Cabanis’ enucleation of the notion of instinct in his Rapports du physique et du moral de l’homme articulates through a critique of the use of this notion by Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, who would not have recognised the founding role of physiology in human perceptive and intellectual activity. An analysis of Cabanis’ criticism to Condillac and an investigation of the meaning attributed to the notion of instinct by both philosophers allow to individuate in this notion the expression of two different (...) types of materialism. The different position of Cabanis and Condillac on this notion, in fact, reflects the divergence on a series of notions – e.g. reflexion, sensitivity, habitus – which can be traced back to the different aims of their investigations. In addition to highlighting this basic divergence, this paper aims to bring out – especially referring to Condillac’s Logique – some points of contact, of which Cabanis seems not to have considered, concerning the conception of the human body as ‘organisation physique’. (shrink)

In the 17th century the dissemination of philosophical ideas relied also on the critical summaries and reviews published by the journals. The focus of this paper is the reactions of two of these journals – the Journal de Trévoux, edited by the Jesuits of the Parisian Collège Louis Le Grand, and the Journal des Sçavans – to Condillac’s works. The Jesuit journal, under the direction of pére Berthier – probably himself the author of the reviews – had a precise plan (...) in presenting Condillac’s philosophy as an anti-empiricist and anti-materialist doctrine, sometime giving a misrepresentation of the author’s thought, which is also criticized on some points. The decision of the Journal de Trévoux to review the main works of Condillac is anyway worthy of attention, and probably betrays a certain interest toward the more up to date philosophical enquiry. The Journal des Sçavans was on the other hand more faithful in presenting Condillac’s works. (shrink)

Xavier Le Roy’s performance Self-Unfinished is emblematic of how contemporary dance’s resistance to the submission of the body to a codified ideal body model manifests itself through the staging of bodies “beyond codes”, i.e., bodies that take surprising, sometimes even apparently “monstrous” shapes. The purpose of this article is to investigate the “monstrosity” of Self-Unfinished and to sketch out an analysis of it following Hermann Schmitz's theory of the Leib and Tonino Griffero’s account on atmospheres.

Agostino d’Ippona è stato un punto di riferimento costante nella produzione filosofica arendtiana, a partire dalla dissertazione di dottorato del 1928, intitolata Il concetto d’amore in Agostino, fino alle ultime pagine scritte prima di morire, e dedicate alla trattazione della volontà. Il segno più evidente di questo rapporto è costituito da una frase del De civitate Dei, « initium ut esset creatus est homo, ante quem nullus fuit» sulla quale Hannah Arendt fonda il proprio concetto di libertà, intesa come la (...) capacità dell’uomo di “essere” un nuovo inizio. Attraverso questo concetto H. Arendt tenta di restituire all’uomo il senso della propria irriducibile unicità, contro i tentativi del potere di rendere ogni individuo “superfluo”. A monte dell’interesse per Agostino vi sono, però, anche ragioni di carattere biografico, se è vero che la donna conobbe Agostino attraverso la mediazione, umana e intellettuale, del suo maestro Martin Heidegger. (shrink)

Summary The famous essay by Christian von Ehrenfels, Über Gestaltqualitäten (1890), opens up, as is well-known, an important seam not only in the psychology of perception but also of aesthetics, of the psychology and philosophy of music, art and language. Here, in fact, the form understood as ‘Gestalt’ is something concretely audible and visible and not simply a formal abstraction. It is about a pioneering programme rich in ideas and original connections. The author does not mean simply to define the (...) meaning of the concept of Gestalt, but he also sets out a fertile variety of extraordinary applications. In the first place – following a suggestion of Ernst Mach’s – he indicates an application in the field of music, in particular in the exemplary case of melody. In this sense the melody, as a temporal Gestalt, is a more fitting illustration of Gestalt than a spatial Gestalt (e.g. of a geometric figure). But in other cases, as for instance in the case of perception of movement, both temporal and spatial Gestalts are admitted. And a characteristic example is provided by dance. In this article, we shall investigate the comparison between sound movement and visual–gestural movement, and we shall also be discussing the matter by having recourse to the experience of professional dancers. (shrink)

Propongo una explicación sobre el concepto de ética de la ciu- dad respecto a la sociedad en la que vivimos. El artículo se enfoca en resaltar el contraste social y urbanístico, que se generó y sigue creciendo en Argentina de manera puntual en Buenos Aires, respecto a las villas miseria. En específico se tratan las diferencias entre la Villa 31,el barrio pobre, y Puerto Madero,el barrio rico, dos realidades tan distintas como tan similares que viven codo a codo.

