The garish glow of neon was part of what put Las Vegas on the map—quite literally. The city’s most distinctive form of expression, neon signs tell an elaborate story of the history of Las Vegas, from their debut in 1929 at the onset of the Depression, when their seductive tones lured travelers through the Mojave Desert to part with scarce dollars, to today, when their flickering glow is a vanishing facet of the gaudy spectacle that is contemporary Vegas. Established in (...) 1996 to preserve Las Vegas’s underappreciated neon heritage, the Neon Boneyard houses many of the city's historic casino signs on a three-acre site at the edge of the city. The core of the collection of unrestored signage came from the pioneering Young Electric Sign Company, one of the first to produce neon signs in the area; but, in recent years, it has grown through donations from businesses and individuals who appreciate the key role played by neon in the growth of Las Vegas. Through Judy Natal’s photographs, the Neon Boneyard becomes a dynamic archaeological site that brings Vegas’s past to life in startling ways. The towering figure of Mr. O’Lucky becomes a home for the homeless, while the crumpled sign of a wedding chapel reflects the faded dreams of a lost paradise. Through such juxtapositions of success and failure, of past and present, Neon Boneyard: Las Vegas A–Z returns us to an earlier image of Vegas, suffused with the warm, commercial glow of neon, lighting the desert and inventing modern nightlife. (shrink)

Este volumen recoge las lecciones del X Curso de Cultura hispanojudía y sefardí de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, organizado por la Asociación de Amigos del Museo Sefardí (Toledo, Septiembre 2000) y consagrado al Pensamiento y Mística hispanojudía y sefardí. Las quince conferencias aquí reunidas ofrecen una perspectiva amplia, representativa y completa de los momentos, autores y temas más significativos tratados por pensadores y místicos sefardíes desde la Edad Media hasta nuestros días. Se aprecia una continuidad en los problemas y (...) una búsqueda constante de nuevas soluciones, adaptadas a las circunstancias de cada época. Es la primera vez que aparece en lengua castellana una visión global de esta rica faceta de la cultura hispanohebrea, que permite al lector acercarse a la evolución del pensamiento de los judíos originarios de Sefarad antes y después de 1492, tanto en su faceta filosófica con en su faceta mística (cábala). (shrink)

En este artículo propongo una relectura de la novela Apuntes del subsuelo de Fiódor Dostoievski desde la mirada de la filosofía. Considerada por algunos la novela en la cual el escritor expuso su antropología; entendida, por otros, como una crítica social en boca de un extraño personaje, desde mi punto de vista esta obra es un ejercicio que desmantela la racionalidad moderna, y hace de Dostoievski un antimoderno. El ejercicio planteado parte de la idea que el filósofo ruso de origen (...) judío, Lev Shestov, afirmaba sobre este escrito: que representa la verdadera “crítica de la razón pura”. Trataré de demostrar que la novela Apuntes del subsuelo es uno de los escritos más filosóficos de Dostoievski, porque presenta la deconstrucción de la racionalidad moderna, para lo cual analizaré cómo entendió Dostoievski la razón y cuál fue su postura con relación con ella. (shrink)

Marx y la infancia -- La negación de la conciencia pura en la filosofía de Marx -- La cuestión judía -- Marx y Freud.

T. 1. San Agustín, Boecio, Escoto Erigena y San Anselmo -- T. 2. Arabes y judíos, Tomás de Aquino, Buenaventura, Duns Scot, Occam, Eckhart.

Este texto plantea un estudio comparativo desde la tesis de “la banalidad del mal” de Hannah Arendt, a partir de dos personajes inscritos uno desde la literatura y el otro desde la filosofía moral. Por un lado, el personaje del poeta y piloto de la Fuerza Aérea en la dictadura militar de Augusto Pinochet, Carlos Wieder, que aparece en la novela Estrella distante (1996), del escritor chileno Roberto Bolaño, y, por el otro, el oficial nazi Adolf Eichmann y el conflicto (...) político que generó su juicio penal en Jerusalén en 1961, luego de su captura en un suburbio de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, en 1960. De esta manera, propongo un diálogo entre ambos personajes: uno literario, basado en aconte- cimientos históricos y ficticios, y la crítica desarrollada por la filósofa alemana Hannah Arendt, con indicios de filosofía política y moral, al acusado por críme- nes al pueblo judío, contra la humanidad y crímenes de guerra durante el régi- men nazi en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Las reflexiones de Arendt, elaboradas ante la invitación a realizar un “relato de hechos” sobre el caso para la revista estadounidense The New Yorker durante el periodo del juicio, se publicaron en: Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil, en 1963. (shrink)

