"En fabriquant des outils, en accédant au langage articulé, en s'affranchissant progressivement des contraintes de la sélection naturelle, l'homme a donné toute liberté à son imagination, à ses rêves et à ses émotions. Peu à peu, la conscience du beau s'est imposée à lui, avec l'acquisition de la notion de symétrie, l'émergence du sens de l'harmonie, puis l'apparition de la parure, de l'art mobilier, de l'art pariétal, et même de la musique... Le sens de la beauté est une des aspirations (...) les plus profondes de la nature humaine à la recherche de la transcendance. Mais quand, et comment, ce sentiment de la beauté émerge-t-il? Qu'elle est la signification du beau? Peut-il y avoir une beauté en mathématique? Quelles ont été les grandes étapes de l'évolution de l'art préhistorique? De l'art médiéval? Qu'est-ce que le " Beau idéal "? Peut-on avoir une émotion esthétique? Que signifie le beau dans l'art contemporain? C'est à ces questions essentielles que répondent Henry de Lumley et son équipe, composée d'historiens, de physiciens, de mathématiciens, d'artistes, de philosophes et de théologiens. Ce livre, tiré d'un cycle de conférence tenu au collège des Bernardins, est une grande synthèse qui bouscule les interprétations dominantes sur l'idée de la beauté." [Source : 4e de couv.]. (shrink)

L'Homme, cet être vivant doué de raison, fabricant d'objets élaborés, doté d'un langage articulé, chez lequel a émergé la pensée conceptuelle et symbolique, se caractérise par une aptitude à l'émerveillement, et une capacité d'espérance accompagnée d'un refus de l'absurde. Avec l'invention de l'outil manufacturé et les premiers témoignages d'une pensée symbolique, comment la fabuleuse aventure culturelle et spirituelle de l'Homme a-t-elle débuté? Pourquoi à travers les temps, même les plus anciens, et dans toutes les cultures, l'émergence du sens de la (...) transcendance n'a-t-il cessé de se manifester et de s'inscrire au coeur de notre humanité? Comment est-il devenu une caractéristique de l'Homme, une de ses aspirations profondes? Comment définir le sens du sacré? C'est de cette dimension intrinsèquement humaine, et des traces qu'elle a laissées, qu'il est ici question. Après L'Univers, la Vie et l'Homme : émergence du sens de la Conscience et Le Beau, l'Art et l'Homme : émergence du sens de l'Esthétique, voici le troisième et dernier opus dirigé par Henry de Lumley, issu d'un cycle de conférences au Collège des Bernardins. L'ambition de ces rencontres? Faire dialoguer physiciens, astrophysiciens, géologues, biologistes, paléoanthropologues, préhistoriens, historiens de l'art, philosophes et théologiens autour de questions qui ont trait à l'essence de l'humanité. (shrink)

I have always considered that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that ought to be demonstrated by philosophical rather than ...

Reúne textos sobre a história e seu objeto, desde o século XVII até a contemporaneidade, compondo uma amostragem do que se tem trabalhado no âmbito da filosofia da história, mais expressivamente no Brasil.

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar um mapeamento do tipo “estado da arte, ou estado do conhecimento” das produções acadêmicas sobre mulheres negras em processo de alfabetização na Educação de Jovens e Adultos. O inventário das produções, que teve como recorte temporal os anos de 2010 até 2020, foi realizado a partir dos catálogos de dissertações e teses da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) e do Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia (IBICT), bem como (...) os anais da Associação Nacional de Política e Administração da Educação (ANPAE) e da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação (ANPED). Nesse processo, constatou-se que embora tenha ocorrido uma ampliação na produção científica do campo, ainda é insipiente o número de produções que correlacionam a temática da alfabetização de mulheres negras coma EJA. (shrink)

The Meditations, one of the key texts of Western philosophy, is the most widely studied of all Descartes' writings. This authoritative translation by John Cottingham, taken from the much acclaimed three-volume Cambridge edition of the Philosophical Writings of Descartes, is based upon the best available texts and presents Descartes' central metaphysical writings in clear, readable modern English. As well as the complete text of the Meditations, the reader will find a thematic abridgement of the Objections and Replies (which were originally (...) published with the Meditations) containing Descartes' replies to his critics. These extracts, specially selected for the present volume, indicate the main philosophical difficulties which occurred to Descartes' contemporaries and show how Descartes developed and clarified his arguments in response. This edition contains a new comprehensive introduction to Descartes' philosophy by John Cottingham and the classic introductory essay on the Meditations by Bernard Williams. (shrink)

