Wanderley Dias Da Silva
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Institute of Philosophy, Belgium
Wanderley Dias da Silva is a researcher, teacher and hiker. He graduated in Philosophy from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) in 2011, and also completed a master’s degree in philosophy at the same institution. He taught History and Critical Thinking in India. He traveled through New Zealand, Nepal, Jordania, Syria, Turkey and the United Kingdom. He is currently part of the Research Group “Roots and Horizons of Philosophy and Culture in Portugal” at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Porto, where he is developing a doctoral project on the issue of alterity in Flusser’s philosophical thought. He is also passionate about the work of Fernando Pessoa and Hegel and author of Fernando Pessoa and Hegel: The Poet and the Philosopher (Lisbon International Press, 2024).
Articles of Wanderley Dias Da Silva
Entre Lúcifer e o Cristo {ou} Queda e Redenção
This essay addresses Flusser’s response to the problem of nihilism. To that purpose, it is necessary to recall Flusser’s advice: “Let us listen to the sources of our conversation, let us listen to proper names as they whisper within us, and let us converse with them” – and all this without fanaticism. Therefore, this enquiry will be conducted in the shadow of the objections of radical orthodoxy to the Cartesian Cogito ergo sum, and in the light of Heidegger’s response to the problem. Flusser, Heidegger and radical orthodoxy converge in their assumption that the elaboration of the Cogito ergo sum is already the unfolding of nihilism, and the belief that, when dealing with issues such as nihilism, we must revisit the voices of our tradition. Listening to these voices forces us to return to the beginning to verify what we already took for granted.
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.
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.