Sententiae

The Reception of Global Philosophies in Brazilian Philosophy

Lúcio Álvaro Marques — 2025-08-30

Introduction to articles on the topic of numbers Local Contexts of Global Philosophies

Joachim de Fiore, the Franciscans and the Feasts of Holy Ghost

João Lupi — 2025-08-30

When Joachim de Fiore the Abbot from Calabria, exposed the doctrine of the trinitarian concept of History, he defended an idea that would be developed and have consequences just till our days, particularly in some countries which have Portuguese as their main language. The first and decisive influence was on Franciscan friars, named “the spirituals” who adapted it to the radical religious ideal of poverty and the abolishment of hierarchy in the Church. The theory of History of the Abbot Joachim was made real in the Feasts of the Holy Ghost which in Portugal took peculiar characteristics that cannot be found in any other Christian nation. Brazil received the so-called Feasts of the Divine through the immigrants of the Portuguese Azorean Archipelago, preserving them till nowadays and thus extending the vitality of Medieval Philosophy not only through the cult of the Holy Ghost but also by political Theology which is associated to it. The utopia of a New Age of peace and brotherhood is part of the Feasts and constitutes a philosophy of Brazilian culture.

The Defense of an Ecological Ethic of Liberation: Leonardo Boff's Critique of the Exploitative Neoliberal Model

Lúcio Álvaro Marques — 2025-08-30

Facing of the global climate crisis and the increase in social inequalities, it seems important to us to address theoretical proposals that not only produce a negative critique of the existing social formation, but also propose some socio-political and ethical signs to find alternatives. In this sense, the Ethics of liberation represents a theoretical contribution to thinking about the critique of Modernity, the contemporary ecological crisis and the limits of neoliberalism in the 21st century.

Marilena Chaui’s Reading of Merleau-Ponty: From the Critique of Humanism to the Praise of Great Rationalism

Homero Santiago — 2025-08-30

The intellectual trajectory of Marilena Chaui began with a Master’s thesis on the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty. Successfully defended in 1967, it was Brazil’s very first academic study on the French philosopher, and thus vastly influential on the reception of his unique phenomenology in the country. Our aim is to circumscribe the essence of her reflections on Merleau-Ponty, among which one finds a highly original emphasis on the relationship between his thought and so-called Great Rationalism, the latter being cast in an ambivalent role as both a tradition to be overcome and a source of inspiration for a new ontology.

The Legacy of Structuralism: From Its Dogmas to Methodological Pluralism

Plínio Junqueira Smith — 2025-08-30

There is a widespread idea that the Philosophy Department at University of São Paulo, has been structuralist since the 1960s. In my opinion, this is a myth, the result of a misunderstanding of what structuralism is. I distinguish between three parts of structuralism: its conception of philosophy, its dogmas and its method for doing history of philosophy. I then discuss, for each of these parts, in what sense structuralism may still have left deep traces, for better or worse, in the Philosophy Department at University of São Paulo. Next, I point out what seems to me to be an ambiguity in the structuralist idea of method: one should distinguish between the philosopher’s method and the method of the structuralist historian of philosophy. Concerning the first, while structuralism offers an argument against all dogmatic methods, I propose the skeptical method as the best one. Finally, I argue that the structuralist rules for doing history of philosophy are good ones, but in many cases insufficient. Thereby I propose a methodological pluralism.

African Philosophy in Brazil: Orality, Agraphia, Ancestry and the Timbuktu Manuscripts

Tarcísio Afonso Tchivole — 2025-08-30

This article analyzes the reception of African philosophy in Brazilian postgraduate studies over the last two decades. The Timbuktu Manuscripts stand out as an epistemic turning point, as they highlight autonomous forms of African philosophical thought with repercussions in the Brazilian context. The persistence of the agraphia myth demands a decolonized approach that integrates oralities, textualities and written ancestries as legitimate and plural expressions of African philosophical knowledge. The results of the analysis point to the urgency of a critique of the categories of agraphia, orality and ancestry, as traditionally conceived, and to the importance of rediscovering and appreciating the Timbuktu Manuscripts.

