RESENHA: CAMAROTTI, Gerson. Segredos do Conclave: os bastidores da eleição do papa Francisco e a operação do Vaticano para estancar a hemorragia de fiéis na América Latina. 1ª ed. São Paulo: Geração Editorial, 2013.

Pensar a técnica e a tecnologia com Álvaro Vieira Pinto: contribuições para o ensino da filosofia no ensino médio profissional Resumo: Este artigo apresenta uma análise do processo de fabricação dos conceitos relacionados à técnica e à tecnologia na obra “O conceito de Tecnologia” (Vol. 1) de Álvaro Vieira Pinto. Primeiramente aborda-se os conceitos de máquina e de técnica e o modo como esses conceitos se conectam com o problema do “desenvolvimento” nacional. Em seguida explora-se o problema da ideologização da (...) noção de “era tecnológica” e a relação do conceito de tecnologia com a ideologia dominante. Por fim a partir da metodologia do ensino de filosofia por problemas, propõe caminhos possíveis para a introdução do ensino da filosofia da técnica e da filosofia da tecnologia no ensino médio profissional. Palavras-chave: Álvaro Vieira Pinto; Filosofia da Tecnologia; Ensino Médio Profissional; Filosofia Brasileira. Thinking about technique and technology with Álvaro Vieira Pinto: contributions to the teaching of philosophy in Technical High School Abstract: This paper analyzes the conceptualization of techcnique and technology in the book “The Concept of Technology” (Vol.1) of Álvaro Vieira Pinto. The first section focus on the concepts of machine and technique and the connections with the “national developlment problem” in Vieira Pinto work. Then the text explores the ideological treatment of the concept of “Technological Era” and the relationship between technology and dominant ideology. In the end, guided by the methodology of teaching philosophy through problems, the last section proposes some paths to introduce the philosophy of technique and techonology in the practice of teaching Philosophy in the Technical High School. Key-words: Álvaro Vieira Pinto; Philosophy of Technology; Technical High School; Brazilian Philosophy. Penser la technique et la technologie avec Álvaro Vieira Pinto : contributions à l'enseignement de la philosophie dans l'enseignement technique secondaire Résumé: Cet article présente une analyse de les méthodes de fabrication de concepts liés à la technique et à la technologie dans l'ouvrage « Le concept de la Technologie » (Vol. 1) d'Álvaro Vieira Pinto. D’abord, les concepts de machine et de technique sont discutés, ainsi que la manière dont ces concepts sont liés au problème du « développement national». Ensuite, les problèmes de l'idéologisation de la notion d'« âge technologique » et de la relation du concept de technologie avec l'idéologie dominante sont explorés. Enfin, à partir de la méthodologie de l'enseignement de la philosophie par problèmes, on propose des pistes possibles pour introduire la philosophie de la technique et la philosophie de la technologie dans l'enseignement secondaire technique. Mots-clés: Álvaro Vieira Pinto; Philosophie de la Technologie; Enseignement Secondaire Technique; Philosophie Brésilienne. Data de registro: 13/10/2021 Data de aceite: 15/03/2022. (shrink)

En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar el carácter “por naturaleza” que Aristóteles le atribuye a la politicidad humana. Comenzaremos dicho examen atendiendo, en primer lugar, a una reconstrucción y explicación de las descripciones y argumentos que va ofreciendo Aristóteles acerca de la génesis de la polis y del hombre como “animal político” “por naturaleza”, a lo largo de los dos primeros capítulos del libro I de la Política, junto con algunos pasajes pertenecientes al libro III. Procuraremos, en segundo lugar, relevar (...) algunos de los presupuestos metafísicos y físicos que operan a la base del carácter “por naturaleza” asignado a lo político, a fin de dilucidar en qué consiste –dentro de la concepción aristotélica presentada en la Política– tal carácter. Por último, pondremos de relieve la colaboración recíproca que establece Aristóteles entre la tendencia “natural” del hombre a la politicidad y la voluntad humana del fundador de la polis. (shrink)

