Os padres da Igreja receberam uma educação dentro do sistema grego romano que visava a tornar as pessoas cidadãs, membros da vida civil e comunitária. Pela educação eles se tornavam pessoas livres, capazes de coordenar serviços na sociedade. Essa era uma educação básica,popular, que possibilitava o conhecimento das ciências da época. A filosofia delineava valores comunitários e sociais. Eles frequentavam as escolas normais que o Império Romano oferecia a todos os povos dominados. As universidades não existiam na época, mas as (...) academias, porque se apontava essa instituição de modo que uma educação bemfundamentada ali era dada, pois se tratava de Ensino Superior. Os padres foram educados nesse sistema educacional, na retórica, último degrau no estudo, que os impulsionava a não só a bem falar ao público e a ter o domínio do saber, através dos argumentos, mas essa retórica servia para esclarecimento das coisas, na liturgia, na interpretação da Sagrada Escritura para o povo diante das heresias e na necessidade de dar respostas por parte da Igreja. O estudo favoreceu a elaboração de uma ideia e de uma educação para a vida e para o amor. Se os padres frequentavam escolas dos pagãos, com o tempo, elaboraram o valor da educação, a constituição de escolas próprias em vista da formação sacerdotal e escolas bíblicas e cristológicas. A seguir, damos uma visão de como os padres encararam a educação e de como a viveram em seu tempo. (shrink)

This book discusses the impact of brain researches on different domains, not only on biological and medical/health ones, but more generally on social ones. A decade ago, neuroscience and neurotechnology gave official birth to a new field of inquiry called “neuroethics”. This term is usually referred to both the analysis of ethical implications of research and clinical practice in theneuroscientific area, and to the understanding of how brain processes moral judgements. After historically reconstructing the origins of neuroethics, the authors show (...) main issues related to the spreading of neuroimaging, the technology with which neuroscientific advancements and applications are identified. The book faces principal neuroethical questions, from the impact of neuroscientific theories and technologies on the explanation and treatment of psychiatric disorders, to the controversial argument of the enhancement of cognitive capacities (the possibility of using drugs, implants and other neurotechnological devices to intervene on the brain in order to improve cognitive performances). Moreover, staring off with some Italian legal cases, a debate on the relevance of neuroscientific data and arguments in legal proceedings will be develop all along the book. This book has the ambition to present neuroethical and bioethical issues in a coherent philosophical framework, in order to go beyond the usual polarizations, which have alimented confusion and misunderstandings within the debate. (shrink)

In June 2005, Italy held a referendum on repealing the law on medically assisted fertilization , which limits access to artificial reproduction to infertile couples, and prohibits the donation of gametes, the cryopreservation of embryos, preimplantation genetic diagnosis , and research on human embryos. The referendum was invalidated, and the law remained unchanged. The Italian political e bioethical debate on assisted reproduction was manipulated by the Catholic Church, which distorted scientific data and issues at stake with the help of Catholic (...) politicians and bioethicists. What happened in Italy shows that some perverse socio-cultural e political mechanisms are spreading the absurd and anti-historical view that scientific and technological advancements are threatening democracy and personal freedom. Scientists should not only contrast the political attempts at limiting freedom of scientific research, but also tell politicians, humanists and citizens that the invention of Western science with its view of scientific community as an “open society”, contributed and still contributes, through scientific education, to the construction and maintaining of the moral and political values underlying Western democracies. (shrink)

