ABSTRACTIn our daily lives, we need to predict and understand others’ behavior in order to navigate through our social environment. Predictions concerning other humans’ behavior usually refer to th...

Editors' preface to the book symposium on Michael Ayers' Knowing and Seeing. Groundwork for a New Empiricism (OUP 2019).

The following paper sets out to highlight the interconnectedness between philosophy and language through a demonstration on how Lacanian psychoanalysis can add texture to literary analysis. Because discourse is in constant flux, it is only natural that adapting a suitably compatible interpretive methodology becomes the norm for the study of language and literature. Unfortunately, adjusting one’s methods of literary critique according to the type of text to be analyzed is far from common practice. In the hopes that this issue might (...) be discussed in further depth, this paper argues that a psychoanalytical approach to literary analysis is particularly well-adapted for the postmodern genre. (shrink)

"This book is an important contribution in Spanish to the philosophical literature on Michael Foucault's thought, as it allows for a basic, general approach to the work of one of the most important post-war European thinkers.".

Ontologized Ethics is a collection of essays in meta-ethics with an emphasis on philosophical discourse in the African context. It focuses primarily on the extent to which metaphysical beliefs may or may not justify moral beliefs, thereby revisiting the issue of the ‘is-ought’ relationship.

In this paper I use the concept of ecological resilience as a basis for a moral approach to the environment. Particularly, I propose a reformulation of Leopold'ss moral principle, central to ecocentrism, through the lense of ecological resilience. I will do this by, first, reviewing the main assumptions of ecocentrism and resilience ethics. I will then focus on the concept of resilience and its philosophical description, and I will try to further develop resilience ethics by reformulating the resilience principle and (...) answering some potential problems by proposing the notion of ecological desirability. (shrink)

Taking a cue from the interpretive difficulties faced by Socrates and his interlocutors in Plato’s Theaetetus as they struggle to determine the meaning of Protagoras’ homo-mensura doctrine (HM), I argue that Protagoras, or early Protagoreans, used HM to speak on the relativity of literary criticism. For evidence I adduce an overlooked passage of the anonymous Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi, which contains an ethical formulation of HM. This formulation of HM, compatible with the portrait of Protagoras from Theaetetus, explains the concern (...) for literary interpretation latent in two sections of the Certamen. From the evidence in the Certamen, we may infer that HM was directly related to Protagorean education in civic virtue, part of which included a study of how to read and listen to texts. (shrink)

The condition into which humans entered since the dawn of modernity altered and led to the disenchantment of traditional (pre-modern) ways of thinking and theorizing in the different spheres of being and discourse mainly due to an emphasis on reason, freedom and the autonomy of the subject. Ethics in particular has continued to experience since modernity a shift from preoccupation with fixated, absolutist systems of ethics such as those built on notions of God and nature to a preoccupation with the (...) formal, individualistic, fallible or subjective ethical systems that ensue from free and autonomous subjects. The Ethics of Subjectivity presents an examination and analysis of the theorization of this subject-based ethics particularly as presented in the works of key ethicists and philosopher since modernity. These key figures include Kant, Hegel, Bradley, Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida, Popper, Feyerabend, Habermas, Lacan and Levinas. The volume also examines the implications of the shift to the subject as the focal point of modern ethics for the ever-evolving field of ethics. (shrink)

We present a Hilbert-style axiomatization of a recently introduced logic, called G'3 G'3 is based on a 3-valued semantics. We prove a soundness and completeness theorem. The replacement theorem holds in G'3. As it has already been shown in previous work, G'3 can express some non-monotonic semantics. We prove that G'3can define the same class of functions as Lukasiewicz 3 valued logic. Moreover, we identify some normal forms for this logic.

