O artigo pretende formular uma breve reflexão sobre o pensamento de Tomás de Aquino no campo da ética e do direito romano sobre as oscilações e paradoxos das práticas inquisitoriais na Idade Média. No medievo a Criação e a onipotência de Deus abrigam, enfim, a pensar um poder absoluto adaptado ao mundo senhorial, portanto, a partir do século XII o domínio da Igreja e da monarquia acendem as fogueiras onde se queimam os livros e os homens para extirpar do ocidente (...) cristão as heresias. Ao se construir um processo inquisitorial ocorre a necessidade irreprimível da confissão da verdade. Os fatos que parecem comuns alteram-se e passam a ser considerados crimes de infidelidade contra a tradição e a majestade divina, e logo tornam-se peça de contestação provocando polêmicas acusatórias, amparadas no degesto, isto é, no direito romano. Devemos ressaltar, nesse panorama, que a grande maioria dos pensadores dos séculos XII e XIII era proveniente de ordens religiosas católicas, os Padres da Igreja que exerciam domínio político, intelectual e cultural, especialmente a ordem dos dominicanos representada pela figura de Tomás de Aquino. Os dominicanos eram afeitos aos estudos e a produção de teses legitimada pela Igreja romana. Isso favoreceu o desenvolvimento do modelo inquisitorial dotado de fundamentação acadêmica e, portanto, realista. Tomás de Aquino se dedicou a apresentar correções e ajustes diante das oscilações e paradoxos no trato com a pessoa humana no período crucial da história medieval. (shrink)

BackgroundAlthough values have increasingly received attention in psychiatric literature over the last three decades, their role has been only partially acknowledged in psychiatric classification endeavors. The review process of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders received harsh criticism, and was even considered secretive by some authors. Also, it lacked an official discussion of values at play. In this perspective paper we briefly discuss the interplay of some values in the scientific and non-scientific debate around (...) one of the most debated DSM-5 category proposals, the Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome. Then, we point out some ethical consequences of a facts-plus-values perspective in psychiatric classification.DiscussionDifferent stakeholders participated in the APS-debate and for analytical purposes we divided them into four groups: researchers in the field of high-risk mental states; the DSM-5 Psychotic Disorders Work Group; patient, carers and advocacy groups; and external stakeholders, not related to the previous groups, but which also publicly expressed their opinions about APS inclusion in DSM-5. We found that each group differently stressed the role of values we examined in the APS-debate. These values were ethical, but also epistemic, political, economic and ontological. The prominence given to some values, and the lack of discussion about others, generated divergent positions among stakeholders in the debate.SummaryAs exemplified by the APS discussion, although medicine is primarily an ethical endeavor, values of different kinds that take part in it also shape to a large extent the profession. Thus, it may be strategic to openly discuss values at play in the elaboration of diagnostic tools and classificatory systems. This task, more than scientifically or politically significant, is ethically important. (shrink)

Although values have increasingly received attention in psychiatric literature over the last three decades, their role has been only partially acknowledged in psychiatric classification endeavors. The review p..

If Unamuno had been able to choose how to be remembered, he would have wanted him to be a poet. This book wants to do justice to that happy possibility. But above all because Unamuno was a poet in the highest sense: he was while writing the same essay as a novel, or theater, letter or verse, and he was also a poet when he passionately lived all the facets of his intense existence. His intellectual work was poetic and his (...) personal relationships, as well as his political activity, also responded to that peculiar Unamunian aesthetic in which the vital horizon is inescapably confused with the tasks of thought." --Translated from back cover. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This study is based on statistical data about reading in the lives of young people aged 11 to 17 years old. It addresses how one can (re)approach the education of readers from an understanding of what reading literature is all about in the 21st century. It discusses the change of format of reading from the book to the screen, but not from the perspective of exclusion or with the intention of arguing that one mode of access is better than (...) another. It stresses the importance of mediating reading with an openness to the different media and forms that have been offered by digital information and communication technologies. Reflections are made to conceptualize literature in the 21st century and then some examples are provided of how literature converges from the written text to other media and vice versa, which suggests that young people are reading in different ways and this fact can be used to enhance the process of educating literary readers. (shrink)

