The problem of deviant causation has been a serious obstacle for causal theories of action. We suggest that attending to the problem of deviant causation reveals two related problems for causal theories. First, it threatens the reductive ambitions of causal theories of intentional action. Second, it suggests that such a theory fails to account for how the agent herself is guided by her reasons. Focusing on the second of these, we argue that the problem of guidance turns out to be (...) related to a number of other issues in the literature on action explanation, and that it is much more general: it threatens not only causal theories but any theory of action. Finally, we suggest that a certain version of the view that acting has a constitutive or formal aim can overcome this problem. (shrink)

We consider a 2-valued non-deterministic connective \({\wedge \!\!\!\!\!\vee }\) defined by the table resulting from the entry-wise union of the tables of conjunction and disjunction. Being half conjunction and half disjunction we named it _platypus_. The value of \({\wedge \!\!\!\!\!\vee }\) is not completely determined by the input, contrasting with usual notion of Boolean connective. We call non-deterministic Boolean connective any connective based on multi-functions over the Boolean set. In this way, non-determinism allows for an extended notion of truth-functional connective. (...) Unexpectedly, this very simple connective and the logic it defines, illustrate various key advantages in working with generalized notions of semantics (by incorporating non-determinism), calculi (by allowing multiple-conclusion rules) and even of logic (moving from Tarskian to Scottian consequence relations). We show that the associated logic cannot be characterized by any finite set of finite matrices, whereas with non-determinism two values suffice. Furthermore, this logic is not finitely axiomatizable using single-conclusion rules, however we provide a very simple analytic multiple-conclusion axiomatization using only two rules. Finally, deciding the associated multiple-conclusion logic is \(\mathbf {coNP}\) -complete, but deciding its single-conclusion fragment is in \({\mathbf {P}}\). (shrink)

The goal of this paper is to argue that the Neptuno Alegórico and the Theatro de Virtudes Políticas, which were composed in 1680 by the Novohispanic philosophers Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to accompany respectively two arches erected to celebrate the entry of the Spanish viceroy to Mexico City, are notable not only as examples of panegyrical Baroque literature but also as philosophical texts aimed at moral exhortation. To be specific, I argue that (...) the Neptuno and the Theatro belong to a hybrid genre that I label ekphrastic moral mirrors. Ekphrastic moral mirrors, which make up a subset of the traditional specula principum, are characterized by offering moral exhortation and political advice to a prince indirectly, by means of an elaborate ekphrasis of a work of art (which, in the case of the Neptuno and the Theatro, were the two arches that they were respectively paired with). I also argue that the use of ekphrasis in a public setting enables the creation of a composite audience made up by various stakeholders with different interests that is intended to reflect and reinforce the creation of a unified political entity. (shrink)

The goal of this paper is to argue that the Neptuno Alegórico and the Theatro de Virtudes Políticas, which were composed in 1680 by the Novohispanic philosophers Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora to accompany respectively two arches erected to celebrate the entry of the Spanish viceroy to Mexico City, are notable not only as examples of panegyrical Baroque literature but also as philosophical texts aimed at moral instruction. To be specific, I argue that (...) the Neptuno and the Theatro belong to a hybrid genre that I label ekphrastic moral mirrors. Ekphrastic moral mirrors, which constitute a subset of the traditional speculum principis, are characterized by offering moral instruction to a prince indirectly, by means of an elaborate ekphrasis of a work of art (which, in the case of the Neptuno and the Theatro, were the two arches that they were paired with). I also argue that, insofar as the Neptuno and the Theatro create different audiences that are mutually aware of each other in virtue of systematically relying on ekphrasis deployed in a public setting, they are potentially more effective for moral instruction than other traditional mirrors of princes. (shrink)

