Economy as a religious problem: A political approach

This article tackles the problem of understanding money and economy with non-economic analytical categories. The first part is devoted to point out the differences between the exclusively economic approaches to money and the recent research, from anthropology to philosophy, that has laid stress on the political and religious aspects of the monetary phenomenon. The second part is focused on Georg Simmel´s fundamental contributions to a philosophical comprehension of money. Finally, a fragment by Walter Benjamin is the point of departure to consider the religious and political aspects of modern capitalism and their relationships with the works of Karl Marx, Ernst Troeltsch and Max Weber.Fil: Ludueña, Fabian Javier. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

VALIDACION DE ALGUNAS RECIENTES NOVEDADES TAXONOMICAS EN ERIOSYCE PHIL. (CACTACEAE

A. E. Hoffmann & H. E. Walter (2004) published taxonomic novelties invalidly in the latest edition of their book onCactaceae in Chile. It also contained an orthographical inaccuracy. All these occur in the genus Eriosyce as revised andexpanded by Katterman (1994). They are rectified here with the colaboration of the original authors. Further observationsare added about rare and interesting taxa treated in Hoffmann & Walter.En la última edición de su libro sobre Cactáceas en Chile, A. E. Hoffmann & H. E. Walter (2004), además de un errorortográfico, publicaron incorrectamente algunas novedades taxonómicas del género Eriosyce, tal como fue revisado yaumentado por Katterman (1994), lo que las hace inválidas. Estos se corrigen aquí con la cooperación de los autoresoriginales. Además se agregan otras observaciones acerca de algunos raros e interesantes taxas tratados por Hoffmann &Walter

The 'genie of the storm': cyclonic reasoning and the spaces of weather observation in the southern Indian Ocean, 1851-1925

This article engages with debates about the status and geographies of colonial science by arguing for the significance of meteorological knowledge-making in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Mauritius. The article focuses on how tropical storms were imagined, theorised and anticipated by an isolated - but by no means peripheral - cast of meteorologists who positioned Mauritius as an important centre of calculation in an expanding infrastructure of maritime meteorology. Charles Meldrum in particular earned renown in the mid-nineteenth century for theoretical insights into cyclone behaviour and for achieving an unprecedented spatial reach in synoptic meteorology. But as the influx of weather data dried up towards the end of the century, attention turned to new practices of 'single-station forecasting', by which cyclones might be foreseen and predicted, not through extended observational networks, but by careful study of the behaviour of one set of instruments in one place. These practices created new moral economies of risk and responsibility, as well as 'a poetry', as one meteorologist described it, in the instrumental, sensory and imaginative engagement with a violent atmospheric environment. Colonial Indian Ocean 'cyclonology' offers an opportunity to reflect on how the physical, economic and cultural geographies of an island colony combined to produce spaces of weather observation defined by both connection and disconnection, the latter to be overcome not only by infrastructure, but by the imagination

Cultural conditions of the understanding human rights. The German law studies and the legalisation of disputable religious practices

Od kilku lat w niemieckiej nauce prawa toczy się intensywna debata na temat prawnej dopuszczalności obrzezania dzieci płci męskiej. Ogniskiem sporu wydaje się pytanie o to, czy przy obrzezaniu dochodzi do zagrożenia dobra dziecka, tak że państwo uprawnione jest do ingerencji w prawo rodziców do wychowania dziecka.Debata o prawnej dopuszczalności obrzezania stanowi egzemplifikację szerszych problemów, z którymi konfrontowane jest demokratyczne państwo prawa oraz refleksja teoretycznoprawna. Do problemów tych należy określenie istoty i granic prawa rodziców do wychowania dziecka oraz prawa do wolności religijnej, potencjalny konflikt praw i wolności konstytucyjnych, dynamiczna interpretacja praw człowieka związana ze zmieniającą się wrażliwością w zakresie chronionych dóbr, czy wreszcie uzasadnienie i stosowanie uniwersalnych zasad prawa w świetle wzrastającego aksjologicznego pluralizmu współczesnych społeczeństw. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie kształtowania się w Niemczech stanu prawnego dotyczącego obrzezania oraz głównych argumentów podnoszonych w niemieckiej debacie o jego prawnej dopuszczalności.There has been an intensive debate within the German law studies on the legal permissibility of circumcision of male children. The dispute that has now been going for several years seems to be focused on the question whether in the event of circumcision the child’s interest is at risk, which would then constitute the grounds for the State’s interference with the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.The discussion on the legal permissibility of circumcision seems to constitute an exemplification of more general problems with which a democratic state of law (Rechtsstaat) as well as the theoretical reflection on law are confronted. Such problems include the definition of the essence and the limits of the right of parents to direct the upbringing of children, as well as the right to freedom of faith, a potential conflict of constitutional rights and freedoms, a dynamic interpretation of human rights related to the changing sensitivity with respect to protected goods, or finally the justification of the application of universal rules of law in the context of increasing cultural and axiological pluralism of modern societies. The following considerations present an overview of the development of the legal status of circumcision in Germany, as well as the main arguments raised in the German debate on the legal permissibility of circumcision

O conceito de praça na cidade da Guarda entre a Idade Média e a Idade Moderna

O presente artigo intitulado “O conceito de praça na cidade da Guarda entre a Idade Média e a Idade Moderna”, aborda, no âmbito da História do Urbanismo e da História da Arte, os diferentes conceitos (funções) de praça que existiram na cidade da Guarda nessas épocas. A análise morfológica das transformações urbanísticas da cidade da Guarda permitiu-nos apurar a existência de diferentes conceitos de praça, que acompanharam o crescimento urbano da cidade. Relacionadas com o crescimento urbano medieval da cidade surgem duas praças na Guarda: a praça de São Vicente e a praça de Santa Maria da Vitória ou do Mercado. Num primeiro momento de crescimento definem-se dois eixos que atravessam longitudinal e transversalmente a cidade medieval. Na intercepção desses dois eixos ergue-se a igreja de São Vicente onde, no seu largo, aparece a primeira praça que se caracteriza por ter as funções sobrepostas (rua, passagem, igreja, mercado). Já na praça de Santa Maria da Vitória ou do Mercado revela-se uma vontade de separação das funções urbanas ali desempenhadas, apesar da concentração na mesma área dos edifícios significativos (Paços do Concelho, Hospital, “Casa dos Contos”, igreja, mercado)