This paper argues that the political adage “Be ye prudent as serpents and guileless as doves” involves three different types of relation between prudence and morality, namely: unification (Vereinigung), subordination (Unterordnung), and association (Beigesellung). I maintain that these relations are set up according to the same principle that determines the relationship between mechanical and teleological causality in the third Critique. Thus, I argue that morality and prudence are much more systematically related within the system of critical philosophy than is normally (...) assumed in the literature and that this is made possible by way of an intimate relationship between prudence and teleological judgment. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that Kant’s political and juridical philosophy justifies a type of normative legal positivism that implies specific notions of law and legal freedom which determine and restrict the sphere of action of judges and jurists. Finally, I defend that, according to Kant’s practical philosophy, the normative connection between justice and law is not supposed to be carried out at the juridical level, as a meta-juridical theory, but at the political one, making it a meta-political theory.

In this paper I defend three different points: first, that the concept of highest good is derived from an a priori but subjective argument, namely a maxim of pure practical reason; secondly, that the theory regarding the highest good has the validity of a practical regulative knowledge; and thirdly, that the practical regulative knowledge can be understood as the same “holding something to be true” as Kant attributes to hope and believe.

ABSTRACT In this paper, I argue that the idea of a universal history is systematically legitimized in Kant’s transcendental system of philosophy by way of the concept of a need [Bedürfnis] for pure practical reason. In this sense, the idea of a universal history is a fundamental part of the moral image of the world that emerges from Kant’s whole philosophy, and it is crucial for understanding both the possibility of the system of pure reason, as well the full development (...) of Kant’s moral philosophy, especially for political philosophy. RESUMO Nesse artigo eu argumento que a ideia de uma história universal é sistematicamente legitimada no sistema da filosofia transcendental de Kant por meio do conceito de precisão [Bedürfnis] da razão pura prática. Nesse sentido, a ideia de uma história universal é uma parte fundamental da imagem moral do mundo que emerge da totalidade da filosofia de Kant e é crucial para o entendimento tanto da possibilidade de um sistema da razão pura, quanto para um desenvolvimento completo da filosofia moral, particularmente para a filosofia política. (shrink)

Este trabalho apresenta uma interpretação abrangente e sistemática do significado e da legitimidade dos conceitos de precisão, interesse, esperança e crença no interior da filosofia kantiana. A análise desses conceitos está diretamente vinculada à discussão acerca da natureza da razão prática pura, da legitimidade do conceito de sumo bem e da unidade arquitetônica da razão. Defende-se que tanto os conceitos de precisão e interesse, assim como os conceitos de crença e esperança possuem legitimidade transcendental e concordam com as bases da (...) filosofia crítica. (shrink)

Neste artigo apresenta-se o significado do conceito de sociabilidade insociável e de sua importância para a filosofia histórico-política de Kant. Defendem-se aqui duas teses importantes: primeira, que esse conceito se insere essencialmente num paradigma biológicoteleológico em vez de físico-mecânico; segunda, que a insociabilidade deve ser compreendida como se referindo a inclinações e não a paixões, o que, por sua vez, permite pensá-la em concordância com um progresso moral também dos indivíduo.

Este artigo apresenta os aspectos liberais e republicanos da filosofia política de Rousseau e defende que eles devem ser interpretados como complementares. Entretanto, essa complementaridade pode ser caracterizada num sentido específico, qual seja, como sendo um liberalismo republicano.

: In this paper, I shall defend the thesis that the idea of a universal history in Kant’s third Critique is not legitimated from a theoretical and systematic point of view but instead from a practical point of view. In order to sustain this interpretation, I shall reconstruct parts of arguments from the entire Critique of Teleological Judgment. First, I shall argue that in the Analytic as in the Dialectic, the external purposiveness can legitimize only a teleological history of nature (...) but not a universal history. Second, I defend that in the Methodology, the idea of a universal history is grounded in an interest of pure practical reason. (shrink)