Although cognitive science was multidisciplinary from the start, an under-emphasis on anthropology has left the field with limited research in small scale, indigenous societies. Neglecting the anthropological perspective is risky, given that once-canonical cognitive science findings have often been shown to be artifacts of enculturation rather than cognitive universals. This imbalance has become more problematic as the increased use of Western theory-driven approaches, many of which assume human uniformity (“universality”), confronts the absence of a robust descriptive base that might provide (...) clarifying or even contrary evidence. We highlight the need for remedies to such shortcomings by suggesting a two-fold methodological shift. First, studies conducted in indigenous societies can benefit by relying on multidisciplinary research groups to diminish ethnocentrism and enhance the quality of the data. Second, studies devised for Western societies can readily be adapted to the changing settings encountered in the field. Here, we provide examples, drawn from the areas of emotion and facial expressions, to illustrate potential solutions to recurrent problems in enhancing the quality of data collection, hypothesis testing, and the interpretation of results. (shrink)

During the 19th century, evolutionary models of innovation followed a famous thesis of continuity, according to which methods and explanatory patterns of biology should have an important say in the social sciences. In the 20th century, this thesis was considered unacceptable as part of the sharp separation of biology from the social sciences. Recent advances in the biological sciences suggest a way in which a version of the thesis of continuity can be reinstated, to suggest new ways of explaining innovation (...) in the social sciences. Key kinds of innovation can be explained in terms of the evolution of robust complex systems, interpreted as processes of path creation. (shrink)

We show that for an arbitrary logic being locally tabular is a strictly weaker property than being locally finite. We describe our hunt for a logic that allows us to separate the two properties, revealing weaker and weaker conditions under which they must coincide, and showing how they are intertwined. We single out several classes of logics where the two notions coincide, including logics that are determined by a finite set of finite matrices, selfextensional logics, algebraizable and equivalential logics. Furthermore, (...) we identify a closure property on models of a logic that, in the presence of local tabularity, is equivalent to local finiteness. (shrink)

This paper focuses on order-preserving logics defined from varieties of distributive lattices with negation, and in particular on the problem of whether these can be axiomatized by means Hilbert-style calculi that are finite. On the negative side, we provide a syntactic condition on the equational presentation of a variety that entails failure of finite axiomatizability for the corresponding logic. An application of this result is that the logic of all distributive lattices with negation is not finitely axiomatizable; we likewise establish (...) that the order-preserving logic of the variety of all Ockham algebras is also not finitely axiomatizable. On the positive side, we show that an arbitrary subvariety of semi-De Morgan algebras is axiomatized by a finite number of equations if and only if the corresponding order-preserving logic is axiomatized by a finite Hilbert-style calculus. This equivalence also holds for every subvariety of a Berman variety of Ockham algebras. We obtain, as a corollary, a new proof that the implication-free fragment of intuitionistic logic is finitely axiomatizable, as well as a new corresponding Hilbert-style calculus. Our proofs are constructive in that they allow us to effectively convert an equational presentation of a variety of algebras into a Hilbert-style calculus for the corresponding order-preserving logic, and vice versa. We also consider the assertional logics associated to the above-mentioned varieties, showing in particular that the assertional logics of finitely axiomatizable subvarieties of semi-De Morgan algebras are finitely axiomatizable as well. (shrink)

In the present paper we study systematically several consequence relations on the usual language of propositional intuitionistic logic that can be defined semantically by using Kripke frames and the same defining truth conditions for the connectives as in intuitionistic logic but without imposing some of the conditions on the Kripke frames that are required in the intuitionistic case. The logics so obtained are called subintuitionistic logics in the literature. We depart from the perspective of considering a logic just as a (...) set of theorems and also depart from the perspective taken by Restall in that we consider standard Kripke models instead of models with a base point. We study the relations between subintuitionistic logics and modal logics given by the translation considered by Došen. Moreover, we classify the logics obtained according to the hierarchy considered inAlgebraic Logic. (shrink)

The present paper introduces and studies the variety WH of weakly Heyting algebras. It corresponds to the strict implication fragment of the normal modal logic K which is also known as the subintuitionistic local consequence of the class of all Kripke models. The tools developed in the paper can be applied to the study of the subvarieties of WH; among them are the varieties determined by the strict implication fragments of normal modal logics as well as varieties that do not (...) arise in this way as the variety of Basic algebras or the variety of Heyting algebras. Apart from WH itself the paper studies the subvarieties of WH that naturally correspond to subintuitionistic logics, namely the variety of R-weakly Heyting algebras, the variety of T-weakly Heyting algebras and the varieties of Basic algebras and subresiduated lattices. (shrink)

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion.

