Philosophical Trends Research Articles

Teleology and Final Causation in Aristotle and in Contemporary Science

ABSTRACT: With a view to suggesting the possible relevance of Aristotelian thought to current notions of complexity and self-organization, studies Aristotle’s notions of teleology and final causation. After a sketch of the historical process by which such notions were finally rejected in the science of Galileo and Newton, attention is drawn to some contemporary trends in philosophy of science that argue for a return to some (modified) versions of the notion of final causation (I. Prigogine, R. Thom, S. Rosen). These arguments are illustrated by the example of Bénard cells, and the theories of Schneider, Kay, and D. Sagan.

Developing Science at the Risk of Oblivion: The Case of Filippo Bottazzi

Filippo Bottazzi (1867–1941), university professor of physiology, director of the Neapolitan Zoological Station ‘A. Dohrn’ and commonly credited as ‘the father of Italian biochemistry’, is an interesting case study of a distinctive intellectual risk: oblivion following upon the honours of a successful career. Bottazzi's fundamental work in physiology was distinguished by its close relationship with biological and physical chemistry. The international level of Bottazzi in this disciplinary field was commonly acknowledged, although he was also deeply interested in philosophy and history of life sciences. At the beginning of the twentieth century, together with many other prominent Italian intellectuals, Bottazzi mounted a long-lasting resistance against the prevailing idealistic trends in philosophy. The paper illustrates Bottazzi's contributions to some crucial and, at the time, completely unsettled epistemological questions on biomedical science, such as mechanism versus vitalism and the relation between biological and physical explanation. Within this framework, Bottazzi's historical studies are also considered. Finally, the paper argues for political and ideological reasons behind the silence surrounding Bottazzi after his death, pointing to his scientific commitment to the nutritional politics of the Italian Fascist regime, with its racial implications.

Pragmatisme logique et probabilisme radical dans La philosophie italienne du XXe siècle

This article sketches the principal characteristics of a philosophical trend which has met with some resistance despite the recognized importance of its representatives. This text illustrates the ideas at the foundation of the logical and methodological pragmatism of Giovanni Vailati and Mario Calderoni. These are ideas which should have surfaced in the international debate about the principle of verification and the concept of analyticity. In addition, the links between these ideas and the development of the subjective conception of probability in the work of Bruno de Finetti are explored.

Reflections on History, Education, and Social Theories

Historians need social theories to conduct their research whether they are acknowledged or not. Positivist social theories underpinned the professionalization of the writing of history as well as the establishment of the social sciences as “disciplines,” in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. August Comte's “science of society” and theories of evolution were attractive to U.S. historians and other researchers dealing with rapid social and economic changes taking place under the banner of American and Western “progress.” Progressive and “pragmatic” approaches were taken in dealing with the social wreckage created by the expanding industrialization, increasing urbanization, and huge influx of southern and eastern European immigrants. In addition, social theories and philosophical trends also served as the ideological underpinning for historians writing about the “white man's burden” that was said to have brought European and American “civilization” to the indigenous peoples in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the islands of the Pacific who came to be dominated by military might with collaboration from local elites.

“Cuerpo” en la tradición antioquena

Faced with an Alexandrian (Arian) anthropology of Neoplatonic inspiration, Eustathius adopts a strong position in several statements that is similar to astoic Aristotelianism of the 4th century. Nevertheless, Eustathius's reflection is more genuinely theological, than it is reflective of any particular philosophical trend. For him, the human body is a dynamic concept which finds its full meaning in light of the history of salvation, wherein the incarnate and glorified Logos, the second Adam, brings to completion the perfection and incorruptibility of the humble body formed from clay in the first Adam, the protoplast.

The Theory and Practice of Restoration in England in the Second Half of the 19<sup>th</sup> Century: The Work of George E. Street

