Areas of Concentration, Lines of Research, and Faculty

 

  1. Ethics and Political Philosophy

 

Lines of Research in the Ethics and Political Philosophy Area:

1.1.Foundations for politics and theories of justice

  • Investigation of classical issues of political philosophy in medieval, modern, and contemporary authors, such as: state formation, power and authority, reason and history, politics and metaphysics, justice and fairness, distributive justice, justice and rights, theories of democracy.

1.2.Foundations for moral action

  • Investigation of classical issues of foundations for ethics in modern and contemporary authors, such as: moral action and duty, moral and virtue, moral feelings, ethics and language, meta-ethics.

Faculty working in this Area: Alessandro Pinzani, Aylton Barbieri Durão, Darlei Dall’Agnol, Delamar José Volpato Dutra, Denilson Luis Werle, Janyne Sattler, Maria de Lourdes Alves Borges, Milene Consenso Tonetto, Selvino José Assmann

 

 

  1.  Epistemology and Logic

 

Lines of Research in the Epistemology and Logic Area:

2.1.Theories on the nature and the limits of knowledge

Investigation of:

  • Classical issues of the theory of knowledge in modern and contemporary authors, such as: justification of knowledge, mechanisms of production and regulation of beliefs, criteria and conceptions of truth; foundationalism, fallibilism, skepticism, and naturalism.
  • Epistemological issues concerning the nature of the mental (Philosophy of Mind).

2.2.Epistemological and methodological foundations of scientific knowledge

  • Classical issues of philosophy of science, such as: scientific rationality, objectivity, criteria of scientificity, relation between theory and experience, theories of scientific progress, scientific realism, and structure of theories and scientific accounts.
  • Issues concerning the relation between science and technology. Logical and epistemological analysis of the foundations of cognitive values and of the principles and concepts of Natural Sciences and Human Sciences.

2.3.Logic, ontology, and philosophy of formal sciences

  • Topics of logic and philosophy of logic and mathematics, such as: axiomatic and formal systems, theories of truth, models, truth and demonstrability. Classical logics and higher-order logics, and their applicability. Logic, mathematics, and ontology.

Faculty working in this Area: Alberto Oscar Cupani, Alexandre Meyer Luz, Décio Krause, Cezar Augusto Mortari, Gustavo Caponi, Ivan Ferreira da Cunha, Jaimir Conte, Jonas Becker Arenhart, Luiz Henrique de Araújo Dutra, Marco Antônio Franciotti, Newton C. A. da Costa

  1. Ontology

Lines of Research in the Ontology Area:

3.1.– Ontology and method

Investigation of issues on ontology and language, with emphasis on the following subjects: formal and material ontology; categorical analysis and ontological difference; grammar and metaphysics; theories of predication; analysis of classical concepts of metaphysics.

3.2.– Ontology and phenomenology

Investigation of ontological and phenomenological issues, with emphasis on the following subjects: description, constitution and phenomenological deconstruction of the subject and the object; discourse and human condition; aesthetical and phenomenological experience of art; metaphysics and poetic and musical language.

3.3.– Ontology, mind and metapsychology

Investigation of ontological issues concerning the foundations of empirical psychology, with special attention to programs dedicated to the analysis of behavior, the dialogue between the behaviorist tradition and cognitive psychology, Gestalt and its deployment, Freudian psychoanalysis and its deployment. Investigation of issues of philosophical psychology related to the nature of the mental (Philosophy of Mind).

Faculty working in this Area: Carolina de Souza Noto, Celso Reni Braida, Claudia Pellegrini Drucker, João Eduardo Pinto Bastos Lupi, Luiz Henrique de Araújo Dutra, Marco Antônio Franciotti, Mariana Paolozzi Sérvulo da Cunha, Marcos José Múller-Granzotto, Nazareno Eduardo de Almeida, Roberto Wu, Ulisses Razzante Vaccari