Porfirio constitutes an essencial tie in the transition of ancient thought into the Medieval. His writings (he takes in the Enneadas of Plotino and systematically comments the works of Plato and Aristotle), offer a unitary interpretation of both systems which have enormously influenced in the medieval philosophic tradition (Saint Augustine, Boecio, Thomas Aquinas, etc.), a tradition which may be presented as the different forms of Platonism aristotelized, or aristoteleanism platonized.

El autor investiga el papel desarrollado por las reglas constitutivas en la construcción de la realidad social. En particular, niega que, por ejemplo, las reglas constitutivas del ajedrez sean condición suficiente de la práctica llamada juego del ajedrez. Para crear una nueva práctica, se necesita también la existencia de la gramática de esa práctica, o sea el sentido mismo de la práctica (por ejemplo: el sentido de juego). Es la gramática de una práctica (y no las reglas constitutivas) la que (...) determina la naturaleza de la práctica misma. El sentido de una práctica no puede ser creado por las reglas constitutivas. (shrink)

Francisco Leocata propone una nueva reducción fenomenológica, que llama reducción vital, la cual nombra el centramiento del sujeto encarnado, la necesidad de sabernos traspasados por la historia y por los otros como punto de partida para la producción de conocimiento en el seno de nuestra experiencia de la vida. Esta reducción vital permite pensar al ser humano desde las diversas disciplinas científicas, en diálogo con la fenomenología y la metafísica. Si bien Leocata construye su fenomenología personalista sobre las bases de (...) la fenomenología trascendental de Edmund Husserl, en este trabajo queremos resaltar las posibilidades que se abren a partir de un diálogo más estrecho con Merleau-Ponty, quien ha subrayado el carácter interdisciplinar de la fenomenología. (shrink)

Before 1250, even with a statutorily restricted field of research, the Arts masters of Paris included in their teaching a certain number of philosophical disciplines. Courses imposed on Arts masters included ethics, using Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Commenting on this text, Arts masters would interpret it and teach their own doctrine of “happiness”, involving concepts not always in agreement with those of the theologians. Taking into account the controversial context of the University of Paris, we focus in this paper on the (...) opinions of Arts masters in both their differences and their agreements with the theologians, regarding the concept of happiness. Résumé Avant 1250, même avec un champ d’études statutairement restreint, les maîtres ès arts de Paris abordaient un certain nombre de disciplines philosophiques. Parmi les enseignements prescrits à ces maîtres se trouvait l’éthique, étudiée dans l’Éthique à Nicomaque d’Aristote. En interprétant ce texte, les maîtres ès arts enseignaient ce qu’ils comprenaient comme « bonheur » en utilisant un réseau de concepts pas toujours en accord avec celui des théologiens. Autour du concept de bonheur, nous tentons ici d’observer les différences et les ressemblances dont témoignent — dans le contexte controversé de l’Université de Paris — les ouvrages pertinents des maîtres ès arts par rapport à l’opinion des théologiens. (shrink)

Since 1974 Belgian traditional sectors have been facing important financial difficulties, which compelled them to seek both increased productivity through more capital intensive techniques, and goods with higher valued added.This twofold evolution implied investments and job-reductions that could hardly have been possible without adequate public policies. As far as steel and textile are concerned those policies used mainly a common scheme based on public financial intervention and social measures. Public financial support required to cover annual losses and investments consisted of (...) either grants or state equities. It amounted to over 200 billions BEF.Besides, policies were designed in favour of people losing their jobs : early retirement was made possible and was even accompanied with tax cuts. However the budgetary cost of those policies is very high, they may be considered successful as Belgian producers now seem able to stand unternational competition. (shrink)

