SUÁREZ MOLANO, José Olimpo. Syllabus sobre filosofía política. Medellín: Colección Pensamiento Político Contemporáneo, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana-Concejo de Medellín, No 3, 2003, 179 p.

There has been a surge of recent interest in sociocultural diversity in machine learning research. Currently, however, there is a gap between discussions of measures and benefits of diversity in machine learning, on the one hand, and the broader research on the underlying concepts of diversity and the precise mechanisms of its functional benefits, on the other. This gap is problematic because diversity is not a monolithic concept. Rather, different concepts of diversity are based on distinct rationales that should inform (...) how we measure diversity in a given context. Similarly, the lack of specificity about the precise mechanisms underpinning diversity’s potential benefits can result in uninformative generalities, invalid experimental designs, and illicit interpretations of findings. In this work, we draw on research in philosophy, psychology, and social and organizational sciences to make three contributions: First, we introduce a taxonomy of different diversity concepts from philosophy of science, and explicate the distinct epistemic and political rationales underlying these concepts. Second, we provide an overview of mechanisms by which diversity can benefit group performance. Third, we situate these taxonomies of concepts and mechanisms in the lifecycle of sociotechnical machine learning systems and make a case for their usefulness in fair and accountable machine learning. We do so by illustrating how they clarify the discourse around diversity in the context of machine learning systems, promote the formulation of more precise research questions about diversity’s impact, and provide conceptual tools to further advance research and practice. (shrink)

Este artículo busca sacar a flote y estudiar diferentes historias de la materia presentes en el río Magdalena en Colombia, a través de la novela _En el brazo del río _(2006) de Marbel Sandoval Ordoñez, y la crónica _Los escogidos_ (2012), de Patricia Nieto. El objetivo de mi lectura es analizar el fenómeno del río, mediante el concepto de ‘viscosidad porosa’, es decir, evidenciando el enmarañamiento entre cuerpos humanos y no humanos que se da en este y cómo estos reconfiguran (...) los discursos alrededor del Magdalena. Usando una metodología que parte desde los presupuestos de los nuevos materialismos y las humanidades azules_, _propongo una mirada desde una ontología relacional que reconoce la capacidad expresiva (creativa) y el potencial de acción (agenciamiento) del río. A partir de esto realizo una lectura atenta de las dos obras, identificando dónde se visualizan dichos enmarañamientos y cómo la forma de dichas obras literarias permite una reconfiguración del sentido del río. Esto me permite mostrar que las historias de violencia y riqueza que han configurado el Magdalena están, indudablemente, conectadas con la materialidad del mismo, de los cuerpos humanos asesinados que recorren el río en constante interacción con otros animales, o de las aguas del Magdalena entrelazadas con el petróleo que se filtra por el extractivismo de su subsuelo. Por lo tanto, en estos textos literarios el fenómeno del río Magdalena se complejiza y se densifica, permitiéndonos reconocer cómo nuestra realidad esta enmarañada con otros cuerpos humanos y no humanos que habitan nuestro mundo. (shrink)

En 1986 Edgar Garavito Pardo escribió un artículo en homenaje a Michel Foucault, quien había muerto dos años antes, y que fue titulado De la parrhesía o el decir-verdad. En este escrito el colmbiano asume el decir-verdad como una línea de fuga que tiende a la autenticidad de los valores por más confrontaciones que exista con el poder, pues el decir-verdad es el decir verdad de lo que uno es, hace y piensa sin dejarse coaccionar por los convencionalismo políticos, mediáticos (...) e identitarios, y en ese sentido, para Garavito el decir-verdad como “actitud podría salvar a Colombia”, es decir, salvaguardar la democracia desde una actitud democrática que se encuentra validada en virtud del actuar del filósofo. El decir-verdad permite que la vida y la política coincidan a través de un lenguaje liberado, anárquico y transcursivo. Desde un ejercicio hermenéutico crítico, usado de manera filosófica, se aborda el autor para proponer una lectura original de la parrhesía de Edgar Garavito Pardo en relación con la transcursividad, que es el aspecto transformativo del lenguaje. (shrink)