La frase del poeta inglés Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “todos los hombres nacen aristotélicos o platónicos”, traída a colación por Borges en diversas ocasiones, es harto conocida y citada. Pero lo que a mi modo de ver no ha sido tan explorado es el sentido que la disyunción implicada en dicha frase asume en la obra borgeana. Analizar cómo juega en ella tal disyunción entre Platón y Aristóteles, a la luz de las referencias que Borges hace de ellos a lo largo (...) de su obra, es el propósito de este trabajo. Para ello me interesa relevar algunos motivos platónicos y aristotélicos empleados por aquel en función de su universo ficcional, a fin de evaluar el sentido y alcance de dicha disyunción. Mi hipótesis es que ella asume en la obra de Borges un sentido débil e incluyente, que posiciona a este autor en una vía entre Platón y Aristóteles. (shrink)

The Platonic reevaluation of traditional poetry in positive terms that we read in the Phaedrus, in as much as it is conceived therein as a valuable educational resource for posterity, does not strictly imply anything new in the Platonic corpus, but rather a systemization and complementation of a set of ideas about the origin and function of poetry that Plato had already shared in some of his early, transitional and late dialogues. From this broad set of ideas, I am interested (...) in this study in concentrating especially on a series of passages taken from the Symposium, in order to compile two lines of analysis in this paradigmatic late dialogue which, I understand, constitute a clear precedent for the positive conception that Plato finally assumes about traditional poetry in the Phaedrus. (shrink)

En este trabajo me interesa abordar la figura del poeta legislador Solón, a fin de examinar la influencia que sus escritos pudieron haber ejercido sobre la concepción de la poesía forjada por Platón en _Leyes_. No se trata tanto de la poesía de Solón en sí misma como de lo que Platón supo leer en ella en términos de posibilidad para la conformación de un nuevo linaje poético. Partiendo de un breve examen de la figura de Solón y de algunos (...) de sus escritos, procuro dar cuenta de la influencia que aquel célebre legislador pudo haber ejercido sobre la figura platónica del poeta legislador. (shrink)

Platón procura establecer en el Fedro una estrecha vinculación entre la poesía y el ámbito eidético propio del saber filosófico, o al que accede el filósofo mediante una ejercitada captación sinóptico-dialéctica. Tal tipo de poesía filosófica aparece ilustrada a la perfección en la propia palinodia socrática, la cual erige a Sócrates – y en última instancia a Platón – como paradigma de filósofo poeta, palinodia que ha sido obligada a pronunciarse “con ciertos términos poéticos”. Partiendo de esa palinodia como modelo, (...) Platón se propone abordar el tema del éros con discursos filosóficos que se nutran de términos poéticos, o sea, a través de una explícita mixtura de elementos filosóficos y poéticos, cuyo ejemplo más claro es el Fedro en su conjunto, o, en términos más generales, el género dialógico platónico en tanto este pone en escena una interacción entre los registros filosófico y poético. Teniendo en cuenta esta relación de compatibilidad que Platón establece en el Fedro entre su paradigma poético-filosófico y el de tipo tradicional – paradigmas que en los libros II, III y X de la República aparecían claramente en tensión –, en este artículo me interesa apoyar tal relación en la anécdota del sueño relatada por Sócrates al comienzo del Fedón, en la cual el filósofo confiesa ante Simmias y Cebes haber compuesto desde su encierro en la cárcel – ya que anteriormente jamás lo había hecho – poemas basados en la versificación o musicalización de las fábulas de Esopo y un himno a Apolo. (shrink)

The týpos of alternative poetry that Plato starts to delineate in the last part of Republic II can be reduced to two general norms (nómoi) that aim to regulate the treatment of religious aspects in poetic narrations and at the same time establish the bases of a non-anthropomorphic theology that inst..

Este trabalho analisa a estrutura do romance Como se estivéssemos em palimpsesto de putas, de Elvira Vigna como também, as relações sexistas às quais as personagens estão submetidas. Retratados por meio de uma narradora não revelada, estratégia estética realçadora da invisibilização da mulher dentro da sociedade, os causos de João, um profissional cujo único prazer é o sexo com garotas de programa, servem de retrato da construção da masculinidade e da dimensão patriarcal. Utilizando-se do artifício do palimpsesto como crítica ao (...) patriarcado, o seguinte trabalho denuncia, a partir das leituras de textos de Monique Wittig e Gerda Lerner, como as diversas expressões do machismo se comportam através das sobreposições de vozes que emergem da narrativa.Palavras-chave: Elvira Vigna. Palimpsesto. Patriarcado. Crítica Feminista. Memória. AbstractThis article analyzes the structure of Elvira Vigna’s novel Como se estivéssemos em palimpsesto de putas as well as the sexist relations to which the characters are submitted. Portrayed through an undisclosed female narrator, an aesthetic strategy that enhances the invisibility of women within society, the stories of João, a professional whose only pleasure is having sex with prostitutes, serve as a portrait of the construction of masculinity and the patriarchal dimension. Using the palimpsest as a criticism for patriarchy, Vigna’s work denounces, from the readings of texts by Monique Wittig and Gerda Lerner, the various expressions of sexism behavior through the overlapping voices that emerge from the narrative.Keywords: Elvira Vigna. Palimpsest. Patriarchy. Feminist Critique. Memory. (shrink)