A public health emergency, as the COVID-19 pandemic, may lead to shortages of potentially life-saving treatments. In this situation, it is necessary, justifiable and proportionate to have decision tools in place to enable healthcare professionals to triage and prioritise access to those resources. An ethically sound framework should consider the principles of beneficence and fair allocation. Scientific Societies across Europe were concerned with this problem early in the pandemic and published guidelines to support their professionals and institutions. This article aims (...) to compare triage policies from medical bodies across Europe, to characterise the process of triage and the ethical values, principles and theories that were proposed in different countries during the first outbreak of COVID-19. (shrink)

Accountability is a cornerstone of the governance of artificial intelligence (AI). However, it is often defined too imprecisely because its multifaceted nature and the sociotechnical structure of AI systems imply a variety of values, practices, and measures to which accountability in AI can refer. We address this lack of clarity by defining accountability in terms of answerability, identifying three conditions of possibility (authority recognition, interrogation, and limitation of power), and an architecture of seven features (context, range, agent, forum, standards, process, (...) and implications). We analyse this architecture through four accountability goals (compliance, report, oversight, and enforcement). We argue that these goals are often complementary and that policy-makers emphasise or prioritise some over others depending on the proactive or reactive use of accountability and the missions of AI governance. (shrink)

The EU proposal for the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines four risk categories: unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal. However, as these categories statically depend on broad fields of application of AI, the risk magnitude may be wrongly estimated, and the AIA may not be enforced effectively. This problem is particularly challenging when it comes to regulating general-purpose AI (GPAI), which has versatile and often unpredictable applications. Recent amendments to the compromise text, though introducing context-specific assessments, remain insufficient. To address this, (...) we propose applying the risk categories to specific AI scenarios, rather than solely to fields of application, using a risk assessment model that integrates the AIA with the risk approach arising from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and related literature. This model enables the estimation of the magnitude of AI risk by considering the interaction between (a) risk determinants, (b) individual drivers of determinants, and (c) multiple risk types. We use large language models (LLMs) as an example. (shrink)

The present article is framed within the biosemiotic glossary project as a way to address common terminology within biosemiotic research. The glossary integrates the view of the members of the biosemiotic community through a standard survey and a literature review. The concept of ‘semiotic threshold’ was first introduced by Umberto Eco, defining it as a boundary between semiotic and non-semiotic areas. We review here the concept of ‘semiotic threshold’, first describing its denotation within semiotics via an examination on the history (...) of the concept, its synonyms, antonyms, etymology, usage in other languages and context in which it is used. Then we present a general overview of the survey among researchers, analyzing the difference in responses for the concept of ‘lower semiotic threshold’ and related concepts. From the answers we also review the difference between the general usage of ‘semiotic threshold’ versus its specific use within biosemiotics, and attempt to make a general synthesis of the concept taking into account what we have learned from the survey and the literature review. (shrink)

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines four risk categories for AI systems: unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal. However, it lacks a clear methodology for the assessment of these risks in concrete situations. Risks are broadly categorized based on the application areas of AI systems and ambiguous risk factors. This paper suggests a methodology for assessing AI risk magnitudes, focusing on the construction of real-world risk scenarios. To this scope, we propose to integrate the AIA with a framework developed by (...) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and related literature. This approach enables a nuanced analysis of AI risk by exploring the interplay between (a) risk determinants, (b) individual drivers of determinants, and (c) multiple risk types. We further refine the proposed methodology by applying a proportionality test to balance the competing values involved in AI risk assessment. Finally, we present three uses of this approach under the AIA: to implement the Regulation, to assess the significance of risks, and to develop internal risk management systems for AI deployers. (shrink)

This volume serves as a reference on the field of cognitive semantics. It offers a systematic and original discussion of the issues at the core of the debate in semiotics and the cognitive sciences. It takes into account the problems of representation, the nature of mind, the structure of perception, beliefs associated with habits, social cognition, autism, intersubjectivity and subjectivity. The chapters in this volume present the foundation of semiotics as a theory of cognition, offer a semiotic model of cognitive (...) integration that combines Enactivism and the Extended Mind Theory, and investigate the role of imagination as the origin of perception. The author develops an account of beliefs that are associated with habits and meaning, grounded in Pragmatism, testing his Narrative Practice Semiotic Hypothesis on persons with autism spectrum disorders. He also integrates his ideas about the formation of the theory of mind with a theory of subjectivity, understood as self-consciousness which derives from semiotic cognitive abilities. This text appeals to students, professors and researchers in the field. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe social marketing campaign is a value-laden communicative process aiming to change individual behavior and public policy. Due to its normative nature and implications, this process has t...