Individual differences in children's talk about inner states are striking, but how should they be interpreted? This study used transcripts of preschoolers’ conversations with siblings and best friends to address this question in two ways. Our first aim was to elucidate the exact nature of individual differences by contrasting categories (emotion/desire vs. cognitive state) and referents (own vs. other/shared) of inner state talk. Our second aim was to compare performance vs. competence views of inner state talk by exploring (i) the (...) stability of individual differences in inner state talk across different relationships and (ii) the cognitive correlates of inner state talk. A sample of 44 children (mean age = 4 years 3 months) was observed for 20 minutes at home playing with a sib and for 20 minutes at school playing with a best friend. Videos were transcribed and coded for the frequency and form of inner state talk (e.g., talk about different categories of inner state, or about own vs. others’ inner states). During the school visits, children completed a set of tasks tapping theory-of-mind skills and verbal ability. Individual differences in inner state talk (especially reference to others’ inner states) were stable across relationships. There was no association between individual differences in talk about cognitive vs. emotion/desire states, although both categories of inner state talk were significantly associated with individual differences in children's theory-of-mind skills. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apontar a metafísica da época das imagens de mundo em Heidegger, sua consumação no mundo tecnológico e sua possível superação através da experiência do pensamento afinado na serenidade enquanto relação do homem com a Região do ser. Observar-se que a época das imagens de mundo se fundamenta na noção de sujeito, que é a ascensão moderna do homem ao posto de subjectum da realidade. Enquanto subjectum, o homem representa o mundo como objeto passível de (...) análise, pesquisa, cálculo e exploração. Além disso, vê-se como essa concepção de mundo se consuma na época dominada pela tecnologia, mais precisamente pela essência da técnica. Nesta época, o homem, enquanto subjectum, tem disponibilizado tão demasiadamente o mundo como objeto, que ele, como parte do mundo, tem sido também objetificado. Assim, o homem é dominado pela essência técnica, onde sua essência corre um grande perigo, que é o de perder de vista outras formas de compreender o mundo e o serque não seja Gestell. Por isso, é preciso haver uma resistência ao mundo tecnológico, e esta não pode se dar à maneira humanista, já que o homem está inserido em um destino que não responde mais à sua vontade. A resistência contra a essência da técnica deve advir da experiência do pensamento, a partir da meditação da verdade do ser, que se revela na sua Região, com a qual o homem somente se relaciona genuinamente na serenidade. Na serenidade, o homem enfim poderá visualizar os objetos tecnológicos sem ser dominado por eles, deixando-os repousarem em si mesmos, em virtude do essencial que se abre ao pensamento. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apontar a metafísica da época das imagens de mundo em Heidegger, sua consumação no mundo tecnológico e sua possível superação através da experiência do pensamento afinado na serenidade enquanto relação do homem com a Região do ser. Observar-se que a época das imagens de mundo se fundamenta na noção de sujeito, que é a ascensão moderna do homem ao posto de subjectum da realidade. Enquanto subjectum, o homem representa o mundo como objeto passível de (...) análise, pesquisa, cálculo e exploração. Além disso, vê-se como essa concepção de mundo se consuma na época dominada pela tecnologia, mais precisamente pela essência da técnica. Nesta época, o homem, enquanto subjectum, tem disponibilizado tão demasiadamente o mundo como objeto, que ele, como parte do mundo, tem sido também objetificado. Assim, o homem é dominado pela essência técnica, onde sua essência corre um grande perigo, que é o de perder de vista outras formas de compreender o mundo e o ser que não seja Gestell. Por isso, é preciso haver uma resistência ao mundo tecnológico, e esta não pode se dar à maneira humanista, já que o homem está inserido em um destino que não responde mais à sua vontade. A resistência contra a essência da técnica deve advir da experiência do pensamento, a partir da meditação da verdade do ser, que se revela na sua Região, com a qual o homem somente se relaciona genuinamente na serenidade. Na serenidade, o homem enfim poderá visualizar os objetos tecnológicos sem ser dominado por eles, deixando-os repousarem em si mesmos, em virtude do essencial que se abre ao pensamento. (shrink)

Until recently, much of the philosophical literature on refugees has focused on what Serena Parekh (2020) in No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis, calls the “first refugee crisis,” i.e., the refugee crisis as experienced from Europe, understood as the arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers and the political handling of this situation. This literature has therefore dealt primarily with questions about who really counts as a refugee and when states acquire obligations to admit non-citizens. Rarely, however, (...) do philosophers talk about the ethical implications of what Parekh calls “the second refugee crisis”: the crisis for refugees themselves, who “are unable to access the minimum conditions of human dignity while they wait for a more permanent solution.” In short, when philosophers debate the ethics of asylum and refugeehood, the conclusions or insights they come to will, at best, be applicable to about 10 percent of the world’s forcibly displaced. In this review essay, I briefly outline Serena Parekh’s (2020) argument, showing how her reframing of the refugee crisis provides a much-needed intervention in the current philosophical literature. I then extend these insights into questions concerning immigration enforcement. In doing so, I argue that in order to adequately deal with the second refugee crisis we must be more receptive to the open borders position than Parekh seems to allow. (shrink)

El autor del libro ocupa actualmente el cargo de Director de la carrera de Antropología y Arqueología de la Universidad Bolivariana, sede Iquique. Llegó a la primera región el año 2002, luego de residir y desarrollar una brillante carrera en Estados Unidos, donde se desempeñó como profesor e investigador en las Universidades de Chicago y Binghamton, y del Field Museum of Natural History de Chicago. No obstante encontrarse lejos de su país, se mantuvo realizando estudios arqueológicos en la zo..

