If Unamuno had been able to choose how to be remembered, he would have wanted him to be a poet. This book wants to do justice to that happy possibility. But above all because Unamuno was a poet in the highest sense: he was while writing the same essay as a novel, or theater, letter or verse, and he was also a poet when he passionately lived all the facets of his intense existence. His intellectual work was poetic and his (...) personal relationships, as well as his political activity, also responded to that peculiar Unamunian aesthetic in which the vital horizon is inescapably confused with the tasks of thought." --Translated from back cover. (shrink)

This book addresses the examination of notions related to space in geography as conditions of social praxis. The author analyzes the critical currents of geography that take a stand in the face of the political consequences of the so-called traditional geography, discuss the criteria from which criticism is exercised in geographic research and reflect on nature and geopolitics from the perspective of criticism of political economy. In this way, in the texts that make up this volume, the necessary debate is (...) invited to overcome the chaos in which the use of categories such as "territory," "region," "place" and "scale" are found in social theory. (shrink)

Germ-line genetic interventions, like all medicine, can present opportunities to remove suffering, save and prolong human life, and support the conditions for successful human performance. Like all medicine, these interventions also present risks that reflect fallen humans’ age-old egocentric ambition to secure their health and improve their quality of life by relying exclusively on their own power, wisdom, and technical means. Moreover, man has always been tempted to overstep Divine prohibitions and to disregard his own calling to become deified by (...) grace. Wherever man succumbs to such tendencies, this inescapably leads to a disruption of the vital relationship between man and God. The legitimacy of the intervention itself depends on the theological status of the genome. Orthodox theology recognizes that the human genome, just as everything else that is created, must be understood in terms of its relationship to God. This consideration, however, does not mean that it can be idolized or is therefore untouchable. Interventions and alterations can be accepted within the constraints set by God, as formulated in the theology of creative logoi of beings in the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, and thus in view of man’s divine vocation. The Christian acceptability or inacceptability of human germ-line gene therapy depends directly on the extent to which it accords with an Orthodox spiritual life, or else hinders such a life. In this sense, this intervention can be examined in the same way as the application of all medical knowledge. When this is used to relieve pain and is motivated by selfless love for one’s neighbor, then it can be considered God’s gift to humankind. When, however, it becomes an absolute and attempts to usurp the presence of God in human life, then use becomes abuse and modern man faces yet another form of idolatry, even though more refined than earlier forms. (shrink)

Coference papers from the X National Seminar of Theory and History of the Art carried out in Medellín to address certain implications that the question entails, for both art and philosophy. For art: Why and since when do we think that art without aesthetics is something reprehensible or desirable? For philosophy: Is it irremovable or not the turn that the philosophical aesthetic took towards the experience of art from the eighteenth century? At the heart of these questions is a basic (...) concern: Who needs more aesthetics (taste, pleasure, beauty): art or human life?. (shrink)

O presente artigo objetiva discutir sobre religião, ética e educação: experiências e vivências do quilombo do Mel da Pedreira, localizado no município de Macapá, estado do Amapá. Uma comunidade que possui sua história, práticas culturais e identidade marcadas pela religiosidade de matriz afro-ameríndia e posteriormente protestante. Nas últimas décadas a religiosidade protestante nessa localidade tem se intensificado com o surgimento de outras denominações cuja base é o pentecostalismo. Neste estudo são abordadas questões voltadas para os discursos religiosos, a ressignificação de (...) práticas culturais, a aplicabilidade da Lei n° 10.639/2003 no currículo escolar, entre outros aspectos que envolvem a cultura local, a religiosidade e a identidade negra. Trata-se de um estudo etnográfico de abordagem qualitativa que utilizou da pesquisa bibliográfica, da análise documental, da observação in loco, e da entrevista semiestruturada como forma de investigação. Os resultados da pesquisa revelam que as mudanças nesse quilombo não aconteceram somente por influência de fatores religiosos, mas, sobretudo, por reflexões sociais e interculturais da comunidade como espaço coletivo. Sobre a implementação das políticas de educação escolar quilombola no Amapá, estas estão caminhando em passos muito lentos, pois são normalmente ações pontuais e fragmentadas, sem articulação com a realidade regional. No que diz respeito ao currículo escolar, observa-se na escola local, ausência de um currículo construído a partir de valores e interesses da comunidade, da mesma forma, ausência de projetos pedagógicos articulados sobre os conteúdos previstos pela Lei n° 10.639/2003, bem como uma educação escolar quilombola de qualidade. É urgente o desenvolvimento de uma educação diferenciada, de qualidade, bem como a valorização e permanência de professores quilombolas e implementação de práticas pedagógicas e de cursos de formação continuada para atender à necessidade local. Palavras-chave: Religião. Ética. Educação. Quilombo. Amapá. (shrink)

Modern medicine is often said to have originated with nineteenth century germ theory, which attributed diseases to bacterial contagions. The success of this theory is often associated with an underlying principle referred to as the “doctrine of specific etiology”. This doctrine refers to specificity at the level of disease causation or etiology. While the importance of this doctrine is frequently emphasized in the philosophical, historical, and medical literature, these sources lack a clear account of the types of specificity that it (...) involves and why exactly they matter. This paper argues that nineteenth century germ theory involves two types of specificity at the level of etiology. One type receives significant attention in the literature, but its influence on modern medicine has been misunderstood. A second type is present in this model, but it has been completely overlooked in the extant literature. My analysis clarifies how these types of specificity led to a novel conception of etiology that continues to figure in medicine today. (shrink)