Em tempos de aceleração, de competição consigo mesmo e de uma linguagem instrumental e pragmática para se falar da educação, qual seria o valor de uma justificativa estética da existência em se tratando da formação de professores? Tendo tal problemática como motivadora, objetivamos, com este estudo, levantar a discussão acerca da relação entre literatura e docência, procurando aproximá-las de modo não utilitário, mas com vistas à estética da existência. Como um modo de resistência, optamos por perguntar pela formação de professores (...) pautada pelo exercício do pensamento, pela problematização dos valores e pelo cuidado consigo e com os demais. A partir disso, utilizamo-nos da pesquisa com inspiração arquegenealógica em Foucault, nos debruçando sobre autores que abordam ou a literatura ou a docência como possibilidades de entendimentos outros que não os conteudistas. Assim, tomamos a literatura, com inspiração nos estudos foucaultianos para problematizar a constituição docente. Mais especificamente, buscamos, nos estudos sobre a genealogia da subjetivação, a leitura, e a escrita tomadas como práticas possíveis do cuidado de si, quando da investigação de Foucault na Antiguidade greco-romana, especialmente nos primeiros séculos da nossa era. Todavia, não se trata de uma aplicação conceitual anacrônica, mas de tomarmos esse ferramental para pensar o que estamos nos tornando no presente, quais são os modos contemporâneos de dominação e quais são as possibilidades, em brechas, de criação de uma estilística da existência. Sendo um ensaio teórico, operamos com a literatura como possibilidade de dobra na linguagem tida como verdade, que poderia funcionar não fora da linguagem, mas fora da ordem do discurso. Seguindo essa perspectiva, entendemos que ela pode não ter apenas a função de revelar outra verdade, ser um passatempo, informar ou transmitir um saber, mas pode funcionar como uma prática de si num exercício de pensamento que problematiza o que estamos fazendo com nossa vida e com a vida dos demais no presente. Palavras-chave: Literatura. Docência. Práticas de si. Foucault. (shrink)

Despite a long tradition of research in applied genetics, particularly in agricultural research, in Italy the transition to the new knowledges and techniques of molecular biology was long and difficult. Political and financial constraints made academic institutions very slow to grasp the importance of molecular approaches to biology and medicine. In fact, the main studies concerning problems of molecular biology took place inside non-academic institutions. We reconstruct the complex paths leading to the birth of the International Laboratory of Genetics and (...) Biophysics (LIGB) in Naples, and describe its work and activities in the period in which it was directed by its creator, Adriano Buzzati-Traverso, between 1962 and 1969. The origins of the LIGB are inextricably bound to the growth of biophysical research at the University of Pavia and at the Higher Health Institute in Rome. For a short period, with the aid provided by Italian and European physicists to biological research on the effects of nuclear radiation, LIGB became a focal point in European molecular biology. In 1968 the scientific and educational activities of the LIGB dramatically fell victim to the contradictions of the Italian academic and scientific system, and to the political climate which emerged in Italy at the time. (shrink)

A proposta deste artigo é a de analisar o perfil socioeconômico dos migrantes do Sul Global em Porto Alegre, capital do estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. A partir de uma pesquisa exploratória, com a utilização de dados secundários sobre os migrantes internacionais no Brasil, coletados via Sistema de Registro Nacional Migratório (SISMIGRA) e as informações contidas na Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), buscamos: (i) identificar as principais nacionalidades dos migrantes do Sul-Global; (ii) evidenciar o gênero e raça/cor (...) dos trabalhadores migrantes; (iii) analisar a escolaridade, principais profissões e remuneração média em salários mínimos (SM) dos migrantes. Com base nos dados coletados observamos que Porto Alegre tornou-se território de destino para migrantes do Sul Global – em sua maioria, homens, pretos e/ou pardos, provenientes do Haiti e da Venezuela, chegados ao Brasil em busca de trabalho. A sua escolaridade, em geral, é superior à do nacional, contudo atua em profissões de baixa remuneração, especialmente no setor de serviços gerais. No caso das mulheres, a inserção destas no mercado de trabalho formal é ainda menor em relação aos homens. A migração Sul-Sul está envolta em elementos que se articulam em torno das estruturas sociais e econômicas. No caso dos migrantes do Sul Global em Porto Alegre, o olhar mais atento sobre raça e gênero, revela que as tradicionais discriminações laborais recebidas por brasileiros desses grupos, também são observadas nos migrantes internacionais. (shrink)

