After long periods in which there was more assimilating from other cultures, rather than creating, Romanian culture has experienced, in the interwar period, also the phase corresponding to the creation of important spiritual values. In that time, if we use a Lucian Blaga’s phrase, there was a real “ontological mutation” in the field of culture. Unrests, attitudes, propositions of cultural directions, whether, judged now, were providing solutions or just stimulating the environment of thinking, illustrate today the desire of men of (...) culture of that time to produce values through which the Romanian spirit had to spread, through its contribution, in the universal spirit. But how could this happen? Everything that was done until then had to be left behind, forgotten? Or what had been forgotten was worth to be restored? Which was the undisputed landmark? What kind of spirituality was fundamental for it? The traditional one or the European one? Nichifor Crainic in his essay “Spirituality”, in a first phase, and then, in the same year 1929, the investigation from Tiparniţa literară, and seven years later Constantin Rădulescu-Motru in “Românismul, catehismul unei noi spiritualităţi” emphasize the meaning of the concept of “Spirituality”, and in addition the great number of meanings of the term “new spirituality”. (shrink)

Ion Dur is an authentic scholar. His working methods, his interest and freshness of his discourse are placing him among the active contemporary Romanian philosophers and critics. Among the constant coordinates of his work are the attempt to guide readers "towards the North point of value". Ion Dur distinguishes himself by depth of his analysis on culture, criticism and journalism. The aim of this study is to offer, to young researchers and others as well, an Ariadne‘s Thread to the hermeneut‘s (...) work. In preparation of this article, extensive documentation was made and most diverse sources have been used in order to illustrate the author's ideas and to highlight the warm reception of his writings. Among others, in 1995, the essayist has re-established Sæculum, a journal founded by Lucian Blaga, in 1943, coordinated by Ion Dur for 20 years. We are writing this article in honorem to a scholar and an university Professor who this year climbed onto the seventieth step of his life. (shrink)

This paper represents an attempt to correlate the concept of hope with the notion of human longevity and reflects the actual debates around the problem of life extension. Our analysis combines ideas from philosophy, sociology, bioethics, and religion to illustrate the problem of longevity in the context of biomedical and technological progress, and - at the same time - to show the (possible) consequences of prolonging life over the human body limits. Extending human life through emerging technologies is much closer (...) to us than we might think and is a particularly challenging topic. (shrink)

Besides his philosophical essays, Emil Cioran also maintained a vast correspondence. He sent and received numerous letters; from his parents and his brother Aurel, as well as from various personalities, friends and romantic interests. These represent a part of the philosopher’s personality which deserves to be organically integrated in the corpus of Cioran’s work and writings. Most of Cioran’s letters are inevitably literary; they preserve a productive ambiguity and express attitudes and feelings belonging to both the organic man and the (...) thinker who brushed against life. The letters thus appear as notes the philosopher sent from the underground of his being. The present text analyses two fragments of correspondence: with Alina Diaconu (1985–1989), a journalist and writer of Romanian origin settled in Argentina; and (in German) with the editor and philosopher Wolfgang Kraus (1971–1990). (shrink)

The philosopher and professor Tudor Cătineanu proposes to "seekers of metaphysical reason" a volume of studies on Rhetoric and Metaphysics. Entitled Rhetoric and Metaphysics: In Search of Metaphysical Reason (Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2019, 571 p.), the book is the result of elaborate studies, therefore pre- and post-December 1989. The work, as the author points out, “is organized by combining two major perspectives, historical and systematic” (p. 7), and the predominant method of work used is the „interdisciplinary methods” called “matrix (...) of levels”. But the researcher uses, also, “the matrix of functors” and "the matrix of stylistic". (shrink)

Filosoful Teodor Vidam continuă, cu seriozitatea ştiinţifică probată de cercetări îndelungate, proiectul de înviorare a eticii româneşti. În spiritul sintezei, continuând „Revirimentul eticii în gândirea filosofică românească” (2016), proaspătul volum intitulat „Eseuri etice” (Editura Argonaut, Cluj-Napoca, 2018, p. 159) vizează, de asemenea, instituirea unei stări de normalitate etică în societatea românească.

