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This text derives from a recording, and transcripts, of the introduction which Althusser gave on 6 December 1963, to a seminar for students in the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, offered at his invitation by Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron. Althusser takes the opportunity to raise questions about the status of social science and suggests that Bourdieu and Passeron represent slightly different strands of contemporary research practice, partly as a result of their different formation and practice since themselves leaving the École. Althusser first considers the relation between the human sciences and the traditionally instituted Faculty of Letters or Humanities. What is the origin of the compulsion to constitute a science of human relations? Given that the social sciences have established themselves, Althusser then tries to define their nature. He suggests that they have three forms: as abstract and general theory, as ethnology, and as empirical sociology. He discusses the pros and cons of each in some detail. Althusser then asks what are the features which constitute sciences and concludes that they must always possess discrete theoretical perspectives corresponding with discrete components of reality but must also possess an element of self-referentiality or, as he puts it, must be objects to themselves. Althusser suggests that his contemporary social sciences are not philosophically adequate by the criteria which he advances. He proceeds to introduce Bourdieu and Passeron in such a way as to invite consideration of whether their practices meet his criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the book "Oneness: East Asian Conceptions of Virtue, Happiness & How We Are All Connected" by Philip J. Ivanhoe is presented. It outlines the details of the metaphysics and ethics and the scientific considerations of the social sciences. Further discusses certain aspects of Eastern philosophy especially neo-Confucianism, and philosophers such as Zhu Xi and Wang Yang Ming. Also mentions about racism, xenophobia and misogyny.

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses the relationship between popular culture and philosophy.

This paper addresses the problem of how to identify a small and parsimonious set of principles or "postulates" that may help us understand the great theoretical foundations of the social sciences. From a philosophical point of view, it presents ten premises that are perhaps essential for any attempt at elaborating a social theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article lists article published in periodical's 2019 issue on topics including philosophy and social science, groundwater in California, and political physics of vital processes.

The article presents authors view on the teachings of philosopher including John Dewey and John Lachs. It is mentioned that philosophy is in every area of advanced learning and is a rigorous science and is the life of the mind and of teaching which could guide and propel a rounded, joyful, and well-lived life.

El artículo discurre sobre las ideas sobre la fenomenología social del filósofo alemán Alfred Schütz. Los autores comentan sobre la relación entre las ciencias sociales, la cultura y la sociología, según Schütz. También se considera la influencia de la filosofía de Edmund Husserl en las ideas de Schütz.

The aim of this article is to explore the capacity of the social sciences to contribute to comparative philosophy. After discussing problems involving the practice of comparative philosophy, the author focuses on the issue of the object of study and uses the social sciences to resolve the difficulties encountered. Using Randal Collins's work, he analyzes its object of comparison, philosophical creativity. He then puts forward a series of proposals linked to certain obscure or not fully developed points in Collins's work. Finally, he uses these issues to propose new objects of comparison: philosophical generations, the degree of autonomy and harmoniousness, forms of legitimizing the philosophical endeavor, and intellectual movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is devoted to the socio-philosophical problems of the formation of intellectual culture components of the youth, their organizational, methodological, psychological and social factors in social development. It also discusses the socio-philosophical content of the intellectual culture problem, the development of the intellectual culture of young people in the context of social development, and its impact on the development of civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre el concepto de la complejidad según Pedro Luis Sotolongo, profesor de la filosofía de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba. El autor comenta sobre el trabajo de Sotolongo en el campo de las ciencias sociales y examina la relación entre el pensamiento y la acción. También se considera su educación en la filosofía y en las ciencias físicas.

This paper considers whether philosophy of mathematics could benefit by the introduction of some sociology. It begins by considering Lakatos's arguments that philosophy of science should be kept free of any sociology. An attempt is made to criticize these arguments, and then a positive argument is given for introducing a sociological dimension into the philosophy of mathematics. This argument is illustrated by considering Brouwer's account of numbers as mental constructions. The paper concludes with a critical discussion of Azzouni's view that mathematics differs fundamentally from other social practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the relevance of arguments by Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the field of social studies with special focus given to his idea that the human being is a political animal (zoon politicon). Aristotle’s views on social organization, the role of the individual in society, and collective governance are examined. The author suggests that Aristotle’s social views could form a basis for a democratic theory involving deliberation and citizen participation in governance.