Qual è il limite etico e deontologico degli studi medici sperimentali? Quando il principio di beneficialità, che vincola il medico a perseguire il massimo bene per il paziente, è finalmente diventato l’essenza della medicina? Questo volume si propone di rispondere a queste e a molte altre domande, effettuando un’analisi critica e approfondita della medicina, quale scienza della morte, praticata durante il periodo nazista al fine di raggiungere la purificazione della razza; la cosiddetta eugenica nazista, fulcro dello sterminio dei disabili e (...) delle sperimentazioni selvagge condotte sui detenuti nei lager. La struttura del volume, articolato su più saggi scritti da esperti, unitamente alla scelta di uno stile ampiamente divulgativo, ne aumenta la fruibilità. Presentazione di Eugenio Gaudio, rettore magnifico della Sapienza università di Roma. Saggi di Emmanuel Betta, Marina Caffiero, Francesco Cassata, Marco Cilione, Gilberto Corbellini, Silvia Cutrera, Serena Di Nepi, Francesca Di Palma, Fabio Gaj, Damiano Garofalo, Valentina Gazzaniga, Umberto Gentiloni Silveri, Enrica Marchionni, Silvia Marinozzi, Livia Ottolenghi, Libera Picchianti, Antonio Pizzuti. (shrink)

L'a. esamina il concetto di `amor vitae' come spiegazione della vita cosmica nel pensiero leonardiano e ritiene che questo costituisca la caratteristica inconfondibile della sua personalità. Nel secondo scritto l'a. si occupa del pensiero religioso di Leonardo «che ebbe soltanto fede nella religione serena e confortatrice della natura».

La nozione di “ sensus communis ” è una delle nozioni più importanti e allo stesso tempo complesse dell’intera filosofia kantiana. Tale complessità è dovuta alla diversità di significati che essa acquisisce nel corso degli scritti kantiani, i quali non dedicano mai una analisi precipua a questo concetto. Recenti studi, come quelli di Zhengmi Zhouhuang e di Serena Feloj, hanno contribuito a focalizzare l’attenzione su tale nozione, sulla sua importanza e sulle difficoltà ad essa connesse. Proprio a partire dalla (...) discussione di queste interessanti analisi, vorrei proporre una lettura epistemologica del “senso comune”, che tenga conto della molteplicità delle connotazioni che tale nozione di volta in volta assume, senza per questo perdere di vista l’unità e la sistematicità del sistema delle facoltà. Questa nozione a mio giudizio può essere identificata con la stessa facoltà di giudizio: facoltà che nell’esperienza estetica esprime pienamente la sua eautonomia, essendo a sé stessa sia oggetto sia legge. In questa senso la trattazione del “ sensus communis ” rende più che mai evidente l’importanza e la ricchezza teorica dell’approfondimento delle condizioni trascendentali che ha luogo nella terza Critica. (shrink)

C’è bisogno di una nuova sintesi. Inter- e intradisciplinare, con una visione d’insieme coerente, scientifica, senza pregiudizi, al servizio di una Chiesa che – con papa Francesco – è alla ricerca di nuove analisi e di proposte pratiche innovative. Necessaria è la prospettiva della piena integralità umana delle persone omosessuali, che interroghi il loro amore in tutta la sua complessità. La psicoanalisi, per prima, può contribuire a elaborare una visione dell’affettività omosessuale complessiva, integrale e positiva. La teologia può ascoltarne le (...) conclusioni, senza rinunciare alle sue categorie etiche, ma aggiornando la propria posizione, proponendo una visione pienamente cattolica della persona e della sua sessualità. Visione che si traduce in indicazioni pastorali in grado di aiutare una persona omosessuale a vivere in serena pienezza la propria situazione, la propria affettività e spiritualità cristiana. (shrink)