In this paper I formalize the notion of minimal disturbance, as this seems to be required by usual interpretations of the theory of quantum mechanics, and construct a quantum logical (lattice) model of the type of situation that seems to be at the root of the problem of the interpretation of Luders’ projection rule as a criterion of minimal disturbance for individual state transformations. What is particularly interesting in the situation to be depicted here is that, on the basis of (...) a simple model, which depends only on some very general features of the lattice structure of the theory (and its semantical interpretation), usual interpretive assumptions on minimal disturbance appear to be wanting.If we restrict our attention to the statistics of measurement results, Luders’ rule can, easily be interpreted as a formula describing ‘minimal change’ for statistical states. (shrink)

Tyler Burge is famous for defending primitivist naturalism about mental representations, according to which mental representations are primitive natural states. Primitivist naturalism contrasts with semantic reductionism, according to which mental representations are reducible to more fundamental natural states. Burge developed the most compelling and influential attack on semantic reductionism from a primitivist naturalist point of view. My goal in this paper is to defend semantic reduc- tionism from Burge’s attack. I assess and refute his objection to the motivations for semantic (...) reductionism and his objection to the semantic reductionist theory that he takes to be the most promising one, namely, teleosemantics. I argue that in spite of the ingenuity of Burge’s objections, they fail to show that there is no motivation for taking representational states as reducible to more fundamental natural states or that the core thesis of teleosemantics is flawed. (shrink)

William James offers an ethical view consistently arising out of valorization of energy of his days, and effecting a counter-tendency to the two great popular ...

Este texto aborda as bases teóricas e metodológicas desenvolvidas no Observatório Global de Patologias Sociais. Tal observatório visa diagnosticar patologias sociais nas áreas da saúde e da educação, além de, como prognóstico, fornecer subsídios para a organização de um instrumento capaz de captar a percepção de patologias sociais em distintas populações. A partir das discussões técnicas e filosóficas, com base nas leituras de autores da Teoria Crítica, principalmente Honneth (2006; 2011; 2016), têm-se desenvolvido, desde 2019, a organização de um conjunto (...) de perguntas que são a base do instrumento denominado de questionário de patologias sociais. De forma concomitante, o trabalho de construção do Glossário de Patologias Sociais ampliou as reflexões teóricas dentro do grupo, possibilitando ainda a consolidação nacional e internacional de redes de investigação e colaboração dentro do espaço do Observatório. Todos esses movimentos permitem o aprimoramento de nossa caminhada como grupo transdisciplinar, tanto na construção do instrumento como no aprofundamento de bases teóricas-conceituais. Assim, torna-se a cada instante mais clara a necessidade de cumprir com um dos objetivos primários do Observatório: compreender e monitorar como as patologias sociais são percebidas pelos cidadãos e como esses são afetados física e emocionalmente por essas patologias. Deste modo, os desafios têm sido, além de consolidar nosso arcabouço teórico, o de construir um instrumento próprio e capaz de mensurar a percepção a partir do olhar do cidadão comum. Um desafio adicional a elaboração do instrumento, tem sido nossos esforços de construí-lo seguindo os princípios de integridade em pesquisa e usando práticas de ciência aberta. Levando em conta as discussões teórico-práticas, o Observatório tem se destacado como um espaço de pesquisa e estudo relevante e eficaz diante das demandas contemporâneas de compreender a sociedade onde vivemos. (shrink)

Contrasting two models of deliberative democratic multiculturalism, one by Seyla Benhabib and another by Luis Villoro, this paper contends that the differences between these two models outweigh the similarities, and that Villoro’s model is more promising insofar as it preserves the trust required in the institutions that mediate democratic deliberation in multicultural societies.

