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This article examines the problem of the relationship between freedom and self-will on the example of one of the heroes of Dostoevskys novel Crime and Punishment . Attention is focused not only on the canonical text of the novel, but also on the preparatory materials for it. The task is to identify the connection between the above named problem and the suicide problem of Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov. The thesis is put forward that for Dostoevskys heroes, self-will often becomes a fetter for their own nature and their own passions. With the help of debauchery, Svidrigailov tries to assert himself, giving his soul to the mercy of willfulness. There is a certain pattern in the fact that such a worldview logical chain ends with the tragic act of suicide. Arkady Ivanovich adores comfort, and therefore, in accordance with his own logic, his murder by Dunya, which did not happen, can be considered, among other things, as an attempt of a comfortable method of suicide. In the preparatory materials for the novel, Svidrigailov protests against cowardly meanness and puts suicide above such a humiliating state, although he understands the entire flaw in such a situation. For all the complexities the problem of freedom and self-will - one of the leitmotifs of religious and philosophical themes in the writers work - Dostoevsky does not see its formal, external solution. more...

The present paper aims to analyse how Rousseau conceives the possibility of being a philosopher and how he views the task of philosophy. While Rousseau is very critical towards contemporary philosophers and philosophy in general, he does describe his own enquiry as a philosophical one. In his view, the proper task of philosophy is ‘the knowledge of man’ that can be also understood as ‘the knowledge of oneself’. As Rousseau states in the Second Discourse, such knowledge is to be accomplished through our reason, yet the philosophy of his time fails in this task because the philosophers let themselves be dominated by their opinions. This claim is related to Rousseau’s distinction between love of oneself (amour de soi) and self-love (amour-propre). While reason is present in men naturally, it develops only under necessity related to the progress of society and social passions. Therefore, it cannot serve as the criterion of rightful conduct; this task belongs to conscience. As has been shown by Derathé, only man truly listening to his conscience can use his reason properly. Rather than to direct one’s self-love in a right direction, it seems that the solution of the problem for a philosopher is to convert self-love back to love of one-self to recreate the original unity of his person. Being human and being a philosopher thus becomes the same thing and the turn towards oneself can become the foundation of true self-understanding as well as true relationship to others. more...

This article deals with how to conceive of sin in Romans 5–8. Currently there are two main views concerning the understanding of sin in these chapters. The apocalyptic school describes sin as a power extrinsic to the person. The moral philosophical interpretation, by contrast, contends that sin is a representation of action or the passions. While these schools are usually opposed to each other, this article proposes that the major concerns of the apocalyptic school – to understand sin as a reality that is universally determinative, that precedes human action and exceeds human strength, and from which only God can deliver humanity – are compatible with the interpretation of sin as action in some passages and as the passions in others. There may therefore be space for further collaboration between two views that are often opposed. more...

Meu propósito neste artigo é analisar como a dialética, concebida por Platão em seus Diálogos, se origina de um nexo inerente entre os âmbitos mítico e racional. Na primeira seção, buscarei expor o nascimento da concepção de theoría, como uma prática religiosa e política, observado, sobretudo, no nascimento da tragédia como um fenômeno cívico e ritualístico, pré-condição ao despertar da filosofia. Na segunda seção, discutirei que o opróbrio platônico à tragédia e à poesia épica não se baseia em uma crítica estética, mas numa fenomenologia das paixões, pela qual defende sua abordagem ontológica e ética contra os poetas e a mentalidade trágica. A dialética platônica surge deste modo da tentativa de elaborar uma nova forma de cosmovisão das estruturas míticas e racionais, atestada na polis ateniense. Na última seção, visarei demonstrar que a dialética nos Diálogos de Platão tem um significado ambíguo, porque pode indicar a ciência da verdade assim como o lado reto da retórica. De acordo com as asserções supramencionadas, buscarei confirmar o sentido polissêmico da dialética, concebido como projeto ao mesmo tempo retórico e epistêmico, político e cultural. more...

As a continuation of our studies regarding the use of rhetoric in the thought of Thomas Hobbes, the present study deals with the relation between eloquence, passions and rebellion in The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic. Thus, it is explained how the leaders of sedition and rebellion are necessarily, according to Hobbes, “eloquent men”. The aim is not only to separate the rhetorical tradition from the foundation of political sciences, but also to point out the supposed damages caused by orators in civil life. Therefore, the conflicting and often contradictory relation between demonstration and persuasion in the politics of the 17th century is questioned, as well as the binding and constitutive role of passions. more...

Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap nilai-nilai yang terkandung di dalam ajaran Islam yang bermuatan karakter. Islam adalah agama yang kaya akan nilai. Islam juga dijadikan basis rujukan dalam pendidikan karakter. Maka dapat dikatakan bahwa ketika umat Islam patuh dan taat terhadap ajarannya maka umat Islam tersebut adalah umat yang berkarakter, Masyarakat Muslim yang berkarakter adalah masyarakat taat agama yang menjadikan dunia seagai alat untuk mengumpulkan perbekalan akhirat. Pendidikan karakter pada umumnya memiliki tujuan besar yaitu mencapai akhlaqul karimah yang bersumber keada Al-Qur’an dan Hadits. Dalam pendidikan karakter berbasis Al-Qur’an dan Hadist, materi pendidikan secara garis besar dapat dikelompokkan dalam tiga dimensi nilai akhlah yaitu akhlak terhadap Allah Swt. Akhlak terhadap sesama manusia, akhlak terhadap alam semesta. Beberapa karakter utama yang melandasi karakter-karakter baik lainnya yang terdapat dalam Al-Qur’an yaitu : a) tabah dan pantang menyerah, didalamnya meliputi sabar, baik sabar scara pasif maupun sabar secara aktif, b) konsisten (istiqomah) yang konsekwensinya tidak mengikuti hawa nafsu, baik yang muncul dalam dirinya, maupun keinginan buruk orang, c) Integritas yang dibangun dari disiplin diri, disiplin untuk jujur, adil sebagaimana mestinya di setiap situasi, d) profesionalisme yang melhirkan mentalitas mutu, mentalitas altruistik, mentalitas pembelajar, dan mentalitas etis. more...