I argue that the offense generation pattern of slurring terms parallels that of impoliteness behaviors, and is best explained by appeal to similar purely pragmatic mechanisms. In choosing to use a slurring term rather than its neutral counterpart, the speaker signals that she endorses the term. Such an endorsement warrants offense, and consequently slurs generate offense whenever a speaker's use demonstrates a contrastive preference for the slurring term. Since this explanation comes at low theoretical cost and imposes few constraints on (...) an account of the semantics of slurs, this suggests that we should not require semantic accounts to provide an independent explanation of the offense profile. (shrink)

A ‘vestigial social practice' is a norm, convention, or social behavior that persists even when few endorse it or its original justifying rationale. Begby (2021) explores social explanations for the persistence of prejudice, arguing that even if we all privately disavow a stereotype, we might nevertheless continue acting as if it is true because we believe that others expect us to. Meanwhile the persistence of the practice provides something like implicit testimonial evidence for the prejudice that would justify it, making (...) it rational for members of the next generation to acquire the corresponding prejudiced beliefs. This paper distinguishes between three different types of vestigial social practice in terms of the underlying explanatory mechanisms, and argues that the persistence of prejudicial social stereotypes is most tightly linked not to others’ beliefs or expectations, but to the ways that material infrastructure constrains options shapes social outcomes. Given that, the persistence of a practice only provides grounds to infer that most people endorse the corresponding prejudiced belief only if we are in a position to dismiss relevant alternative explanations. (shrink)

I argue that inferences from highly probabilifying racial generalizations are not solely objectionable because acting on such inferences would be problematic, or they violate a moral norm, but because they violate a distinctively epistemic norm. They involve accepting a proposition when, given the costs of a mistake, one is not adequately justified in doing so. First I sketch an account of the nature of adequate justification—practical adequacy with respect to eliminating the ~p possibilities from one’s epistemic statespace. Second, I argue (...) that inferences based on demographic generalizations tend to disproportionately expose group members to the risks associated with mistakenly assuming stereotypical propositions, and so magnify the wrong involved in relying on such inferences without adequate justification. (shrink)

Several authors have recently suggested that moral factors and norms `encroach' on the epistemic, and because of salient parallels to pragmatic encroachment views in epistemology, these suggestions have been dubbed `moral encroachment views'. This paper distinguishes between variants of the moral encroachment thesis, pointing out how they address different problems, are motivated by different considerations, and are not all subject to the same objections. It also explores how the family of moral encroachment views compare to classical pragmatic encroachment accounts.

O texto fala da amizade como inspiração filosófica, mas também como inspiração da vida. Os filósofos e filósofas são “amigos da sabedoria”, mas não necessariamente sábios. Contudo, ao nos aproximarmos do pensamento de Emmanuel Lévinas e Maurice Blanchot, percebemos o exercício profundo do pensamento, feito de cumplicidade intelectual. A amizade entre Lévinas e Blanchot é o fio condutor da escrita. Durante muito tempo foram distantes politicamente. Blanchot apoiou o nazismo enquanto Lévinas escrevia e vivia sobre as consequências do nazismo. Diante (...) de uma admiração filosófica que ambos passam a nutrir, Blanchot muda suas posições. Percebe um tempo de morte, tema que atravessa seus escritos. Entre proximidades e distanciamentos acompanhamos suas conversas infinitas que trazem a filosofia e a literatura como matéria-prima para os inúmeros diálogos tecidos. Suas obras erguem questões e respostas aos estes diálogos. A linguagem torna-se não somente o meio pelo qual se constitui e se faz a defesa do pensamento, mas é ética, filosofia primeira, único caminho possível para existirmos enquanto comunidade. Palavras-chaves: Lévinas, Blanchot, Amizade, Linguagem, Ética. (shrink)

