Communication and Consciousness in the Pragmatist Critique of Representation: W. James and C. S. Peirce

The pragmatist turn in Philosophy in the late XIX century and XX century was a serious attempt to refuse the privilege of the representational elements of the consciousness in the production of knowledge. Such privilege has its roots in Ancient Philosophy, in some consequences of the Platonic heritage, but was toughened by Modern philosophers of empiricist or aprioristic lineages within the modern concepts of Experience and Truth. With these last concepts of Experience and Truth I’m referring to the objectivising tendency that leads to identify experience with the final object resulting from the judicative fixation of relations. Due to the fixation of some basic relations the object of experience was identified and conceived with such and such characteristics as something independent of the mental or judicative activity. Such method of fixation and objectivising of relations is also present in the common-sense ideas of Reality, Experience and Truth. In the field of the theory of signs the reputation of the modern concept of representation was so vast that despite the progress in the discovery of the differential character of the linguistic units, Saussure’s well-known notion of sign and the division between “signifiant” and “signifié” still kept the reference to the double across the body / mind polarity and to the “mental image” of the sign, Vorstellung, concept or “signifié”, as the core of meaning. If Peirce and James agree in the refusal of the classical theory of representation, their rejection came from different horizons and their critiques don’t mean the same. I’ll try to show that James’s and Peirce’s attempts are not disjunctive, although they are not members of a simple addition. In the writings of the Tartu School and in T. Sebeok’s reassessment to Peircean semeiosis one finds interesting tools to reconsider the relation to the World of the “field of consciousness” and semeiosic cycles, beyond representationalism, such as the concepts of environment and primary, secondary and tertiary modelling systems. Starting with these insights I’ll propose at the end of the essay the notion of a double environment between psychic systems and systems based on communication.FCT; European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy; FLUC

Counselling and Ethical Theories

The multiplication of counseling interventions, therapeutic models, advisory practices, couching expertise or “think tanks” is a characteristic of the increasing social awareness to the need for control or to the observation of learning in psychological and social contexts. Such trends put under a special focus the contribution of Science and Technology to the best design of the self-observation of organizations. Appropriate answers to specific ethical issues resulting from conflict or stress in the interpenetration of psychic (actions, perceptions and beliefs) and communicative schemes (decision-making sequences, interactional patterns and communicative themes) are also today’s concerns. In my paper, I propose a redefinition of second-order Ethics (after Heinz von Foerster’s Second-Order Cybernetics). Second-order Ethics proves to be a valid answer to the needs for an ethical theory able to address the theme of responsibility in personal processes where learning to learn is crucial and also a good tool to face concrete situations requiring therapeutic intervention or counselling in learning organisations

Recensão de Liébana Ortiz, Juan Ramón, Los sistemas tradicionales de justicia informal en el siglo XXI. Justicia Restaurativa, Estado de Derecho y Derechos Humanos

A presente obra aborda temas no horizonte disciplinar da História do Direito e da Ciência comparada do Direito. Acompanha uma vasta literatura, inclusivamente em língua portuguesa, dedicada à investigação das transferências entre tradições jurídicas no Globo. A História comparada do Direito tem hoje umcampo fértil no Direito Colonial e nas transferências normativas pós-coloniaisGrupo de Investigación HUM-672 AREA (Análisis de la Realidad EducativA

Sequencialidade do Sentido e Formas Cognitivas

O conhecimento está limitado a representações de sistemas psíquicos e às suas contrapartes linguísticas? O significado deve ser restrito aos conteúdos proposicionais? "Sequencialidade doSentido e Formas Cognitivas" desafia os pressupostos tradicionais em redor das respostas a estas questões. No presente trabalho caracterizam-se os sistemas que recorrem a formas cognitivas, a partir dos seus elementos e dos tipos de operações que concretizam. Estes sistemas são Sistemas baseados no Sentido nos seus elementos e nas operações que articulam tais elementos. Trata-se de sistemas psíquicos e sociais. Assim se restringe a noção de sentido às concretizações psíquicas e sociais do processamento interpretativo de sinais, apenas para o propósito de identificar o objeto teórico do presente trabalho. Há todo um processamento de sinais na realidade físico-biológica, e cognição correspondente, que não adquire valor interpretativo para sistemas psíquicos ou sociais. O conhecimento e as formas cognitivas são mais vastos que o processamento interpretativo de sinais, mesmo que se admita que é na consciência e nos atos comunicativos que a cognição adquire um estatuto proposicional pleno e se pode, assim, tornar um objeto para a avaliação lógica. O conhecimento foi entendido de dois modos: i) como um processo de que resulta a forma cognitiva, tradicionalmente chamada representação, devido a ter sido exemplificada e escrutinada em sistemas psíquicos formados por elementos da consciência (representações); ii) à luz de operações com múltipla instanciação, por isso não limitadas à consciência humana