The Romantic vision of ancient architecture, together with the evaluation of the said architecture as historical legacy, have contributed to the extensive path followed by the discipline of architectural restoration towards its consolidation as a scientific method along the 19th and the 20th century. During the Renaissance, when attention was turned to Classic Architecture, the study of the construction methods became the first germ for recognising the value of ancient architecture, in its many styles, as historical heritage. The scientific analysis that then took place in the 19th century, framed in the philosophical trend of Positivism, was also be reflected in architectural restoration: an appropriate intervention had to begin with learning about of the history of the construction. This can easily be understood considering that the term restoration includes many medieval constructions being completed or reconstructed introducing large additions or extensions, which were done taking as reference the use of traditional construction materials with their corresponding traditional technology and the study of agreements and manuscripts. These documents were unveiled by research, in parallel to the development of the formulation of a theoretical structural model, bearing in mind that, initially, masonry, timber and cast iron were the main construction materials, and their properties dictated the nature of structural forms (Charlton 1982). The debate about architectural restoration begun in the 19th century has gone on to history mainly thanks to names like Viollet-le-Duc, Ruskin, Morris or Pugin. However, behind these names, a series of prominent figures can be recognized. The group was comprised of individuals of all filiations who were developing and bringing together the theory and the scientific practice originated in the twilights of the 18th century in the newly established French Republic. The innumerable positions, schools, trends and declarations that have developed since then, have today a point in common: the valuation and the respect for ancient architectural monuments, a living testimony for learning about the societies who constructed them. The present work focuses on the figure of the Englishman George Edmund Street (1824-81), whose work is not as well known as that of some of his contemporaries named above, but is not less important for that reason. Street contributed to the restoration of many architectural monuments; his experience allowed him to device certain approaches to this discipline that yielded numerous restoration interventions, both inside and outside England. His work has not received as much attention as that of Butterfield, and his name is certainly not as well known as Scott's. Yet he has hardly been altogether forgotten (Hitchcock 1960).

Deferentialism

There is a recent and growing trend in philosophy that involves deferring to the claims of certain disciplines outside of philosophy, such as mathematics, the natural sciences, and linguistics. According to this trend—deferentialism, as we will call it—certain disciplines outside of philosophy make claims that have a decisive bearing on philosophical disputes, where those claims are more epistemically justified than any philosophical considerations just because those claims are made by those disciplines. Deferentialists believe that certain longstanding philosophical problems can be swiftly and decisively dispatched by appeal to disciplines other than philosophy. In this paper we will argue that such an attitude of uncritical deference to any non-philosophical discipline is badly misguided. With reference to the work of John Burgess and David Lewis, we consider deference to mathematics. We show that deference to mathematics is implausible and that main arguments for it fail. With reference to the work of Michael Blome-Tillmann, we consider deference to linguistics. We show that his arguments appealing to deference to linguistics are unsuccessful. We then show that naturalism does not entail deferentialism and that naturalistic considerations even motivate some anti-deferentialist views. Finally, we set out deferentialism’s failings and present our own anti-deferentialist approach to philosophical inquiry.

Los dominios del pensamiento crítico: una lectura desde la teoría de la educación

En el artículo se realiza un análisis de cómo el pensamiento crítico es un factor presente en diversas e importantes corrientes filosóficas y psicoeducativas. En el trabajo se identifican tres grandes marcos descriptivos del pensamiento crítico: el de la lógica argumentativa, el marco axiológico y la perspectiva cognitiva. Desde la teoría educativa se analizan todos estos aportes y la compleja madeja de conceptos y líneas teóricas en la que se inscribe este constructor y, a partir de ahí, se plantea orientar la acción pedagógica hacia la formación del pensador crítico. Se concluye identificando rasgos del pensador crítico en tanto que actor que construye y registra las potencialidades de la cognición y las enlaza con la praxis, esto es, con una acción reflexiva orientada a la toma de decisiones.

Port Sunlight, essai architectural et social

The purpose of this article is to examine the city of Port Sunlight, its history, design and originality. Created by William Lever in 1888 in order to house his newly-built soap factory, Port Sunlight is part of the numerous “factory villages” built in the wake of the industrial revolution according to philanthropic and utilitarian principles. But this article intends to show that Port Sunlight differs from other factory towns. Its careful design, elaborate architecture and public facilities epitomize the aesthetic and philosophical trends of the period and reveal a strongly ambivalent attitude towards industry and the type of landscapes it had created. Announcing Ebenezer Howard’s garden cities, Port Sunlight endeavours to solve the material problem of working class housing while also addressing other more spiritual needs.

Kategoria dialogu w refleksji filozoficznej

The concept of dialogue is one of the major categories of modern philosophy. Starting from the “dialogical principle” by Martin Buber, through the Frankfurt School and “philosophy of dialogue”, even to the most recent trends in philosophy of religion (J. Dupuis), it is an organizing concept for the latest thinking, which adds to it a new dimension and depth. Philosophy, along with it, withdraws itself from the position of subjectivism, but also protects itself effectively against materialistic trends; it changes and creates a new image of the world and of man, but does not abandon the tradition; it protects what is “different”, but does not deprive people and their cultures of identity; it transgresses individualism, but does not destroy what is spiritual. This category did not appear in philosophy suddenly. On the contrary, it has a long history, during which it underwent significant modifications. Nevertheless, only in the twentieth century did it gain the rank of such an importance, that it created “new philosophy”.