Este trabajo tendrá como objetivo llevar a cabo un análisis de la apropiación que el filósofo Maurice Merleau-Ponty realiza del concepto de esquema corporal, para así dilucidar las implicancias que el mismo posee en la descripción que elabora de la construcción del cuerpo propio en la primera infancia. Teniendo en cuenta que el reconocimiento del otro y de mí mismo como una individualidad disociada del entorno es un proceso que se desarrolla durante los primeros meses de vida del bebé, se (...) explorará el rol que la impregnación postural, la propiocepción y la imaginación poseen en la construcción del esquema corporal en el comienzo de la vida del niño. Plantear la propiocepción como puerta de entrada a la organización corporal puede explicar la apertura de nuestro esquema desde las primeras semanas de vida, haciendo de la acción y de los otros una parte constitutiva de mi subjetividad aun cuando esta no ha logrado organizarse. (shrink)

Pour déterminer la cognoscibilité du Premier principe, Avicenne emprunte dans sa Métaphysique trois voies: la connaissance scientifique par démonstration, l’intuition intellective et la connaissance à travers le discours prophétique. Dans le cadre de la réception de l’Éthique aristotélicienne, les maîtres ès arts de Paris empruntent deux de ces voies au milieu du XIIIe siècle. Même si beaucoup d’éléments sont semblables dans les deux cas, les artiens ne sortiront pas de leur spécificité professionnelle: le discours philosophique.

Resumen: Los objetivos de mi trabajo son: explorar la génesis de la función llamada “arco intencional” en la infancia, entenderla como un proceso de desarrollo paulatino y analizar los procesos intermedios que intervienen en su definición. Asimismo, intentaré demostrar que el concepto de arco intencional, aunque poco desarrollado por Merleau-Ponty, conlleva consecuencias que impregnan y sostienen gran parte de su teoría perceptual. Esclarecer la trama conceptual que lo fundamenta no sólo podrá arrojar luz sobre la génesis de la percepción en (...) su teoría, sino que también aportará herramientas valiosas para explicar los inicios de la constitución del cuerpo habitual en la niñez.: This paper aims to explore the genesis of the function called “intentional arc” during childhood, considering it as a process of gradual development and analysing the intermediate processes that collaborate in its definition. I also attempt to demonstrate that the concept of intentional arc, though scarcely developed by Merleau-Ponty, has consequences that imbue and support much of his perceptual theory. Clarifying the conceptual framework that sustains it can not only shed light on the genesis of perception in his theory, but also provides valuable tools to account for the beginning of the constitution of the habitual body in childhood. (shrink)

La vulgarité est omniprésente aujourd'hui. Elle s'exprime dans les manières, le langage, l'accoutrement, les arts ; on la rencontre dans la foule comme dans les élites, et jusqu'au sommet de l'Etat ; elle prolifère dans la publicité, les médias, sur Internet et les réseaux sociaux. Qui plus est, elle s'affiche sans vergogne, elle est assumée, souvent agressive même. Cependant, malgré son essor et son aggravation, malgré les désagréments qu'elle engendre, la vulgarité n'a jamais fait l'objet d'un examen systématique. Ce livre (...) entreprend de réparer cet oubli. Pour saisir au mieux son sens, l'ouvrage enquête sur les critiques très vives que la vulgarité suscite depuis deux siècles et les remèdes qui furent mis en oeuvre, en vain, pour la prévenir. Il part à la recherche d'un nouvel antidote en remontant aux sources qui la rendent possible et autorisent, voire encouragent son déploiement. La vulgarité est le fruit d'une modernité intempérante et sa propagation reflète les errements de la postmodernité. L'examen des principes fondateurs de l'Occident contemporain met au jour les ressorts profonds du phénomène et suggère la voie à suivre pour nous prémunir contre lui. Au-delà de la vulgarité, il s'agit de relever la tête face à la radicalisation de la modernité, qui dévoie le projet d'émancipation qu'elle porte et contrarie l'épanouissement de notre humanité. (shrink)