Mathematics in the Light of Transcendental Aesthetics: did Kant Create a ‘Philosophy of Mathematics’?

Viktor Kozlovskyi — 2025-08-30

The article is devoted to the criticism of the thesis about the existence of a special ‘Philosophy of Mathematics’ in Kant’s transcendental philosophy. Based on the analysis of the peculiarities of the formation of mathematical subjects, in particular in the fields of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra, as well as the role of imaging and the productive power of imagination, the synthetic nature of mathematics and its ability to produce new knowledge, which corresponds to the basic principles of transcendental philosophy, is proved. It is demonstrated that the Kantian position is represented by the establishment of a priori conditions for the possibility of mathematical cognition, not a logical justification of mathematical concepts. It proves that the Kantian transcendental approach to mathematical cognition does not require formal-logical justification, which is inherent in most modern models of the philosophy of mathematics.

The Fundamental Power of the Soul in Kant’s Reflections on Genius: Between the Influences of Tetens and Sulzer

Manuel Sánchez-Rodrígez — 2025-08-30

In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant addresses the problem of reason's supposition of a fundamental power underlying the faculties of cognition. This concept had been debated in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy. Kant's position in this work is not entirely clear, although a distinct dependence on Tetens's prior treatment of the issue can be detected. The requirement to assume a unitary foundation underlying the diversity of the mind's operations or faculties was a common theme in Leibnizian-Wolffian philosophy. In this article, we will argue that Kant developed the concept of a fundamental power primarily through his theoretical elaborations on the nature of genius. In this way, he integrates this concern of the Leibnizian-Wolffian tradition into his aesthetic project.

Toward a Genealogy of Social Epistemology: Conceptual Origins and Re-invention of the Research Field

Stefaniia Sidorova — 2025-08-30

This article presents a historical-philosophical study of the formation of social epistemology as a distinct field. The author identifies two stages in its development: the initial conceptualization in 1950s library science (the project of Margaret Egan and Jesse Shera) and its reinvention in 1980s Anglophone philosophical discourse (the analytical project of Alvin Goldman, the critical project of Steve Fuller, and the collective project of Margaret Gilbert). Particular attention is given to the methodology of historico-philosophical analysis within social epistemology, and a novel anthropo-epistemological approach is proposed for constructing a chimerical genealogy. The author argues that social epistemology is not a homogeneous discipline but rather a spectrum of research projects. This study outlines the initial stage of social epistemology’s institutionalization and lays the groundwork for a critical historiography of the field.

The Fossils of French Spiritualism. Quentin Meillassoux – a New Path in the History of Philosophy?

Pavlo Bartusiak — 2025-08-30

Alain Badiou, in his “canonical” foreword to Quentin Meillassoux’s major work After Finitude: An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency (Après la finitude: Essai sur la nécessité de la contingence, 2006), claims that Meillassoux has opened up a new path in the history of philosophy. In my opinion, this claim is highly exaggerated. I argue that main ideas of Meillassoux's speculative materialism – such as epistemological optimism, the reactivation of discourse on the absolute, radical anti-Platonism, critique of the principle of sufficient reason, and the contingency of being – had already been clearly articulated long before him by representatives of French spiritualism, a highly influential but now almost forgotten philosophical current in 19th-century France.

Medicine and “True Philosophy” in Descartes

Oleg Khoma — 2025-08-30

The article proves that the term “Descartes’ medicine” is appropriate to denote a “useful science” that had to be created. During his lifetime, Descartes never began to create it. Therefore, none of his works (both published and drafts) can be called “medical texts” in an indirect sense. I argue with the thesis of Fabrizio Baldassarri, who calls the treatises L’Homme and La Description du corps humain such texts. I criticize contemporary works on Descartes’ “medicine” or “medical philosophy” (interpreted as independent branches of Descartes’ research) for their methodological unsoundness. Based on Descartes’ classification of sciences and on his “order” of 1647 research program, I argue that there is no reason to speak of Descartes’ properly “medical” explorations. Descartes’ studies of anatomy and physiology are a legitimate part of his “physics,” not “medicine,” although they are referred to the latter. I also identify three meanings of the term “medicine” in Descartes’ texts, arguing that none of them gives grounds for considering L’Homme and La Description du corps humain as “medical texts” in the Cartesian sense.

