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Wanderley Dias Da Silva

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Institute of Philosophy, Belgium

Following his studies in Buddhist Philosophy at the Vrindavana Institute of Higher Education, Law at the University of Aracruz, and Psychology and Criminology at the University of East London, Wanderley Dias da Silva (1967) eventually graduated in 2010 from the Institute of Philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, with a First Class Honours degree in Philosophy and a thesis on Joseph Carens and John Rawls on the Idea of the Original Position and the Problem of Migration. From 2009 to 2011, he wrote regularly for The Voice: International Students Newspaper of Leuven. Currently, Wanderley is enrolled in the post-graduate program in political philosophy at KUL, completing research on Machiavelli’s notion of political corruption. He tends to involve Flusser in his discussions because Flusser clearly acknowledges the extent and the power of the problem of the dualism of being and the good, and realizes that it provides a continuing threat to genuine eudaimonia and self-realization.

Articles of Wanderley Dias Da Silva

Flusser and Descartes. The Unremitting Mindfulness of Thinking and Being

Of all modern scholars, Descartes is probably the one who has met with most criticism, and even though his formulation of the cogito sounds pretty obvious, Hobbes, Locke, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Žižek have repeatedly tried to poke holes in his ideas. The lifelong effects of the Cartesian doubt worried Vilém Flusser too. To him, Cartesianism is Christianity through and through. What exactly, in Flusser’s view, is so unacceptable about the Cartesian doubt, then? Why does Flusser identify Descartes with Christianity? Can we appreciate Flusser’s concern with the Cartesian doubt without losing the excitement and intimacy of grappling with Descartes’ metaphysics? Of course, Flusser’s critique is not mainstream; and we can even hear traces of Heidegger’s voice in the background. Still, Flusser’s objection is unique and interesting, making it a refreshing alternative in the scholarly discussion of Descartes. One aim of the paper is to turn the sword of Flusser’s critique of the Cartesian doubt against Descartes’ own detractors.

Descartes and Flusser (PDF 416.63 KB)

Flusser’s Moral Theory – Philosophy as Melancholy

~Flusser is a moral philosopher worthy of careful study and criticism. This paper is my attempt to critically investigate this crucial, moral, aspect of his writings. To focus attention on the significance of his moral theory, I shall compare Flusser with Hegel, a comparison that is not accidental as both philosophers tried to explain “evil” in dialectical terms by elaborating on myths derived from the Book of Genesis. Hegel discusses the issue in his version of the Story of the Fall of Man and Flusser does so in his interpretation of the Story of Creation. The contribution of both is obviously important, but I think Flusser’s narrative can achieve what Hegel set out as his aim but failed to accomplish. Flusser’s understanding of evil reflects on and fosters the exercise of a particular moral virtue, namely, modesty. There is little doubt that, for Flusser, the moral individual lives a heroic life. Is Flusser providing “the cure” to evil? There is no way of knowing it in advance. In the last analysis, this is a matter for each reader to decide.

Moral Theory (PDF 333.5 KB)

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