The purpose of this investigation is to establish the interference of Artificial Intelligence in the legal field, with special attention to the legal decision. For this, a descriptive analysis of its use in judicial, administrative and legislative decisions is carried out addressing scenarios of substantive, procedural and probative law in order to solve the following legal question: Is artificial intelligence an instrument to adopt legal decisions or Is it a new entity that generates legal decisions? This question is developed taking (...) into account different sources of law, including judicial pronouncements, doctrine and legislation that develops the use of artificial intelligence, which are analyzed with government and state policies that have raised their incorporation into the field of law. (shrink)

En esta investigación se realiza un análisis sobre el estudio de la sociedad propuesto por Wilhelm Dilthey, con la finalidad de recalcar su postura frente a la comprensión de la humanidad. Presentar cómo ésta a través de la historia va estableciendo relaciones y formando agrupaciones. Un mundo socio-histórico lleno de vivencias que no necesariamente son experimentadas de manera individual, sino que también poseen una exterioridad que se visibiliza en la sociedad. Por esto, el objetivo es analizar cómo el ser histórico (...) se comprende y se relaciona con otros. Cómo puede sentir pertenencia en la cultura, poesía e historia en la que se desenvuelve. Además, demostrar cómo esta sociedad histórica no puede darse sin una relación de por medio, debido a que sin ‘socios’ la comunidad histórica no puede ser factible. (shrink)

La sociedad que está presente hoy en día es cambiante y para nada monótona. Por esto es líquida, según Zygmunt Bauman, pues en ella todo fluye sin detenerse y sin poseer límites. Es una sociedad en la que constantemente se modifican las tendencias según lo más actual. Todo está relacionado a un consumo que posibilita mantener o asimilar un estatus social que permite ser parte del mundo consumista. El parámetro de esta sociedad es consumir para después desechar, y aquí es, (...) donde los individuos deben estar preparados para el cambio. No pueden quedar fuera de las últimas tendencias o son marginados; por tanto, no pueden dejar de consumir. Así es como el trabajo constante y el valor del dinero se han convertido en estas ‘estrategias’ que le permiten a la sociedad prepararse para todos los posibles cambios que puedan surgir. Aspirando a un estatus social que por fin les permita terminar con el miedo que ha instaurado la liquidez consumidora. Debido a todas estas características de la comunidad, el objetivo de este escrito es analizar cómo las agrupaciones que no poseen los recursos necesarios para mantenerse a la par de las tendencias, quedan marginadas y deshumanizadas por no poder consumir y depender del resto; Convirtiéndose en el peor miedo de la sociedad líquida. (shrink)

The text intends to show that, despite of Deleuze's affirmation that the univocity has three great moments in the history of philosophy, Duns Scoto, Spinoza and Nietzsche, his philosophy constitutes a contemporary moment of this history. The idea of Plane of Immanence will be the personal Deleuze's answer to the problem of the opposition between the analogy of proportion and the univocity of being on the history of philosophy.

The notion of mathesis universalis appears in many of Edmund Husserl’s works, where it corresponds essentially to “a universal a priori ontology”. This paper has two purposes; one, largely exegetical, of clarifying how Husserl elaborates on Leibniz’ concept of mathesis universalis and associated notions like symbolic thinking and symbolic knowledge filtering them through the lesson of the so called “bohemian Leibniz”, Bernard Bolzano; another, more properly philosophical, of examining the role that the universal mathesis is allowed to play, and the (...) space it occupies in Husserl’s intuition-based epistemology. (shrink)

