THE DIALECTICAL STRUCTURE OF POLITICS IN HENRIQUE CLÁUDIO DE LIMA VAZ

Abstract

This paper explains the conceptual framework of Politics in Henrique Claudio de Lima Vaz. This structure was not explicitly defined by Lima Vaz himself, although he precisely described its general lines in his writing “Ethics and Law”, fourth chapter of Escritos de Filosofia II. Ética e Cultura, published in 1988, but originally written in 1977. The explication of Lima Vaz’s conception of Politics undertaken here is based on the text above. First, the article will explain the general lines of Lima Vaz’s dialectical development and his conception that a method must be adapted to the contents. Then, it discusses Lima Vaz’s idea of a philosophical system and its dialectical organization. It proceeds by thematizing the syllogistic structure of Politics, understood as the continuity of Ethics in Aristotle’s sense and, therefore, as the Philosophical Science of Law, as formulated by Hegel. Finally, the work seeks to show the adequacy of such a structure to the structures of Ethics and Anthropology.­