Developed through a series of conceptual analyses (Edmund Husserl, Vilém Flusser, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Walter Benjamin) and case studies (Fernando Lopes’s Belarmino and Jeff Wall’s Mimic), this article delves into the relationship between gesture, attunement and atmosphere and how it unfolds in photographic works dealing with urban space. The first section focuses on the role played by photography in the film Belarmino, which raises questions about both the representation of urban phenomena and issues related to expression and gesture in boxing. (...) The second section discusses Husserl’s thinking on image consciousness and his surprising reference to a “photograph” of a boxer, which reveals the relevance of his phenomenological approach when it comes to defining the aesthetic properties of gesture-images. The third section examines the principles of Flusser’s philosophy of gestures, focusing on the semantic field of attunement and its connection with various elements related to photography, gesture, moods and affects. The question of gesture in photography—both the gestures of the photographed and those of the photographer—can be articulated with the notions of attunement and atmosphere, which go beyond semiological, psychological and communicational approaches and are important for our understanding of aesthetic and artistic experiences. Finally, if photography is a privileged way of studying atmospheres and gestures (as suggested by the Benjaminian notion of optical unconscious) and their connection with the inner life of the subject, in relation to urban space this study often acquires an intersubjective, social and political dimension, as in Jeff Wall’s Mimic. (shrink)

Resumo: Analisando o papel desempenhado pela questão da técnica no pensamento de Walter Benjamin, o artigo debruça-se sobre a transformação dos valores estéticos, na modernidade. As técnicas de reprodução/registo inventadas nos séculos XIX e XX, como a fotografia e o cinema, obrigaram a uma revisão das articulações entre arte, técnica e história, articulações que Benjamin desenvolveu em diversos sentidos. Contudo, não encontramos, nos seus textos, uma filosofia da técnica de princípios claramente estabelecidos. Portanto, o presente artigo visa estabelecer uma constelação (...) de temas, os quais, brotando dos seus textos, nos permitem clarificar como a técnica influencia a transformação e a criação de valores estéticos, sendo estes entendidos como eixos em torno dos quais se dão a produção e a crítica dos fenómenos estéticos. A fotografia, constituindo um momento de viragem incisivamente estudado pelo autor, é o fio condutor das diferentes leituras. Historicidade da percepção; dimensão política da arte; sua relação com a memória; elemento de jogo: são estes os quatro eixos em torno dos quais se procura clarificar e, sempre que possível, prolongar a proposta benjaminiana.: Analyzing the role played by the question of technology in Walter Benjamin's thought, this article delves into the transformation of aesthetic values in modernity. The technologies of reproduction and recording invented during the 19th and 20th centuries, such as photography and cinema, led to a reformulation of the relationship between art, technology, and history, which Benjamin examined in various ways. However, we do not find in his texts a philosophy of technology with well-defined principles. Therefore, this article aims at establishing a constellation of themes emerging from his texts, that allows us to clarify the way technology promotes the transformation and creation of aesthetic values. These values are here understood as axes around which the production and the critique of aesthetic phenomena occur. Photography, as a turning point that was incisively studied by the author, is the leading thread in the different readings of his work. The historicity of perception; the political dimension of art; its relation with memory; the element of play: these are the four axes around which a clarification and, whenever possible, an expansion, of Benjamin's ideas are discussed. (shrink)