Nonostante non tutti gli studiosi concordino sul valore e sulla validità della testimonianza di Agostino, non si può oggi mettere in dubbio che questi ebbe una conoscenza molto precisa non solo della dottrina manichea, ma anche delle pratiche rituali in uso nelle comunità delle sette, e in modo particolare di quelle che si imponevano agli Uditori. Del resto, egli stesso non manca di definirsi esperto dell’affare manicheo al fine di affermare l’autorità del suo modo di procedere nella polemica.Certo non si (...) può cercare in questi testi antimanichei un’esposizione serena né uno studio sistematico del catechismo manicheo poiché tali scritti hanno il carattere di un’“opera d’assalto” che Agostino, al di là degli aspetti anche caricaturali che mette in luce esponendo la dottrina avversa, dedica a quanti, come lui, corrono il rischio di essere sedotti e intrappolati da tale dottrina eretica.Quella lunga permanenza nella setta, nove anni come lui stesso afferma, e l’attività dispiegata al suo servizio permise ad Agostino di avere una larga conoscenza dell’organizzazione interna delle comunità, delle riunioni liturgiche e della catechesi, infine dei rapporti tra le due professiones che costituivano la chiesa manichea, i laici, Uditori o Catecumeni da una parte e, dall’altra, i religiosi, Eletti o Santi, tenuti, quest’ultimi, ad osservare rigide regole ascetiche raggruppate sotto tre capi, tria signacula appunto, relativi a tre ordini di attività, corrispondenti ad altrettanti organi quali bocca, mano, seno, ai quali il perfetto manicheo apporrà come un sigillo che rispetterà scrupolosamente.In particolare, lo studio del “sigillo della bocca”, quello, cioè, che ordina di astenersi dalle cibarie carnee e sanguinolente; dal vino; dalle bevande fermentate come la birra; nonché dai pensieri malvagi; dai discorsi menzogneri, violenti o blasfemi , permette di ricostruire, sempre attraverso la polemica agostiniana, la problematicità degli aspetti legati alle pratiche e alle abitudini alimentari della setta.Apporre un sigillo alla bocca, così come alla mano o al seno, significa chiudere, per usare una metafora cara al medioevo, le porte dei sensi: occhi, orecchie, naso, bocca, mani. Viceversa, aprirle o lasciarle aperte equivale a provocare e a permettere l’irruzione al proprio interno dei “demoni esteriori”, e, quindi, esporsi a peccare. Operare la “chiusura dei sensi” significa perciò sottrarsi alle sollecitazioni della carne e del mondo, rifiutando il male e conservando, così, la propria anima integralmente pura e buona quale essa è per essenza.Di fatto, la regola dei “tre sigilli” non viene osservata nel suo rigore più stretto che dai fedeli giunti o chiamati alla perfezione, dagli “Eletti” e dai “Santi”. Meno severe sono, infatti, le leggi che regolano il comportamento dei semplici credenti, degli “Uditori” o dei “Catecumeni”. La delineazione di quella che senza dubbio si potrebbe definire una sorta di “doppia morale”, una duplice regola di condotta, emerge chiaramente nei passi relativi alle pratiche alimentari, laddove, per esempio, Agostino fa notare come agli Uditori, per esempio, sia permesso persino dedicarsi ad attività profane quali l’agricoltura e tutto ciò che ad essa consegue come seminare e raccogliere, operazioni ritenute sacrileghe dagli Eletti, o, ancora, poter mangiar carne e bere vino.Diversamente vanno, invece, le cose per i “Perfetti”, il cui regime di sussistenza è ridotto allo stretto indispensabile secondo uno stile di vita improntato al digiuno, alla preghiera e all’astinenza. Sono così loro proibiti i cibi grassi, le bevande inebrianti ed ogni gesto dannoso perpetuato nei confronti dei vegetali.Tali proibizioni alimentari, discussi da Agostino nell’oris signaculum, la cui critica occupa da sola i tre quarti dello sviluppo dedicato ai tre sigilli nel suo De moribus manichaeorum, sono fonte di grande interesse per il vescovo d’Ippona il quale non manca di prendere in esame, spesso con tono sarcastico, ciascun aspetto di questi rigidi precetti rivelandone quelle che per lui sono immancabili contraddizioni: «Smettete ... di lusingare gli ignoranti celebrando il sigillo della bocca come qualcosa di grande. A meno che per caso non riteniate il mangiare crne e il non bere vino un sigillo della bocca degno di ammirazione e lode».Il colore, l’odore e il sapore, tre criteri che guidano e orientano i manichei nella scelta dei cibi e che corrispondono ad altrettanti organi sensoriali, la vista, l’olfatto sentinella del terzo dei sensi chiamati in causa, quello del gusto, divengono per Agostino occasione non solo di riflessione ma di spunto polemico al fine di dimostrare come, spesso, limitarsi a giudicare la bontà o meno di un cibo servendosi di solo uno di questi sensi alla volta , porti a cadere in terribili errori di giudizio. Del resto, Dio non è qualcosa di materiale che possa essere percepito con i sensi ed è, dunque, assurdo ritenere che lo si possa scoprire con la vista, con l’olfatto, o con il gusto. (shrink)

Desde al menos Aristóteles, los filósofos han intentado explicar la vida pasional de los seres humanos. El propósito de este ensayo es mostrar la teoría de las pasiones de Hume. Este autor analiza las pasiones como parte de la ciencia del hombre en el Libro II del Tratado de la naturaleza humana y en la posterior Disertación de las pasiones. Hume distingue entre pasiones “serenas” y “violentas”. Él identifica los sentimientos estéticos y morales como ejemplos de pasiones “serenas”, mientras que (...) caracteriza como “violentas” sentimientos tales como “el amor y el odio, la alegría y la tristeza, el orgullo y la humildad”. A continuación, Hume divide las pasiones en “directas”, que surgen inmediatamente del placer o dolor, e “indirectas”, que proceden de los mismos principios, pero en conjunción con otras cualidades. El análisis de las pasiones “indirectas” es original de Hume. Por otro lado, al igual que las teorías epistemológica y moral, la explicación de las pasiones en Hume constituye una teoría crítica. (shrink)

For many years, psychological–clinical research has been aiming at studying the Mafia from different viewpoints: the man of honor's inner world, relational and psychopathological structures of his family matrices, connections between inner and social worlds, interiorized and social rules. Today, however, a complex phenomenon has come to light, which concerns the great connection between the Mafia and financial crime, and for us as researchers it is very interesting and complicated to analyze, because it involves the study of psychological peculiarities that (...) can be specifically found in the numerous illegalities. The crossbreeding of the various criminalities, which are always more interacting and merging and less isolated, makes this picture even more complex. (shrink)

En las dos últimas Cartas a Serena (1704), John Toland estudia las concepciones del movimiento presentes en Baruch Spinoza e Isaac Newton. Frente al primero, Toland advierte que no dio un paso que su sistema le exigía, a saber, declarar el movimiento esencial a la materia. Frente al segundo, su advertencia es diferente: Newton sí habría dado ese paso, aunque no habría expuesto públicamente todas las consecuencias que se derivan de este. En ambos casos, lo que nos interesa es (...) la relación entre filosofía natural y filosofía política que Toland detecta y que no siempre ha sido analizada. (shrink)

En este ensayo se evidencia cómo la categoría de lo “apolineo” elaborada por Nietzsche es heredera de la visión tradicional de la Grecia serena dibujada por Winckelmann. De lo histórico del arte dedujo este carácter privilegiando la técnica escultórica como interpretación de la esencia de aquella cultura, mientras que Nietzsche la dedujo sobre todo de la mùsica. Sin embargo Apolo, así como Dionisos, producía un estado de posesión y se caracterizaba por su esencia violenta y a menudo mortífera. Con (...) la variante de una forma de adorcismo producido por diferentes ritmos e instrumentos, y que determinaba formas diferentes de sabiduría, esencialmente epistémica la de Apolo, sensitiva la de Dionisos. (shrink)

