Cartesian Rationalism Research Articles

Similarities and Divergences in the Philosophical Thought of Plato, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes

The article "Similarities and Divergences in the Philosophical Thought of Plato, Francis Bacon, and René Descartes" explores the similarities and differences in the philosophical currents of these authors, focusing on their influence on modern and contemporary epistemology. It highlights the role of Platonic idealism in contemporary science through a dialectical engagement with Baconian empiricism and Cartesian rationalism. The main objective is to demonstrate the importance of Platonic idealism as an epistemological driver in the evolution of science, emphasizing the interconnections between the philosophical currents discussed. The study is a theoretical review based on a comparative analysis of classical and modern philosophical texts, utilizing a total of 14 references. The research focuses on the similarities and divergences between these philosophical currents throughout history. The most significant findings show that, although there are fundamental differences between idealism, empiricism, and rationalism, these currents converge at key points in the structuring of modern science. In particular, Platonic idealism provides a profound contribution to scientific knowledge, despite having been underestimated by the experimental method. The article concludes that Platonic idealism, along with Baconian empiricism and Cartesian rationalism, has been essential to the evolution of science. These philosophies, though divergent, have created a common foundation that has enabled the development of scientific knowledge.

Against Reason: Juan Pablo Forner and the Enlightenment of Sentiment and Sensibility

AbstractThis article explores Spain's positioning in the shifting currents of the later Enlightenment through the polemic works of lawyer and satirist Juan Pablo Forner. Forner's attempts to prove the existence of an autochthonous tradition of Spanish pragmatism and empiricism form an index of the penetration of intra‐Enlightenment debates into Spanish thought in the late eighteenth century. Forner, profoundly aware of tensions between Cartesian rationalism and Lockean sentimental empiricism across Europe, intervenes on the side of empiricism, insisting that Cartesianism is nothing but a guise of Scholastic hyperrationalism. The article disputes scholarly perceptions of Forner as a Christian reactionary.

Imaginários sobre a educação física escolar no interior do Amazonas: registros de percepções e possibilidades de transformação

ABSTRACT We have tried to know the imaginary about School Physical Education (P.E.) in five towns in the countryside of Amazonas, Brazil. We conducted an exploratory field research. We interviewed. 53 people, among teachers, managers, and pedagogical staff, followed by content analysis. The results point out that the imaginary encompasses: a sporting hegemony; dichotomies between body/mind and theory/practice centered in Cartesian rationality; a conception of health as the lack of disease that guides physical activity to combat a sedentary lifestyle and obesity; the idea of P.E. as an area of knowledge that develops competences and motor, social, psychological, and cognitive skills. Finally, we listed some implications for the processes of expansion to the countryside of School P.E. in the Amazon, considering that this subject needs to be valued to contribute to the regional development, in the areas of health, education, culture, and leisure.

Blumenberg: on bringing myth to an end

ABSTRACT This paper offers an account of Hans Blumenberg’s unique approach to myth. §1 shows that Blumenberg’s thought on myth, like his thought on metaphor, has been widely misconstrued. §2 argues that Blumenberg’s account of myth should be seen as part of the discussion of non-conceptuality. It explains that Blumenberg, invoking conceptuality’s epistemic limitations, challenges modern philosophy’s denigration of non-conceptuality. Blumenberg argues that conceptuality should not be understood in terms of mathematical-scientific rationality, but more broadly, and claims that myth and metaphor are themselves conceptual. When conceptuality is understood broadly, what is taken to be quintessentially non-conceptual can be seen to be conceptual. §3 examines Blumenberg’s nuanced characterization of myth, focusing on the key notions of ‘work on myth’ and ‘work of myth’, and showing that the corresponding distinction between structure and function is insufficient to define myth. §4 explores ‘significance’ (Bedeutsamkeit), the additional concept needed to fully characterize myth. ‘Significance’ comes to light in the encounter between myth and myth’s deployment in subjective life experiences. Whether there can be an end to myth is discussed in §5. Cartesian rationalism and German Idealism were touted as bringing myth to an end, but Blumenberg contends that myth’s functional role in human life precludes its elimination.