In this paper, I shall defend the thesis that the idea of a universal history in Kant’s third Critique is not legitimated from a theoretical and systematic point of view but instead from a practical point of view. In order to sustain this interpretation, I shall reconstruct parts of arguments from the entire Critique of Teleological Judgment. First, I shall argue that in the Analytic as in the Dialectic, the external purposiveness can legitimize only a teleological history of nature but (...) not a universal history. Second, I defend that in the Methodology, the idea of a universal history is grounded in an interest of pure practical reason. (shrink)

In this article I argue that the current readings of permissive law fall into hermeneutical difficulties and do not completely explain Kant’s complex use of the concept. I argue that the shortcomings of these interpretations can only be overcome by relating permissive law to practical teleology. That teleological thinking has a role in Kant’s moral thought by way of history is not new. Here, however, I argue that the system of rights itself is in some manner teleologically situated. This interpretation (...) allows us to understand that Kant’s Doctrine of Right plays the role of a realist utopia. (shrink)

O objetivo deste texto é expor o debate sobre a crítica de Hegel à teoria moral de Kant tal como se encontra formulada no §135 de Linhas fundamentais da filosofia do direito. Apresenta-se diferentes interpretações a respeito da crítica à vacuidade do imperativo categórico e as possíveis respostas kantianas. Ao se desdobrar as questões subjacentes à crítica, sustenta-se que não se trata de uma disputa pontual, que possa ser lida independentemente de um panorama sistemático. Defende-se que esse debate é uma (...) consequência de pressupostos sistemáticos distintos. (shrink)

Resumo Este artigo analisa a influência da filosofia de Rousseau na teoria antropológica de Kant. No primeiro momento, apresentam-se as semelhanças e diferenças acerca do modo como cada autor compreende o estado de natureza. No segundo momento, estabelece-se uma comparação entre o conceito de sociabilidade insociável de Kant e os conceitos de piedade e amor próprio, na filosofia de Rousseau.This paper analyses the influence of Rousseau’s philosophy on Kant’s anthropological theory. Firstly, the similarities and differences between each philosopher’s understanding of (...) the state of nature is presented. Secondly, a comparison between Kant’s concept of unsocial sociability and Rousseau’s concepts of piety and self-love is presented. (shrink)

Diante do lema “sapere aude”, com o qual Kant apresenta sua caracterização de esclarecimento, colocaseimediatamente a questão: o que signifi ca pensar por si mesmo? Apesar de Kant procurar respondera isso ao longo do texto, muitas difi culdades permanecem enquanto as teses ali defendidas não foremintegradas no horizonte da fi losofi a crítico-transcendental. Em primeiro lugar, mostra-se como o esclarecimentoé uma noção ambivalente, por um lado se refere ao indivíduo, por outro, se refere a uma época.Em segundo lugar, o esclarecimento (...) implica essencialmente uma mudança no método e não necessariamenteno conteúdo do pensamento, nesse sentido, o esclarecimento exige um determinado modo depensar , que se caracteriza pela disposição de se fazer um uso público da razão, ou seja, adisponibilidade pública de pedir e oferecer razões para justifi car determinada posição. Em terceiro lugar,defende-se que na expressão “fazer uso de teu próprio entendimento”, o termo entendimento deve serinterpretado em um sentido lato, isto é, de forma a abarcar tanto a razão no seu uso teórico quanto noseu uso prático. Mais do que isso, defende-se que o principal objetivo do Esclarecimento, segundo Kant,é o estabelecimento de um modo de pensar autônomo em sentido moral. Perpassando todos esses trêspontos, evidencia-se a importância desempenhada pela fi losofi a, seja enquanto aquela que deve zelarpelos princípios do uso público da sã razão, seja enquanto doutrina da sabedoria.Facing the dilemma “sapere aude”, with which Kant introduces his enlightenment characterization, immediately appears the question: what means to think by oneself? Despite Kant tries to answer to that along the text, many dif culties will remain while the thesis defended there are not integrated in the horizon of critical-transcendental philosophy. First, it is showed how the enlightenment is an ambivalent notion, on one side it refers to the individual, on the other, it refers to an epoch. Second, the enlightenment implies essentially a change in the method and not necessarily in the thought content, in this sense, the enlightenment demands a certain way of thinking , that is characterized by the disposition to make a public use of reason, in other words, the public availability to request and offer reasons to justify determined position. Third, it is defended that in the expression “make use of your own understanding”, the term “understanding” should be interpreted in a lato sensu, that is, in order to taking into account the reason in its theoretical as well as in its practical use. Furthermore it is defended that the main goal of Enlightenment, according to Kant, is to establish an autonomous way of thinking in a moral sense. Passing by all of these three points, it stays evident the importance performed by philosophy, both as the one that should look after the principles of the public use of the sane reason, and as wisdom doctrine. (shrink)

