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2270Definition and essence in Metaphysics vii 4Ancient Philosophy 34 (1): 75-100. 2014.I discuss Aristotle's treatment of essence and definition in Metaphysics VII.4. I argue that it is coherent and perfectly in accord with its broader context. His discussion in VII.4 offers, on the one hand, minimal criteria for what counts as definition and essence for whatever kind of object, but also, on the other hand, stronger criteria for a primary sort of definition and essence—and thereby it serves the interest of book VII in pointing to the explanatory power of the essence of composite…Read more
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2216Aristotle’s Definition of Scientific KnowledgeHistory of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 19 (1): 79-104. 2016.In Posterior Analytics 71b9 12, we find Aristotle’s definition of scientific knowledge. The definiens is taken to have only two informative parts: scientific knowledge must be knowledge of the cause and its object must be necessary. However, there is also a contrast between the definiendum and a sophistic way of knowing, which is marked by the expression “kata sumbebekos”. Not much attention has been paid to this contrast. In this paper, I discuss Aristotle’s definition paying due attention to t…Read more
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432Aristóteles e o Uso da Matemática nas Ciências da NaturezaIn M. Wrigley P. Smith (ed.), Coleção CLE (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil), Cle. pp. 207-237. 2003.I discuss the issue whether Aristotle's philosophy of science allows the use of mathematical premises or mathematical tools in general for explanaing phenomena in the natural sciences. I thereby discuss the concept of "metabasis eis allo genos" as it appears in Posterior Analytics I.7.
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675Princípio da Não-Contradição e Semântica da Predicação em AristótelesAnalytica. Revista de Filosofia 4 (2): 121-158. 1999.My object is Aristotle's discussion of principle of non-contradiction in the first stretch of Metaphysics IV.4. My main focus rests on the connections between Aristotle's discussion of the principle and some key notions of his (explicit or implied) semantics.
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330In what sense there is no science of corruptible things: an analysis of Posterior Analytics I 8Cadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciéncia 19 (1): 61-87. 2009.Aristotle claims that the object of scientific knowledge cannot be otherwise, and at Posterior Analytics I-8 he adds that there is no scientific knowledge of corruptible objects. These claims have been traditionally understood in terms of a strict requirement of eternal existence: objects of genuine scientific knowledge must be eternal in the sense that they must exist eternally. Sometimes the "eternal existence" is taken by scholars as equivalent to the timeless truth of universal propositions…Read more
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39037“metafísica” De Aristóteles - Livro XiiCadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciéncia 15 (1). 2005.Translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda into Portuguese.
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532A Noção Aristotélica de MatériaCadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciéncia 17 (1): 47-90. 2007.I discuss some of Aristotle’s scattered remarks from which one can construct his conception of matter. Aristotle seems to oscillate between two conceptions: one in which matter is the principle of becoming, another in which matter is a constituent element with no contribution for processes of becoming. Sometimes Aristotle takes matter as a thing independent in itself, and the correlated form is a feature that does not contribute to the matter’s essence, nor is a necessary condition for its exist…Read more
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3902TRÊS TIPOS DE ARGUMENTO SOFÍSTICODissertatio 36 187-220. 2012.This paper attempts to clarify the nature and the importance of a third kind of sophistic argument that is not always found in the classification of those arguments in the secondary literature. An argument of the third kind not only is a valid one, but is also constituted of true propositions. What makes it a sophistic argument is the fact that it produces a false semblance of scientific explanation: its explanation seems to be appropriate to the explanandum without being so. Evidence from thi…Read more
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758Necessidade, Teleologia e Hilemorfismo em AristótelesCadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciéncia 16 (1): 33-57. 2006.I argue that Aristotle’s teleology in natural science (more specifically, in biology) is not incompatible with his admissions of the “brute necessity” of the movements of matter. Aristotle thinks that the brute necessity emerging from the movements of matter is not sufficient to explain why living beings are what they are and behave the way they behave. Nevertheless, Aristotle takes this brute necessity to be a sine qua non condition in biological explanations. The full explanation of the featur…Read more
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681Things are the same as their “essences”? Notes on Aristotle’s Metaphysics Z-6Analytica (Rio) 16 (1): 37-66. 2012.I discuss Aristotle’s views in Metaphysics VII-6 (Z-6) on the issue whether each thing is the same as its essence. I propose a deflationary interpretation according to which Z-6 develops a “logical approach” (logikos) in which “sameness” amounts only to coextensiveness between definiendum and definiens with no attention to more specific issues about ontological and explanatory features of definitions.