Studying the origin of semiosis is a task obscured by terminological and metaphysical issues which create an ambiguous set of definitions for biosemiotics when referring to the concept of emergence. The question is, how emergent can semiosis be? And what are the conditions for semiosis to be an emergent of a certain type? This paper will attempt to briefly deal with the general terminology of emergence from a philosophical point of view and will discuss the characterization of semiosis as an (...) emergent phenomenon based on the distinctions made by Bedau, Kim and Chalmers. Accordingly, we will consider the possibility of strong and weak emergence in an attempt to bring some clarity to what it means for something in biosemiotics to be an emergent and how the philosophical concepts play out when applied to biosemiotic research. In inquiring into the metaphysical status of semiosis, we change our semiotic theories to correspond to the assumptions contained in the elementary objects of our theories. This being the case, the way semiosis–the constitutive element that it is for semiotics–is taken to be with regards to its possible ontology, will conduct to different research objects for the long-term investigation of its origins and necessary conditions. (shrink)

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar una reconstrucción de la teoría de los grupos dereferencia. La teoría, desarrollada por Robert K. Merton, ha sido largamente utilizada enlos más variados campos de las ciencias sociales, aunque con escasa o nula consideraciónmetateórica hasta ahora. La reconstrucción atenderá a la presentación que de la misma serecoge en sendos artículos de su libro Social Theory and Social Structure, de 1968, a saber:“Contributions to the theory of reference group behavior” y “Continuities in the theory (...) ofreference groups and social structure”. Para presentar esta reconstrucción me apoyaré en elinstrumental de la Metateoría Estructuralista. Después de una consideración informal de lateoría, serán presentados sus modelos potenciales, modelos, modelos potenciales parciales,sus aplicaciones intencionales y algunos comentarios acerca de la noción de “grupo de referencia”en lo que respeta su carácter relacional y disposicional. (shrink)

The advent of Generative AI, particularly through Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and its successors, marks a paradigm shift in the AI landscape. Advanced LLMs exhibit multimodality, handling diverse data formats, thereby broadening their application scope. However, the complexity and emergent autonomy of these models introduce challenges in predictability and legal compliance. This paper analyses the legal and regulatory implications of Generative AI and LLMs in the European Union context, focusing on liability, privacy, intellectual property, and cybersecurity. It examines (...) the adequacy of the existing and proposed EU legislation, including the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), in addressing the challenges posed by Generative AI in general and LLMs in particular. The paper identifies potential gaps and shortcomings in the EU legislative framework and proposes recommendations to ensure the safe and compliant deployment of generative models. (shrink)

The prevalent idea that semiosis is evolutionary is a driving point for biosemiotic research, starting from the Peircean premises of continuity and including a large number of views on how signs evolve. In this paper I wish to add a small pinch of skepticism to an otherwise productive point of view. Briefly, the question to be asked is: Is there any proper and fair connection between the logical abstraction of signs, genetic expressions interpreted as signs and the animal usage of (...) signs? And how do we go about answering this? Instead of attempting a negative account of the possibility of an evolutionary view of biosemiosis, I will attempt to make an argument in favor of skepticism as a way to make a more fine-grained distinction across the areas where biosemiotic thinking seems to have some impact. The aim is then to find philosophical strategies to overcome this skepticism when possible, while also raising some awareness about the possible limits of current biosemiotics regarding the ideal evolutionary chain of signs. Ultimately, the idea is reexamining some core assumptions of the biosemiotic point of view at its most general, accounting for some possible ways in which theory may move forward. The potential incompatibility of theoretical standpoints between some of the different approaches that may be taken is, it will be argued, a desirable outcome for biosemiotic research. That is, the way we deal with the possible theories on the evolutionary continuity of signs will also affect our different research programs, and having a nuanced philosophical discussion on it can only contribute to the expansion and clarification of where different positions within biosemiotics currently stand. (shrink)

The prevalent idea that semiosis is evolutionary is a driving point for biosemiotic research, starting from the Peircean premises of continuity and including a large number of views on how signs evolve. In this paper I wish to add a small pinch of skepticism to an otherwise productive point of view. Briefly, the question to be asked is: Is there any proper and fair connection between the logical abstraction of signs, genetic expressions interpreted as signs and the animal usage of (...) signs? And how do we go about answering this? Instead of attempting a negative account of the possibility of an evolutionary view of biosemiosis, I will attempt to make an argument in favor of skepticism as a way to make a more fine-grained distinction across the areas where biosemiotic thinking seems to have some impact. The aim is then to find philosophical strategies to overcome this skepticism when possible, while also raising some awareness about the possible limits of current biosemiotics regarding the ideal evolutionary chain of signs. Ultimately, the idea is reexamining some core assumptions of the biosemiotic point of view at its most general, accounting for some possible ways in which theory may move forward. The potential incompatibility of theoretical standpoints between some of the different approaches that may be taken is, it will be argued, a desirable outcome for biosemiotic research. That is, the way we deal with the possible theories on the evolutionary continuity of signs will also affect our different research programs, and having a nuanced philosophical discussion on it can only contribute to the expansion and clarification of where different positions within biosemiotics currently stand. (shrink)

This article deals with public manifestations of Catholic religious officials, members of the hierarchy and recognized laity, in the context of the discussion of the National Education Plan - PNE. The focus of the analysis is a condemnation of what they call "gender ideology", present in the proposal document. Such manifestations are the reaffirmation of a conception of human beings as subject to the inexorable "laws of nature" that determine a social order marked by the rigid distinction of roles assigned (...) to women and men. The texts published at the time reveal changes and continuities in the Catholic discourse in its reference to "nature", understood in its biological materiality, as an unswerving fact of human reality, consisting in two sexes must unite under the "natural order". Gender theories are blamed by family disintegration, for providing support to new understandings of humanity, no longer based on bipolarity: men / women. A non extensive dossier of these texts formed the basis for the proposed analyzes. (shrink)

Even though the link between perceived corporate social responsibility fit and corporate reputation has received much attention from scholars, this tradition has ignored that the underpinnings of this association vary depending on the particular characteristics of each industry under study. To delve into this matter, we investigate in the increasingly relevant context of controversial industries how PCSR-fit could enhance corporate reputation and which are the mediating mechanisms of this association. Our academic contribution is twofold. First, we find that controversial sectors (...) indeed can increase corporate reputation through CSR activities. However, we find that to achieve this goal, the nature of PCSR-fit should be different than what extant literature indicates, because companies in these settings should directly focus on avoiding or reducing their inherent controversial harm or impact. Second, we evidence that “CSR initiatives' legitimacy” and “situational skepticism” mediate the PCSR-fit and corporate reputation relationship in CIs. Therefore, we further unravel the underpinnings of this association to advance what we know on the matter and aid practitioners in this particular context. (shrink)

The article argues that AI can enhance the measurement and implementation of democratic processes within political parties, known as Intra-Party Democracy (IPD). It identifies the limitations of traditional methods for measuring IPD, which often rely on formal parameters, self-reported data, and tools like surveys. Such limitations lead to the collection of partial data, rare updates, and significant demands on resources. To address these issues, the article suggests that specific data management and Machine Learning (ML) techniques, such as natural language processing (...) and sentiment analysis, can improve the measurement (ML about) and practice (ML for) of IPD. The article concludes by considering some of the principal risks of ML for IPD, including concerns over data privacy, the potential for manipulation, and the dangers of overreliance on technology. (shrink)

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) is defined as the conscious, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The greater the level of evidence the greater the grade of recommendation. This pioneering explicit concept of EBM is embedded in a particular view of medical practice namely the singular nature of the patient-physician relation and the commitment of the latter towards a specific goal: the treatment and the well being of his or her client. Nevertheless, (...) in many European countries as well as the United States, this integration of the best evidence from systematic research with clinical expertise and patient values appears to be re-interpreted in light of the scarcity of healthcare resources. The purpose of this paper is double. First, to claim that from an ethical perspective EBM should be a guideline to clinical practice; and second, that in specific circumstances EBM might be a useful tool in macro-allocation of healthcare resources. Methodologically the author follows Norman Daniels' theory of democratic accountability to justify this assumption. That is, choices in healthcare must be accountable by democratic procedures. This perspective of distributive justice is responsible for the scope and limits of healthcare services. It follows that particular entitlements to healthcare — namely expensive innovative treatments and medicines —may be fairly restricted as long as this decision is socially and democratically accountable and imposed by financial restrictions of the system. In conclusion, the implementation of EBM, as long as it limits the access to drugs and treatments of unproven scientific results is in accordance with this perspective. The use of EBM is regarded as an instrument to facilitate the access of all citizens to a reasonable level of healthcare and to promote the efficiency of the system. (shrink)