Lévinas y la libertad del amor

The person is understood from its responsibility for the Other, not only as distinct from me but as being the origin of its own subjectivity. The coherence of Lévinas' thinking, his radicalness and the alternative character he wants to endow his philosophy with are undeniable. He, like no one else, has denounced the limitations of a philosophy focused on conscience and the immanent character of the main contemporary philosophical trends. Prominent are his critique of the conception of liberty as self-affirmation and autonomy, the emphasis he gives to responsibility in ethical thinking and the disparity, inaccessibility and primacy of the Other. The responsibility toward the Other is the raison d'être of the subject. Nevertheless, what type of responsibility is that which is conceived as previous to liberty and in which the subject must be responsible for the Other forced by a metaphysical necessity? The author of this article criticizes Lévinas's conception of liberty and love. Some moral feelings such as compassion, affection and love lose their meaning. Far from an ethics of love, it is rather an ethics of the acceptance of the precept, of the command to put oneself at the service of the Other. Anyhow, Levinas's denouncing voice, which proclaims the oblivion of the Other, deserves being heard.

New trends in philosophy of psychiatry

New trends in philosophy of psychiatry

Complexity in Human Perception of Brightness: A Historical Review on the Evolution of the Philosophy of Visual Perception

Problem statement: The “eye-brain” complex, which contributes maximally to visual perception, is no doubt a very interesting object for complexity study. In this review we shall try to present some of its aspects in perceiving brightness. It is a well-known fact that the perceived brightness of any surface depends on the brightness of the surfaces that surround it, a phenomenon termed as brightness induction. Several studies reveal that brightness contrast and brightness assimilation are two opposite phenomena in brightness induction. The former can be explained through the microscopic neural circuits that emanate from the retinal ganglion cells and converge on to primary visual cortex i.e. through a bottom-up approach, something which however fails till date to account for the later. In search of a unified theory of brightness induction, a top-down approach has often been suggested. However, the mechanism of brightness induction evident in several optical illusions, is not yet understood even after 200 years of intense research that saw George Berkeley, Maxwell, Helmholtz and the modern Gestalt school, that include both the intrinsic image theorists as well as the anchoring model theorists, following the “top-down” approach on one hand and Weber, Fechner, Mach, succeeded by the modern contrast theorists following the “bottom-up” approach on the other. Approach: In this review, we presented a historical perspective of the evolution of human concepts about the perception of brightness. We tried to capture the two essential philosophical trends among the scientists in understanding the phenomenon of brightness induction. The problems with idealist approach as well as the limitations of the mechanical materialist approach, have been pointed out in the light of the facts that, nature in general and complex systems in particular, are intrinsically dialectic in nature. Results: A proposal had been put forward that the path of dialectical materialism is the possible way out for the present philosophical crisis. Conclusion: Lateral inhibition based contrast theories need to be substantiated not only by the basic law of dialectics on which it rests upon viz., the unity of opposites, but also through the incorporation of the other dialectical laws like connectivity, quantity-quality transition and negation of the negation, so as to challenge all sorts of mysticisms in vision science and in brightness perception domain. Some recent researches both in experimental psychophysics as well as in mathematical modeling, that have been discussed or referred to in this review, are showing signs of such a development. In order to ensure that such synthesis should be dialectic and not eclectic, it would require identifying the proper mathematics towards quantitatively representing complex phenomena, a mathematics that can quantify the interaction between the part and the whole, through dialectical rules.

Contribuição ao Debate Atual Sobre a Formação de Professores no Brasil: pela formação de futuras gerações na perspectiva da reconstrução do Sócio-Cultural

This article is a communication on the fisrt aproaches to the results obtained with the research “Valorização da Geografia na Educação Básica”, in its pilot phase, carried out between April and August 2009, during the Universitary Extension Course named “Desenvolvimento Didático-Pedagógico de Aprendizagem Mediada de Geografia para a Educação Básica”. The research deals with the essential interfaces and linkages between teaching Geography in primary education and areas of interest that characterize teaching and research trends in Geography as an scientific and academic field, which consolidate its growing importance as a complex knowledge. Geography, as a school discipline, is here understood as an social practice essential to the formation of free and independent representations of both the world and of the existing relations inside the world, that circulate in society and culture. This qualitative research sought to characterize and understand the demands that are currently presented to teacher training through the narrative of teachers themselves on some everyday learning problems faced during their work, which highlights their need to question, radically, the theoretical and philosophical trends of cientific-technical nature that has predominated on the current debate over teacher’s training in Brazil. What the research indicates, to date, on the contrary to what might have seemed, is the need to further enrich theoretical and philosophical teacher training. It has been adopted, in this research, the concepts of mediated learning by Reuven Feuerstein, of dialogue in Mikhail Bakhtin, and also the idea of complex thought and the rewiring of knowledge historically produced and separated according to Edgar Morin. The concepts adopted form what we call “theoretical boundaries for teacher training”.

