Pour mieux re-penser, en fonction de « notre » situation, l’héritage philosophique d’Eric Weil, on le suit d’abord ici dans sa manière de porter la finitude de la condition historique jusqu’à la vue du sens présent. C’est alors son articulation originale de la liberté (moderne) et de la raison (antique) à l’intérieur du tout infini de la réalité que l’on se risque à interroger en l’ouvrant à l’éventualité d’un « autrement » qui n’entrerait peut-être pas sans reste dans le (...) cercle de la compréhension systématique. (shrink)

Pour mieux re-penser, en fonction de « notre » situation, l’héritage philosophique d’Eric Weil, on le suit d’abord ici dans sa manière de porter la finitude de la condition historique jusqu’à la vue du sens présent. C’est alors son articulation originale de la liberté (moderne) et de la raison (antique) à l’intérieur du tout infini de la réalité que l’on se risque à interroger en l’ouvrant à l’éventualité d’un « autrement » qui n’entrerait peut-être pas sans reste dans le (...) cercle de la compréhension systématique. (shrink)

¿Es posible volcar en los moldes modernos de la libertad y de la autonomía al antiguo significado de la virtud? Para resolver tal interrogante, nos apoyaremos en las tesis esgrimidas por la Filosofía moral deEric Weil, obra que nos ayudará a medir la magnitud del enfrentamiento de Aristóteles con Kant, conduciéndonos,de la mano de Hegel, a través de una meditación sobre el actuar histórico; orientando, en parejogrado, a la rellexión moral hacia su autosuperación vital y existencial. Por último, sentaremos (...) el valor y fecundidad, faltos todavía de prueba. de este gesto tilosófico. (shrink)

« La raison est ce qui existe de plus noble dans l’homme. »L’homme était vif et malicieux, d’une courtoisie exquise, joignant tout naturellement l’ouverture affable et la réserve discrète ; son seul contact, on l’a dit, « possédait un merveilleux pouvoir de “désenclavement” » . Sans ostentation, sa culture encyclopédique – « stupéfiante »,..

Dans l'ombre immense de Hegel et de Heidegger, deux juifs philosophes s'engagent dans l'aventure philosophique en renouant à leur manière avec les orientations critiques de la pensée kantienne. Mais là où Weil dégage le sens formel d'une universalisation raisonnable soucieuse de prendre en charge la totalité concrète du réel, Levinas en appelle, lui, à l'intrigue dissymétrique d'une responsabilité pour l'autre, relation éthique paradoxale qui ne cesse de déchirer la trame du discours cohérent. Qu'il puisse y avoir des rapprochements entre (...) ces trajectoires contrastées n'autorise ni à les identifier ni à les «relever» à l'intérieur d'une dialectique englobante. Mais les laisser se provoquer et se répondre dans une sorte «d'entretien infini» pourrait contribuer à maintenir vive, en nous et entre nous, la vigilance jamais assez réveillée d'une liberté appelée à la responsabilité. (shrink)

El éxito histórico de la(s) ciencia(s)y su extensión tendencialmente universal a toda realidad es un hecho. Comprender su sentido exige que se le refiera a un proyecto cultural (racional) cuyos supuestos han de ser juzgados conforme a una razón inseparablemente práctica (ético-política) y especulativa (filosofía). Sobre todos estos puntos, el pensamiento riguroso de E. Weil se compara y se contrasta aquí con posiciones de alto vuelo: solamente después de atravesar los planteamientos hegelianos, marxianos y weberianos, es como intenta retomar,de (...) manera original, orientaciones kantianas. (shrink)