The practical importance of auction theory is widely recognized. Indeed, economists have been recognized for their contribution to the design of several auction-like mechanisms, such as the U. S. Federal Communications Commission spectrum auctions, the 3G auctions in Europe and beyond, and the auction markets for electricity markets around the world. This book provides a step-by-step, self-contained treatment of the theory of auctions. The aim is to provide an introductory textbook that will allow students and readers with a calculus background (...) to work through all the basic results. Coverage includes: the basic independent-private-model; the effects of introducing correlation in valuations on equilibrium behaviour and the seller's expected revenue; mechanism design; and the theory of multi-object auctions. The paperback edition of the text includes a new chapter which acts as a guide to current developments in auction theory. (shrink)

1 contient:Les préambules ; Les observations ; Les olympiques ; Les règles pour la direction de l'esprit ; Le traité de l'homme ; Le discours de la méthode ; Le traité de la mécanique... 2 contient: Les méditations ; Les objections et les réponses ; Réponse aux instances de Gassendi ; Lettre au P. Dinet ; La recherche de la vérité par la lumière naturelle ; Des extraits de la correspondance.3 contient:Les principes de la philosophie ; Les notae in programma (...) ; Les passions de l'âme... (shrink)

It shall be examined how anti-physicalist arguments give rise to the tension between those aspects of our everyday life and the thesis of physicalism. The debate over the subjective character of consciousness, or as it is sometimes called: “the hard problem of consciousness”, is considered to be the greatest challenge to physicalism. Many philosophers posit this as a matter that cannot be solved, regardless of scientific progress, for it is beyond the scope of what science can find out about the (...) world. If they are correct, the consequence is that the idea of physicalism itself fails. The paper is divided in two parts. For the first part we will deal with Chalmers’ version of the conceivability argument as well as the semantic apparatus of the two-dimensional framework required to make the appropriate link between conceivability and possibility. At the end of this we shall take a look at Kripke’s version of the conceivability argument against physicalism. (shrink)

O presente texto pretende refletir sobre a interculturalidade e sua necesidade histórica, através de dois autores centrais, Raúl Fornet-Betancourt e LéliaGonzalez. O conhecimento dos porvos indígenas e negros foi apagado e nem sequer reconhecido como conhecimento filosófico. Qusndo se reconhece a filosofia amerindia, se faz em comparação com a filosofia ocidental e com tudo que esta produziu. Neste sentido, la Filosofia Intercultural coloca o desafio de repensar la filosofia desde outras experiências de pensamento. O epistemicidio expõe o racismo em que (...) vivimos. O encontro do filósofo cubano com a filósofa brasileira, uma mulher negra, dará força a uma categoria de pensamento que pretendo desenvolver, Améfrica Profunda, para melhor compreender este país chamado Brasil e a forma em que as resistências dos povos indígenas e negros se constituiram, también a partir de profundas experiencias interculturais. (shrink)

Empirical data from studies with both heterosexual and homosexual individuals have consistently indicated different tendencies in mating behavior. However, transgenders’ data are often overlooked. This exploratory study compared levels of sociosexuality and self-esteem between transgenders and non-transgender (cisgender) individuals. The aim was to verify whether either sexual genotype or gender self-perception had more influence on the examined variables in transgenders. Correlations between self-esteem and sociosexuality levels were also investigated. The sample consisted of 120 Brazilian individuals (51 transgenders) from both sexes. (...) Sociosexuality scores indicated mostly sex-typical patterns for transgenders of both sexes across the construct’s three dimensions (behavior, attitude, and desire), except for female-to-male transgenders’ behavioral sociosexuality. Unique associations between the dimensions of sociosexuality were found for transgender participants. No differences in self-esteem were observed and no correlations between self-esteem and sociosexuality were found. The results suggest that transgenders’ sociosexuality is largely influenced by their sexual genotype despite their incongruent gender self-perception and that the relationships between behavior, attitude, and sociosexual desire are different from those observed in cisgenders. (shrink)

