Estuda de forma multidisciplinar a bioética e o biodireito, em face dos avanços provocados pela biotecnologia na área jurídica e metajurídica.

Our paper studies the anatomy of the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider and its influence on the broader model landscape of particle physics. We investigate the phases of this discovery, which led to a crucial reconfiguration of the model landscape of elementary particle physics and eventually to a confirmation of the standard model. A keyword search of preprints covering the electroweak symmetry breaking sector of particle physics, along with an examination of physicists own understanding of (...) the discovery as documented in semiannual conferences, has allowed us an empirical investigation of its model dynamics. From our analyses we draw two main philosophical lessons concerning the nature of scientific reasoning in a complex experimental and theoretical environment. For one, from a confirmation standpoint, some SM alternatives could be considered even more confirmed by the Higgs discovery than the SM. Nevertheless, the SM largely remains the commonly accepted account of EWSB. We present criteria for comparing degrees of confirmation and expose some limits of a purely logical approach to understanding the Higgs discovery as a victory for the SM. Second, we understand the persistence of SM alternatives in the face of disfavourable evidence by borrowing the Lakatosian concept of a research programme, where the core idea behind a group of models survives, while other aspects adapt to incoming data. In order to apply this framework to the model landscape of EWSB, we must introduce a new category of research programme, the model-group, and we test its viability using the example of composite Higgs models. (shrink)

Three studies examined the co-existence of natural and supernatural explanations for illness and disease transmission, from a developmental perspective. The participants (5-, 7-, 11-, and 15-year-olds and adults; N = 366) were drawn from 2 Sesotho-speaking South African communities, where Western biomedical and traditional healing frameworks were both available. Results indicated that, although biological explanations for illness were endorsed at high levels, witchcraft was also often endorsed. More important, bewitchment explanations were neither the result of ignorance nor replaced by biological (...) explanations. Instead, both natural and supernatural explanations were used to explain the same phenomena, and bewitchment explanations were highest among adults. Taken together, these data provide insight into how diverse, culturally constructed belief systems about illness co-exist across development. (shrink)

Experiments in particle physics have hitherto failed to produce any significant evidence for the many explicit models of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) that had been proposed over the past decades. As a result, physicists have increasingly turned to model-independent strategies as tools in searching for a wide range of possible BSM effects. In this paper, we describe the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SM-EFT) and analyse it in the context of the philosophical discussions about models, theories, and (bottom-up) (...) effective field theories. We find that while the SM-EFT is a quantum field theory, assisting experimentalists in searching for deviations from the SM, in its general form it lacks some of the characteristic features of models. Those features only come into play if put in by hand or prompted by empirical evidence for deviations. Employing different philosophical approaches to models, we argue that the case study suggests not to take a view on models that is overly permissive because it blurs the lines between the different stages of the SM-EFT research strategies and glosses over particle physicists' motivations for undertaking this bottom-up approach in the first place. Looking at EFTs from the perspective of modelling does not require taking a stance on some specific brand of realism or taking sides in the debate between reduction and emergence into which EFTs have recently been embedded. (shrink)

Dawid's account of non-empirical theory assessment is meant to complement traditional theory assessments. I contend that his arguments don't provide support for this account. His three arguments, the no alternatives argument, the unexpected explanatory connections argument, and the meta-inductive argument from prior theories' success, are all problematic, particularly for an assessment of string theory. In particular, I argue that the meta-inductive argument is idle, because it's role in underwriting the future predictive success of a theory is subsumed by the normal (...) accounting of its predecessor's predictions in theory growth and testing. Dawid's arguments are interdependent, so showing that one fails is sufficient to cast doubt on his entire account. (shrink)

O objetivo do estudo é revisar a literatura brasileira sobre a problemática de desenvolvimento de crianças assistidas em clínicas-escola de 1980 a 2008, para avaliar mudanças nos problemas desenvolvimentais em relação ao sexo da criança. Os artigos são oriundos das bases eletrônicas Bvs, Indexpsi, L..