Taxonomies of the passions have long claimed to serve a quest for self-knowledge, by specifying conditions under which certain passions arise, formal objects they possess, and qualities essential to their particular feelings. I argue that David Hume's theory of the passions provides resources for a different kind of self-knowledge – a sceptical self-knowledge depending on our ability to articulate how the passions feel rather than always identifying our passions as tokens of an identifiable passion-type. These resources are distinctions between four qualitative aspects that passions may possess – pleasantness or painfulness, calmness or violence, invigoration or softening, and directedness or lack thereof towards specific actions. Reflection on these aspects produces a more accurate understanding of the nature of our emotions and chastens our judgmental tendencies in ways that benefit both self and others. more...

Hume's longest analysis of man's rational faculty—Book 1 of A Treatise of Human Nature 1—“concludes” with philosophy seemingly pronounced illegitimate, just before Hume then puzzlingly resumes the philosophic life. I argue that the section serves a crucial function in Hume's overall project: it guides thinkers through a series of introspections, leading them to both reconceive and reorient themselves as driven by the passion of curiosity. This oddly truth-directed passion redefines both reason's relationship to the passions and the nature of philosophy. Though reason and passion are prima facie antagonistic, I argue that the greater role Hume gives to the passions is the precondition for his subsequent justification of moral-political philosophy as oriented towards wisdom rather than merely towards pleasure. I then show how this justification for philosophy illuminates how Hume connects liberal education to liberal politics, and why his political philosophy emphasizes liberal maxims. more...

El artículo presenta una caracterización epistemológica de la ética, en clave aristotélica, en la que se la entiende como como un saber práctico que estudia las distintas formas de vida en procura del bien o de la felicidad; centrado por ello en la consideración de las acciones y de las decisiones humanas, vistas en relación con los modos de ser anclados en complejos mundos vitales comunitarios. De allí que se insista en que lo determinante es la puesta en uso de la racionalidad práctica. Una racionalidad práctica que tiene como modelos a los razonamientos dialécticos que aparecen tanto en la retórica como en la poética; en la que las operaciones claves son la argumentación, la interpretación y la narración y en la que se concede importancia a las pasiones o emociones, porque se las considera determinantes en el esfuerzo por hacernos buenos. more...

Kantian ethics and concept concerning “radical evil” represent one of the most interesting facets of moral reflection of German philosopher. Using anthropological and philosophical approach based on well-known critical method, I. Kant tried to find a comprise between “natural” behavior (i.e. not regulated by synthetic a priori judgments) but based only on sensation of pleasant unpleasant and “rational” behavior when humans tried to exit the realm of appearance and personal egoism for entering a new ethical dimension based on right (not pathological, if using I. Kant’s word) maxims being able to make human beings better than they are. In the paper it is underscored that main goal of Kantian ethics is the creation of a community where religion is a fact of reason and not of faith and reason, having as main actors men reaching an high level of self-consciousness and virtue that I. Kant granted as the greatest happiness one can have. The author tried to highlight the passage from “human being” as individuum (representative of a species) to ethically autonomous member of social consortium using as sources different Kantian works where this problem has been studied deeply and gave great emphasis to story of Job, representing in the best way the passage the Author wrote of. At the same time, he set for himself the goal of exploring progressive character of Kantian ethics aimed at making human beings better than they are, but not the best, considering noumenic nature of ethics hidden in the “Realm of goals”. Given such assumptions, the Author leads a debate with scholars distorting Kantian ethical thought by interpretation from Lacanian standpoints so that those scholars made I. Kant original source of totalitarianisms, where, in scholars’ opinion, humans do their duty both for saving their lives and express their sadistic tendencies and makes clear that Kantian ethics, throughout contradictory and complicated, is oriented to correction and education of human behavior for saving humans being from their own passions. more...

This article focuses on Descartes’s vision on how the dimensions of the organism connect with each other. Re-reading Descartes is proposed as an antidote against endemic cultural dualism, in a worl... more...

The notion of being-at-home-in-otherness is the distinctive way of thinking of freedom that Hegel develops in his social and political thought. When I am at one with myself in social and political structures (institutions, rights and the state) they are not external powers to which I am subjected but are rather constitutive of my self-relation, that is my self-conception is mediated andexpandedthrough those objective structures. How successfully Hegel may achieve being-at-home-in-otherness with regard to these objective structures of right in thePhilosophy of Rightis arguable. What is at issue in this paper is however to argue that there is a blind spot in the text with regard to nature. In Ethical Life the rational subject's passions and inclinations are brought into the subject such that she is ‘with herself’ in them; with regard to external nature no such reconciliation is achieved or even attempted. In Abstract Right external nature is effectively dominated by and subsumed into the will and it is never something in which one is with oneself. It remains outside the model of freedom that Hegel develops in thePhilosophy of Right. There is something troubling about this formulation, since it excludes nature from freedom, but also something accurate, as it reflects the unresolved attitude of moderns to the natural world. more...

This paper provides a reception history of Book Two of the Treatise-Of the passions-as well as an attempt to reconcile Hume's ambitions to systematicity in Book Two with the distracted and distracting nature of the text. We currently have, I think, a good sense of the philosophical importance of Book Two within Hume's science of human nature. Yet we have not made much progress on understanding Book Two on its own terms, and especially why Book Two so often seems on the verge of falling into an explanatory heap. I aim to rectify this situation by giving a reading of Book Two that makes sense of the philosophical importance of Hume's system of the passions, yet also explains why he encounters so many difficulties in setting out his system; such that he is often forced to stretch his explanations to the very edge of the credible. I contend that Hume's system of the passions is best viewed as an unstable explanatory compound, one that progressively dissolves as Hume's explanatory intentions become increasingly ambitious. more...