Este artigo procura compreender a noção de mimese na Poética de Aristóteles. Tanto nos autores do século V a.C., quanto em Platão e em Aristóteles, os cognatos de mimesis desconhecem um campo específico de aplicação, além disso, apresentam acepções – simular e emular – que por vezes se identificam e outras vezes se contradizem. Apesar desta ambivalência de mimesis e cognatos nos autores do século V a.C., e no próprio Aristóteles, na Poética o exemplo da pintura elucida melhor o sentido (...) de mimesis e cognatos no contexto das mimetikai technai (artes miméticas). (shrink)

O presente estudo propõe-se a analisar as medidas e os limites de precaução adotados pelos Poderes da República. Pretendem-se investigar as premissas em que estão fundamentadas as ações do Poder Judiciário, resultando no ativismo judicial. Ponderam-se, ainda, os limites do ativismo judicial e a harmonia entre Poderes. Ressaltam-se a importância atual da temática e a necessidade de exploração de suas repercussões para a construção social. A pesquisa, de viés qualitativo e de cunho exploratório, será lastreada em levantamento bibliográfico e dados (...) estatísticos obtidos através de fontes diversas. (shrink)

presente trabalho busca explicitar alguns elementos da concepção voltairiana da história (e do historiador). A intenção não é a de inventariar, segundo uma ordem cronológica, a formação de uma filosofia da história em Voltaire, mas tão somente apresentar uma face dessa gênese, a saber, a crítica à teologia da história, que se encontra embasando aquele ponto de vista. Não há dúvida de que o erro faz parte do homem. Assim como a superstição, o fanatismo, o ódio, o crime, a guerra (...) e todos os demais efeitos do erro. No entanto, à força de destruir o erro, a verdade foi cultivada. Com efeito, o combate ao erro é um impulsionador dos homens e semelhante guerra se passa na história: a história dos progressos do espírito. Não há uma condenação perpétua do homem à ignorância e, por isso mesmo, não faz sentido conceber a história a partir de uma redenção, que indica à humanidade sua incapacidade de encontrar, por si mesma, os caminhos da superação de seus erros. Uma história sem redenção; estamos diante de uma das ambições mais importantes do pensamento voltairiano. Com ela nasce o desejo de eliminar o miraculoso, o misterioso que envolve o entendimento da história, retirando-lhe a crença ingênua no fantástico, por um lado, e a névoa espessa que a culpa e a criminalidade original lhe impuseram, por outro. (shrink)

How is it possible for a picture to depict a picture? Proponents of perceptual theories of depiction, who argue that the content of a picture is determined, in part, by the visual state it elicits in suitable viewers, that is, by a state of seeing-in, have given a plausible answer to this question. They say that a picture depicts a picture, in part, because, under appropriate conditions of observation, a suitable viewer will be able to see a picture in the (...) picture. In this article, I first argue that this answer is in conflict with the way in which some of the most influential perceptual theories of depiction – Robert Hopkins's version of the experienced resemblance theory and Dominic Lopes's version of the recognition theory – construe seeing-in. I then formulate a version of the recognition theory that avoids this conflict and show how it can explain the depiction of pictures. (shrink)

A dual-language edition presenting Descartes's original Latin text of his greatest work, with a facing-page authoritative English translation.

In addition to protecting agents’ autonomy, consent plays a crucial social role: it enables agents to secure partners in valuable interactions that would be prohibitively morally risk otherwise. To do this, consent must be observable: agents must be able to track the facts about whether they have received a consent-based permission. I argue that this morally justifies a consent-practice on which communicating that one consents is sufficient for consent, but also generates robust constraints on what sorts of behaviors can be (...) taken as consent- communicating. (shrink)

First published in 1923 as part of the Cambridge Plain Texts series, this volume contains Descartes' Discours de la méthode in the original French. A short editorial introduction in English is also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the works of Descartes and the development of rationalism.