Este artigo analisa a teoria da democracia de Carl Schmitt e procura destacar, a partir disso, suas virtudes e deficiências. O texto é dividido em duas partes. Na primeira sustenta-se que a teoria schmittiana de democracia se desenrola em dois níveis diferentes, um nível conceitual, essencialmente analítico, e um nível fenomênico, que segundo Schmitt seria meramente descritivo. Nesse horizonte pode-se compreender melhor a teoria schmittiana da democracia e sua crítica à democracia parlamentar. Na segunda parte, apresenta-se algumas críticas à posiçáo (...) de Schmitt. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta e analisa as principais teses que constituem a concepção de educação cívica de Rousseau. Além disso, faz-se considerações críticas acerca da proposta político-pedagógica de Rousseau, apontando tanto para elementos equivocados e potencialmente problemáticos, quanto indicando aspectos relevantes para se pensar questões relativas a política e a educação.

Neste artigo fazem-se algumas considerações sobre a justificação da propriedade privada na filosofia do direito de Kant. A partir da análise do conceito de lei permissiva da razão, defende-se que na filosofia do direito opera uma perspectiva teleológico- reflexionante de caráter prático, a qual permite compreender, por um lado, que a propriedade no estado de natureza seja legítima ao mesmo tempo em que é problemática, enquanto, por outro lado, o estado civil envolve a exigência de que a propriedade seja adequada (...) segundo as condições de um sistema de justiça distributiva. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta o conceito de juristocracia midiática como uma categoria política que indica uma desfiguração dos ideais normativos de democracia e do estado de direito. Essa categoria se apresenta como o desenvolvimento, por um lado, do conceito de juristocracia analisado e elaborado por Hirschl e, por outro lado, da categoria de democracia plebiscitária analisada e elaborada por Urbinati. Argumenta-se que essa categoria permite enquadrar alguns dos problemas políticos pelos quais o Brasil vem passando na última década.

This paper defends a constructive interpretation of the Critique of Pure Reason, which is built in analogy with an experimental construction that Kant believes to characteristic of chemistry. I also argue for a way to reconcile the methodological perspective of the constructivist method with that of transcendental reflection. I therefore provide a constructive explanation for what Kant describes as being pure reason and the argument of the transcendental deduction. I propose to frame the different perspectives in such a way that (...) the experimental construction is the ratio cognoscendi of pure reason, while pure reason is the ratio essendi of the experimental construction. O’Neill (1989, 2015) is one of the most important scholars that have argued for a constructivist reading of the Critique of pure reason (CPR). In this paper I develop and explore new aspects of this line of interpretation. One of the main criticisms raised against constructivist readings of Kant’s philosophy is an alleged commitment to subjectivism or voluntarism (cf. Kleingeld & Willaschek 2019). This concern led some scholars to rename their position as constitutivist instead (Korsgaard 2009; Sensen 2013, 2017; Formosa 2011). Constitutivism, is intended to be a sort of constructivism capable of avoiding voluntarism. However, it becomes difficult, sometimes, to differentiate between the constitutivist and foundationalist positions, which are based on transcendental reflection and imply a sort of realist perspective on reason. The same preoccupation applies to the constructivist interpretation of the CPR. In order to deal with this issue, the following questions must be addressed: how can constructivism justify the necessity and universality of transcendental principles of pure reason without compromising the normative and procedural aspects of the construction? How to reconcile arguments based on the analysis of representations and faculties with a constructivist procedure? Or even, how may transcendental reflection, as a view of the possibility of a priori cognition, be rendered compatible with a constructive procedure? This paper is divided into three sections, followed by brief final remarks. The first section outlines the main characteristics of constructivism and relates them to Kant’s positions about the nature of philosophy and its method. The second part argues for a type of experimental constructivism that might serve as a guiding analogy to understand the method underlying the CPR. Thirdly, I will show how the transcendental subject and pure reason are derived from this experimental construction. The conclusion briefly points out some advantages of this position. (shrink)

