneutica generalis, entre une perspective historique et grammaticale, soulignant le caractère individuel de tout acte de parole, et une (...) perspective logique, fondée sur la conviction du caractère universel de la raison. (shrink)