This is a reflection on scenarios of offense and moral contempt from the standpoint of view of critical theory. It addresses the question of how philosophy impinges on social sciences when it has the purpose of building a precise grammar on outrage, when it is the outcome of violence directed towards persons by criminals, private institutions, states, the capitalist system, churches, and war conflicts. The article proposes basis for reconsidering the critical theory out of the thinking of Alex Honneth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the book "Dilemmas and Connections: Selected Essays" by Charles Taylor.

A calendar of events related to philosophy, psychiatry and psychology in 2013 and 2014 is presented including the International Colloquium on the Philosophy of Technology conference in Argentina, the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities in Canada, and a workshop on "Imaging Time" in Germany.

The concept of the axial age, initially proposed by the philosopher Karl Jaspers to refer to a period in the first millennium BCE that saw the rise of major religious and philosophical figures and ideas throughout Eurasia, has gained an established position in a number of fields, including historical sociology, cultural sociology, and the sociology of religion. We explore whether the notion of an 'axial age' has historical and intellectual cogency, or whether the authors who use the label of a more free-floating 'axiality' to connote varied 'breakthroughs' in human experience may have a more compelling case. Throughout, we draw attention to ways in which uses of the axial age concept in contemporary social science vary in these and other respects. In the conclusion, we reflect on the value of the concept and its current uses and their utility in making sense of human experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the three great principles of the French Revolution —liberty, equality, and fraternity— the concept of fraternity has been, philosophically speaking, the least studied and the most enigmatic. This article proposes a philosophical discussion of the concept of “fraternity” through the various conceptual metaphors that have been made through time. The author proposes that there are several conceptual metaphors that are completely different and even political and cognitive opposites, ranging from the modern republican political tradition to a legacy for contemporary socialism. The article concludes that the future of republican socialism lies in setting in resolutely and realistically setting in motion the pancivilizing program of fraternal revolutionary democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre la relación entre el concepto filosófico de la fenomenología, las ciencias sociales y las humanidades. El autor comenta sobre los aspectos sociales de la filosofía y considera las obras de tales filósofos como Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger y Rubén Sierra. También describe su estudio de la filosofía en Colombia.

Current interpretations of Heidegger's notion of das Man are caught in a dilemma: either they cannot accommodate the ontological status Heidegger accords it or they cannot explain his negative evaluation of it, in which it is treated as ontic. This paper uses Simmel's agonistic account of human sociality to integrate the ontological and the ontic, indeed perjorative aspects of Heidegger's account. Section I introduces the general problem, breaks the exclusive link of Heidegger's account to Kierkegaard and delineates the general form of a solution. Section II then sketches Simmel's conception of sociology and sociality. Section III determines what Heidegger is trying to do in Chapter Four of Division I in Being and Time in order to formulate a strictly ontological account of das Man. Section IV uses Simmel's account of sociality to build into this ontological account an inherent tendency to display the negative features Heidegger ascribes to das Man. In conclusion, section V points to how the proposed account of das Man intimates the character of fundamental ontology as nascently a form of critical theory. It also explains the extent to which Heidegger's perjorative characterisations of das Man and the Man-selbst are legitimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents some background information related to the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. The aim is to enable the taking of position into more specific tasks of social science. Investigation of the processes related to Culture and Society needs of such matters. This stance reflects the contributions of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, considered here as the main authors of a generation of the Institut für Socialforschung. We take for granted that it is impossible to do social research without a specific philosophical approach, even if the researchers are not aware of that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of what is called philosophy in Latin America has had at least two answers, two different philosophical attitudes. Or we speak of Philosophy in Latin America as the exercise of a universal discourse located in a particular space and time, or we talk about Latin American Philosophy as the particular way philosophical inquiry assumes from certain circumstances relating to questions on "identity" and "the national". In Colombia, during the twentieth century, the tension between these two responses was experienced as a process where the first type of attitude became, from the professional viewpoint, the only possible form of philosophical exercise. This text narrates the experience of a professional philosopher in search of a place where both philosophical attitudes can dialogue without underestimate each other. This search is done by reflecting on the value of the history of philosophy (philosophical tradition) when the interests go beyond the canonized texts that tradition established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the content, assumptions and implications of the principle of the social distribution of power within Montesquieu's general theory of the separation of powers. In challenging a tradition that has been devoted to the principle of the juridical distribution of executive, legislative and judicial functions, and at the same time denouncing the anachronism of the principle of social distribution, I first sustain that this principle is independent of the class model to which it is applied by Montesquieu. Secondly, I maintain that juridical distribution depends on social distribution in order to avoid the abuse of power and to safeguard public freedom. Finally, I hold that the principle of social distribution refers to the essentially political dimension of Montesquieu's theory of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document presents a Paul Ricoeur’s suggested background of the so-called “epistemilogical debate in the Social Sciences,” referring to the formulation of a genuine method of research for those sciences which responds to the specific aspects of their study object. In this sense, the issue in the romantic hermeneutical tradition is tracked, specifically, in Wilheim Dilthey’s thought, going through the structural theory of written text study and a formulation of a theory of Anglosaxon action, to finish at the ricoeurtian hermeneutical consideration on meaningful action, that sees the text as a paradigm and an approach to overcome the obstacles around this debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I comment on M.Á. Fernández's paper on veritism and the value of understanding. I begin by observing that veritism relies on a definition of epistemic value that threatens to trivialize the discussion. Then I proceed to examine Fernandez's arguments with some detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: If psychopathy is the absence of the cooperative dispositions present in normally-developing individuals, then individuals with higher levels of psychopathic personality traits should exhibit lower levels of cooperation in experimental games. The present study investigated whether Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) scores were negatively correlated with cooperation in one-shot prisoner’s dilemmas and bargaining games. The results show that specific PPI subscales (especially Machiavellian Egocentricity) were negatively associated with cooperation, and have diverse effects on bargaining. These results suggest that neither cooperation nor psychopathy are ‘monomorphic’, and that future research should identify how different aspects of psychopathic personality influence distinct types of social interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An essay is presented on the works of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. The author attempts to translate Deleuze's "minor" rhetoric, a term applied to invoke ethical sensibilities and linguistic orientations for the purposes of transforming self, life, and disciplinary and extradisciplinary praxis. The author asserts that Deleuze believed being in the majority is nihilistic and complicit in becoming a mindless, generic being.

