The postmodernist view, with its emphasis on the nature of discursive practices in constructing subjectivity and reality, has found many applications. This book develops a critically informed psychoanalytic semiotic view derived from Lacan, and applies it to the study of law. It also integrates some of the central concepts of chaos theory in describing how the legal text is constructed and how it may be read. Postmodern feminist analyses focusing on a possible ecriture feminine provide key insights, and the notion (...) of an empowered democracy is offered as a potentially generating milieu for a revolutionary replacement discourse. (shrink)

La philosophie française actuelle se réduit souvent à de l’historiographie ou à de l’exégèse de textes, s’exposant ainsi au reproche de stérilité. Certes, la philosophie ne doit pas céder à une telle tendance sous peine de se discréditer ou de disparaître. Cependant, à l’inverse, l’histoire de la théorie et l’exégèse sont nécessaires à la théorie non seulement pour produire de nouvelles hypothèses mais aussi pour les justifier, ceci étant vrai pour toutes les disciplines scientifiques.

L’article tente de saisir le rapport entre exégèse, rhétorique et philosophie dans les textes de Philon à partir d’un angle particulier : l’usage philonien croisé des images bibliques et du rôle spécifique assigné à l’image dans la pensée hellénique. S’il y a chez l’Alexandrin une réflexion sur les vertus du langage déployée entre l’exégèse des textes bibliques et le recours constant aux modèles théoriques de la philosophie, cette réflexion vise explicitement à établir une science, la théologie rationnelle, légitimée par sa (...) fondation sur la lettre biblique et validée en même temps par une démarche et un lexique spécifiquement philosophiques. Or la pratique des images s’inscrit dans cette tentative philonienne de fonder la réflexion théologique sur les rapports de la langue avec les facultés sensibles et intellectives, depuis les figures et les concepts avec lesquels travaille le langage philosophique jusqu’à l’établissement d’un savoir à partir du paradigme des vertus épiphaniques dont la lettre biblique est pourvue. (shrink)

De 1903 à 1905, une discussion serrée s'engage entre Loisy, Blondel, Hügel. C'est le philosophe d'Aix qui focalise le débat sur la christologie en soulevant la question de la science et de la conscience du Christ. Il le fait dans la perspective de son « panchristisme » qui le rend peu sensible au Jésus de l'Histoire et à la lecture littérale des Evangiles. Il s'oppose ainsi à l'exégèse de Loisy, soupçonnant chez lui une position doctrinale qui va plus loin qu'une (...) réserve purement méthodologique.Ce débat a l'intérêt d'avoir été largement interdisciplinaire en mettant en œuvre l'exégèse, l'histoire, la philosophie et la théologie. S'il a été troublé par les urgences de la crise moderniste, il a permis d'entrevoir la nécessité et la difficulté d'un travail épistémologique pour articuler les divers savoirs dans le respect de leurs méthodes respectives.From 1903 to 1905, a lively debate was had between Loisy, Blondel, and Hügel. The philosopher of Aix focused the debate on Christology by raising the question of the knowledge and consciousness of Christ. He did it in the perspective of his panchristianism which rendered him insensitive to the Jesus of History and a literal reading of the Gospels. Thus he was against Loisy's exegesis, suspecting that he had a doctrinal position that went farther than a purely methodological reticence.The debate was interesting in so far as it was interdisciplinary, making use of exegesis, history, philosophy and theology. If it was troubled by the urgency of the modernist crisis, it gave an opening to the need and difficulty of working on an epistemology to articulate different disciplines with respect for their varied methods. (shrink)

Neoplatonic Exegeses of Plato's Cosmogony JOHN F. PHILLIPS AMONG THE MANY CONTROVERSIES to which the long history of interpretation of Plato's Timaeus has given rise, that concerning the eternity of the cosmos is one of the most enduring and complex, and the source of almost continuous debate from the time of Xenocrates to the present. The importance to all Platonists of a doctrinally consistent answer to the question of whether or not the universe had a beginning in time is (...) made amply clear in the statement attributed to Iamblichus by Proclus that proper understand- ing of the creation of the world is crucial for the entire theory of Nature. Iamblichus here refers obliquely to the orthodox Platonist position that the universe is not a temporal being subject to decay and destruction. The princi- pal problem for all of them, of course, was that, taken literally, Plato's account of the creation in the Timaeus, particularly the passage 27C-a8C, appears to be an unequivocal affirmation of a temporal beginning to the cosmos. Espe- cially troublesome was Plato's use of the verb y~yovev in Timaeus 28b 7, which seems to be an explicit claim for an &QX1] in time. That this passage did indeed refer to a temporal beginning was a point that was made repeatedly and forcefully by the chief opponents of the Platonists on this issue, the Peripa- tetics, who, following Aristotle, read the Timaeus creation account literally.' To.. (shrink)