In this paper, I carry out a comparative study of the philosophical views of Edmund Husserl and Hermann Weyl on issues such as mathematical existence and mathematical intuition, the validity of classical logic, the concept of logical definiteness, the nature of symbolic mathematics, the role of mathematics in empirical science, the relation of scientific theories with perception, space representation and the philosophy of geometry, and intentional constitution in general. My main goal is not simply to assess the extent of Husserl’s (...) influence on Weyl, although this is an ever present concern, but to clarify the views of one by contrasting them with those of the other. (shrink)

This article is mainly about two things: first, exploring the gatherings of studying in the university. And second, it is about describing new relations to understand studying practices beyond the normative interventions carried out inside learning environments and the clearly demarcated functions imposed to their practice. In a certain sense, common assumptions about study recognize its importance for achieving learning goals and its capacity to be designed according to pre-conceived intentions. However, in an attempt to reconsider our understanding about studying, (...) the basic arguments here is that studying practices are constituted by open-ended activities that are guided by present interests to things that matter. Based on Theodore Schatzki’s practice theory, activities of studying were observed through scenes, where students and study-materiality join together in the event of studying at the Agora Learning Centre of KU Leuven in Belgium. Adopting a particular sensibility and narrative to describe and attend to actions and material entities entangled on studying activities, the article attempts to take a look at these activities beyond their functionality. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to take a look at ‘what is going on’ in studying practices. (shrink)

Este artículo de reflexión, que hace parte de la investigación De la polis a la politeia. La política hoy, propone un éxodo semiológico (semiótica a-significante) como resistencia al gobierno de signos de los Mass Media, lo que siguiendo a Paolo Virno se llama industria comunicacional; para sustentar esta propuesta se recurre a la teoría del éxodo que exponen los operaístas como Antonio Negri, Paolo Virno, Michael Hardt y Víctor Moncayo y que propende por la huida y el escape del sistema (...) dominante y no por la búsqueda del poder estatal. (shrink)

Resumen El sujeto es negatividad, pero esto no es ninguna carencia o falta, al contrario, es potencia: La sustancia, su autocontracción en un punto vacío, es la singularidad como lo opuesto a la particularidad el sujeto es el poder de la negatividad. Así la negatividad del sujeto es eso que va más allá de cualquier sustancia particular. La negatividad de la que plantea este trabajo tomará la vía que se propone desde la propuesta del filósofo esloveno Zizek desde su apuesta (...) hegeliano- lacaniana. En esa propuesta ya no se trata de poder recuperar a ese Otro a como dé lugar, situación que podría explicar muchas de las manifestaciones subjetivas en el siglo XXI, donde el sujeto al pretender reactivamente taponar la inconsistencia del Otro, tapona la fisura de mismo del sujeto. La practica psicoanalítica desde la negatividad apuesta por un trabajo que bordee ese agujero, dicha práctica en vez de apuntar a un yo positivizado para llenar ese vacío constitutivo del sujeto, se apuesta por el vacío no sólo del sujeto sino del Otro para constituir un proyecto común donde la negatividad sea tratada desde un saber hacer que no la desconozca sino la enfrente. (shrink)

¿Qué es el materialismo y cómo este opera en la praxis psicoanalítica? Esa es la pregunta a la cual este artículo intenta responder, para eso se realiza un breve recorrido histórico conceptual por algunas apuestas teórico-prácticas desde Freud, pasando por Lacan hasta pensadores contemporáneos. Se profundizó en algunas nociones de Slavoj Žižek, específicamente en su concepción materialista o lo que él mismo denomina «una refundación del materialismo dialéctico», donde se presenta una mezcla inconsciente no-toda. Es a propósito de dicha perspectiva (...) teórica que en este trabajo se ponen en tela de juicio algunos debates clínicos desde la filosofía y el psicoanálisis. (shrink)