Entre la conscience transcendantale et le système spéculatif, la volonté de discours cohérent hésite avant de se trouver invinciblement reconduite à la finitude sans recours de sa position existentielle. De cette histoire de tensions irréductibles résulte pour la philosophie une exigence nouvelle : se comprendre en son originalité comme milieu du sens, d’un sens dialogal librement exigé et partagé, dont la forme vide travaille les interactions de l’existence finie jusqu’à la porter finalement au-delà d’elle-même. The want of a coherent discourse (...) hesitates between the transcendental conscience and the speculative system, before finding itself invincibly taken back to finiteness, without help of its existential position. From this story of irreducible tensions results a new requirement for philosophy : to conceive itself, in its originality, as the milieu of sense, of a dialogic sense freely required and shared, the empty shape of which works on the interactions of the finite existence, up to finally carrying it beyond itself. (shrink)

An inclusive vision of mathematics-- its beauty, its humanity, and its power to build virtues that help us all flourish. For mathematician Francis Su, a society without mathematical affection is like a city without museums. To miss out on mathematics is to live without experiencing some of humanity's most beautiful ideas. In this profound book, written for a diverse audience but especially for those disenchanted by their past experiences, an award-winning mathematician and educator weaves personal reflections, puzzles, and stories (...) to show how mathematics meets basic human desires and cultivates virtues essential for human flourishing. Readers will explore mathematical concepts-- and see how mathematical thinking can even fulfill such longings as for love, play, freedom, justice, and community. Some lessons come from those who have struggled, including philosopher Simone Weil, whose own mathematical contributions were overshadowed by her brother's, and Christopher Jackson, who discovered mathematics as an inmate in a federal prison. Christopher Jackson's letters to the author appear throughout the book and show how this intellectual pursuit can-- and must-- be open to all. (shrink)

Précédant le discours systématiquement développé qu'est la Logique de la philosophie, une substantielle introduction cherche dans une réflexion anthropologique la condition première et l'envoi le plus décisif de l'entreprise philosophante. Toujours pris dans la dualité essentielle de la raison et de la violence, l'homme s'appuie d'abord sur une sécurité communautaire idéalisée avant de chercher un recours dans des constructions ontologiques dont la fragilité objective ne pourra cependant pas résister à l'émergence d'une " condition " moderne vouée à l'épreuve de sa (...) finitude radicale. Prior to the systematically developed discourse which is the Logic of Philosophy, a substantial introduction seeks the first condition and the most decisive start of the undertaking of philosophy in an anthropological reflection. Being always caught in the essential duality of reason and violence, man first leans on an idealised communalistic security before having recourse to ontological constructions, the objective fragility of which, however, cannot resist the emergence of a modern " condition " destined for the test of its radical finiteness. (shrink)

Vítima, quer do contexto, quer da sua recepção, a obra de Eric Weil (1904-1977), editada entre os anos 50 e 70 do século passado, não tem obtido o devido acolhimento pela comunidade filosófica. Se as interpretações magistrais de Kant (Problèmes kantiens. Paris: Vrin, 1970) e de Hegel (Hegel et l’état. Paris; Vrin, 1950) constituem referências cada vez mais frequentes nos trabalhos da especialidade (os quais persistem, contudo, em ignorar os importantes artigos sobre a filosofia dos dois autor...

Pour relever le défi de l’irruption dans notre modernité d’une violence radicale, il faut, selon Éric Weil, inscrire la cohérence des discours dans l’espace premier du langage et de sa négativité créatrice. S’il est possible, alors, de procéder à une mise en ordre logique des divers types d’intelligibilité élaborés dans l’histoire, c’est en subordonnant l’ensemble de ces catégories concrètes aux deux catégories formelles du sens et de la sagesse, de la compréhension et de la vie selon la compréhension. La (...) philosophie se comprend ainsi dans le tout de la réalité qui se révèle en elle : sa systématicité dialogique a pour corollaire une ouverture sans réserve à l’extériorité du monde et de l’histoire. Cette transcendance dans l’immanence, à l’épreuve de la relativité de la condition, est-elle susceptible de rencontrer et d’accueillir l’attestation religieuse d’une transcendance absolue? C’est la question que l’on se risque à poser pour finir. In order to face the challenge of the irruption in our modernity of a radical violence, one must, according to Eric Weil, inscribe the coherence of discourses into the primary space of language and of its creative negativity. If it is possible, then, to proceed to put in logical order diverse types of intelligibility elaborated through history, it has to be by subordinating the whole of those concrete categories under the two formal categories of meaning and wisdom, of comprehension and of life in accordance with comprehension. Philosophy is thus understood within the whole of reality that reveals itself in it ; its systematic dialogical character has as a corollary an unreserved opening to the external character of the world and of history. Is this transcendence in immanence, while being proof resistant to the relativity of the condition, able to meet and receive the religious testimony of an absolute transcendence? Such is the question that is risked at the end. (shrink)