Hume's epistemological legacy is often perceived as a predominantly negative sceptical one. His infamous problem of induction continues to perplex philosophers to this day, and many of his sceptical worries maintain their interest in contemporary eyes (e.g. with regard to reason, the senses, substance, causation). Yet Hume's positive epistemological contributions also hold significance for philosophy in this day and age. In this paper, I aim to situate Hume's epistemology in a more contemporary context, particularly with regard to the theme of reliabilism that runs throughout this epistemology. This will take the shape of examining correspondences and contrasts between Hume's epistemologies in the Treatise and Enquiry and reliabilism, as well as an examination of how Hume's framework might handle some major challenges for reliabilist epistemologies. In particular, I argue that that while Hume is tempted to an epistemology that is intimately tied to truth in the Treatise, he backs away when confronted with the excesses of scepticism in the conclusion of Book 1, and winds up with an epistemology most similar to the contemporary epistemological frameworks of dogmatism and phenomenal conservatism. Yet, largely because of his reliance on the passions (a respect in which he diverges from these two contemporary frameworks), the epistemology of the Treatise remains crucially dissociated from truth. Meanwhile, in the first Enquiry, he proceeds to develop a two-tiered epistemological framework that first accords all our justification with default authority, and then founds all-things-considered epistemic justification on our evidence for the reliability of our faculties. The first tier most resembles the contemporary epistemological framework of conservatism, while the second tier most closely resembles approved-list reliabilism. In this, a clear reliabilist thread runs through the epistemology of the Enquiry. I will also argue that although Hume did not appear to fully appreciate one of the most significant challenges for reliabilism-that is, the generality problem-his philosophical framework nevertheless contains the beginnings of a response to it. more...

While thrusting the importance of knowledge, Bertrand Russell highlights one special utility of it, i.e., knowledge promotes a widely contemplative habit of mind; and such knowledge, he terms ‘useless’. For Russell, the habit of contemplation is the capacity of rationalized enquiry which enables individuals to consider all questions in a tentative and impartial manner, frees them from dogmas and encourages the expression of a wide diversity of views. Besides ‘useless’ knowledge, Russell admits the importance of ‘useful’ knowledge too, but his appreciation for the intrinsic value of ‘useless’ knowledge more than the extrinsic value of ‘useful’ one brings to light the significance of knowing, i.e., to know is to know something for its own sake. Pursuit of such knowledge is possible only in case of ‘useless’ knowledge; and not in case of ‘useful’ one. Highlighting contemplative habit of mind as the greatest advantage of ‘useless’ knowledge, Russell says that such habit, in order to get accelerated, has to be guided by education; but education without freedom cannot perform the job. To be free, according to Russell, means, to be free from the forces of tradition; and also from the tyranny of one’s own passions. Freedom is thus seen to be the cardinal force in fostering contemplative habit, and is closely found to have been associated with ‘useless’ knowledge. In the present paper, by highlighting the nature of contemplative habit of mind, I have argued that ‘useless’ knowledge has to be appreciated more than ‘useful’ knowledge. Moreover, I have shown why freedom in education has to be considered a necessity for accelerating habit of contemplation. more...

Populism and populist are names which, at the same time, are ill-defined, even indefinable, and whose enunciation is nevertheless efficient. The initial argument of this study consists of an inversion of this relationship: it is precisely because of this indeterminacy that their enunciation is efficient. The difficulty of a stable definition of populism is a direct consequence of the contemporary transformation of the collective actant which is called people, which is today itself indeterminate, fluctuating and heterogeneous. One of the consequences of this situation consists in claiming the populist denomination, because this public claim is a legitimation, both of the existence of a collective actant called people, and of the coherence of the political themes and positions associated. We thus circumscribe the problem to be treated: on the one hand, we attribute to populism political themes and positions that are not specific to it, and on the other hand, we associate populism with sad passions (distrust, rejection on the other, suffering, hatred, fear ...), which opinion studies on collective passions show that they are also shared by the majority of citizens, far beyond those who vote for populist candidates. Our hypothesis is then that, in the case of populist voting and political expression, these sad passions function as attractors for the political themes and positions associated with populism. more...

PurposeNon-entrepreneurial passions may be the beginning of an extensive entrepreneurial journey. However, current passion theories cannot fully capture the essence of such passions and their effects. The purpose of this study is to explore and explain the real-life composition of passion and performance.Design/methodology/approachThe investigation was conducted with comparative causal mapping (CCM) on a qualitative sample of people we designate rock “n” roll entrepreneurs (i.e. individuals driven by a passion for music and who are successful both artistically and economically). Aggregated causal maps of passion elicited through semi-structured interviews were analyzed and contrasted with performance indicators.FindingsPassion is revealed to be an individual phenomenon, one composed of central and peripheral concepts that include—contrary to prior theories—personality traits and life contexts. Furthermore, the results suggest that the concordance of concepts determines the scope, degree and performance of passion.Research limitations/implicationsThis study complements prevailing passion theories in psychology and entrepreneurship. As a context-bound study, the generalizability of the results is limited to its context, which, however, paves a clear way for future research.Practical implicationsCreative economy entrepreneurs and educators can use the mechanism of concordance to consciously reflect passion-driven tensions between artistic, social and entrepreneurial demands and to translate passion into behavioral effectiveness.Originality/valueThis study is the first to use a CCM approach to investigate passion. Findings highlight the potential to research entrepreneurial phenomena at the intersection of emotion, cognition and action. more...

A remarkable trend of the postmodern world is the spread of a new type of person - the so-called «Self-made-man». This actualizes the various directions of understanding of this phenomenon in scientific and non-scientific discourse. It is shown that the idea of «Self-made-man» needs a detailed analysis in its own philosophical, in particular, historical and philosophical context. This allows us to review the traditional view of the chronological and socio-cultural coordinates within which the genesis of the idea occurs, as well as to clarify its semantic meaning. The importance of this rethinking and clarification is seen in the fact that the concept of «Self-made-man» is increasingly being positioned as the philosophy of life of a person of the 21st century. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is the historical and philosophical reconstruction of the genesis of the idea of «Self-made-man». The study shows that, genetically, the idea of «Self-made-man» is inextricably linked to the formation of the principle of individualism, the semantic core of which is the recognition of the human right of persons to independent self-determination and self-realization, to rely on their own forces and personal responsibility for their destiny. It is defined that the ancient culture, despite the cross-cutting dominance of the idea of fate (logos, rock, necessities, etc.), demonstrates a rather expressive though extremely contradictory intention to recognize the ability of the individual to be guided by his/her own mind, to make his/her own judgments and choices, that is, to create himself/herself. This intention is quite clearly recorded both in the heroic epic and in the philosophical and legal metamorphoses of ancient culture. The essence of the latter is that self-sufficiency, which until sometime was considered the exclusive attribute of the polis (or «the Single»), is gradually becoming an attribute of the individual, recognized as fact (in particular in Roman law), or postulated as an ideal (especially by cynics, epicureans and stoics). In both cases it was directly or indirectly recognized that true dignity and happiness of a human mostly depended not on whims of grim fate (rock or logos), but first of all on his/her personal ability to be independent from external world and his/her own passions, to rely on their own forces and take responsibility for their own destiny. And these ideas, especially in their stoic variant, in the course of further evolution form the semantic core of the modern concept of «Self-made-man». more...

