The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the often-ignored inherent philosophical connection between Charles Taylor¡¦s ontological argument (philosophical anthropology) and his political scheme. Taylor articulates a moral realist understanding of the plurality of values and an ontological statement of human agency, and tries to demostrate a possibility of reconciliation between essentially conflicting values and cultures. In Taylor¡¦s view, ¡§the many¡¨ does not necessarily entail tragical choices among values, as Isaiah Berlin famously asserted, but can be possibly mediated through the common human agency with the hope that we can eventually reach one true consensus. Based on this uniquely Taylorian understanding of human condition, Taylor¡¦s political scheme can be seen as an effort to ameliorate the deep-rooted malaise within Western modernity, and find a common ontological ground among community members and citizens by which deliberations can be facilitated. The thesis will go on to examine Taylor¡¦s two most inspiring political assertions, namely, the polilics of recognition and civic humanism, in detail. I will argue that although Taylor optimistically believes that a common moral and cultural understanding can help forming and be transformed into a common political common good within a given community, the connection between these two levels of commonality is fairly weak. Moreover, what liberals object is precisely Taylor¡¦s attempt to equate cultural common understanding with a form of political common good.

Martin Buber's diagnosis of modern politics points to the disengagement of citizens from direct and personal encounters as a central contributing factor to the increasing politicization afflicting human life. Buber sees meaning situated in actual life with the world, with others, and with God. The living reality is encounter; living truth, hence, cannot be possessed, only actualized in mutual encounter. The importance of Buber's work to political problems lies in his ability to negotiate paradoxes in three cases: between being and becoming, between individualism and collectivism, between personal relationships and the real demands of an existent condition. In the first case, a radical openness to relation exposes human interlocutors to the surprising mutuality of genuine dialogue, hence allowing them to be changed by the encounter. Existential being is made present through encounter, but in doing so, interlocutors set towards a path to human becoming in dialogue. Social education, the embrace of social spontaneity through mutual encounter, resists the grip of propaganda over interhuman life by challenging and testing the "ready-made truths" often peddled in modern politics. In the second case, he contends that actual life cannot be found in the individual simply as individual, or the individual who surrenders himself to a collective. Human life,for Buber, is actualized in partnership. Hence, there is no presentness for the individual or the collective. This alienation leads to a situation where political illusion dominates - where real conflicts that invariably do arise between groups of people are obscured by "political surplus conflicts", conflicts that are exaggerated and possibly fabricated for the sake of politics. In the third case, people work towards transforming a shared existent condition by providing honest and direct address to persons - to confront the world in its presentness, rather than continuing to live under political illusions. Buber provides us a rebellious spirit who knows he cannot act alone. Buber's rebellious spirit understands that the most effective form action is immediate human togetherness, when genuine address is responded in kind. It is in the direct and immediate encounter, the genuine word between persons, that interhuman trust can weaken the presumed vice grip of distrust on human existence. Once people can dare to trust, they can once again renew actual life - a life of partnership.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-165).

Revised version of author's dissertation-- Universität Trier, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p.189-199).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Georgetown University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral) - Freie Universität, Berlin, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-165).

