This paper seeks to provide an approach for achieving a more socially and environmentally sustainable life by reframing the rules of engagement with the planet and with each other by setting minimum standards on essential criteria i.e., by defining “off-limits”zones for corporate action. For a more humanistic and socially just way of living life that would sustain the planet, a set of moral boundaries that cannot be breached are conceived. We offer a set of possible normative leverage points that must (...) not be violated by business in the long-term. Our paper takes a forward-looking view beyond the current generational targets for sustainability. We operate on the premise that sustainability involves preserving the future generations of the planet in both an environmental and human sense. The Moral Boundaries for Business framework embraces the Seventh Generation Principle. The moral boundaries we offer in this paper, if followed, are meant to have positive implications for humanity and the planet in the next seven generations. (shrink)

Examines to what extent Heidegger accepted the Nazi philosophy, assesses his anti-Semitism, and looks at the links between philosophy and politics.

It is now integral to much of cultural, political and social analysis. This is the first comprehensive survey in one volume of the interdisciplinary field of cosmopolitan studies.

Neste artigo buscamos apresentar um relato de experiência vivenciada numa formação continuada, em 2019, entre docentes de história, biologia, química, física e matemática da Rede de Ensino do Estado da Bahia. A formação é parte da tese de doutorado, desenvolvida no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino, Filosofia e História das Ciências da Universidade Federal da Bahia, que tem como sentido potencializar a descolonização de saberes científicos e do fazer didático no ensino das ciências da educação básica. Mesmo diante da vanguarda (...) dos movimentos sociais negro-pindorâmico e das determinações da Lei-Base para a Educação de 2003, reforçado em 2008, ainda há enfrentamentos frente aos entraves e desafios no fazer didático no chão da sala de aula. Nesse sentido, as influências de um modelo praxeológico de referência pautado na descolonização dos saberes foi repertório no processo formativo para a integração das abordagens etnicorraciais no ensino enquanto modelos de referência a serem ensinados. (shrink)

Despite hundreds of definitions, no consensus exists on a definition of life or on the closely related and problematic definitions of the organism and death. These problems retard practical and theoretical development in, for example, exobiology, artificial life, biology and evolution. This paper suggests improving this situation by basing definitions on a theory of a generalized particle hierarchy. This theory uses the common denominator of the “operator” for a unified ranking of both particles and organisms, from elementary particles to animals (...) with brains. Accordingly, this ranking is called “the operator hierarchy”. This hierarchy allows life to be defined as: matter with the configuration of an operator, and that possesses a complexity equal to, or even higher than the cellular operator. Living is then synonymous with the dynamics of such operators and the word organism refers to a select group of operators that fit the definition of life. The minimum condition defining an organism is its existence as an operator, construction thus being more essential than metabolism, growth or reproduction. In the operator hierarchy, every organism is associated with a specific closure, for example, the nucleus in eukaryotes. This allows death to be defined as: the state in which an organism has lost its closure following irreversible deterioration of its organization. The generality of the operator hierarchy also offers a context to discuss “life as we do not know it”. The paper ends with testing the definition’s practical value with a range of examples. (shrink)

This article presents the first results of a research on visual models for the classifications of semiotic processes. The main issue discussed is how a graphic design methodology, associated with computer graphics resources, may contribute to the construction of interactive models, that can be used as tools for the investigation of C. S. Peirce theory of signs. Two models are presented: the first is an interactive 3-D model of Peirce's 3-trichotomic classification; the second is a computer program that builds diagrams (...) for any n-trichotomic classification of signs, and facilitates the analysis and comparison of different hypothesis regarding their structures. (shrink)

We examine conceptual and methodological problems that arise in the course of the scientific study of possible influences of religious belief on the experience of physical pain. We start by attempting to identify a notion of religious belief that might enter into interesting psychological generalizations involving both religious belief and pain. We argue that it may be useful to think of religious belief as a complex dispositional property that relates believers to a sufficiently thick belief system that encompasses both cognitive (...) and non-cognitive elements. Such a conception of religious belief is more likely to correlate with psychological properties of believers that are both sufficiently shared and sufficiently unique to distinguish their psychology from believers in another religion or from non-believers. If the dispositional psychological property that constitutes religious belief does influence pain, then our analysis suggests that it doesn’t do so directly but rather through one of its occurrent manifestations. We offer a taxonomy of the different ways in which occurrent states of belief or experience may interact with physical pain, and we try to identify those that are more interesting or promising. We then proceed to employ the conceptual framework we developed to some of the existing evidence about the neural and psychological correlates of religious belief and experience, and about the cognitive modulation of physical pain. Finally we turn to analyse two experiments that directly investigated the relation between religious belief and pain. We draw attention to the limitations of existing evidence and end by suggesting directions for future conceptual and empirical inquiry. (shrink)