Historically, emotions have been considered detrimental for knowledge: the dichotomy between cognition and emotion – between “cold” judgments and “hot” passions – has led philosophers to believe th... more...

A interpretação padrão da teoria da motivação humeana considera que a mesma subscreveria um modelo conativista baseado em desejos (paixões), enquanto intrinsecamente motivadores, que nos comprometeriam com uma concepção de internalismo motivacional e, por conseguinte, com uma posição não-cognitivista. Basicamente, esta interpretação padrão de Hume, sustenta que os juízos morais são de natureza puramente conativa, fornecendo, assim, ao agente uma razão ou motivo intrínseco para agir (internalismo motivacional), não exprimindo, no entanto, nenhum conteúdo racional cognitivo (não-cognitivismo). Dada a aproximação entre verdade e conhecimento, os cognitivistas afirmam também a tese de que há autêntico conhecimento moral. Os juízos morais possuem conteúdo cognitivo e não apenas, como querem os não-cognitivistas, expressões de atitudes, de preferências, de desejos ou de prescrições. Desta forma, o contraste entre cognitivismo e não-cognitivismo gira primariamente em torno da questão sobre a natureza do juízo moral. E, na interpretação clássica de Hume, a natureza do juízo moral seria não-cognitiva. Com este trabalho exploro uma linha de argumentação alternativa, em defesa de uma posição que privilegia a possibilidade de um conhecimento moral, segundo a filosofia moral de Hume. Os fundamentos da moral em Hume examinam a exigência motivacional tendo como alvo, a ser criticado, não o conhecimento moral (cognitivismo) e sim o racionalismo moral. No entanto, essa linha alternativa, não representa uma adesão pura ao cognitivismo. A estratégia seguida por essa argumentação, consiste em apontar o aspecto “prático” dos juízos morais, ou seja, o seu papel na orientação e na motivação das ações morais, e, em seguida, argumentar que, dada essa função primordial dos juízos morais, repetindo, o seu caráter prático, orientador de ações, não exclui, também, um conhecimento moral. De certa forma, o argumento é que, segundo a teoria da motivação de Hume, a natureza do juízo moral teria uma dimensão objetiva e prática (aquilo que realmente nos move para a ação). more...

This paper is a review of Mulla Sadra's thought library about the concept of spiritual humanism and its significance to human existence in the modern era. This paper aims to find out the meaning, principles, and nature of humanism in Mulla Sadra's views through his main work entitled al-Asfar al-Arba'ah and some research on Mulla Sadra's philosophical thinking. By using philosophical descriptive analysis, it can be concluded that the concept of Mulla Sadra's humanism is studied and explored through the discourse of the soul. The implication, humans know and realize the existence of immaterial aspects in their existence is perfect. In addition to knowing that there is a material aspect to human existence, the humanism concept in Mulla Sadra's view is to criticize the views of western philosophers, such as Jean Paul Sartre and Fredrich Nietzsche who view human existence based on material awareness. As a result, human existence is seen through the material side. The implication, human awareness is limited. In the modern era, the majority of people understand their existence as offered by western philosophers, so that the majority of people do not have awareness in realizing and knowing their existence, as they should. In addition, the views of western philosophers on material awareness in human existence cause freedom of will. Freedom of will in the western view causes dehumanism, because it prioritizes emotional aspects and passions in increasing human existence. The results of this paper to provide solutions in raising awareness of human existence, especially regarding the meaning, principles and nature of humanists in the modern era. The more aware humans are of humanist meaning and nature, the higher human existence will be. The implication, humans can reach the level of perfection in themselves without any restrictions. From these various explanations, the author hypothesizes that the concept of spiritual humanist Mulla Sadra can increase human existence and provide solutions to the crisis of human existence in the modern era. more...

La comunicación presente reúne una serie de reflexiones que recuperan y ponen en conexión distintas teorías sobre el deseo, los afectos y los modos de vida en común. Examina algunas implicaciones de una sucesión de enunciados relativos a ciertos atributos que consideramos inherentes al deseo. A partir de discernimientos filosóficos y psicoanalíticos, reconociendo la dimensión semiótica de las pasiones, examinamos algunos de sus alcances colectivos que remitimos a análisis procedentes de la sociología y la teoría marxista. Retomamos, finalmente, admitiendo con base a dichas aprehensiones la inmanencia del conflicto afectivo respecto a la condición humana, la indagación sobre las maneras más convenientes posibles de nuestra convivencia. more...

Much current work in Science and Technology Studies inflects knowing with care. Analyses of the ethos of objectivity, and of the practices by which objectivity is crafted, have shown that knowing and caring cannot be thought apart from each other. Using case studies from our own work we analyse how, in the sociotechnical relationships that we study, knowing and caring are entangled through ‘attachments’. We appreciate – both in the sense of valuing or respecting and in the sense of evaluating or assessing – how the notion of ‘attachment’ invites re-imagining relations between the social and the technical, between knowers and objects known, and between sociotechnical work and the affective sensibilities that enable, and are brought to life by, such work. Our respective ethnographic engagements with dog-human relations, obesity surgery and dementia care demonstrate that it is agents’ diverse and shifting attachments to technologies and techniques that shape the ways in which bodies, knowledge and practices form. The affects that arise in this process, or so we claim in neo-pragmatist fashion, are not preconditions to, but rather the result of such practices of attachment; rather than a prerequisite, they are an effect of the work of attaching itself. Thinking with attachments recognizes how techno-scientific work builds and shapes passions, aesthetics and sensory experience, allowing us to trace how varied sensibilities to what constitutes ‘the good’ come to be and come to matter in practices of relating between humans, animals and things. more...