Many political theorists assume that Kant’s categorical imperative can only present itself to politics epistemologically—that is, as a test or procedure for acquiring more certain knowledge of duties. This study retrieves the ontological aspect of the categorical imperative by showing that the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals is a conversion narrative. In the Groundwork Kant describes a transformative encounter with the categorical imperative as a principle that discloses our (ordinarily concealed) ontological condition. This encounter opens a new mode of being characterized by the feeling of awe. In its ontological aspect, the categorical imperative discloses human freedom and demands an unflagging thoughtfulness, but offers no material guidance about duties. When understood in both its ontological and epistemological aspects, the categorical imperative offers a rich portrait of human responsibility and can help illuminate the ethical stance appropriate to politics without becoming a standard to be imposed upon politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author shows how Fichte's conception of the "new upbringing" in its intellectual, moral, and religious aspects is rooted in his doctrine of human nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper begins by outlining the approaches to the development of a philosophy of social science in the work of Bourdieu, Passeron, and Habermas. The discussion of the positions of Comte and Mill which follows is an historical case-study of the tensions between competing stances adopted in the 1960s — between the tendency to formulate a logic of the social sciences and the tendency to ground a philosophy of social science in ontology or in the socio-political conditions of its production. The method adopted to compare the contributions to the philosophy of social science made by Comte and Mill displays sympathy with Bourdieu’s inclination to analyse the social conditions for the genesis of theory. The paper first considers comparatively the contexts in France and England for the emergence of social science and philosophy about social science. It then examines separately the developments of the projects of Comte and Mill before turning to an articulation of the contrasts between their positions, focusing on aspects of their correspondence as subsequently published and introduced by Lévy-Bruhl. The purpose of the paper is to raise the general question whether international intellectual exchange in relation to the analysis of society can occur within a universal discourse possessing a priori validity or through socio-cultural exchanges which assist the construction of universality through the mutual recognition of difference. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, the author responds to several reviews of his biographical book "Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher," which were also published within the present journal issue. He mainly defends his use of the sociology of ideas, a specific methodological branch of the discipline, when examining the pragmatist thought and intellectual development of U.S. philosopher Richard Rorty. He also engages with the reviewers' criticism of his interdisciplinary study. The conflictual relationship between his book and intellectual history is also explained.

Information on the European Science Foundation's workshop "Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation in the Social Sciences: Realm and Limits," held at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands from October 26-27, 2009 is presented. The conference featured various discussions and papers related to scientific character of social and cultural sciences. Also, it featured a program titled "The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective" (PSE).

