The morals of metaphysics: Kant's 'Groundwork' as intellectual paideia

To approach philosophy as a way of working on the self means to begin not with the experience it clarifies and the subject it discovers, but with the acts of self‐transformation it requires and the subjectivity it seeks to fashion. Commenting on the variety of spiritual exercises to be found in the ancient schools, Pierre Hadot remarks that: Some, like Plutarch’s ethismoi, designed to curb curiosity, anger or gossip, were only practices intended to ensure good moral habits. Others, particularly the meditations of the Platonic tradition, demanded a high degree of mental concentration. Some, like the contemplation of nature as practiced in all philosophical schools, turned the soul toward the cosmos, while still others—rare and exceptional—led to a transfiguration of the personality, as in the experiences of Plotinus. We also saw that the emotional tone and notional content of these exercises varied widely from one philosophical school to another: from the mobilization of energy and consent to destiny of the Stoics, to the relaxation and detachment of the Epicureans, to the mental concentration and renunciation of the sensible world among the Platonists.1 While successfully applied to ancient philosophy,2 this approach has not been widely exploited in the history of philosophy more broadly. There is, however, at least one study of medieval metaphysics in these terms,3 and there are some important discussions of early modern Stoicism and Epicureanism.4 And a recent study of Hume shows the fruitfulness of the approach for Enlightenment philosophy.5 It is all the more surprising then that there seems to have been no serious attempt to approach Kant’s moral philosophy in this way.

A recepção adorniana de Freud no estudo da personalidade autoritária

Em geral, a tradição do pensamento metafísico entende que no desenvolvimento histórico da razão há um progresso. A existência do progresso requer o sacrifício do indivíduo ao longo da história. A filosofia de Theodor W. Adorno realiza um exame crítico do processo de esclarecimento vivido no Ocidente. Os estudos de Adorno mostram que a associação entre o “progresso” e o sacrifício da individualidade resulta na barbárie. Deste modo, Adorno evidencia os momentos do irracional conservados na sociedade racionalizada e que ameaçam o processo civilizatório. Neste trabalho, investigamos a influência de Sigmund Freud no pensamento de Adorno. Defendemos que a leitura adorniana de Freud é essencial para a explicação dos fatores subjetivos da personalidade autoritária. No entanto, a razão subjetiva não explica inteiramente os determinantes do caráter autoritário. Por isso, no primeiro capítulo nós apresentamos os pressupostos marxianos da razão objetiva. Além disso, indicamos a relação entre razão objetiva e razão subjetiva. No segundo capítulo, buscamos compreender a teoria de Freud e assinalamos como suas categorias manifestam as condições objetivas assinaladas por Adorno. No terceiro capítulo, examinamos a interpretação marxista realizada por Adorno sobre os determinantes psicológicos que favorecem a manifestação do caráter autoritário. Ao final, nós debatemos os resultados da recepção adorniana de Freud.

Quase-verdade e pragmatismo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The public performance : impact to music learning in conservatoire tradition

Paper presented at the Conference “The Reflective Conservatoire – 2nd International Conference: Building Connections”. Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Barbican Conference Centre, London. 28 February – 3 March 2009

Biology Expansively Understood: [Review of] Alexandre Lefebvre's Human Rights as a Way of Life. On Bergson's Political Philosophy, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013)

Human Rights as a Way of Life is about the political dimension of Henri Bergson's work, focusing mainly on The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, the last original book by the French philosopher, published in 1932.