Reestablishing feelings of control after experiencing uncertainty has long been considered a fundamental motive for human behavior. We propose that rituals (i.e., socially stipulated, causally opaque practices) provide a means for coping with the aversive feelings associated with randomness due to the perception of a connection between ritual action and a desired outcome. Two experiments were conducted (one in Brazil [n = 40] and another in the United States [n = 94]) to evaluate how the perceived efficacy of rituals is (...) affected by feelings of randomness. In a between-subjects design, the Scramble Sentence Task was used as a priming procedure in three conditions (i.e., randomness, negativity, and neutral) and participants were then asked to rate the efficacy of rituals used for problem-solving purposes. The results demonstrate that priming randomness increased participants' perception of ritual efficacy relative to negativity and neutral conditions. Implications for increasing our understanding of the relationship between perceived control and ritualistic behavior are discussed. (shrink)

Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programmes centres around series of theories, with little regard to the role of models in theory construction. Modifying it to incorporate model-groups, clusters of developmental models that are intended to become new theories, provides a description of the model dynamics within the search for physics beyond the standard model. At the moment, there is no evidence for BSM physics, despite a concerted search effort especially focused around the standard model account of electroweak symmetry breaking. Using (...) the framework provided by Lakatosian research programmes, we can capture the way the periphery of a model-group changes as the available parameter space shrinks, while its central tenets remain untouched by unfavourable experimental findings. By way of motivation, I provide two case studies of model-groups that offer alternative mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking: supersymmetry and composite-Higgs models. Both of these model-groups are under pressure from the discovery of the Higgs boson, yet they have both been active research projects in the years after the Higgs discovery. However, a proper assessment of the progress of an ongoing research programme is impossible through a purely Lakatosian lens, so I propose replacing it with Laudan’s problem-solving account, which provides ongoing assessment, while offering normative guidance concerning the pursuit-worthiness of research programmes. My incorporation of model-groups into Lakatosian research programmes captures the developments of two attempts to expand our physical description of the world, and Laudan’s problem-solving rationality allows us to assess their pursuit-worthiness. (shrink)

A report on the 2019 Bonn “Simplicities and Complexities” Conference, organized by "The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider" research unit.

What explains the unique features of human culture? Culture is not uniquely human, but human culture is uniquely cumulative. Cumulative culture is a product of our collective intelligence and is supported by cognitive processes and learning strategies that enable people to acquire, transform, and transmit information and technologies within and across generations. Technological and social innovations are currently driving unprecedented changes in cultural complexity and diversity. Innovation is a cognitively and socially complex, multistep process that typically requires (cumulative) cultural learning (...) to achieve. I argue that the technological solutions that characterize twenty-first-century innovation can only be explained by understanding both the capacity to learn from and build upon the insights of others and the transmission systems that store the knowledge and technologies of previous generations. Human uniqueness is a product of cumulative cultural learning, transmission, and innovation. (shrink)

Competing Explanations of Competing Explanations: Accounting for Conflict Between Scientific and Folk ExplanationsThis paper focuses on the level of people’s explanatory reasoning. It examines why laypeople prefer folk explanations of various physical or biological phenomena to alternative, well‐understood scientific explanations. Shtulman and Legare call this psychological phenomenon “explanatory co‐existence.” On the basis of new experimental data, they evaluate two possible accounts of explanatory co‐existence, a theory‐based and an associative account, and argue that a theory‐based account is the better supported.

In this article, caring, remembering and sharing memory are presented as moral responses, the case study being Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Memory connects memories and images, while care connects individuals, which is an ethical issue. When a person’s memory is lost, the care of others becomes the only thread connecting them to the world. AD deprives a person of memories, body control, makes it impossible to remember, communicate, move, recognize the environment, and disrupts consciousness. Caring for a patient with a neurodegenerative (...) brain disease requires constant reminding and reiteration; the presence of a caring person reminds of what the patient themselves can no longer remember. Lost memories do not mean that life or relational values have also lost their meaning. The description of the memory movement emphasizes the importance of repetition in the moral act. Highlighting the matter of care, also in scientific work, is the aim of this text. To care is to remember, on behalf of the AD patient, about the patient’s life. Within bioethical research, moral responses are an important point for projects which seek to improve the condition of patients—not only the condition of health but also the comfort of life. This improvement will not be possible without attentive, committed caregivers and their responsible attitude in the face of the phenomenon of memory loss. (shrink)

In his unpublished 1979 Lectures on the Philosophy of Mind, Saul Kripke offers a knowledge argument against materialism focusing on deaf people who lack knowledge of auditory experience. Kripke's argument is a precursor of Frank Jackson's better‐known knowledge argument against materialism (1982). The paper sets out Kripke's argument, brings out its interest and philosophical importance, and explores some similarities and differences between Kripke's knowledge argument and Jackson's.