Neste artigo, pretendo analisar alguns pontos centrais que culminam no amadurecimento da reflexão de Arendt em relação ao pensamento de Marx e ao marxismo. Para tanto, será analisado a leitura de Arendt a partir dos excertos presentes em Karl Marx and the Tradition of Western Political Thought, escrito no início da década de 1950, texto que é uma espécie de complementação do The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) e fazia parte de um projeto pensado por Arendt de escrever um livro sobre (...) os “elementos totalitários do marxismo”. Visto que esse escrito nunca foi finalizado e o esse projeto foi abandonado, considero que a análise desse texto além de esclarecer muitos pontos importantes da crítica de Arendt a Marx e ao marxismo, pode nos servir também de ponte para o seu Magnum Opus The Human Condition (1958). A minha hipótese é de que, na visão de Arendt, a ruptura presente no pensamento de Marx em relação a tradição da filosofia política acontece com base em um tipo de linguagem que é resultado da própria tradição. Portanto, os resultados práticos do pensamento marxiano e dos marxismos seriam consequência da tradição do pensamento político ocidental quando convertido numa práxis radical. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to show that the reopening of the “quarrel between the ancients and the moderns” proposed by Strauss is an invitation to rethink the format of social science of his time. In his interpretation, the triumph of positivism and historicism in the contemporary era directly influenced the consolidation of a kind of social science that was too technical and scientistic, far from its main object of research, the human life in society. As a result, it (...) was established a nihilistic social science, attached to methods and a theorizing vocabulary, incapable of dealing with the complexity of the human world. I intend to show, based on the criticism elaborated by Professor Strauss, which alternatives are presented to rescue social science through the revival of specific elements of classical political science. (shrink)

Considerar el Derecho como" objeto de estudio" no parece comportar ninguna novedad, sobre todo si nos ubicamos en un ambiente académico. De hecho, se da por sentado que, en efecto, el Derecho puede ser ese "objeto" por todos aquellos que escogen como área de formación profesional lo jurídico. El ejercicio que se lleva a cabo sobre él se torna casi siempre repetitivo y memorístico, pero pronto se aprende que, en la práctica, el resultado de erudición que ello produce rendirá buenos (...) frutos mañana. El estudiante "aprende derecho" apropiándose una terminología y adquiriendo la habilidad de ponerla en acto cuando sea el momento oportuno, haciendo así uso de una técnica que, sin embargo, no siempre producirá los resultados esperados. Una "técnica" cargada de albur. Las más de las veces, el ya profesional del derecho se consuela de sus tropiezos y fracasos "reconociendo" que "no siempre se tiene la razón" -en el mejor de los casos-, o acusando a propios y extraños de hacer un uso manipulativo o injusto de la herramienta. Se sabe que, además de lo competido que es el campo, se encuentra plagado de incertidumbres por la enorme carga de "subjetividad" que supone no solo su aplicación, sino la creación misma de sus componentes. (shrink)

This paper seeks to redress a predominant focus on speaking over listening in theorising the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI). Frequently, where listening is discussed, the focus is on encouraging children to be active listeners. This means of describing the listening that occurs in the CPI has lost some efficacy as the language of active listening has been co-opted as a management technique focussed on making the speaker feel heard with little emphasis on the intentions or outcomes for the listener. (...) Thus, on a cynical reading, ‘active listening’ can become reduced to performative physical indicators of listening (such as eye contact and body language), overlooking the ethical-epistemic commitments of the genuinely engaged listener. Here, rather than formulating new terms to describe listening, I propose Iris Murdoch’s account of attentiveness as an apt descriptor of the effects of truly involved listening on the self that seeks to attend to the unfolding content of the CPI and as a way of characterising the qualities of a CPI where such listening is achieved. Here, attentiveness is presented as a concept that captures the unique facets of listening as a challenge to individual participants concerned with contributing effectively to the dialogue as it unfolds within the CPI and those facilitating the dialogue. The paper briefly explores some implications for practice contexts, proposing three interventions to cultivate attentiveness in CPI participants and in facilitators (especially if they are undergraduate or postgraduate in Philosophy because philosophical identities might become a barrier to attentiveness). At its conclusion, this paper repositions listening in the CPI as a productive risk with a particular form of ‘aliveness’ aptly captured by the term attention. (shrink)