Genealogía y lógica de la ratio imperial romana -- Racionalización ética judía y religión de salvación cristiana -- La revolución teológica de Pablo y sus consecuencias -- Teología política imperial y militancia cristiana -- La teología trinitaria y el destino de la teología imperial -- Hilario, Ambrosio y el camino del catolicismo en Occidente -- Mal y salvación: Augstín de Hipona.

Back cover: Clemente de Alejandría es unos de los intelectuales más significativos de los primeros siglos de la cristiandad. Su legado es un claro ejemplo de un verdadero y auténtico diálogo intercultural entre el cristianismo naciente y la herencia clásica disponible de su momento. Este filósofo alejandrino se dio a la tarea de leer los textos judeocristianos y los de los autores clásicos por igual. A lo largo de gran parte de su obra hay una búsqueda incesante de las huellas (...) de un único logos que se ha revelado en los diferentes horizontes culturales de la humanidad. De esta manera, sin importar el lugar de procedencia de dicha revelación, Clemente emprende un esfuerzo exegético de textos cristianos y clásicos con el firme propósito de rastrear, recuperar y compartir ese logos con los demás. El presente volumen es resultado de esa interculturalidad subyacente a la obra del alejandrino. A través del estudio exegético y filológico de las citas que utiliza Clemente del Pentateuco en sus escritos, se puede apreciar ese diálogo creativo entre la cultura cristiana y clásica. El uso de la Septuaginta (la traducción griega del Antiguo Testamento) le ofrece al alejandrino ese puente, puesto que le permite leer la "historia sagrada" en clave helenística. Por consiguiente, Clemente no muestra inconveniente en prolongar la tarea realizada por el judeohelenismo y hacer parte de la tradición cristiana la herencia grecorromana de su época. Así pues, es capaz de unir y definir figuras bíblicas del Antiguo Testamento con personajes y acciones del ambiente cultural helenizado: Abraham es un "astrónomo" que usa el saber encíclico, Jacob es puesto en paralelo con Odiseo, Moisés es comparado con los legisladores que dieron origen a las ciudades griegas. De esta forma, termina integrando tres horizontes culturales: el judío, el helenístico y el cristiano. Finalmente, la tarea de Clemente es una muestra de ese intenso diálogo intercultural que debería existir hoy en día en el ámbito religioso. (shrink)

Este trabajo plantea un ejercicio de interpretación del relato bíblico de los macabeos, su rebelión y resistencia religiosa, política y militar frente a la imposición imperial desde algunas perspectivas recogidas de los escritos de Walter Benjamin sobre la juventud. Se ponen de relieve temas como la situación religiosa ante el horizonte de la Ilustración; la relevancia que tiene la religión en los movimientos sociales juveniles; el mesianismo reinterpretado por el movimiento romántico de los intelectuales judíos de la Mitteleuropa, según lo (...) ha estudiado el académico Michael Löwy para, finalmente, ensayar una reflexión sobre la ideología de la soberanía militar en contraste con el mesianismo utópico. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that we face a challenge in understanding the relationship between the ‘value-oriented’ and ‘other-oriented’ dimensions of shame. On the one hand, an emphasis on shame's value-oriented dimension leads naturally to ‘The Self-Evaluation View’, an account which faces a challenge in explaining shame's other-oriented dimension. This is liable to push us towards ‘The Social Evaluation View’. However The Social Evaluation View faces the opposite challenge of convincingly accommodating shame's ‘value-oriented’ dimension. After rejecting one attempt to chart (...) a middle course between these extremes, I argue that progress can be made if we reject the widespread assumption that the other-oriented dimension of shame is best understood primarily terms of our concern with the way we appear to others. Instead, I outline an account which treats shame as manifesting our desire primarily for interpersonal connection and which elucidates the property of shamefulness in terms of merited avoidance. (shrink)

La Biblia judía y el calefón cristiano -- Malas lenguas -- Cristo, el hijo que se vuelve loco de amor por su madre.

Este artículo tiene como objetivo identificar en el libro de la temprana Hannah Arendt sobre la vida de Rahel Varnhagen —Rahel Varnhagen: The life of a Jewess— los primeros esbozos de los conceptos políticos que desarrollaría a lo largo de su vida dedicada a la teoría política, haciendo un seguimiento de su posterior aparición en diferentes obras. Se enfatiza el análisis aplicado de los conceptos de asimilación, paria y advenedizo. Se compara además las personas de Hannah Arendt y Rahel Varnhagen (...) en cuanto a su origen judío y su condición de mujeres, tanto en la vida pública como en la privada y en la profundidad de su respectiva intimidad. (shrink)

This article examines the dual consolatory approach of Theodoret of Cyrus, a fifth-century Syriac bishop. Theodoret's method of grief counseling may be examined by drawing upon several of his letters of consolation as guiding examples. Using the philosophical theme of reason's control of the passions together with the Christian hope of the resurrection, Theodoret consoled his mourning friends, yielding an instructive model for contemporary pastors and counselors to consider. Theodoret practiced letter writing as a valid and constructive consolatory medium, demonstrated (...) a balance of faith and reason in Christian counseling, and modeled theologically robust grief counseling. The article opens with an extract from Theodoret's lengthiest letter of comfort, to his newly-widowed friend, Alexandra. (shrink)

La vida y la obra de Maimónides; introducción por León Dujovne. -- El imperio de la razón, por Ajad Haam (Ascher Guinzberg) -- Maimon y Maimónides; influjo de Maimónides en la filosofia alemana post-kantiana, por Hugo Bergmann. -- Caracteres de la ética de Maimónides, por Hermann Cohen. -- Doctrina de Maimónides sobre la profecía, por Z. Diesendruck. -- La revelación y la razón en la obra de Maimónides; su crítica de los Molecallemín, por Alfredo Franceschi. -- Maimónides y el espíritu (...) judío, por Alberto Gerchunoff. -- Actualidad de Maimónides, por Jacob Gordin. -- La obra fundamental de Maimónides, por Joseph Klausner. -- Maimónides, médico, por Elías Singer. -- Homenaje a Rambam, por Julien Weill. -- Maimónides en el pueblo, por Hilel Zeitlin. -- Selección de la obra de Maimónides (p. [311]-431). (shrink)

Professor Kemp Smith in providing a new edition of Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion , embodying all the author’s additions and corrections, has given expression to the perennial interest and fascination which this work has possessed for many minds during the odd one hundred and fifty years since it was first published by Hume’s nephew. The editor himself has performed a great service by contributing an Introduction and a clear and concise summary of the Dialogues , in both of which (...) he expounds his own view as to how Hume’s discussion is to be interpreted. Hume employs three characters—Demea, Philo, and Cleanthes; and. (shrink)

John Martin Fischer’s charge that Molinism does not offer a unique answer to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human freedom can be seen as a criticism of middle knowledge for begging the question of FF -compatibilism. In this paper, I seek to answer this criticism in two ways. First, I demonstrate that most of the chief arguments against middle knowledge are guilty of begging the question of FF-incompatibilism and conclude that the simple charge of begging the question cannot be (...) as problematic as some suggest. Determinists and open theists incorporate FF-incompatibilist notions into their respective versions of the grounding objection, their conceptions of risk and libertarian freedom, and their requirements for divine foreknowledge. Thus, while I admit that Molinism does rely upon Ockhamist and Augustinian principles in its approach to the dilemma and is guilty of presupposing FF-compatibilism, I deny that this undermines its strength as a model of providence. Second, I argue that, although all models are guilty of question-begging moves, they are not all on par with one another. Molinism offers a more orthodox and robust approach to providence than open theism and process theology, and it handles empirical data better than all of its competitors. (shrink)

We are social animals that seek to connect with others of our kind. This common thought stands in need of elaboration. In this article, I argue for three theses. First, that we pursue certain forms of communicative interaction for their own sake insofar as they are ways of connecting with another. Second, that interpersonal connection is a metaphysically primitive emotional relation which resists reductive analysis in terms of the states of individuals. And finally, that our desire for interpersonal connection has (...) a strong claim to being explanatorily and normatively prior to our desires for mutual-attachment, interpersonal belonging and approbation. (shrink)