Sophisticated dispositionalism proposes a naturalist reduction of mental content by claiming that the semantic content of a mental symbol is determined by the causes of the occurrence of this symbol under ideal conditions, i.e., conditions under which only the referent of a symbol can cause its tokening. However, Paul Boghossian developed the open-endedness objection in order to show that it is not possible to specify these ideal conditions in non-semantic terms, entailing that the naturalist reduction of mental content proposed by (...) sophisticated dispositionalism is not viable. My goal in this paper is to argue that the open-endedness objection is flawed. (shrink)

The history of the concept of “religion” in Western tradition has intrigued scholars for years. This important collection of eighteen essays brings further light to the ongoing debate. Three of the invited participants, W.C. Smith, M. Despland and E. Feil, has each previously written impressive books treating this subject; the last two acknowledged the impact and continuing influence of Smith’s work, The Meaning and End of Religion. An introduction and a recapitulation of Smith’s contribution as a scholar set the stage (...) for a retrospective look at the published literature. Contributors then examine the transformation of words (the classical religio to the modern religion), particularities of religion in nineteenth-century France, Troeltsch’s concept of religion, the study of religion from an Asian point of view and the categorization of “World Religions.” The concluding essays elaborate contemporary anthropological, cross-disciplinary, semiological, deconstructive and psychoanalytical methodological approaches to the concept and study of “religion.” Exploring critically different aspects of the concept and study of religion, these provocative essays typically reflect the methodological pluralism currently existing in the field of Religious Studies. Of interest to scholars and students alike, this collection also contains a complete bibliography of W.C. Smith’s publications. (shrink)

Hacia 1976 Michel Foucault señalaba que la literatura surge en la modernidad con el gran imperativo ético y político de sacar a la luz las oscuras existencias del mundo social al mismo tiempo que formaba parte de un complejo dispositivo de poder capaz de hacer entrar lo más banal e infame de una sociedad en el orden del discurso. Un par de décadas después será Jacques Rancière quien nos dirá que la aparición de la literatura inaugura un nuevo régimen estético (...) que cambiará para siempre la escritura de la historia y los tipos de composición de las artes al hacer hablar a aquellas existencias mudas e insignificantes. Desde esta perspectiva, Rancière nos revelaría que era esta política de la literatura la que estaba operando inconscientemente en el proyecto de una arqueología de las instituciones y de los saberes, al mismo tiempo que era este último filósofo quien heredaba parte del método foucaultiano, donde se descubrían las potencialidades estéticas y escriturales de la literatura como discurso que pone en juego el poder. (shrink)

A relação entre ciência e cultura referida na filosofia da pós-história de Flusser é o tema deste trabalho. De que forma se articulam a ciência e a cultura hoje? Se considerarmos a cultura como a condição de nossa liberdade, onde situamos a ciência neste processo? O conceito de cultura é mais abrangente e inclui o conceito de ciência. Por exemplo, podemos dizer que a ciência é uma chave para entender a história cultural do ocidente e, dessa forma, não podemos perceber (...) os dilemas de nossa cultura sem abordar o conceito de ciência. Um dos sintomas da pós-história é o isolamento da ciência em relação à sociedade: o discurso científico tornou-se abstrato e absurdo, impossível de ser percebido e convertido em diálogo político para realizar o projeto de liberdade pelo qual ainda queremos dar sentido à cultura. (shrink)