Force in Nature, Freedom in History. Hegel and the neo-spinozistic project of a Natural Human History

 This contribution explains the connections between the German lines of the reception of the Ethica and the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus and the formation of Herder’s, Schelling’s and Hegel’s Philosophies of History. It refers to the Philosophy of Unity as a main current but articulates the lines of the reception of the Ethica with the difficulties raised by Spinoza’s explanations for the multiplicity of the religious traditions, as divergent historical ways to the One, in the Tractatus. Hegel’s Lectures on Philosophy of Religion were scrutinized from the angle of their general methodical significance and also from the descriptive point of view. Here, one finds critical keys for the understanding of the philosopher’s perspective regarding Spinoza’s meaning to the speculative method and for the characterisation of the epochs in the History of the Biblical Religions. Hegel’s critique of the Philosophy of Unity personified in Schelling’s appropriation of Spinoza’s conatus was envisaged in order to locate the pivotal point of the idea of an unbroken Natural and Human History. The paper argues that in Hegel’s critique of Schelling’s Spinozism the German lines of Spinoza’s reception were taken as responsible for a vague concept of the Absolute. Such vagueness explains the absence of clarity about the difference between Nature and Spirit (History), particularly in Schelling’s Absolute, and demands a different configuration of the «Real Philosophies» in the philosophical system.En esta contribución se explican las conexiones entre las líneas alemanas de la recepción de la Ethica y del Tractatus Teológico-Políticus y la formación de las Filosofías de la Historia de Herder, Schelling y Hegel. En este estudio, se indica a la Filosofía de la Unidad como una corriente principal, pero se articulan las líneas de la recepción de la Ethica con las dificultades procedentes de las explicaciones en el Tractatus de Spinoza para la multiplicidad de las tradiciones religiosas, como formas históricas divergentes de percibir el Uno. Las  de Hegel sobre Filosofía de la Religión fueran examinadas desde la perspectiva de su significado metódico general y también desde el punto de vista descriptivo. Aquí se encuentran las claves fundamentales para la comprensión de la perspectiva del filósofo con respecto al valor de Spinoza para el método especulativo y en la caracterización de las épocas en la Historia de las Religiones Bíblicas. La crítica de Hegel a la Filosofía de la Unidad personificada en la apropiación en Schelling del conatus de Spinoza fue retratada con el intento de localizar el núcleo de la idea de una homogénea Historia Natural y Humana. El texto aboga que en la crítica por Hegel del Espinosismo de Schelling se admitirán las líneas alemanas de recepción de Spinoza como las responsables de un concepto vago de lo Absoluto. Tal indeterminación explica la ausencia de claridad sobre la diferencia entre la Naturaleza y el Espíritu (Historia), en particular en el Absoluto de Schelling, y exige una configuración distinta de las «Filosofías Reales» en el sistema filosófico.    . &nbsp

Societas et Sensibilia – uma pequena Axiomática da Estética

O presente trabalho articula as teses sobre a forma estética da “Arte contemporânea”. Sustenta a ideia de que a Arte desenvolve um meio próprio em que tomam lugar formas da perceção e formas da comunicação ligadas entre si pela experimentação sobre o sentido de um público de observadores. Afastando-se da Estética do Gosto, a “Arte contemporânea” não supõe reações tipificadas nos seus observadores mas a abertura do sentido

On the Historicity of the History of Philosophy

Following contemporary approaches to the meaning of the History of Philosophy to Philosophy, in this paper I’ll address the situation of Hegel’s History of Philosophy in the system, confronting it with the special Histories (Politics, Art, Religion), the logical development of the Idea in figures and the epochal meaningful “concrete totalities”. The paper is also a first essay to articulate the logical development of the Idea with the semantical conditions of the historical rendering of its meaning.Siguiendo los enfoques contemporáneos del significado de la Historia de la Filosofía para la Filosofía, en este trabajo abordaré la situación de la Historia de la Filosofía de Hegel en el sistema, confrontándola con las Historias especiales (Política, Arte, Religión), el desarrollo lógico de la Idea en figuras y las «totalidades concretas» dotadas de significado epocal. El texto es también un ensayo de articulación del desarrollo lógico de la Idea con las condiciones semánticas de las réplicas históricas de su significado