Trata-se de um encontro dialogal da virada pragmático-linguística filosofia com a informação e a teoria crítica da sociedade. O escopo de tal encontro é a busca pelas possibilidades férteis que a teoria crítica da sociedade pós-virada linguística oferece para os estudos sociais da informação, em especial, o método da reconstrução racional, cujo propósito reconstrutivo traz consigo dois conceitos fundamentais que se assemelham e coexistem com as ações prático-cognitivas da informação: sentido e validade. Versa acerca de um encontro público entre as (...) pretensões racionais do uso público da linguagem e seu eco pelas veredas plurais dos estudos informacionais. Ao final das glosas, ficam vestígios e indícios de uma tarefa humanitária e emancipatória porvir, em seu detalhe informacional. INFORMATION BETWEEN MEANING AND VALIDITY: GLOSSES RECONSTRUCTIVEAbstractIt is a dialogical meeting of the pragmatic-linguistic turn philosophy with information and critical theory of society. The scope of this meeting is the search for fertile possibilities that the critical theory of society linguistic post-oriented provides for the social studies of information, in particular the method of rational reconstruction, the purpose of reconstructive brings with it two key concepts that are similar and coexist with the practical-cognitive actions of information: meaning and validity. Versa about a public meeting between the rational claims of the public use of language and its echo the plural paths of informational studies. At the end of glosses, are traces and evidence of a humanitarian task and future emancipatory in its informational detail. (shrink)

Tem como contexto o Brasil atual, em seus circuitos helênicos e disposições modernas. O Brasil dos fluxos da máquina antropológica ocidental. Entretanto, é também uma escritura a contrapelo, de um Brasil contemporâneo inatual, rodeado por existências virtuais que habitam a orla marginal das falas essenciais. Fora do sentido e da univocidade de um conservadorismo colonial travestido nas roupas do Estado, o inatual é não-oficial (aquele que diz “preferiria não” à ordem), um acidente que irrompe em veredas multivocais nos sulcos escriturais (...) do ofício e, em contingentes toares, aquebrantam as barreiras da língua universal. Este inatual é o ruidoso Brasil dos seres informes e das palavras selvagens, o tropel dos doces bárbaros que avançam através dos grossos portões simbólico-materiais da antiga pólis e seus modernos aparelhos de Estado em busca dos festins da linguagem, dos seus jogos germinantes de alteridade, das suas balbúrdias gramaticais que fertilizam vidas impertinentes ao sentido único. Por esta maneira, este texto é con–temporâneo, ao mesmo tempo, inatual, antigo, moderno e atual. Simultaneamente, carnaval. (shrink)

This article is an invitation to consider Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Question as a text that leads the reader to consider the possibilities offered by the post-Covid 19 resumption of daily school life with children as a political act. Based on a conversation that Freire had with Antônio Faundez in 1985, this text encourages researchers and educators to consider ways of returning to school life in ways that are welcoming, responsive and loving in the wake of the experience of (...) “almost-exile” undergone during the covid-19 pandemic. It becomes necessary to think school life again from where the children truly are, restarting in full awareness of the adventures, the pains, the losses they have undergone, encouraging them to ask the questions that the pandemic experience has produced them, and to recognize the new forms of consciousness it has inaugurated. This paper explores the implications of the ideas found in the Freire-Faundez dialogue for this moment of reconstruction. (shrink)

o presente ensaio traz uma breve reflexao sobre a perspectiva habermasiana de sistematlzacao do "mundo vital", examinada no quadro histórico da questao da "pós-modernidade". Esta trata da relacao, apontada por HABERMAS (03:t II), entre as esferas do "sistema" e do "mundo vital", aplicada em termos de uma teoria da sociedade que se coloca frente a ideia de uma "nova ordem mundial".

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo refletir sobre a educação escolar no sistema prisional contemporâneo. Destacando os marcos legais e documentos oficiais que expressam e orientam o direito à educação nestes espaços não formais. Pensar a educação neste contexto é destacar a importância da educação para o processo transformador do ser humano, ou seja, a educação tem a função de promover a reintegração social do sujeito em situação de privação de liberdade. Para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho temos como abordagem qualitativa, (...) com o suporte das pesquisas bibliográfica e documental. Portanto, promover a acessibilidade da pessoa privada de liberdade, é promover não só a reintegração social via a educação, como promover o exercício da cidadania independente do fato julgado. Nestes termos, a educação escolar no sistema prisional tem sido um desafio para a reintegração social da pessoa privada de liberdade na contemporaneidade. (shrink)