Italy is in the forefront of forensic neuroscience practice among European nations. In recent years, the country presented two major criminal cases, the Trieste Case in 2009 and the Como Case in 2011, which were the first cases employing neurogenetic and functional neuroimaging methods in European courts. In this paper we will discuss the consequences that an understanding of the neural and genetic determinants of human (mis)behavior will have on law, especially on the Italian legal context. Some claim that such (...) consequences will actually be revolutionary, while others argue that legal doctrine assumptions won’t be undermined by neuroscientific findings. In the first section of the paper, we introduce the general debate and follow with a section devoted to the two Italian cases. In the third and final section, we discuss epistemological and ethical issues regarding Italian neurolaw. We defend a position which diverges from those prevailing in the debate. While negative outcomes and concerns were usually evidenced, we focus on positive changes coming with the new paradigm of interaction between neuroscience and the law. Our view is that these cases are clearly pioneering ones, anticipating what will happen in the courtrooms of the European Union in the whole, in the near future. (shrink)

Towards biodeconstruction -- Between life and death: différance -- The absolute programme -- The text and the living -- Between life and death: the bond -- Beyond life death: autoimmunity -- Living on: the arche-performative.

This book develops Non-Identity Theodicy as an original response to the problem of evil. It constructs an ethical framework for theodicy by sketching four cases of human action where horrendous evils are either caused, permitted, or risked, either for pure benefit or for harm avoidance.

This paper intends to verify the extent and effectiveness of the transforming appropriation of the Derridean concept of ‘differance’ by Stiegler with respect to the problems that, according to Stiegler, make this creative critical operation necessary; in particular with respect to the most recent question concerning the possibility of thinking about and putting into practice a ‘neganthropological différance’ capable of facing the ecological crisis that today seems to threaten the very existence of life on earth. The paper goes back to (...) Technics and Time 1. to analyze the distinction between ‘vital difference’ and ‘noetic difference’ that constitutes the condition of possibility of the ‘neganthropological différance.’ In this perspective, the distinction proposed by Stiegler seems to re-propose the hierarchically oriented oppositional structure that characterizes metaphysical thought and in particular the opposition between man and animal, attributing to the human being the ability to free himself from the constraints of his biological-natural condition. Finally, the paper attempts to account for the repercussions of this approach on the very possibility of an effective response to the ecological crisis, concluding with a provocation regarding the role that theory can and must play with regard to such an urgent and far-reaching problem. (shrink)

In her book Specifications Grading, Linda B. Nilson advocates for a grading regimen she claims will save faculty time, increase student motivation, and improve the quality and rigor of student work. If she is right, there is a strong case for many faculty to adopt some version of the system she recommends. In this paper, we argue that she is mostly right and recommend that faculty move away from traditional grading. We begin by rehearsing the central features of specifications grading (...) and providing two examples of how to implement it in philosophy classes. In light of the examples, we argue that specifications grading fulfills two of Nilson’s central desiderata but not the third. Since specifications grading generates two benefits that when combined increase student learning, without adding or increasing burdens, we conclude that student learning increases when courses are revised to include aspects of specifications grading. (shrink)

I develop a theodicy that begins with the recognition that we owe our existence to great and varied evils. I develop two versions of this theodicy, with the result that some version is available to the theist regardless of her assumptions about the existence and nature of free will. My defense of Non-Identity Theodicy is aided by an analogy between divine creation and human procreation. I argue that if one affirms the morality of voluntary human procreation, one should affirm the (...) morality of divine creation; conversely, denying the morality of divine creation commits one to denying the morality of human procreation. (shrink)