RESUMENLa estructura desdoblada que adopta habitualmente la escritura de Chantal Maillard tiene un sentido intenso en el poemario Hilos. Este libro, que en parte surge como segregación del diario Husos, despliega una lógica estética contraria a toda interpretación metafísica. Para ello, los poemas crecen como ecos unos de otros y como reflejos de fragmentos de otros libros de la autora. En Hilos, la escritura teje una malla o red cuyos vórtices dibujan el mapa de un Texto en que obras de (...) otras manifestaciones artísticas (Gego), filosóficas (Derrida) o mitológicas (Kālī) vienen a explicar su urdimbre.PALABRAS CLAVECHANTAL MAILLARD, ESTÉTICA, GEGO, DERRIDA, KĀLĪABSTRACTThe split structure in which Chantal Maillard’s writing are regularly framed, has an intense sense in the poems in Hilos. This book, which comes as a segregation of the diary Husos, displays an aesthetic logic opposed to metaphysics. The poems are written as echoes and as reflections of other fragments of other Maillard’s books. In Hilos, the writing is a mesh or a network whose vortices draw the map of a Text explained by other artistic works (Gego), philosophical works (Derrida) or mythological expressions (Kālī).KEY WORDSCHANTAL MAILLARD, AESTHETICS, GEGO, DERRIDA, KĀLĪ. (shrink)

RESUMOO presente artigo analisa processos de alterização na biologia humana e na biomedicina. A alterização é entendida aqui como o processo cultural de produção de alteridades por meio da delimitação, rotulação e categorização das formas possíveis de ser outro, desde um determinado marco de referência sócio-histórico. Ainda que a alterização faça parte de qualquer processo de delimitação de categorias de identidade no seio de uma cultura - e, nesse sentido, possa apresentar visões do outro tanto positivas quanto negativas -, aqui (...) nos interessamos especificamente na alterização como fator de marginalização e exclusão social de diferentes grupos humanos. São analisados diversos processos de alterização operantes nos discursos e nas práticas das ciências biomédicas ao longo de sua história recente, os quais têm conduzido à exclusão social de diferentes categorias de outros, ou a tratá-los como inferiores, em pretendidas bases científicas, ou em função de determinadas práticas institucionalizadas dentro da comunidade científica. Exemplos típicos de grupos marginalizados pelas ciências ocidentais ao longo de sua história incluem as raças não europeias, as mulheres, os homossexuais e os "pobres". O principal objetivo do presente artigo é analisar, na história recente das ciências biomédicas, esses processos de alterização que têm conduzido à marginalização de tais grupos e a considerá-los como inferiores. ABSTRACTThis article analyzes processes of "othering" in human biology and biomedicine. Othering is understood here as the cultural process of production of otherness by means of the delimitation, tagging, and categorization of the possible ways of being "other" within a given socio-historical context. Although othering can be considered as a constitutive aspect of any process of delimitation of identities within a given culture - and in this sense it can present both positive and negative views of the "other" -, in the present article we are specifically interested in processes of othering that lead to the marginalization and social exclusion of different human groups. We will analyze processes of othering, which have operated in the discourses and practices of biomedical sciences throughout their recent history, that have led to the social exclusion of different categories of "others", or to treating them as inferior, and that have supposedly scientific bases or as a consequence of the institutionalization of certain practices within the scientific community. Typical examples of these "others", marginalized by the Western sciences throughout their history, are the non-European "races", women, gay and lesbian people, and the "poor". The main objective of this article is to analyze, in the recent history of the biomedical technosciences, these different processes of othering that have led to the marginalization of such "others" and to treating them as inferior. (shrink)

This article is a product of research about global public policies. In this is proposes an ethical basis of international cooperation as a GPP capable of providing public world goods of the international system. Through an analysis of the recent theoretical framework of IC it is concluded that such theories, even those that do not declare it explicitly, are based on Kantian cosmopolitan ethics. Even those theories that are based on the hobbesian premise of natural anarchy in state of war. (...) In this article also is suggests the urgency of an international governance system with a GPP focused in cooperation and capable to providing the world's supreme public good: The peace with human security. (shrink)