A social and political philosophy that ignores invisibility and visibility are not the matters of perception but of violent conditions, methods and social processes of confirming or infirming human existing that disprove the claims of a pure and abstract philosophy, is nothing more than ideology. A critical reflection of the 'normal' state of things implies an option for mutilated and unclassified existence of excluded, subordinates, poor, unemployed, beggar, caretakers, domestic workers, housewives, who are present but do not exist, and are violated by discriminatory agendas of what is visible and invisible in modern society. Phenomenology and logic of the social question would analyze the living conditions of the public sphere, unravel this kind of violence, and discern the meaning and value of the struggle of invisible people to become visible ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An article is presented that reports on empirical happiness research as it relates to philosophical views on happiness. This empirical research has philosophical implications (referred to as ERPI) and is related to subjects including psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and economics. The article discusses the problems in ERPI and epistemological conflicts when fields of study overlap. Information is also provided on happiness in terms of socioeconomics, demography, hedonism, pain, and the concept of intrinsic value in life.

L'ancien questionnement philosophique sur le bon emploi du temps, que l'on trouve notamment développé dans les protreptiques (exhortations à la philosophie) de l'antiquité, est repris de manière peu orthodoxe par Diderot dans son Essai sur les règnes de Claude et de Néron (1782), à propos du texte de Sénèque De la brièveté de la vie: alors que Sénèque prône de façon toute classique que le bon emploi du temps coïncide avec le retrait dans la solitude pour s'employer à la philosophie, Diderot déclare vouloir donner son temps à qui le réclame et le compter pour rien. Nous envisagerons cette prise de position à la lumière de la querelle qui avait opposé Diderot à Rousseau sur la question de la sociabilité et de la solitude: Rousseau se montre proche de Sénèque, il est jaloux de son temps, c'est la seule chose dont on puisse être avare; Diderot, lui, en est prodigue, il l'offre à qui le demande. A travers cette divergence se pose la question de la place du philosophe et de la philosophie dans la société: comment mesurer ce qui appartient à l'individu et ce qui appartient au groupe? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses an article on Philosophy of Education Society in 1969, the review of the book "After Descartes," and implicit in the post-cartesian meta-narrative.

Much has been written lately about the issue of fence mending versus fence crossing between moral philosophy and experimental social science. I focus on a specific manifestation of this issue, as instantiated in the recent debate between moral psychologists and philosophers on how the former should react to the fall of Kohlbergianism. Is it perhaps advisable to react by focusing on "psychologized morality" rather than, as Kohlberg did, on "moralized psychology"? I use recent self-research as a test case: Does moral psychology need moral theory to account for the self, or can it assume the kind of academic sovereignty that advocates of "psychologized morality" suggest? Although the eventual answer runs counter to the idea of "psychologized morality," I suggest that adherence to "moralized psychology" must be modified by some important caveats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over fifty years have passed since the publication of John Rawls' paper 'Two Concepts of Rules' (1955). The paper remains a unique work. Rawls' seminal 'distinction between justifying a practice and justifying a particular action falling under it' (1955: 3) provides us with a powerful analytic proposition that can have extensive theoretical and empirical consequences for the social sciences, as I seek to demonstrate below. In footnote 1 on page 3, Rawls states that 'practice' is a technical term that refers to 'any form of activity specified by a system of rules which defines offices, roles, moves, penalties, defenses, and so on, and which gives the activity its structure. As examples one may think of games and rituals, trials and parliaments.' Rawls' philosophical objective was to defend utilitarianism vis-à-vis 'punishment and the obligations to keep promises.' The general idea was to provide a clearer understanding of a rule regardless of whether or not it is defensible. The notion of two conceptions of rules is central to his discussion. I ask: can Rawls' unique analytical notion of two concepts of rules be clarified by empirical research in the social sciences? I present some recent data from a criminal justice case to illustrate the notion's potential and limitations. The empirical circum stances are somewhat dramatic. The case involved an allegation of interracial sexual molestation and two counts of Grand Theft. The sexual molestation allegation is a theme at the heart of deep-seated cultural tensions between Caucasians and African Americans that can be traced back to initial importation of slaves from Africa. The inter-racial sexual molestation allegation was documented in detail by two law-enforcement agencies but was never pursued. Once major consequence of this decision was to render empirically problematic the issue of when a case is said to fall under a rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including "Two Concepts of Rules," by John Rawls, another by Christian Greiffenhagen and Wes Sharrock on the empirical arguments in sociology, and one by Rod Watson on constitutive rules.

