Droit naturel comme fondement du droit international chez Hobbes

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Derecho penal y la obligación de investigar y sancionar graves violaciones de derechos humanos y el derecho internacional humanitario -especial referencia a la sentencia de la corte constitucional colombiana c-579/13-

En el presente trabajo se analiza la obligación de investigar graves violaciones de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario, a la luz de la sentencia de la Corte Constitucional Colombiana referente a la constitucionalidad del Marco Jurídico para la paz. De la aparente remisión que hace la Corte Constitucional a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre el deber de investigar graves violaciones de Derechos Humanos y de Derecho Internacional Humanitario se concluye que la Corte Constitucional propone como premisa mayor una obligación que surge de una interpretación extensiva de la Convención Interamericana. De la misma forma, se estudia el tratamiento indebido del derecho aplicable a las amnistías e indultos, que se relaciona con la necesidad de evitar cualquier tipo de impunidad, cuyo concepto sirve para esclarecer cuáles son los estándares que se quiere proteger. Por último, se analiza el contexto al que se pretende aplicar dicha obligación, es decir, la justicia transicional, proponiendo un modelo interpretativo de los fines de la pena, y su aplicación por medio de la favorabilidad penal, para la justicia transicional, que sea acorde a la interpretación de la Convención Interamericana.

'The Elements' and Hobbesian moral thinking

It is easy to read Hobbes's moral thinking as a deviant contribution to 'modern' natural law, especially if Leviathan (1651) is read through a lens provided by De Cive (1642). But The Elements of Law (1640) encourages the view that Hobbes's argument is 'physicalist', that is, that it requires no premises beyond those required by his physics of matter in motion. The Elements included a draft De Homine and its argument is intimately connected with De Cive's; it shows how such concepts as 'reason', 'right', 'natural law' and 'obligation' can be understood in physicalist terms. But Hobbes's decision to print the latter work in isolation has led to serious misunderstandings

Biolinguistics or Physicolinguistics? Is The Third Factor Helpful Or Harmful In Explaining Language?

Noam Chomsky (2005) proposed that a ‘third factor’, consisting of general principles and natural laws, may explain core properties of language in a principled manner, minimizing the need for either genetic endowment or experience. But the focus on third-factor patterns in much recent bio-linguistic work is misguided for several reasons: First, ‘the’ third factor is a vague and disparate collection of unrelated components, useless as an analytical tool. Second, the vagueness of the third factor, together with the desire for principled explanations, too often leads to sweeping claims, such as syntax “coming for free, directly from physics”, that are unwarranted without a case-by-case causal analysis. Third, attention is diverted away from a proper causal analysis of language as a biological feature. The point with biolinguistics is to acknowledge the language faculty as a biological feature. The best way forward towards an understanding of language is to take the biology connection seriously, instead of dabbling with physics.

The eradication of compulsory retirement and age discrimination in the Australian workplace : A cause for celebration and concern

Earlier this year the Age Discrimination Act 2004 was passed by the Commonwealth government. This paper provides an overview of the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and critically examines whether it is likely to be successful in eradicating compulsory retirement and age discrimination within the workforce. Empirical studies suggesting that law reform alone is insufficient to eliminate ageist employer behaviour are discussed as is the need for public awareness campaigns. Given that compliance with the law is closely linked with normative belief, this paper also considers whether a moral duty to refrain from age discrimination can be grounded within the natural law ethic.

Moving from voluntary euthanasia to non-voluntary euthanasia: equality and compassion

The recent Dutch law legalising active voluntary euthanasia will reignite the euthanasia debate. An illuminating method for evaluating the moral status of a practice is to follow the implications of the practice to its logical conclusion. The argument for compassion is one of the central arguments in favour of voluntary active euthanasia. This argument applies perhaps even more forcefully in relation to incompetent patients. If active voluntary euthanasia is legalised, arguments based on compassion and equality will be directed towards legalising active non-voluntary euthanasia in order to make accelerated termination of death available also to the incompetent. The removal of discrimination against the incompetent has the potential to become as potent a catch-cry as the right to die. However, the legalisation of non-voluntary euthanasia is undesirable. A review of the relevant authorities reveals that there is no coherent and workable "best interests" test which can be invoked to decide whether an incompetent patient is better off dead. This provides a strong reason for not stepping onto the slippery path of permitting active voluntary euthanasia.