Bringing together a genealogy of authors, concepts, and aesthetic case studies, this article aims to contribute to the discussion on ordinary aesthetics by focusing on the tensions that are intrinsic to walking as a fundamental embodied action in everyday urban life. These tensions concern the movement of walking itself and its relation to one’s surroundings, but it also concerns a certain complementarity between home (familiarity) and wandering. Experiencing space and thresholds that disrupt one’s relationship with home and the everyday can (...) be understood as part of a modern “anti-home” tendency that lies at the core of several artistic and aesthetic practices. On the other hand, the study of walking and its relationship with the ordinary has also been enhanced and complexified by the mediation of images and technologies of reproduction. Approaching the paradoxes and ambiguities of everydayness from the perspective of walking allows us to better understand the ordinary as an in-between concept composed of evidence and mystery, familiarity and strangeness. Walking itself, as an ordinary element of life, is an unstable stabilisation, an unconsciousness that may become awareness, an immersive action that knows interruptions, a way of repeating paths that can also lead to detours and discoveries. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the role that the concept of “presence of mind” (Geistesgegenwart) plays in Walter Benjamin’s thought, deepening lines of interpretation that are connected to other relevant concepts such as “attention” (Aufmerksamkeit) and “now-time” (Jetztzeit). It examines elements of Benjamin’s work that develop the philosophical importance of presence of mind, emphasizing its corporeal dimension and its aesthetic and critical relevance. The analysis covers fve lines of interpretation that intersect in different ways: (i) presence of mind is a (...) form of thought/action that should be cultivated as a way of dealing with the experience of shock; (ii) having presence of mind is an attitude that can be exercised; (iii) “seizing the day” involves the body and presupposes an experience of intensive time; (iv) the conceptual framework of presence of mind integrates elements related to play; and (v) by valuing the present, presence of mind implies a relationship between danger and a critical gesture – in Benjamin’s historical and political reflection, this gesture intertwines the individual and the collective dimensions. (shrink)

The volume Conceptual Figures of Fragmentation and Reconfiguration is a collection of revised versions of the papers presented at a research seminar which took place at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, between January and June 2019. The seminar is one of the core activities of the project “Fragmentation and Reconfiguration: Experiencing the City between Art and Philosophy”, based at IFILNOVA – Nova Institute of Philosophy in Lisbon. This volume strives to reassess the relationship between (...) fragmentation and reconfiguration, the contemporary relevance of which can be appreciated by focusing on the experience of the city, in particular the aesthetic experience of the city. Following the structure of the original seminar presentations, and drawing on key philosophical authors such as Goethe, Benjamin, Wittgenstein, Foucault, Deleuze, Joyce, Proust, and Perec, each of the nine contributors focuses on a specific conceptual figure: Catastrophe (Gianfranco Ferraro); Ruins (Maria Filomena Molder); Chaosmopolitanism (Bartholomew Ryan); Morphogenesis (Maurizio Gribaudi); Atlas (Nélio Conceição); Archive (João Duarte); Collection (Maria João Gamito); Panoramic Presentation (Alexandra Dias Fortes); and Aesthetic Experience (Nuno Fonseca). (shrink)

The volume Conceptual Figures of Fragmentation and Reconfiguration is a collection of revised versions of the papers presented at a research seminar which took place at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, between January and June 2019. The seminar is one of the core activities of the project “Fragmentation and Reconfiguration: Experiencing the City between Art and Philosophy”, based at IFILNOVA – Nova Institute of Philosophy in Lisbon. This volume strives to reassess the relationship between (...) fragmentation and reconfiguration, the contemporary relevance of which can be appreciated by focusing on the experience of the city, in particular the aesthetic experience of the city. Following the structure of the original seminar presentations, and drawing on key philosophical authors such as Goethe, Benjamin, Wittgenstein, Foucault, Deleuze, Joyce, Proust, and Perec, each of the nine contributors focuses on a specific conceptual figure: Catastrophe (Gianfranco Ferraro); Ruins (Maria Filomena Molder); Chaosmopolitanism (Bartholomew Ryan); Morphogenesis (Maurizio Gribaudi); Atlas (Nélio Conceição); Archive (João Duarte); Collection (Maria João Gamito); Panoramic Presentation (Alexandra Dias Fortes); and Aesthetic Experience (Nuno Fonseca). (shrink)

Within the context of the contemporary heterogeneity of photographic practices, the present text describes some of the possibilities of understanding the temporality of photographs, giving an account of some important theoretical references. Bearing this in mind, describing photographs as sparks of reality is a way of expanding the Benjaminian proposal and avoiding the strict logics of causality. The strength of photography unfolds the technologically rooted paradox of photographs, whose contemporary relevance can be analysed in the intersection between aesthetics, history and (...) politics. The film 48, by the Portuguese filmmaker Susana Sousa Dias, explores this intersection by using and showing the cracks of the political prisoners’ mug shots. (shrink)

