Argue but obey? Questioning Kant’s enlightenment

Este trabajo enfoca la célebre distinción de Kant entre el uso privado y público de la razón, tal y como se presenta en su opúsculo Respuesta a la pregunta ¿Qué es la Ilustración? Tras analizar la distinción de Kant, le dirijo diez críticas específicas, concluyendo que su apoyo a la máxima de Friedrich “Razonad, pero obedeced”, es un mal consejo.This essay focuses on Kant’s famous distinction between the public and private use of reason, as presented in his short essay An Answer to the Question, What is Enlightenment? After analyzing Kant’s distinction, I present ten specific criticisms of it, concluding that his endorsement of Friedrich’s maxim, “Argue but obey” is poor advice

El Kant de Foucault

Muchos kantianos se mostraron asombrados, muy asombrados, cuando supieron que Michel Foucault, satisfaciendo parte de las exigencias de su doctorado en filosofía, no sólo había traducido, sino también escrito un detallado ensayo interpretativo de la Antropología en sentido pragmático de Kant

Kantian anthropology: a science like no other

In this essay I begin by examining Kant’s criteria for “proper science” as presented in the Preface to his Metaphysical Foundations of Science, and then ask whether Kantian anthropology can possibly qualify as a proper science according to these demanding criteria. I defend a qualified ‘yes’ answer to this question, while also drawing attention to several less tidy aspects of his anthropology project that are difficult to fit onto the Procrustean bed of science

John Rawls between two enlightenments

John Rawls shares the Enlightenment's commitment to finding moral and political principles which can be reflectively endorsed by all individuals autonomously. He usually presents reflective autonomy in Kantian, rationalist terms: autonomy is identified with the exercise of reason, and principles of justice must be constructed which are acceptable to all on the basis of reason alone. Yet David Hume, Adam Smith and many other Enlightenment thinkers rejected such rationalism, searching instead for principles which can be endorsed by all on the basis of all the faculties of the human psyche, emotion and imagination included. The influence of these sentimentalists on Rawls is clearest in his descriptive moral psychology, but I argue that it is also present in Rawls's understanding of the sources of normativity. Although this debt is obscured by Rawls's explicit "Kantianism," his theory would be strengthened by a greater understanding of its debts to the sentimentalist Enlightenment

The Need for Laboratory Measurements and Ab Initio Studies to Aid Understanding of Exoplanetary Atmospheres

We are now on a clear trajectory for improvements in exoplanet observations that will revolutionize our ability to characterize their atmospheric structure, composition, and circulation, from gas giants to rocky planets. However, exoplanet atmospheric models capable of interpreting the upcoming observations are often limited by insufficiencies in the laboratory and theoretical data that serve as critical inputs to atmospheric physical and chemical tools. Here we provide an up-to-date and condensed description of areas where laboratory and/or ab initio investigations could fill critical gaps in our ability to model exoplanet atmospheric opacities, clouds, and chemistry, building off a larger 2016 white paper, and endorsed by the NAS Exoplanet Science Strategy report. Now is the ideal time for progress in these areas, but this progress requires better access to, understanding of, and training in the production of spectroscopic data as well as a better insight into chemical reaction kinetics both thermal and radiation-induced at a broad range of temperatures. Given that most published efforts have emphasized relatively Earth-like conditions, we can expect significant and enlightening discoveries as emphasis moves to the exotic atmospheres of exoplanets.Comment: Submitted as an Astro2020 Science White Pape

Greenland Geothermal Heat Flow Database and Map (Version 1)

We compile and analyze all available geothermal heat flow measurements collected in and around Greenland into a new database of 419 sites and generate an accompanying spatial map. This database includes 290 sites previously reported by the International Heat Flow Commission (IHFC), for which we now standardize measurement and metadata quality. This database also includes 129 new sites, which have not been previously reported by the IHFC. These new sites consist of 88 offshore measurements and 41 onshore measurements, of which 24 are subglacial. We employ machine learning to synthesize these in situ measurements into a gridded geothermal heat flow model that is consistent across both continental and marine areas in and around Greenland. This model has a native horizontal resolution of 55ĝ€¯km. In comparison to five existing Greenland geothermal heat flow models, our model has the lowest mean geothermal heat flow for Greenland onshore areas. Our modeled heat flow in central North Greenland is highly sensitive to whether the NGRIP (North GReenland Ice core Project) elevated heat flow anomaly is included in the training dataset. Our model's most distinctive spatial feature is pronounced low geothermal heat flow (<ĝ€¯40ĝ€¯mWĝ€¯m-2) across the North Atlantic Craton of southern Greenland. Crucially, our model does not show an area of elevated heat flow that might be interpreted as remnant from the Icelandic plume track. Finally, we discuss the substantial influence of paleoclimatic and other corrections on geothermal heat flow measurements in Greenland. The in situ measurement database and gridded heat flow model, as well as other supporting materials, are freely available from the GEUS Dataverse (10.22008/FK2/F9P03L; Colgan and Wansing, 2021).publishedVersionPeer reviewe

"A segunda parte da moral:" a antropologia moral de kant e sua relação com a metafísica dos costumes

"A segunda parte da moral:" a antropologia moral de kant e sua relação com a metafísica dos costume

El Kant de Foucault

Muchos kantianos se mostraron asombrados, muy asombrados, cuando supieron que Michel Foucault, satisfaciendo parte de las exigencias de su doctorado en filosofía, no sólo había traducido, sino también escrito un detallado ensayo interpretativo de la Antropología en sentido pragmático de Kant

Kantian anthropology: a science like no other

In this essay I begin by examining Kant’s criteria for “proper science” as presented in the Preface to his Metaphysical Foundations of Science, and then ask whether Kantian anthropology can possibly qualify as a proper science according to these demanding criteria. I defend a qualified ‘yes’ answer to this question, while also drawing attention to several less tidy aspects of his anthropology project that are difficult to fit onto the Procrustean bed of science