Ana PASCARU (Scientific coordinator) Integrarea tradițiilor filosofice în societatea bazată pe cunoaștere [Integrating philosophical traditions in the knowledge-based society]. (2019): Kishinev. Institute of History, Philosophy Department – Chișinău [Kishinev], “Artpoligraf” Printing House.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become nearly ubiquitous in modern society, from components of mobile applications to medical support systems, and everything in between. In societally impactful systems imbued with AI, there has been increasing concern related to opaque AI, that is, artificial intelligence where it is unclear how or why certain decisions are reached. This has led to a recent boom in research on “explainable AI” (XAI), or approaches to making AI more explainable and understandable to human users. In the (...) military domain, numerous bodies have argued that autonomous and AI-enabled weapon systems ought not incorporate unexplainable AI, with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United States Department of Defense both explicitly including explainability as a relevant factor in the development and use of such systems. In this article, I present a cautiously critical assessment of this view, arguing that explainability will be irrelevant for many current and near-future autonomous systems in the military (which do not incorporate any AI), that it will be trivially incorporated into most military systems which do possess AI (as these generally possess simpler AI systems), and that for those systems with genuinely opaque AI, explainability will prove to be of more limited value than one might imagine. In particular, I argue that explainability, while indeed a virtue in design, is a virtue aimed primarily at designers and troubleshooters of AI-enabled systems, but is far less relevant for users and handlers actually deploying these systems. I further argue that human–machine teaming is a far more important element of responsibly using AI for military purposes, adding that explainability may undermine efforts to improve human–machine teamings by creating a prima facie sense that the AI, due to its explainability, may be utilized with little (or less) potential for mistakes. I conclude by clarifying that the arguments are not against XAI in the military, but are instead intended as a caution against over-inflating the value of XAI in this domain, or ignoring the limitations and potential pitfalls of this approach. (shrink)

In international law and the ethics of war, there are a variety of actions which are seen as particularly problematic and presumed to be always or inherently wrong, or in need of some overwhelmingly strong justification to override the presumption against them. One of these actions is assassination, in particular, assassination of heads of state. In this essay I argue that the presumption against assassination is incorrect. In particular, I argue that if in a given scenario war is justified, then (...) assassination of the enemy state's leader is also justified, and in fact ought to be pursued as a means short of war. I defend this position on both consequential and deontic grounds, arguing that assassination is both more discriminate than war and serves to harm only those most responsible for the situation which justifies war in the first place. I conclude by arguing that a norm of assassination, far from being a destabilizing force, as some have argued, would in fact serve to reinforce international norms of rights and respect for persons by making clear that tyrants and would-be oppressors cannot hide behind military forces or notions of sovereignty to protect themselves from judgment and retribution. (shrink)

This paper looks at philosophical questions that arise in the context of AI alignment. It defends three propositions. First, normative and technical aspects of the AI alignment problem are interrelated, creating space for productive engagement between people working in both domains. Second, it is important to be clear about the goal of alignment. There are significant differences between AI that aligns with instructions, intentions, revealed preferences, ideal preferences, interests and values. A principle-based approach to AI alignment, which combines these elements (...) in a systematic way, has considerable advantages in this context. Third, the central challenge for theorists is not to identify ‘true’ moral principles for AI; rather, it is to identify fair principles for alignment that receive reflective endorsement despite widespread variation in people’s moral beliefs. The final part of the paper explores three ways in which fair principles for AI alignment could potentially be identified. (shrink)

Während die Bedeutung Freges für die Philosophie der Gegenwart, soweit sich diese der analytischen Philosophie verpflichtet fühlt, allgemeine Anerkennung gefunden hat, ist seine Stellung innerhalb der eigenen Zeit noch weitgehend unaufgeklärt geblieben. So herrscht die Auffassung vor, Frege habe seine Ideen ganz aus sich selbst oder geradezu im Gegensatz zur deutschen philosophischen Tradition seiner Zeit gewonnen. Bei genauerer Textanalyse weisen Freges Schriften dagegen vielfältige Beziehungen zur zeitgenössischen Logik, Erkenntnistheorie, Sprachphilosophie und Philosophie der Mathematik auf, so dass bei ihm von einem (...) Bruch mit der kontinentalen Philosophie nicht die Rede sein kann. Weil die historischen Voraussetzungen unberücksichtigt geblieben sind, ist ein unzutreffendes Bild von Freges Einsichten entstanden. Dieses Bild wird durch die Entfaltung des historischen Kontextes korrigiert. Bestimmend ist dabei ein problemorientierter Zugang, der sich systematischer Bewertungen und Weiterführungen nicht enthält. (shrink)