The relationship between Adam Smith's official methodology and his own actual theoretical practice as a social scientist may be grasped only against the background of the Humean project of a Moral Newtonianism. The main features in Smith's methodology are: (i) the provisional character of explanatory principles; (ii) 'internal' criteria of truth; (iii) the acknowledgement of an imaginative aspect in principles, with the related problem of the relationship between internal truth and external truth, in terms of mirroring of 'real' causes. Smith's (...) Newtonian (as opposed to Cartesian) methodology makes room for progress in social theorizing in so far as it allows for a decentralization of the various fields of the Moral Science, contributing to the shaping of political economy. On the other hand, the Cartesian legacy in Smith's Newtonian methodology makes the relationship between phenomena and theoretical principles highly problematic. (shrink)

In this note we introduce the variety $${{\mathcal C}{\mathcal D}{\mathcal M}_\square}$$ of classical modal De Morgan algebras as a generalization of the variety $${{{\mathcal T}{\mathcal M}{\mathcal A}}}$$ of Tetravalent Modal algebras studied in [ 11 ]. We show that the variety $${{\mathcal V}_0}$$ defined by H. P. Sankappanavar in [ 13 ], and the variety S of Involutive Stone algebras introduced by R. Cignoli and M. S de Gallego in [ 5 ], are examples of classical modal De Morgan algebras. (...) We give a representation theory, and we study the regular filters, i.e., lattice filters closed under an implication operation. Finally we prove that the variety $${{{\mathcal T}{\mathcal M}{\mathcal A}}}$$ has the Amalgamation Property and the Superamalgamation Property. (shrink)

In this note we introduce and study algebras of type such that is a bounded distributive lattice and ⌝ is an operator that satisfies the condition ⌝ = a ⌝ b and ⌝ 0 = 1. We develop the topological duality between these algebras and Priestley spaces with a relation. In addition, we characterize the congruences and the subalgebras of such an algebra. As an application, we will determine the Priestley spaces of quasi-Stone algebras.

We extend classical work by Janusz Czelakowski on the closure properties of the class of matrix models of entailment relations—nowadays more commonly called multiple-conclusion logics—to the setting of non-deterministic matrices (Nmatrices), characterizing the Nmatrix models of an arbitrary logic through a generalization of the standard class operators to the non-deterministic setting. We highlight the main differences that appear in this more general setting, in particular: the possibility to obtain Nmatrix quotients using any compatible equivalence relation (not necessarily a congruence); the (...) problem of determining when strict homomorphisms preserve the logic of a given Nmatrix; the fact that the operations of taking images and preimages cannot be swapped, which determines the exact sequence of operators that generates, from any complete semantics, the class of all Nmatrix models of a logic. Many results, on the other hand, generalize smoothly to the non-deterministic setting: we show for instance that a logic is finitely based if and only if both the class of its Nmatrix models and its complement are closed under ultraproducts. We conclude by mentioning possible developments in adapting the Abstract Algebraic Logic approach to logics induced by Nmatrices and the associated equational reasoning over non-deterministic algebras. (shrink)

The article argues that one of the maim moments of Lukacs' rupture with the preceding ontologies is his original distinction between essence and phenomenon from the peculiar relation of each one with the category of continuity. Doing so, Lukacs could recover the radical historicity of the human realm.O artigo argumenta que um dos principais momentos de ruptura de Lukács com as ontologias anteriores reside na sua inovadora distinção entre essência e fenômeno, a partir da peculiar relação de cada um com (...) a categoria da continuidade. Assim procedendo, Lukács pôde resgatar a radical historicidade do mundo dos homens. (shrink)