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756Explanation and Method in Eudemian Ethics I.6Archai: Revista de Estudos Sobre as Origens Do Pensamento Ocidental 20 191-229. 2017.I discuss the methodological passage in the begin- ning of Ethica Eudemia I.6 (1216b26-35), which has received attention in connection with Aristotle’s notion of dialectic and his methodology in Ethics. My central focus is not to discuss whether Aristotle is prescribing and using what has been called the method of endoxa. I will focus on how this passage coheres with the remaining parts of the same chapter, which also are advancing methodological remarks. My claim is that the meth- od of Ethica …Read more
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529Defining topics in aristotle’s topics VIPhilósophos - Revista de Filosofia 19 (2): 151-193. 2014.I argue that Topics VI does not contain any serious theory about definitions, but only a collection of advices for formulating definitions in a dialectical context, namely, definitions aiming to catch what the opponent means. Topics VI is full of inconsistencies that can be explained away by this approach: the inconsistencies reflect "acceptable opinions about definitions" that distinct groups of interlocutors accept. I also argue that the "topoi" need not be pieces of serious theory Aristotle i…Read more
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1188Aristóteles: Etica a Nicômaco Livro VIDissertatio 34 285-300. 2011.Tradução para o Português de Ethica Nicomachea VI
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2254Phronesis e Virtude do Caráter em Aristóteles: comentários a Ética a Nicômaco VIDissertatio 34 303-345. 2011.These are commentaries to the translation into Portuguese of Nicomachean Ethics VI, found in the same volume of Dissertatio.
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1173Knowledge and Opinion about the same thing in APo A-33Dois Pontos 10 (2): 255-290. 2013.This paper discusses the contrast between scientific knowledge and opinion as it is presented by Aristotle in Posterior Analytics A.33. Aristotle's contrast is formulated in terms of understanding or not understanding some "necessary items". I claim that the contrast can only be understood in terms of explanatory relevance. The "necessary items" are middle terms (or explanatory factors) that are necessary for the fully appropriate explanation. This approach gives a coherent interpretation of eac…Read more
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455Os seis requisitos das premissas da demonstração científica em AristótelesManuscrito 35 (1): 7-60. 2012.I discuss in this paper the six requirements Aristotle advances at Posterior Analytics A-2, 71b20-33, for the premisses of a scientific demonstration. I argue that the six requirements give no support for an intepretation in terms of “axiomatization”. Quite on the contrary, the six requirements can be consistently understood in a very different picture, according to which the most basic feature of a scientific demonstration is to explain a given proposition by its appropriate cause.
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1281As noções aristotélicas de substância e essênciaEditora da Unicamp. 2008.This book discusses Aristotle’s notions of essence and substance as they are developed in Metaphysics ZH. I examine Aristotle's argument at length and defends an unorthodox interpretation according to which his motivation is to provide an answer against a conflation between criteria for existential priority (delivering substances as primary beings) and criteria for explanatory priority (delivering essences as primary principles).
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2422Comentários ao Livro XII da “Metafísica” de AristótelesCadernos de História E Filosofia da Ciéncia 15 (1). 2005.Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda. It accompanies the translation of Aristotle's Metaphysics Lambda into Portuguese in the same volume of the journal.
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606Aristóteles e a noção de sujeito de predicação (Segundos analíticos I 22, 83a 1-14)Philósophos - Revista de Filosofia 12 (2): 107-129. 2007.This paper explores some aspects of Aristotle’s notion of subject for predications. I examine the argument Aristotle develops in Posterior Analytics I.22, 83a1-14. I argue that the notion advanced by Aristotle in that argument is different from the one found in his Categories, although they are far from being incompatible with each other. I also add some philological considerations to justify the Portuguese translation of “hypokeimenon” as “algo subjacente” (“underlying thing”) instead of “sujei…Read more
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |