Academic Background

• Member of the Thematic Project of FAPESP: Moral, politics and law: autonomy and critical theory.
• Member of the German Philosophy Group and of the editorial board of German Philosophy Journal, both from USP.
• Is one of the editors of the Editorial Seal “Esfera Pública”. Is founding partner of the “Gérard Lebrun” Regional Section of the Brazilian Kant Society.
• 2007 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. Ricardo Ribeiro Terra
  Title: Criticism and Autonomy in Kant: the Legislative Form between Determination and Reflection
• 2002 Master’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. Ricardo Ribeiro Terra
  Title: From Idea to Judgment: the Problem of the Purpose in the Relation Between Reason and Nature in Kant
• 1998 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo

Current Research

Morality, politics and law: autonomy and critical theory [Thematic Project FAPESP/CEBRAP]
This project aims to be not only an investigation on the tradition of Critical Theory and its problems, but also an investigation from the developments of this intellectual strand. The guiding thread chosen is the concept of autonomy, a notion whose critical examination allows us not only to articulate the different domains of Morality, Politics and Law at the present time, but also to operate with different critical proposals in applied investigations. The project in a general characterization consists of the following moments: (1) position of the concept of autonomy in the philosophical tradition and in social theory; (2) position of the notion of autonomy in different conceptions of social theory and in different models of Critical Theory of the present; (3) investigations applied in the fields of Law, Politics and Morals, based on a critical scrutiny of the notion of autonomy.

Maurício Cardoso Keinert

Academic Background

• 2013 Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• 2005 Postdoctoral Resarch at the University of São Paulo.
• 1999 PhD in Philosophy, University of São Paulo.
  Title: Structures in Search of Equilibrium: The Place of the Meta-methodology and the Role of Coherence in the Reticulated Model of Scientific Rationality.
  Supervisor: Prof. Caetano Ernesto Plastino.
• 1994 Master’s Degree in Philosophy, University of São Paulo.
  Title: Problems and their problems: The structure and dynamics of science seen under the problem solving approach.
  Supervisor: Prof. Pablo Rubén Mariconda.
• 1989 Bachelor’s Degree at the University of São Paulo.

Current Research

1 – Neurath or the cohesion of the cloud: The singular epistemology of an iconoclastic positivist and its unfolding
The present research project aims to investigate the extremely original epistemology of Otto Neurath (1882-1945) ─philosopher of science, sociologist, economist and, finally, graphic designer─ and its unfolding. This logical positivist since the beginning ─a member of the Vienna Circle, signatory of the manifesto “The scientific conception of the world” (together with Hahn and Carnap), a fierce opponent of metaphysics (which he always considered as meaningless), protagonist of the debate with Schlick on the constitution of the empirical basis, defender of the notion of “unified science”─ was at the same time a proponent of some extremely original theses that deviate greatly from the interpretative clichés usually associated with logical positivism. Neurath’s thinking has been rediscovered and re-evaluated in recent years, as is well documented by the publication of numerous volumes dedicated to it, which is part of a general reappraisal of Logical Empiricism as a whole. Neurathian epistemology is at once empiricist, physicalist, coherentist, holistic, naturalized, and has a sociological and historical dimension. The resulting science image incorporates traits such as: methodological pluralism; the reorientation towards a non-strictly deductive view of science; and the constitution of the “empirical base” of science (linked to a certain view of the relation theory-experience) in such a way as to enable a peculiar form of interdisciplinarity that would be “unified science.” In many of these respects, Neurath’s thinking emerges as one of the most innovative and creative within the framework of twentieth-century philosophy of science ─still more against the background provided by the reception of the general program of logical empiricism. Undeniably, his epistemology and his philosophy of science point in the direction of an image of science which is very rich, flexible, nuanced, and attentive to the vicissitudes of praxis. In addition to the author’s reading from an internal perspective, it is also envisaged the possibility of reading Neurath by establishing a dialogue with certain lines and strands of epistemology that would flourish decades later, in particular with Donald Davidson’s epistemology ─his conceptions of knowledge , truth, coherence, belief, interpretation and intersubjectivity─ and also with the structuralist metatheory of Balzer, Moulines and Sneed.

2 - Structuralist metatheory, philosophy of science and metaphilosophy
Investigation of structuralist metatheory (MTE), theoretically, metaphilosophically, and through case studies. The more general questions that provide a background to the project are: what roles can MTE perform fruitfully in philosophy in general? What convergences can be explored and seem more promising with other conceptions about the structure and dynamics of knowledge? Aspects of special interest to the project include: (a) The relationship between theory and experiment, conceived in terms of data models, empirical substructures, partial models and classes of intended applications. (b) The notions of theoretical network and theoretical holon in MTE as tools for the mapping of the structure of scientific knowledge in large scale. (c) The role of inter-theoretical ties in a rigorous characterization of the phenomenon of interdisciplinarity within theoretical holons. (d) Study of the philosophical role that can be played by values, themata and styles of thought within MTE, as elements endowed with causal efficacy, dynamic dimension and explanatory power. (e) Use of MTE in the meta-level as a tool for mapping the philosophical models of rationality. (f) Metaphilosophical contextualization and perspective placement of the MTE in relation to the broad contemporary panorama of views on philosophical knowledge, philosophical images of science, and recent interpretative tools. Here, studies are carried out in order to familiarize ourselves with several models of structure and dynamics of knowledge and different conceptions about the historiography of science and the relation between history and philosophy of science.

3 - Mechanism, de-mechanization and science in the passage from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century
We are dealing here with four philosophical-historiographic models ─the conception of images of nature and images of science by P. Abrantes, the thematic model of G. Holton, the conceptions of scientific style of I. Hacking, L. Fleck and O. Bueno, and the structuralist metatheory of Balzer, Moulines and Sneed─ with the aim of performing interpretative case studies on episodes in the history of physics (and, more generally, the history of science) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Special attention is given to the following dimensions: (a) Characterization of the multiple variants and mutations of mechanicism, with its varied scopes and unfoldings, which predominated in physics and other areas of knowledge for almost three centuries. Of particular interest is the investigation of the tension (and even inconsistency) between late hybrid formulations of mechanicism and the original program. (b) Study of the transition from mechanism to the age of de-mechanized physics, where central roles are played by classical field theory, relativity (restricted and general) theories, statistical mechanics and, in general, a renewed impetus in the program of geometrization of physics. Important debates of the time on atomism and the use of models in science take place against this background. (c) Investigation of the transformations undergone by classical mechanics and field theory up to the twentieth century, whether in regard to their formal structure, their interpretation, their cognitive and methodological status, or the role they occupy within the edifice of scientific knowledge of late modernity.

Academic Background

• 2008 Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• 2006-2008 Postdoctoral Research at the University of São Paulo
• 2006 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. Franklin Leopoldo e Silva
  Title: Expression in Leibniz
• 2001 Master’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. Franklin Leopoldo e Silva
  Title: Theory and Practice in Leibniz: The Politics of Metaphysics
• 1997 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo

Current Research

Expression: Leibniz’s Philosophy as a System
Description: Productivity grant - PQ2.

Rupture and Continuity: Investigations on the Relation Between Nature and History from its Formulation by the Great Rationalism of the 16th Century
Thematic Project financed by FAPESP which includes researchers from USP, UNESP, UNIFESP, PUC-SP, PUC-Campinas, among other universities in São Paulo.

Leibniz’s expressive philosophy
Expression is one of the most important notions of Leibniz’s philosophy. The philosopher approaches it directly in some texts, but rather than an object of analysis, the notion of expression organizes and makes converge reflections on leibnizian theology, ontology and epistemology.
The comprehensiveness of the theory of expression as a principle of explanation, which allows one to think of it through a theological bias, an ontological bias and an epistemological bias, also allows an expansion of perspectives. It is possible to think morality from theology and ontology, the conciliation of the churches from the design of a universal characteristic, language and the question of signs from epistemology. These “secondary” themes can be organized in two major issues: the “moral issue” (which involves law and religion) and the question of language.
The research aims to present the philosophy of Leibniz from his theory of expression, showing how fundamental and secondary themes can be organized from this perspective.

Tessa Moura Lacerda

Academic Background

• 2013 Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo.
• 1997 Postdoctoral Research at the Stanford University, Stanford, USA
• 1995 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo.
• Title: The Problem of Destouches and Heterodox Logics: Essay on the Use of Non-Classical Logics in the Foundations of Physics
• Supervisor: Prof. Newton Carneiro Affonso da Costa.
• 1992 Master’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• Title: Structure and logic of physical theories
• Supervisor: Prof. Newton Carneiro Affonso da Costa
• 1989 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo

Current Research

Topics in abstract logic
Study on consequence structures of type (X, Cn) where X is a set and Cn is an operator on the parts of X called the consequence operator. Development of a geometric version for consequence operators with the notion of groups acting on sets. Study of the category of consequence structures and certain functors that can be defined in the same.

Model theory for infinitary languages
Studies on definability in first-order relational structures based on infinitary languages. Generalization of some theorems from specific branches of mathematics to the general case of model theory (Generalized Galois Theory). Development on the relationship between categoricity, homogeneity and the notion of strong isomorphism between substructures of a given structure.

Edélcio Gonçalves de Souza

Academic Background

• 2014 Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• 2006 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. José Carlos Estêvão
  Title: Reality and Its Signs: The Propositions on Contingent Future and Divine Predestination in the Logic of William of Ockham
• 2001 Master’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. José Carlos Estêvão
  Title: Intuition and Truth in William of Ockham. On the Evident News in the First Question of the Prologue of the ‘Ordinatio’  
• 1996 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the Associated Faculties of Ipiranga, São Paulo, Brazil

Current Research

Foundations of Direct Intellection of the Singular
Developed mainly between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the discussions about the direct intellection of the singular put in question the basic theses of medieval Aristotelianism, mainly regarding the mediations between the theory of the intellection and the metaphysics. It is a nuclear issue that involves a broad range of interests, extending from medieval logic to medieval politics.

Carlos Eduardo de Oliveira

Academic Background

• 1995 Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• 1995 PhD in Philosophy, University of São Paulo
  Supervisor: Prof. Luiz Henrique Lopes dos Santos
  Title: Realism and Anti-Realism about Science: Philosophical Considerations on the Cognitive Value of Science
• 1982 Master’s Degree in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas
  Supervisor: Prof. Zeljko Loparic
  Title: Induction and Credibility: A Probabilistic-Personalist Study on Learning from Experience
• 1986/1987 Specialization in Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, USA
• 1979 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• 1977 Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at the University of São Paulo

Research Area

Epistemology and Philosophy of the Natural Sciences in the Analytical Tradition

Current Research

─Analysis of realist and antirealist conceptions of science,
─Application of game theory to epistemological questions,
─Examination of the social dimension of scientific rationality.

Caetano Ernesto Plastino

Academic Background

• 1990 Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
• 1983 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: The Criticism of Political Anthropology in the Work of Pierre Clastres
  Supervision: Prof. Marilena de Souza Chaui
• 1979 Post-graduation in Philosophy (Diplôme d'Études Approfondies) by Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
  Title: La representation machievellienne de l'histoire, étude des Istorie Fiorentine
  Supervisor: Prof. Claude Lefort
• 1971 Licenciate in Philosophy by the Nossa Senhora Medianeira Faculty
• 1969 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas

Current Research

─The constitution of the ethical sphere in Montaigne’s Essays: a reorientation of morality and politics in the context of skepticism
─Skepticism and fideism in Raimond Sebon’s apology
─Investigations into ancient and Renaissance tradition of Republicanism

Academic Background

• 2009 Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: Hegel’s Aesthetics: His Times and Heritage
• 2000 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: The Form of Poetic Representation: Philosophy and Poetry in Hegel
  Supervisor: Prof. Victor Knoll
• 1996 Master’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: The Notion of Poetry in Hölderlin, according to Heidegger
  Supervisor: Prof. Victor Knoll
• 1992 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the Federal University of Santa Catarina