What are Descartes’s views on the body and how do they change? In this article, I try to make clearer the nature of the shift towards an increased focus on the body as ‘my’ body in Descartes’s Passions of the Soul. The interest in the nature of passions, considered from the point of view of the ‘natural scientist’, is indicative of a new approach to the study of the human. Moving beyond the infamous mind-body union, grounded in his dualist metaphysics, Descartes begins developing a philosophical anthropology centred on the notion of power and better suited to practical philosophy. more...

The article analyzes the basic concepts of Christology in modern Catholic theology, which determine the Church's desire to protect the biblical teaching of the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ by modernizing religious doctrines on the basis of modern terminology.This approach has led to the emergence of contemporary models of Christological doctrine, which have demonstrated the development and need of the Roman Catholic Church not to be aloof from contemporary political and social processes.Recent trends in Christological topics have their own peculiarities, reflecting the millennial existence of the Church. Religious analysis of the key problems of theological discourse in the Christological teachings of the representatives of Catholic theology led to the transformation of ideological orientations: from enlightenment, which justified belief in the human mind and scientific and technological progress, to the existential, defining a human as the personality-dialogical phenomenon;revealing the deep connection of Christology and soteriology as interdependent aspects of one phenomenon of salvation in the context of understanding the earthly existence of Jesus, the historical recollection of the Passions, the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and the psychological and ontological content of Jesus' consciousness through the prism of the ecology of Christ through the lens of Christ. It is established that a large number of theologians belonging to different Christian denominations are refining already existing or generating new concepts in understanding Christ as Savior of the world or historical Person, opening the boundary between the nature of Christ and His ministry.This contributed to the formation of Christological models that meet the urgent needs of the development of modern theology: evolutionary, existential-transcendental, monistic, liberation, eschatological, personal and spiritual.This approach promotes the search for common moments of Christological doctrines, which gives reason to speak as a perspective for the future, about the Christological basis of modern dialogue.However, the traditional doctrinal differences between Christian denominations are moving away from unity on a Christian basis. more...

The specificity of tantric soteriology consists of a combination of three basic principles - unity, salvation, and bliss. This article explores the principle of salvation. Spiritual liberation implies the final overcoming of obstacles hindering the new worldview. Unlike the principle of unity, the principle of salvation focuses on difference, not on identity, drawing a sharp line between the desired state of liberation and the present state of dependence. The main obstacles to spiritual liberation are expressed in the well-known triad “avidyā - karma - saṃsāra”. The principle of salvation appears in Tantrism in two interrelated forms, the ascetic and śaktic ones. Both of them agree with each other in rejection of spiritual ignorance. Spiritual ignorance is the main “negative goal”; without deliverance from it there is no freedom. The state of ignorance is existential one and endowed with powerful protective “forces”. The principle of salvation implies the deliverance not only from everything that is usually considered negative (passions, sensual desires, suffering, etc.), but also of “positive” things (virtue). In the śaktic mode of the principle of salvation, it is assumed that an incorrect view of reality is eliminated by a correct view of it. Due to the fact that, according to the tantric adepts, the energies of the divine Śakti act in the world, the understanding of this fact leads the adept to stop perceiving himself as a dependent being even in the midst of an infinite variety of processes and events of the world. Life is then perceived as an unconditioned, spontaneous “divine play”, a stream of divine pleasure. Ascetic form can be reduced to an ontological interpretation of the principle of salvation, and śaktic form to a cognitive one. more...

The article analyses the different treatments of affect in the field of semiotic researches opened by Greimas. It highlights the premises, their developments, their disappearances and their resurgences, and more generally the complementarities and solidary derivations. In Semantique Structurale, Greimas already posed some milestones with the thymic category and proprioceptivity. Much later, the theory of passions will encounter tensiveness, and Claude Zilberberg will even make affect the point of origin of all tensiveness. Then arrives the contribution of Eric Landowski, who, under the heading of “feeling” (l’eprouver), renders obsolete the distinction between lexicalized passions (nameable) and “passions without names”. The proposals of Jacques Geninasca, Herman Parret and more recently Waldir Beividas will also be evoked. But above all we shall insist on the path developed by Greimas himself in De l’Imperfection, starting from the aesthetic experience in existence itself. more...

In a recent article in Sophia, Joshua Cockayne and Jack Warman (2019) defend a view they call supra-evidential atheistic fideism. This is the idea that considerations similar to William James’s defence of theistic belief can be used to justify atheistic belief. If an individual evaluates the evidence for atheism and theism as roughly the same (i.e. either can be epistemically rational), then she can rationally believe in atheism if her passions lean in that direction, provided the belief in atheism is forced, live and momentous. After outlining their defence of atheistic fideism, I offer some friendly amendments to their position. Cockayne and Warman claim that when the existential question of God’s existence is undecided for someone, she is rational to let her passions answer the existential question. This is a version of Rowe’s friendly atheism because it can explain the existence of religious disagreement, even in cases where an atheist and theist give the same assessment of the evidence for God’s (non)existence; they disagree at the passional level, not at the evidential level. I argue for a different version of friendly atheism: a mere passion need not settle the existential question about God when the evidence cannot decide it. For one might be rational in preferring that God not exist if God’s existence would make things worse. For certain individuals, this is reason enough to accept and act as if atheism is true, even if it is not epistemically rational to believe that it’s true. more...