Tal como a maioria dos alunos que ingressam em um curso superior em uma universidade pública, vindos de uma formação básica muito aquém do preparo para a universidade, quando ingressei no curso de Filosofia eu pouco sabia sobre como eram as aulas, desconhecia completamente os projetos e oportunidades para ensino, pesquisa e extensão, e sequer conseguia projetar meu futuro além da essencial formação como licenciado. E provavelmente não teria a oportunidade de expandir meus objetivos e ter uma formação adequada não (...) fossem os excelentes professores e professoras com quem fui aprender sobre filosofia, sobre os trabalhos e projetos acadêmicos, e mesmo sobre a vida. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente ensaio é apresentar os principais pontos da crítica de Hans Jonas à concepção de natureza desenvolvida na modernidade, sobretudo pelas ciências naturais e pela matemática. A influência da matemática e da física, diz Jonas, projetou sobre a natureza e sobre o cosmos um olhar científico que, interessando em entender “apenas” seu funcionamento a partir das descobertas das leis que os regem, legou-nos um cosmos e uma natureza destituídos de valor intrínseco. Compreender essa análise de Jonas sobre (...) a concepção de natureza na modernidade nos permite entender a preocupação do filósofo a respeito do modo como os seres humanos se relacionam e agem com/no mundo natural, tarefa importante para situar sua fenomenologia dentro de seu projeto ético. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se discuten las nociones de filosofía y espiritualidad, tratadas por M. Foucault en La hermenéutica del sujeto, que relacionan el sujeto con la verdad. Si la filosofía del conócete a ti mismo trata la relación cognoscitiva del sujeto con la verdad a la que tiene derecho, entonces la espiritualidad del cuidado de sí trata de la transformación experiencial que requiere la verdad para que el sujeto acceda a ella. Este es el contexto en el que M. Foucault se refiere (...) a M. Heidegger y J. Lacan como los autores que pensaron la relación entre el sujeto y la verdad. Se discute en ambos casos la distinción entre la filosofía y la espiritualidad: en Lacan, porque la experiencia psicoanalítica aparece como vivencia espiritual del cuidado de sí; en Heidegger, porque el Dasein y la verdad como desocultamiento muestran la filosofía como actividad espiritual por excelencia. ABSTRACT The article discusses the notions of philosophy and spirituality relating the subject to truth, as dealt with by M. Foucault in The Hermeneutics of the Subject. While the philosophy of “know thyself” deals with the cognitive relation of subjects to the truth they have a right to, the spirituality of the care of the self has to do with the experiential transformation necessary for subjects to have access to truth. It is in this context that M. Foucault refers to M. Heidegger and J. Lacan as authors who thought the relation between subject and truth. In both cases, the distinction between philosophy and spirituality is discussed: in the case of Lacan, because the psychoanalytical experience appears as a spiritual experience of the care of the self, and in that of Heidegger, because Dasein and truth as unveiling reveal philosophy to be a spiritual experience par excellence. (shrink)

On a charge of murder or manslaughter it must be shown that the person killed was one who was in being. It is neither murder nor manslaughter to kill an unborn child while still in its mother’s womb although it may be the statutory offences of child destruction or abortion. If however the child is born alive and afterwards dies by reason of an unlawful act done to it in the mother’s womb or in the process of birth, the person (...) who committed that act is guilty of murder or manslaughter according to the intent with which the act is done. [Halsbury’s LAWS OF ENGLAND, 4th ed. reissue, Vol. 11 (1). London: Butterworths, 1990.]. (shrink)

Based on the hypothesis that modified human beings will have successful life projects, the biopolitical presuppositions of genetic manipulation in modern society are reflected. Considering the theories presented by Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, Michael J. Sandel, Hans Jonas and Achille Mbembe, a genetic Africanization of the economically disadvantaged population is identified. In this scenario, concepts of class and race are confused and social prejudice increases. Faced with the new technologies of genetic engineering, gene manipulation presents itself as a new face (...) of biopower, since science now has the power to give life from the selection of characteristics considered superior. It is argued that the criticism surrounding the process of genetic manipulation is necessary as it opens the possibility of debating mutual recognition as a condition of life, above the identification of race or class, geographic location or other characteristics of the individuals that make up society. (shrink)

O artigo discute a relação entre humanos, animais e máquinas, tomando como foco o problema do desacoplamento da consciência implicado no desenvolvimento das inteligências artificiais. ‘Que relação existe entre o progressivo condicionamento dos processos humanos aos processos artificiais e a chamada ética animal?’ e ‘O que significa afirmar que a recente preocupação ética voltada para os animais é um fenômeno pós-histórico e biopolítico?’ são algumas das interrogações que o artigo elabora e procura responder.

Cosmopolitanism has been understood as a postnational identity. This conflates the distinction between nation and nationalism. Most accounts of cosmopolitanism emphasise its legal form or its cultural dimension or its political. This paper argues for a civic dimension to cosmopolitanism, conceived of in terms of discourses of self, other and world. This is tied to a notion of nations without nationalism.

Are OCypersonsOCO physical things, members of the species homo sapiens which exist solely in materialist form, continuous in structure with other living things? Or is the issue a more complex one: are there more dimensions to being a person than mere physical, biological existence? These are matters of interest and discussion in many fields of study in this age of individuality. In this wide-ranging essay, the author addresses various aspects of the issue, including the history of self and identity. The (...) ancient tradition of dualism is rejected in favour of a straightforward holistic and naturalistic account of selfhood; it is argued that the mind arises in an emergent sense from the body and personal identity is best expressed in terms of a self-reflective and meaningful narrative. The approach is principally from an analytic philosophy point of view but also takes onOCoboard psychological and sociological aspects of self and identity. (shrink)