New way of seeing things : Ernst Troeltsch and the theological agenda

The aim of this thesis, as set out in the Introduction, is to assess the (seminal) significance of Troeltsch as one who set the agenda for twentieth century theology, particularly modern sociopolitical theology, and whose thought still has a special relevance. The first main chapter deals with the implications of the philosophy of history for theology. The Protestant theological orthodoxy of Troeltsch's time was essential ahistorical: he thought this to be untenable. Theology had to come to terms with the historical method, which was ‘a leaven which transforms everything, and finally bursts all previous forms of theological method.’ This chapter discusses Troeltsch's work concerning the principles, the cultural matrix, and the philosophy of history. The second main chapter examines another main concern of Troeltsch, namely, the status of Christianity vis-a-vis other religions. The background to this was the increasing awareness of the existence of other religions and the question of relativity and universality which this posed. Troeltschfs major response was Die Absolutheit des Christentums in which the ideas of essence, Europeanism, and absolutism were discussed, The third, and longest, chapter looks at the impact of social theory on theology. Sociology gave Troeltsch ‘a new way of seeing things’, and this new perspective is to be seen pre-eminently in The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches. Discussion of this centres on the three main concepts that Troeltsch delineated, compromise, natural law, and church/sect typology.

As cadeiras extintas da Academia de Direito de São Paulo

A Academia de Direito de São Paulo, fundada em 1827 por Decreto Imperial, em toda a sua jornada de grade disciplinar evoluiu em consonância aos necessários procedimentos, caminhando na construção de uma tutela doutrinal e jurisprudencial, atendendo não-só a sociedade como, também, à correta busca de uma nação voltada à segurança no intuito de assegurar uma democracia plena de Direito. Desde a criação dos cursos jurídicos não há uma cadeira em seu currículo - incluso as extintas por decretos governamentais - que não fosse de suma importância no período de sua vigência, a exemplo da intitulada Hygiene Publica lecionada por Augusto Cezar de Miranda Azevedo, Catedrático por Decreto de 21 de março de 1891, dando origem ao Direito Sanitário atualmente vinculado à Medicina, área de Saúde Pública, ou Direito Nacional e Direito Natural, dando margem ao Direito do Estado e à Introdução à Ciência do Direito. A Cadeira de Direito das Gentes, inicialmente inserida em parceria ao Direito Natural, deu margem ao Direito Internacional Público lecionada por José Maria Avelar Brotero, em 1828, tornando-se, na História da Academia de Direito como das mais importantes disciplinas da grade curricular.

Os Jesuítas nas Américas: "A República dos Guaranis"

[POR] Para este trabalho, elegemos um estudo sobre uma «experiência jesuíta» junto dos Guaranis, que designamos por «A República dos Guaranis». Trata-se de um processo histórico complexo que teve início no século XVII, sob o impacto da Contra-Reforma, e que terminou em pleno século XVIII, quando o Absolutismo, o Racionalismo e a Lei Natural dominavam a Europa. Este trabalho procura compreender como esta realidade sociocultural se relacionou com uma das regiões do Brasil colonial. [EN] This study analyzes a «Jesuit experience» with the Guarani people, also known as the «Guarani’s Republic». The latter is a complex historical venture which began in the 17th century, in the wake of the Counter-Reformation (1545-1648), and ended in the 18th century when Absolutism, Rationalism, and Natural Law dominated Europe. Our aim is thus that of analyzing how this socio-cultural reality was tied with one region of Colonial Brazil (1500-1822).

La Ragione violenta di Ramiro Ledesma Ramos. Fascismo e pensiero conservatore in Spagna

Aunque esta tesis puede leerse desde diferentes perspectivas, tiene una voluntad fundamental: explicar, desde la metodología propia de la historia conceptual, la racionalidad específica del llamado fascismo español. Centra su interés en la figura de Ramiro Ledesma Ramos (1905-1936), fundador del primer movimiento fascista español. Ledesma ideó un proyecto de modernización de España que sólo podía pasar por la organización de un Estado total. Trató de crear un movimiento de masas de corte fascista con capacidad para fundar un Estado total capaz de ser una alternativa viable al liberalismo republicano y al socialismo. El fascismo español emergerá como una experiencia temporal propia de la modernidad. Buscará revitalizar y acelerar un proceso, el moderno, que a la luz de los jóvenes exaltados de principios de siglo se percibía como agotado y decadente. El planteamiento de Ledesma brotaba de la necesidad de combatir aquellas presuntas fuerzas degenerativas (liberalismo, comunismo, conservadurismo, etc.) de la historia contemporánea española para erigir una nueva modernidad basada en el renacimiento de la nación. Al mismo tiempo, se pretende poner en relieve la eficacia de la acción histórica planteada por el pensamiento reaccionario español. Bajo sus coordenadas, la nación jamás desarrollaría los rasgos sublimados de la política moderna europea. Jamás abandonó los pretendidos órdenes del derecho natural del clasicismo católico que, en última instancia, limitaban la potencia absoluta de cualquier soberano político. Esta particularidad histórica, arrastrada desde la primera modernidad, impedirá con obstinación cualquier oleada revolucionaria que supusiera la autonomización de la esfera política y por tanto, la instauración de un poder totalitario. De hecho, cuando se instauré la dictadura del Franco, a lo más que se llegaría, sería a un Estado mínimo, que bajo los presupuestos del tradicionalismo, dejaba a su suerte las dinámicas económicas.