Theoretical tools aimed at making explicit the injustices suffered by certain socially disadvantaged groups might end up serving purposes which were not foreseen when the tools were first introduced. Nothing is inherently wrong with a shift in the scope of a theoretical tool: the popularization of a concept opens up the possibility of its use for several strategic purposes. The thesis that we defend in this paper is that some public figures cultivate a public persona for whom the conditions of (...) the notion of testimonial injustice might be taken to apply, and this situation is exploited to their advantage, as a means to advance their political agendas. More specifically, they take advantage of this to generate situations of crossed disagreements, which in turn foster polarization. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre o problema da formação intelectual no ambiente acadêmico brasileiro, a partir de uma crítica à ênfase constante aos referenciais teóricos estrangeiros e à pouca valorização dos pensadores do Brasil. Será problematizada a necessidade de formação constante do “espírito” do povo brasileiro a partir do contato compromissado com o nosso próprio solo cultural, de tal modo que referenciais não nacionais sejam bem acolhidos, desde que isso não aconteça à custa de um certo epistemicídio local. (...) Para tanto, nos aportaremos a pensadores brasileiros e estrangeiros, tais como Darcy Ribeiro, Roberto Gomes, Michel de Montaigne, dentre outros, tomando de empréstimo alguns de seus núcleos conceituais centrais. (shrink)

Las herramientas teóricas destinadas a señalar las injusticias que sufren ciertos grupos socialmente oprimidos pueden acabar siendo utilizadas con propósitos completamente opuestos a los iniciales. Modificar el alcance de una herramienta teórica no es necesariamente problemático: la popularización de un concepto abre las puertas a que se utilice estratégicamente para diferentes fines. La tesis que defendemos en este artículo es que algunos personajes públicos cultivan una imagen particular de sí mismos que parece satisfacer los requisitos de la noción de injusticia (...) testimonial y utilizan esta situación como medio para obtener beneficio político de ella. Más concretamente, estos personajes públicos se benefician de esta condición para generar situaciones de desacuerdos cruzados, que están estrechamente relacionados con el aumento de la polarización. (shrink)

El presente artículo es producto de una investigación multidisciplinaria e interinstitucional, fruto de la alianza entre la Universidad de San Buenaventura Medellín y el Centro de Familia VID-Obra de la Congregación Mariana de Medellín. Surge de una inquietud respecto a la manera en que se aborda la realidad institucional de las madres cabeza de familia, tanto en el ámbito político como empresarial. Para estudiar esta realidad, se partió de un modelo de investigación cualitativo, en donde se hizo una aproximación a (...) la población a partir de un cuestionario que permitiera identificar los roles y percepciones frente al ejercicio de la maternidad y la jefatura femenina, específicamente, cuando se trata de madres trabajadoras. Los resultados arrojados por la investigación permiten obtener una mirada psicosocial de la forma en que se ejerce el rol de madre y de figura de articulación familiar. (shrink)

In this study, I explore the challenges that ideological hegemonies of personhood imbibed by nurses and other healthcare workers could pose for the nursing profession, particularly in terms of inhibiting the acknowledgment of difference. Dominant or hegemonic conceptions of personhood in particular spaces often consist of self‐contained ideas and essentialist ontologies and normativity of what it means to be a person, lack of which results in the denial of personhood and the othering as non‐person or sub‐person. The other as the (...) residue of such self‐contained notions of personhood is most often denied the quality of care that the one who fits within such conceptions enjoy. For nurses and other healthcare workers to overcome such exclusionary tendencies in healthcare, they must overcome hegemonies and ideological dominance and be more open to alternative viewpoints and theories of personhood. I develop these lines of thought by focusing on the rich ideological traditions of Continental and African philosophies showing how exclusion takes place within these traditions based on conceptions of personhood and how such exclusion on the basis of difference impacts negatively on healthcare. I conclude by highlighting the need to go beyond hegemonic philosophies of personhood by decolonizing and demasculinizing healthcare, thereby allowing difference to flourish in an ecology of medical knowledge. (shrink)

O propósito deste trabalho é muito simples: localizar ou delimitar uma análise existencial da morte em relação a algumas outras abordagens do mesmo fenômeno. Com isso pretende-se não apenas ampliar nossa compreensão acerca da morte, mas acessar filosoficamente o conceito existencial de ser-para-a-morte, desenvolvido na obra Ser e tempo de M. Heidegger. Para tanto, tomaremos por base o pensamento deste autor, principalmente o do §49 de Ser e tempo que se ocupa desta problemática.

