20th Century Philosophy, Miscellaneous

This paper for the first time reveals Oakeshott' early interest in writing a work of Christian apology. This "apology" was conceived in accordance with Oakeshott's religious modernism. Since Oakeshott never completed a formal apology, the author explores some early essays in which parts of the apologetic project are reflected, and then goes on to race the religious themes present in many of Oakeshott's published work. In conclusion, it is suggested that Oakeshott maybe understood as offering a concept of civilization that (...) may be called Christian, though he is far away from any attempt to articulate a doctrinal version of Christianity. (shrink)

Estudio sobre el contexto filosófico de la Escuela de Madrid, y sus inicios, a colación de la figura de Juan Rof Carballo.

A critique of Peter Hohendahl's account of the fate of Kantianism and Neo-Kantianism in the interwar period. -/- .

The contribution examines Italo Mancini'suggestion to reread Kant's radical evil in the light of a reconsideration of the scope of reason in Kant's philosophy of religion.

Qu’advient-il quand, à la pointe extrême du continent eurasien, la méditation de l’un des plus grands penseurs français franchit les océans pour être accueillie, critiquée sans concession aussi bien que reprise ? Faut-il s’attendre au récit d’un malentendu quand Henri Bergson se trouve relu par son contemporain Nishida Kitarô, né deux années après que son pays se soit ouvert à l’Occident ? Ce dernier va-t-il, depuis le Japon, risquer avec la pensée française ce que firent jadis les européens Leibniz et (...) Malebranche avec la chinoise, ou Schopenhauer avec l’indienne ? Y a-t-il là pure appropriation, et selon quelles spécificités notionnelles et méthodologiques ? Cette rencontre ne laisse-t-elle pas présager, au contraire, un échange véritable quoique encore fragile qui, s’il emprunte presque tout son vocabulaire et ses concepts à l’Europe, en tire un esprit subtil et nouveau ? Les trois études rassemblées dans cet ouvrage se proposent d’envisager ce débat, né il y a près d’un siècle de nous, et la contribution qu’il pourrait apporter à une réflexion sur l’idée de philosophie comparée. (shrink)

Sergio Cremaschi’s L’etica del Novecento offers a clear and careful account of the development of ethical theory in English-language and German Philosophy. The focus on meta-ethics and normative concerns allows the author to offer a very concise, reliable and comprehensive overview of philosophical ethics. In this respect the book effectively fills the gap left by the lack of a good, updated history of ethics. Although those qualities establish Cremaschi’s work as a valuable reference book, a few doubts are raised about (...) the highly theoretical approach adopted. On the one hand this choice proves not to be very hospitable to some traditions and overlooks the connections between ethics and the socio-historical world, with the effect of giving a picture of moral philosophy as a very abstract and academic discipline. On the other hand it is not clear whether the emergence of applied ethics is to be greeted as the culmination of the resurgence of normative ethics, or whether it is conspiring with other trends to undermine the whole enterprise of constructing normative theories. If, as I suspect, the latter is the case, the moral of Cremaschi’s narrative may be different from the one he suggests. (shrink)

Among Kierkegaard scholars, there is a great deal of concern regarding how to deal with Alasdair MacIntyre’s treatment of Kierkegaard in his seminal work After Virtue. In this essay, I attempt to defend MacIntyre’s claim that the choice articulated in Kierkegaard’s Either/Or is irrational through a close reading of an essay from a later work by Kierkegaard, Stages on Life’s Way. In so doing, I argue that though MacIntyre’s interpretation of the position articulated in Either/Or is essentially correct, he is (...) mistaken to attribute that position, articulated by a pseudonym, to Kierkegaard. Instead, I argue that Kierkegaard should be seen as strategically employing that position to level a criticism against a certain rationalist tradition in ethics embodied by fi gures as diverse as Kant, Rousseau, and Diderot. (shrink)

This paper considers and criticizes david armstrong's defense in his book of an allegedly nonrelational version of realism, "universals and scientific realism". It also challenges his claim that plato, But not aristotle, Held a relational version of realism.

In After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre argues that the Enlightenment project of providing grounds for morality has been a failure, and believes that as a result, we are left with one of the two options: either a revival of Aristotelian virtue ethics or an endorsement of Nietzschean emotivism, i.e. a version of moral relativism. I shall first challenge MacIntyre’s emotivist portrait of Nietzsche and suggest an alternative reading of Nietzsche. If my diagnosis is correct, then we also need to reinterpret the (...) relation between MacIntyre and Nietzsche. This article aims to identify the difference in their characterization of the problem of morality, evaluate their proposal for a possible dissolution of the problem, and compare their method of moral enquiry. (shrink)

Ken Wilber insists that valid knowledge must be derived from paradigms: sets of injunctions and social practices that lead to replicable experiences. In this article, I examine Wilber's claims that the theory still includes the essentials of premodern traditions, because the essentials of those traditions consist of a phenomenological core of practices leading to mystical experience. Drawing on the works of Robert Sharf and Wilhelm Halbfass and on close readings of primary texts, this article argues that mystical paradigms of replicable (...) experience are not in fact the essentials of these traditions--neither for the majority of practitioners nor even for their revered teachers or masters. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this point for constructive integral work. (shrink)

Peter Sloterdijk's 'In the Shadow of Mt. Sinai' and Alain Badiou's 'Our Wounds Are Not So Recent' represent distinctly different attempts to come to grips with the conflict between the West (the US, the UK, France) and the Muslim world after the September 11th attacks. Although Sloterdijk finds the source of conflict in the religious zealotry of the Abrahamic religions, while Badiou blames the multinational capitalist system for drating a disaffected underclass, the two complementary perspectives work together to make this (...) ongoing conflict intelligible, if not, finally, to stop the war on terrorism. (shrink)

I will introduce and explain in this article the basic features of the philosophy of my friend and colleague at the School of Philosophy at the Universidad Central de Venezuela Frederic Riu i Farré. Riu is a thinker of the difference between real experience and rational system, and conceived of philosophy as a kind of sentry of the “Encyclopedia of Unified Sciences”. Hence the critical attention given to the basic ontological positions held by Husserl, Heidegger, Hartmann and Sartre. And hence (...) his return to the examination of the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, in light of the conditions of twentieth century thought.. (shrink)

In this analysis of Yalom’s account of philosophical counseling I show that his perception of it is largely informed by his own ideas about existential psychotherapy and group therapy. Additionally I find that When Nietzsche Wept, and The Schopenhauer Cure comply with Yalom’s personal development and struggles in psychotherapy with philosophy, religion, and boundary violations. Conflicting ideas and attitudes concerning the formerly mentioned are traced also in other works by Yalom.