En este artículo me interesa sostener que en la República la posibilidad de una buena koinōnía se ve obstaculizada por la potencia emocional y perversión psicológica de la poesía mimético-placentera, la cual estimula y fortalece la parte irracional del alma de sus receptores mediante la imitación de personajes ligados al deseo y la ira. Para tal fin examino, en primer lugar, algunos de los pasajes de República IV en los que es posible suscribir la prioridad que tiene la tripartición psíquica (...) por sobre la tripartición política. En segundo lugar, señalo algunos de los rasgos centrales de la crítica psicológica de la poesía mimético-placentera en República X. (shrink)

In Republic 436a-c Plato introduces, for the first time, the problematic postulate of the tripartition of the species-functions of the soul to pass on to justify it by starting from the so-called “Principle of conflict” or “of the impossibility of opposites”. To reach this point in the dialogue, we will firstly place this passage in the conceptual architecture of the work, taking the topic of stasis (sedition, revolt, civil war) as the thread for the reconstruction of the argumentative sequence that (...) leads into the psychological model of the parts in conflict. We actually start from the hypothesis that Plato gets to the tripartition of the soul from the evidence that in the psychological reality of the individual there exists a stasis that is produced in the soul due to injustice, contrasting to the concord and friendship that is a result of justice. On the basis of the psychological model of the parts in conflict, the psycho-political objective looked for in Republic, points to the achievement of the psychic unity as a condition for the political unity; since Plato’s political objective is to make citizens become better, which can only be reached through an improvement of the individual soul. Through the topic of stasis and the lexis of the conflict that derives from it, we uphold that Plato intends to prove not only the political and tripartite constitution of the soul, but first and foremost the priority that the psychic tripartition holds over the political order. (shrink)

Plato seeks to establish in _Phaedrus_ a close link between poetry and the eidetic sphere to which philosophical knowledge belongs, or which the philosopher accesses through a practiced synoptic-dialectic understanding. This type of philosophical poetry is perfectly illustrated in the Socratic palinode itself, which Socrates –and ultimately Plato – establishes as a paradigm of the poet philosopher, a palinode by necessity must be uttered “with certain poetic terms”. Working from that palinode as a model, Plato seeks to approach the subject (...) of _éros_ with philosophical discourses fed with poetical terms, that is, through an explicit blend of philosophical and poetic elements, the clearest example of which is the _Phaedrus_ as a whole, or, in more general terms, the Platonic dialogical genre in as much as this puts forward an interaction between the philosophical and poetic registers. Taking into account this relationship of compatibility that Plato establishes in _Phaedrus _between the poetic-philosophical paradigm and the traditional paradigm – which in books I, III and X of the _Republic_ clearly appeared in tension–in this paper I’m interested in supporting such a relationship in the dream anecdote as told by Socrates at the start of the _Phaedo_. In this anecdote, the philosopher confesses to Simmias and Cebes that since his time in prison, although he had never done such a thing before before, he has been composing poems based on the versification and musicalization of Aesop’s fables and a hymn to Apollo. (shrink)

