History Of Modern Philosophy

The Relation between Language and Thought according to Hegel

by Hector Ferreiro

Slightly re-elaborated english version of the article “La relación entre lenguaje y pensamiento en el Sistema hegeliano”, published in Oliva Mendoza, Carlos (ed.), Hegel: Ciencia, Experiencia y Fenomenología, Ediciones de la Facultad deFilosofía y Letras de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, 2010, 21-33. (I read this paper at the "Workshop Kant-Fichte-Hegel", Department of Philosophy and Moral Science, Ghent University, Belgium, June 24, 2011)

L'eredità cartesiana. Conversazione con Giulia Belgioioso.

by Simone Guidi

in "Lo Sguardo", n. II, 2010 (I)

Recensione a Marin Cureau de La Chambre, "Quale sia la conoscenza degli animali e fin dove possa estendersi", a cura di Emanuela Scribano, Felici Editore 2010

by Simone Guidi

Published in LoSguardo.net, n. 6, 2011 (II)

Recensione a Ettore Lojacono, "Spigolature sullo scetticismo", Il Prato 2011

by Simone Guidi

Call for papers - La rivoluzione interiore (XVI e XVII secolo)

by Lo Sguardo - Rivista di Filosofia

Il numero X de Lo Sguardo ha come oggetto i secoli XVI e XVII. Il tema che si intende approfondire è quello dell'interiorizzazione del mondo e dello sviluppo di una interiorità individuale nel periodo compreso tra Rinascimento e prima età moderna. A questo scopo il numero esplorerà la psicologia cinque-seicentesca soffermandosi in particolare su alcune facoltà “ausiliari” dell'intelletto quali la memoria, l'immaginazione, la fantasia, in relazione al processo di apprehensio, alla pratica degli esercizi spirituali e all'ideale dell'homo faber sui.

Lingue accettate: Italiano, Inglese, Francese, Spagnolo, Tedesco.
Deadline: 10/09/2012

Per maggiori informazioni scrivere a: redazione@losguardo.net.

http://www.losguardo.net
http://www.losguardo.net/public/collabora/collabora.html

G. Margiotto, Lettura di E. de la Boétie, "Discorso sulla servitù volontaria"

by Giada Margiotto

Published in "Bibliomanie - Ricerca umanistica e orientamento bibliografico", n°29 (April/June 2012)

Categories, Necessity, and the Proof-Structure of the B-Deduction

by Renato Fonseca

In: Rohden, V.; Terra, R. R.; Almeida, G. A. de; Ruffing, M. (eds). Recht und Frieden in der Philosophie Kants: Akten des X. Internationalen Kant-Kongresses (Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008), Band 2, pp. 233-244.

Transcendental Philosophy in the Age of Information: Floridi's Neo-Kantian Epistemology (Extended Abstract)

by Anthony Beavers

First Paragraph: Transcendental philosophy is typically acknowledged as a product of Kant and exemplified in his... more First Paragraph: Transcendental philosophy is typically acknowledged as a product of Kant and exemplified in his Critique of Pure Reason (KrV). While definitions of the word “transcendental” and “transcendent” differ greatly across philosophy generally, Kant employs the terms narrowly. The term “transcendental” names “all knowledge which is occupied not so much with objects as with the mode of our knowledge of objects in so far as this mode of knowledge is to be possible a priori” (KrV A11, B25). In KrV, transcendental arguments take the form of isolating the necessary conditions for a given Y, and then deducing that if X is a necessary condition for Y, and Y is the case, then X is the case. The term “transcendent,” on the other hand, refers to that which lies beyond the realm of the knowable or, at least, beyond experience (A296, B351). Though the two terms have different def- initions, in KrV they become intertwined in problematic ways that were recognized even by earlier critics of the work, including Schopenhauer (1818/2010, appendix) and Adickes (1929). For instance, while KrV attempts to isolate the necessary conditions for the possibility of knowledge, any attempt to do so must of necessity make reference to the transcendent while simultaneously asserting that knowledge of it, even knowledge that it “exists,” is impossible. Indeed, to argue that anything follows of necessity is itself impossible to ground, since the concept of necessity itself is a necessary condition for knowledge and is therefore also deduced by transcendental argument. Herein lies the problem of transcendental philosophy in general; it somewhat resembles Wittgenstein’s famous “ladder.” If KrV is correct, it could not have been written. The same concern haunts other approaches to transcendental philosophy, as witnessed in Husserl’s descriptive tran- scendental phenomenology (see his Cartesian Meditations (1929/1960) and Ideas (1931/1962)) and Heidegger’s (abandoned) existential and methodologically re- gressive version in Being and Time (1927/1962); it might for the purpose of this essay thus be called “the transcendental problem.” At the outset, though the transcendental problem appears in many versions of transcendental philosophy, it does not appear in Floridi’s epistemology. Two reasons for this, I believe, are that his adoption of computer science methodologies allows us to use the notion of recursion instead of regression and that his transcendental application of levels of abstraction (LoAs) from computer science is constrained by data in a way that would violate Kant’s methodology.