Growing concern has been expressed that we have entered a “post-truth” era in which each of us willfully believes whatever we choose, aided and abetted by alternative and social media that spin alternative realities for boutique consumption. A prime example of the belief in alternative realities is said to be acceptance of “conspiracy theories”—a term that is often used as a pejorative to indict claims of conspiracy that are so obviously absurd that only the unhinged could believe them. The epistemological (...) standard often involved in this indictment, however—the standard of “obvious” falsity—invites subjectivity in its application, because what is obviously false to one person can be common sense to another. This is not just a truism; considerable research suggests that people’s political beliefs, in general, and their acceptance or rejection of conspiracy theories in particular, tends in large part to be determined by partisan, ideological, and other priors. (shrink)

Esta obra ofrece un panorama completo de los problemas fundamentales de la Metafísica, bien presentado, ordenado y estructurado, concediendo a cada tema su propia categoría dentro de la escala de importancia que hoy día le corresponde. Aborda por ello cuestiones de gran actualidad e interés para el hombre de nuestro tiempo, que invitan a una reflexión serena siguiendo siempre el acertado criterio orientador y cristiano que inspira su excelente desarrollo. La obra, por tanto, quiere prestar un gran servicio tanto (...) en los centros superiores de la Iglesia como en los de la universidad civil. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Unpacking the Chalcedonian Formula:From Studied Ambiguity to Saving MysteryBrian E. Daley, S.J.One of the central questions Christian theologians continue to ask themselves, as they confront the mystery of the person of Christ, is, what is the significance for us today of the Council of Chalcedon? For generations of modern scholars, especially those in the West, the dense and rather technical phrases forged at that fifth-century gathering of Christian bishops (...) and appended to a restatement of what we know as the “Nicene creed” represented a major milestone in the Churches’ ongoing clarification of how disciples are to understand the person of Jesus the Savior.In J. N. D. Kelly’s widely used survey, Early Christian Doctrines,1 for instance, Chalcedon’s “settlement” of the twenty-four-year dispute between Nestorius and his Antiochene supporters and Cyril of Alexandria and the Church of Alexandria was the culmination of “the decisive period for Christology”2 in the early Church, an attempt to define an understanding of Christ that could be accepted by all Christians throughout the Empire, but which nevertheless—surprisingly, perhaps—“failed to bring permanent peace.”3 Aloys Grillmeier, in his foundational study of the growth of early Christian understandings of Jesus, speaks of the years up to Chalcedon as [End Page 165] temporally defining “the development of belief in Christ from its beginning to its first climax in a council of the Church.”4 In an influential study of the theology of the seventh-century monk and theologian Maximus the Confessor, Hans Urs von Balthasar emphasizes the centrality of Chalcedon’s formulaic, classically dialectical picture of the person of Christ as central to Maximus’s whole approach to God, the world, and the human spirit. The reason, Balthasar argues, lies in Chalcedon’s ability to affirm both unity and abiding difference in Christ as the dominant pattern of God’s relationship to creation:From the moment that Chalcedon, in its sober and holy wisdom, elevated the adverbs ‘indivisibly’ (ἀδαιρέτως) and ‘unconfusedly’ (ἀσυγχύτως) to a dogmatic formula, the image of a reciprocal indwelling of two distinct poles of being replaced the image of mixture. This mutual ontological presence (περιχώρησις) not only preserves the being particular to each element, to the divine and the human natures, but also brings each of them to its perfection in their very difference, even enhancing that difference. Love, which is the highest level of union, only takes root in the growing independence of the lovers; the union between God and the world reveals, in the very nearness it creates between these two poles of being, the ever-greater difference between created being and the essentially incomparable God.5With a little help from German Romantic philosophy, and perhaps from his Jesuit confrère Erich Przywara, Balthasar here sees in the Chalcedonian picture of Christ not only Maximus’s central inspiration, but the early Church’s final paradigm for conceiving how the transcendent God can be present and crucially active in the world.One might multiply examples. But does this understanding of Chalcedon’s portrait of Christ really represent its intent or its lasting meaning? What led to its articulation? What was, one may ask, the real achievement of this gathering of over 500 Eastern bishops, mainly from the Greek-speaking East, called by the new emperor Marcian and his long-influential spouse, the [End Page 166] Empress Pulcheria, in a port suburb across the Bosporus from Constantinople, in October of 451? On the level of Church politics, at least, it was a step towards restoring a balance, however briefly, between major centers of influence in the Church of the mid-fifth century, and the theological traditions with which they had become associated: a balance precariously achieved in 433, after the bitter controversy over Nestorius’s views on how to conceive the person of Christ, by what is often called the “Formula of Reunion,” which sketched the outlines of traditional faith in the Savior—a formula apparently drafted at that time by Theodoret of Cyrus and proposed by the Church of Antioch, but which was also warmly embraced by Theodoret’s principal rival, Cyril of Alexandria. After heated debates between the bishop of Constantinople, the... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 377 Parmenides: Being, Bounds, and Logic. By S. AUSTIN. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. Pp. xi + 203. $20.00. Within carefully drawn limits Austin conducts a rigorous analysis of Parmenides's poem that is both creative and forceful. His analysis reveals a logical structure to the poem that is more intricate and subtle than has previously been acknowledged. The result is a deeper insight into Parmenides 's (...) accomplishments in logic and methodology. Austin's view is that Parmenides first establishes criteria for the formation of judgments, and then uses a consciously systematic and comprehensive method to determine the sort of judgments that can describe being. Thus, Austin argues, all the arguments and distinctions of the " Truth " section-and to some extent those of " Opinion "-are necessary for a complete description of being. The argumentation is rigorous and Austin's thesis is certainly plausible, though some modifications are in order. The charge of anachronism presents the most fundamental challenge to Austin's thesis. For him, Parmenides is not only the "first logician" and " ontologist ", but the " founder of Western rational theology as well as of scientific explanation." These accolades are commonplace, but nonethe less misleading. More serious is Austin's claim that Parmenides employs the principles of noncontradiction and excluded middle, and displays an understanding-albeit a partial one-of the functions of negation, double negation, copula and predicate. Austin sees countless anticipations of Parmenides's successors from Plato to the present, and has no qualms about rendering parts of the poem in contemporary philosophical jargon. For example, the phrase "not the same" in fr. 8.22 should, on Austin's reading, be taken to mean, " having its numerical nonidentity secured by means of qualitative difference" (p. 88). Austin recognizes the charge of anachronism, but believes his interpretation best accounts for the poem's logical structure. More specific anticipations of Plato and Aristotle are tackled in chapter 5. Chapter 1 ("Why Not 'Is Not'~") contains an ingenious solution to a problem that has puzzled scholars and students alike for centuries. The goddess of Parmenides's poem proclaims (fr. 2) : "that it is not and that it is right for it not to be, this I point out to you as a completely uninformative track." Why, then, do nearly all the signposts of being in fr. 8 use negative language and indirect prooH This problem, Austin suggests, has not been sufficiently appreciated. Austin shows forcefully that no interpretation of fr. 8 can stand which explains away the goddess 's use of negative language. Austin's own explanation results from careful scrutiny of the grammar of predications and assertions in fr. 8. Curiously, of all the negative expressions in fr. 8, the expression ovK e. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS 381 Nature and Motion in the Middle.Ages. By FR. JAMES A. WEISHE,IPL. Edited by William E. Carroll. Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, v. 11. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of American Press, 1985. Pp. xii + 292. In this book the editor brings together some articles previously published by Fr. James Weisheipl which deal with various questions relating to Aristotle's natural philosophy along with (...) some medieval interpretations, mainly by St. Thomas Aquinas. The volume was not originally intended to be a posthumous offering, but Fr. James's untimely death has made it into one, and the editor provides a warm ' In Memoriam' at the end. During his fruitful scholarly career in medieval studies Weisheipl devoted much of his efforts to correcting what he took to be some basic modern misunderstandings of Aristotelian and medieval natural philosophy. A long-standing and still commonly held view has it that modern science became possible only after a total and unequivocal rejection of Aristotle's understanding of physical science. According to this theory, science as we now understand it appeared only in the seventeenth century. which is to say long after the close of the Middle Ages (pp. 261 ff.) and therefore, apart from purely historical interest, there remains nothing to be gained from a study of the medieval view of science. In the last century, however, Pierre Duhem argued that heretofore unrecognized linkages exist between modern science and the much earlier efforts by Aristotle and his medieval interpreters. Following Duhem's pioneering work, more recent scholarship has increased still further our knowledge of the relationship between early and modern science, with some (e.g. A. Maier) emphasizing elements of discontinuity and others (e.g. Weisheipl ) pointing out some long neglected but nonetheless philosophically sound and therefore still valuable insights of Aristotle and his medieval disciples. Weisheipl argues that the Aristotelian/medieval notion of nature is perfectly compatible with what he terms the physico-mathematical approach so profitably adopted by modern science. (ch. 11) He rejects the idea that the scientist, after the weleome advances of men like Galileo and Newton, is henceforward correct in replacing the earlier concept of nature with a purely mechanistic model of the universe. The more recent fruitful application of the physico-mathematieal method in science, far from requiring the rejection of Aristotle's concept of nature in favor of a nature-less mechanical model, finds a needed complimentarity with its inclusion as a sure foundation. Taking Aristotle's lead, Albert the Great, Aquinas, and others in fact, Weisheipl argues, were quite well aware of 38~ BOOK REVIEWS the more mathematically grounded method in studying nature. The work they did especially in astronomy, optics, and harmonics, W eisheipl points out, clearly reveals their belief in the heuristic power of mathematics. He readily admits that the earlier attempts to ' save the appearances ' with relatively primitive mathematical tools pale in comparison with the modern achievement, but he thinks the fundamental instinct so remarkably exploited by later scientists is already evident in earlier times. At the core of Weisheipl's exposition of Aristotelian/medieval science is the basic concept of nature, and the frequent failure of scholars to understand this concept conectly is, in his view, the major underlying reason for so much confusion. " For Aristotle..., v. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:BOOK REVIEWS El Primer Principia del Obrar Moral y las Normas Especificas en el Pensamiento de G. Grisez y!. Finnis. By AURELIO A.NSALDO. Roma: Pontificia Universita Lateranense, 1990. Pp. xiii+ 255. This unusually excellent and important doctoral dissertation was written in Rome at the Istituto Giovanni Paolo II per Studi su Matrimonio e Famiglia, a component of the Lateran University. The author currently teaches at the Ateneo Romano della (...) Santa Croce in Rome. The volume is of special importance for three reasons: (1) it provides a comprehensive, detailed, and accurate account of the moral theory developed by Germain Grisez and John Finnis over the past quarter century (Joseph Boyle has also made important contributions to this theory, and Ansaldo has noted these); (2) it defends Grisez and Finnis against many of the criticisms which have been unjustly leveled against their thought; and (3) it raises some critically import· ant issues by way of constructive criticism. In what follows I will briefly comment on the first and second features of Ansaldo's work and discuss more fully the third important component of his scholarly study. In the first part of his work (pp. 3-100), Ansaldo offers readers a splendid synthesis of the thought of Grisez and Finnis. He has carefully studied everything written by these authors from 1964 to 1988. He has included important material from Finnis that had escaped even my attention, and I have tried to study everything these authors have written. He has also succeeded in presenting their thought comprehensively and faithfully. He understands what they think, appreciates it, and presents it accurately. In short, he does justice to their thought. In this respect his study is quite superior to another doctoral dissertation, Russell Hittinger's A Critique of the New Natural Law Theory. Hittinger's work has been severely criticized, and rightly so, not only by Grisez but by others (e.g., Robert George and William Marshner) ; it seriously misrepresents the work of Grisez and Finnis. A criticism of this sort cannot be levelled against Ansaldo's work; it provides an accurate and very scholarly account of their thought. In the second part of his study (pp. 103-229) Ansaldo offers a critical assessment of the work of Grisez and Finnis. Here he first shows that many of the criticisms leveled against their thought are unjust and unfounded, particularly those offered by such writers as Veatch, Rittinger, Flicken, Bourke, et al. These writers charge that Grisez and Finnis fail to show how moral principles are rooted in metaphysics and anthropology, that they completely separate ethics from metaphysics, natural law from human nature, etc. Ansaldo, by a patient and thorough BOOK REVIEWS 888 examination of their thought and the thought of St. Thomas, defends Grisez and Finnis from these misguided criticisms. He shows, first of all,,that Grisez and Finnis are correct (and fully in accord with St. Thomas) in holding that our krwwledge of the primary principles of natural law is not derived from our knowledge of metaphysics or of human nature. By referring to appropriate texts of Grisez and Finnis, Ansaldo shows conclusively that these authors explicitly recognize the intimate rela· tionship between ethics and metaphysics, between natural law and human nature. They fully and explicitly recognize that, were our na· ture other than it is, namely, the nature of human beings, the goods pedective of us would be other than what they actually are. When these goods are grasped by practical reason, they serve as starting points or principles of purposeful human action. Nonetheless, our practical krwwledge of these goods, is not epistemologically derived from or dependent upon prior knowledge, speculative in character, of human nature. In short, in contrast to their critics and in conformity with St. Thomas, Grisez and Finnis are correct in holding that our practical understanding of the primary principles of natural law is not dependent upon our prior understanding of metaphysics or human nature. At the same time they explicitly acknowledge and defend the truth that onto· logically ethics is grounded in metaphysics and anthropology. "Our authors," Ansaldo writes, " have always sought not only to respect but even more to defend and explain the fact that the basis... (shrink)