Scott Sehon recently argued that the standard notion of determinism employed in the Consequence Argument makes it so that, if our world turns out to be deterministic, then an interventionist God is logically impossible. He further argues that because of this, we should revise our notion of determinism. In this paper I show that Sehon’s argument for the claim that the truth of determinism, in this sense, would make an interventionist God logically impossible ultimately fails. I then offer and respond (...) to a weaker version of the argument for the claim that we should revise our notion of determinism. (shrink)

Where do we come from? Are we merely a cluster of elementary particles in a gigantic world receptacle? And what does it all mean? In this highly original new book, the philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges our notion of what exists and what it means to exist. He questions the idea that there is a world that encompasses everything like a container life, the universe, and everything else. This all-inclusive being does not exist and cannot exist. For the world itself (...) is not found in the world. And even when we think about the world, the world about which we think is obviously not identical with the world in which we think. For, as we are thinking about the world, this is only a very small event in the world. Besides this, there are still innumerable other objects and events: rain showers, toothaches and the World Cup. Drawing on the recent history of philosophy, Gabriel asserts that the world cannot exist at all, because it is not found in the world. Yet with the exception of the world, everything else exists; even unicorns on the far side of the moon wearing police uniforms. Revelling in witty thought experiments, word play, and the courage of provocation, Markus Gabriel demonstrates the necessity of a questioning mind and the role that humour can play in coming to terms with the abyss of human existence. (shrink)

Effective altruism is a philosophy and a social movement that aims to revolutionise the way we do philanthropy. It encourages individuals to do as much good as possible, typically by contributing money to the best-performing aid and development organisations. Surprisingly, this approach has met with considerable resistance among activists and aid providers who argue that effective altruism is insensitive to justice insofar as it overlooks the value of equality, urgency and rights. They also hold that the movement suffers from methodological (...) bias, reaching mistaken conclusions about how best to act for that reason. Finally, concerns have been raised about the ability of effective altruism to achieve systemic change. This article weighs the force of each objection in turn, and looks at responses to the challenge they pose. (shrink)

A volume with 14 chapters on various aspects of the relationship between responsibility and healthcare, plus a substantial introduction that offers a comprehensive overview of the relevant debates and how they relate to one another. Questions of responsibility arise at all levels of health care. Most prominent has been the issue of patient responsibility. Some health conditions that risk death or serious harm are partly the result of lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, lack of exercise, or extreme sports. Are patients (...) with such conditions responsible for them? If so, might healthcare providers, be they state-run systems or private entities, be justified in treating such patients differently? And if they are, which forms of differential treatment are justified? Responsibility isn’t just relevant for patients. Even when individuals affect their health through voluntary behaviour, other influences are also at work before, during, and after the patient’s interaction with the health care system. What are the responsibilities of individual clinicians and other medical professionals, when thinking about individual and public health? What about institutions such as governments or national health care services, or society as a whole? This collection brings together work by world-renowned experts in population ethics, distributive justice, philosophy of action, cognitive science, and medical ethics in order to push the debate forward by elucidating our understanding of these questions, their possible answers, and how they are related. (shrink)

Da metade do século passado em diante, a filosofia da matemática passou por uma importante inflexão que conduziu gradativamente suas linhas de pensamento para o centro das práticas matemáticas. Genericamente, este movimento ficou conhecido na literatura especializada como o giro prático, do qual resultaram diversas expressões de filosofias da matemática prático-orientadas. Dentre estas, consta a de José Ferreirós, que conforme apresentada em The Mathematical Knowledge and the Interplay of Practices (2016), tem como eixo reflexivo e analítico o duplo esquema composto (...) pelos agentes que performam ou fazem matemática e os frameworks em que tais práticas configuram-se. O objetivo central deste trabalho é apresentar em linhas gerais a filosofia da matemática prático-orientada e agente-centrada de Ferreirós. Mais especificamente, com esta apresentação também é visada uma aproximação algo surpreendente com conceitos centrais da analítica da existência de Ser e Tempo (1927), especialmente com o conceito de ser-no-mundo e com o conceito existencial de ciência. A hipótese interpretativa adotada neste trabalho é a de as perspectivas de Heidegger e Ferreirós não são inconsistentes, e que a articulação de uma filosofia da matemática prático-orientada e agente-centrada com o conceito existencial de ciência pode ser mutuamente elucidativa. Palavras-chave: ser-no-mundo. Heidegger. Ferreirós. Filosofia da Matemática. (shrink)

While much of the debate around the practice of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) is focused on the potential violation of the dead donor rule (DDR), another concern is whether allowing this pr...