Nossas motivações e leituras de mundo sustentam-se no pressuposto de que as moralidades geram eticidades e as eticidades geram juridicidades. Tal correspondência une o destino a um modo ancestre de decidir sobre as situações do presente. Pensar ou exercitar uma epistemologia a partir da ancestralidade significa adotar uma postura ética frente a uma camada questionável de pensamentos e saberes identificáveis como africanos e diaspóricos. Isso implica numa mudança na carga teórico-epistemológica em que são construídos estes conceitos. A ancestralidade pode ser (...) lida como uma categoria de alteridade. Mais que isso, uma categoria de trans-alteridade, posto que se referência no local de relação, ou seja, do encontro da diferença. Uma ancestralidade como referência e fundamento de uma nova utopia em nome de uma ética da sobrevivência e do equilíbrio com a natureza. Esta é uma das dimensões da experiência afrodiaspórica no Brasil. Uma experiência que deve ser vista também no campo da justiça política. Esta ancestralidade pode ser lida também numa perspectiva normativa não religiosa. O instituto da morte aparece como fator decisivo para a objetivação dos conceitos definidores do ancestral. Assim como, o estado de união vital dos elementos naturais e sociais constitutivos do homem caracteriza sua manifestação no mundo terrestre. A dissolução dessa união estabelece um novo estado existencial. A morte, portanto, permite a última transfiguração do homem. Neste caso, a ancestralidade influencia um universo mais amplo da existência e das forças físicas e metafísicas possuindo um poder normativo maior. O controle do mundo visível e invisível confere à ancestralidade um status de fenômeno jurídico. Os mandamentos ancestrais referenciam-se como fontes axiológicas sobre um conceito de justiça construído coletivamente. Tratar os princípios ancestrais como parte dos estudos da hermenêutica jurídica nos leva ao diálogo dos métodos e procedimentos para alcançar esta possibilidade. A valorização dos nossos próprios mitos e caráter identitário é uma sugestão poderosa para retomarmos o fio da história e das interpretações possíveis de liberdade e justiça para a realidade jurídica brasileira. Palavras chaves: Ancestralidade, Epistemologia, Moralidade, Ético, Normativo. (shrink)

A dominant theme in the ninth of the Heroides, Deianira's letter to Hercules, is Deianira's indignation that Hercules has been defeated by a woman: first by Iole ; then by Omphale . The theme is exploited so insistently that Vessey, who regards the epistle as spurious, sees in this insistence a sign of the forger's clumsiness. consider the exploitation of the motive of‘victor victus’ in Heroides 9, on the contrary, as a strong sign of Ovidian authorship. From the very beginning (...) of the letter, the reader is reminded that if a woman, Iole, has metaphorically destroyed Hercules, another woman is on the point of destroying Hercules in a much more real and literal way, and this woman is none other than Deianira herself. When Deianira writes the letter, she has just sent to Hercules the garment soaked in Nessus' poison that will provoke Hercules' horrible death : thus Deianira, rather than Iole or Omphale, is the woman who vanquishes the unvanquished hero. But this is not only a matter of dramatic irony based on the general lines of the story. Heroides 9 is an elegiac rewriting of Sophocles' Trachiniae , and at the same time is inserted in the time and the ‘body’ of the tragedy. Ironic prefiguration in Heroides is normally realized through intertextual anticipation: thefuture events that are prefigured are present in the texts of the model epic or tragedy. Deianira blames Hercules for bis defeat: quern numquam Iuno seriesque immensa laborum fregerit, huic Iolen imposuisse iugum quem non mille ferae, quern non Stheneleius hostis, non potuit Iuno vincere, vincit amor. (shrink)

Designers’ intentions are important for determining an artifact’s proper function (i.e., its perceived real function). However, there are disagreements regarding why. In one view, people reason causally about artifacts’ functional outcomes, and designers’ intended functions become important to the extent that they allow inferring outcomes. In another view, people use knowledge of designers’ intentions to determine proper functions, but this is unrelated to causal reasoning, having perhaps to do with intentional or social forms of reasoning (e.g., authority). Regarding these latter (...) social factors, researchers have proposed that designers’ intentions operate through a mechanism akin to social conventions, and that therefore both are determinants of proper function. In the current work, participants learned about an object’s creation, about social conventions for its use and about a specific episode where the artifact was used. The function implemented by the user could be aligned with the designer’s intended function, the social convention, both, or neither (i.e., an opportunistic use). Importantly, the use episode always resulted in an accident. Data show that the accident negatively affected proper function judgments and perceived efficiency for conventional and opportunistic functions, but not for designers’ intended functions. This is inconsistent with the view that designers’ intentions are conceptualized as causes of functional outcomes and with the idea that designers’ intentions and social conventions operate through a common mechanism. (shrink)

