Nísia Floresta was a 19th-century writer and translator known as “the Brazilian Mary Wollstonecraft.” She published the first book on women’s rights in South America when Brazil was gaining independence from Portugal and a new post-colonial nation was being built She also argued for the rights of the enslaved and indigenous Brazilians who were marginalized and exploited in this new nation Josh and Ray explore her life and thought with Nastassja Pugliese from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro author of Nísia Floresta (Elements on Women in the History of Philosophy) Part of the Wise Women series generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities guards didn't dare enter the cell blocks at the Alcacuz prison in northeastern Brazil Only about a dozen at a time are supposed to watch some 1,500 inmates whose gangs are supplied through tunnels that let them bring in guns nicknamed "Swiss cheese" by residents of the surrounding neighborhood 14 riot in which 26 prisoners died - and officials here are still trying to finally regain full control "The state has lost control," Vilma Batista a guard at Alcacuz and president of the correction officers union in Rio Grande do Norte state speaking just outside the prison in the wake of the clashes "We have lost all of the buildings in the prison where there are inmates Alcacuz is among the worst prisons in Brazil The problems here can be found across Latin America's largest nation which is experiencing a wave of prison massacres and unrest that have left at least 130 inmates dead since the beginning of the year Neglect has long been building at Alcacuz where more than 1,550 inmates are crammed into buildings meant for about 1,000 Batista said guards - no more than 12 are on duty at any time - haven't entered some parts of the complex since riots in March 2015 She said they are routinely paid late and their watchtowers are so decrepit that some are unusable There are no x-ray machines to scan visitors and a machine used to check food is often broken the guards can do little more than corral the prisoners into areas they themselves are afraid to enter Authorities acknowledge that Alcacuz is beyond saving Robinson Faria has announced it will close though only after three new prisons are ready an emergency force of corrections agents has been sent in to establish order and repair the damaged facility inmates spilled out of cells whose doors had been destroyed which they rarely entered except for occasional almost militaristic raids allowing prisoners to roam the entire facility unchecked with security forces merely ensuring they didn't escape and occasionally breaking up fights They were unable to enter even to rescue those wounded in fighting Cell blocks are divided up by gang affiliation as is typical in Brazilian prisons with a handful of prisoners standing guard each night to ensure rivals don't attack inmates sleeping on the floors or nearby patios Prisoners complained to the AP that they don't have regular access to legal assistance or medical care some inmates with knife and even gunshot wounds from the most recent fighting have not been treated Basic services may not be available at Alcacuz but nearly everything else is: Police have seized cellphones handguns and several types of ammunition at the facility which is built on sand soft enough to dig by hand popping up just beyond the lightly patrolled walls boasted via the WhatsApp messaging service more than 50 prisoners also fled the facility which neighbors refer to as the "Penitentiary of Maximum Escape." got even worse this year when fights between gangs led to a series of gruesome murders a member of the Crime Syndicate of Rio Grande do Norte barbecued body parts of a slain rival and ate the flesh That kind of violence and the grisly killings seen in January go beyond the typical problems in Brazil's prisons and could signal the beginning of a nationwide gang war for control of the system a political scientist at the University of Chicago who studies criminal conflict in Latin America the country's largest criminal organization has picked fights with several gangs as it tries to expand its reach outside its traditional base in Sao Paulo the First Capital Command is fighting the Crime Syndicate for control Brazil incarcerates more than 620,000 people in a system that has space for a little over 370,000 according to a 2014 Ministry of Justice report Forty percent of detainees are merely awaiting trial The stiffening of penalties for drug offenses and campaigns to crack down on crime have sent even more offenders into the prison system President Michel Temer's government has promised around 30 new prisons But the new facilities would make space for about 25,000 more inmates plugging only 10 percent of the deficit reported in 2014 "More prisons means more prisoners and stronger gangs," said Karina Biondi author of "Sharing this Walk: An Ethnography of Prison Life and the PCC in Brazil." ''The solution Associated Press writer Renata Brito reported this story in Natal and AP writer Sarah DiLorenzo reported from Sao Paulo Renata Brito on Twitter: www.twitter.com/renatabrito91 Sarah DiLorenzo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sdilorenzo Celebrating diversity in the global traditions of philosophy Ask the public if they can name a philosopher and chances are they will indeed come up with a name there’s a lot more to the subject than the thoughts of (dead) white European men the Department of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University would like to celebrate diversity Please read below as we highlight some of the many global traditions and thinkers that come together to make WORLD philosophy The ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (墨子) lived during the middle of 5th Century BCE though the Records of the Grand Historian (史記) reports that he was an official in the state of Song around the time that Confucius (孔子) lived He may also have been an artisan from the state of Lu Mozi was the first philosopher in history known to argue for a consequentialist theory of ethics including a defense of “impartiality” over the Confucian doctrine that one should be more partial to those in one’s own family Mozi