This work is a critical exposition of the core aspects of Hume’s empiricist epistemological views. The epistemological problem of the origin, scope and certainty of knowledge was a subject of fierce debate between the Continental Rationalists and the British Empiricists. While the rationalists argued for the supremacy of reason, the empiricists stood for experience. As an empiricist Hume believed that certain knowledge is only gained through experience which consists of sensations, emotions and passions. Hume reduced the contents of the mind to perception which he divided into impressions and ideas. He also copiously addressed the idea of causality questioning the impressions that provide one with such an idea. This work employing the critical and expository methods surveyed the key points in Hume’s discussion on perception and the association of ideas as well as Hume’s analysis of the idea of causality. It gave a background of the empiricists project before presenting his epistemological theory of perception. The work further treated Hume’s position with regard to the association of ideas and his analysis of causality. In the area of causality, the work critically looked at Hume’s consideration of temporal succession, contiguity and necessary connection. In conclusion the work praised Hume’s courageous, rigorous and consistent empiricist stance whose intensity led to a skeptic logical conclusion which is a necessary “antidote to dogmatism and fanaticism.”Key Words: Causality, Empiricism, Ideas, Impression, Perception more...

The article comes from an attempt to find a connection, within a part of Kantian philosophy, among the three terms of “passion”, “history” and “Revolution” (especially French). The fundamental interest is to answer the following questions:what role do passions have in the rise of history? And what significance has been the French Revolution representing in the course of human affairs? The research was mainly concerned with the commentary of some of the nine theses of the Kantian text Idea of a universal history from the cosmopolitan point of view but also based on other texts of the philosopher of Könisberg, such as The Faculty conflict and The metaphysical principles of the doctrine of the Laws. It has been structured around the following points: the role of sociable insociability in giving birth to society and therefore history, the role of the people in determining history, the Kantian position in favour and then against the French Revolution. Trying to determine if we can maintain a line of substantial continuity, despite the differences, in the Kantian thought on the French Revolution expressed in the above texts, the article also questions the relationship between the progress of reason in the search for knowledge and moral growth, and philosophy of history (particularly thinking about the comparison between the idea of “purpose” of history and the use of reason, a comparison mediated by the concept of “organization”). L’articolo nasce dal tentativo di trovare una connessione all’interno di parte della filosofia kantiana fra i tre termini di “passione”, “storia” e “Rivoluzione” (soprattutto francese). La sua intenzione fondamentale è quella di rispondere alle seguenti domande: che ruolo hanno le passioni nel sorgere della storia? E quale significato ha rappresentato la Rivoluzione Francese nel corso delle vicende umane? La ricerca si è occupata principalmente del commento di alcune delle nove tesi del testo kantiano Idea di una storia universale dal punto di vista cosmopolitico ma si è basata anche su altri testi del filosofo di Könisberg, quali Il conflitto delle Facoltà ed i Principi metafisici della dottrina del diritto. Essa si è articolata intorno ai seguenti punti: il ruolo della socievole insocievolezza nel far nascere la società e dunque la storia, il ruolo del popolo nel determinare la storia, la posizione kantiana a favore e poi contro la Rivoluzione Francese. Cercando di determinare se si possa mantenere una linea di sostanziale continuità, nonostante le differenze, nel pensiero kantiano sulla Rivoluzione Francese espresso nei testi sopracitati, l’articolo s’interroga anche sul rapporto fra procedere della ragione nella ricerca della conoscenza e della crescita morale, e filosofia della storia (ragionando particolarmente sul confronto fra l’idea di “fine” della storia e l’uso della ragione, un confronto mediato dal concetto di “organizzazione”). more...

Augustine’s theory of first movements (primus motus, propatheia, and propassio) has provoked many controversies over the years. When discussing Augustine’s position in preliminary passions, some scholars maintain that he misunderstands the Stoics, whereas some others argue that he grasps their works rather well and his accounts are consistent with Stoic teaching. This article examines how Augustine transforms his predecessors’ conception of first movements into his own theory, with particular focus on whether Augustine misinterprets his predecessor’s doctrine in his approach. The first section introduces the recent disputations on Augustine’s misunderstanding of the Stoic concept of the first movements. The second section compares Augustine’s opinions in his early, middle, and late writings to determine whether changes occur in his interpretation. Based on the above observations, this essay argues that Augustine is familiar with the Stoic doctrines, but in his later works, he ‘deliberately’ deviates from their concept of the first movements in order to refute their ‘pride’ and to defend his Christian position on the psychology of preliminary passions. These deliberate new changes of terms by Augustine do not derive from a misunderstanding, but rather follow from his attempt at constructing a new dynamic theological framework of addressing passions during his later thought. The article concludes with a third section that revisits the modern critiques and responds with a consideration of the significance of Augustine’s views on preliminary passions. more...

The traditional perspective on emotions, anchored in the Western philosophical tradition, assumes an irretrievable dualism between emotions and reason. Emotions are assumed as forces, which can blind a person’s view and lead them to do terrible things. For this reason, emotions must be put aside during rational deliberation. For common sense, including legal common sense, emotions are dangerous and are unrelated to rational decision-making. Nevertheless, Aristotelian’s perspective on the relationship between emotions, reason and practical deliberation is enlightening. Emotions are not blind forces completely divorced from reason. Aristotle did not develop a complete theory of emotions but recognized a strong covariance between emotions/passions/sentiments and thoughts. This research is based on three theoretical pillars: Aristotle’s perspective on the relationship between reason and emotions drawn on Nicomachean Ethics and Rethoric, the jurisprudencialism, a jurisphilosophical approach elaborated by Antonio Castanheira Neves, and Terry Maroney’s model for judicial emotion regulation. The power of judgement is assumed mainly as a practical task, which involves the excellence of phronesis, virtues and emotions/sentiments/passions. more...

Scientific discovery is an important moment in scientific pursuit, but only a few philosophers of science appreciate this moment as a logical issue. Starting from his understanding that all thought contains components of which we are subsidiarily aware in focal content of thinking, Michael Polanyi puts out his thesis that scientific discovery cannot be justified by a series of strictly explicit operations but by merely invoking deeper forms of commitment in sighting the problem and the vision of reality. This article will delve into Polanyi’s notion of scientific discovery in three sections: the first section is dealing with Polanyi’s concept of heuristic philosophy which tones that discovery of problem is the primary requisite of a good scientist to vision reality, the second discusses the role of intellectual passions in scientific justification, and the third focuses on the ontological implication of scientific discovery that it guides us to comprehension of something real both tangible and intangible. The article concludes that since scientific discovery involves the creative and imaginative appeal to reality, its rationality must be counted on by its logical structure and personal experiences in scientific community. more...