Problem of Tragedy and Tragic Consciousness in Russia at the turn of the 19th Century

This project intertwines philosophical and historico-literary themes, taking as its starting point the concept of tragic consciousness inherent in the epoch of classicism. The research work makes use of ontological categories in order to describe the underlying principles of the image of the world which was created in philosophical and scientific theories of the 17th century as well as in contemporary drama. Using these categories brought Mr. Vilk to the conclusion that the classical picture of the world implied a certain dualism; not the Manichaean division between light and darkness but the discrimination between nature and absolute being, i.e. God. Mr. Vilk begins with an examination of the philosophical essence of French classical theatre of the XVII and XVIII centuries. The history of French classical tragedy can be divided into three periods: from the mid 17th to early 19th centuries when it triumphed all over France and exerted a powerful influence over almost all European countries; followed by the period of its rejection by the Romantics, who declared classicism to be "artificial and rational"; and finally our own century which has taken a more moderate line. Nevertheless, French classical tragedy has never fully recovered its status. Instead, it is ancient tragedy and the works of Shakespeare that are regarded to be the most adequate embodiment of the tragic. Consequently they still provoke a great number of new interpretations ranging from specialised literary criticism to more philosophical rumination. An important feature of classical tragedy is a system of rules and unities which reveals a hidden ontological structure of the world. The ontological picture of the dramatic world can be described in categories worked out by medieval philosophy - being, essence and existence. The first category is to be understood as a tendency toward permanency and stability (within eternity) connected with this or that fragment of dramatic reality. The second implies a certain set of permanent elements that make up the reality. And the third - existence - should be understood as "an act of being", as a realisation of permanently renewed processes of life. All of these categories can be found in every artistic reality but the accents put on one or another and their interrelations create different ontological perspectives. Mr. Vilk plots the movement of thought, expressed in both philosophical and scientific discourses, away from Aristotle's essential forms, and towards a prioritising of existence, and shows how new forms of literature and drama structured the world according to these evolving requirements. At the same time the world created in classical tragedy fully preserves another ontological paradigm - being - as a fundamental permanence. As far as the tragic hero's motivations are concerned this paradigm is revealed in the dedication of his whole self to some cause, and his oath of fidelity, attitudes which shape his behaviour. It may be the idea of the State, or personal honour, or something borrowed from the emotional sphere, passionate love. Mr. Vilk views the conflicting ambivalence of existence and being, duty as responsibility and duty as fidelity, as underlying the main conflict of classical tragedy of the 17th century. Having plotted the movement of the being/existence duality through its manifestations in 17th century tragedy, Mr. Vilk moves to the 18th century, when tragedy took a philosophical turn. A dualistic view of the world became supplanted by the Enlightenment idea of a natural law, rooted in nature. The main point of tragedy now was to reveal that such conflicts as might take place had an anti-rational nature, that they arose as the result of a kind of superstition caused by social reasons. These themes Mr. Vilk now pursues through Russian dramatists of the 18th and early 19th centuries. He begins with Sumarakov, whose philosophical thought has a religious bias. According to Sumarakov, the dualism of the divineness and naturalness of man is on the one hand an eternal paradox, and on the other, a moral challenge for humans to try to unite the two opposites. His early tragedies are not concerned with social evils or the triumph of natural feelings and human reason, but rather the tragic disharmony in the nature of man and the world. Mr Vilk turns next to the work of Kniazhnin. He is particularly keen to rescue his reputation from the judgements of critics who accuse him of being imitative, and in order to do so, analyses in detail the tragedy "Dido", in which Kniazhnin makes an attempt to revive the image of great heroes and city-founders. Aeneas represents the idea of the "being" of Troy, his destiny is the re-establishment of the city (the future Rome). The moral aspect behind this idea is faithfulness, he devotes himself to Gods. Dido is also the creator of a city, endowed with "natural powers" and abilities, but her creation is lacking internal stability grounded in "being". The unity of the two motives is only achieved through Dido's sacrifice of herself and her city to Aeneus. Mr Vilk's next subject is Kheraskov, whose peculiarity lies in the influence of free-mason mysticism on his work. This section deals with one of the most important philosophical assumptions contained in contemporary free-mason literature of the time - the idea of the trinitarian hierarchy inherent in man and the world: body - soul - spirit, and nature - law - grace. Finally, Mr. Vilk assess the work of Ozerov, the last major Russian tragedian. The tragedies which earned him fame, "Oedipus in Athens", "Fingal" and "Dmitri Donskoi", present a compromise between the Enlightenment's emphasis on harmony and ontological tragic conflict. But it is in "Polixene" that a real meeting of the Russian tradition with the age-old history of the genre takes place. The male and female characters of "Polixene" distinctly express the elements of "being" and "existence". Each of the participants of the conflict possesses some dominant characteristic personifying a certain indispensable part of the moral world, a certain "virtue". But their independent efforts are unable to overcome the ontological gap separating them. The end of the tragedy - Polixene's sacrificial self-immolation - paradoxically combines the glorification of each party involved in the conflict, and their condemnation. The final part of Mr. Vilk's research deals with the influence of "Polixene" upon subsequent dramatic art. In this respect Katenin's "Andromacha", inspired by "Polixene", is important to mention. In "Andromacha" a decisive divergence from the principles of the philosophical tragedy of Russian classicism and the ontology of classicism occurs: a new character appears as an independent personality, directed by his private interest. It was Katenin who was to become the intermediary between Pushkin and classical tragedy.

