Il est connu que le séjour à Paris a joué un rôle déterminant dans l’élaboration des pensées leibniziennes. Pendant cette période, Leibniz rencontre de nombreux savants, s’initie aux mathématiques et s’avère être particulièrement prolifique. Il semblerait que ce soit à cette période également que commencent à se développer les concepts centraux de sa philosophie. Les textes De la méthode de l’universalité I et II en sont un formidable exemple. Ils nous offrent un jeune projet leibnizien, surprenant, ingénieux et très ambitieux. (...) On y voit Leibniz proposer un nouveau système de notation, permettant de traiter la généralité, qu’il fait dialoguer avec des concepts comme l’harmonie ou la caractéristique qui le suivront toute sa vie. Le texte est une introduction à cette nouvelle méthode, ses concepts et sa philosophie. Dans le texte, Leibniz détaille son système ambigu et pousse les considérations mathématiques assez loin pour être en mesure d’exhiber une équation générale capable d’engendrer toutes les sections coniques. Cet article propose une présentation des concepts, qu’ils soient mathématiques ou philosophiques, utilisés par Leibniz pour parvenir à ses fins. (shrink)

Il est connu que le séjour à Paris a joué un rôle déterminant dans l’élaboration des pensées leibniziennes. Pendant cette période, Leibniz rencontre de nombreux savants, s’initie aux mathématiques et s’avère être particulièrement prolifique. Il semblerait que ce soit à cette période également que commencent à se développer les concepts centraux de sa philosophie. Les textes De la méthode de l’universalité I et II en sont un formidable exemple. Ils nous offrent un jeune projet leibnizien, surprenant, ingénieux et très ambitieux. (...) On y voit Leibniz proposer un nouveau système de notation, permettant de traiter la généralité, qu’il fait dialoguer avec des concepts comme l’harmonie ou la caractéristique qui le suivront toute sa vie. Le texte (II) est une introduction à cette nouvelle méthode, ses concepts et sa philosophie. Dans le texte (I), Leibniz détaille son système ambigu et pousse les considérations mathématiques assez loin pour être en mesure d’exhiber une équation générale capable d’engendrer toutes les sections coniques. Cet article propose une présentation des concepts, qu’ils soient mathématiques ou philosophiques, utilisés par Leibniz pour parvenir à ses fins. (shrink)

Il volume raccoglie saggi dedicati alla Fenomenologia dello spirito di G.W.F. Hegel e ad alcune sue principali interpretazioni. A scritti dal taglio più nettamente storiografico che ne ricostruiscono le influenze in autori quali Marx, Gentile, Heidegger, Kojève, Paci, Lacan e Brandom, si affiancano contributi volti a ricostruire alcuni nodi categoriali che, sollecitati dal testo hegeliano, hanno segnato le riflessioni etiche, teoretiche, filosofico-politiche e psicoanalitiche successive: dialettica, cultura, negazione, desiderio, corpo, fenomeno, riconoscimento. Questa raccolta non intende quindi né riproporre la lettera (...) del testo hegeliano, né avanzare una sua specifica interpretazione. Piuttosto, gli autori hanno condiviso lo sforzo di illustrare in actu exercito le possibilità di movimento tra questi due estremi – testo e interpretazione – tra cui la cultura filosofica si muove. Attraverso questo movimento la Fenomenologia dello spirito continua a produrre filosofia, ossia ad essere occasione e strumento per la comprensione del “proprio tempo col pensiero”. (shrink)

Simon Critchley's first book, The Ethics of Deconstruction, was originally published to great acclaim in 1992. This edition contains three new appendices and a new preface where Critchley reflects upon the origins, motivation and reception of The Ethics of Deconstruction.