Examines the relationship of Derrida’s writings on architecture to his methodology of deconstruction and to deconstrutivism in architecture. Between 1984 and 1994 Jacques Derrida wrote and spoke a great deal about architecture both in his academic work and in connection with a number of particular building projects around the world. He engaged significantly with the work of architects such as Bernard Tschumi, Peter Eisenman, and Daniel Libeskind. Derrida conceived of architecture as an example of the kind of multidimensional writing that (...) he had theorized in Of Grammatology, identifying a rich common ground between architecture and philosophy in relation to ideas about political community and the concept of dwelling. In this book, Francesco Vitale analyzes Derrida’s writings and demonstrates how Derrida’s work on this topic provides a richer understanding of his approach to deconstruction, highlighting the connections and differences between philosophical deconstruction and architectural deconstrutivism. “Although there has been some discussion of the intersection of deconstruction and architecture in the past, mostly among architects and architectural critics, Vitale’s work is distinguished by the fact that it is written by a true philosopher who has a much more acute sense than has usually been the case of the philosophical underpinnings of Derrida’s exchanges with Tschumi, Eisenman, and others. Vitale is throughout concise, precise, insightful, and often brilliant.” — Geoffrey Bennington, author of Interrupting Derrida. (shrink)

Sarah Vitale engages with the project of radical democracy inaugurated by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The chapter focuses in particular on the work of Jacques Rancière and outlines his critique of liberalism and consensus democracy, as well as his important distinction between the police and real politics. Vitale examines how democracy for Rancière demands a rethinking of political subjectivity and engagement. Vitale considers the strengths of Rancière’s critique but argues that it falls short of offering an emancipatory politics because (...) it relies on a fixed ontology. She suggests that for a vision of a truly radical democratic project, readers should turn to Marx. Marx’s project, Vitale argues, rests on an open ontology of possibility and leaves future possibilities for human community undecided. (shrink)

Vitale plantea un razonamiento en torno a la existencia y naturaleza de los llamados «derechos colectivos». Tomando al antiguo filósofo Carnéades como pretexto y simple inspiración, el autor explora los argumentos tanto a favor como en contra de la existencia de comunidades homogéneas y de los derechos atribuibles a colectivos. Según Vitale, en ninguno de los dos casos la existencia o inexistencia de derechos colectivos obtie-ne un fundamento sólido. En el fondo, el multiculturalismo no logra evitar la contradic-ción que consiste (...) en el hecho de que los derechos particulares reivindicados por cada una de las comunidades terminan por ser totalmente incompatibles con aquellos igualmente particulares reivindicados por las otras comunidades. (shrink)

In this paper, I will provide an interpretation of Foucauldian theoretical understanding on natures of power from sovereign power to biopolitics. In order to give further depth and texture to what he means by biopolitics, I will attempt to connect biopolitics with his earlier work Discipline and Punish. The term ‘biopolitics’ was actually mentioned by Foucault on the last chapter of his History of Sexuality Volume 1: An Introduction, where he also claimed it as a technology of power linked to (...) biopower. Foucault wrote that the highest function of biopolitics is not to kill, but to invest life through and through in the machineries of production. If that is the case, then, biopolitics aims to ensure the longevity, health, and wellness of the social bodies. However, if biopolitics is the politics that safeguard life, how come that the innumerable individuals are situated in dire condition? To answer this question, the work of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt will be used to understand further the nature of biopolitics and its effects in the social terrain specially in the contemporary society. (shrink)

Abstract:Francesco Vitale discusses with Rodolphe Gasché the history of Heidegger reception in France and Germany, and more.

Partendo da un corso sul cambiamento politico tenuto da Norberto Bobbio nel 1979 e ora trasformato in un libro postumo grazie ad alcuni studenti di allora, Vitale mette in luce quattro questioni su rivoluzione, riforma e altre forme di cambiamento nell’età moderna e contemporanea. In primo luogo, qual è oggi, nelle nostre società capitalistiche alle prese con i cambiamenti climatici e altri disastri ecologici, il rapporto tra rivoluzioni scientifiche e politiche? In secondo luogo, alla fine del secolo scorso la prospettiva (...) rivoluzionaria è stata abbandonata a favore di un più realistico riformismo, ma possiamo chiederci se questa scelta non abbia portato a un grande inganno, perché il riformismo era in effetti una forma di “dolce” resa alla società di mercato e ai suoi valori. In terzo luogo, ci sono nel nostro tempo gli ingredienti (principalmente, soggetto politico, leadership e un’ideologia ben strutturata) per trasformare la rabbia per l’ingiustizia e la disuguaglianza in un progetto rivoluzionario e non solo in sporadiche rivolte? In quarto luogo, quale ruolo gioca la guerra a livello del cambiamento geopolitico, con particolare riferimento all’attuale guerra in Ucraina che sembra prospettare una nuova situazione di “scontro di civiltà” tra Weltanschauung occidentale e orientale? (shrink)