resumo: Este artigo tem como foco a influência e o domínio da tecnologia no nosso mundo atual. Através de um acompanhamento da reflexão de Heidegger sobre a técnica, buscamos responder a seguinte questão: o mundo, tomado como subsistência, é ele próprio o resultado de uma visão de mundo? Para alcançar uma resposta, primeiramente interrogamos os delineamentos de mundos, a partir do tema das visões de mundo. Encontramos, assim, o tema da postura humana enquanto elemento principal. Em segundo lugar, acompanhamos a (...) crítica de Heidegger à ciência moderna e à técnica, na qual constatamos uma ambiguidade fundamental na postura da Serenidade. Diante desse contexto, a resposta para o questionamento principal é afirmativa: o mundo enquanto subsistência é o resultado de uma visão de mundo. Contudo, uma inevitável participação do homem na atividade de “armazenamento”, conduz a uma esperança de reversão no processo de dominação da técnica. abstract: This article focuses on the influence and dominance of technique in our world today. By an incursion in Heidegger’s reflection on technique, we seek to answer the following question: is the world itself, taken as subsistence, the result of a worldview? To reach an answer, first, we question the outlining of worlds from the matter of worldviews. We find thus the theme of human posture as the main element. Secondly, we follow Heidegger’s critique of modern science and technique, where we see a fundamental ambiguity in the position of Serenity. In this context, the answer to the main question is affirmative: the world as subsistence is the result of a worldview. However, an inevitable human participation in the activity of “storage” leads to a hope of reversing technique’s domination process. (shrink)

Estudo qualitativo exploratórios de literatura cientifica sobre ansiedade em estudantes brasileiros, objetivando identificar fatores relacionados ao desenvolvimento da ansiedade patológica. Os textos foram analisados e agrupados de acordo com análise de conteúdo. Entre os resultados encontramos o enfoque relacional que impacta o self e surge no contexto socioeconômico. Destacamos como agentes que contribuem para a ansiedade: exigência de responsabilidade e autonomia; preocupações com o futuro; não ter tempo para o lazer, ausência de familiares; ser mulher e ser homossexual. Concluímos que (...) o modelo de ensino praticado na universidade causa pressão psicológica pela grande diferença da experiência pedagógica no secundário. Completamos que a Universidade requer promover intervenções que visem o desenvolvimento emocional e cognitivo dos estudantes para que desenvolvam seu método de estudar mais eficiente, lidar melhor com suas dificuldades, e gerar estratégias para lidar com elas, além de organizar o planejamento tempo reservando horas para atividades de lazer e de interação social. (shrink)

Pouca atenção foi dada pelos estudiosos para a função da Palavra de Deus no relato da pesca milagrosa em Lucas, tanto em nível literário, quanto teológico. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar a perícope de Lc 5,1-11, com enfoque na Palavra de Deus, proclamada em Jesus e por ele. A metodologia utilizada foi a análise e interpretação de textos, privilegiando o método histórico-crítico e os seus elementos essenciais, além do uso de outros métodos, baseados na ciência da (...) linguagem. Pode-se dizer que a Palavra de Deus ocupa um lugar central na trama, dando cadência ao relato e elucidando o sentido teológico que Lucas pretende imprimir, o que fica evidente pelas alterações feitas pelo autor no relato original. Na perícope da pesca milagrosa, a Palavra é proclamada por Jesus em caráter performativo, faz o milagre acontecer, conduz Pedro à conversão e dá a ele uma nova missão. Na teologia de Lucas ouvimos o eco das comunidades primitivas, nascidas ao redor da Palavra do Senhor. Palavras-chave : Lucas. Pesca. Milagre. Pedro. Palavra.The scholars haven’t given too much attention to the function of the Word of God in the report of the miraculous catch of fish in Luke, at the literary and theological level. Thus, the objective of this paper was to analyze the pericope of Luke 5:1-11, with emphasis on the Word of God proclaimed in Jesus and through Him. The methodology used was the analysis and interpretation of texts, focusing on the historical-critical method and its essential elements, besides the use of other methods, based on the science of language. It’s possible to say that the Word of God occupies a central place in the plot, giving cadence to the report and elucidating the theological sense that Luke wanted to print, which is evidenced by the changes he has made in the original report. In the pericope of the miraculous catch of fish, the Word is proclaimed by Jesus in a performative way; it makes the miracle happen, leads Peter to conversion and gives him a new mission. In Luke's theology, one hears the echo of primitive communities, born around the word of the Lord. Key-words: Luke. Fishing. Miracle. Peter. Word. (shrink)

I review recent work on Phenomenal Conservatism, the position introduced by Michael Huemer according to which if it seems that P to a subject S, in the absence of defeaters S has thereby some degree of justification for believing P.