The present paper introduces and studies the variety [MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT CAPITAL W]ℋn of n-linear weakly Heyting algebras. It corresponds to the algebraic semantic of the strict implication fragment of the normal modal logic K with a generalization of the axiom that defines the linear intuitionistic logic or Dummett logic. Special attention is given to the variety [MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT CAPITAL W]ℋ2 that generalizes the linear Heyting algebras studied in [10] and [12], and the linear Basic algebras introduced in [2].

Hilbert algebras provide the equivalent algebraic semantics in the sense of Blok and Pigozzi to the implication fragment of intuitionistic logic. They are closely related to implicative semilattices. Porta proved that every Hilbert algebra has a free implicative semilattice extension. In this paper we introduce the notion of an optimal deductive filter of a Hilbert algebra and use it to provide a different proof of the existence of the free implicative semilattice extension of a Hilbert algebra as well as a (...) simplified characterization of it. The optimal deductive filters turn out to be the traces in the Hilbert algebra of the prime filters of the distributive lattice free extension of the free implicative semilattice extension of the Hilbert algebra. To define the concept of optimal deductive filter we need to introduce the concept of a strong Frink ideal for Hilbert algebras which generalizes the concept of a Frink ideal for posets. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine the humanism articulated by Jean-Paul Sartre in Existentialism is a humanism and I show that his proposal is underpinned by some problematic assumptions and biases that shape its deployment. I also argue that the Mexican philosopher Emilio Uranga offers us in his most important work, Analísis del Ser del Mexicano, some conceptual resources that allow us to articulate a humanism that does not fall prey to the problems faced by that of Sartre.

A reconstruction of the origins, development and transformations in reaction to criticism of an ethical doctrine, followed by a discussion on its influence on law, political theory, economics and the social sciences.

Contiene una sección especial sobre Filosofía Latinoamericana, donde hay ponencias de los siguientes autores: Carlos Alemián, Abelardo Barra Ruatta, Alberto Buela y Oscar Wingartz Plata. Además, sobre Arturo A. Roig (dos artículos, uno de Estela Fernández y otro de Marisa Muñoz, Dante Ramaglia y Oscar Zalazar); sobre ensayo y fenomenología en América Latina (Clara Alicia Jalif de Bertranou); sobre Agustín Alvarez (Dante Ramaglia); y sobre Simón Rodríguez (Oscar Salazar). De otras secciones destacamos una ponencia de Arturo A. Roig sobre la (...) historia de las ideas y la filosofía latinoamericana, y otras dos, una sobre Mariátegui (Néstor Kohan) y la segunda sobre Andrés Mercado Vera (Isabel Luchetta)"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58. (shrink)

Following the line of thought articulated by Gallegos-Ordorica (2019), the main goal of this article is to argue that the 19th century Venezuelan-Chilean polymath Andrés Bello should be included within the history of the pragmatist tradition as an important precursor insofar as his masterpiece, Filosofía del Entendimiento (Philosophy of the Understanding), exhibits many views and attitudes that are characteristic of pragmatism. A second and narrower goal of this article is to show that the specific kind of proto-pragmatist position that Bello (...) endorses in Philosophy of the Understanding bears remarkable similarities to the neo-pragmatist view of Huw Price and to argue that Bello’s metaphorical idea-signs can be potentially useful in explaining the great variety of functions that what Price calls “i-representations” have within his functional pluralism. (shrink)