Deliberative democracy has assumed a central role in the debate about deepening democratic practices in complex contemporary societies. By acknowledging the citizens as the main actors in the political process, political deliberation entails a strong ideal of participation that has not, however, been properly clarified. The main purpose of this article is to discuss, through Jürgen Habermas’ analysis of modernity, reason and democracy, whether and to what extent deliberative democracy and participatory democracy are compatible and how they can, either separately (...) or together, enhance democratic practices. Further exploration of this relationship will permit a better understanding of the possibilities and limits of institutionalizing both discourses, as well as of developing democracy in a more substantive dimension. (shrink)

I develop a theodicy (Non-Identity Theodicy) that begins with the recognition that we owe our existence to great and varied evils. I develop two versions of this theodicy, with the result that some version is available to the theist regardless of her assumptions about the existence and nature of free will. My defense of Non-Identity Theodicy is aided by an analogy between divine creation and human procreation. I argue that if one af rms the morality of vol- untary human procreation, (...) one should af rm the morality of divine creation; conversely, deny- ing the morality of divine creation commits one to denying the morality of human procreation. (shrink)

This paper gives an account of work in progress on ‘Derrida and Biology’ that takes its point of departure from Derrida's unpublished seminar La vie la mort (1975), the first six sessions of which are devoted to biology and, in particular, to the work of François Jacob, a genetic biologist known for his research on the DNA structure and the laws of heredity in the organization and evolution of the living. This seminar shows that Derrida's engagement with biology is already (...) at work in his earliest texts, and in particular in Of Grammatology, where biology functions as the horizon in which notions like ‘differance,’ ‘archi-writing,’ ‘trace,’ and ‘text’ find their genetic-structural foundation and articulation. The goal is to demonstrate that only within this horizon one can understand the statement ‘there is nothing outside the text’ as well as the notion of the ‘general text’, widely misunderstood as the thesis of a hyperbolic hermeneutics. (shrink)

It characterizes studies in Brazilian Information Science that connect gender and/or women and the Knowledge Organization (KO). The study is characterized as exploratory, descriptive, presenting bibliographical research as a data collection procedure. The bibliographic research was carried out in the Information Science Database (BRAPCI) and in the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD). 42 scientific works were analyzed, including articles, dissertations, and theses. The first publication on the subject in the literature analyzed is from 2010, highlighting its incipience, (...) considering that 58% of publications are from 2017 to the present. Considering their objectives, the research was categorized into the three dimensions of ISKO-Brazil: epistemological, applied, political, and social. 22% of the research was categorized into the epistemological dimension, 39% into the applied dimension, and 39% into the political and social dimension. The epistemological dimension of KO concerning gender presents significant challenges, but also opportunities for theoretical and methodological advances that can contribute to a fairer and more inclusive representation of knowledge. Critical analysis of the work shows that, although there is progress, it is still incipient to ensure that KO is truly inclusive and representative of diverse gender identities. (shrink)

In the field of life science there is a growing awareness of the metaphorical tenor of many of its key concepts and the problems that arise from them, as in the now-controversial case of the genetic ‘program’. In the seminar Life Death (2019) Derrida addresses this question from Georges Canguilhem’s difficulties in establishing a clear distinction between metaphor and concept, precisely with regard to the notion of ‘program’, concluding that this difficulty ‘demand[s] a recasting of this division and of the (...) law of this division’ between metaphor and concept. Beginning with these pages from Life Death, the present essay aims to reconstruct the deconstruction of this opposition and its epistemological consequences by going back to the Derridean essay ‘White Mythology’ (1971), to which Derrida refers in the seminar and in which the question of metaphor in the life sciences had been addressed in a critical confrontation with Bachelard and Canguilhem. (shrink)