This article explores the relation between cinema and philosophy through the lens of interest shown by some filmmakers in the lives and works of philosophers. It begins by delving into contemporary perspectives on the relationship between philosophy and cinema. In order to assess how the constitutive dissimilarity of the two terms and the ways in which they can be brought together are at the origin of speculative short circuits and experiences of wonder, it brings together the works of thinkers – (...) Cavell, Benjamin, and Kracauer; and filmmakers Rossellini, Montaldo, Keaton, and Jarman. Reflecting on the aesthetic and cultural impact of cinema is all the more important given the current omnipresence of images and prosthetic technologies that, with their incessant solicitations, threaten the processes of apprehension, learning, and conveying of knowledge. Thinking and perceiving differently thus becomes an essential function of cinema, one keenly performed in Safaa Fathy’s Derrida’s Elsewhere, analyzed in the last two sections. (shrink)

Since its onset, scholars have characterized social media as a valuable source for data collection since it presents several benefits (e.g. exploring research questions with hard-to-reach populations). Nonetheless, methods of online data collection are riddled with ethical and methodological challenges that researchers must consider if they want to adopt good practices when collecting and analyzing online data. Drawing from our primary research project, where we collected passive online data on Reddit, we explore and detail the steps that researchers must consider (...) before collecting online data: (1) planning online data collection; (2) ethical considerations; and (3) data collection. We also discuss two atypical questions that researchers should also consider: (1) how to handle deleted user-generated content; and (2) how to quote user-generated content. Moving on from the dichotomous discussion between what is public and private data, we present recommendations for good practices when collecting and analyzing qualitative online data. (shrink)

Presenta las microagencias colectivas que engendran formas de resistir los estándares establecidos, forjando nuevas formas de (re)existir y “ver, oír, pensar” en las escuelas, problematizando: ¿Cómo crean posibilidades las vidas cotidianas escolares, insertadas en una lucha micropolítica, con diferentes intensidades e impulsos de vida? Sostiene que la vida escolar diaria contribuye a los movimientos de lucha y resistencia a través de la creación de otros modos de (re)existencia.

O presente ensaio parte dos problemas enfrentados pela religião no âmbito do mundo moderno e sua particular compreensão de ciência. Pontualmente, ocupou-se em problematizar as querelas por ela enfrentadas quando a então embrionária modernidade estabelecia seus novos paradigmas científicos, motivando, portanto, o seu profundo deslocamento. Assevera-se, a partir daí, cada vez mais, uma inadequação da religião enquanto alvo a ser perspectivado pelo movimento científico nascente. A religião, portanto, não se viu pertencida aos debates produzidos pelo mundo moderno, nem tampouco pelo (...) cânone dos novos postulados científicos, representado, majoritariamente, pelo vertiginoso avanço das ciências da natureza. Discute-se, por isso, a partir de W. Dilthey, a emergência do paradigma das chamadas ciências humanas e daí a possibilidade de se entrever, novamente, a pergunta pela pertinência da religião, enquanto elemento fundamental da cultura humana e, portanto, indispensável à compreensão da humanidade do homem. Por fim, procurou-se convocar, no âmbito das chamadas ciências da religião, a dimensão hermenêutica das ciências humanas e a reabilitação da teologia enquanto campo imprescindível para a audição da religião. Palavras-chave : Modernidade. Ciências. Teologia.The standpoints of this essay are the problems faced by religion in modern world and its particular understanding of science. From time to time, the concerns on this matter were centered in the debates that involved religion, especially when the recently formed modernity established its new scientific paradigms, motivating, thus, its deep displacement. It was assured then, and ever more, an inadequacy of religion as a target to be reached by the rising scientific movement. Religion, therefore, has never been truly inserted in the debates produced by the modern world, not even by the canon of the new scientific statements, mostly represented by the rapid growth within sciences of nature. From Dilthey on, it has been argued the emergency of the so-called paradigm of the Human Sciences and then the possibility of foreseeing, again, the question on the pertinence of religion as a fundamental element of human culture which is, therefore, essential to the comprehension of the humanity of men. Finally, it will be evoked here, in the fields of the so-called Sciences of Religion, the hermeneutical dimension of the Human Sciences and the rehabilitation of theology as a primordial area to hearing religion. Keywords : Modernity. Sciences. Theology. (shrink)