La responsabilité politique du philosophe tient, selon É. Weil, à son devoir de comprendre la réalité pour en discerner les orientations raisonnables. Ce qui l’invite d’abord à prendre la mesure de la rationalisation socio-économique de la modernité et de sa violence potentielle. Cette nouvelle donne historique peut se révéler signifiante, mais à condition d’être justement régulée par une discussion politique s’ordonnant finalement à l’émergence pacifique d’une mondialité qui ferait place et droit au(x) dialogue(s) engagés notamment par les « hommes (...) de culture ». (shrink)

This 20 volume Routledge Revivals collection brings together a selection of groundbreaking Philosophy titles, from the rich and diverse Routledge backlist. With titles published between 1933 and 1991, this is a truly wide-ranging selection, encompassing works by distinguished authors such as: Simone Weil, Hilary Putnam, Franz Brentano, Anthony Kenny, Karl Jaspers and Israel Scheffler. Dealing with everything from the notion of freewill, to concepts of time and space, to theories of morality, this set offers a collection of the best (...) of Routledge publishing in the field of Philosophy from across the Twentieth Century. Please note that all titles have been previously available for sale individually through the Routledge Revivals programme. (shrink)

The purpose of the present systematic and critical review was to assess the findings and to identify the gaps in the literature concerning gay and bisexual fathers. A comprehensive search of relevant literature using electronic databases and reference lists for articles published until December 2016 was conducted. A total of 63 studies, spanning from 1979 to 2016, were collected. More than half of the studies were published after 2011 and the overwhelming majority were conducted in the United States. Nine themes (...) were identified in the studies reviewed: (1) Pathways to fatherhood; (2) Motivations for fatherhood; (3) Parenting experiences and childrearing; (4) Family life and relationship quality; (5) Gender and father identities and gender-role orientation; (6) Disclosure of sexual identity; (7) Social climate; (8) Father’s psychosocial adjustment; and (9) Children’s psychosocial adjustment. It was found that research on gay fatherhood appears to be more heterogeneous than on lesbian motherhood, perhaps because of the variety of pathways to parenthood (via co-parenting, adoption, fostering, or surrogacy). Two-father families are becoming more visible in research on sexual minority parenting and gradually transforming the conceptualization of parenting in family research. (shrink)

Acting on what started as a hunch, Dr. Francis Martin has cataloged well over 20,000 distinct approaches to counseling and psychotherapy that are advertised on the webpages of licensed, practicing mental health providers. No doubt some portion of them are harmful, but the sheer volume of advertised practices and techniques, often with names deceptively similar to actual evidence-based practices, should be cause for concern among all stakeholders in the helping professions - from educators and researchers to policy makers and (...) insurance companies and, especially, consumers. Based on this significant original study, and drawing from other research and supports, Therapy Thieves describes a near-universal crisis in the field and recommends ways to rescue mental health care from itself. The crisis is caused by declining competence among counselors and psychotherapists who have failed to regulate themselves and who, therefore, deliver inadequate - if not harmful - services. In presenting a simple, yet powerful indictment of the field, Dr. Martin advocates for major reforms in several areas of mental health care, including how prospective licensees are trained, supervised and licensed, a major reworking of professional ethics, and the need to establish regulations for mental health care providers. In short, the book calls for major, specific, and urgently needed reforms. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Prudence: Classical Virtue, Postmodern PracticeFrancis A. BeerPrudence: Classical Virtue, Postmodern Practice. Ed. Robert Hariman. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. Pp. xi + 337. $65.00, cloth."Would it be prudent?" The phrase echoes in memory, linking Dana Carvey from Saturday Night Live to the presidency of the first George Bush. Robert Hariman has been wrestling with prudence for over a decade, and he has now produced a powerful (...) volume that brings together not only his thoughts but also those of a number of other distinguished authors. The result is a book that will become a standard reference for those interested in prudence.The subtitle, Classical Virtue, Postmodern Practice, and the title of the first chapter, "Theory without Modernity," give some idea of the subtexts that drive the book. This is a book about prudence, and more. It is about virtue in classical, modern, and postmodern settings. It is about the dynamic complexity of practice—decision, judgment, and action in public and private life.Hariman gives us a definition: "Prudence is a mode of reasoning about contingent matters in order to select the best course of action" (5). That would be too easy. He also surrounds prudence with a penumbra of related words to broaden our understanding of the complex lattice of semantic meaning. Our legacy from the Greek and Roman lexicon includes words like phronesis and prudentia. Contemporary nouns involve cautiousness, circumspection, and care. Related adjectives are "careful, judicious, tactful, discerning, sensible, frugal, wise, sage, level-headed, balanced, moderate, politic, practical pragmatic, expedient" (vii). These synonyms, for Hariman, describe a narrow, modern form of prudence, part of the calculative tradition inherited from Aristotle, that ultimately leads to the saddle points of rational choice. They are, however, only a part of the story. Hariman aims to relieve their "stodginess" by recovering the performative tradition of prudence from Cicero. Prudence, from this perspective, is defined not just abstractly as a set of rules but more dynamically as a set of roles. Prudence includes character, and is performed by characters. Pericles in Athens is an iconic example of superb political leadership that blends the honor of the leader with the glory of the state. Prudence combines integrity of the self with respect for others. This is a broad, ambitious interpretation [End Page 176] of prudence. It recuperates not only a classical vision of prudence but also one of politics. It rearranges other virtues to revolve in a constellation around prudence. In this reconstituted form, prudence reemerges to shine as "a crucial element of political leadership," the central political virtue.The book is divided into three parts: "Conceptual Frameworks," "Rhetorical Structures," and "Provisional Networks." All three of the sections are identified in structural terms, which is interesting since Hariman's conception of prudence as a primary political virtue is very agent-centered. The structures, however, provide the settings in which the political observers and actors perform. The first section provides a sample of the rich literature that focuses on philosophical concepts of prudence in earlier times and places. It begins with a chapter by Robert W. Cape Jr. that discusses "Cicero and the Development of Political Practice in Rome." This chapter is critical to the book, since it lays a part of the foundation. It is the first substantive essay and it must also make the case for combining calculative and performative prudence. Cape gives us a fine exposition of prudentia in the Roman context. Interestingly, he suggests that "prudentia is a contraction of providentia, "'foresight.'" (37).The virtue of prudence was typically associated with age and experience. Imprudence, on the other hand, was associated with youth, recklessness, and impropriety (37). Prudence involved knowledge of practical matters, law, and custom as well as proper speech, including rhetoric, and behavior. Prepon mattered. Prudence for Cicero, however, was much more than simply knowing how things work: it was ultimately the extended performance of justice on the public stage. The next chapter, by Eugene Garver, entitled "After Virtù: Rhetoric, Prudence, and Moral Pluralism in Machiavelli," moves the story of prudence from the late classical to the early modern period. As the title indicates, Garver's concern is also with the relation of... (shrink)

In this global village, it is relevant to look at two educational visionaries from two continents, John Dewey and Rabindranath Tagore. Dewey observed that the modern individual was depersonalized by the industrial and commercial culture. He, thus, envisioned a new individual who would find fulfillment in maximum individuality within maximum community, which was embodied in his democratic concept and educational philosophy. Tagore's educational vision was based on India's traditional philosophy of harmony and fullness. It focused on self-realization within the context (...) of international education. This article compares the educational visions of Dewey and Tagore and demonstrates that Tagore's international educational perspective adds to Dewey's concepts of social individual and democracy and that their perspectives have implications for contemporary education. (shrink)

The end of the Cold War encourages new perspectives on international relations. Beer and Hariman provide a comprehensive set of essays that challenge and reinterpret the tradition of realism which has dominated the thinking of academics and foreign policy makers. Post-Realism: The Rhetorical Turn in International Relations systematically discusses the major realist writers of the Post-War era, the foundational concepts of international politics, and representative case studies of foreign policy discourse. These essays demonstrate how realism operates rhetorically and point the (...) way toward a richer understanding of world politics. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Christians and Buddhists: Together in HopeCardinal Francis ArinzeDear Buddhist Friends,1. On the occasion of Vesakh, which celebrates important events in the life of Buddha, I wish to express to you, in my capacity as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the best wishes of Catholics throughout the world.2. I am happy to say that ongoing dialogue between Buddhists and Christians is distinguished by efforts to meet (...) at the level of religious experience. Both Buddhism and Christianity emphasize the “contemplative dimension” in their practice of religion. Since 1979, through the “Intermonastic Spiritual Exchange” and the “Monastic Hospitality Programme,” Buddhists and Christians who are committed to a contemplative life through their respective monastic disciplines have engaged in encounters where in-depth dialogue is possible. This effort is truly commendable.3. It is hope of new life that has been at the source of our dialogue, although our understanding of this new life differs. For us Christians, the new life is to be sought and found only in Jesus Christ. Jesus indicated the way when he said: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). He taught us not only not to engage in revenge, but to defeat evil with good. He said: “You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right creek, offer him the other as well” (Matthew 5:38–39). This makes me think of Ven. Maha Ghosananda’s rendering of one of the teachings of Buddha: “When we are wronged, we must set aside all resentment and say, ‘My mind will not be disturbed. Not one angry word will escape from my lips; I will remain kind and friendly, with loving thoughts and no secret malice.’”4. Hope rescues us from discouragement. We are enabled to begin anew by perceiving around us numerous “signs of hope”: the growing solidarity among people in our time, especially with the poor and destitute, the desire for justice and peace, voluntary service, the return of the search for transcendence, an awareness of human dignity and of the rights that flow from it, attention to the environment, and so on. I wish to mention here a particular sign of hope, which Pope John Paul II has underlined—namely, interreligious dialogue.5. People of hope are, at the same time, realists who do not close their eyes to reality with all its positive and negative aspects. We cannot turn a blind eye to the [End Page 199] dramatic crises of our world: the wars between different countries, civil wars, terrorism in all its forms, injustice that is forever widening the gap between rich and poor, hunger, the lack of shelter, unemployment—especially among the youth, globalization without solidarity, the heavy burden of external debt, the problem of drugs, immorality, abortion. The list could be extended. Nevertheless, the small lamp of hope must always remain alight, shining on the paths leading humanity to a better future.6. We Christians and Buddhists, embarked on our respective spiritual paths, can work together to give increased hope to humanity. Yet first we must accept our differences and show each other mutual respect and true love. This will render us more credible, and we shall be for humanity a further sign of hope in addition to those that exist already.7. It is in this spirit that I convey to you once again, dear Buddhist friends, my best wishes for the feast of Vesakh.Cardinal Francis ArinzePontifical Council for Interreligious DialogueCopyright © 1999 The University of Hawai’i Press... (shrink)