Work defines the lives of most people. Many people work overtime, work second jobs, or bring work home with them. It is often difficult to know when work stops and the rest of life begins. In a culture where work is central to our identities, good work is increasingly difficult to find. This article argues that one of the impediments to imagining a future beyond work is the productivist logic that predominates today, which determines labor and production to be key (...) activities and values. To sketch a path beyond work, the author turns to Marx, arguing that Marx provides an important critique of productivism and gestures toward a postwork future in his own writings. To do so, the author defends Marx against critiques of productivism. (shrink)

Entre as questões medulares que estruturam a filosofia política de Maquiavel observadas nos Discursos sobre a primeira década de Tito Lívio, verifica-se, por um lado, o secretário florentino confrontando diretamente as reflexões políticas suscitadas pelos gregos, romanos e humanistas cívicos acerca do valor da concórdia no âmbito político. E, por outro, ao promover esse confronto em relação à disseminada ideia de concórdia, apresenta a defesa, logo nos primeiros capítulos, de uma tese fadada a gerar alvoroço, a saber, a de que (...) “a desunião entre a plebe e o senado romano tornou livre e poderosa a república romana” (Discursos, I, 4). Trata-se de uma das teses mais ilustres e originais do pensamento de Maquiavel, mas, concomitantemente, uma das mais controversas dentro do panorama da história do pensamento político. Nesse sentido, Maquiavel difunde uma teoria política na qual a existência de “tumultos” se inscreve como resultado da forma política com maior capacidade de manter a virtù da república. Com efeito, nota-se no pensamento de Maquiavel um elogio acerca da forma política que provoca o conflito. Partindo dessa constatação, pretende-se neste artigo: analisar alguns aspectos da teoria política de Maquiavel, que se contrapõe à noção de concórdia cívica; valorizar a questão dos “tumultos” romanos e compreender como eles se inserem na órbita da referida teoria. (shrink)

Refletir sobre a formação da memória no pensamento de Nietzsche demanda, em primeiro lugar, um exame acerca da relação entre a promessa e o esquecimento, demonstrando a conflituosa ligação entre a memória e a consciência, e o exame de como surge e se fundamenta a moral do ressentimento. Em segundo, uma investigação do relacionamento entre a promessa e a responsabilidade e suas implicações na concepção de memória de Nietzsche. Por fim, uma conclusão, ressaltando a importância das contribuições do filósofo alemão (...) para o estudo da formação da memória. (shrink)

In “Toward an Ethic of Discussion,” Jacques Derrida returns to the controversy with Jonathan Searle to clarify his position but above all because he “would have wished to make legible the (philosophical, ethical, political) axiomatics hidden beneath the code of academic discussion.” I intend, in turn, to return to this text in order to find in it not only the conditions of an ethics of academic discussion but also of interpretation in a deconstructive perspective. In “Toward an Ethic of Discussion,” (...) in fact, it is possible to point out the necessity of a certain ethical treatment of the texts. In particular, how can we determine the conditions of an ethical use of quotation against the always possible manipulation of the text that quotation makes possible? I attempt to answer this question claiming that the reading protocol of deconstruction meets these conditions showing us at the same time the ethical conditions of scientific discourse in general, beyond any scientific claim of objectivity. (shrink)