O rosto apresenta-se como enigmático, desarranja o fenómeno. O seu significado escapa à alternativa "ser" ou "não-ser", vem do além; refere-se a um Outro que Levinas denomina com o pronome da terceira pessoa. É uma "Illéité" - neologismo criado pelo autor para explicar a presença enigmática de um Outro no rosto do próximo. Na relação com a "presença enigmática" e misteriosa no rosto do outro, o Eu recebe a sua eleicção e descobre a sua unicidade. A sua liberdade efectua-se em (...) estar a disposição do Outro, ao seu serviço, dando glória ao Infinito, dizendo: eis-me aqui. /// Le visage se présente comme énigmatique, dérange le phénomêne. Sa signification échappe à l'alternative "être" ou "ne pas être", il vient d'un au-dela; il se rapporte à un Autre que Levinas nomme avec un pronom de la troisième personne. II est une "Illéité", néologisme créé par l'auteur pour expliquer la présence énigmatique d'un Autre sur le visage du prochain. Dans sa relation avec la "présence énigmatique" et mystérieuse sur le visage de l'autre, le moi reçoit son election et découvre son unicité. Sa liberté s'effectueen se mettant à la disposition de l'Autre, à son service, rendant gloire à l'Infini et disant "me voici". /// The visage presents itself as enigmatic; it desorients the phenomenon. Its meaning avoids the "being" and "not-being" alternative, since it comes from beyond; it refers to an Other, whicch Levinas calls in the third person "illéité" - a neologism created by the author in order to explain the enigmatic presence of the Other in the visage of one's neighbour. In this enigmatic relationship, the I receives his election and his unicity. His liberty realizes itself by being at the disposal of the Other, at his service, thus giving glory to the Infinite in saying: Here I am. (shrink)

ANDES, Stephen J.C.; YOUNG, Julia. Local Church, Global Church: Catholic Activism in Latin America from Rerum Novarum to Vatican II. Washington, DC, The Catholic University of America Press, 201 O livro em questão insere-se em uma perspectiva analítica, tentando mostrar o jogo de adaptação e de continuidade ao trabalho no continente americano. Apesar do reconhecimento das mudanças notáveis introduzidas pelo Vaticano II, a tese é que, ao contrário do que é sugerido por uma certa literatura de historiografia e teologia latino-americana, (...) o ativismo católico dos anos 60 e 80 teve suas origens no período anterior, tendo, em parte, como ponto de partida a encíclica Rerum Novarum. (shrink)

Although we may find the concept of anomie in Greek thought, it is since Durkheim that the concept begins to be used specifically as a sociological concept. However, a theory of anomie only becomes consolidated since “Social Structure and Anomie” by Robert K. Merton (Merton 1938). The theory becomes important and conquers its space in the rest of the century as one of the most productive theories about deviance. In this study, based on a contemporary conception of scientific theory, that (...) of the structuralist metatheory, a reconstruction of Merton’s approach is proposed, allowing to make explicit the deep structure of the theory. (shrink)

O discurso funcional é tanto ubíquo quanto central na ecologia contemporânea, principalmente no contexto das pesquisas sobre biodiversidade e funcionamento ecossistêmico, que emergiram nos anos 1990 em meio à crise da biodiversidade. Entretanto, a despeito dessa forte presença na ecologia, o discurso funcional ainda não tem sido investigado de maneira adequada nesta ciência, na medida em que muitos problemas fundamentais a respeito do tema ainda permanecem sem respostas claras. Por um lado, os ecólogos que lançam mão de explicações funcionais parecem (...) simplesmente tomar como dado ou autoevidente o conceito de função. Contudo, ele nada tem de trivial, tendo em vista os problemas filosóficos suscitados pela linguagem funcional ou teleológica nas explicações biológicas, pelo menos desde Aristóteles. Por outro lado, poucos filósofos da ciência têm se mostrado especialmente interessados nos problemas epistemológicos associados ao discurso funcional em ecologia. Tomando essa situação como ponto de partida, nossa abordagem neste artigo se dá em três etapas. Inicialmente, procedemos a uma análise conceitual de função na ecologia atual, com ênfase nos estudos que relacionam a biodiversidade às propriedades ecossistêmicas. Esboçamos três significados principais do conceito, mostrando os pressupostos e as implicações associados a cada um deles. Num segundo momento, procedemos a uma análise das razões que levam a suspeitas ou objeções contra a linguagem funcional na ecologia. Por fim, num terceiro momento, lançamos algumas sugestões sobre como fundamentar ou dar mais clareza ao discurso funcional na ecologia contemporânea. (shrink)