Polyphony of Anxiety. The Interview with Stefano Micali about His Book Phenomenology of Anxiety.

This essay answers two questions that continue to drive debate in moral and legal philosophy; namely, ‘Is a risk of harm a wrong?’ and ‘Is a risk of harm a harm?’. The essay’s central claim is that to risk harm can be both to wrong and to harm. This stands in contrast to the respective positions of Heidi Hurd and Stephen Perry, whose views represent prominent extremes in this debate about risks. The essay shows that there is at least one (...) category of risks – intentional impositions of risk on unconsenting agents – which can be both wrongful and harmful. The wrongfulness of these risks can be established when, on the balance of reasons, one ought not to impose them. The harmfulness of these risks can be established when the risks are shown to set back legitimate interests. In those cases where risks constitute a denial of the moral status of agents, risks set back agents’ interest in dignity. In these ways, the essay shows that there are instances when a risk can constitute both a wrong and a harm. (shrink)

Relating Narratives is a major new work by the philosopher and feminist thinker Adriana Cavarero. First published in Italian to widespread acclaim, Relating Narratives is a fascinating and challenging new account of the relationship between selfhood and narration. Drawing a diverse array of thinkers from both the philosophical and the literary tradition, from Sophocles and Homer to Hannah Arendt, Karen Blixen, Walter Benjamin and Borges, Adriana Cadarero's theory of the `narratable self' shows how narrative models in philosophy and (...) literature can open new ways of thinking about formation of human identities. By showing how each human being has a unique story that can be told about them, Adriana Cavarero inaugurates an important shift in thinking about subjectivity and identity which relies not upon categorical or discursive norms, but rather seeks to account for `who' each one of us uniquely is. (shrink)

Innovation is fundamental to cumulative culture, allowing progressive modification of existing technology. The authors define innovation as an asocial process, uninfluenced by social information. We argue that innovation is inherently social – innovation is frequently the product of modifying others' outputs, and successful innovations are acquired by others. Research should target examination of the cognitive underpinnings of socially-mediated innovations.

In disagreement with Claudia Baracchi’s controversial thesis that there is a “simultaneity and indissolubility” if not an “identity” of intelligence (nous) and perception (aisthēsis) at the core of Aristotle’s philosophy, I will argue that Aristotle maintains a fundamental distinction between these cognitive faculties. My goal in this paper is to examine specific parts of two central and complex passages, VI.8, 1142a12-30 and VI.11, 1143a33-b15, from the Nicomachean Ethics to show that Baracchi’s view is unpersuasive. I will show that Aristotle considers (...) nous to be a different capacity than mere perception and one through which particulars and indemonstrable principles become intelligible. Moreover, I will show that Aristotle considers that the objects of nous differ in kind from those that sensation (our senses) and perception (inference from our senses) grasp. After examining critically Baracchi’s thesis in light of a close reading of those two relevant passages, I will conclude the paper by showing the significance of Aristotle’s claim that a state is defined in terms of its objects of apprehension for understanding the distinction between nous and aisthēsis. (shrink)

Cognitive flexibility, the adaptation of representations and responses to new task demands, improves dramatically in early childhood. It is unclear, however, whether flexibility is a coherent, unitary cognitive trait, or is an emergent dimension of task-specific performance that varies across populations with divergent experiences. Three-to 5-year-old English-speaking U.S. children and Tswana-speaking South African children completed two distinct language-processing cognitive flexibility tests: the FIM-Animates, a word-learning test, and the 3DCCS, a rule-switching test. U.S. and South African children did not differ in (...) word-learning flexibility but showed similar age-related increases. In contrast, U.S. preschoolers showed an age-related increase in rule-switching flexibility but South African children did not. Verbal recall explained additional variance in both tests but did not modulate the interaction between population sample (i.e., country) and task. We hypothesize that rule-switching flexibility might be more dependent upon particular kinds of cultural experiences, whereas word-learning flexibility is less cross-culturally variable. (shrink)