Este artículo contiene la edición y traducción al castellano de cinco cartas conservadas en el Archivo nacional de la Torre do Tombo (Portugal). Estos documentos datan de la primera mitad del siglo XVI y forman parte de la correspondencia procedente de las plazas portuguesas en el Norte de África. Desde un punto de vista lingüístico, las cartas se caracterizan por estar escritas en árabe medio, una variedad de lengua que presenta importantes divergencias gramaticales con respecto a la norma del árabe (...) clásico y en la cual se combinan elementos dialectales y otros del árabe estándar. (shrink)

En oposición al escepticismo declarado por Callender y Cohen respecto de la existencia de algún problema en torno a la representación científica, el objetivo de este artículo es mostrar un conjunto de características peculiares de la representación científica, aunque no exclusivas, que una teoría satisfactoria debe explicar. Estas son: la predicación, la posibilidad de ser una representación incorrecta, el razonamiento subrogatorio y la independencia entre el contenido y la denotación. Además, se argumenta que una teoría satisfactoria de la representación debe (...) ofrecer una definición de sus medios representacionales, es decir, de lo que es un modelo científico. Finalmente, se propone que para dar cuenta de estas características basta responder la pregunta: ¿Cómo nos permiten los modelos científicos ganar información sobre el objeto representado? (shrink)

El presente artículo se propone hacer un rastreo a través de un corpus epistolar del siglo XVI, con el fin de obtener algunos datos lingüísticos acerca de las variedades árabes que se hablaban en esa época en la parte occidental de Marruecos. Asimismo, este estudio trata de arrojar luz acerca del desarrollo histórico de varios rasgos dialectales, los cuales pueden ayudarnos a comprender mejor la evolución de los dialectos árabes en Marruecos y en el Magreb. Nuestro estudio se basa en (...) el análisis lingüístico de algunas de las cartas luso-marroquíes que se conservan en el Archivo Nacional de la Torre do Tombo (Lisboa). (shrink)

Resumen: Spinoza afirma que las decisiones, elecciones y acciones de un agente son necesarias porque están determinadas causalmente. ¿Acaso los seres humanos no son agentes morales? ¿son sólo eslabones de una cadena de causas cuyo curso no pueden controlar y que los exime de las consecuencias de sus actos, así como de premios y castigos? ¿ser un individuo libre significa aceptar pasivamente lo que ocurre y abandonar la pretensión de modificarlo? Este artículo responde a estas preguntas mediante la distinción en (...) la obra spinoziana de dos conceptos de libertad, la verdadera libertad y el libre albedrío, así como con la distinción entre la responsabilidad civil fundada en el concepto de potestas humana -y no en la verdadera libertad, aunque la posibilita-.: Spinoza sustains that the agents' decisions are necessary because they are causally determined. But then, are humans really moral agents? Is it possible that they are only passengers in a train of causes, whose course they cannot control and exempts them from the consequences of their acts, of reward or punishment? Is accepting whatever happens and quitting the aspiration of changing things the hallmark of the free man? This paper answers these questions by distinguishing two concepts of freedom, real freedom and free will, as well as two concepts of responsibility. Civil responsibility is grounded in free will, whereas moral responsibility is not grounded in true freedom, but in human power. (shrink)

Some scholars have understood that Spinoza’s extreme rationalism, nominalism, conventionalism, and rejection of a semantic theory of truth make his philosophy incapable to use language for philosophical and scientific purposes; insofar he considered language a source of inadequate knowledge, falsity, and error. Thus Spinoza finds contradiction in his inevitable use of language to express his philosophy. This paper has four aims: first, propose an explanation on why language is inadequate knowledge for Spinoza; second, present differences between inadequacy, falsity, and error (...) in language; third, argue on the Spinozian use of the geometrical method as a solution for the adequate use of language in philosophical and scientific work; finally, show the problems and limits of this solution for metaphysical discussions. (shrink)