Gilles Deleuze’s engagements with mathematics, replete in his work, rely upon the construction of alternative lineages in the history of mathematics, which challenge some of the self imposed limits that regulate the canonical concepts of the discipline. For Deleuze, these challenges provide an opportunity to reconfigure particular philosophical problems – for example, the problem of individuation – and to develop new concepts in response to them. The highly original research presented in this book explores the mathematical construction of Deleuze’s philosophy, (...) as well as addressing the undervalued and often neglected question of the mathematical thinkers who influenced his work. -/- In the wake of Alain Badiou’s recent and seemingly devastating attack on the way the relation between mathematics and philosophy is configured in Deleuze’s work, Simon Duffy offers a robust defence of the structure of Deleuze’s philosophy and, in particular, the adequacy of the mathematical problems used in its construction. By reconciling Badiou and Deleuze’s seeming incompatible engagements with mathematics, Duffy succeeds in presenting a solid foundation for Deleuze’s philosophy, rebuffing the recent challenges against it. -/- Simon B. Duffy is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Yale-NUS College, Singapore, and Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is the author of The Logic of Expression: Quality, Quantity, and Intensity in Spinoza, Hegel and Deleuze (2006). (shrink)

Insegnare la filosofia nelle scuole: e ancora utile? E quanto spazio va concesso alla materia? Il mondo accademico italiano si pose il problema agli inizi del XX secolo, e da piu parti fu proposta la cancellazione della materia dai programmi ministeriali. Giovanni Gentile, filosofo e pedagogista, non poteva restare inerme e in questo scritto giovanile si cimenta in una vibrante difesa della filosofia e della sua importanza per la formazione degli studenti.".

"El título de este trabajo puede parecer pretencioso; sin embargo, mi intención ha sido muy modesta, puesto que he querido solamente resumir en capítulos sumarios un curso de lecciones dictadas este año en la Universidad de Pisa, a los estudiantes de la Facultad de Jurisprudencia. El curso estaba consagrado a las cuestiones fundamentales de la Filosofía del Derecho, es decir, a aquellas cuestiones que comúnmente pasan por alto los especialistas de esta disciplina, demasiado inclinados a enredarse en el empirismo de (...) la Enciclopedia Jurídica, y por la cual, merced a ellos, no se advierte cómo aquella Filosofía puede ser considerada de otra manera. La Filosofía del Derecho justificará su existencia mientras sea Filosofía, a la cual no se llega partiendo del Derecho, como tampoco se llega partiendo de ningún otro concepto empírico, puesto que todos los conceptos, cuando están rigurosamente determinados, son ya filosofía, y no pueden, por consiguiente, germinar en otro lugar que no sea su terreno". Giovanni Gentile. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

I intend to argue that good friendship sometimes requires epistemic irresponsibility. To put it another way, it is not always possible to be both a good friend and a diligent believer.

The return to religion has perhaps become the dominant cliche of contemporary theory, which rarely offers anything more than an exaggerated echo of a political reality dominated by religious war. Somehow, the secular age seems to have been replaced by a new era, where political action flows directly from metaphysical conflict. The Faith of the Faithless asks how we might respond. Following Critchley's Infinitely Demanding, this new book builds on its philosophical and political framework, also venturing into the questions of (...) faith, love, religion and violence. Should we defend a version of secularism and quietly accept the slide into a form of theism--or is there another way? From Rousseau's politics and religion to the return to St. Paul in Taubes, Agamben and Badiou, via explorations of politics and original sin in the work of Schmitt and John Gray, Critchley examines whether there can be a faith of the faithless, a belief for unbelievers. Expanding on his debate with Slavoj Zizek, Critchley concludes with a meditation on the question of violence, and the limits of non-violence. (shrink)

In considering the debate about the meaning of ‘disease’, the positions are generally presented as falling into two categories: naturalist, e.g., Boorse, and normativist, e.g., Engelhardt and many others. This division is too coarse, and obscures much of what is going on in this debate. I therefore propose that accounts of the meaning of ‘disease’ be assessed according to Hare’s (1997) taxonomy of evaluative terms. Such an analysis will allow us to better understand both individual positions and their inter-relationships. Most (...) importantly, it will show that it is unlikely that there is a single unique disease-concept at issue. Rather, different authors are, for the most part, considering different concepts. (shrink)

This paper considers John Doris, Stephen Stich, Alexandra Plakias, and colleagues’ recent attempts to utilize empirical studies of cross-cultural variation in moral judgment to support a version of the argument from disagreement against moral realism. Crucially, Doris et al. claim that the moral disagreements highlighted by these studies are not susceptible to the standard ‘diffusing’ explanations realists have developed in response to earlier versions of the argument. I argue that plausible hypotheses about the cognitive processes underlying ordinary moral judgment and (...) the acquisition of moral norms, when combined with a popular philosophical account of moral inquiry—the method of reflective equilibrium—undercut the anti-realist force of the moral disagreements that Doris et al. describe. I also show that Stich's recent attempt to provide further theoretical support for Doris et al.'s case is unsuccessful. (shrink)