la82 12.00 Normal 0 21 false false false PT-BR X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Este ensaio tem por tema a perspectiva de uma ética relacionada à concepçáo de modernidade em Michel Foucault. Ele trata da leitura que Foucault faz do texto de Kant sobre o Aufklärung. Investiga o âmbito específico das condições de uma ontologia do indivíduo na qual busca mostrar a articulaçáo entre o diagnóstico do presente e a reconstruçáo da tradiçáo crítica em torno da idéia de autonomia. Procura demonstrar na (...) concepçáo da “atitude de modernidade” a força histórica da herança do Aufklärung encontrada na perspectiva crítica de uma problematizaçáo ética da atualidade, a partir de uma concepçáo de autonomia, estabelecida na proposta de uma “estética da existência”. (shrink)

Resumo: Neste trabalho discute-se a crítica de István Mészáros à Lógica de Hegel. Aponta-se como o marxismo realiza a crítica aos pontos de partida e de chegada da Ciência da lógica, quais sejam, o pensamento sem pressupostos e o círculo auto-constituído da Lógica. Com isso, indica-se a diferença entre os modos hegeliano e marxista de conceber o enraizamento do conhecimento no processo de vida real. Discute-se ainda como István Mészáros realizou uma dura crítica à hipostasiação do método dialético em G. (...) Lukács, crítica esta que se apóia na rejeição de um método que deixa de prestar contas ao ser e que, por isso, acaba lidando com a identidade entre conhecimento e ser como uma mera postulação abstrata.: This paper discusses István Mészáros critique of Hegel’s Logic. We point out how Marxism criticizes the presuppositionless thinkingand self-constituted circle of reasoning of the Science of logic. We thereby show the difference between the Hegelian and Marxist ways of conceiving the rooting of knowledge in the process of real life. We also discuss how Mészáros made a scathing critique of the hypostatization of dialectical method in Lukács work. This critique is based on the rejection of a method that fails to be accountable to the real world and therefore ends up treating the identity of knowledge and being as a mere abstract postulation. (shrink)

​I evaluate a suggestion, floated by Kimberly Ferzan (this volume), that the twitter hashtag campaign #BelieveWomen is best accommodated by non-reductionist views of testimonial justification. I argue that the issue is ultimately one about the ethical obligation to trust women, rather than a question of what grounds testimonial justification. I also suggest that the hashtag campaign does not simply assert that ‘we should trust women’, but also militates against a pernicious striking-property generic (roughly: ‘women make false sexual assault accusations’), that (...) distorts our evaluation of women’s testimony concerning sexual assault. I conclude #BelieveWomen does not demand that we believe against the evidence, or uncritically, or be more trusting than we have evidential justification to be. Rather, it aims to bring our trust closer to what is merited by the base-rate of reliable testimony from women concerning sexual assault. (shrink)

The problem of moral disagreement has been presented as an objection to contextualist semantics for ‘ought’, since it is not clear that contextualism can accommodate or give a convincing gloss of such disagreement. I argue that independently of our semantics, disagreements over ‘ought’ in non-cooperative contexts are best understood as indirect metalinguistic disputes, which is easily accommodated by contextualism. If this is correct, then rather than posing a problem for contextualism, the data from moral disagreements provides some reason to adopt (...) a semantics that allows contextual variance in the meanings of ‘ought’. (shrink)

Some, but not all, of the mistakes a person makes when acting in apparently necessary self-defense are reasonable: we take them not to violate the rights of the apparent aggressor. I argue that this is explained by duties grounded in agents' entitlements to a fair distribution of the risk of suffering unjust harm. I suggest that the content of these duties is filled in by a social signaling norm, and offer some moral constraints on the form such a norm can (...) take. (shrink)

Descartes' Discourse marks a watershed in European thought; in it, the author sets out in brief his radical new philosophy, which begins with a proof of the existence of the self (the famous "cogito ergo sum"). Next he deduces from it the existence and nature of God, and ends by offering a radical new account of the physical world and of human and animal nature. Written in everyday language and meant to be read by common people of the day, it (...) swept away all previous philosophical traditions. This new translation is an ideal introduction to Descartes for the general reader. It is accompanied by a substantial introductory essay from Renaissance scholar Ian Maclean that is designed to provide in-depth historical and philosophical context. The essay draws on Descartes' correspondence to examine what brought him to write his great work, and the impact it had on his contemporaries. A detailed section of notes explain Descartes' philosophical terminology and ideas, as well as historical references and allusions. Any reader can feel comfortable diving in to this classic work of Renaissance philosophical thought. (shrink)