Resumen:El pensamiento social crítico mantiene una relación ambivalente con la ciencia. Sustanciales críticas a ella han venido, en décadas recientes, desde el feminismo y el decolonialismo. Este artículo aborda la forma en que la investigación social crítica chilena emplea las herramientas de la ciencia para la construcción de la facticidad, sus procedimientos de validación y la noción de verdad que aplica en su proceso constructivo, buscando ver cómo se manifiesta tal relación en la práctica y en la apreciación de los (...) investigadores. Se basa en el análisis cuantitativo de un corpus de 291 textos de carácter crítico publicados entre 2000 y 2022, y en el análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo de un subconjunto de 167 textos, junto a entrevistas a 55 de sus autores. Entre sus resultados destacan, como características de la práctica investigativa crítica: un evasivo tratamiento de la verdad; una gran valoración de la evidencia empírica; un significativo cambio de herramientas teóricas y supuestos epistemológicos; la exploración de nuevas herramientas metodológicas participativas, pero por grupos reducidos, con limitaciones operativas y escasa irradiación; la falta de arraigo efectivo de la noción de “validez catalítica” y una adhesión tácita, no reconocida, a una noción habermasiana de la verdad.Palabras clave: ciencia social crítica; verdad; difracción; conocimiento situado; validez catalítica. (shrink)

Cet article vise à évaluer la portée des politiques sociales réellement existantes dans le Brésil de la période Lula, du point de vue du débat général sur le revenu d’existence. Soit deux questions : ces politiques sociales – notamment les transferts monétaires – ont-elles été pensées dans la perspective d’un revenu d’existence? Le revenu d’existence pourrait-il fonctionner comme angle privilégié de réorganisation et d’intégration de ces politiques sociales? L’histoire de Bolsa Família, instauré dans le Brésil de Lula, montre qu’il est (...) d’origine néolibérale et que le véritable enjeu est d’appréhender les lignes de conflit qui séparent sa précaire existence empirique actuelle de sa constitution comme base d’une nouvelle démocratie. (shrink)

For elite athletes seeking a winning advantage, manipulation of their own genetic code has become a realistic possibility. In Genetic Technology and Sport, experts from sports science, genetics, philosophy, ethics, and international sports administration describe the potential applications of the new technology and debate the questions surrounding its use.

In this paper, I shall set out the pros and cons of assigning legal personhood on artificial intelligence systems under civil law. More specifically, I will provide arguments supporting a functionalist justification for conferring personhood on AIs, and I will try to identify what content this legal status might have from a regulatory perspective. Being a person in law implies the entitlement to one or more legal positions. I will mainly focus on liability as it is one of the main (...) grounds for the attribution of legal personhood, like for collective legal entities. A better distribution of responsibilities resulting from unpredictably illegal and/or harmful behaviour may be one of the main reasons to justify the attribution of personhood also for AI systems. This means an efficient allocation of the risks and social costs associated with the use of AIs, ensuring the protection of victims, incentives for production, and technological innovation. However, the paper also considers other legal positions triggered by personhood in addition to responsibility: specific competencies and powers such as, for example, financial autonomy, the ability to hold property, make contracts, sue. (shrink)

This commentary draws upon the author's experience in bioethics and as a physician, ordained Rabbi, and certified Mohel (a Jewish professional qualified to perform infant male circumcisions (MC)). People's identity and adherence to a religious belief are frequently cited reasons for deciding whether to circumcise their male children. For Jewish and Muslim males, circumcision is considered essential. In this commentary, the author uses his medical, religious, and bioethical knowledge, expertise, and experience to address common arguments used in opposing nontherapeutic male (...) circumcision of minors. In these narratives, half of the parents agreed with circumcision, and half did not. The parents against circumcision cite human rights violations, security, privacy, and bodily integrity issues and refer to circumcision as genital mutilation, while those who agree argue that circumcision should be done for religious reasons to prevent health issues, promote hygiene and cleanness, avoid cancer, or for later sexual enjoyment. After evaluating the evidence, the author states that parents should be free to either consent or decline MC for a son. Though a reoccurring theme in these narratives was for mothers to leave the circumcision decision up to their male partners, the author concludes that women have considerable power regarding the decision. (shrink)