Sets are central to mathematics and its foundations, but what are they? In this book Luca Incurvati provides a detailed examination of all the major conceptions of set and discusses their virtues and shortcomings, as well as introducing the fundamentals of the alternative set theories with which these conceptions are associated. He shows that the conceptual landscape includes not only the naïve and iterative conceptions but also the limitation of size conception, the definite conception, the stratified conception and the graph (...) conception. In addition, he presents a novel, minimalist account of the iterative conception which does not require the existence of a relation of metaphysical dependence between a set and its members. His book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in logic and the philosophy of mathematics. (shrink)

In this paper we focus on transmission and failure of transmission of warrant. We identify three individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for transmission of warrant, and we show that their satisfaction grounds a number of interesting epistemic phenomena that have not been sufficiently appreciated in the literature. We then scrutinise Wright’s analysis of transmission failure and improve on extant readings of it. Nonetheless, we present a Bayesian counterexample that shows that Wright’s analysis is partially incoherent with our analysis of (...) warrant transmission and prima facie defective. We conclude exploring three alternative lines of reply: developing a more satisfactory account of transmission failure, which we outline; dismissing the Bayesian counterexample by rejecting some of its assumptions; reinterpreting Wright’s analysis to make it immune to the counterexample. (shrink)

Phenomenal conservatism (PC) is the internalist view that non-inferential justification rests on appearances. PC’s advocates have recently argued that seemings are also required to explain inferential justification. The most general and developed view to this effect is Huemer (2016)’s theory of inferential seemings (ToIS). Moretti (2018) has shown that PC is affected by the problem of reflective awareness, which makes PC open to sceptical challenges. In this paper I argue that ToIS is afflicted by a version of the same problem (...) and it is thus hostage to inferential scepticism. I also suggest a possible response on behalf of ToIS’s advocates. (shrink)

Climate change involves changes in the climate system caused by polluting human activities and the social and natural effects of these changes. The historical and anthropogenic grounds of climate change play an important role in climate justice claims. Many climate justice scholars believe that principles of climate justice should account for the historical and anthropogenic sources of climate change. Two main backward-looking principles have been proposed: the polluter pays principle (PPP) and the beneficiary pays principle (BPP). The BPP emerged in (...) the literature on climate justice in response to certain objections raised against the PPP. In this paper, I focus on two of these objections: the causation objection and the excusable ignorance objection. Defenders of the BPP have traditionally assumed that this principle is not vulnerable to those objections, which renders the BPP superior to the PPP. In this paper, I challenge this underlying assumption. My argument here is simple: moving from the PPP to the BPP in response to any of these objections might be unjustified because the BPP is affected by at least some of the considerations giving rise to these objections. (shrink)

Este livro apresenta Comte e seu Positivismo em linguagem clara e despretensiosa, pois é de alguém que conhece o que está escrevendo. A vida, a obra, a religião, a difusão e a irradiação do Positivismo no RS e no Brasil, e mais a educação e arte positivista em Porto Alegre são temas desenvolvidos com maestria por Mozart Pereira Soares.

Crispin Wright maintains that the architecture of perceptual justification is such that we can acquire justification for our perceptual beliefs only if we have antecedent justification for ruling out any sceptical alternative. Wright contends that this principle doesn’t elicit scepticism, for we are non-evidentially entitled to accept the negation of any sceptical alternative. Sebastiano Moruzzi has challenged Wright’s contention by arguing that since our non-evidential entitlements don’t remove the epistemic risk of our perceptual beliefs, they don’t actually enable us to (...) acquire justification for these beliefs. In this paper I show that Wright’s responses to Moruzzi are ineffective and that Moruzzi’s argument is validated by probabilistic reasoning. I also suggest that Wright cannot answer Moruzzi’s challenge without weakening the support available for his conception of the architecture of perceptual justification. (shrink)

The Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) states that polluters should bear the burdens as- sociated with their pollution. This principle has been highly contested because of the pu- tative impossibility of considering individuals morally responsible for an important amount of their emissions. For the PPP faces the so-called excusable ignorance objec- tion, which states that polluters were for a long time non-negligently ignorant about the negative consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and, thus, cannot be considered morally responsible for their negative consequences. (...) This paper focuses on the concept of moral responsibility as it appears in the excusable ignorance objection. I claim that this objection stems from a narrow notion of moral responsibility and that a more fundamen- tal notion of moral responsibility would pave the way to overcome it. I show that it should be out of the question whether historical polluters should bear some burdens asso- ciated with climate change because of their historical emissions. The relevant question is which kind of burdens they can legitimately be asked to bear. I argue that this notion of moral responsibility allows us to assign burdens of symbolic reparation, which are at the core of ‘Loss and Damage’ policies. (shrink)