The Dialectical Forge identifies dialectical disputation as a primary formative dynamic in the evolution of pre-modern Islamic legal systems, promoting dialectic from relative obscurity to a more appropriate position at the forefront of Islamic legal studies. The author introduces and develops a dialectics-based analytical method for the study of pre-modern Islamic legal argumentation, examines parallels and divergences between Aristotelian dialectic and early juridical jadal-theory, and proposes a multi-component paradigm—the Dialectical Forge Model—to account for the power of jadal in shaping Islamic (...) law and legal theory.In addition to overviews of current evolutionary narratives for Islamic legal theory and dialectic, and expositions on key texts, this work shines an analytical light upon the considerably sophisticated “proto-system” of juridical dialectical teaching and practice evident in Islam’s second century, several generations before the first “full-system” treatises of legal and dialectical theory were composed. This proto-system is revealed from analyses of dialectical sequences in the 2nd/8th century Kitāb Ikhtilāf al-ʿIrāqiyyīn / ʿIrāqiyyayn through a lens molded from 5th/11th century jadal-theory treatises. Specific features thus uncovered inform the elaboration of a Dialectical Forge Model, whose more general components and functions are explored in closing chapters. (shrink)

Criticisms of the ethical justification of antidoping legislation are not uncommon in the literatures of medical ethics, sports ethics and sports medicine. Critics of antidoping point to inconsistencies of principle in the application of legislation and the unjustifiability of ethical postures enshrined in the World Anti-Doping Code, a new version of which came into effect in January 2009. This article explores the arguments concerning the apparent legal peculiarities of antidoping legislation and their ethically salient features in terms of: notions of (...) culpability, liability and guilt; aspects of potential duplication of punishments and the limitations of athlete privacy in antidoping practice and policy. It is noted that tensions still exist between legal and ethical principles and norms that require further critical attention. (shrink)

Unlimited growth — an uncontested economic “dogma” — is showing to be a vital threat for the Earth’s ecosystems, as well as for human civilization. A global collapse is a dreadful possibility within the century : we are relentlessly given warning signs of systemic degradation. Humans cannot live and prosper pretending to remain “outside” of nature’s realm and unfettered by nature’s laws. The human project is bound to the Earth’s vitality. Such is the global context that conditions any intellectual pursuit, (...) even more, the quest for meaning by Christian believers. This essay calls for a radical reassessment of the exegetical and the theological task. New creative ways of engaging the biblical heritage and a thorough questioning of our deadly lifestyle are some of the challenges we face, in view of an impending global collapse. (shrink)

In this paper, I explore Kant’s discussion of juridical and ethical laws in the introduction to the Metaphysics of Morals as a whole. Following Marcus Willaschek and early Allen Wood, I pose a dilemma for Kant that I call “the paradox of juridical imperatives”, a dilemma that Willaschek and Wood hold Kant can only avoid by giving up his claim that juridical laws are categorical imperatives. I show how a set of interpretative issues concerning juridical incentives, the content of juridical (...) laws, and the idea of an “indirect” ethical obligations, hang together, and must solved simultaneously in order to address the paradox. I argue, contra Willaschek and Wood, that we can dissolve the paradox, solving the network of issues satisfactorily and affirming the status of juridical laws as categorical imperatives, once we recognize that one can go wrong with respect to a principle while fulfilling the letter of its requirements. The picture that emerges is one on which we can straightforwardly affirm Recht as a moral concept for Kant, while simultaneously representing its distinctive character in his system of morality. (shrink)

No tratado 10 (V 1), 8, ao examinar a questão da constituição das hipóstases inteligíveis, Plotino observa que tais teses não são novas, mas há muito enunciadas pelos filósofos anteriores e notadamente por Platão. De tal modo, sua investigação acerta de tais temas constitui-se como uma exegese dos antigos e dos diálogos platônicos. No início da interrogação acerca da eternidade e do tempo no tratado 45 (III 7), Plotino observa a necessidade de examinar o que os antigos filósofos disseram acerca (...) da temática investigada, propondo um exame doxográfico a fim de que se possa obter “por si mesmo” uma compreensão adequada sobre o tempo a partir de seu paradigma, a eternidade. Nesse sentido, nossa proposta é de elaborar uma breve investigação acerca da possibilidade de articulação desses dois textos plotinianos por meio de alguns elementos presentes no tratado 20 (I 3), Sobre a dialética. De tal modo, pretende-se obter uma aproximação de alguns procedimentos metodológicos do pensamento de Plotino. Palavras-chave: Exegese, Dialética, Método Filosófico, Leitura dos Antigos, Plotino. (shrink)