We criticize attempts to define hope in terms of other psychological states and argue that hope is a primitive mental state whose nature can be illuminated by specifying key aspects of its functional profile.

Although recent trends in politics and media make it appear that conspiracy theories are on the rise, in fact they have always been present, probably because they are sustained by natural dispositions of the human brain. This is also the case with medical conspiracy theories. This article reviews some of the most notorious health-related conspiracy theories. It then approaches the reasons why people believe these theories, using concepts from cognitive science. On the basis of that knowledge, the article makes normative (...) proposals for public health officials and health workers as a whole, to deal with conspiracy theories, in order to preserve some of the fundamental principles of medical ethics. (shrink)

O objetivo central deste trabalho é explorar criticamente o tema proposto para o Encontro Regional da Residência Pedagógica em Filosofia, realizado na UFSM, a saber, “que lugar é este, o da filosofia?”. Mais especificamente, esta exploração crítica toma como impulso inicial uma inflexão na formulação deste questionamento que desloca a pergunta (e o perguntar) para a posição de destaque e como o lugar da filosofia. Desde um ponto de vista histórico, a perspectiva aqui adotada aproxima-se da famosa perspectiva de Kant (...) segundo a qual não se ensina filosofia, mas sim a filosofar. Esta aproximação permite qualificar o mote de Kant ao incluir em seu interior a pergunta enquanto tal, o que pode ser apresentado em termos condicionais do seguinte modo: se não se ensina filosofia, mas filosofar, e se a pergunta enquanto tal é central para filosofar, então a pergunta é central para ensinar a filosofar. Adicionalmente, esta qualificação é metodologicamente relevante, pois permite trazer à tona um conjunto de reflexões sobre o papel que o texto possui em sala de aula, de que modo pode ser utilizado, visando quais fins e etc. Nossa hipótese interpretativa, inspirada na fenomenologia-hermenêutica de Heidegger de Ser e Tempo, e, sobretudo, na hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer de Verdade e Método, é a de que os verbos “refletir”, “pensar”, “filosofar” e “perguntar” estão intima e organicamente articulados, e que conceder papel de destaque para o ato de perguntar e para a pergunta enquanto tal abre importantes linhas de reflexão sobre o processo de ensino-aprendizagem em filosofia. (shrink)

Confirmation bias has been widely studied for its role in failures of reasoning. Individuals exhibiting confirmation bias fail to engage with information that contradicts their current beliefs, and, as a result, can fail to abandon inaccurate beliefs. But although most investigations of confirmation bias focus on individual learning, human knowledge is typically developed within a social structure. We use network models to show that moderate confirmation bias often improves group learning. However, a downside is that a stronger form of confirmation (...) bias can hurt the knowledge producing capacity of the community. (shrink)

To achieve impact, academics need to create personal impact development plans, focused on what and on whom to have an impact and the necessary competencies to do so. Profession and university leaders play a critical role in the successful implementation of such plans.

In this highly original book, Markus Gabriel presents 'Neo-Existentialism', an anti-naturalist view that holds that human mindedness consists in an open-ended proliferation of mentalistic vocabularies. Challenged by Charles Taylor, Andrea Kern and Jocelyn Benoist, Gabriel deftly refutes naturalism's metaphysical claim to epistemic exclusiveness.

There has recently been much debate about the idea of levying a tax on particular transactions on international financial markets. Economists have argued about how much revenue such an international financial transaction tax would raise and they disagree about what effects it would have on trade volumes, financial stability, and overall growth. Politicians have argued about the feasibility of introducing such a tax internationally and they disagree on its adequacy as a policy response to the current financial and economic crisis. (...) This article contributes to the debate about international financial transaction taxation by bringing the perspective of political philosophy to bear on the politicians’ and economists’ arguments about policy. I shall outline a framework for thinking about justice in finance, and defend the idea of an international financial transaction tax as an instrument for making the international financial system more just. (shrink)

The study aims at expanding the idea of knowledge beyond the notion of descriptive knowledge. It examines a pluralism of scientific, philosophical, literary, and aesthetic forms of knowledge. This pluralism is not relativistic but complementary. Different ways of knowing enrich each other thus facilitating a more comprehensive and differentiated conception of the world.".