This essay argues for the pertinence of the semiotic view on politics, as well as the political character of research in semiotics. Through about the discursive organization in contemporary politics, and the idea of political discourse, the author elaborates analyses and reflections on themes and passions with which he identifies a specific way for semiotics to answer the questions promoted by the field of politics. To this end, the author elaborates analyses and reflections on themes and passions with which he identifies a specific way for semiotics to answer the questions promoted by the field of politics. The work also aims to deconstruct myths and naturalized meanings. Such semiotic gestures are a consequence of the general orientation that allows the production of discourses: a political and, consequently, ethical stance that guides the semiotic processes of construction and interpretation of discursive devices. more...

Augustine's identification of the Stoic therapy of passions (apatheia) as moderation (metriopatheia) has long been a focus of controversy. This article examines the theoretical foundation for Augustine's comments on the relationship between apatheia and metriopatheia in the Stoic and the Peripatetic contexts, with particular focus on whether Augustine misrepresents his predecessors’ doctrines. Based upon a critical examination of recent research and a systematic analysis of Augustine's position in various phases of his writing, this article argues for a dynamic scheme of the psychotherapy of passions in Augustine's late thought, in which he deliberately deviates from philosophical traditions by adopting new criteria to re-evaluate the quality of emotions from the perspective of theological anthropology. This dynamic theological vantage point contributes to Augustine's insight into passions as well as his new use of the philosophical terms in refuting the Stoic pride. more...

John Locke is best known for his theory of knowledge. However, this theory includes practical, social, moral issues, containing ethics and meta-ethics, the latter being interested in epistemological nature of moral judgments. In his most famous “Essay on Human Understanding” Locke analyzes the domain of morality, paying great attention to the dichotomy of pleasure and pain as the main axis round which this domain rotates. In this paper the accent is put on the “trichotomy” of Will, Desire, and Freedom, since people often act against their wishes but according to their own will. The conclusion is given, that control of one’s passions is the true progress on the path of freedom. In order our mind was free to explore any subject and make a judgment, we must educate our passions. Trained morality turns the unpleasant or indifferent in a pleasant and welcome, if only people do everything in their power. And Philosophical law is the measure of virtue and vice. more...

A survey of theories on the passions and action in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain and western Europe reveals that few, if any, of the major writers held the view that reason in any of its functions executes action without a passion. Even rationalists, like Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cudworth and English clergyman Samuel Clarke, recognized the necessity of passion to action. On the other hand, many of these intellectuals also agreed with French philosophers Jean-François Senault, René Descartes, and Nicolas Malebranche that, for passions to be useful or to become virtues, they must be governed by reason. Without the moderation of reason, passions will be unruly, distort our notions of good, and disrupt our rational volitions. In response to these popular early modern perspectives, Enlightenment thinker David Hume offered a now-famous argument that reason without passion cannot motivate, drawing the further conclusion that reason cannot govern the passions, either. Given that no one in Hume's era seemed to defend the claim that reason alone can motivate action, what was Hume's intention? more...

El presente trabajo se propone profundizar en una noción característica de la obra del filósofo tardoantiguo, Evagrio Póntico. Dicha noción es la de logismoí. Las distintas modulaciones y sentidos con que Evagrio se refiere a este tópico, justifica la necesidad de acercarse a éste a fin de lograr una conceptualización coherente del mismo que contemple todos sus sentidos. Se trata principalmente de dilucidar si estamos frente a una realidad psíquica y/o frente a lo que nuestro autor considera una sugestión preternatural. Creemos que comprender estos como el correlato cognitivo de las pasiones, enfermas a raíz de la ignorancia de sí, constituye la clave de bóveda para acceder a una conceptualización coherente. more...

Sociology studies society, patterns of social actions and mass behaviour of people, as well as the relationship between the individual and society. Sociology, having a complex of scientific tools, can afford to measure everything, and, having received these measurements, operate with facts, entering into disputes and discussions, explaining the complexity of phenomenon in a simple manner and clarity for everyone. In the article, the author tries to do the same with the concept of “gender", which causes different feelings and comments. Someone is irritating, someone has questions or is confused, someone has a genuine interest. A small word -and so many emotions... Someone says that it is “social gender", and someone simply says - “gender". Why and where these passions, questions, disputes and interest? It seems to me time arrived to bring some clarity to the history of the emergence and development of this concept. more...

International audience; Until recently, little attention has been paid to the consequences of Hume's theory of action upon intertemporal decision. Nonetheless, some of their specicities have been emphasized by G. Davis 2003, A. Lapidus 2000, 2010, and I. Palacios-Huerta 2003. Through recurring discussions, concerning situations of conicting choice between a close and a remote objective, which run from the Treatise, Book 2 (Hume 1739-40), to the second Enquiry (Hume 1751) to the Dissertation (Hume 1757), intertemporal decision appears, at least for a part of it, as an outcome of the role of the natural relation of contiguity in the formation of a structure of desires, dierent from the structure of pleasure. This paper shows, and expresses formally, that Hume's approach provides alternative conditions explaining on the one hand time-consistency and, on the other hand, time-inconsistency when the link between contiguity and the violence of the passions is taken into account. The possibility of time-inconsistency is acknowledged by Hume as giving rise to general aversion, therefore constituting a key argument for explaining the origin of government. more...