Fílon de Alexandria é mencionado frequentemente como exemplo de exegeta que adotava o método da interpretação alegórica. Por vezes, entende-se, de modo pré-concebido, que sua hermenêutica é imaginativa, descuidada e pouco responsável. Neste artigo, a partir de uma pesquisa bibliográfica abrangente e estudo de fontes primárias em suas línguas originais, apresento o alexandrino como um exegeta inserido em seu tempo, dotado de recursos, que observava parâmetros. Além de uma apresentação inicial, abordo detidamente um caso específico: a identificação que Fílon faz (...) entre Noé e Deucalião em Sobre Penas e Recompensas 23. Meu objetivo é compreender como esse procedimento, que é incomum, uma vez que o alexandrino evita recorrer à mitologia comparada, se insere no corpus filoninano. Demonstro que é razoável que não se trate de uma intencional associação entre mitos, mas entre personagens históricos. O trecho não deixa de ser atípico, especialmente quando visto de nossa perspectiva, mas é coerente com a estratégia do exegeta de Alexandria, quando visto a partir da perspectiva dele. (shrink)

Kant’s essay ‘On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy’ claims that everyone has an unconditional duty of right not to lie under any circumstances. This claim creates a conflict within the doctrine of right because Kant also claims that each of us is under an unconditional duty of right to obey the positive law in force in the civil condition in all circumstances. In Kant’s specific example, truthfulness would violate the positive law because it would make the speaker an (...) accomplice to a crime. Since both duties flow from the requirement that we not act inconsistently with the possibility of rightful relations among humans, a juridical solution to the conflict must be possible. That solution is to recognize that lying in appropriate circumstances is akin to the use of force in self-defence or defence of a third party. (shrink)

The idea of empowerment has gained a significant role in the discourse of poverty. I outline a restricted conception of empowerment inspired by Kant’s idea of rightful honour. According to this conception, empowerment consists in enabling individuals to assert their own human rights (juridical empowerment). I apply this conception to impoverished persons and argue that it is crucial to their self-respect, their so-called ‘power-[from-]within,’ and their political agency, and has a teleological primacy regarding our efforts to reduce poverty. I also (...) defend the idea that there is a moral right to this form of empowerment and a corresponding duty to empower the impoverished as rights-asserters. Juridical empowerment will be compatible with a pluralism of substantive accounts of the moral wrongs of poverty and with broader conceptions of empowerment. (shrink)

In this essay I recover the juridical applications of `interest' in Roman law, and examine how their initial relationship to financial practices shifted, for a theoretical appreciation of interest-related subjectivity. Drawing on Hegel's discussion of Roman law, I explore the retrospective narrative of subjectivity constructed by the adjudication of interests before the term `interest' came to apply to money. Examining Albert Hirschman's argument that rationality of interest derives from its origins as a euphemism for usury, I describe how the verbal (...) change reflects the incursion of money into legal terrain that previously excluded it, representing a moment of categorical erosion within the law. I argue that monetary inflation is a critical context for interpreting the effects of this categorical erosion on interest-related subjectivity. Inflation replaces the retrospective narrative of identity with one that is future-oriented and is no longer determined at any single site of adjudication, and therefore remains contested. (shrink)

A análise literária do Sl 117, a menor unidade do saltério hebraico, revela um conteúdo teológico-espiritual de caráter messiânico de relevância e atualidade para o cristianismo e o judaísmo. O estudo do texto hebraico em sua forma final – sem excluir, contudo, informações de índole diacrônica – apresenta sob a forma típica da poética hebraica elementos que ressaltam as características do louvor a Deus. O salmo propõe uma relação espiritual “carinhosa” no louvor para com o Deus de Israel; fornece explicitamente (...) as motivações deste elogio que se fundamenta na anamnese da misericórdia divina para com o homem; assim como na recordação da fidelidade à aliança de Javé com o Antigo Israel. (shrink)

Le présent article expose dans un premier temps deux ouvrages d'exégèse consacrés au thème de la Loi: celui édité par C. Focant, La loi dans l'un et l'autre testament et celui de P. Beauchamp, D'une montagne à l'autre. La loi de Dieu. Sur base de cette présentation, il engage une réflexion sur les relations existantes et celles à établir entre l'Écriture et la morale et se poursuit par la problématique des rapports entre autonomie et théonomie. Il se termine en invitant (...) exégètes et moralistes à un travail en commun plus intense qui permettrait notamment de développer la dimension herméneutique de la théologie morale et de déterminer, en ce sens, en quoi la Bible se présente comme un monde. (shrink)