M. Storni, Review of D. Bolognesi, S. Mattarelli (eds.), "L'Illuminismo e i suoi critici", FrancoAngeli, Milano 2011

by Marco Storni

Published in "ReF - Recensioni Filosofiche / ISSN 1826-4654", n°66 (02-2012)

M. Storni, Review of P. Cipolletta, "Emozioni e pratiche filosofiche. Elisabetta del Palatinato 'consulta' Cartesio", Mimesis, Milano-Udine 2011

by Marco Storni

Published in "ReF - Recensioni Filosofiche / ISSN 1826-4654", n°65 (01-2012)

Spinoza on Knowing the Essence of the State

by Aaron Garrett

MIND AND MATTER IN 18TH CENTURY BRITISH PHILOSOPHY

by Aaron Garrett

The Concept of Ubermensch According to Friedrich Nietzsche

by Surya Awangga

I teach you the overman.  Human being is something that must be overcome.  What have you done to overcome... I teach you the overman.  Human being is something that must be overcome.  What have you done to overcome him?

Anti-Social Engineering the Hyper-Manipulated Self

by Brian Taylor

When one does philosophy, one dismantles strings of concepts into their respective parts to examine both the parts... more When one does philosophy, one dismantles strings of concepts into their respective parts to examine both the parts themselves and the relationships the parts have with each other. This semantic reduction provides us the best possible opportunities for finding truth. This was exactly the type of skill Brian Taylor needed to write his new book Anti-Social Engineering the Hyper-Manipulated Self, postpaper publishing, ISBN: 978-0-557-99909-5 http://stores.lulu.com/postpaper

The book began as a series of blogged essays in a response to the “Authenticity” movement presented by the like of Eckhart Tolle, Andrew Cohen and to a lesser extent, Dr. Phil. These men, and others, were coming to conclusions on the idea of authenticity that were, among other things, subjective fallacies, rife with interpretation and possibly counterproductive. On the other side of the coin we had skeptical guru Michael Shermer or perhaps Richard Dawkins making up one half of the “four horseman of the non-apocalypse.” These men, “scientists,” were and still are guilty of the same faults as their spiritual counterparts, interpretations rather than knowledge. Brian Taylor wanted to know, “Are there any actual answers in the arena of the self and its power?” As it turns out, reality is far stranger than ever before known and we actually know so much less than we think we do, if it can be said that we know anything authentically, at all.

After four years of research into our ideas about the self through the ages, the sciences of the self and what the self is, this book comes to the conclusion that the modern self, you and I today, are not only manipulated, but that manipulation is sought out, required and pre-programmed. This is a book about how we are all being intentionally hyper-manipulated without our knowledge, by whom and to what end.

To “anti-social engineer” is to counter this phenomenon of modernity through critical consciousness, dubbed “assignee's prerogative.” This self direction is aimed toward eudaemonia, which is an Aristotelian idea roughly meaning “happiness and promotion,” and it is further suggested that virtue is found in the mean between excess and deficiency, in these concerns. This sounds rather simple in such a paragraph form, rest assured, chasing the meanings and relationships of these ideas to any philosophical depth requires a maze of rabbit holes and someone to guide you through them. Taylor is nothing if not thorough in this regard.

Entertaining, personal, conversational, exact and profound, this book has a strange undercurrent, almost a charge running through it. Most clearly defined in it's most opinionated moments, there is a subtext, not a call to arms but to a social contract. Taylor says, throughout the book, that it is specifically battling social engineering, the command, hidden or not, “think this about that.” Yet, he too wants us to think a certain way, a centrist “golden mean,” a path of no extremes. Making an argument against his ideas is difficult, regardless of the talking points he uses. (These vary from possible moral objections we may hold for prostitution or murder, to social norms such as supporting the troops or the war on terror.) In his most controversial moments, when objectivity is at its thinnest, the author's existentialism shines through and he suggests it's better to not claim to know something than to suspect something incorrectly. The exception to this rule is when the social engineering is secret, malicious, degenerative or merely in error.

There are things that we can do anti-social engineer our hyper-manipulated selves and Taylor spells these tasks out clearly. Firstly, social engineering, be it delivered by a television commercial, ideology, civility, social construct, etc. is to be expected and recognized. Then Taylor presents us his Philosophy Generator which is described as “a dismantling of paradigm” and a way to determine if any particular social engineering is more persuasive or manipulative. If we are able to first know what it is we are deciding, then do our best possible thinking on the matter, which is what working through the Generator is for, we should be able to be confident in our decision, whatever it may be. Furthermore, given the standardization of awareness, contemplation and centrist philosophy, it should be expected that the same benefit experienced by individuals would transfer to societies.