El presente artículo discute el acontecimiento pandemia y su significado en las ‘_practicateorías_’ docentes, recordando que la posición del gobierno no se orientó, anteriormente, ni a la formación ni a la distribución de dispositivos que permitieran la comunicación pedagógica. Sin embargo, la presencia cotidiana de dichos dispositivos en la vida de los ‘_practicantespensantes_’ de las escuelas permitió que las acciones curriculares se desarrollaran de forma creativa.

In this article I will look into Corporate Legal Responsibility taking into account Levinas’s notion of infinite responsibility, as well as his understanding of ethical language. My account of Levinas’s philosophy will show that it challenges – breaking down – deeply entrenched distinctions in the dominant strands of moral philosophy, within which the theory of individual responsibility is embedded, such as between:(1) duty to others on the one hand and supererogation on the other; (2) perfect duty to others on the (...) one hand and imperfect duties to others on the other; (3) insiders and outsiders; kith and kin on the one hand and strangers on the other; Levinas’s moral vision is an inclusive one which embraces all of humanity (at least of those present today) irrespective of historical, linguistic, cultural differences and diversities. In other words, each has responsibilities for and duties towards all others. Of course, one might say that there is nothing new about a universalising ethics – after all Kantianism, liberalism as well as utilitarianism are well known instances. However, more crucially, all these traditional moral philosophies uphold the theory of individual responsibility, which is rooted in the philosophy of individualism. Such a philosophy can make sense only of the concept of individual moral/legal agency but not corporate agency. Therefore, in this article I will attempt to show that the Levinasian vision is able to help us change our view with respect to corporate responsibility. (shrink)

O reconhecimento é uma das principais categorias da Teoria Crítica contemporânea. Nos movimentos sociais atuais, a centralidade da redistribuição material, nos moldes do socialismo, foi trocada pela luta por reconhecimento. Com tal mudança de foco, a cultura e a economia política foram colocadas em polos dissociados. Nancy Fraser, diante desse cenário, propõe conciliar as políticas de reconhecimento e redistribuição em uma ampla teoria de justiça. No entanto, a articulação de ambas se torna complexa diante de suas vinculações no âmbito da (...) filosofia moral. De um lado, a redistribuição está alinhada à moralidade kantiana, enquanto o reconhecimento parece pertencer ao âmbito da ética hegeliana. Nesse horizonte, o presente trabalho tenciona discutir a proposta de Fraser na questão do reconhecimento enquanto reivindicação de justiça, apresentando o percurso teórico adotado pela autora nesta defesa. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo articular um diálogo entre as propostas de Charles Taylor e Nancy Fraser acerca das políticas de reconhecimento e identidade. Nesta tarefa, apresentamos a ligação fundamental que Charles Taylor estabelece entre identidade e reconhecimento, a partir de uma dimensão dialógica que privilegia o contato significativo com os outros. Posteriormente, discutimos a concepção de um modelo de status como alternativa ao modelo de identidade na proposta de Nancy Fraser, que compreende o reconhecimento como uma questão de (...) justiça desvinculada de avaliações éticas. Por fim, são contrastadas as concepções de reconhecimento de ambos os pensadores em relação à centralidade da identidade e autorrealização nas políticas de reconhecimento, destacando como as críticas de Fraser a Taylor desconsideram a dimensão intersubjetiva da concepção de identidade do filósofo canadense. (shrink)