En este breve comentario discuto algunos aspectos de la interpretación de la epistemología de Davidson que sugiere Willian Duica en su reciente libro. Luego de una presentación somera del libro me centro en tres asuntos centrales de la interpretación de Duica. En primer lugar, argumento que su lectura de la crítica de Davidson al dualismo esquema/contenido es muy restrictiva y deja abierta la posibilidad de un realismo directo empirista. En segundo lugar, argumento que en su lectura el propio Duica se (...) compromete inadvertidamente con un empirismo de este tipo y, de este modo, su interpretación entra en tensión con el coherentismo de Davidson. Finalmente, discuto algunos aspectos de la interpretación que hace Duica de la tesis davidsoniana de la triangulación. In this short comment I discuss some aspects of William Duica's interpretation of Davidson's epistemology in a recent book. After a brief review of the book, I focus on three central issues of Duica's interpretation. First, I argue that his reading of Davidson's criticism of the scheme/content dualism is too restrictive and leaves open the possibility of an empiricist direct realism. Second, I argue in his reading Duica inadvertently commits himself to an empiricism of this sort and, as a result, his interpretation is in tension with Davidson's own coherentism. Finally, I discuss some aspects of Duica's interpretation of Davidsonian triangulation. (shrink)

Los desafíos que el Sínodo de la Amazonía presenta a la teología son trabajados en el horizonte de la pregunta por el estatuto epistemológico de la teología, a partir del uso de algunas metáforas empleadas por los textos del Sínodo. En este trabajo se requiere asumir una clave de lectura intertextual y un método que justifique la centralidad de las metáforas y su dinamismo de préstamo con relación a la fundamentación teológica. Las metáforas empleadas por los documentos sinodales dan qué (...) pensar a la teología con relación a su constitución interna. Le abren el camino para comprenderse de otra manera. Ese es el caso de: la eclesiología, lo propio del lenguaje teológico, las conversiones y actitudes para el quehacer de la teología, el lugar de la ritualidad y el valor de lo local con relación al intellectus del misterio y al depósito de la fe, la interculturalidad y la sinodalidad, entre otros. (shrink)

Albinism is a global public health issue but it assumes a peculiar nature in the African continent due, in part, to the social stigma faced by persons with albinism in Africa. I argue that there are two essential reasons for this precarious situation. First, in the African consciousness, albinism is an alterity or otherness. The PWA in Africa is not merely a physical other but also an ontological other in the African community of beings, which provides a hermeneutic for the (...) stigmatising separateness or difference of the PWA. The second reason hinges on a distinction drawn by Jürgen Habermas between the ethical point of view and the moral point of view. While the former consists of the ethos, customs, or idea of the good shared by a group of persons with a shared tradition or way of life, the latter consists of what is good for all and transcends particular traditions or ways of life. Consequently, the African ethical point of view, the ethics of solidarity, justifies within the African worldview the established alterity and, by implication, stigmatization of PWAs. On this view, actions that promote harmony and prevent discord and disequilibrium among accepted beings in the African community are permissible. I further show that unless there is a change in the physical and ontological conception of PWAs and a leap from the ethical point of view to the moral point of view, the negative attitudes toward PWAs will not change. The leap to the moral point of view does not suggest an abandonment of the ethical point of view but only recommends that the two meet halfway in respect for universally accepted norms of human actions. To achieve this, I will show that much needs to be done in the areas of policy formulation, law, health care services, and education. (shrink)