The article, being a part of the just prepared book, deals with two different interpretations of Nietzschean text. C. G. Jung devoted five years' Seminar to discuss "Thus spoke Zarathustra" in the Psychological Club (1934–39), M. Heidegger was giving lectures and developing his controversy (Auseinandersetzung) with Nietzsche between 1934–48, some pauses including. The thesis exposed in the article suggests that in Nietzsche's text they were looking for the kind of language, capable to generate transformation of individual and general culture of (...) being. The quest for such a regenerative code is explored in three main semantic fields: the "natural", the sacred and the artistic. The task of regaining "natural" character of human unity, despite of theoretical inadequacy of the category of "nature"; the aim of taking care of alive essence of sacrum as well as the possibilities of regeneration that may be found in the sphere of artistic experience, are considered in the light of Jungian and Heideggerian perspectives of reading Nietzsche. Ambivalence of their interpretations helps to show also certain continuous difficulties to get access to the sources of life. To endure these, at first unknown, conditions of our lives, allows the mind to learn and shape thinking from experience. Jung's and Heidegger's dialogues with Nietzsche may let us see that enduring in the unknown does not have to paralyze the growth of thinking. (shrink)

Głównym celem niniejszego artykułu jest zaprezentowanie najciekawszego dokumentu szlacheckiego przechowywanego w zasobie Archiwum Państwowego w Opolu. Jest to zadanie trudne ze względu na mnogość oraz różnorodną tematykę rękopisów wystawianych przez członków śląskich rodów szlacheckich. Właściciele majątków swoimi pismami regulowali wiele kwestii dotyczących codziennego funkcjonowania poddanych, tj. określali wysokość podatków, nadzorowali sprzedaż ziemi, rozstrzygali spory, potwierdzali testamenty, a nawet poświadczali prawe urodzenie. Dbali również, by zarządzane przez nich ziemie posiadały stosowne przywileje oraz statuty. Oprócz sfery materialnej otaczali troską kwestie związane z (...) wyznawaną religią. Było to szczególnie widoczne w okresie rozwoju ruchu kontrreformacyjnego. Dlatego też w poniższym tekście przedstawiony zostanie dokument Georga III von Oppersdorffa, który bardzo aktywnie działał na polu rekatolizacji ziem śląskich. Prezentowany rękopis jest jedną z kilkunastu jednostek archiwalnych, na podstawie których można zobrazować sytuację ewangelików na terenie Śląska w XVII wieku. Dotychczas nie doczekał się on opracowania, podobnie jak pozostałe wskazane w tekście archiwalia. Analizując dostępną literaturę dotyczącą zarówno historii kontrreformacji na Śląsku, jak i samego miasta Głogówka, zaobserwować można niewielką liczbę wydanych publikacji oraz artykułów. Dlatego też prezentowany materiał stanowić ma zarówno przegląd dokumentów poświęconych losom protestantów na Śląsku, jak i zachętę do dalszego eksplorowania zasobu Archiwum Państwowego w Opolu przez badaczy historii regionu i dziejów rodów śląskich. (shrink)

Die Tugenden werden von Aristoteles bekanntlich in ethische und dianoetische eingeteilt, also in Vorzüge des Charakters und solche des Verstandes. Die dianoetischen werden vorwiegend durch Lehre gewonnen, die ethischen sind das Ergebnis vor allem von Gewöhnung. Auch von der ethischen Tugend gilt, daß sie nicht von Natur in uns vorhanden ist, aber sie ist auch nicht wider die Natur. Im Gegenteil: Voraussetzungen, unter denen die ethischen Tugenden in uns wachsen können, sind uns von Natur gegeben, jedoch so, daß die Tugend (...) nicht durch einen reflexhaften Automatismus zur Verwirklichung kommt, sondern durch die Praxis und ihre Wiederholung. Wie Aristoteles in der Tugendlehre seiner Ethik die Kooperation von natürlicher Prädisposition, Handlungspraxis, Wiederholung und Gewöhnung zur Darstellung bringt, ohne gegen das Rationalitätsprinzip seiner Ethik zu verstoßen, ist der Gegenstand dieser Untersuchung eines zu wenig beachteten Topos seiner Praktischen Philosophie. (shrink)

There seems to be confusion and disagreement among scholars about the meaning of interpersonal forgiveness. In this essay we shall venture to clarify the meaning of forgiveness by examining various literary works. In particular, we shall discuss instances of forgiveness from Homer’s The Iliad, Euripides’ Hippolytus, and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and we shall focus on the changes that the concept of forgiveness has gone through throughout the centuries, in the hope of being able to understand, and therefore, of being able (...) to use more accurately, contemporary notions of forgiveness. We shall also explore the relationship between forgiveness and concepts that are closely associated with it, such as anger/resentment, hurt, clemency, desert/merit, excuse, etc. (shrink)

This paper aims to stablishes the sense in which propositions included under the perceptual use of ‘seeing-as’, developed by Wittgenstein in the Second Part of Philosophical Investigations, are justifiable from an epistemic point of view. To do this, first, it will be clarified the internal link between ‘visual experience’ and ‘interpretation’ for the type of mentioned cases. Second, it will be shown how the ‘seeing-as’ respects the rule-following paradox’s solution, as long as it does not presuppose any intermediary or need (...) anyone to account for what is perceived, highlighting the notions of ‘practice’, ‘familiarity’ and ‘context’ common both in the aforementioned solution and in the ‘seeing-as’ cases. Third, the general distinction between certainties or ‘hinges’ and ‘epistemic propositions’ presented by Wittgenstein in On Certainty will be applied to cases of aspect perception as a possible field of application of the so called Hinge Epistemology, showing how, in specific cases, the perceptual certainties that shape our way of life and that are groundless, can be recontextualized and merit reasonable justification.Keywords: Wittgenstein, aspect perception, seeing-as, hinges, certainty, justification. (shrink)

Section III of part IV of Book I of Hume's Treatise entitled “Of the ancient philosophy” has been virtually ignored by most Hume scholars. Although philosophers seem to concentrate on sections II and VI of part IV and pay little or no attention to section III, the latter section is paramount in showing how serious Hume's skepticism is, and how Hume's philosophy, contrary to his intention, is far removed from "the sentiments of the vulgar". In this paper I shall first (...) explore Hume's view on ancient philosophy as it is presented in section III, and I shall particularly focus on his discussion of identity and simplicity of bodies. Second, I shall argue that Hume's account of identity and simplicity in terms of qualities is at best unsatisfactory. Finally, I shall try to show that Hume's advice to hold a "moderate" skepticism cannot be taken seriously. On the contrary, Hume seems to hold an "extravagant" skepticism, since he claims that there is a contradiction between our most fundamental natural beliefs, as well as between our natural beliefs and philosophical reasoning. (shrink)

While most scholars focus on the advantages of forgiveness, the negative effects of hasty forgiveness have been largely neglected in the literature. In this essay I shall argue that in certain contexts granting forgiveness to a wrongdoer could be morally questionable, and sometimes it could even be morally wrong. Following Aristotle’s view of emotion, and, in particular, his notion of virtuous anger, I shall claim that appropriate, righteous anger is instrumental for justice, and, as a result, inappropriate, or imprudent forgiveness (...) could be an impediment to justice, or even a license for the continuation of injustice. (shrink)

Although cognitivism has lost some ground recently in the philosophical circles, it is still the favorite view of many scholars of emotions. Even though I agree with cognitivism's insight that emotions typically involve some type of evaluative intentional state, I shall argue that in some cases, less epistemically committed, non-propositional evaluative states such as mental pictures can do a better job in identifying the emotion and providing its intentional object. Mental pictures have different logical features from propositions: they are representational, (...) and some may or may not portray actual objects aptly. Yet, unlike propositional attitudes, mental pictures do not allow for objective criteria by which one can judge that a certain picture is an apt portrait of someone or something. (shrink)

Generalized Quantifier Theory defines superlative quantifiers at most n and at least n as truth-conditionally equivalent to comparative quantifiers fewer than n+1 and more than n \1. It has been demonstrated, however, that this standard theory cannot account for various linguistic differences between these two types of quantifiers. In this paper I discuss how the distinction between assertibility and truth-conditions can be applied to explain this phenomenon. I draw a parallel between the assertibility of disjunctions and superlative quantifiers, and argue (...) that those assertibility conditions are essentially modal. I use epistemic logic to formalize the assertibility conditions and revisit some of the linguistic puzzles related to superlative quantification. (shrink)