O presente texto é uma tradução da Introdução redigida por Gianni Vattimo à sua tradução para o italiano do magnum opus de Hans-Georg Gadamer, Verdade e Método. A tradução de Vattimo da obra de Gadamer foi, dentre todas as línguas, a primeira a ser realizada, e contou com a assistência do próprio autor em questões pertinentes ao processo tradutivo. Devido à primazia e à notória importância de tal tradução, sua Introdução,publicada originalmente em 1972, possui relevante mérito, constituindo verdadeiro marco nos (...) estudos da filosofia de Gadamer. Do ponto de vista material, o texto versa principalmente sobre a posição do pensamento de Gadamer ante a tradição filosófica, sobretudo em relação ao contexto contemporâneo; ao situar a filosofia de Gadamer, fornece uma abertura interpretativa fiel e sagaz ao seu pensamento. (shrink)

In response to the continued expansion of “red flag” laws allowing broader classes of people to petition a court for the removal of firearms from individuals who exhibit dangerous conduct, this paper argues that state laws should adopt a double-filter provision that balances individual rights and government public safety interests. The main component of such a provision is a special statutory category — “reporting party” — that enables a broader social network, such as co-workers or school administrators, to request that (...) a law enforcement officer file a petition for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. A double-filter provision would not give reporting parties a right to file a court petition directly. Instead, parties would file a request for petition with law enforcement officers, who must seek an ERPO from the court if they find the reporting party's information credible. That information is then transmitted to the court as a sworn affidavit of the reporting party. The goal is to facilitate a balanced policy model that widens the reporting circle in order to feed more potentially life-saving information into the system, mitigates the risk of erroneous deprivation of constitutionally protected due process and Second Amendment rights. (shrink)

Apologizing for Socrates places some of the Platonic and Xenophontic writings in the context of contemporary controversies over Socrates, providing a perspective in which many of the philosophic and literary features of the text can be explained. In addition, it sheds light on the apologetic techniques used by Plato and Xenophon.

Many consider the nature of human consciousness to be one of the last great unsolved mysteries. Why should the light turn on, so to speak, in human beings at all? And how is the electrical storm of neurons under our skull connected with our consciousness? Is the self only our brain's user interface, a kind of stage on which a show is performed that we cannot freely direct? In this book, philosopher Markus Gabriel challenges an increasing trend in the (...) sciences towards neurocentrism, a notion which rests on the assumption that the self is identical to the brain. Gabriel raises serious doubts as to whether we can know ourselves in this way. In a sharp critique of this approach, he presents a new defense of the free will and provides a timely introduction to philosophical thought about the self – all with verve, humor, and surprising insights. Gabriel criticizes the scientific image of the world and takes us on an eclectic journey of self-reflection by way of such concepts as self, consciousness, and freedom, with the aid of Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nagel but also Dr. Who, The Walking Dead, and Fargo. (shrink)

Immortality is the indefinite continuation of a person’s existence, even after death. In common parlance, immortality is virtually indistinguishable from afterlife, but philosophically speaking, they are not identical. Afterlife is the continuation of existence after death, regardless of whether or not that continuation is indefinite. Immortality implies a never-ending existence, regardless of whether or not the body dies (as a matter of fact, some hypothetical medical technologies offer the prospect of a bodily immortality, but not an afterlife). Immortality has been (...) one of mankind’s major concerns, and even though it has been traditionally mainly confined to religious traditions, it is also important to philosophy. Although a wide variety of cultures have believed in some sort of immortality, such beliefs may be reduced to basically three non-exclusive models: (1) the survival of the astral body resembling the physical body; (2) the immortality of the immaterial soul (that is an incorporeal existence); (3) resurrection of the body (or re-embodiment, in case the resurrected person does not keep the same body as at the moment of death). This article examines philosophical arguments for and against the prospect of immortality. A substantial part of the discussion on immortality touches upon the fundamental question in the philosophy of mind: do souls exist? Dualists believe souls do exist and survive the death of the body; materialists believe mental activity is nothing but cerebral activity and thus death brings the total end of a person’s existence. However, some immortalists believe that, even if immortal souls do not exist, immortality may still be achieved through resurrection. Discussions on immortality are also intimately related to discussions of personal identity because any account of immortality must address how the dead person could be identical to the original person that once lived. Traditionally, philosophers have considered three main criteria for personal identity: the soul criterion , the body criterion and the psychological criterion. Although empirical science has little to offer here, the field of parapsychology has attempted to offer empirical evidence in favor of an afterlife. More recently, secular futurists envision technologies that may suspend death indefinitely (such as Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, and mind uploading), thus offering a prospect for a sort of bodily immortality. (shrink)