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The work s objective relies mainly on the reading of Scheler s Philosophical Anthropology, to bring up the theme about the problem of man from phenomenological approaches. We attempt to develop Scheler s philosophical perspective through the phenomenological method, which is established mainly by Husserl. The contributions on this philosopher concept of intuition were decisive to the elaboration of Schelerian ethics, but especially to the Philosophical Anthropology. Scheler s concern about the human phenomenon demands a renewed metaphysics. In search of the human being s unity, the Scheleriansmetaphysics together with the phenomenology, rewrite man s essentiality. From that, the man, as person in the world, owns a peculiar structure, namely, the spirit. In turn, this concept grants to Scheler s Philosophical Anthropology the metaphysical leap from the concrete sphere to the transcendental sphere. In order to sustain the thesis concerning the phenomenological method present in the metaphysics of Scheler s Philosophical Anthropology, we start from a historic-conceptual contextualization of Scheler s Philosophical Anthropology. Posteriorly, a more focused analysis will be made of Scheler s more metaphysical thesis, to place the issue of the philosopher s phenomenological affiliation. The main work here analyzed is The Position of Man in the Cosmos (1928). Adjuvant works such as The Ethics and Ideas I, by Husserl, proved importance to the research. / O objetivo da pesquisa se baseia, sobretudo, na leitura da Antropologia Filosófica de Scheler, para trazer à tona o tema acerca do problema do homem a partir de abordagens fenomenológicas. Procuramos desenvolver a perspectiva da filosofia de Scheler através do método fenomenológico, o qual é instituído, principalmente, por Husserl. As contribuições acerca do conceito de intuição deste filósofo foram decisivas para a elaboração da ética scheleriana, mas, em especial, para a Antropologia Filosófica. A preocupação de Scheler com relação ao fenômeno humano exige uma metafísica renovada. Em busca da unidade do ser humano a metafísica scheleriana, juntamente com a fenomenologia, reescrevem a essencialidade do homem. A partir disso, o homem, enquanto pessoa no mundo, possui uma estrutura peculiar, a saber, o espírito. Este conceito, por sua vez, concede à Antropologia Filosófica de Scheler o salto metafísico da esfera concreta para a esfera transcendental. A fim de sustentar a tese acerca do método fenomenológico presente na metafísica da Antropologia Filosófica de Scheler, partimos de uma contextualização histórico-conceitual da Antropologia Filosófica de Scheler. Posteriormente,faremos uma análise mais detida das teses mais metafísicasde Scheler, para, finalmente, colocar a questão da filiação fenomenológica do filósofo. A principal obra aquianalisada é A Posição do Homem no Cosmos(1928). Obras auxiliares como A Ética, bem como Ideias I de Husserl, também mostraram-se importantes para a pesquisa.

[pt] Karl Löwith (1897-1973), em sua fecunda produção acadêmica, dedicou-se ao estudo de temas centrais na discussão historiográfica atual – como filosofia da história e historicismo, niilismo europeu e crise da modernidade –, bem como à análise de autores essenciais para a compreensão desse debate – como Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacob Burckhardt e Martin Heidegger. Com o intuito de acercar-se dessa discussão, a presente dissertação tem como objeto de análise a trajetória historiográfico-filosófica desse autor, que, célebre por sua crítica à moderna concepção de história, concebeu uma teoria da secularização e propôs, na fase tardia de sua obra, uma releitura do conceito de homem, que pudesse traduzir a equânime e simultânea convivência entre história e “natureza”, como alternativa ao ontohistoricismo moderno. / [en] Karl Löwith (1897-1973) has studied central themes in the current historiographical debate - as philosophy of history and historicism, European nihilism and crisis of modernity - as well as to the analysis of key authors for understanding of this debate - as Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacob Burckhardt and Martin Heidegger. In order to bring closer to this discussion, this thesis aims to analyze the historiographical and philosophical trajectory of this author, who, known for his criticism of the modern conception of history, devised a secularization theory and proposed, in the late phase of his work, a reinterpretation of the concept of man who could translate the equal and simultaneous coexistence between history and nature as an alternative to modern ontohistoricism.

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / O Ensino da Arte: a arte na educação como conhecimento humano é o título da dissertação que teve como objetivo geral mostrar que a presença da arte no processo educativo possui uma dimensão de conhecimento. Ela foi realizada através de pesquisa bibliográfica centrada na leitura de obras de cunho filosófico. Neste trajeto examinamos os modelos pedagógicos predominantes no ensino da arte no Brasil, a formação do conhecimento racional moderno e a concepção de arte na idade moderna. Estas reflexões teóricas nos aproximaram de uma nova concepção de arte como conhecimento, segundo a ótica do filósofo Ernst Cassirer que entende a arte como forma simbólica de apreensão da realidade. / Art Teaching: Art in education as human knowledge is the titel of a dissertation that has had as a general goal to show that the presence of art in the educative process has a dimension of knowledge. It has been done through a bibliografical research centered in the reading of works of philosophical subject. In this route we examined the predominant pedagogical patterns in the teaching of art in Brazil, the formation of modern rational knowledge and the conceptionof art in modern age. These theoretical reflections approach us to a new conception of art as a forma of knowledge, as for the concepts of Philosopher Ernst Cassirer who understands art as a simbolic forma of reality apprehension.