In Biodeconstruction (2018) I argued that Derrida, in the Life Death seminar (1975–76), would have anticipated the most recent developments in epigenetics, a field in which the dogma of genetic determinism is radically challenged by noting the influence of the environment in the production of mutations in the genetic program, particularly when a genetic population is faced with a radical change in its environmental conditions, which I propose to call an ‘ecological event’. I explore a comparison between the Derridean deconstruction (...) of genetic determinism and the theoretical elaborations of epigenesis, referring to the work of Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb, Evolution in Four Dimensions (2005). Jablonka and Lamb propose a theory of genetic variation in which mutations would be the result of the interpretation of unpredictable environmental events by the individual whose survival would be in danger. Through this comparison, I show that the study of ‘interpretive Mutations’ as reactions to unpredictable environmental events can be helpful in understanding the Derridean theme of the ‘event’, rearticulating it in relation to the radical environmental changes that humanity will sooner or later face. (shrink)

This contribution starts by comparing two of Ferrajoli's essays:Cittadinanza e diritti fondamentali (1993) and the articleof the review's present issue, Fundamental Rights. Theauthor shows that the methodological perspective of the twoworks is different: in the first one, while remaining in theframework of present constitutionalism, Ferrajoli argues chieflyfor an overcoming of citizenship; in the second one, the attemptis to give birth to a new law paradigm. The doubts and questionsVitale mentions concern exactly this possibility.

Resumo Ao encerrar a sua explicação concernente à noção de Lei, no capítulo VI do segundo livro do Contrato social, Jean-Jacques Rousseau apresenta algumas inquietações referentes à capacidade de uma população prematura elaborar um sistema de legislação. Tais inquietações conduzem o pensador genebrino a preconizar a necessidade de uma figura polêmica e excepcional, na engrenagem política republicana: o legislador. Considerando a excepcionalidade dessa figura, o presente artigo sustentará a hipótese de que, mais do que alguém hábil em formular um conjunto (...) de leis para um determinado povo, a função republicana primordial de um legislador é a de contribuir para engendrar um espírito público em cada cidadão pertencente à república. A hipótese aventada será defendida a partir de três objetivos: primeiro, examinar-se-ão as razões pelas quais Rousseau julga ser necessário um legislador na ordenação republicana; segundo, analisar-se-á por que a construção de um espírito público pelo legislador pode ser considerada uma função republicana; terceiro, perscrutar-se-ão quais são as condições necessárias para um povo receber uma boa legislação.In closing his explanation concerning the notion of law, in chapter VI of the second book of the Social contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau has some concerns about the ability of a premature population to develop a legislation system. Such concerns lead the Genevan thinker to advocate the need for a controversial and exceptional personage in the republican political machinery: The legislator. Considering the exceptionality of this personage, this article will support the hypothesis that, more than being one skilled at presenting a set of laws to a particular people, the primary republican function assigned to the legislator is to contribute to engender a public spirit in every citizen belonging to the republic. The hypothesis presented will be defended from three objectives: first, I shall examine the reasons why Rousseau deems it necessary to have a legislator in the republican order; Second, I shall analyze why the construction of a public spirit by the legislator may be considered a republican function; third, I shall look into the conditions necessary for a people to receive a good legislation. (shrink)

This article responds to the critique of productivist essentialism, which is the view that the human is the productive animal, made against Marx. The author argues against this view and holds that Marx introduces a dialectical account of human essence with the notion of species being in the 1844 Manuscripts, which he then develops in The German Idology. This account of essence includes a static and dynamic moment, and in capitalism, the dialectic of essence has resulted in the appearance of (...) the human as the productive animal. Finally, the author argues that Marx’s critique of production and dialectical account of human essence allow us to better think the possibilities for a post-work future. (shrink)

Há duzentos anos (1823) triunfou a contrarrevolução da _Vila-Francada_, pondo fim à primeira experiência constitucional moderna em Portugal. De imediato, D. João VI determinou a revogação da Constituição de 1822, assim como das reformas adotadas para apagar a memória do regime constitucional anterior. Em simultâneo, a partir de uma iniciativa espontânea da Câmara da vila de Sernancelhe, formou-se um movimento municipal para anulação das próprias eleições às Cortes vintistas e revogação das procurações outorgadas aos deputados. Este artigo versa sobre ambas (...) as iniciativas, régia e municipal, considerando sobretudo que a anulação municipal das eleições vintistas é muito pouco conhecida e está praticamente por estudar na historiografia sobre a contrarrevolução. (shrink)