advocated for a state version of consequentialism according to which the benevolent person should promote what is beneficial for all and eliminate what is harmful for all the Mohists were the first to introduce explicit argumentation into their philosophy in ancient China Mozi asks: If you had to entrust your family to someone else’s care the partial caretaker or the impartial caretaker an 8th-century CE Buddhist philosopher from India explored the ideal of the bodhisattva – a selfless ethical and spiritual ideal – and its connection to a metaphysical view called emptiness gives instructions for how one goes about internalizing these views and putting them into practice is considered the most influential philosopher in the pre-modern era His influence on world intellectual history is considered second to Aristotle’s; Ibn-Sīnā’ is often referred to as “The Preeminent Master” (al-shaykh al-raʾīs) Ibn-Sīnā made significant contributions to philosophy the Canon (al-Qanun fi’l-Tibb) was a major reference for European Medical schools until the early modern period One of his projects investigates the nature of the self/soul and hence can only be accessed by contemplating the body so he designed the floating man thought experiment Imagine a person who was just created by God in the air such that he is completely deprived of any sensual perception of his own body The question now is: Will this person be aware of anything Because this self-awareness is a precondition for any other form of cognition We are always self-aware even if we are not Ibn-Sīnā’s basic point is that since the floating man is aware of himself despite not being aware of his body soul is distinct from the body and therefore Aristotle was wrong Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Avicenna-miniatur.jpg By Unknown author -  Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4925110 Further Reading: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Ibn Sina (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ibn-sina/#PhilAims) Maimonides or Moses ben Maimon (Rambam in Hebrew) a 12th century Jewish philosopher (1138–1204) of the Medieval period and Islamic philosophers like Averroes (also from Cordoba) clearly influenced Maimonides Change in rulers led his family to flee Spain for North Africa first to Morocco and later to Egypt (Cairo) where Maimonides settled. Maimonides’ first work a singular achievement that continues to have an impact His later work includes extensive medical writings Maimonides’ most famous philosophical work is The Guide for the Perplexed (1190) it addresses the tensions between the knowledge gained from philosophy (from reason) and the theological knowledge derived through the figurative language of biblical texts (from revelation).  he prioritizes the role of the intellect in discovering the reasons why things are as they are His intellectualism is paired with a commitment to free will as that which enables us to pursue understanding and to be held accountable both by ourselves and others for what we do Maimonides does maintain that our reason has limits and in particular we cannot fully comprehend God intellectually we rely on the imaginative and figurative language of religion The work was considered controversial as it seemed to undermine the authority of biblical texts Image credits: By Ambroz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53017244 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosh%C3%A9_ben_Maim%C3%B3n.jpg Gabrielle Suchon (1632-1703) was born in Semur (Burgundy Not much is known about her life; she entered a convent left and then supported herself as a teacher Suchon published two works: the Traité de la morale et de la politique divisé en trois parties et l’autorité [Treatise on Ethics and Politics ou La vie sans engagement [On the Celibate Life Freely Chosen or Life Without Commitments] in 1700 under her own name she attacks the oppressive conditions of convents and inveighs against the institution of marriage and the harm marriage brings to women Suchon develops an account of human flourishing that expressly attends to the ways in which the social and political inequality of women compromises their ability to realize their natures as human beings she argues that women are constrained rather than at liberty kept ignorant rather than acquire knowledge and are subjugated rather than hold authority she provides an account of what she terms a Neutralist one who leads a life “without commitments,” such as in marriage or religious vocation Neutralist women (as well as others) can both live morally and determine for themselves how to live and develop relationships with others Dionísia Gonçalvez Pinto (1810-1885) was born in Papari The town later changed its name to Nísia Floresta Nísia Floresta was probably the first Brazilian woman with her own column in a local newspaper Here she wrote about the unfair life of Brazilian women Direitos das Mulheres e Injustiça dos Homens (Women’s rights and men’s injustice) as a translation of Woman not Inferior to Man by Mary Wortley Montagu Nísia was one of the first Brazilian women to talk publicly about women rights she founded her own schools for teaching History which at the time were considered scandalous A lágrima de um Caeté (The tears of a Caete) which explored the degradation of Brazilian first natives through exploitation by white men Her book also mentions the horror of one of many civil wars in a Brazil before the Republic Nísia gained the attention and respect of Brazilian liberals because she explored not only the suffering of all analyzing politics and commenting on women’s issues Opúsculo Humanitário (Humanitarian Short Opus) she posits that society’s progress can only be evaluated by how important women are within it Image credit: Edit - we've been told that this image is not Floresta so we're looking for a verified image to put in its place. By Unknown author - http://www.agendabh.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/nisia-floresta.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90965170 Further Readings: “Gender, Race and Patriostim in the Works of Nisia Floresta” by Charlotte Hammond Matthews  https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt3fgnb1