One of the greatest challenges facing democracies is how to live together with difference. The growth of globalisation and international migration has presented schools with increased opportunities and challenges related to learning from and living with superdiversity. Yet within current policy settings and educational practices, the alignment between superdiversity and democratic education is not explicitly foregrounded. In this paper I examine how teachers (n = 24) from four superdiverse secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand’s responded to growing cultural, linguistic and (...) religious diversity in their classrooms. By examining empirical evidence from teacher’s practices, the paper illustrates how Dewey’s philosophy of learning by living together with difference, placing a priority on shared interests and developing a socio-political awareness of inequalities provides valuable insights for democratic education. The study illustrates the importance of recognising the complexity of interactions in superdiverse contexts and the significant role that teachers can play in creating conditions for inclusive classrooms where democracy can be lived and learned. It also highlights how teachers themselves, can undergo a journey toward developing more inclusive and justice-oriented pedagogical practices that support both Indigenous and ethnic minority groups in their schools. (shrink)

Bernat (2024) and Busch (2024) both argue that the clamping of cerebral vasculature in NRP-cDCD ensures sufficient diagnostic certainty of death that the procedure does not violate the Dead Donor R...

This is the first full-length survey of current work which examines the compatibility of microeconomics and macroeconomics. Its particular distinction is that it makes accessible, to non-specialists, those extensive modern refinements of general equilibrium theory which are linked to macroeconomics and monetary theory. Part I traces the development and interlocking nature of two scientific research prgrams, macroeconomics and neo-Walrasian analysis. The five chapters in this part examine general equilibrium theory, Keynes' contribution, the 'neoclassical synthesis', and the Clower–Leijonhufvud contributions to questions (...) of systemic coordination. The four chapters of Part II place recent work on the micro-foundations of macroeconomics within a taxonomic scheme of Walrasian equilibrium, Walrasian disequilibrium, Edgeworthian equilibrium, and Edgeworthian disequilibrium. Part III, a single chapter, provides an overview of the subject and ventures some conclusions. (shrink)

The fact that genes and environment contribute differentially to variation in human behaviors, traits and attitudes is central to the field of behavior genetics. Perceptions about these differential contributions may affect ideas about human agency. We surveyed two independent samples (N = 301 and N = 740) to assess beliefs about free will, determinism, political orientation, and the relative contribution of genes and environment to 21 human traits. We find that lay estimates of genetic influence on these traits cluster into (...) four distinct groups, which differentially predict beliefs about human agency, political orientation, and religiosity. Despite apparent ideological associations with these beliefs, the correspondence between mean lay estimates and published heritability estimates for the surveyed traits is large (r = .77). Belief in genetic determinism emerges as a modest predictor of accuracy in these lay estimates. Additionally, educated mothers with multiple children emerge as particularly accurate in their estimates of the genetic contribution to these traits. (shrink)