This essay shows how Kantian philosophy provides relevant grounds for reflections regarding the current debate on democracy. Firstly, I argue that representative democracy has a particular moral value that stands out the other forms of government. Secondly, I make some considerations about the elements that must be institutionally embodied in order to ensure a proper functioning democracy, such as the separation of powers, the guarantee of a public sphere which is appropriate to the freedom of public use of reason, the (...) moral requirement of veracity in the performance of public agents; the participationism, the reformism and, finally, the cosmopolitanism. (shrink)

De acordo com a filosofia kantiana existem três princípios que deveriam regular a forma como a política se relaciona com a religião, quais sejam, o princípio da não coercitividade da crença religiosa; a exigência moral da veracidade nas profissões de crença e a incapacidade de máximas com conteúdo religioso se conformarem com o princípio político-jurídico da publicidade. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar, explicar e justificar a aplicação desses três princípios com relação à religião e indicar como eles poderiam ajudar (...) a resolver problemas políticos e morais com respeito à intolerância religiosa que continua a assolar a sociedade contemporânea. (shrink)

Este trabalho analisa o conceito de esperança nas obras de Condorcet e Kant. Defende-se que o conceito de esperança no progresso da humanidade é de fundamental importância para a compreensão da filosofia política de ambos os autores. Por um lado, esperança oferece um horizonte de sentido que protege suas propostas políticas de visões de mundo antagônicas; por outro, ela se incorpora no próprio projeto político tendo ao mesmo tempo a função de motivação e de criação de instituições políticas com caráter (...) pedagógico. This paper analyses the concept of hope in the works of Condorcet and Kant. It will be advocated that the concept of hope in the progress of humanity is of great importance for the comprehension of the political philosophy of both authors. On the one hand, hope gives a horizon of meaning to political philosophy that protects it against antagonistic world views. On the other hand, hope is incorporated into the political philosophy itself having, at once, a motivational function and creation of political institutions with a pedagogical character, as well. (shrink)

This book investigates several dimensions of the concept of cosmopolitanism since Kant. The first of these dimensions is a world vision that considers the construction of a 'cosmopolitan self' as a question of justice. The second is the idea that a local political-legal order is fully democratic only if it respects the environment and the human rights of all people of the world, regardless of their citizenship. The third dimension concerns the practice of crossborder associations between individuals, institutionalized or not (...) (cosmopolitics, as Balibar called it). The fourth considers individuals as subjects of international law, as in the case of individual petitions concerning human rights through the European Court of Human Rights and individual responsibility in international criminal law. Finally, the fifth dimension is a form of ecological consciousness based on the relationship between the self and the cosmos, which would imply a profound revision of modern anthropocentric concepts."--Publisher. (shrink)

This paper analyses the relationship between Rousseau’s political philosophy and the concept of democracy, while focusing on the debate about the admissibility of deliberation and discussion at the assemblies. After presenting different readings of Rousseau’s views of deliberation, we advocate from a distinction drawn between debate and discussion that the central goal of Rousseau’s political philosophy is not to avoid public deliberation, but to avoid or mitigate the influence of rhetoric in the public space. Throughout the paper, we also point (...) out a series of comparisons between Rousseau’s democratic theory and ancient and contemporary political ideas, in this case, those of philosophers such as Plato, Tocqueville, Schmitt and Kelsen. (shrink)