This article discusses three major dilemmas embedded in women's labor migration by focusing on undocumented Latina migrants in Israel. The first is that to break the cycle of blocked mobility in their homelands, migrant women must take jobs that they would have never taken in their countries of origin, despite uncertainty about possible economic outcomes. The second dilemma is that the search for economic betterment leads Latina migrants to risk living and working illegally in the host country, forcing them to (...) remain on the margins of society. The third dilemma relates to the role of mothers who, to secure a better future for their children, are forced to leave them behind, thus subverting the traditional definition of motherhood. The absence of an egalitarian notion and the practice of citizenship for non-Jews leave undocumented labor migrants in Israel without prospects for incorporation into the society. (shrink)

This essay focuses on anthropomorphism as both a form of hype and fallacy. As a form of hype, anthropomorphism is shown to exaggerate AI capabilities and performance by attributing human-like traits to systems that do not possess them. As a fallacy, anthropomorphism is shown to distort moral judgments about AI, such as those concerning its moral character and status, as well as judgments of responsibility and trust. By focusing on these two dimensions of anthropomorphism in AI, the essay highlights negative (...) ethical consequences of the phenomenon in this field. (shrink)

While firms' engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility has been associated with positive performance impacts, little is known about the incorporation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda into business practices. Precisely, although the literature suggests that firms are pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are limited insights on their strategy to implement them in the context of developing countries. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive large-scale investigation of 2030 Agenda adoption by Brazilian companies. Accordingly, the analysis of our (...) multicase study reveals (1) variations on the business opportunities brought by the SDGs depending on the firm position in the value chain, (2) which SDGs and target stakeholders are addressed through corporate policies and practices, (3) the different ways firms embrace the SDGs to pursue ambidexterity. Our findings clarify how firms in the developing countries interpret the institutional pressures and assemble their internal resources to respond to the SDGs challenges. Boundary conditions and policy implications are further discussed. (shrink)

El texto explora uno de los temas principales del trabajo filosófico de Julia Iribarne: la dimensión monadológica de la fenomenología husserliana, cuyo marco primario de referencia conceptual y teórico es la constitución de la intersubjetividad. Desde esta perspectiva, el escrito se centra en la dimensión teleológica de la subjetividad, para mostrar que en el pensamiento fenomenológico de Julia Iribarne existe una convergencia entre centralidad del yo trascendental y la teleología de la razón, que debe desplegarse en la historia, bajo la (...) jurisdicción ética de la responsabilidad individual, como coherente desarrollo del núcleo original del pensamiento occidental.The text investigates one of the main themes of Julia Iribarne’s philosophical work, i.e. the monadological dimension of Husserlian phenomenology, that has in the constitution of intersubjectivity its main conceptual and theoretical container. From there the paper focuses the teleological dimension of subjectivity, with the aim of showing how in Julia Iribarne’s phenomenological thought there is a convergence between the centrality of the transcendental subject and the teleology of the reason, that should show itself in the history, under the ethic sign of the individual responsibility, as coherent development of the original nucleus of the Western thought. (shrink)