This paper interprets the relation between sovereignty and guilt in Nietzsche's Genealogy. I argue that, contrary to received opinion, Nietzsche was not opposed to the moral concept of guilt. I analyse Nietzsche's account of the emergence of the guilty conscience out of a pre-moral bad conscience. Drawing attention to Nietzsche's references to many different forms of conscience and analogizing to his account of punishment, I propose that we distinguish between the enduring and the fluid elements of a ‘conscience’, defining the (...) enduring element as the practice of forming self-conceptions. I show that for Nietzsche, the moralization of the bad conscience results from mixing it with the material concepts of guilt and duty, a process effected by prehistoric religious institutions by way of the concept of god. This moralization furnishes a new conception of oneself as a responsible agent and holds the promise of sovereignty by giving us a freedom unknown to other creatures, but at the price of our becoming subject to moral guilt. According to Nietzsche, however, the very forces that made it possible have spoiled this promise and, under the pressures of the ascetic ideal, a harmful notion of responsibility understood in terms of sin now dominates our lives. Thus, to fully realize our sovereignty, we must liberate ourselves from this sinful conscience. (shrink)

Starting from the analysis of a phenomenological reading of the parable of the Good Samaritan and arriving at the idea of the World Person in Chiara Lubich, this article will discuss two topics: union in difference and the model of the neighbor in the Gospel. For Christians this is the confirmation that the meeting with the stranger is possible. Christ founded a community that co-exists with the stranger. It is within this path that the intuition the figure of the World (...) Person in Chiara Lubich arises. In the tension between interpretation and Truth, Lubich puts the question: was there anyone that went through the trial of doubt about the Truth, but has been able to create a new world? She says that was Jesus Forsaken, who opens up the possibility of differentiation without exclusion. (shrink)

In this article, we consider three metaphysical theories of personal identity: the soul theory, the body theory, and the psychological theory. Clinical cases are discussed as they present conceptual problems for each of these theories. For the soul theory, the case of Phineas Gage, and cases of pedophilic behavior due to a brain tumor are discussed. For the body theory, hypothetical cases of cephalosomatic anastomosis and actual cases of dicephalic parapagus and craniopagus parasiticus are discussed. For the psychological theory, cases (...) of delusions and memory impairments are discussed. After a discussion of all these cases, we conclude that it is very difficult to unequivocally favor one of these theories, yet we argue that this discussion must be based not on abstract armchair speculation, but rather, consideration of real clinical cases. (shrink)

El siguiente artículo tiene como objetivo establecer una comparación entre las reflexiones sobre los indígenas en la obra de Diego de Avendaño y Bernardino de Sahagún. Partiendo de las concepciones de la antropología posmoderna, se considera que el interés por y la reconstrucción del Otro tienen prioridad en la época poscolonial. En este sentido, Avendaño es categorizado como un autor que, si bien emprender una defensa de los indígenas, mantiene poco interés por ellos, mientras que Sahagún, con su disposición etnológica, (...) revitaliza el encuentro con los nativos.Palabras llave: Diego de Avendaño; Bernardino de Sahagún; antropología posmoderna.The objective of this article is to establish a comparison between Diego de Avendaño and Bernardino de Sahagún in reference to the indigenous population. Based on the conceptions of postmodern anthropology, the article considers that the interest in and the reconstruction of the other have priority in postcolonial times. In this theme, Avendaño is categorized as an author who, even though he defends natives, has little interest in them, while Sahagún, with his ethonological disposition, revitalizes encounters with the native population.Palabras llave: Diego de Avendaño; Bernardino de Sahagún; post-modern anthropology. (shrink)

Se evalúan los argumentos apologistas según los cuales hay evidencia histórica a favor de la resurrección de Jesús.

Joseph de Maistre is usually portrayed as Edmund Burke’s French counterpart, as they both wrote important treatises against the French Revolution. Although Maistre did share many of Burke’s conservative political views, he was much more than a political thinker. He was above all a religious thinker who interpreted political events through the prism of a particular retributionist theology. According to this theology, God punishes evil deeds, not only in the afterlife, but also in this terrestrial life; and sometimes, he may (...) even use human tyrants as instruments of his wrath. This interpretation especially evident in Maistre’s Considerations sur la France, an early work in his philosophical career. In that book, Maistre interprets the French Revolution as divine punishment, and in that regard, his views bear some similarities to the Deuteronomist historian in the Hebrew Bible, who interpreted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Exile, as divine punishment in retribution of Israel’s sins. (shrink)