CFUL - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
- “What man makes of himself,” “What nature makes of man.” On Kant’s cosmopolitical via media between theory and practicePublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.The main point of our study is that the Kantian problem of a suitability between theory and practice, one of the key issues in Kant’s practical thinking in general, was erroneously perceived not only by those who defended it, and conceived of its possibility, but also by those who denied it and defended its impossibility. Our position, conversely, is that Kant, upon approaching a seemingly irresoluble problem, was forced to conceive of a via media, an “intermediate member of connection” between theory and practice; an alternative which, in our view, does not arise out of mere necessity, rather is intimately interconnected from the mid-1770s onwards with the formation of Kant’s fundamental scheme of human knowledges (to be found throughout Kant’s academic activity), a scheme which, in its tridimensionality, establishes Pragmatic Anthropology as a third dimension of human knowledge and therefore as the only suitable soil for the dialogue between theory and practice, beyond the mere possibility or impossibility of the problem. This proposition, we hope, will enable us to ascertain what Kant envisages by the “talent of nature”, the special “act of the power of judgment” that is to serve as connecting member between theory and practice; to explain how Anthropology is to be seen as the natural abode for this mediating interplay; and, finally, to better position, as well as delimit, the scope of Kant’s anthropo-cosmological view of Man in the World, which is to be seen precisely between the merely rational of theory and the merely empirical of practice.
- Kant on the concept of WitzPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.The central aim of this essay is to portray Kant’s notion of Witz as it unfolds from his Lectures on Anthropology, in a decisive stage of his intellectual evolution (1772–96). This aim is sub-divided into two parallel objectives: first, to sketch a brief history of the concept of Witz, thus showing how Witz came to evolve from having a rational connotation to having an imaginative connotation, and how it came to be a pregnant philosophical issue, as well as an aesthetic principle. Secondly, to show how Kant read that singular course in the evolution of Witz; how, in his view, Witz and the power of judgement, imagination, and intellect are indeed opposed, but also how there is a necessity to unite both opposing parts; a convergence which is not only advantageous for both parts, but serves a greater purpose: to create an unsuspected link between imagination and understanding, as well as between philosophy and poetry.
- “A Superior Anthropological Perspective.” On Kant’s anthropo-cosmological conception of idealPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.The topic of the ideal, that is, the topic of the possible or impossible human attainment of the absolute is ascribed divergent treatments throughout Kant’s work. Namely, it is either promptly accepted as possible by the critical Kant, and seen as something attainable by a means other than an infinite approximation (which would indeed imply a violation of autonomy, but denies the genuineness of the ideal), or it is rejected as impossible by the non-critical Kant, that is, it is seen as something attainable only through an infinite approximation (which would involve an unconditional acceptance of heteronomy, but safeguards the authenticity of an aspiration to the ideal). Yet, the topic of the ideal receives a new, if not conciliatory, at least mutually explanatory approach in Kant’s Anthropology. Here – such is our proposition – Kant proposes a terminus medius between both conceptions of ideal, insofar as he is led to ponder on the mutual benefits of an autonomic possibility and an heteronomic impossibility of an infinite progression in thought; something which Kant proposes under the form of an almost-infinite, or an almost perennial, yet finite duration, to be endured until the attainment of an almost unreachable, yet indeed reachable practical ideal. A terminus medius which, we hope to prove, is none other than that at the root of Kant’s proposition of Pragmatic Anthropology as a mediating science in Kant’s fundamental scheme of human knowledges, and which therefore may be ultimately seen as the embodiment of Kant’s anthropo-cosmological, or indeed cosmopolitical dimension of thought, as expressed in Kant’s political and/or historical writings.
- Returning to itself, in itself: on the meta-hermeneutic dimension of Fichte’s principle of identityPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.Despite its general omission, the “Aenesidemus-Review” stands among a pair of fundamental texts for the initial conception of Fichte’s philosophy. The present article intends to show just how fundamental the “Aenesidemus-Review” is in this scope; namely, we intend to prove the key role the “Aenesidemus-Review” has in establishing a theoretical dialogue, as well as a positional confrontation, between Fichte, Schulze, and Reinhold; how the main problem from thence arisen is a problem of a hermeneutic nature, inasmuch as it deals with the language and the communicability between concept and idea, as well as idea and human spirit (or lack thereof); and hence, how the “Aenesidemus-Review”, and its main problem, subsequently stimulate Fichte for further reflection on the topic: how, from this small writing, Fichte sets out to acquire a new first, uninterpretable, and hence universally communicable principle for all philosophy: the principle of identity.
- “A maximum in its kind”. The problem of the absolute between Novalis and KantPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.The problem of the absolute, in its religious, political, aesthetic and/or philosophical scopes, is one of the fundamental propeller springs of 18th century thought, especially in Kant’s time and until the period of German Idealism. This paper intends to approach the problem in its philosophical-aesthetic dimension and to discern how the problem of thinking or experiencing the absolute, in the form of philosophical systematicity, as it was legated by Kant and his generation, was one of the main theoretical questions received by a whole generation of young authors. In order to best demonstrate this, we chose the example of the poet and philosopher Novalis. Our objective is, therefore, to investigate how openly, or how negatively Novalis read Kant’s proposition of the a priori and the critical edifice based upon it, and to render evident Novalis’ negation of the possibility of experiencing the absolute but in an “infinite approximation”. We also seek to suggest what could have been Kant’s reply to the objections, namely, an anthropological reply that might have shown the full reach of Kant’s conception of his critical edifice and his philosophical reflection, which might have displayed a new dimension of the reflection on the human in Kant, and thus might have partially exempted the philosopher from the reproaches of his younger readers. Finally, we want to present both Novalis’ and Kant’s (to a certain extent) surprisingly close conception of poetry as the key for the philosophical problem of the absolute.