Il tema principale del saggio è un’interpretazione del metodo fenomenologico che, focalizzando la questione dell’identità, ne mette in evidenza il lato trascendentale ed egologico. L’obiettivo è il recupero dell’idea di filosofia come scienza rigorosa e il conseguente ritorno alla centralità del soggetto fenomenologico-trascendentale.Viene introdotto il concetto di circolo fenome-nologico, con il quale si intende indicare la ricorsività della riduzione e la necessità di restare in essa, per mantenere il livello fenomenologico dell’esperienza e della conoscenza. Si tratta di una circolarità virtuosa, (...) non solo perché è produttiva, ma anche perché procede attraverso una costante messa fra parentesi dei risultati e una continua riapertura degli orizzonti. Il circolo fenomenologico è un continuo campo di rimandi, caratteristico anche della correlazione noetico-noematica, tra l’io e il mondo, tra la libertà de-ll’atteggiamento e la verità dell’evidenza, un campo polarizzato i cui elementi si relazionano incessantemente e dal quale l’io esce con l’obiettivo però di farvi ritorno. L’io trascendentale dev’essere libero di compiere questo ritorno a se stesso, perché dentro di sé risiede la verità. Questa circolarità è dunque generatrice di libertà per quanto riguarda l’esercizio del metodo del “vedere fenomenologico”, e portatrice di verità per quanto riguarda l’esito del metodo stesso.Viene sottolineato come l’aspirazione fenomenologica a “vivere nella verità” sia uno sforzo per ricostituire quella verità fluente rappresentata dalla vita della soggettività nel terreno del mondo-della-vita. L’epoché, in quanto “totale rivolgimento esistenziale”, diventa il perno di uno stile di vita rivolto alla verità. Per la fenomenologia, vivere nella verità vuol dire vivere nella libertà, perché se la verità scaturisce dall’epoché, e se quest ’ultima si realizza come “sguardo veramente libero”, allora la verità non è solo legata alla libertà, ma ne è anche dipendente.Si sostiene qui che la soggettività fenomenologico-trascendentale rappresenta la chiave per una svolta rispetto alla situazione culturale attuale, nella quale il concetto di “io” è diventato uno dei principali bersagli critici. Viene mostrato come la soggettività sia collegata al metodo: infatti, annota Husserl in un manoscritto del 1924, “la soggettività è il mio tema, ed è un tema puro e in sé conchiuso, indipendente. Mos-trare che e come ciò sia possibile è il compito della descrizione del metodo della riduzione fenomenologica. Il “tema” di Husserl è dunque il suo compito filosofico e la sua missione esistenziale.Da qui si può interpretare anche la fenomenologia dell’intersoggettività sul piano storico-fattuale: la teoria fenomenologica dell’esperienza dell’estraneo non va confusa con i problemi della multiculturalità né tanto meno con le retoriche dell’alterità, ma è un’istanza che ripropone oggi l’antica questione della filosofia che si determina come ethos della theoria e quindi come “ragione pratica”, un’istanza che rimette al centro dell’attenzione quel fondamento che rischia di andare perduto nell’anonimato della tecnoscienza e nell’indistinto di una forma culturale globalizzata e globalizzante, un’istanza che richiama tutti noi a ritornare a ciò che Husserl chiamerebbe la costituzione originaria di senso della civiltà europea.El tema principal del paper es una interpretación del método fenomenológico que, enfocando la cuestión de la identidad, pone en evidencia su dimensión trascendental y egológica. El objetivo es el rescate de la idea husserliana de filosofía como ciencia rigurosa o estricta y el consiguiente regreso a la centralidad del sujeto fenomenológico-trascendental.Se introduce el concepto de círculo fenomenológico, que alude a la recursividad de la reducción y la necesidad de permanecer en ella, para mantener el nivel fenomenológico de la experiencia y del conocimiento. Se trata de una circularidad virtuosa, no sólo porque es productiva, sino porque avanza a través de una constante puesta entre paréntesis de los resultados y una continua reapertura de los horizontes. El círculo fenomenológico es un infinito campo de rebotes referenciales –propio en primer lugar de la correlación noético-noemática– entre el ego y el mundo, entre la libertad de la actitud y la verdad de la evidencia, un campo polarizado cuyas partes se relacionan incesantemente y del cual el ego sale pero con el objetivo de volver a entrar. El ego trascendental debe ser libre de cumplir este retorno a sí mismo, porque dentro de sí reside la verdad. Esta circularidad es entonces generadora de libertad por lo que se refiere al ejercicio del método del “mirar fenomenológico”, y portadora de verdad por lo que se refiere al resultado del método mismo.Se subraya la aspiración fenomenológica a “vivir en la verdad” como esfuerzo que se propone reconstruir esa verdad fluyente constituida por la vida de la subjetividad en el terreno del mundo de la vida. La epoché, en tanto “total transformación existencial”, se vuelve el perno de un estilo de vida orientado hacia a la verdad. Para la fenomenología, vivir en la verdad quiere decir vivir en la libertad, porque si la verdad surge de la epoché, y si esta última se realiza como “mirada verdaderamente libre”, entonces la verdad no está sólo ligada a la libertad, sino que resulta dependiente de ella.Se sostiene que la subjetividad fenomenológico-trascendental representa la clave para un viraje respecto de la situación cultural que prevalece en la actualidad, en la cual el concepto de “yo” se ha vuelto uno de los principales blancos de crítica. Se muestra aquí la radicalidad del nexo entre la subjetividad y el método. En un manuscrito de 1924 Husserl efectivamente anota: “la subjetividad es mi tema, y es un tema puro y en sí completo, independiente. Mostrar que ello es posible y de qué manera, es el cometido de la descripción del método de la reducción fenomenológica”. El “tema” de Husserl es por lo tanto su cometido filosófico y su misión existencial.A partir de aquí es posible interpretar también la fenomenología de la intersubjetividad a nivel histórico-fáctico: la teoría fenomenológica de la experiencia del extraño no debe ser confundida con los problemas de la multiculturalidad ni, menos aún, con las retóricas de la alteridad, sino que es una instancia que vuelve nuevamente actual la antigua cuestión de la filosofía que se determina como ethos de la theoria y por ende como “razón práctica”, una instancia que vuelve a poner al centro de nuestra atención ese fundamento que corría el riesgo de perderse en el anonimato de la tecnociencia y en lo indistinto de una forma cultural globalizada y globalizante, una instancia que reclama un retorno, de parte de todos nosotros, a lo que Husserl llamaría la constitu-ción originaria de sentido de la civilización europea. (shrink)