There is a tendency in contemporary jurisprudence to regard political authority and, more particularly, legal intervention in human affairs as having no justification unless it can be defended by what Laing calls the principle of modern liberal autonomy (MLA). According to this principle, if consenting adults want to do something, unless it does specific harm to others here and now, the law has no business intervening. Harm to the self and general harm to society can constitute no justification for (...) legal regulation or prohibition. So pervasive is this understanding of legal intervention in human affairs, that it is common now to encounter arguments in favour of permissive laws on, for example, private drug use, pornography, sexual and reproductive choice, based on the idea that to intervene in these areas would constitute a breach of the liberal ideal. The only alternative to modern liberal autonomy is assumed to be radical oppression, in which the State intervenes in the individual’s life to impose unwarranted measures designed to further its own ends. The legacy of Stalin, Hitler and other modern tyrants has undermined conceptual appeals to the common good. So widespread is this liberal assumption in the Western, English-speaking world that critics of the outlook embodied by MLA are customarily regarded with suspicion and charged with paternalism, narrow-mindedness and intolerance. Laing highlights contradictions inherent in the modern liberal tradition. She argues that there is a certain reliance on the notion of the common good within the natural law tradition that is instructive. According to this view, the common good constitutes a mean between two extremes: on the one hand, contemporary liberalism’s over-insistence on radical individual autonomy and, on the other hand, totalitarianism’s over-emphasis on collective social benefit. There is, I will argue, substantial terrain between the conceptual excesses of modern liberalism and oppressive tyranny that needs to be acknowledged and discussed. (shrink)

The controversial British psychiatrist describes, explores, and reflects on facts and feelings, imaginings and memories, repressions and discoveries, and pains and joys of his life as child and man.

How should we understand the special way in which two people are connected when they make eye contact? In this paper, I argue that existing accounts of eye contact —Peacocke’s Reductive Approach and Eilan’s Second Person Approach— are unsatisfactory. In doing so, I make a case for thinking that the source of this dissatisfaction and the path forward can be identified by reflecting on our tendency to describe eye contact on the model of touch. On this basis, I outline a (...) ‘Transactional Approach’ to eye contact. (shrink)

The title of this article might quite well be given the more hackneyed form, Has Kant answered Hume? Much of the discussion pertains to this latter question, but as the aim is also to emphasize some points concerned with Kant himself a deviation in title may be permissible.

It is well known to readers of the Republic that, according to Plato's representation, a casual meeting of several friends develops into a sederunt for the express purpose of finding a solution to the question, what is justice? The question has its origin in the remark of the aged Cephalus, quoting Pindar, that whoever lives a life of justice and holiness, Sweet hope, the nourisher of age, his heart Delighting, with him lives; which most of all Governs the many veering (...) thoughts of man. (shrink)

According to tranditional philosophical terminology and to most interpretations of Cartesianism, Descartes is a dualist. This dualism is expressed in his fundamental distinction between two substances—mind and matter—and, though admitted to be full of difficulties and by many to be untenable, it has very generally been regarded as at least a clearly intelligible doctrine, consistently held by Descartes. That this is not so has been shown by Professor Boyce Gibson in his able and careful analysis of Cartesianism. The aim of (...) the present essay is to draw attention to another difficulty that has not been sufficiently noticed; whether it is an actual one or only an apparent one due to a misunderstanding of Descartes is a question that may be left to those who read him differently and who may be able to remove one more charge of inconsistency. The general contention is that Descartes—and this point is conceded in expositions of Descartes—seeks to prove that there are material bodies, that material bodies are necessary for his own account of the physical universe, and that yet his own theory of matter as extension, even combined with motion, makes the existence of bodies impossible and hence any proof of such existence impossible. In fact, the employment of the idea of motion only serves to emphasize the difficulty and inconsistency of the theory. (shrink)