This volume’s aim is to stimulate philosophical interest in the experience of noise. There are at least three important open questions about noise. First, how should the relationship between noise as a scientific phenomenon and as a type of experience be understood? Is the one to be understood in terms of the other, and what implications may be drawn from this? Second, are experiences of noise strictly limited to perceptual states or to one type of perceptual state – for instance, (...) to acoustic experiences? E.g. is there noise that is visual or tactile? Is there noise that is cognitive, affective, or evaluative? Third, how can philosophy make sense of noise in the first place? Should noise simply be relegated to the hither side of the explananda of philosophy, as the mere leftover of whatever philosophy sets out to account for; meaning, being, totality, etc.? Or may noise be understood as a positive phenomenon in its own right, which has its own distinctive features and content, difficult though they might be to pin down? This volume will contribute to the burgeoning philosophy of noise by highlighting how contemporary philosophical perspectives with a phenomenological or experiential bent – the latter under both broad and narrow construals – can make inroads to these questions about a fascinating yet little understood quarter of human experience. (shrink)

As we know, the sacred books of the three religions are not characterized by a gender-friendly approach. In the very beginning of the Old Testament we find the tale of the Fall of Man, where the serpent tempts Eve, who in turn tempts Adam to commit the original sin: to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Eve’s guilt is taken for granted, and rarely discussed. The question of Eve’s guilt was first taken up in Augustine’s De Genesi ad (...) Litteram, and was then later further systematized in Peter Lombard’s Sentences. Isotta Nogarola was a pioneer in taking this discussion beyond university walls, to the intellectual Veronese circles. When Isotta Nogarola pleads for Eve’s case in her Dialogue on the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve, she may not be the first to defend Eve, but she has the merit of being a woman who is pleading for a woman’s case. We examine the background of this discussion in Isotta, focusing especially on the scholastic antecedents to this debate. Although most of the quotations cited by Isotta are attributed to early Christian and pagan authors—sources that are typical of humanistic literature—we will demonstrate that many of them are in fact taken from scholastic sources discussing original sin, which are the true immediate sources of Isotta’s dialogue. (shrink)

There is a longstanding and ongoing controversy about whether Buffon is to be regarded as a forerunner of evolutionism in the eighteenth century, or even as one of the founders of transformistic biology. There are good reasons to deny this claim. There are good reasons even to deny that the question which is going to be answered negatively is of particular importance. The present paper addresses the issue from a different angle. It analyzes the concept of time operative in (...) the natural history writings of Buffon, and it delineates the articulation of the concepts of time, change, and history with its organizing impact on Buffon's discourse on earth and organisms. It is argued that although with his species concept Buffon tries to introduce the classical notion of a physical system into biology, in order to do so, he has to subvert it by an element of time. This guides him in considering various aspects of organic change, but by itself does not lead to a general perspective of transformation. On the other hand, in his Epoques de la nature, Buffon introduces a general law of geological change, thus arriving at something which could be called a physically intelligible history. The conquest of natural history by physics, in one and the same movement, leads to a subversion of physical geology by history, and prevents biology from becoming evolutionistic in the sense in which the nineteenth century understands this term. (shrink)

Gayon's recent claim that Buffon developed a concept of species as physical individuals is critically examined and rejected. Also critically examined and rejected is Gayon's more central thesis that as a consequence of his analysis of Buffon's species concept, and also of Darwin's species concept, it is clear that modern evolutionary theory does not require species to be physical individuals. While I agree with Gayon's conclusion that modern evolutionary theory does not require species to be physical individuals, I (...) disagree with his reasons and instead provide logical rather than historical reasons for the same conclusion. (shrink)

The entry of time and history into biological systems of classification is perhaps the single most significant development in the history of biological systematics in the modern era. Darwin's claiming that descent is ‘… the hidden bond of connexion which naturalists have been seeking under the term of the natural system’, rather than seeing the answer in the multitude of previous attempts to resolve the problem in terms of morphological affinities, analogies, and complex relations of resemblance, marked the turning point (...) in a long search into the meaning of biological taxonomy, and allowed the development of Darwin's insights by Haeckel, Plate and others into modern phylogenetic systematics. (shrink)