Research Fields

Metaphysics and Knowledge

The Research Field “Metaphysics and Knowledge” is constituted by a specific set of problematized themes throughout Philosophy’s History, either under the form of an investigation about being and the ways of saying it, or under the form of an investigation of the genes and justification of knowledge. Thus, this field will be able to address the question of the genesis and justification of metaphysics itself as a science, as well as its relation, on one hand, with the objects of faith and, on the other hand, with the other sciences, notably mathematics and physics. In this context, it is important to discuss the status of first science and the foundation of other sciences traditionally attributed to metaphysics. Consequently, an important point concerns the reception of Aristotelianism in the Middle Ages, mainly regarding the status of metaphysics and theology assumed from the second half of the 13th century. Along with the problem of the constitution of metaphysics as science and its relation with other sciences, questions concerning the investigation and determination of nature as such are articulated, as well as questions about the origins and limits of human knowledge, which worried so much the moderns. Questions such as the mathematization of nature, the appreciation of empirical knowledge and the establishment of an adequate method for science appear as constituents of the modern project for the foundation of knowledge, whether in its rationalist or empiricist form. The problem of knowledge is yet strongly tied to the reflection over the cognitive apparatus, the faculties of mind involved therein, its functions and peculiar operations. Therefore, the classical questions about the incorruptibility of the soul, about its cognitive powers and its relation to the senses will be covered by this field. In order to address the metaphysical problems linked to knowledge, such as the nature and the criteria of rational certainty, the theoretical description of cognition and mind, the ontology of theoretical objects and the logic underlying it, resorting to the History of Philosophy and the appropriate analytical and formal-logical methods is needed. This approach can be applied both to metaphysical and classical epistemological problems and to new problems relevant to science’s historiographical discussion and its growing interrelationship with technology and its consequences. In doing so, it is intended that the philosophical tradition be appreciated in the light of the philosophical and scientific questions of our time.  

Aesthetics and Social Philosophy

This Research Field addresses and problematizes the multilateral relations, established by Philosophy, among Art and society. The concept of mimesis, in Greek antiquity, since Plato, is linked to paideia and to an ideal of society, extended to Aristotle, who, despite valuing mimesis as art, does not completely disassociate it from moral, political, and cognitive pretensions.  Understood as rational production of the spirit, but also as irrational manifestation, the fundamental concepts of aesthetics (mimesis, material intuition, expression, rational production of the spirit,) reflect social and political values. The dissolution of the classical triumvirate, pulchrum, verum et bonum, in modern aesthetics, which gave autonomy to the judgment of taste, did not spare philosophy the role of rediscussing, in the phenomenologies of Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, the question of the engaged work of art and the artist’s social responsibility, and the Hegelian-Marxist philosophical currents to rediscover, following the example of the Frankfurt School, the eminently political place of art.  So this Research Field studies Aesthetics not only as a philosophy of art or artistic beauty, but also as a sphere of sensitivity and culture, whether from the point of view of moral and political education, or as justification or criticism of the social order, or as elevation of the human spirit.  Artistic creation and political action constitute a privileged sphere of discussion of questions concerning freedom and rationality, and are especially dealt with, for example, within the Enlightenment project of rational organization of the world.  Phenomenology questions this project, especially the dominant form of instrumental reason at the expense of bodily and linguistic experiences.  For critical theory, the Enlightenment has become a myth and has not fulfilled its promise of emancipating man. In this context, culture and society are also examined from a historical point of view, either to relativize an ideal of a perfect society or, on the contrary, to justify cultural and social forms under a perspective of progress. Ideology has an aesthetic and a political aspect, as in the display of totalitarian regimes, and is examined in light of discussions such as the technification of art, reification, and the critique of capitalist and communist societies. Within the critique of culture comes the recent debate about multiculturalism, in which various marginalized cultures claim recognition. In the wake of these discussions, the political dimension comes to the fore, and it is vital to mobilize the classic notions of political thought that deal with forms of government, political participation, and the ordering of institutions.