In De Anima, Aristotle, following his predecessor Plato, argues that the human soul has two parts, the rational and the irrational. Yet, unlike Plato, he thinks that the two parts necessarily form a unity. This is mostly evident in emotions, which seem to be constituted by both, a cognitive element, such as beliefs and expectations about one's situation, as well as, non-cognitive elements such as physical sensations. Indeed, in de Anima Aristotle argues that beliefs, bodily motion and physiological changes, constitute (...) the emotion. Hence, he avoids making sharp divisions between the cognitive (or rational) and non-cognitive or (non-rational) elements of emotion. Aristotle treats emotions as purposeful responses to our world, and in doing so, he avoids the problems that afflict the (until recently prominent) physiological theories according to which emotions are just irrational, uncontrolled responses to situations. Although our emotions can be irrational, more often than not they are rational. This is most evident in Aristotle's discussion in the Nicomachean Ethics, in which correct emotion is a large part of virtue. For instance, a courageous person when in a dangerous situation is neither fearless nor overwhelmed by fear. The complexity of Aristotle's view of emotion is nowhere more evident than in his analysis of anger in the Rhetoric. There, Aristotle argues that anger requires certain moral beliefs about the wrongness of contempt, spite and insolence, beliefs about our status and how we should be treated, a desire for revenge, and pleasure in the contemplation of revenge. Only the last thirty years or so psychologists and philosophers have started to develop theories of emotion of such complexity. Indeed, in psychology the prominent view seems to be the Schachter and Singer theory, which to a great extent resembles Aristotle's view. Schachter and Singer in their paper "Cognitive, Social and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State" argue against the then prominent James-Lange view, according to which emotions are bodily sensations and physiological changes. Schachter and Singer believe, like Aristotle, that emotions cannot be just dumb responses to situations. Although they recognize that emotion may be a physiological change or bodily sensation, they think that there must be another factor that would account for the variety of our emotions and our ability to distinguish and identify them. Schacther and Singer argue, as Aristotle did, that emotions involve both cognitive and non-cognitive elements in various degrees of complexity. According to them a subject identifies his physiological states of arousal as emotions in terms of the cognition offered to him or her. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate both views, and argue that Aristotle's account of emotion, not only resembles contemporary theories such as Schachter and Singer's, but also in many respects, it is paramount in complexity and insight. (shrink)

In Dopo il ballo (1903) Tolstoj crea un armonioso cortocircuito tra la problematica storica con la sua fenomenologia del potere e la propria posizione esistenziale perché in realtà la soluzione etica dell'eroe del racconto è proprio la fuga con il suo rifiuto di qualsivoglia servizio allo Stato. In After the Bal (1903), Tolstoy creates a harmonious short circuit between the historical question with its necessary phenomenology of power and his own existential position, because actually the hero of the story choose (...) escaping as his personal ethical solution to injustice with his rejection of any service to State. (shrink)

Despite the ideal of dispossession, absolute poverty and the total absence of links with possession and human beings which shaped the myth of the monastic desert, the monastic economy and its management were very similar to the secular economic system, in that both were organised by networks based on families.This article tackles how and where material assets were produced and administered in Egyptian monasteries between the fourth and eighth centuries, and who was responsible for this function. The history of monasticism (...) is materially related to the institutionalisation of the society’s cultural and material systems of production. Consequently the economy was also transformed by monastic practices: history is linked to the definition and the successful affirmation of the figure of the oikonomos, the steward in charge of everyday life in monasteries. (shrink)

This article provides a comparative analysis of the contents of two parliamentary hearings on BSE carried out in Portugal in 1993 and 1996 as instances of interaction between science and politics. One question to be addressed is the extent to which relationships between science and politics in Portugal as a so-called “semiperipheral society” differ from those of more advanced states, and how one can possibly explain those differences. Another issue to be considered is whether the Europeanization of BSE crisis after (...) March 1996 has played a role and, if so, what role in the evolution of the attitudes and behavior of Portuguese policy makers toward science and toward risk. The question is whether political and administrative culture is changing in Portugal under the effect of both the Europeanization of regulatory processes and the emergence of a “risk society.”. (shrink)

Resumo Afirmando que a problemática ambiental impõe um novo paradigma ético que realize a unidade das faculdades (sensibilidade, entendimento e razão prática) na unidade da acção, este artigo defende uma pedagogia centrada no estímulo da sensibilidade ao belo natural em articulação com o sentimento moral, como via privilegiada de enfrentamento da crise ecológica contemporânea. Na transição para uma dimensão inclusiva e planetária do conceito de cidadania, em tanto que expressão de um agir responsável e comprometido no colectivo em que é, (...) a educação ambiental impõe-se como protagonista fundamental na formação de cidadãos capazes de pensar e agir ambientalmente. (shrink)

Leven en werk van de Deense wijsgeer Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855).