These two 1985 volumes provide a translation of the philosophical works of Descartes, based on the best available Latin and French texts. They are intended to replace the only reasonably comprehensive selection of his works in English, by Haldane and Ross, first published in 1911. All the works included in that edition are translated here, together with a number of additional texts crucial for an understanding of Cartesian philosophy, including important material from Descartes' scientific writings. The result should meet the (...) widespread demand for an accurate and authoritative edition of Descartes' philosophical writings in clear and readable modern English. (shrink)

Sometimes speakers within a linguistic community use a term that they do not conceptualize as a slur, but which other members of that community do. Sometimes these speakers are ignorant or naïve, but not always. This article explores a puzzle raised when some speakers stubbornly maintain that a contested term t is not derogatory. Because the semantic content of a term depends on the language, to say that their use of t is semantically derogatory despite their claims and intentions, we (...) must individuate languages in a way that counts them as speaking our language L, assigns t a determinately derogatory content in L, and still accommodates the other features of slurs’ linguistic profile. Given the difficulty of doing this, there is some reason to give a non-semantic analysis of the derogatory aspect of slurs. The author suggests that rather than dismissing the stubborn as semantically incompetent, we would do better to appeal to expected uptake as moral reasons for the stubborn to adjust their linguistic practices. (shrink)

A regulative norm for permissible defense distinguishes the conditions under which we will hold defenders to be innocent of any wrongdoing from those in which we hold them responsible for assault or manslaughter. The norm must strike a fair balance between defenders' security, on the one hand, and other agents’ legitimate claim to live without fear of suffering mistaken defensive harm, on the other. Since agents must make defensive decisions under high pressure and on only partial information, they will sometimes (...) make mistakes. We have reason to want a norm that considers a mistake permissible when it was highly likely on the evidence that defense was proportionate and necessary to avert a threat. However, adopting an evidentialist norm under non-ideal conditions is treacherous business. I briefly survey empirical data suggesting that the type and extent of bias prevalent in the US renders a straightforward evidentialist norm unjust, and thus since the legal practice in the US relies on such a norm, we must explore avenues for reform. Preferably this will take the form of adopting a modified evidential norm, and I explore some promising options. If this proves impossible, however, then we have to accept a strict regulative norm (which does not consider any mistakes permissible), as the sole just alternative. (shrink)

Manifeste de la philosophie cartésienne, le Discours de la méthode (1637) est tout à la fois le récit d'un cheminement intellectuel et l'illustration magistrale d'un projet : fonder l'unité des sciences et constituer une science universelle. Foyer d'une oeuvre foisonnante, le Discours revendique les droits de la raison contre toute tradition et toute autorité. C'est pourquoi il assigne à la philosophie une tâche : s'élever à 1a certitude. La présente édition, augmentée d'un dossier, entend mettre en évidence le jeu de (...) résonances qui relie le Discours aux autres textes de Descartes. (shrink)

Recently, an increasing number of scholars have been showing interest in old-fashioned racism again. While recent studies on old-fashioned racism apparently increase our knowledge of this psychological theory of racism, the studies actually shed light on a different type of racism, namely offensive racism. The aim of this text is to argue that psychological theories of racism, like old-fashioned racism and modern racism, depend on societies’ social norms. I will show that questionnaires are highly sensitive to social norms, and if (...) there is change in social norms, the original measurement object alters. The theory of old-fashioned racism implicitly assumes agents that follow (or conform to) the social norm to behave prejudiced. Today, however, this social norm does not exist in Western societies. If agents express the same prejudices today, they indicate their willingness to breach the social norm to behave unprejudiced. Thereby, classic old-fashioned racism measures reflect a new kind of racism today. (shrink)

While common sense and rationality often have been viewed as two distinct features in a unitifed cognitive map, this this volume offers novel, even paradoxical views of the relationship. Touching on various disciplines, it considers what constitutes human rationality, behavior, and intelligence.