Philosophy in Russia: History and Present State

AbstractThis paper sketches an historical outline of philosophy in Russia from the modern era to present time. It describes the main philosophical trends that characterized the ‘Silver Age’ in pre-revolutionary Russia (Cosmism, religious philosophy and early Marxist philosophy), and draws some lines of continuity both with Marxist and pre-Marxist philosophy. It studies the internal evolution and organization of Soviet official philosophical thought, and describes the main features the philosophical Renaissance that took place in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. It finally describes the main trends, authors and publication of philosophy in Russia today.

Studies in analytic philosophy in China

This essay explores the history of studies in analytical philosophy in China since the beginning of the last century, by dividing into three phases. It shows that, in these phases, analytic philosophy was always at a disadvantage in confronting serious challenges coming from both Chinese traditional philosophy and modern philosophical trends. The authors argue that Chinese philosophers have both done preliminary studies and offered their own analyses of various problems as well as some new applications of analytic philosophy especially in the latest period. Meanwhile, Chinese traditional philosophy was always trying to adjust its cultural mentality in the struggle with analytic philosophy, and accommodated in its own way the rationalistic spirit and scientific method represented in analytic philosophy.

Personal Grief and Public Mourning in Plutarch's Consolation to His Wife

In this article, I argue that Plutarch's consolation letter to his wife is not merely an act of public posturing but a moving personal document, a public statement on correct grieving, and a demonstration of the syncretistic trend in philosophy in early Imperial times. The letter can be connected to a tradition of ancient consolatory activities which established an ancient form of psychotherapy. Here I draw particular attention to the syncretistic aspect of philosophical stances. The case study provides a new and richer interpretation of this remarkable document, opening up further avenues for the study of the ancient consolation genre.

Drawing development: Historical perspectives, developmental stages, current approaches

This article seeks to examine young children’s drawing development through three main discussion areas. The first area describes historical perspectives, looking at a time-line of research into children’s drawing and the changing attitudes towards the child as artist. Secondly, stage theories of drawing and artistic development are described and discussed. Finally, consideration is given to debates around stage theory, moving into current philosophical trends. The article draws an evolutionary journey from these three perspectives, offering opportunities for further debate and study.

Existentialism in Lithuania

Philosophical trends such as the philosophy of religion, especially Thomism, existentialism, and phenomenology emerged in Lithuanian philosophy during the 20th century. The article discusses the chief preconditions of the spread of existentialism, in particular the dominant Christian existentialism, in Lithuania and its influence on Lithuanian culture. The best known representatives of this philosophical trend were J. Girnius and A. Maceina. There are two periods of existentialism and its development in Lithuania: the first one includes the independence years and the second covers the time of the Soviet occupation. The author discusses its influence on Lithuanian literature and introduces the main problems of existential philosophy.

RECLAIMING THE ANCESTORS OF SIMULATION THEORY

Collingwood's account of re-enactment is not often invoked as a source of inspira tion in contemporary action It was thus a pleasant surprise to come across an attempt to connect current research in cognitive psychology with the historical debate about the nature of action explanation that took place in mid-century, and to reclaim the centrality of Collingwood's work to contemporary theorizing about the nature of folk-psychological explanation. Stueber's Rediscovering Empathy articulates an interesting and highly original defense of empathy as a distinctive method of explanation in the social sciences. In so doing it contests a philosophical trend that has tended to dismiss the method of empathetic identification for relying on an implausibly Cartesian conception of the mind and on the employment of mysterious telepathic powers that lie beyond the scope of verification. Stueber's defense of empathy unfolds in the context of the contemporary debate in analytic philosophy of mind between and theory. Oversimplifying the matter somewhat, the issue at stake for theory theorists and simulation theorists is whether the ability to predict the be havior of other human beings depends on the employment of a theory about how human beings typically tend to react in certain circumstances (theory theory), or whether it is only necessary to empathize with them and ask how we would act if we found ourselves in their situation. In most cases simulation theory and theory theory have been presented as empirical hypotheses to be tested in experimental conditions. The testing ground for this debate has been developmental psychology, where experiments carried out under controlled conditions have shown that where as children around the age of three are unable to accurately predict the behavior of agents who hold beliefs different from their own, children aged five and over have no problems in performing this task. The question at stake is whether the five-year old as opposed to the three-year-old ability to predict the behavior of persons with a different set of beliefs from their own depends on the possession of a fairly so phisticated theory about how people generally act (as the theory theorists claims), or whether this ability is connected less with the child's cognitive development and more with the child's emotional development, that is, with his or her ability to empathize with others and take their point of view (as simulationists claim).