Cet article a pour objet l’étude des commentaires médiévaux de l’épître à Philémon. Après avoir examiné la place de l’épître dans les bibles médiévales, avec ses prologues et ses divisions, puis la traduction latine de la Vulgate et l’histoire du texte, à travers surtout les notes critiques des correctoires, on envisage les prologues des commentaires puis les techniques d’exégèse : divisio textus, étude sémantique, analyse rhétorique, distinctiones et quaestiones. L’étude thématique se limite aux éléments historiques et au traitement du problème (...) de l’esclavage. En annexe, on trouvera la liste des commentaires utilisés, les textes des correctoires sur Philémon et les textes des prologues. (shrink)

O objetivo do artigo consiste em analisar, a partir dos parágrafos 34 a 38 da obra Kant e o problema da metafísica e segundo a exegese heideggeriana, o sentido e pertinência da inserção da problemática antropológica anteposta às três questões fundamentais expostas na Crítica da razão pura. Heidegger converte um rol exaustivo, delimitado pelas três perguntas, em um rol exemplificado, ao colocar a indagação da antropologia filosófica como pressuposto e consequência necessária das três interrogações kantianas. Heidegger recorre ao conceito de (...) finitude, para validar a importância e para fundamentar a primazia da questão antropológica sobre as demais: a interrogação “que é o homem” transforma-se na primeira que dispensa, a partir de si, as três restantes. Na finitude estão circunscritas as discussões sobre o tempo, a autoafecção pura, a imaginação e o tempo originário. É na finitude que estão os verdadeiros sinais ou ecos da antropologia filosófica kantiana. (shrink)

In his ‘On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy’ Kant makes the astonishing claim that one is not entitled to lie even to save a friend from a murderer. This claim has been an embarrassment for Kant's defenders and an indication of Kant's excessive rigour for his detractors. Responses to SRL fall into three main groups. The first of these groups, that of Kant's critics, claim that SRL demonstrates that Kant's ethical views are so rigorous that they become abhorrent (...) in practice. The second group, Kant's defenders, argues that Kant's conclusions in SRL do not follow from his own ethical principles. The third group, made up of scholars who are generally sympathetic to Kant's position, attempts to explain why a liar is responsible for all the bad consequences that follow from his act by providing an account of Kant's theory of imputation. (shrink)

Même s’ils ne sont pas volumineux, les commentaires de l’Ecriture tiennent une place essentielle dans la pratique théologique de S. Thomas. Après avoir rappelé ses clés de lecture et d’interprétation du texte biblique selon les coutumes et traditions de son temps, G. Berceville en vient, à propos du texte crucial de Rm 7,14-25 au « je » du discours de Paul tel que le perçoit S. Thomas. Tout en tenant compte de ce qu’en avaient dit les « Autorités », S. (...) Thomas n’en marquait pas moins ses « préférences » : ce texte, sur le bien difficile à faire et le mal qui se présente au « je », s’applique aussi bien au juste qu’au pécheur. En contrepoint, la lecture de Luther, en réaction contre le naturalisme de la Renaissance, se trouve au terme d’une transformation radicale de la raison et de la philosophie. Cette « lecture » dit à la fois l’étrangeté aujourd’hui de l’exégèse de Thomas et la sensibilité Luther à la dimension historique de l’homme, ce qui structure son « anthropologie théologique ». La question est posée : est-il possible aujourd’hui de se mettre à l’école de Thomas le contemplatif sans rien perdre de l’attention inquiète que notre modernité porte à l’histoire où Dieu vient et fait grâce ?Although they are not voluminous, St. Thomas’s commentaries on Scripture are essential to his practical theology. After recalling the keys to reading and interpreting Biblical texts according to the customs and traditions of his time, G. Berceville arrives at St. Thomas’ interpretation of the “I” in the discourse of St. Paul in the crucial text of Rm 7, 14-25. While taking into account what the “Authorities had said,” St. Thomas nevertheless pointed out his “preferences.” This text, concerning the good which is difficult to do and the evil that presents itself to the “I”, can be applied to the just man as well as to the sinner. In contrast, Luther’s reading – a reaction against the naturalism of the Renaissance – came at the end of a radical transformation of reason and philosophy. This “reading” reveals both the strangeness of Thomas’ exegesis today, and Luther’s sensitivity to the historical dimension of man, which structures his “theological anthropology.” It also raises the question: Is it possible today to follow the school of Thomas the contemplative without losing the uneasy attention our modernity brings to history which God enters and saves? (shrink)