Communication and Consciousness in the Pragmatist Critique of Representation

The pragmatist turn in Philosophy in the late XIX century and XX century was a serious attempt to refuse the privilege of the representational elements of the conscious- ness in the production of knowledge. Such privilege has its roots in Ancient Philosophy, in some consequences of the Platonic heritage, but was toughened by Modern philosophers of empiricist or aprioristic lineages within the modern concepts of Experience and Truth. With these last concepts of Experience and Truth I’m referring to the objectivising tendency that leads to identify experience with the final object resulting from the judicative fixation of relations. Due to the fixation of some basic relations the object of experience was identified and conceived with such and such characteristics as something independent of the mental or judicative activity. Such method of fixation and objectivising of relations is also present in the common-sense ideas of Reality, Experience and Truth. In the field of the theory of signs the reputation of the modern concept of representation was so vast that despite the progress in the discovery of the differential character of the linguistic units, Saussure’s well-known notion of sign and the division between “signifiant” and “signifié” still kept the reference to the double across the body/mind polarity and to the “mental image” of the sign, Vorstellung, concept or “signifié,” as the core of meaning. If Peirce and James agree in the refusal of the classical theory of representation, their rejection came from different horizons and their critiques don’t mean the same. I’ll try to show that James’s and Peirce’s attempts are not disjunctive, although they are not members of a simple addition. In the writings of the Tartu School and in T. Sebeok’s reassessment to Peircean semeiosis one finds interesting tools to reconsider the relation to the World of the “field of consciousness” and semeiosic cycles, beyond representationalism, such as the concepts of environment and primary, secondary and tertiary modelling systems. Starting with these insights I’ll propose at the end of the essay the notion of a double environment between psychic systems and systems based on communication

A individuação dos Sistemas Psíquicos

O presente estudo examina a consciência de um ponto de vista sistémico. É um ensaio sobre as sequências conectivas do sistema psíquico como um sistema fechado, a autonomia circular dos seus elementos e as articulações entre as suas sequências internas. Desta investigação é possível inferir uma representação dos sistemas psíquicos que difere de outras abordagens como a Psicologia clássica, a Psicanálise ou a Fenomenologia. O trabalho sublinha o caráter individual dos sistemas psíquicos

A Individuação da Sociedade Moderna

This contribution reviews the main aspects discussed in my book The Individuation of Modern Society (in Portuguese), published in 2011. This work contains investigations devoted to the study of the semantics of modern socio-historical concepts. It was focused on the concepts mobilized by G. W. F. Hegel in the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1821), throughout the treatment of the three axial figures of the third section “Sittlichkeit”: the Family, Civil Society, and the State. Without forgetting the themes surfacing from the integration of “Sittlichkeit” in the system of the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences, and their intrinsic philosophic worth, the core of the investigations consisted in the incorporation of the concepts in broader semantic undercurrents, particularly with regard to the critical reassessment of the moral and political outcomes of the 17th and 18th centuries System of Nature on which relies the Hegelian critique of Natural Law, from Jena to Berlin.Esta contribución revisa los principales aspectos discutidos en mi libro La Individuación de la Sociedad Moderna (en portugués), publicado en 2011. Este trabajo es un conjunto de investigaciones dedicadas al estudio de la semántica de los conceptos histórico-sociales de la modernidad. Se centró en los conceptos movilizados por G. W. F. Hegel en las Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (1821), a lo largo del tratamiento de las tres figuras axiales de la tercera sección “Sittlichkeit”: la Familia, Sociedad Civil y el Estado. Sin olvidar los temas derivados de la integración de la “Sittlichkeit” en el sistema de la Enciclopedia de las Ciencias Filosóficas, y su valor filosófico intrínseco, el núcleo de las investigaciones residió en la integración de los conceptos en corrientes semánticas mas amplias, particularmente en lo que se refiere a la reevaluación crítica de las consecuencias morales e políticas del Sistema de la Naturaleza de los siglos XVII e XVIII, de la que depende la comprensión de la critica hegeliana del Derecho Natural, desde Jena hasta Berlín.   &nbsp