The book ends with a chapter called “God wears a yellow hat.” It is concluded with a list of 24 interesting intentions, (23 actually, one of them is missing,) this list is not meant to be a complete index of the topics discussed, but rather an indication of the book's scope. The war on terror, the war on drugs, food transportation, consumerism, capitalism, communism, false flags, dehumanization via technology, God, 2012, patriotism, culture, globalization, human rights and religion. There is an entire chapter devoted to a reasonable discussion between the two sides divided over the conspiracies associated with September 11, 2001. This book discusses conspiracy as it dismantles thought, which is a strange dichotomy. Taylor seems to want to convince us that he is a reasonable man, with a reasonable method and if such a man can find a reasonable conspiracy, we can take the suggestion from the fringe to the mainstream. He may be right. However, this is not a conspiracy book, this is a book about thinking.

One comes away from the experience of reading this book enticed to do more and this is the goal. Anti-Social Engineering the Hyper-Manipulated Self is about taking responsibility and looking ahead, prudently. It doesn't want to take anything away from you, you're entitled to have your beliefs as the author has his. We need our beliefs and we even need social engineering, these things are part of a natural, healthy species. The dangers of our beliefs are represented by the lack of awareness of them and the inability to think critically about them. Taylor argues that, if in fact we are not thinking well about the things we believe, we are not living up to the reasonable purpose we have as human beings. This appreciation of hyper-reality and our place in it defines our authenticity and is the promise expressed by the 21st Century Enlightenment.

Analisi di R. Pozzo (ed.), 'The Impact of Aristotelianism on Modern Philosophy', (Studies in Philosophy and the History of Philosophy, 39), Washington (D.C.): The Catholic University of America Press, 2004

by Marco Forlivesi

published in 'Rivista di filosofia neo-scolastica', 97 (2005), pp. 164-168.

Daybreak

by Rebecca Bamford

in Paul C. Bishop (ed.), A Companion to the Works of Friedrich Nietzsche, (Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer [Camden House], forthcoming).

I provide a critical interpretation of Morgenröthe: Gedanken über die moralischen Vorurteile that identifies the key... more I provide a critical interpretation of Morgenröthe: Gedanken über die moralischen Vorurteile that identifies the key philosophical work done by Nietzsche in this text, as well as presenting the text as a type of medical narrative. I show how Nietzsche engages with three main questions, drawing thematic connections between themes of physical and psychological health and of ethics, in order to develop a foundation for his critical transvaluation project: First, what is the nature of, and relationship between psycho-physiological and cultural health? Second, by which method of critical engagement may our health be diagnosed and promoted? And third, what virtues are required for such work?

The Virtue of Shame: Defending Nietzsche’s critique of Mitleid

by Rebecca Bamford

in Gudrun von Tevenar (ed.), Nietzsche and Ethics, (Berne: Peter Lang Verlag, 2007).

I argue that moral intuitions about Nietzsche as an exemplar of practical cruelty can be overturned. My argument is... more I argue that moral intuitions about Nietzsche as an exemplar of practical cruelty can be overturned. My argument is based upon the possibility of abandoning the notion of pure and unmediated passivity as intrinsic to the phenomena of human suffering and of Mitleid, as identified by Nietzsche. I claim that wrongly identifying intrinsic passivity in the phenomenology of Mitleid and of suffering generates the moral sceptical intuition. Once this case of mistaken identity is uncovered, 1 suggest, there is no reason to remain subject to the force of the intuition. I support my account with a fresh reading of 'The Ugliest Man', from Book IV of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Nietzsche, science, and philosophical nihilism

by Rebecca Bamford

S. Afr. J. Philos. 2005, 24(4).

Ecce Homo: Philosophical Autobiography in the Flesh

by Rebecca Bamford

in Duncan Large and Nicholas Martin (eds.), Nietzsche’s “Ecce Homo”, (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2012

In this paper, I provide a clearer account of one key aspect of the philosophical work undertaken and performed by... more In this paper, I provide a clearer account of one key aspect of the philosophical work undertaken and performed by Nietzsche in EH. I argue that EH is a philosophical autobiography that is used by Nietzsche as a deliberate strategy in and through which to further an ongoing critical engagement with philosophical methodology. I also suggest reasons for thinking that this critical engagement is commensurate with Nietzsche’s transvaluation project and with certain features of his approach to philosophical psychology.

Histories of Philosophy: A Bibliography

by Jason Pannone

A short bibliography of selected histories of philosophy, last updated April 2011.