HOW TO STUDY THE ENLIGHTENMENT? STUDY AND DEFEND

We live in a time of uncertainty and transition. Some would claim that Enlightenment has already died (Kissinger, in Bendyk 2018, and Agata Bielik-Robson 2019), and its values are no longer relevant to our values. However, quite recently, some outstanding scientists, like Steven Pinker (2018), have published a good defence of the Enlightenment, claiming instead that we need the Enlightenment values. What follows is a quick overview of the defences of the Enlightenment from Adorno, Horkheimer and Habermas, and Todorov, Nussbaum and others to Pinker, arguing for pragmatic rationality. Rationality, even if it is impossible to define it with any universality from the objectivist point of view (Cartesian rationalism is impossible to defend), then it may function, together with human dignity, as a multi-faced criterium for intersubjective reality and tolerant, peaceful society.

Faith and Freedom: Contexts, Choices, and Crises in Religious Commitments

Faith and Freedom: Contexts, Choices, and Crises in Religious Commitments

Back to the Phenomenology of Technical Life

This essay is a response to Robert Scharff’s “Before Empirical Turns and Transcendental Inquiry: pre-philosophical Considerations”. Scharff digs beneath the empirico-transcendental debate between Ihde and Stiegler in order to critique this debate’s Cartesian presuppositions. He uses the work of Nietzsche and the early Heidegger to further his critique. There is much to like in Scharff’s rich and intricate analytic interpretation but this is also the crux of my critique. The detour into Nietzsche’s and the early Heidegger’s work is ultimately unnecessary. If Scharff looks closer, he will see that Feenberg’s revised theory of instrumentalization already accomplishes the return to technical experience and the critique of Cartesian techno scientific rationality that Scharff desires.

The Last Emblem. The Frontispiece to Vico’s New Science in the Light of Sugimoto’s Theaters as the Other Side of Aristotelian Language

The article analyses the title page of Vico’s New Science in light of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s series Theaters and the emblematic of Goodrich and Legendre, showing how the rhetorical tradition of Italian legal humanism and the Japanese visual culture conceive a vision of Law and Humanities that opposes Cartesian rationalism and the logocentrism of contemporary legal positivism. Visual legal studies question the perspective in painting, theater and cinema, and its cultural and political implications at the time of the media revolution and the emergence of the normativity of the image.

Realism in Political Theory

The physical sciences discarded the method of Cartesian rationalism in the 18th century, but much of contemporary political theory continues to adhere to this outdated method, following the famous rationalist social contract theories of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant. This paper proposes an alternative, non-rationalist paradigm for political theory, which is based on the writings of empiricist theorists. This realist paradigm is based on five premises: (i) Men are born into families, tribes, and nations to which they are bound by ties of mutual loyalty. (ii) Individuals, families, tribes, and nations compete for resources and honor until a threat from outside recalls them to the mutual loyalties that bind them to one another. (iii) Language, religion, law, economic forms, and government are traditional institutions developed by particular families, tribes, and nations with the aim of strengthening themselves and ensuring the welfare of their members. (iv) Political obligation arises as a consequence of membership in these loyalty groups. (v) These premises are derived from experience, and may be challenged and improved upon in light of experience.

An ontology of off-task behavior in a number activity: The body, space-time, and mathematics

This article aims to interrogate the Cartesian rationality determining current early childhood mathematics by highlighting the irrational aspect of mathematics learning, which is usually underemphasized and even devalued by the dominant discourse. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of refrain as the method, the article explores the unfolding emergence of a child’s off-task behavior in a number activity as it conceptualizes the child’s body in relation to its surroundings. The article also explores how this conceptualization of off-task behavior helps to rethink mathematical ability and conceptual construction in responding to and elaborating on research on embodied mathematics. Based on these explorations, the article hopes to contribute a strategy for the vision of adopting a more democratic manner in mathematics learning.

O Papel das Mediações Culturais como Possibilidade de Leitura das Ciências Humanas em Paul Ricoeur

Este artigo buscar apresentar a crítica de Paul Ricoeur ao paradigma moderno da racionalidade cartesiana. Para além de mera crítica, ele persegue uma filosofia reflexiva que deve passar por mediações culturais, configuradas em representações, ações, obras, instituições, monumentos que a objetivam, de tal modo que, nesses objetos de amplitude simbólica, o “eu reflexivo” possa perder-se e encontrar-se. A hermenêutica, através do esforço interpretativo, a via longa, procura revelar o latente, num processo de constante confronto com todas as significações que se manifestam na cultura. Nesse sentido, o filósofo francês traz uma proposta de ampliação crítica de horizontes para a compreensão do mundo e a reconstrução possível da reflexão, com suas realidades mais ampliadas, sem cair em armadilhas de manipulações ideológicas e em estreitamentos de cientificismos reducionistas. Â

Vigencia del abordaje psicoanalítico del cuerpo

Este artículo propone un recorrido sobre el modo en que Freud y Lacan abordan la cuestión del cuerpo a partir del descubrimiento de lo inconsciente para poner en primer plano la incidencia que dicho descubrimiento produce, en tanto modifica radicalmente la idea de cuerpo pensado desde la racionalidad cartesiana. A partir de la enseñanza de Jacques Lacan en su abordaje desde los tres registros, se desarrolla el modo en que el cuerpo puede ser pensado desde lo Simbólico, lo imaginario y lo real. Así es que puede establecerse un contrapunto tanto con la concepción biologicista como con el abordaje contemporáneo de la modernidad tardía o posmodernidad. El artículo permite echar luz sobre dos concepciones antagónicas del cuerpo, vigentes y puestas en tensión, donde es posible verificar tanto la vigencia del abordaje psicoanalítico como la incidencia política de su discurso en nuestra sociedad, tomando como referente el debate sobre la ley del aborto discutida en el Congreso de la Nación.

Cuerpo, naturaleza y rebelión: el componente somático en el pensamiento de Adorno y en la dialéctica negativa

This paper aims to explore some of the links between Adorno's thought and its Negative Dialectic, withethe place assigned to the body and nature within the regime of experience/existence that characterizes affirmative/identity rationality in its most diverse manifestations and the different orders of the epistemic, ethics, aesthetics and even libidinal elements. Likewise, it aims to reconstruct that place through an immanent critique of Kantian idealism and Cartesian rationalism, in order to decipher the somatic component as a field of forces buried and guarded under a secret and paradoxical combination: human being as a factor of Nature that exceeds him beyond his will to dominate, but also as an (im) possible subject in the field of politics, that is to say, as hybris, or disproportion.

The Bewilderment of the Self in Beckett and the Romantics

ABSTRACTThe first generation of British Romantics—Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge in particular—respond to modern philosophical developments in the analysis of subjectivity, including the collapse of Cartesian rationalism, the emergence of the Lockean tabula rasa as well as the deceptive Humean “imagination,” and the rise of associationism and empirical psychology. Each poet takes issue with the philosophical consensus, but they are also deeply engaged by the new procedures of introspection, and they dramatize the experiential consequence of the new ideas: the bewildering, even self-bewildering, experience of selfhood. They demonstrate that the subject’s experience of itself is a baffling one, in which it finds itself to be disarticulated, ungrounded, and obscure, while it labors under an unfulfillable imperative to be whole. Beckett enters the debate at a later point, after Kierkegaard, Heidegger and the early post-structuralists. He is often mistaken for a thorough-going Humean and post-modernist skeptic, denying the existence of the self. This essay argues instead that he follows the Romantics; he does not “expose” the “absence” of the self, but rather, in works such as The Unnamable and Texts for Nothing, he portrays the self’s paradoxical struggle to contend with its own elusiveness.

Gulliver and the Rabbis: Counterfactual Truth in Science and the Talmud

The paper presents Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels as the first systematic attempt to claim that the normal methods of testing belief and opinion for clarity, consistence, coherence, and how they stand to the facts are powerless when applied to deep-seated normative commitments, or what Wittgenstein dubbed “framework truths.” To subject our norms to normative critique requires a measure of self-alienation that cannot be achieved merely by looking hard at or thinking hard about our world and ourselves. However, by closely examining the contrived counterfactual scenarios (or, as I have shown in former work, by exposure to the normative critique of significant others), that Swift is shown to claim, such normative framework assumptions can be challenged to great effect! The standard epistemologies of his day—Baconian empiricism and Cartesian rationalism—fiercely ridiculed in the course of Gulliver’s third voyage are cruelly dismissed as powerless to change the course of science and keep it in normative check. The transformative effect of the clever thought experiments presented in the three other voyages (of imagining London shrunk to a twelfth of its size and enlarged to giant proportions, and a more responsible and intelligent race of beings inserted above (normally sized) humans) enable Swift to obtain critical normative distance from several major assumptions about politics, religion, aesthetics, ethics, and much more, including the limits of the thought experiment itself. The paper then goes to show how the same kind of counterfactual scenarios are put to impressive use in the Talmudic literature, with special reference to foundational questions of ethics and law.