Die Untersuchung des unbedingten Grundsatzes der Erkenntnis ist - in Verbindung mit den Begriffen des Bewusstseins, der Anschauung und des Unendlichen - der Kern des Deutschen Idealismus von Fichte, Schelling und Hegel. Nach Fichte muss man das absolut erste und unbedingte Prinzip des gesamten menschlichen Wissens aufsuchen, damit die Philosophie tatsachlich Wissenschaft der Wissenschaft oder Wissenschaftslehre sein kann. Daher rekonstruiert der Autor zunachst Fichtes kritisch gegen Kant gerichtete Radikalisierung des Konzepts der Subjektivitat und die Uberschreitung der Grenze zur intellektuellen Anschauung. (...) Im zweiten Teil werden dann neue Perspektiven in der Analyse von Schellings Idealismus vorgeschlagen: Vor dem Hintergrund einer Analyse der intellektuellen, der asthetischen und der produktiven Anschauung bei Schelling wird das Verhaltnis zwischen Naturphilosophie und Transzendentalphilosophie behandelt. Im dritten Teil des Buches werden Hegels Kritik an Fichte und Schelling sowie an Kant (in der Enzyklopadie) und schliesslich die Bedeutung der Begriffe des Selbstbewusstseins und des Unendlichen vom transzendentalen Idealismus bis hin zu Hegels absolutem Idealismus untersucht. Der Kulminationspunkt ist dabei die alle Bereiche der theoretischen Philosophie durchziehende Wechselbeziehung zwischen dem Endlichen und dem Unendlichen. (shrink)

Kerngedachten uit de nagelaten manuscripten van deze jong gestorven schrijfster, doordrongen van een mystiek, die zich richt zowel op de schoonheid van de schepping als op de goddelijke volmaaktheid, en van medeleven met de lijdende mensheid.

If science fiction is a genre, then attempts to think about the nature of science fiction will be affected by one’s understanding of what genres are. I shall examine two approaches to genre, one dominant but inadequate, the other better, but only occasionally making itself seen. I shall then discuss several important, interrelated issues, focusing particularly on science fiction : what it is for a work to belong to a genre, the semantics of genre names, the validity of attempts to (...) define genres, and the connections between genre and normativity. One important but neglected clue to the nature of genres lies in the kinds of disagreements they generate over the assignment of works to genres. I conclude by explaining why these disagreements tell us something about the nature of genres, and discussing in some detail two famous cases of disagreement about whether some work or works are science fiction. (shrink)

This book, designed for high-level undergraduates, postgraduates and fellow researchers, introduces the reader to the main areas of metaethical work today. As we as introducing familiar positions and arguments, Kirchin argues clearly and engagingly for a set of distinctive and arresting views.

Philosophers have traditionally used thought-experiments in their endeavours to find a satisfactory account of the self and personal identity. Yet there are considerations from empirical psychology as well as related ones from philosophy itself that appear to completely undermine the method of thought-experiment. This paper focuses on both sets of considerations and attempts a defence of the method.

Minds, Brains and Biology -- A Body of Knowledge -- Towards an Aesthetics of Behavior.

Ethical discussions about Artificial Intelligence (AI) often overlook its potentially large impact on nonhuman animals. In a recent commentary on our paper about AI’s possible harms, Leonie Bossert argues for a focus not just on the possible negative impacts but also the possible beneficial outcomes of AI for animals. We welcome this call to increase awareness of AI that helps animals: developing and using AI to improve animal wellbeing and promote positive dimensions in animal lives should be a vital ethical (...) goal. Nonetheless, we argue that there is some value in focusing on technology-based harms in the context of AI ethics and policy discourses. A harms framework for AI can inform some of our strongest duties to animals and inform regulation and risk assessment impacts designed to prevent serious harms to humans, the environment, and animals. (shrink)