A Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) le habría parecido una ironía que el dato más relevante de su genealogía personal no se encontrara en el pasado sino en el futuro y que lord Acton (1834-1902) formara parte, aunque de la manera más remota imaginable, de su legado. Al margen de todas las instituciones de su época, salvo la constituida por el mundo de lectores en el naciente mercado editorial, _La historia de la declinación y caída del imperio romano_ (1776-1788) es una obra (...) acabada que lord Acton no lograría emular con su proyecto de una _Historia moderna_. (shrink)

Provisto de procedimientos que proceden de la filosofía y de la poesía, la filología y el psicoanálisis, la religión, el cine o la antropología, Antonio Lastra inscribe su "ecología de la cultura" en una vertiente político ...

European scholars discuss Leo Strauss as a major figure in the history of philosophy. This volume presents, for the first time in English, the approaches to Leo Strauss being pursued by European scholars in Spain, Italy, and Germany. Whereas the traditions of Strauss interpretation have, until recently, focused on issues of interest to political science and, to a lesser extent, religious studies, this collection makes a powerful contribution to the recent philosophical consideration of Strauss. Each essay treats a unique thread (...) emerging from the tapestry of Straussian thought, illustrating Strauss’s thinking on the reading of ancient texts and on the relationship between philosophy and politics. In doing so, Strauss is placed squarely and uncompromisingly within the history of philosophy, in conversation with a large range of philosophical figures. “This is a really wonderful volume, a compelling narrative of Strauss as a reader of philosophical texts who both originated a new way of philosophical exploration as well as freely responded to philosophical and historical circumstances of his time.” — Jeffrey A. Bernstein, College of Holy Cross. (shrink)

Edward Gibbon escribió en un inglés universal —un inglés lógico, pero no idiomático, como observó Jacob Bernays—, que estaba llamado a convertirse en el latín de nuestros días. Sin embargo, ni el latín ni el inglés han suplido nunca del todo la necesidad de una auténtica lengua franca como la que la traducción puede proporcionar y, en muchos aspectos, _La historia de la declinación y caída del Imperio romano_ es una obra de traducción, una vasta traslación de la que probablemente (...) seamos más conscientes ahora de lo que podía serlo el mundo de lectores de Gibbon a finales del siglo XVIII, entre la Declaración de Independencia de los Estados Unidos en 1776 —cuando se publicó el primer volumen— y la decisión del Consejo de Estado de Francia de doblar el número de representantes del Tercer Estado y convocar los Estados Generales en 1788, el año de publicación de los tres últimos volúmenes. En el capítulo LXX, tal vez con un sentido menos retrospectivo que prospectivo, Gibbon describiría los concilios de Pisa y Constanza como si “constituyeran los estados generales de Europa”. (shrink)

Solo con el mayor de los escrúpulos podría señalarse una extraña omisión en el planteamiento del problema central de la relación de la filosofía con la historia, una omisión que se reflejaría en ‘History as a System’ (Historia como sistema) del filósofo español José Ortega y Gasset, un texto que se había publicado antes en alemán con el título ‘Die Lage der Wissenschaft und die historische Vernunft’ (El lugar de la ciencia y la razón histórica’) y que, al publicarse por (...) primera vez en la versión original, en 1941, formaría un libro junto con otro capítulo —evidentemente inacabado— dedicado al Imperio romano. En la relación de la historia como sistema con el Imperio romano, de dos “totalizaciones” —el término de Ortega en _España invertebrada_ para referirse a la agencia romana en la historia— o dos aspiraciones a la totalidad de la vida civilizada, la omisión de Edward Gibbon resulta aún más extraña. (shrink)

En varios pasajes de sus _Memorias_, Gibbon explicaría las razones de la publicación de estas _Critical Observations on the Design of the Sixth Book of the Aeneid_, surgidas, como anotó escrupulosamente en sus _Memorias_, de la decimotercera lectura de la _Eneida_ y de la recuperación del inglés como lengua de escritura. “El sexto libro de la _Eneida_ —escribe en la Memoria C— es la composición más grata y perfecta de la poesía latina.” “A principios del año 1770 —sigue diciendo— mis (...) _Observaciones críticas sobre el sexto libro de la Eneida_ fueron enviadas a la imprenta sin mi nombre. En ese breve ensayo, mi primera publicación en inglés, dirigí mis golpes contra la persona y las hipótesis del obispo Warburton. (shrink)

Lausana no fue seguramente “el epicentro geográfico del universo histórico de Gibbon”, como los editores reconocen con franqueza en la Introducción a esta última entrada de la bibliografía gibboniana, pero _Edward Gibbon et Lausanne_ tiene todo el derecho a ocupar un lugar eminente en el panorama de los lectores de _La historia de la declinación y caída del Imperio romano_. Se trata de un libro materialmente sólido, de muy hermosa factura, que tienta por igual al anticuario y al filósofo, que (...) conserva la preferencia por la transmisión escrita, combinada sabiamente con la cultura visual, y cuyos autores no ocultan su admiración por el asunto que tienen entre manos —_Le Pays de Vaud à la rencontre des Lumières européennes _es una variación significativa del encuentro de la ciudad con la filosofía, de las _mores _con la reflexión— al ejercer la crítica ni al ponderar sus conocimientos en campos de investigación muy distintos. (shrink)

Columbia University Press's multivolume Prison Notebooks is the only complete critical edition of Antonio Gramsci's seminal writings in English. Based on the authoritative Italian edition of Gramsci's work, Quaderni del Carcere, this comprehensive translation presents the intellectual as he ought to be read and understood, with critical notes that clarify Gramsci's history, culture, and sources; an index of names; and a contextualization of the thinker's ideas against his earlier writings and letters. This set includes notebooks 1 through 8 with (...) all attendant notes and materials and is an indispensible resource for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. (shrink)