A argumentação desenvolvida no presente artigo se propõe a defender a interpretação austera do construtivismo em Kant das objeções a ela levantadas por Jeremy Schwartz (2017) em seu artigo _Was Kant a ‘Kantian Constructivist’?_. Tendo isso em vista, primeiramente, procede-se à reconstrução da interpretação de Schwartz para a distinção analítico-sintética na esfera prática a partir da caracterização por contradição e à indicação de objeções para sua aceitação. Na sequência, apresenta-se a caracterização de analiticidade por continência e como esta pode ser (...) transposta para o caso dos imperativos sem resultar em conflitos com a interpretação austera do construtivismo. Por fim, delineiam-se considerações quanto à formalidade dos princípios constitutivos da razão prática e seu escopo, chegando à conclusão de que não se pode estabelecer uma identidade entre construtivismo austero e logicismo prático. (shrink)

Some recent developments in Artificial Intelligence—especially the use of machine learning systems, trained on big data sets and deployed in socially significant and ethically weighty contexts—have led to a number of calls for “transparency”. This paper explores the epistemological and ethical dimensions of that concept, as well as surveying and taxonomising the variety of ways in which it has been invoked in recent discussions. Whilst “outward” forms of transparency may be straightforwardly achieved, what I call “functional” transparency about the inner (...) workings of a system is, in many cases, much harder to attain. In those situations, I argue that contestability may be a possible, acceptable, and useful alternative so that even if we cannot understand how a system came up with a particular output, we at least have the means to challenge it. (shrink)

In an attempt to bridge the vast divide between classical Asian thought and contemporary Western philosophy, Joel J. Kupperman finds that the two traditions do not, by and large, supply different answers to the same questions. Rather, each tradition is searching for answers to their own set of questions--mapping out distinct philosophical investigations. In this groundbreaking book, Kupperman argues that the foundational Indian and Chinese texts include lines of thought that can enrich current philosophical practice, and in some cases (...) provide uniquely sophisticated insights. Special attention is given to the ethical issues of formation and fluidity of self, the nature and possibilities of choice, the compartmentalization of life implicit in some ethical systems, the variations of ethical demands from person to person, and the nature of philosophy itself as a communicative activity. This study will provide a wealth of information for philosophers seeking a closer knowledge of Asian philosophy and general readers with an interest in Eastern thought. (shrink)

The Meno, one of the most widely read of the Platonic dialogues, is seen afresh in this original interpretation that explores the dialogue as a theatrical presentation. Just as Socrates's listeners would have questioned and examined their own thinking in response to the presentation, so, Klein shows, should modern readers become involved in the drama of the dialogue. Klein offers a line-by-line commentary on the text of the Meno itself that animates the characters and conversation and carefully probes (...) each significant turn of the argument. "A major addition to the literature on the Meno and necessary reading for every student of the dialogue."--Alexander Seasonske, Philosophical Review "There exists no other commentary on Meno which is so thorough, sound, and enlightening."-- Choice Jacob Klein was a student of Martin Heidegger and a tutor at St. John's College from 1937 until his death. His other works include Plato's Trilogy: Theaetetus, the Sophist, and the Statesman, also published by the University of Chicago Press. (shrink)

We provide self-contained proof of a theorem relating probabilistic coherence of forecasts to their non-domination by rival forecasts with respect to any proper scoring rule. The theorem recapitulates insights achieved by other investigators, and clarifi es the connection of coherence and proper scoring rules to Bregman divergence.

In this paper, I outline two strands of evidence for the conclusion that the dynamical approach to cognitive science both seeks and provides covering law explanations. Two of the most successful dynamical models—Kelso’s model of rhythmic finger movement and Thelen et al.’s model of infant perseverative reaching—can be seen to provide explanations which conform to the famous explanatory scheme first put forward by Hempel and Oppenheim. In addition, many prominent advocates of the dynamical approach also express the provision of this (...) kind of explanation as a goal of dynamical cognitive science. I conclude by briefly outlining two consequences. First, dynamical cognitive science’s explanatory style may strengthen its links to the so-called “situated” approach to cognition, but, secondly, it may also undermine the widespread intuition that dynamics is related to emergentism in the philosophy of mind. (shrink)