Peut-on attribuer une finalité aux réalités les plus fondamentales et matérielles de la nature selon la téléologie aristotélicienne? La réponse est apparemment affirmative d’après le livre IV, 12 des Météorologiques d’Aristote. Ayant entamé une recherche sur les corps homéomères du point de vue de la forme – manifestée par leurs finalités en tant que ἔργoν –, ce texte affirme que les artefacts, les organismes et leurs parties anhoméomères tout comme les homéomères, et même les éléments, bref « tout est déterminé (...) par son ἔργoν ». Pourquoi Aristote emploie-t-il le terme ἔργoν, et quel est son sens dans le contexte de la téléologie naturelle? Dans cette étude, nous proposons de laisser de côté le sens véhiculé par la traduction courante « fonction », à savoir le rôle joué par une réalité, ou une partie, pour le bien d’un tiers ou pour une totalité, pour la raison évidente que la causalité de la fin chez Aristote est sans conteste immanente, à savoir la réalisation de la forme de la réalité naturelle elle-même. Ainsi, le sens proposé de la fin-ἔργoν sera non pas externe, mais plutôt celui de mise en usage de la réalité en processus elle-même, fondée sur la dualité téléologique τὸ oὗ et τὸ ᾧ, où la fin oὗ est comprise comme étant la constitution d’une réalité, tandis que la fin ᾧ n’a plus le sens de bénéficiaire externe, mais renvoie à l’aspect dynamique de la forme, c’est-à-dire comme étant le dernier accomplissement de l’essence de la réalité une fois constituée. (shrink)

Jiren (畸人), literally translated as irregular (Ji) person (ren), is a critical concept in the classical Daoist text the Zhuangzi (5th–3rd century BC.).1 The concept refers to individuals with atypical body shapes. Some of them lack body parts of the standard human body, like a leg or toes. Some others have an atypical anatomy, like having a chin stuck down their navel; and some of them are, by social standards of the time, considered to be extremely ugly.1 These individuals are (...) described as incredibly virtuous. The description of Jiren individuals as virtuous does not simply aim to show there may be hidden virtues that social conventions blur. The point is not to show that we should also care for those with atypical bodies who have a hidden virtue. Rather, the point is to show that all human beings have an unconditional intrinsic value and moral worth. So, Jiren prescribes that an atypical body shape does not reflect inferiority. The variation of body anatomies should be understood as how the world is, not a value hierarchy. The concept of Jiren encourages, therefore, to consider one’s own and others’ value beyond their physical appearance. What’s more, Jiren encourages individuals to resist social pressures to fit a standard and to search inward for who they really are and accept it. This ethical groundwork set by the Jiren aims at freeing people from existing physical and mental boundaries to their well-being and helping them rethink …. (shrink)

This article aims to propose some connections between the conceptions of poetry of the Mexican poet Octavio Paz and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Both see in poetry the element of recognition of the original condition of the human being, not as an interpretation, but as a perception and affectation of the existential reality of human beings. So that the event of the "poetic saying" is configured as a call to the possibility of glimpsing the being of each entity, inhabiting (...) oneself and, thus, learning to be with others, establishing the poetic field as the clearing of perception and of existential affectation. Poetic speech goes beyond the limits of language, creating and establishing meanings and representations to the affectations that poetry provides. Thus, through poetry man recognizes himself in his worldliness, in search of his own being and in his relationship with other beings. (shrink)

Delusion is one of the most intriguing psychopathological phenomena and its conceptualization remains the subject of genuine debate. Claims that it is ill-defined, however, are typically grounded on essentialist expectations that a given definition should capture the core of every instance acknowledged as delusion in the clinical setting.

This paper focuses on the set of problems regarding the HIV/AIDS crisis in the specific domain of corporate moral responsibility within a context of the Levinasian notion of proximity (infinite responsibility) and the Third. Against a totalitarian, homogeneous society, Levinas opens the way to a social pluralism, which has its sources in the disquiet provoked by the strangeness of the Other's face. Corporate responsibility, understood from this point of view, would not reduce institutional relations to an anonymous world of neutrality. (...) Corporate responsibility is unconditional in the sense that to be responsible is not a question of choice, but one of deep liberty, the liberty of taking the burden of the infinite responsibility for the Other customers, employees, the public at large and those who suffer in the world. This paper argues that it would then also mean that society (individuals, NGOs and governments) in accordance with the spirit of the Levinasian philosophy of infinite responsibility could exert pressure on corporations, such as pharmaceutical companies. Owing to their power, they could change their present responsibility policies to a more affirmative and engaged responsibility with regard to those who are ill and who suffer death or debilitation from HIV/AIDS and other prevalent diseases in the poorest parts of the world today. (shrink)