For Spinoza’s epistemology, an image is an idea that represents an external body as actually existent. This kind of knowledge is the only source of inadequate knowledge, falsity, and error. On the contrary, reason is adequate knowledge because it comprehends common notions, i.e, properties of different things. Intuition is also adequate knowledge because it conceives formal essences of singular things. The main example is the genetic definition of a sphere, an adequate knowledge form by the power of thinking of the (...) mind, without regard to existing extramental spheres. From these differences, some scholars conclude that imagination is always negative and should not deal with reason and intuition. But this conclusion will ban Spinoza’s epistemology from having adequate knowledge of existing individuals, such as Moses and the Hebrew State. In front of this view, this paper defends three theses: firstly, that the difference between the three kinds of knowledge is of genus, not of degree. Secondly, that adequate knowledge for Spinoza is a generic knowledge, i.e., insofar as S knows P insofar S deduces the effects, consequences, or properties of P. Thirdly, that adequate knowledge can include imagination through the proper use of the geometric method. In this case, imagination offers data to reason and intuition for having adequate knowledge of singular things that actually existed. (shrink)

In the first year of the twentieth century, in Gottingen, Husserl delivered two talks dealing with a problem that proved central in his philosophical development, that of imaginary elements in mathematics. In order to solve this problem Husserl introduced a logical notion, called “definiteness”, and variants of it, that are somehow related, he claimed, to Hilbert’s notions of completeness. Many different interpretations of what precisely Husserl meant by this notion, and its relations with Hilbert’s ones, have been proposed, but no (...) consensus has been reached. In this paper I approach this question afresh and thoroughly, taking into consideration not only the relevant texts and context, as others have also done before, but, more importantly, Husserl’s philosophy, his intuition-based epistemology in particular. Based on a system of clearly defined concepts that I here present, I reinforce an interpretation—definiteness as a form of syntactic completeness—that has, I believe, some advantages vis-à-vis alternative interpretations. It is in conformity with the available texts; it makes clear that Husserl’s notion of definiteness is indeed close to Hilbert’s notions of completeness; it solves the important problem of imaginaries for which it was created; and last, but not least, it fits naturally into Husserl’s system of concepts and ideas. (shrink)

O tema deste artigo são as relações entre mídia e cultura, através do conflito simbólico que se instala a partir de um blow up: a torcedora Patrícia Moreira, em 2014, no jogo entre Grêmio e Santos, gritando a palavra 'ma-ca-co'. Esse tema é construído enquanto circulação midiática. Esse objeto, amplo e diversificado, é aqui abordado em torno de uma questão específica: a incerteza nos processos midiáticos. A metodologia é de análise das interações entre atores, instituições midiáticas e midiatizadas, configurando um (...) ambiente-circuito imprevisível. A proposição é que os dilemas e impasses sócio-antropológicos não são apenas atualizados nos processos midiáticos, mas são também transformados pelo contato entre territórios antes estabilizados. A instabilidade nas interações é sugerida como núcleo ativador do processo circulatório. (shrink)

This article argues that New Granadian and Co-lombian leaders examined models of material and intellectual progress in the United States and in their neighboring countries within the hemisphere. For many Spanish-Americans, the material progress already achieved by the United States and the North Atlantic overall was an idealized end, and they looked at some U.S. institutions as potential templates. As for the means to meet such an idealized end, influential people in New Granada and Colombia found among their neighboring countries (...) a more pragmatic set of experiences that would help them foster progress in their own right. Over the second half of the nineteenth century, and more acti-vely when turning into the twentieth, some Colombian leaders sought to follow the example of countries such as Argentina, one of the front-runners of Latin American contemporary progress. (shrink)

O texto pretende mostrar um tipo de abordagem e de entrada no texto deleuziano. A partir do problema do fato da não existência de consenso no mundo da vida sentiu-se a necessidade de começar a pensar e formular um conceito de formas de vida. Escolheu-se, para isto, a idéia de plano de imanência e o conceito de multiplicidade virtual de Deleuze. Apresentamos, então, uma espécie de roteiro desse percurso. É o conceito de formas de vida, articulado e pensado a partir (...) de Deleuze, a resposta ao problema da pluralidade e da diferença. (shrink)