The Anniversary That Continues. Willaschek, M. (2025). Kant. The Revolution of Thought. (V. Terletskyi, Trans.). Kyiv: Tempora.

Dmytro Zabolotniy — 2025-08-30

Review of Willaschek, M. (2025). Kant. The Revolution of Thought. (V. Terletskyi, Trans.). Kyiv: Tempora.

The influence of Vico’s and Hegel’s ideas on the Risorgimento. De Arcangelis, A. (2025). Vico, Hegel, and the Making of Modern Italy. The Spirit of the Risorgimento. London: Bloomsbury.

Ivan Ivashchenko — 2025-08-30

Review of De Arcangelis, A. (2025). Vico, Hegel, and the Making of Modern Italy. The Spirit of the Risorgimento. London: Bloomsbury.

The Paths of Ukrainian Historiosophy. Artiukh, V., & Tymoshenko, Y. (2025). The history of Ukrainian historiosophical thought (mid-19th – first half of the 20th century): Textbook. Kyiv: FOP Yamchynskyi.

Yuliia Korneliuk — 2025-08-30

Review of Artiukh, V., & Tymoshenko, Y. (2025). The history of Ukrainian historiosophical thought (mid-19th – first half of the 20th century): Textbook. Kyiv: FOP Yamchynskyi.

Idealism and Realism Within the Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophy. Cerbone, D. R. (2023). Wittgenstein on Realism and Idealism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Anna-Mariia Kotliarova — 2025-08-30

Review of Cerbone, D. R. (2023). Wittgenstein on Realism and Idealism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ways to Achieve Happiness. Gray, J. (2024). Feline Philosophy. Cats and the Meaning of Life. Kyiv: Laboratoria.

Anatolii Tekliuk — 2025-08-30

Review of Gray, J. (2024). Feline Philosophy. Cats and the Meaning of Life. Kyiv: Laboratoria.

“Pythagoreorum Opera”: Specifics and Strategy of Ukrainian Translation

Vitalii Turenko — 2025-08-30

The author describes the conceptual, terminological, and stylistic principles of their translation of the corpus of works of the Pythagorean tradition into Ukrainian. The main translation strategy is based on the principle of balancing semantic fidelity to historical meanings with adaptation to modern Ukrainian academic usage. The translation was carried out considering the interdisciplinary context: medical, psychological, aesthetic, ethical, political. A defining feature is the combination of philological accuracy with hermeneutic interpretation, which allows conveying not only the content but also the philosophical logic, stylistics, and symbolism of Pythagorean cosmology, ontology, epistemology, and moral anthropology.

Philosophy of Scientific Theories as a Branch of Theoretical Philosophy. Part I

Volodymyr Kuznetsov — 2025-08-30

Interview by Arina Oriekhova and Maksym Sahan with Volodymyr Kuznetsov, dedicated to the state of the Ukrainian philosophy of science in the 1960s–1980s.

The History of Philosophy as a Tool for Public Discussion. Metz, T., & Seachris, J. W. (2024). What Makes Life Meaningful? A Debate. New York: Routledge.

Elvira Chukhrai — 2025-08-30

Review of Metz, T., & Seachris, J. W. (2024). What Makes Life Meaningful? A Debate. New York: Routledge.

Myroslav Popovych, Volodymyr Mazepa and the Struggle for the “Wall of Memory”

Vlada Davidenko — 2025-08-30

The first annotated publication of appeals by Myroslav Popovich and Volodymyr Mazepa to the authorities of the Ukrainian SSR regarding the protection of the Wall of Memory (1988 and 1989).

Materials for the Bibliography of Klymentiy Hankevich

Volodymyr Pylypovych — 2025-08-30

The author provides the most complete bibliography of Klymentiy Hankevich's book and press publications from 1868–1909, printed in Ukrainian, German, Polish and French.