In this article, we will make the case for an intercultural philosophy of religion with a special focus on interculturality between Chinese and African philosophies. We will provide an overview of the kind of intercultural philosophy that has already been undertaken between the East and the South and point out that a philosophy of religion has been left out. We will then make the case for a global philosophy of religion approach and why Chinese and African philosophies of religion should (...) engage in philosophical interchanges. We will then highlight some directions for carrying out such a philosophy and explain why the problem of evil may be better addressed from an intercultural perspective. (shrink)

Ce travail s’insère dans un projet intitulé « Le discours aux frontières du social », qui vise à analyser, dans des films documentaires, l’entrecroisement des différents matériaux en jeu dans ces productions. Pour comprendre comment se formule la critique sociale, j’ai choisi d’analyser deux documentaires ayant pour thème des conflits sociaux : Tereza (« Thérèse », qui met en scène la vie des détenus dans une prison de Campinas) et Boca de Lixo (« Décharge publique », qui présente la vie (...) de personnes qui habitent et travaillent dans les dépôts d’ordures). (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between information and abductive reasoning in the context of problem-solving, focusing on non-human animals. Two questions guide our investigation: What is the relation between information and abductive reasoning in the context of human and non-human animals? Do non-human animals perform discovery based on inferential processes such as abductive reasoning? In order to answer these questions, we discuss the semiotic concept of information in relation to the concept of abductive reasoning and, (...) more specifically, to the notion of manipulative abduction proposed by Magnani. Finally, we investigate a case study of corvids’ intelligence, namely, their capacity of causal cognition. (shrink)

O artigo tem como objetivo apresentar um diálogo entre as abordagens da interseccionalidade e da hermenêutica reconstrutiva no contexto das pesquisas em educação. A universalização discursiva e a abertura ao “outro”, inerentes à hermenêutica reconstrutiva, aproximam-se do propósito de desmarginalizar o “outro”, próprio da interseccionalidade, partindo das margens para o centro. A hermenêutica reconstrutiva, articulada à interseccionalidade, pressupõe considerar que as relações são constituídas mutuamente a partir de acertos comunicativos. Trata-se de abordagens que reconfiguram o olhar individualista, característico dos métodos (...) científicos tradicionais, oferecendo à pesquisa em educação possibilidades investigativas mais dialogadas, argumentadas e horizontalizadas. A compreensão é de que a abertura crítica diante do “outro”, de ambas as abordagens, pode viabilizar a construção e reconstrução continuada dos saberes da área diante das demandas da pluralidade e de seu mundo da vida. Palavras-chave: Interseccionalidade; Hermenêutica reconstrutiva; Pesquisa em educação. Intellectual solidarity: Approaching intersectionality and reconstructive hermeneutics in education research Abstract: The article aims to present a dialogue between the approaches of intersectionality and reconstructive hermeneutics in the context of research in education. The discursive universalization and openness to the “other”, inherent to reconstructive hermeneutics, approach the purpose of demarginalizing the “other”, characteristic of intersectionality, starting from the margins towards the center. Reconstructive hermeneutics, articulated with intersectionality, presupposes considering that relationships are mutually constituted from communicative successes. These are approaches that reconfigure the individualistic view, characteristic of traditional scientific methods, offering research in education possibilities that are more dialogued, argued and horizontalized. The understanding is that the critical opening towards the “other”, of both approaches, can enable the continued construction and reconstruction of knowledge in the area in light of the demands of plurality and its world of life. Keywords: Intersectionality; Reconstructive hermeneutics; Education research. Solidaridad intelectual: Aproximación a la interseccionalidad y a la hermenéutica reconstructiva en la investigación en educación Resumen: El artículo pretende presentar un diálogo entre los enfoques de la interseccionalidad y la hermenéutica reconstructiva en el contexto de la investigación en educación. La universalización discursiva y la apertura al "otro", inherentes a la hermenéutica reconstructiva, se acercan al propósito de desmarginalizar al "otro", propio de la interseccionalidad, partiendo de los márgenes hacia el centro. La hermenéutica reconstructiva, articulada con la interseccionalidad, presupone la consideración de que las relaciones se constituyen mutuamente a partir de acuerdos comunicativos. Se trata de enfoques que reconfiguran la mirada individualista, característica de los métodos científicos tradicionales, ofreciendo posibilidades de investigación en educación más dialogantes, argumentativas y horizontales. Se entiende que la apertura crítica ante el "otro", desde ambos enfoques, puede permitir la construcción y reconstrucción continua del conocimiento en el área frente a las exigencias de la pluralidad y su mundo de vida. Palabras clave: Interseccionalidad; Hermenéutica reconstructiva; Investigación en Educación. Data de registro: 07/01/2022 Data de aceite: 15/03/2022. (shrink)