When Jesus meets the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s well in John 4, it is a meeting between two colonial subjects in the Roman Empire. In this encounter we find the Samaritan Woman as a triply marginalised body, a woman subject to multiple, intersecting forms of oppression within her patriarchal context. Identified as a Samaritan Woman, Jewish rabbis regarded her as unclean, impure, and being menstruous from birth. It can also be deduced that she is an outcast in her own society (...) because she comes to draw from the well at noon, the hottest part of the day when people did not usually fetch water. This Samaritan Woman is nameless, landless and powerless in an imperial, colonial and patriarchal context. The poem of Diana Ferrus, I’ve come to take you home, in memory of Sarah Baartman, highlights how Baartman was dehumanised and treated as a sexual object by European colonisers. Through a postcolonial reading of John 4, I consider the intersections between the Samaritan Woman and the early life of Sara Baartman in their respective colonial contexts and invite the reader, as the poem invites Baartman, to come home to Africa and resist Western European imperial and colonial patterns and tendencies.Contribution: This article has interdisciplinary implications. This is an interdisciplinary study in the sense that it offers a biblical interpretation of John 4 that is informed by the life of Sara Baartman that has been uncovered through anthropology, history and sociology. It is also integrating the field of postcolonial biblical hermeneutics with the theory of intersectionality. (shrink)

Ethical youth work is ‘good' youth work but how do youth work practitioners collectively determine what is ‘good'? This article presents findings from four-country surveys of youth workers' attitudes and understandings of what constitutes ‘good', that is to say ‘ethical’ practice. The article presents the principles that youth workers say underpin ethical practice in Australia, Estonia, Iceland, and Ireland. The first three countries have well established Codes of Ethics and/or Practice and Professional Associations, while Ireland does not. A survey of (...) youth work practitioners funded by Erasmus Plus, was conducted across the four countries (n = 405). A comparative analysis of data across countries revealed consensus around key characteristics of youth work practice such as the participation, empowerment, and safety of young people. These core principles form the basis of good and ethical action by practitioners. In countries which have codified these principles, these Codes were reported to be useful tools to support practitioners in their work. The survey further suggests that reflective practice is important in the application of ethical codes to concrete practice situations acting as a form of collective accountability and praxis. To conclude, we consider the implications of these findings for professionalism, and professionalisation in youth work nationally and internationally. (shrink)

This paper extends the discourse on the importance of the relationship between practitioner and young person as a defining tenet of effective youth work practice, recognising the privileged position occupied by Youth Workers in the social ecology of the young people with whom they work. Reflecting the ethical obligations inherent in this relationship, particularly its focus on enhancing young people’s agency and developmental outcomes, the paper outlines how youth work practice infused with professional love aligns with conceptualizations of an ethic (...) of care. Reporting on interviews conducted with Youth Workers practicing in different settings across one local authority area in the UK, the paper articulates how practitioners’ ethic of care shapes their work with young people, and the extent to which love features as an element of their professional practice. Practitioners describe their motivation to express care that extends beyond legalistic interpretations of their ‘duty of care’ towards young people, using the language of care, love and nurture almost interchangeably. The paper demonstrates the importance of inclusion and reciprocity as fundamental elements of ethical practice, as well as the need to infuse practice with hope, suggesting the value of an affirmative ethic to complement a focus on love and care. (shrink)

According to perdurantist accounts of persistence, transtemporal aggregates of stages, ‘worms’, are ‘the referents of ordinary terms, members of ordinary domains of quantification, subjects of ordinary predications, and so on…on the stage view…it is instantaneous stages rather than worms that play this role’. I argue the stage theory should be preferred as an account of personal persistence. I consider the way in which four‐dimensionalist accounts of personal persistence are organized and the conditions which, arguably, any plausible account of personal persistence (...) should satisfy. I sketch a semantics for the stage theory which yields a stage‐theoretical account of personal persistence that satisfies these conditions. I argue that standard purdurantist accounts do not. I conclude that standard purdurantist accounts fail because, while persons view themselves and their worlds from the time‐bound first‐person perspective of stages, purdurantist accounts privilege the atemporal view of persons as four‐dimensional aggregates of stages or ‘worms’. Perdurantist accounts produce counterintuitive results in fission cases because there is a discrepancy between a person's time‐bound first‐person perspective and the purdurantist view from nowhen. (shrink)

Insufficient attention has been paid to the ways in which Newtonian conceptualizations of time encourage the view in contemporary psychology that only efficient causal explanations are viable, explanations that ultimately render meaningful, purposive, morally rich human actions and relationships illusory. In short, psychology’s pervasive adoption of Newtonian assumptions about time and causation renders the discipline incapable of understanding human behavior, its primary focus of study, in any but fundamentally inhuman ways. This paper aims (1) to provide a critique of the (...) Newtonian conception of time and its commitment to efficient causality, particularly as commonly present in contemporary psychological theory and practice, and (2) to examine the phenomenological account of time provided in the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Specifically, we will explore some of the ways in which Levinas’ account of time as fundamentally intersubjective provides an alternative conceptual grounding for understanding the therapeutic relationship as one of infinite ethical responsibility. (shrink)