O artigo discute a relação da Filosofia com o que se convencionou chamar Convergência Tecnológica NBIC, a sinergia entre as Nanotecnologias, Biotecnologias, Tecnologias da Informação e Ciências Cognitivas para a resolução de problemas. A partir de algumas formulações de Andrew Feenberg buscamos situar a Filosofia da Tecnologia perante tal movimento. Qual seria a agenda de pesquisa necessária para posicionarmos a Filosofia em relação à Convergência Tecnológica?

Resumen: El artículo es la primera parte de un trabajo académico que estudia los fundamentos teórico-conceptuales de la propuesta metodológica de Norman Fairclough e Isabela Fairclough, especialmente la relación entre el concepto de contexto y deliberación con los que sustentan que el discurso político de un determinado actor político para ser político debe pertenecer a un contexto institucionalizado. Tesis que defienden desde la naturaleza política de Aristóteles concebida como un medio para llegar cooperativamente y a través de la acción de (...) la deliberación a asuntos de interés común. Si bien la naturaleza de la política en Aristóteles tiene como esencia la acción humana y la deliberación, también es claro en su política que los esclavos no deliberan. Se pretende mostrar la manera como Norman Fairclough e Isabela Fairclough lidian con la exclusión aristotélica para contribuir al desarrollo teórico-conceptual del análisis crítico del discurso.: This article is the first part of an academic work that studies the theoretical-conceptual foundations of the methodological proposal of Norman Fairclough and Isabela Fairclough, especially the relationship between the concept of context and deliberation with those who support that the political discourse of a given political actor must belong to an institutionalized context. Thesis that they defend from the concept of political nature from Aristotle, conceived to arrive cooperatively and through the action of deliberation to matters of common interest. While the nature of Aristotle's politics is based on human action and deliberation, it is also clear in its policy that slaves do not deliberate. It is intended to show the way Norman Fairclough and Isabela Fairclough deal with Aristotelian exclusion to contribute to the theoretical-conceptual development of critical discourse analysis. (shrink)

important source for the work has been the testimony of those closest to Wittgenstein. Literary executors, friends and students have all become essential tools for discovering more about Wittgenstein's personality and thoughts. That is the reason why many of their writings have been used to give a more accurate description of how the philosopher understood matters concerning the meaning of life.

Over the last few years, in part due to the political impact of terrorist activities, the debate on the moral significance of torture as a useful means of obtaining information from enemy combatants has arisen with an urgency not seen in many years. Stressing the importance of exceptional cases, the defenders of torture attempt to justify its acceptance by and back its use in the judicial system of Western democracies. Yet what is at stake here are the basic moral principles—especially (...) that of human dignity-on which our political convictions rest. Admitting of exceptions would change the value of these principles: what once werefixed guidelines for acceptable action now become alterable according to specific political demands, thus making torture into a morally neutral act. The current defence of torture in the West may be a symptom of the progressive absolutization of the State. (shrink)

“Literature and the Right to Death” is probably the most quoted of French thinker Maurice Blanchot’s texts. For decades it has been discussed by such important figures as Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, or even the writer Paul Auster. Its importance is twofold: on the one hand, it is often considered an important gateway to Blanchot’s literary thought. On the other hand, it constitutes a substantial example of the new reception of Hegel in France after the Second World War. Although there (...) is no doubt about its Kojèvo-Hegelian inspiration and its center in what we could call “literary experience”, this article intends to explore another of its layers: its relation to the discussion around humanism and the Terror, as forgotten as it was central in France at the end of the 1940’s. We will thus try to lay the foundations for a new reading of this fundamental piece in Blanchot’s production. (shrink)