Current Research

Between Philosophy and Literature: The Aesthetics of Hegel in Goethe’s Time
Our research aims to develop some topics within the framework of aesthetics as a philosophical discipline, whose background or vanishing point is the systematic proposal of Hegel’s aesthetics, in relation to pre-romanticism (Herder), Weimar’s classicism (Goethe and Schiller) and the German literary romanticism (Hoffmann). With this, I continue the investigations into the aesthetics of Hegel and his time, a subject that I have been occupied with the last 15 years and that has reached some developments in terms of publications: in the direction of the classicism of Weimar (translation of Art Writings of Goethe, 2005) and romanticism (translation of the Doctrine of the Art of August Schlegel, 2014). I am now occupied with pre-Romanticism, in particular with the aesthetic thinking of the young Herder. My approach to Herder is a direct result of my “Return” starting from Hegel (Aesthetics courses) to August Schlegel (Doctrine of Art) and now coming to Herder. The guiding thread for this return to the foundations of the emergence of modern aesthetics, of which Hegel is a tributary, is the articulation between the categories of art theory, art criticism, and art history. It was August Schlegel who explicitly posed the problem, but Herder was the first to mobilize these notions, in the debate with Baumgarten (theory), Lessing (critic) and Winckelmann (history of art). This is precisely the subject of so-called Critical Forests. In Hegel’s Aesthetic Courses, for information only, art theory, art history, and art criticism lie at the basis of the triad concerning the Beautiful or the Ideal (theory); to the forms of symbolic, classical and romantic art (history of art) and to the system of particular arts: architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry (subject of art criticism).

 

Marco Aurélio Werle

Academic Background

• 2009 Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: Pedro Abelardo: Ethics or Know thyself
• 2002 Post-doctorate at the École Normale Supérieure,. Paris, France
• 1996 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: On Freedom in William of Ockham
• 1990 Master’s degree in Philosophy at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo
  Title: Abelard’s Ethics and the Individual
• 1975 Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo

Current Research

On the medieval presence of Augustine

Abstract

The medieval reception of Aristotle is strongly influenced by the reading of Augustine’s work. At the same time, this influence changes the way that work is understood. It seems to create a “medieval Augustine.” That is, a certain way of keeping present the problematic found in Augustine and often the letter of his work, although for reasons to be discussed it is not common to comment on his work textually. It is likely that Anselm of Canterbury cannot be understood without direct reference to Augustine. The influence becomes more elliptical, though it is expressed, in Peter Abelard (as in his “Theology summi boni” and “Ethics”). This influence is notoriously claimed by such authors as Henry of Gand, John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. There are also, in the thirteenth century, commentators of Augustine, such as the Dominican Nicolau Trevet. We seek to sketch the different figures of this appropriation and indicate the intensity of the resulting conceptual impact. The work includes a research internship (FAPESP, 2017/21858-4) linked to the seminar led by Christophe Grellard (L’ignorance invincible et le problème de l'hétérodoxie, De Jean Gerson to Jean Nider) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris.

Members

Coordinator: Prof. José Carlos Estêvão / Member: Gustavo Barreto Vilhena de Paiva
Funding: Foundation for Support of Research in the State of São Paulo (FAPESP).

José Carlos Estêvão

Academic Background

• 2009 Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: Saint Augustine and the Liberal Arts
• 1998 PhD in Philosophy at the University of São Paulo
  Title: Saint Augustine, Time and Music
  Supervisor: Prof. Franklin Leopoldo e Silva
• 1990 Bachelor’s Degree in Music at the University of São Paulo

Current Research

Sound and Image: Symbolic Forms and Limits of Language in Western Patristic Literature
The Christianization of the West led to a rejection of traditional musical and representative practices, committed to paganism. The condemnation of theatrical spectacles, on the one hand, and the fear of idolatry, on the other, were important obstacles to the transmission of ancient artistic practices. However, at this time (between the fourth and eighth centuries of the Christian era) the foundations of a new type of art and music were created, whose characteristics are fundamental to understand the further development of European culture. The research conducted until now on musical theories and aesthetic thinking in the patristic literature seem to show some limits, which have made it difficult to understand essential aspects of this transition. On the one hand, especially in music studies, almost exclusive attention has been paid to technical treatises, which are generally concerned with transmitting the Greek scientific tradition in the most faithful way possible (with misconceptions, it is true, that are not at all accidental and irrelevant), while the texts dealing with the pastoral use and the mystical meaning of the songs are not systematically studied, appearing only in some habitual quotation. In my doctoral thesis, I tried to show first the relation between the new value given to music and the emergence of an idea of conscience in the work of Augustine of Hippo; secondly, how this relationship sustains not only many aspects of Augustinian thought (the relationship between music and language, music and consciousness and thus the relation between music and time), but also the deep structure of later Christian singing, so far removed from the Greek-Roman tradition. To the idea of music as an objective proportional form, present in the relations between sound measures, typical of ancient culture, corresponds, in Christian times, a model of singing as an expression of an inner movement, which is expressed not in but through sounds.

Lorenzo Mammì