In this paper we shall define semantically some families of propositional modal logics related to the interpretability logic \(\mathbf{IL}\). We will introduce the logics \(\mathbf{BIL}\) and \(\mathbf{BIL}^{+}\) in the propositional language with a modal operator \(\square\) and a binary operator \(\Rightarrow\) such that \(\mathbf{BIL}\subseteq\mathbf{BIL}^{+}\subseteq\mathbf{IL}\). The logic \(\mathbf{BIL}\) is generated by the relational structures \(\left \), called basic frames, where \(\left \) is a Kripke frame and \(\left \) is a neighborhood frame. We will prove that the logic \(\mathbf{BIL}^{+}\) is generated (...) by the basic frames where the binary relation \(R\) is definable by the neighborhood relation \(N\) and, therefore, the neighborhood semantics is suitable to study the logic \(\mathbf{BIL}^{+}\) and its extensions. We shall also study some axiomatic extensions of \(\mathsf{\mathbf{BIL}}\) and we will prove that these extensions are sound and complete with respect to a certain classes of basic frames. Finally, we prove that the logic BIL+ and some of its extensions are complete respect with the class of neighborhood frames. (shrink)

A discussion of the origins of the very notion of development, its role in eocnomic thoery, and its discussion in applied ethics.

A short reconstruction of the vicissitudes of the notion of ethical naturalism through American late nineteenth-century 'naturalism', Moore criticism of so-called naturalistic ethics, reaching Anscombe, Geach and Foot and their particular kind of anti-non-naturalism. The conclusion is that the notion of ethical naturalism is little more than a mere 'flatus vocis' used to indicate three heterogeneous kinds of ethical theories.

The chapter reconstructs and criticizes one of Anscombe's famous three these, namely the claim that a ‘philosophy of psychology’ is a preliminary task to the construction of any possible ethical theory, or that moral philosophy ‘should be laid aside at any rate until we have an adequate philosophy of psychology, in which we are conspicuously lacking’. The claim is that Anscombe’s idea of a philosophy of psychology cannot be simply identified with that of moral psychology with which we are familiar (...) now; that her main claim, namely that actions are analogous to language is quite promising; that among the implications there is not only a criticism to consequentialism but also acknowledgement of a central role for judgement, and accordingly not just a blunt refusal, but instead an unaware rediscovery of Kantian ethics; that her rediscovery of the idea of virtue is promising enough, albeit misunderstood by Anscombe herself when she presents it in terms of coming back to Aristotelian and Thomist ethics as contrasted with modern moral philosophy. (shrink)

I reconstruct Adam Smith’s theory of irony and its application. I illustrate how he defines it as a combination of something “grand” with something “mean” and how this is consistent with his anti-Cartesian and post-skeptic epistemology. I suggest that, for Smith, “systems” of any kind, from Cartesian physics to philosophical monotheism, Stoic ethics, and the “mercantile system” draw their apparent plausibility from some disease of human imagination. I argue that in every field, including political economy, in his view, the philosopher’s (...) task is partially sceptical and partially ironical. That is, it is the task to fight erroneous systems by showing how these arise from unwarranted associations of ideas between apparently “grand” ideas —say, the public interest— with “mean” ones, say, the merchants’ self-interest. In this light, the phrase “invisible hand” turns out to be both an ironic joke and one more application of Smith’s post-skeptical theory of knowledge whose target is dismantling all kind of “invisible” entities that human imagination tends to create. (shrink)

A short presentation of the moral doctrines inspired by the Confucian tradition.

The genealogical deconstruction of the notion of "good" by F.Nietzsche in Genealogy of Morals highlights the arbitrariness of the Platonic unification of various kinds of good, a unification that is still shared by both objectivists and subjectivists. For the same reasons, the attempt of G.E. Moore and other neo-intuitionists to define a single property that is common to all uses of the term "good" and the specular denial of the existence of this property by the emotionalism of A.J. Ayer and (...) Ch.L. Stevenson perhaps debate a false problem. The revival of various forms of Aristotelianism has proposed again Aristotle's answer to Plato: when we say something is good, we want to know what is good, and the answer will be different for different goods. (shrink)