Estado, Justicia y Sociedad : la Administración de Justicia en la provincia de Buenos Aires, 1853-1881

Esta ponencia es la presentación del proyecto de tesis, que tiene por objetivo estudiar el proceso de constitución y consolidación del poder judicial, responsable de la administración de justicia, como integrante del Estado provincial, legitimador de su accionar político y mediador con la sociedad civil. La investigación se ubica en la provincia de Buenos Aires, entre 1853 y 1881, que sancionó su propia Constitución en 1854, en la que declaraba en su artículo 118 que el poder judicial sería independiente de todo otro en el ejercicio de sus funciones. Es decir que en esta provincia la consagración de la teoría de los poderes del Estado y la ley como definidora de lo que era justo, requirieron de la organización del poder judicial. El sistema judicial de la provincia de Buenos Aires comenzó su formación como poder del Estado a partir de la reforma rivadaviana y el proceso alcanzó su madurez entre 1853 y 1881, como parte fundamental del proyecto liberal, asentado sobre la autoridad de la ley. El poder judicial garantizaba la legitimidad del sistema político republicano de matriz liberal, pero la dependencia con el poder ejecutivo se mantuvo en parte, representada en el presupuesto, los nombramientos y los jurys. La organización judicial en formación incluyó al ámbito rural con una fisonomía institucional que tendía a consolidar la relación entre Estado y sociedad civil; ésta manifestaba sus necesidades a través de la opinión pública y el poder las interpretaba con el fin de legitimar su acción política. En este proceso de legitimación, el poder judicial era funcional al Estado, lo que se consolidó con el tiempo. La Constitución de 1873, a pesar de ser ideal en algunas de sus propuestas, dio protagonismo y efectividad a las instituciones judiciales que se formaron y pusieron en funcionamiento con una nueva concepción de justicia, que sin dejar de lado el derecho natural se consolidaba en una función más positiva, atenta a los derechos individuales y de propiedad. Para comprender el rol que jugó el sistema de justicia en la formación del Estado es necesario desenmarañar la compleja trama de relaciones entre el poder político y los magistrados, y a su vez entre ellos y la sociedad. Pero esto no se puede realizar sin conocer y comprender que entendían por justicia, y definir de qué forma organizaron su administración. En la realización de esta investigación atenderé a las soluciones que el ordenamiento jurídico debía brindar a una determinada sociedad, las instituciones que lo formaron y las ideas de quienes lo gestaron. El uso de la fuente judicial será fundamental para observar si la letra de la ley fue cumplida en la administración de justicia y de qué manera. Pero esa fuente judicial confirmará o no la aplicación de las leyes dictadas por el poder legislativo y los decretos emanados del ejecutivo, por ello será necesario reconstruir los organigramas del Poder Judicial a partir del estudio de los Registros Oficiales y los debates legislativos de la provincia.