Background Neuroimaging and lesion studies suggested that the dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices mediate visual metacognitive awareness. The causal evidence provided by non-invasive brain stimulation, however, is inconsistent. -/- Objective/hypothesis Here we revisit a major figure discrimination experiment adding a new Kanizsa figure task trying to resolve whether bilateral continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) over these regions affects perceptual metacognition. Specifically, we tested whether subjective visibility ratings and/or metacognitive efficiency are lower when cTBS is applied to these two (...) regions in comparison to an active control region. -/- Methods A within-subjects design including three sessions spaced by one-week intervals was implemented. In each session, every participant was administered bilateral cTBS to either prefrontal, control or parietal cortices. Two concurrent tasks were performed, a real and an illusory figure task, stabilising objective performance with use of an adaptive staircase procedure. -/- Results When performing the replicated task, cTBS was found insufficient to disrupt neither visibility ratings nor metacognitive efficiency. However, with use of Kanizsa style illusory figures, cTBS over the dorsolateral prefrontal, but not over the posterior parietal cortex, was observed to significantly diminish metacognitive efficiency. -/- Conclusion(s) Real and illusory figure tasks demonstrated different cTBS effects. A possible explanation is the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in the creation of expectations, which is necessary for efficient metacognition. Failure to replicate previous findings for the real figure task, however, cannot be said to support, conclusively, the notion that these brain regions have a causal role in metacognitive awareness. This inconsistent finding may result from certain limitations of our study, thereby suggesting the need for yet further investigation. (shrink)

This volume explores the work and thought of Edith Stein (1891-1942). It discusses in detail, and from new perspectives, the traditional areas of her thinking, including her ideas about women/feminism, theology, and metaphysics. In addition, it introduces readers to new and/or understudied areas of her thought, including her views on history, and her social and political philosophy. The guiding thread that connects all the essays in this book is the emphasis on new approaches and novel applications of her philosophy. The (...) contributions both extend the interdisciplinary implications of Stein's thinking for our contemporary world and apply her insights to questions of theatre, public history and biographical representation, education, politics, autism, theological debates, feminism, sexuality studies and literature. The volume brings together for the first time leading scholars in five language-groups, including English, German, Italian, French and Spanish-speaking authors, thereby reflecting an international and cosmopolitan approach to Stein studies. (shrink)

Pure shape dynamics (PSD) is a novel implementation of the relational framework originally proposed by Julian Barbour and Bruno Bertotti. PSD represents a Leibnizian/Machian approach to physics in that it completely describes the dynamical evolution of a physical system without resorting to any structure external to the system itself. The chapter discusses how PSD effectively describes a de Broglie-Bohm N-body system and the conceptual benefits of such a relational description. The analysis will highlight the new directions in the quest for (...) an understanding of the nature of the wave function that are opened up by a modern relationalist elaboration on de Broglie's and Bohm's original insights. (shrink)

In the so-called digital culture, there is a constant presence of radical transformations on the cognitive and affective dimensions of the relations established among teachers and students. Upon this ubiquitous accessibility of information, the very historical and hierarchically verticalized relation between teachers and students has been increasingly questioned. Upon this situation, the authors in this article aim at stating that the revitalization of concepts developed by Paulo Freire, mainly the ones discussed in the books: ‘Pedagogy of Hope’, that sought a (...) re-encounter with ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, ‘Extension or Communication’ and ‘Pedagogy of Freedom’ became essential to understanding how the relationship between teachers and students can be mutually re-signified. In these times of digital culture, we argue that the revitalization of the critical thinking proposed by Freire is able to foment a dialogical communication both in the pedagogical link shared by teachers and students and in the transformation of information into substantially and ethically experienced concepts. Such substantial and ethical experiences are the ones able to attest that the pedagogy of hope and the pedagogy of freedom are possible, provided they are constituted with the students and not for them. (shrink)

From one of the world's leading neuroscientists--a succinct, illuminating, wholly engaging investigation of the phenomenon of consciousness. In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the question of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings in neurobiology, psychology, and AI have given us the necessary tools to solve its mystery. Now, he not only elucidates its myriad aspects, but presents his analysis and insights in a way that is faithful to our own intuitive sense (...) of the experience of consciousness. In the 45 brief chapters of the book, he helps us understand the relation between consciousness and mind; why being conscious is not the same as either being awake or sensing; the essential role of feeling; and the biological brain and development of consciousness. He synthesizes the recent findings of various sciences with the outlook of philosophy, and, most significantly, presents his original research which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding consciousness, the fundamental human capacity for informing--and transforming--our experience of the world around us and our perception of our place in it. (shrink)

The paper presents a metaphysical characterization of spatiotemporal backgrounds from a realist perspective. The conceptual analysis is based on a heuristic sketch that encompasses the common formal traits of the major spacetime theories, such as Newtonian mechanics and general relativity. It is shown how this framework can be interpreted in a fully realist fashion, and what is the role of background structures in such a picture. In the end it is argued that, although backgrounds are a source of metaphysical discomfort, (...) still they make a spacetime theory easy to interpret. It is also suggested that this conclusion partially explains why the notion of background independence carries a lot of conceptual difficulties. (shrink)

Antropologia individualistica e democrazia -- Nuova antropologia. Soggetto e libertà nella democrazia di Tocqueville -- Sball-democrazia -- Simboli del potere -- Oltre la frontiera. Soggettività globale -- Ecity. Tecnica senza storia.