In this article, we describe a hitherto undocumented fallacy-in the sense of a mistake in reasoning-constituted by a negativity bias in the way that people attribute motives to others. We call this the "worst-motive fallacy," and we conducted two experiments to investigate it. In Experiment 1, participants expected protagonists in a variety of fictional vignettes to pursue courses of action that satisfy the protagonists' worst motive, and furthermore, participants significantly expected the protagonist to pursue a worse course of action than (...) they would prefer themselves. Experiment 2 was a preregistered attempted replication of Experiment 1, including a bigger range of vignettes; the first effect was not replicated for the new vignettes tested but was for the original set. Also, we once again found that participants expected protagonists to be more likely than they were themselves to pursue courses of action that they considered morally bad. We discuss the worst-motive fallacy's relation to other well-known biases as well as its possible evolutionary origins and its ethical consequences. (shrink)

This book traces how such a seemingly immutable idea as measurement proved so malleable when it collided with the subject matter of psychology. It locates philosophical and social influences reshaping the concept and, at the core of this reshaping, identifies a fundamental problem: the issue of whether psychological attributes really are quantitative. It argues that the idea of measurement now endorsed within psychology actually subverts attempts to establish a genuinely quantitative science and it urges a new direction. It relates views (...) on measurement by thinkers such as Holder, Russell, Campbell and Nagel to earlier views, like those of Euclid and Oresme. Within the history of psychology, it considers contributions by Fechner, Cattell, Thorndike, Stevens and Suppes, among others. It also contains a non-technical exposition of conjoint measurement theory and recent foundational work by leading measurement theorist R. Duncan Luce. (shrink)

This is the third volume of Joel Feinberg's highly regarded The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law, a four-volume series in which Feinberg skillfully addresses a complex question: What kinds of conduct may the state make criminal without infringing on the moral autonomy of individual citizens? In Harm to Self, Feinberg offers insightful commentary into various notions attached to self-inflicted harm, covering such topics as legal paternalism, personal sovereignty and its boundaries, voluntariness and assumptions of risk, consent and its (...) counterfeits, coercive force, incapacity, and choice of death. (shrink)

By titling his paper “Slowing the Slide Down the Slippery Slope of Medical Assistance in Dying: Mutual Learnings for Canada and the US,” Daryl Pullman, an esteemed medical ethicist, uses a rhetoric...

This first volume in the four-volume series The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law focuses on the "harm principle," the commonsense view that prevention of harm to persons other than the perpetrator is a legitimate purpose of criminal legislation. Feinberg presents a detailed analysis of the concept and definition of harm and applies it to a host of practical and theoretical issues, showing how the harm principle must be interpreted if it is to be a plausible guide to the lawmaker.

Note: Paper to appear in special issue of the journal Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, on the evolution of consciousness //// Klein, Nguyen, & Zhang (in press) argued that the evolutionary transition from respondent to agent during the Cambrian Explosion would be a promising vantage point from which to gain insight into the evolution of organic sentience. They focused on how increased competition for resources -- in consequence of the proliferation of new, neurally sophisticated life-forms -- made (...) awareness of the external world (in the service of agentic acts) an adaptive priority. The explanatory scope of Klein et al (in press) was limited to consideration of the conscious apprehension of externally sourced content – i.e., content delivered from the sensory registration of objects occupying phenomenal space. But consciousness – at least for humans -- takes its objects from internal as well as external sources. In the present article we extend their analysis to the question of how internally sourced content (i.e., mental states) became the object of conscious apprehension. (shrink)

One of liberalism’s core commitments is to safeguarding individuals’ autonomy. And a central aspect of liberal social justice is the commitment to protecting the vulnerable. Taken together, and combined with an understanding of autonomy as an acquired set of capacities to lead one’s own life, these commitments suggest that liberal societies should be especially concerned to address vulnerabilities of individuals regarding the development and maintenance of their autonomy. In this chapter, we develop an account of what it would mean for (...) a society to take seriously the obligation to reduce individuals’ autonomy-related vulnerabilities to an acceptable minimum. In particular, we argue that standard liberal accounts underestimate the scope of this obligation because they fail to appreciate various threats to autonomy. (shrink)