A reflexao individual descortina parcialmente as paixoes refletidas na Ciencia da Informacao (CI), no fluxo informacional e em seu entorno, o que inclui a responsabilidade social (RS). Objetiva-se, pois, tracar uma reflexao epistemologica quanto a RS no âmbito da CI. Para tanto, utiliza-se a abordagem qualitativa, o metodo compreensivo-descritivo-interpretativo e a psicanalise do conhecimento cientifico como fio teorico no retorno a individualidade do pesquisador, as coisas primeiras e aos sujeitos civilizados. Na Ciencia da Informacao, a responsabilidade social emerge da empatia e do sujeito empatico e e orientada pela informacao. No caso do sujeito informacional, a responsabilidade social diz respeito aos fatores sociais: producao e disseminacao da informacao; vigilância do acesso e do uso da informacao, em nivel individual e social, acrescidos de rigorosa analise dos reflexos da informacao, ambos os processos orientados para a promocao das melhorais individuais e sociais na sociedade da informacao. Diante do objetivo proposto, e evidente que o artigo nem possui resultados nem inferencias definitivas, o que conduz a solidificacao de reflexoes mais consolidadas. Palavras-chave : Responsabilidade social da Ciencia da Informacao. Empatia – Ciencia da Informacao. Epistemologia – Ciencia da Informacao. ABSTRACT The individual reflection can partially reveal the passions reflected in Information Science (IS), in the information flow and in its surroundings, which includes social responsibility (SR). Therefore, this article aims to draw an epistemological reflection about the social responsibility in the scope of the Information Science field. To achieve the proposed, the qualitative approach, the comprehension-descriptive-interpretative method and the psychoanalysis of scientific knowledge as the theoretical thread are used in the return to the individuality of the researcher, to the first things and to the civilized subjects. In Information Science, social responsibility emerges from empathy and the empathic subject, and it is informed by the information flow. In the case of the informational subject, social responsibility refers to social factors: production and dissemination of information; surveillance of access and use of information, at individual and social level, plus a rigorous analysis of information reflexes, both processes oriented to the promotion of individual and social improvements in the information society. In view of the proposed objective, it is clear that the article has neither definitive results nor inferences, which leads to the solidification of more consolidated reflections. Key words : Social Responsibility of Information Science. Empathy –Information Science. Epistemology – Information Science. more...

The paper is the 2018 Political Geography invited lecture. I discuss the geographical component to early state formation and its impact on theories of human nature. Ever since Rousseau accused Hobbes of taking post-state passions as constitutive of human nature and projecting them onto pre-state peoples, the question of whether or not early state formation produced qualitative changes in human emotional and cognitive structures has been debated in anthropology and philosophy. The work of James C Scott, especially in The Art of Not Being Governed and Against the Grain has emphasized the geographical component of early state formation and the concomitant and often futile attempts of states to stop flight from states as in the proverbial "run for the hills!" I will put Scott's work in dialogue with the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, as well as with new anthropological theories of human evolution, including the Human Self-Domestication thesis of Brian Hare, and the obligate collaborative foraging thesis of Michael Tomasello. At stake will be attempts to account for prosocial egalitarian sentiments and their conflict with hierarchical states. more...

Through a close reading of the two definitions of evil in the Introduction to Responses to Thalassios , this article points out a circular, cognitive-affective-somatic, genetic mechanism that St. Maximos the Confessor considers responsible for the initiation and transmission of the fallness as a human condition and the specific manifestation of it in the form of passions. It elucidates the first definition as mainly phenomenological, by identifying the circular mechanism and its behavioural expressions, and the second definition as more aetiological, by explaining why this mechanism emerges and reemerges with the fallen humanity despite its catastrophic results. Contribution: This article highlights a double genetic mechanism (survival cum passions) that St. Maximos the Confessor grasped within the fallen human condition as a curse solvable only in Christ, a notion largely carved out by previous Maximian scholarship, but fully explained and valuated here. more...

This article contrasts two beliefs about the relation between the emotions and the intellect. Each sees emotional responses as fundamental and primary sources of thinking. Each sees a different role for the intellect following emotional responses to worldly phenomena. L. S. Vygotsky, articulating a belief common at his time, sees the intellect as a disciplining force, one that, after a pause or interlude, serves to temper emotions to produce a "catharsis" and what he calls "intelligent emotions," those subjected to rational thought and a higher plane of cognition than either emotion or intellect could produce alone. Jonathan Haidt, following Vygotsky by nearly a century, asserts that emotions control cognition, rather than as Vygotsky conceives, being subordinated by reason. Haidt, in the tradition of David Hume and with more empirical data than Vygotsky provides for his view, sees the passions ruling human thought and action. Any accompanying reason serves to rationalize gut feelings rather than to control them; reason, Haidt argues, is a "rationalist delusion" that gives emotional thinking the veneer of reason. This article outlines both positions and attempts to reach a synthesis of their views. more...

This chapter explores the origins of constructivist grounded theory and the points of convergence and divergence between versions of grounded theory. In the decades following publication of The Discovery of Grounded Theory , some researchers claimed using the method simply to legitimize conducting inductive qualitative studies. Grounded theorists begin with inductive data, engage in strategies to foster rigorous analysis, aim to develop theories that account for the data, and value grounded theory studies for informing policy and practice. Perhaps the most telling points of convergence and divergence—turn on whether and to what extent grounded theorists draw on the positivist or pragmatist epistemological foundations of the method. Major differences between grounded theorists and other qualitative researchers have long revolved around the issue of preconceptions. Preconceptions are significant and affect researchers’ analyses. A deep sense of connection with research participants may remain invisible on the surface but ignite the researcher’s passions and pursuits. more...

John Rawls shows a deep influence of David Hume’s thought, mainly at his Theory of Justice, though also at the rest of his works. This influence is well-known in the field of political philosophy, much less in the field of moral philosophy. Rawls reads Hume’s thought with a sceptic and naturalistic key, attributing him what he calls a “nature fideism”. Besides this, attributes to Hume an ethical and political position linked with the classical utilitarianism. Nevertheless, his skeptical epistemology will move away, paradoxically, to Hume from the utilitarian positions. Hume’s ethics and politics will finish, according to Rawls, showing a purely descriptive character and a lack of normative purposes. Hume does not have in the strict sense a theory of practical reason. This article examines and puts in question this interpretation of Hume proposed by John Rawls. The philosophy of Hume is not aporetically skeptical, articulates the moral roles of reason and the passions; and finally, is not only connected with utilitarianism; his defense of the role of utility frees to his theory of some of the main contradictions of classical utilitarianism. Besides this, the theory of the “judicious spectator” can be considered a form of a theory of practical rationality. more...