- Kant, filósofo da linguagem?Publication . Silva, Fernando M. F.Tem-se por um facto indelével que Kant não pensou a questão da linguagem, ou os seus problemas adjacentes, e que a questão não era para o grande filósofo de grande relevância. O presente ensaio propõe-se oferecer um contributo para uma opinião contrária. O objecto da nossa reflexão é a abordagem kantiana ao tópico antropológico da faculdade de designação (Bezeichnungsvermögen, Facultas Signatrix). A saber, propomo-nos abordar a oposição kantiana entre palavra e símbolo, enquanto diferentes aplicações da faculdade de designação; pensar as diferentes disposições das faculdades do ânimo por estas requeridas, e suas diferentes potencialidades de dizer o Eu no mundo; e, uma vez pensada até ao extremo a diferença entre estas, pensar a sugestão kantiana de uma possível cooperação entre palavra e símbolo, como ela tem lugar na metáfora poética.
- Heaven on earth. On systematicity and aesthetic pleasure in Kant’s Universal Natural HistoryPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.In addition to its intense and innovative cosmological dialogue with predecessors, Kant’s Theory of the Heavens (1755) and its systematising goal tell us something more about the young Kant’s thoughts concerning humanity and the world. We intend 1) to show how Kant’s approach to the question of the order of the universe finds a middle path between the extremes of theology and naturalism; b) to show how purposiveness [Zweckmäβigkeit] exemplifies this middle path, and how this progressive resistance is a theoretical device to which Kant would frequently resort; c) to examine the extent to which the discernment of purposiveness and its theoretical order are felt by us as a singular aesthetic pleasure.
- “Einbildungsfähigkeit”, “Einbildungskraft” e “Imagination” na antropologia kantiana. Notas para uma dissociação terminológicaPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.Emergentes não raras vezes nas Lições de Antropologia de Kant, os termos “Einbildungskraft”, “Einbildungsfähigkeit” e “Imagination” são comummente tomados – e, prova maior disto mesmo, traduzidos – como um só. O presente artigo propõe-se pôr em causa e demonstrar a incorrecção desta abordagem. Bem pelo contrário, estamos em crer que, no âmbito da antropologia kantiana, em primeiro lugar, “faculdade de imaginação” e “capacidade de imaginação” não são uma e a mesma coisa, antes significam diferentes estratos, diferentes dimensões conceptuais na compreensão do processo de representação humana; em segundo lugar, também “faculdade de imaginação”, enquanto “Einbildungskraft”, não é o mesmo que o seu correspondente na “Imagination”, antes duas dimensões de um e o mesmo problema antropológico, o problema por excelência do acto de representar, que surge entre o mundo e o designar humano. Tais distinções, que, assim o cremos, requerem uma compreensão mas também uma tradução mais criteriosa do que até aqui, trazem a uma mais distinta luz o modo como Kant estrutura e ordena as diferentes fases do processo da imaginação humana, e salienta aquelas que, para o filósofo, são as diferentes potencialidades desta última.
- “Here (...) Practical Anthropology becomes pure art”: Kant on the distinction between Empirical Psychology and Pragmatic AnthropologyPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.Among the many stages of Kant’s problem of a reciprocal collocation of the human knowledges, Encyclopedism, quite unsurprisingly, is one of the most relevant; and yet, quite surprisingly, it is Anthropology which plays here one of the lead parts, insofar as the complex ascertainment of its definition, its position, its task proves to be of irrefutable importance towards solving the greater problem at hand. The question arises as the association – or dissociation – between Empirical Psychology and Pragmatic Anthropology, and their inclusion in, or exclusion from, their greater or lesser relation with Metaphysics; a problem which, to the careless eye, seems to have been promoted by Kant himself. Here, opinions diverge as to the nature of the relation between the two sciences, from their total inter-dependence to their complete separation. We, in turn, propose a different approach. Our objective is to reenact Kant’s fundamental scheme of human knowledges, as presented not only in the only extant Lecture on Encyclopedism, but in various others dimensions of Kant’s academic activity; and here, to propose a contrasting analysis between Empirical Psychology and Pragmatic Anthropology; one, however, based not on the assumption of their consonance or dissonance through their characteristics, rather on their respective position and scope amid the field of human knowledges. As such, it is our intention to consider Kant’s Lectures in their interconnection, namely, in theirapparently dubious simultaneous collocation of an Empirical Psychology as Anthropology; and, based on their specific position in the scheme of human knowledges, and what this position entails in terms of their scope and task, to ascertain to what extent Empirical Psychology is indeed Anthropology, and from what extent Empirical Psychology is no longer Anthropology – not, at least, Pragmatic Anthropology. In other words, we shall labor towards defining a dividing line in Kant’s scheme of human knowledges; one which for Kant represents a third dimension of knowledge and stands between rational and empirical, Metaphysics and the historical sciences; that line, in our view, being that of a cosmopolitical prism.
- Baumgarten and the problem of obscure representationsPublication . Silva, Fernando M. F.Baumgarten is perhaps the first philosopher to approach the problem of the obscure representations of the soul aiming at discerning in them not obscurity or irrationality, rather a new clarity and hence a new perspective towards a better cognition of the human soul. The objective of this article is to verify how Baumgarten achieves this; namely, by understanding how the philosopher inscribes obscure representations, the “ground of the soul”, within empirical psychology, and hence within metaphysics, as a topic of an aesthetic order; by identifying that which, according to Baumgarten, is the problem inherent to obscure representations, between the necessary and the impossible exteriorization (chiaroscuro) of the latter, and to attempt to discern Baumgarten’s solution for this dilemma, which is to be found in the conscious-unconscious sfumato of poetry and is occasioned by the inherent poeticity of obscure representations themselves.