Двойственность картезианского рационализма и его влияние на развитие общественного сознания

Двойственность картезианского рационализма и его влияние на развитие общественного сознания

Towards International Relations beyond the mind

The analysis focuses on the centrality of the mind and the mental, and their relationship with the notion of discourse in International Relations theorizing. While many forms of discourse theory are linked with anti-materialist idealism, the article develops an alternative argument, that is, that discourse theory should primarily be situated ‘beyond the mind’. The analysis starts with a discussion of prominent International Relations work on ideas and discourse and argues that that a large segment of International Relations work is insufficiently clear on these crucial notions. I therefore contend subsequently that this state of the art is reflected in how the philosophy of science and the philosophy of the mind have been treated in prominent International Relations work by following a particular version of Cartesian rationalism. It is on this basis that the article proposes to transcend the antinomies between mind and world as well as ideas and materiality by advancing a political ontology that stresses a particular concept of discourse in the final section. On that basis, it will become possible in the conclusion to summarize a path towards International Relations beyond the mind that engages in the study of the political more seriously.

Henry More and William Petty: Revisiting an Early Modern Polemic

Abstract This paper explores an overlooked aspect of the brief but intense correspondence between William Petty and Henry More, making use of the Hartlib Papers Online. Traditionally, the brief epistolary exchange between More and Petty has been seen in the light of an opposition between Cartesian rationalism and Baconian empiricism. A look at the original manuscripts, however, shows that the opposition was not originally framed in those terms at all. This article draws attention to the actors’ original categories, and places this exchange in the evolving landscape of seventeenth-century natural philosophy.

Pragmatismo norteamericano. Condiciones para el conocimiento en sus orígenes: hacia una construcción de epistemologías de las Américas

El presente artículo reflexiona sobre los orígenes del pragmatismo atendiendo puntos importantes para implicaciones epistemológicas que buscan servir luego de clave para una perspectiva para el pensamiento del sur del continente. Hay una exposición de aspectos centrales que sobre el pragmatismo expuso Charles Pierce, específicamente sobre las creencias, el signo como mediación cognitiva, así como una consideración de las ciencias para comprender el papel tanto del razonamiento como de la percepción y el instinto. Igualmente, se exponen elementos claves de la teoría del conocimiento de John Dewey, quien ante el rechazo declarado al racionalismo cartesiano y sin limitarse a la experiencia como punto de referencia para la clarificación conceptual, se encamina más a unas vivencias y contactos con un mundo observado comprometiendo así la realidad sentida la propia mente. El pragmatismo implica atención a lo que nos rodea sin generar separaciones entre sensibilidad y razón o entre pensamiento y emoción, lo cual hace que los asuntos de la ciencia y del conocimiento no se den ajenos a las acciones democráticas entre los individuos activos y sus colectivos.

Theoria Generationis: the ancient roots of modern developmental biology

The debate between to be and to become that opposed Parmenides and Heraclitus became converted, over the subsequent two millennia, into the dilemmas between preformation and epigenesis, and between immanence and transcendence. Aristotle, enunciating his Theoria generationis, moved the controversy from the realm of Metaphysics to Physics and can even be glimpsed trespassing into Biology in Harvey’s treatises De Motu Cordis and Exercitatione de Generatione Animalium which introduced the concept of ovism. In the same period, the spermatozoon (animalculum) was described, and ovism and animaculism became counterparts. The two theories could be read on the background of preformation or epigenesis. With the Enlightenment, the dispute over the processes of development was exposed to Cartesian rationalism and subjected to severe experimentation. Comte’s positivism led to the search for the material first causes of development, according to the laws of Physics and Chemistry, whereas Roux’s Entwicklungsmechanick ruled developmental biology during the nineteenth century until the middle of the last century when Crick and Watson published their research, finally resolving the millenary conflict between preformation and epigenesis in molecular and genetics terms.