While working on the Italian translation of Life Death, I became aware of some inaccuracies on Derrida’s part that might weaken the effectiveness of his deconstruction of the notion of ‘reproduction’. Not only, such inaccuracies seem to lead Derrida’s interpretation of reproduction toward a conception of ‘life’ that might even hint at an undeconstructed metaphysical background. I have already dealt with such inaccuracies in detail in two articles published in French, here I will recall their outcomes in order to try (...) to test the most problematic hypothesis they have led me to formulate: the Derridean conception of ‘life’ implies a metaphysical background. (shrink)

In his analysis of the typology of governments in The spirit of the laws, Montesquieu delimits, precisely in Chapter I, of the Second Book that “there are three types of government: the Republic, the Monarchical and Despotic”; through such delimitation, the thinker from Bordeaux establishes an examination regarding “the nature and principle” of each of these forms of government. Following this delimitation, the republican form of government can be configured in two modalities: the “democratic republic” and the “aristocratic republic”. With (...) regard to the first modality, Montesquieu carries out and investigation about Democracy and its close relationship with equality. At the same time, it sheds light on the danger of the “spirit of extreme equality” in Democracy. Considering the aforementioned ideas about Democracy, this article will have two main objectives: first, to analyze the “theory of forms of gouvernment”, and, second, to understand and discuss the issue of the “spirit of equality” and the “spirit of extrem equality” in Democracy. Thus, it is expected to value the analysis promoted by Montesquieu about “Democracy” and to provoke a consistente reflection. (shrink)

Much of leftist political philosophy has uncritically accepted the logic of capitalism, which is a logic of conservation that presents itself as a logic of “production.” Many leftist political philosophers subscribe to capitalism’s fundamental myth—that capitalism produces the new. This appearance of proliferation, however, masks an underlying stasis. This article interrogates this trend in the apparently disparate projects of contemporary accelerationism and Jacques Rancière. The accelerationist project of immanence allows for newness only in quantity and not in quality, while Rancière, (...) coming closer to thinking radical newness in his account of politics, forecloses the possibility of a radically emancipatory society. I suggest an open ontology, which Marx offers, provides a better framework for thinking revolutionary newness. (shrink)

Buscando analisar se o elemento religioso pode ter alguma função na república, Rousseau suscita no capítulo VIII (Da religião civil) do Livro segundo do Contrato social uma controversa discussão sobre a relação entre religião e política e igualmente a respeito da intolerância. Observa-se na análise rousseauniana, um esforço central em compreender qual a religião mais adequada para a ordem republicana. Para entender os pormenores da discussão promovida pelo filósofo genebrino e sustentar a hipótese de que a religião civil pode contribuir (...) para assegurar a durabilidade da república, neste artigo, pretende-se: primeiro, examinar resumidamente alguns aspectos gerais do capítulo sobre A religião civil; segundo, avaliar as distinções entre a religião do homem e a religião do cidadão; terceiro, apresentar os fundamentos ou dogmas da religião do cidadão e instaurar um debate concernente ao problema da intolerância. (shrink)

O republicanismo é constituído de diversas matrizes, entre elas a matriz inglesa e a matriz francesa às quais vinculam-se os pensadores modernos Algernon Sidney e Jean-Jacques Rousseau respectivamente. Buscando uma provável relação teórica entre o autor inglês e o pensador de Genebra quanto à tradição republicana, o presente artigo promoverá um exame e quiçá uma reflexão acerca do “espírito republicano” em Sidney e Rousseau assinalando as possíveis afinidades e divergências entre eles, embora sejam vinculações a diferentes matrizes. Para tanto, indaga-se: (...) é possível constatar alguma relação teórica entre esses dois pensadores? Preliminarmente, julgamos que seja possível, sim, realizar tal constatação a partir de uma análise do “espírito republicano” presente sob as penas desses pensadores. (shrink)