The Ways that Big History Works: Cosmos, Life, Society and our Future reflects on how Big History helps us understand the nature of our existence and consider the pathways to our future.

Firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) because they consider that some kind of competitive advantage accrues to them. We contend that resource-based perspectives (RBP) are useful to understand why firms engage in CSR activities and disclosure. From a resource-based perspective CSR is seen as providing internal or external benefits, or both. Investments in socially responsible activities may have internal benefits by helping a firm to develop new resources and capabilities which are related namely to know-how and corporate culture. In (...) effect, investing in social responsibility activities and disclosure has important consequences on the creation or depletion of fundamental intangible resources, namely those associated with employees. The external benefits of CSR are related to its effect on corporate reputation. Corporate reputation can be understood as a fundamental intangible resource which can be created or depleted as a consequence of the decisions to engage or not in social responsibility activities and disclosure. Firms with good social responsibility reputation may improve relations with external actors. They may also attract better employees or increase current employees’ motivation, morale, commitment and loyalty to the firm. This article contributes to the understanding of why CSR may be seen as having strategic value for firms and how RBP can be used in such endeavour. (shrink)

Resumo Embora controversa, o contextualismo epistêmico alega oferecer a melhor explicação para alguns fenômenos analisados em epistemologia contemporânea, por exemplo: alega responder ou explicar o apelo de certos paradoxos e, ao mesmo tempo, manter a verdade de nossas alegações ordinárias de conhecimento. Conforme alegado por contextualistas, a vantagem de sua teoria ao explicar o apelo de certos paradoxos reside no fato de que nenhum princípio lógico precisa ser rejeitado. O paradoxo do prefácio – que consiste na aparente incoerência lógica que (...) ocorre quando o autor de um livro declara em seu prefácio que, apesar de acreditar que é altamente provável que tudo o que o livro afirma seja verdadeiro, também é altamente provável que o livro contenha, pelo menos, algum erro – parece não ter sido explorado o suficiente pelos contextualistas. Portanto, pretendemos sugerir uma versão do paradoxo do prefácio apresentando um argumento análogo ao argumento que os contextualistas costumam apresentar para explicar o paradoxo cético. Desta maneira, pretendemos oferecer, por meio de uma análise contextualista, uma explicação para o paradoxo do prefácio. Se a resposta contextualista é ou não adequada para esse paradoxo, isso será questão de disputa e não nos caberá discuti-la aqui. Meu objetivo é apenas sugerir que uma análise contextualista semelhante à aplicada ao paradoxo cético pode ser construída para explicar o paradoxo do prefácio. Palavras-chave: Contextualismo; Paradoxo do prefácio; Paradoxo cético. (shrink)

Neste artigo indicaremos que a proposição fundamental dos cursos de Geografia física de Kant é: o homem é habitante da Terra. Para validar essa tese, alinharemos a metodologia utilizada por Kant nos cursos de Antropologia e de Geografia física, a fim de evidenciar as convergências e divergências desses cursos. Além disso, também compararemos a metodologia empregada por Kant na História natural e na Geografia física, porque a distinção entre essas ciências nos permitirá ratificar a tese aqui defendida e delimitar os (...) critérios de validade da proposição acima indicada. Em Physische Geographie, Kant diferencia as proposições dessas disciplinas da seguinte maneira: as proposições geográficas se referem aos homens como habitantes da Terra, mas os investiga sem nenhuma perspectiva histórica, ou seja, os investiga no tempo presente. Ao contrário disso, as proposições naturalistas investigam os seres humanos em uma linha temporal sucessiva, a fim de demonstrar o que natureza fez deles. Dito isso, o problema central da história natural é demonstrar que os diferentes povos possuem uma origem comum e o problema central da geografia física é demonstrar de que maneira o habitat influencia no processo civilizador, moralizador, político e religioso dos diferentes povos. (shrink)