Debates about individual responsibility for climate change revolve mainly around individual mitigation duties. Mitigation duties concern future impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, climate change has already caused important harms and it is foreseeable that it will cause more in the future, in spite of our best efforts. Thus, arguably, individuals might also have duties related to those harms. In this paper, I address the question of whether individuals are obligated to provide compensation for climate related harms that have already occurred. (...) I explore two possible strategies to answer that question. The straightforward strategy answers in the affirmative. Two approaches embrace this strategy: the ‘ecological citizenship’ approach and the benefits-based approach. I challenge those two approaches and rule out an affirmative answer. The alternative strategy answers in the negative but provides a way to respond to why currently living individuals should pay for burdens created for past individuals. Two possible approaches embrace this alternative: the community-based approach and my own state-based benefits approach. I will argue that individual duties do not fall under the realm of compensatory justice, but they have nonetheless a duty to bear compensatory burdens allocated to their states. (shrink)

Translation of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics I into Portuguese, with a few notes, experimental glossary and introduction. The translation, which was made at 2003/4, was preliminary and its publication was intended to provide a didactic tool for courses as well as a provisional resource in research seminars. It needs some revision. I am currently working (slowly...) on the revision of the translation and a new revised one will surely appear at some point.

Crispin Wright’s entitlement theory holds that we have non-evidential justification for accepting propositions of a general type––which Wright calls “cornerstones”––that enables us to acquire justification for believing other propositions––those that we take to be true on the grounds of ordinary evidence. Entitlement theory is meant by Wright to deliver a forceful response to the sceptic who argues that we cannot justify ordinary beliefs. I initially focus on strategic entitlement, which is one of the types of entitlement that Wright has described (...) in more detail. I suggest that it is dubious that we are strategically entitled to accept cornerstones. After this, I focus on entitlement in general. I contend that, in important cases, non-evidential justification for accepting cornerstones cannot secure evidential justification for believing ordinary propositions. My argument rests on a probabilistic regimentation of the so-called “leaching problem”. (shrink)

Evidential Decision Theory and Causal Decision Theory are the leading contenders as theories of rational action, but both face counterexamples. We present some new counterexamples, including one in which the optimal action is causally dominated. We also present a novel decision theory, Functional Decision Theory, which simultaneously solves both sets of counterexamples. Instead of considering which physical action of theirs would give rise to the best outcomes, FDT agents consider which output of their decision function would give rise to the (...) best outcome. This theory relies on a notion of subjunctive dependence, where multiple implementations of the same mathematical function are considered to have identical results for logical rather than causal reasons. Taking these subjunctive dependencies into account allows FDT agents to outperform CDT and EDT agents in, for example, the presence of accurate predictors. (shrink)

In this chapter I shall address the question as to whether there exists a universal and atemporal justification for the claims made by a community that adopts a particular style of reasoning. I shall present a case study in which a claim made in the laboratory style of reasoning has no universal and atemporal justification. As I shall explain, Hacking justifies his belief that unobservable entities exist on the ground that they can be regularly manipulated by experimenters in order to (...) find out and produce various phenomena (experimental realism); he also maintains that no belief that our theories are true is required in order to be realist about unobservable entities. I shall argue that his justification is relative to the laboratory style of reasoning. Ultimately, from this case study I shall draw the important conclusion that the styles of reasoning project implies epistemic relativism. In the first part of this chapter, I shall analyse Hacking’s experimental realism in the light of the styles of reasoning project. I shall start by making these points: Hacking’s theory anti-realism denies the possibility of ranking styles of reasoning in terms of their capacity to explain phenomena; furthermore, Hacking is not successful in showing that his entity realism is justified for a community that does not adopt the laboratory style of reasoning. It will follow that the styles of reasoning project is in conflict with the claim that we know about unobservable entities. (shrink)

. Two Mutually Exclusive Concepts of Harm? Retrospective and Structural Wrongful Harm at the Bases of a Compensatory-Based Approach for Loss and Damage. Ethics, Policy & Environment: Vol. 21, Geoengineering, Political Legitimacy and Justice, Guest Edited by Stephen Gardiner and Augustin Fragnière, pp. 391-395.

The ethics of emissions accounting deals with the following question: When considering who has emitted how much, should emissions be attributed to producers (production-based emissions accounting,...