No one who is interested in the problem of value and attempts to read through the literature on the subject can fail to be struck by the extraordinary diversity of opinion. Some of this difference of view is traceable to ambiguities in language; there are various terms employed, each of which, of course, may or may not express anyvalid idea—terms like value, values, kinds of value, sorts of things that have value, value-objects, things that have value. The terms value and (...) values are subject to and lead to much confusion, even on the part of those who are aware of the existence of such a danger. Much of the difference may probably be due to two other importantfactors: first, the education and training in earlier years whereby emotional reactions to words instead of intelligent understanding of their meaning and validity are induced, and, second, the continual reliance upon moral experience, which reliance may seem to be necessary, but which may be invalidated by the consideration, generally overlooked and unappraised, that moral, like social, experience might not be what it is if certain views were not entertainedand did not prevail. The latter possibility would put moral and social studies on a plane quite different from that of physical investigations, for the moral and social inquirer would always have to bear in mind that the facts with which he is confronted, and to which he seeks to appeal, may exist to confront him and his fellowmen only in the sense that they arise from the acceptance and effectuation of a belief or theory, and would not be but for the effectuation of the belief or theory. The other factor, that of the influence of education and training upon emotional reactions, is also important in relation to a study of value, for it is necessary to be on guard against confusing reactions to words and reactions to objects, things, or situations. (shrink)

The House of Lords in Purdy forced the Director of Public Prosecutions to issue offence-specific guidance on assisted suicide, but Jacqueline Laing argues that the resulting interim policy adopted by the Director of Public Prosecutions is unconstitutional, discriminatory and illegal.

By the mid-1960s the sexual revolution was in full swing. The persuasive rhythms of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones urged new personal freedoms, Carl Djerassi’s Pill was introduced to widespread acclaim, and feminists were setting their underwear ablaze. Most Christian denominations had long ago overturned their previous teaching on contraception. John Calvin, had at one time, called the act "condemned" and "doubly monstrous", while John Wesley had said contraception was "very displeasing to God", and the "evidence of vile affections." (...) Those who used them he regarded as "logs", "stock" and "swine". But most Protestants had by now abandoned this instruction. Indeed, the Church of England had as far back as 1930 up-ended its once entrenched rejection of contraception as “demoralizing to character and hostile to national welfare.” Into this unlikely and tempting climate came the explosive Humanae Vitae. The Roman Catholic Church, alone among religions, publicly reaffirmed its traditional teaching prohibiting contraception. The encyclical warned of the need to maintain the connection between sex and babies – and this, despite the Rockefeller offer of cash for favourable encyclicals in the summer of ’65. Pope Paul VI warned that contraception would lead to promiscuity, loss of respect for life, marriage and the family, and breakdown of essential social structures. Laing suggests that there is reason to think this fear for the likely effects of separating sex from babies well founded. (shrink)

Airedale NHS Trust v Bland establishes three principles among which is the controversial idea that people in a PVS, though not dying, have no best interests and no meaningful life. Accordingly, it is argued, they may have their food and fluids, whether delivered by tube or manually, removed, with the result that they die. Laing challenges this view arguing that not only is this bad medical science, it is unjustly discriminatory and at odds with our duties to the severely (...) disabled. Laing highlights research by Keith Andrews et al and points out that Andrew Devine, in the same Hillsborough disaster, woke up some years after Tony Bland was decided.(Post script) Laing argues elsewhere that after the Mental Capacity Act 2005 the case has become a dangerous springboard for new third parties' to require the removal of food and fluids from the vulnerable incapacitated. (shrink)

A critic of utilitarianism, in a paper entitled “Innocence and Consequentialism” Laing argues that Singer cannot without contradicting himself reject baby farming (a thought experiment that involves mass-producing deliberately brain damaged children for live birth for the greater good of organ harvesting) and at the same time hold on to his “personism” a term coined by Jenny Teichman to describe his fluctuating (and Laing says, discriminatory) theory of human moral value. His explanation that baby farming undermines attitudes of (...) care and concern for the very young, can be applied to babies and the unborn (non-persons on his view) and contradicts positions that he adopts elsewhere in his work. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to show that the natural idea that humiliation is harmful calls explanation and to argue that the most straightforward ways of responding to this explanatory demand fall short in important ways. I end by considering a line of response which I take to be promising, which appeals to our need, as social animals, for interpersonal connection.