The text presents a short account of the history of the philosophically relevant key concepts of feminist theory – sex and gender. Those concepts were crucial in the process of the constitution of gender studies as well as for the manouvering of feminist practice. On the other hand, however, as Judith Butler demonstrates exceptionally, these concepts are also the points of a fruitful debate, opening the possibility for resignification, different ways of thinking about the fundamental assumptions of feminist theory. While (...) it leaves feminist theory devoid of a firm,fixed position, ensuing instability, it offers a specific, subversive potential for a theory in general, while expanding the domains of inclusiveness in practice. (shrink)

Tekst nastoji ponuditi drugačiju paradigmu razumijevanja identiteta genealoškim čitanjem figure guvernante u Engleskoj XIX. stoljeća. Pokazujući da je ovu figuru nemoguće razumjeti ukoliko se uklone iz vida klasne pretpostavke njenog rodnog identiteta, i specifične pozicije koju je zauzimala na tržištu rada i u proizvodnji drugih žena, tekst nastoji dovesti u pitanje kontekst patrijarhata kao kontekst koji omogućava definiranje identiteta žene. Umjesto tog okvira, tekst pokušava uvesti drugačiji okvir koji se razrađuje kao sustav privatnog i javnog.

The human voice does not deceive. The one who is speaking is inevitably revealed by the singular sound of her voice, no matter “what” she says. We take this fact for granted—for example, every time someone asks, over the telephone, “Who is speaking?” and receives as a reply the familiar utterance, “It’s me.” Starting from the given uniqueness of every voice, Cavarero rereads the history of philosophy through its peculiar evasion of this embodied uniqueness. She shows how this history—along with (...) the fields it comprehends, such as linguistics, musicology, political theory, and studies in orality—might be grasped as the “devocalization of Logos,” as the invariable privileging of semantike over phone, mind over body. Female figures—from the Sirens to the Muses, from Echo to opera singers—provide a crucial counterhistory, one in which the embodied voice triumphs over the immaterial semantic. Reconstructing this counterhistory, Cavarero proposes a “politics of the voice” wherein the ancient bond between Logos and politics is reconfigured, and wherein what matters is not the communicative content of a given discourse, but rather who is speaking. (shrink)