L’article propose d’examiner un cas particulier du rapport entre la métaphysique médio-platonicienne et la doctrine chrétienne de la moitié du ii e siècle, en mettant en rapport trois auteurs appartenant à la même génération : Atticus, Justin et Valentin. Atticus est auteur d’une interprétation singulière du Timée 39e7-9, selon laquelle le Modèle intelligible, dont le Démiurge use pour former le monde, est situé en dehors et au-dessous du Démiurge. Cette disposition, critiquée et abandonnée par les néoplatoniciens, semble cependant connaître un (...) certain succès chez les chrétiens, cherchant à décrire le rapport entre le Dieu Créateur et son Logos-Fils. En ajoutant abondamment des expressions bibliques au vocabulaire platonicien, Justin et Valentin – chacun à sa façon – montrent que l’inspiration platonicienne dans la théologie chrétienne peut se faire de manière très subtile et très variée. (shrink)

In “Elementa Juris Naturalis” (1671) G.W. Leibniz formulated the genius intuition about the fundamental unity of juridical and Aristotelian modalities. Interpreting and explicating this intuition by virtue of the deontic logic G.W. Wright arrived to the conclusion that the unity of modalities in question is not an equivalence relation but an analogy one. However a complement for G.W. Wright’s explication of the intuition of G.W. Leibniz was submitted. This complement was a two-valued algebra of formal-natural-law philosophy of juridical and Aristotelian (...) modalities as moral-legal evaluation-functions determined by one variable. In thepresent paper I submit a binary generalization of the mentioned unary complement. By virtue of this generalization some significant shortcomings of the complement in question are eliminated. The generalization deals with the modalities as moral-legal evaluation-functions determined by two variables. (shrink)

This book puts forward a new theoretical concept of the juridical act, this concept is not described from the perspective of a specific national legal system, but instead represents the commonalities and ideas that stem from the Western legal tradition. Since the concept is system-independent, it does not rely on national or state laws. The book begins by detailing those characteristics that distinguish juridical acts from the general group of acts. It offers clear distinctions between the different aspects of juridical (...) acts, such as the power and the competence needed in order to perform the act, the fact that juridical acts are constitutive speech acts, and the rules that connect the act with its consequences. In the process, the book dispels much of the haziness currently surrounding juridical acts. Developed with a mix of theory and practice, this new concept is better equipped to deal with modern trends and practices. Further, since the author has freed the idea of the juridical act from the bonds of history and geography, it is also more suited to facilitating a better understanding of and explaining changes in the legal landscape, such as the rise of computer technology. Accordingly, it offers scholars and practitioners alike a valuable new tool for explaining and theorizing about the law. (shrink)

This book proposes a new approach to the question of the juridical domain of natural law with reference to the classical tools of Thomistic formulation. This book adds something new to the intersection between the normative status of natural law and the essence of the juridical domain.

Le commentaire continu d’Alexandre d’Aphrodise sur le livre Lambda de la Métaphysique d’Aristote était déjà perdu au XIIe siècle. Néanmoins, il exerçait toujours une influence par l’entremise du commentaire d’Averroès et de deux autres textes d’Alexandre: le traité Sur les principes de l’univers et la Quaestio I.1. Le présent article montre que ces deux derniers textes renferment chacun une section qui s’appuie sur Métaphysique Lambda, chapitres 6 et suiv., ce qui confirme le fait, ayant été établi ailleurs, que tous les (...) textes d’Alexandre revêtent un caractère exégétique et prennent pour base les textes d’Aristote. Qui plus est, une comparaison entre le texte du chapitre Lambda et l’interprétation alexandriste permet d’apercevoir l’apport distinctif d’Alexandre à ce que la tradition a reçu comme la théologie d’Aristote. Entre autres choses, nous devons à Alexandre, ou à ses sources proches, l’idée que les cieux, étant animés, se meuvent en cercle parce qu’ils désirent imiter la parfaite quiétude du Premier Moteur. Nous devons également à Alexandre une mise en rapport détaillée de la théorie du livre Lambda avec les analyses du chapitre 8 de la Physique. (shrink)

The main exegetical work of Jean Philopon, the De opificio mundi, which rehearses the literalist reading of Genesis found in the Basil of Caesarea’s Hexaemeron rather than an allegorical reading, uses a surprising hermeneutic given the general expectations of the era and in particular the Miaphysite milieu to which Philoponus belongs. This paper studies how Philoponus’ work stems from the demands of the Christological debate in which he took part, and offers an evaluation of its immediate aftermath.

I. Constructive essays.--II. Critical essays.--III. Studies in Chinese law.--IV. Discussions and collaborations of the author's views.