This papers’ goal is to present a survey of the contemporary discussions regarding truthmakers. The emphasis will be on the characterization of the truthmaking relation and on the problems involved in universal propositions and negations.

Each scientific study emerges in its own particular time and marks a new step in the development of human thought.1 Big History materialized to satisfy the human need for a unified vision of our existence. It came together in the waning decades of the twentieth century, in part, as a reaction to the specialization of scholarship and education that had taken hold around the world. While this specialization had great results, it created barriers that stood in contrast to a growing (...) unity among our global communities. These barriers were increasingly awkward to bridge, and, thus, Big History emerged as a successful new framework. (shrink)

After satisfying their quantitative and qualitative needs as regards nutrition, consumers in developed countries are becoming more involved in the ethical aspects of food production, especially when it relates to animal products. Social demands for respecting animal welfare in housing systems are increasing rapidly, as is social awareness of human responsibility towards farm animals. Many studies have been conducted on animal welfare measurement in different production systems, but the available information for small ruminants remains insufficient. In this study, a 75 (...) criteria-evaluation tool has been set up on the basis of the five freedoms concept. Animal welfare considerations have been analyzed in 25 documents, including labeling schemes, regulations, and recommendations from different European countries. The results show many differences between regular and organic small ruminant farming standards. Emergency measures are generally lacking. A weak representation of psychological aspects of animal welfare, especially by the current European legislation, is highlighted. (shrink)

Este artigo objetiva ampliar a compreensão do tema masculinidades, feminilidades e geração, no que toca às questões relacionadas as religiões de matriz africana, focando sobremaneira as dimensões performática, secreta, e poder, com vistas no processo de produção de saberes envolvendo normatividades permeadas pelos critérios de sexo, classe e raça. Dois locus nos serviram como terreno para a discussão – a Irmandade da Boa Morte e o Culto de Babá Egun, já que em princípio são espaços de interdições, respectivamente, masculina e (...) feminina; são grupos que celebram a ancestralidade, sob o paradigma africano. (shrink)

Brentano’s theory of Intentionality gave rise to empirical psychology, considered by the mental acts of external objects and consciousness. In this sense, the purpose of this essay is to reflect on the phenomenon of auditory hallucinations, from the perspective of Franz Brentano’s intentionality, as a representative psychic phenomenon of internal experience. Auditory hallucinations, under a phenomenological approach, are considered as an experience of the relational process of a historical person. In analogy to the theory of the intentionality of mental acts, (...) the phenomenon of listening to voices becomes an experience perceived in the internal understanding of existential meanings, which must occur through two types of acts: the personal meaning, represented; and to relate, through intentional conduct, with the experienced reality. Finally, the importance of Brentano’s studies for humanist approaches I consider inseparable from phenomenological psychopathology, and therefore, makes it possible to reflect on the field of mental health. (shrink)

The present work refers to the doctorship research that implemented the Free-Expression Painting Studio technique to assist university students who had suicidal ideations or attempts. This technique was developed in France by the psychologist Michel Ternoy, based on Minkowski’s structural-phenomenon analysis method. A group session will be presented and discussed from Michel Henry’s phenomenology of life. Psychology and phenomenology can create spaces for belonging and support, which allow the transformation of suffering from experiences in the community. The Painting Studio makes (...) it possible to experience the affection of the other as a potential of one’s own possibilities, mobilizing the affective dialectical relationship, through which one can go from unbearable suffering to original fruition. We seek to show that art can be part of the therapeutic process as an alternative to the passage to the act of suicide before it becomes unbearable. (shrink)