The Meeting, as a theological category from Paul Ricoeur’s book causes a reflection on the Being. The identity that is built on otherness in relation to the other which meets another deeper himself and the understanding of himself requires acceptance of himself as hopelessly another. The meeting is a key experience that enables the growth of the being through the other, it is dialogue experience, donation and constitutive reception of the history of being, which refers to the search for the (...) transcendent. In this dynamic there is the appropriation of different realities that allow the reformulation of something new. Hardly someone goes out a meeting in the same way. Another important aspect is the fertility of otherness that prints an ethical-theological reflection, a call for acceptance of diversity and respect for others, which allows the realization of justice. (shrink)

Sob este título, publica-se, neste número da Cultura, um conjunto de textos que respondem ao projecto de aprofundar, tanto no plano teórico como no analítico, e de forma articulada, a operatividade destes três conceitos no conhecimento das diversas especificidades culturais desenvolvidas em territórios ibero-americanos e ibéricos: Fronteira, cosmopolitismo e nação. Tivemos os nossos primeiros debates há quase uma década e, no Grupo de Investigação «Cultura, história e pensamento ibéricos e ib...

En 1992 Charles Taylor escribiá un libra titulado Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition. Dos anos más tarde la misma editorial, Princeton University Press, publicá una reedicián. Se afiadía una leve variante en el título, la palavra examining: Multiculturalism. Examining the politics of recognition. La novedad de esta edicián fue que se afiadieran dos nuevos ensayos, uno de Jürgen Habermas, titulado Stmggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State y el otro por K. Anthony Appiah, afraamericano, con lo que se (...) afiade al libra una nota de color, en ese reclamo del recõnocimiento de la identidad. (shrink)

The object of this paper is to demonstrate the philological relation between justice, law and equality in ancient Greek or, that is the same, the philosophical relation between ethics, politics and economics. Actually it is interesting to examine the etymology of the word dikē which derives from the Sanskrit diś-(dik) and it refers more than to the generic idea of the «straight line» to the specific and astronomical concept of the «horizon (or skyline)», the apparent line that separates the cosmos (...) into two equal parts, the earth from the sky, meaning the same idea of equality which should be a rule of just law and ethical perfection. Moreover, according to my hypothesis Plato may have used the analogy of the horizon to explain his cosmological Doctrine of Ideas. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to reveal how care workers in the home-help services handle the process when older people’s relocation to a residential home is under consideration. Since the care workers are engaged daily in defining care receivers’ needs and yet have no formal influence on care decisions in Sweden, the focus is on how they solve this dilemma. In this inductive study, the theoretical framework is based on occupational alliances, relationship-based practice, and discretion. Thirty-three care workers in (...) home-help services are included in open semi-structured interviews. Prominent features in the findings are that the care workers take their stand at the borderland of care management, when they know or try to find out what is right. The conclusions drawn are that care workers find ways to informally influence the decision-making process, quite contrary to the idea of approaches referred to as purchaser/provider models. The implications for social work policy and practice are that a distinction between assessment and intervention may not benefit the field of eldercare and should therefore be regarded as an area in need of thorough reconsideration. (shrink)

The genome of two completely unrelated individuals is quite similar apart from minor variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms which contribute to the uniqueness of each and every person. These single nucleotide polymorphisms are of great interest clinically as they are useful in figuring out the susceptibility of certain individuals to particular diseases and for recognizing varied responses to pharmacological interventions. This gives rise to the idea of ‘personalized medicine’ as an exciting new therapeutic science in this genomic era. Personalized medicine (...) suggests a unique treatment strategy based on an individual’s genetic make-up. Its key principles revolve around applied pharmaco-genomics, pharmaco-kinetics and pharmaco-proteomics. Herein, the ethical and legal aspects of personalized medicine in a new genomic era are briefly addressed. The ultimate goal is to comprehensively recognize all relevant forms of genetic variation in each individual and be able to interpret this information in a clinically meaningful manner within the ambit of ethical and legal considerations. The authors of this article firmly believe that personalized medicine has the potential to revolutionize the current landscape of medicine as it makes its way into clinical practice. (shrink)

No final do século XV, sob o reinado de Fernando e Isabel, houve a grande expulsão dos judeus espanhóis. Os cronistas da época tendem a silenciar sobre o fato, quando não a elogiar a atitude dos monarcas. No máximo, alguns apresentam o fato como um mal menor. Também os intelectuais da época, e até a universidade de Paris, tiveram palavras de louvor à atitude dos reis.