Experiences like pains, pleasures, and emotions have affective phenomenal character: they feel pleasant or unpleasant. Imperativism proposes to explain affective phenomenal character by appeal to imperative content, a kind of intentional content that directs rather than describes. We argue that imperativism is on the right track, but has been developed in the wrong way. There are two varieties of imperativism on the market: first-order and higher-order. We show that neither is successful, and offer in their place a new theory: reflexive (...) imperativism. Our proposal is that an experience P feels pleasant in virtue of being constituted by a Command with reflexive imperative content, while an experience U feels unpleasant in virtue of being constituted by a Command with reflexive imperative content : More of P!Less of U! If you need a slogan: experiences have affective phenomenal character in virtue of commanding us Get more of me! Get less of me! (shrink)

I focus on a key argument for global external world scepticism resting on the underdetermination thesis: the argument according to which we cannot know any proposition about our physical environment because sense evidence for it equally justifies some sceptical alternative (e.g. the Cartesian demon conjecture). I contend that the underdetermination argument can go through only if the controversial thesis that conceivability is per se a source of evidence for metaphysical possibility is true. I also suggest a reason to doubt that (...) conceivability is per se a source of evidence for metaphysical possibility, and thus to doubt the underdetermination argument. (shrink)

I examine Aristotle’s definition of scientific knowledge in Posterior Analytics 71b 9-12 and try to understand how it relates to the sophistical way of knowing and to "kata sumbebekos knowledge". I claim that scientific knowledge of p requires knowing p by its appropriate cause, and that this appropriate cause is a universal (katholou) in the restricted sense Aristotle proposes in 73b 26-27 ff., i.e., an attribute coextensive with the subject (an extensional feature) and predicated of the subject in itself (an (...) intensional feature). Kata sumbebekos knowledge, on the other hand, can occur even when the predicate of a conclusion is coextensive with its subject and is proved by a convertible meson which is not the most appropriate from an explanatory standpoint. (shrink)

Aristotle contrasts episteme and doxa through the key notions of universal and necessary. These notions have played a central role in Aristotle’s characterization of scientific knowledge in the previous chapters of APo. They are not spelled out in APo I.33, but work as a sort of reminder that packs an adequate characterization of scientific knowledge and thereby gives a highly specified context for Aristotle’s contrast between episteme and doxa. I will try to show that this context introduces a contrast in (...) terms of explanatory claims: on the one hand, episteme covers those claims which capture explanatory connections that are universal and necessary and thereby deliver scientific understanding; on the other hand, doxa covers the explanatory attempts that fail at doing so. (shrink)

Deflationists about truth hold that the function of the truth predicate is to enable us to make certain assertions we could not otherwise make. Pragmatists claim that the utility of negation lies in its role in registering incompatibility. The pragmatist insight about negation has been successfully incorporated into bilateral theories of content, which take the meaning of negation to be inferentially explained in terms of the speech act of rejection. We implement the deflationist insight in a bilateral theory by taking (...) the meaning of the truth predicate to be explained by its inferential relation to assertion. We combine this account of the meaning of the truth predicate with a new diagnosis of the Liar Paradox: its derivation requires the truth rules to preserve evidence, but these rules only preserve commitment. The result is a novel inferential deflationist theory of truth, which solves the Liar Paradox in a principled manner. We end by showing that our theory and simple extensions thereof have the resources to axiomatize the internal logic of several supervaluational hierarchies, including Cantini’s. This solves open problems of Halbach (2011) and Horsten (2011). (shrink)

A subject S's belief that Q is well-grounded if and only if it is based on a reason of S that gives S propositional justification for Q. Depending on the nature of S's reason, the process whereby S bases her belief that Q on it can vary. If S's reason is non-doxastic––like an experience that Q or a testimony that Q––S will need to form the belief that Q as a spontaneous and immediate response to that reason. If S's reason (...) is doxastic––like a belief that P––S will need to infer her belief that Q from it. The distinction between these two ways in which S's beliefs can be based on S's reasons is widely presupposed in current epistemology but––we argue in this paper––is not exhaustive. We give examples of quite ordinary situations in which a well-grounded belief of S appears to be based on S's reasons in neither of the ways described above. To accommodate these recalcitrant cases, we introduce the notion of enthymematic inference and defend the thesis that S can base a belief that Q on doxastic reasons P1, P2, …, Pn via inferring enthymematically Q from P1, P2, …, Pn. (shrink)