The article discusses the history of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author reflects on the establishment of the institute and research conducted in order to support Marxist-Leninist philosophy during the era of dictator Josef Stalin. The rise of research groups dedicated to psychology and sociology is noted. Post-Soviet changes are presented to include growth in the creative activity and productivity of philosophers, diversity of research, and the elimination of ideological gaps in philosophical investigations.

The article presents a historical and theoretical review of the philosophical and sociological perspectives on the construction of the individual and society. The author uses these perspectives to analyze the theories of the sociologists Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck, and Gilles Lipovetsky. The modern enlightened reconfiguration, 20th Century philosophy, and the concept of the epistemological threshold in the deconstruction movement of the 21st Century are some of the topics discussed in reference to the sociological proposals of Giddens, Beck, and Lipovetsky.

One of problems we find in the field of the epistemology of social sciences and which is related directly with the knowledge of the other, has to do with the processes that a subject suffers when he tries to go from the constitution of meanings to the interpretative constitutions, especially in the conscience of the actor/observer. This phenomenon has a particular relevance if we pretend to establish some distinctions in the context of intersubjetive relationships. In the present work we have as a purpose to design and comment about some distinctions we observe in the processes of the constitution of meaning, from a perspective that transcends purely empirical antecedents. To tackle this study we will make use of some of the approaches of Weber, Husserl, Parsons and Schütz, since they, from a direct or indirect way, had given origin to a line of research different from the positivistic tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on issues concerning the philosophy of social science. It examines the role of social scientists in determining the relationships between causes and effects in the social realm. It discusses the significance of values in social science. It relates the belief of sociologist Émile Durkheim that the scientific study of society is capable of helping individuals identify the means that satisfy their predetermined ends.

This study divides from the current need to link the different current perspectives with regard to the alterity. From there examine different authors of different areas of knowledge to initiate a reclassification of the finds. Later to this process entails develop and the opposing researches are analyzed. Of this form there takes is produced an itinerary that constitutes the basement for the generation of a multi-disciplinary approach. Finally it was achieved to give new perspectives to the hermeneutic process of the human interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on Kant's theory of taste, which postulates that judgments about objects can imply something about the judging subject and his or her similarities with others. It argues that the said experience of beauty develops an instance of absorption as mentioned in Michael Fried's "Absorption and Theatricality." It cites Kant's theory of taste as something that establishes a moving imperative for agreement, which can only be described as emotional. It discusses Kant's definition of form and content or matter. He also claims that form enables content to be given. It compares Kant and Diderot's description of self. Moreover, an analysis of absorbed figures by Fried and two normative claims made by judgments of taste that were identified by Kant are presented.

An essay is presented on the political aspects of an affirmative metaphysics. The author reflects on the practice of metaphysical notions of truth, drawing from the ideas of philosophers Alain Badiou, Louis Althusser, and Gilles Deleuze. Other topics include freedom, the hegemonic structure of philosophy, and philosophy conditioned by science.

This article aims to present a new perspective on contemporary debates about the transformations of work and employment, and their impacts on individuals and communities, by focusing on the writings of Christophe Dejours. Basically, the article attempts to show that Dejours' writings make a significant contribution to contemporary social theory. This might seem like an odd claim to make, since Dejours' main training was in psychoanalysis and his main activity is the clinical, psychiatric study of pathologies linked to work. However, in the course of his career, Dejours has greatly extended this initial clinical interest, and by integrating insights from philosophy and other social sciences, has developed a highly sophisticated and consistent theoretical model of work. Starting from a narrow psychopathological focus, Dejours has gradually developed a full-blown theoretical defence of the centrality of work. The article outlines the main features of Dejours' metapsychological model, and the structuring role played by work in his theory of subjective identity. This allows us to outline the originality of his approach by comparison with some of the most significant current accounts of the impact of transformations of work and employment conditions upon individuals and societies, notably Honneth, Castel and Sennett. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moral innovation of human security is also its terrible Achilles' heel. In a world of globalisation, where the values of the global view are imposed upon most people with the force of necessity, the concerns of individuals resist global action. At the very moment when individual concerns are put on the agenda, the possibility for achieving anything local is nearly erased by individual weakness in a world of massive collective interests. What can the particular interests of individuality make claim to in such a strong environment of universality? The aim of this chapter is to discuss the ethical dimensions of the concept of human security in a principled discussion of ethics and international relations. It starts with the evolution of the concept of human security, its use in international policy and its philosophical history. It ends with a discussion of the paradoxes of different philosophical positions with respect to the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]