Regulation is nothing without enforcement. This particularly holds for the dynamic field of emerging technologies. Hence, this article has two ambitions. First, it explains how the EU´s new Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) will be implemented and enforced by various institutional bodies, thus clarifying the governance framework of the AIA. Second, it proposes a normative model of governance, providing recommendations to ensure uniform and coordinated execution of the AIA and the fulfilment of the legislation. Taken together, the article explores how the (...) AIA may be implemented by national and EU institutional bodies, encompassing longstanding bodies, such as the European Commission, and those newly established under the AIA, such as the AI Office. It investigates their roles across supranational and national levels, emphasizing how EU regulations influence institutional structures and operations. These regulations may not only directly dictate the structural design of institutions but also indirectly request administrative capacities needed to enforce the AIA. (shrink)

Using data from the 2010 Brazilian census, this paper aims to describe the religious profile of the indigenous population in Brazil. We analyzed information from more than 800,000 individuals. Our results show that indigenous population is mostly Christian that are separated into Catholics and Evangelicals. Moreover, we found a reduced number of people who declared themselves belonging to indigenous traditional religions. Finally, we present the religious profile of the indigenous population according to region, place of residence, age, and schooling.

Given two (positive) equivalence relations ∼ 1 , ∼ 2 on the set ω of natural numbers, we say that ∼ 1 is m-reducible to ∼ 2 if there exists a total recursive function h such that for every x, y ∈ ω, we have $x \sim_1 y \operatorname{iff} hx \sim_2 hy$ . We prove that the equivalence relation induced in ω by a positive precomplete numeration is complete with respect to this reducibility (and, moreover, a "uniformity property" holds). This (...) result allows us to state a classification theorem for positive equivalence relations (Theorem 2). We show that there exist nonisomorphic positive equivalence relations which are complete with respect to the above reducibility; in particular, we discuss the provable equivalence of a strong enough theory: this relation is complete with respect to reducibility but it does not correspond to a precomplete numeration. From this fact we deduce that an equivalence relation on ω can be strongly represented by a formula (see Definition 8) iff it is positive. At last, we interpret the situation from a topological point of view. Among other things, we generalize a result of Visser by showing that the topological space corresponding to a partition in e.i. sets is irreducible and we prove that the set of equivalence classes of true sentences is dense in the Lindenbaum algebra of the theory. (shrink)

Cancel culture is a form of societal self-defense that becomes prominent particularly during periods of substantial moral upheaval. It can lead to the polarization of incompatible viewpoints if it is indiscriminately demonized. In this brief editorial letter, I consider framing cancel culture as an essentially contested concept (ECC), according to the theory of Walter B. Gallie, with the aim of establishing a groundwork for a more productive discourse on it. In particular, I propose that intermediate agreements and principles of reasonableness (...) can help refocus the debate on cancel culture towards democratic discourse, without blanket justification for every instance. In this context, asserting that cancel culture is an ECC does not dismiss the potential of achieving consensus on its shared core meaning or societal role. Like other similar ECCs, such as democracy or rule of law, it highlights the importance of contestations in shaping our collective understanding of the concept. (shrink)

This essay reevaluates the work of Herbert Croly, a central figure in American progressivism. Croly contests the thesis that the liberal tradition in the United States is inhospitable to anticapitalist alternatives, drawing from the American past a history of resistance to capitalist wage relations that is fundamentally liberal. This historical reconstruction guides his departure from progressivism. Croly reclaims an idea Progressives allowed to lapse -- that working for wages is a lesser form of liberty. Increasingly sceptical of social welfare legislation (...) to remedy social ills, he argues that America's liberal promise can be redeemed only by syndicalist reforms involving workplace democracy. (shrink)

Marx counted the Greeks among his greatest teachers. The burden of contemporary scholarship is that Marx's debt to antiquity is principally a debt to Aristotle. Studies of the Aristotelian lineages of Marx's political thought have revealed significant aspects of his understanding of justice and the good life. Just as important, scholars have explored the connections between Aristotle's and Marx's writings on economics. On this view, underlying Capital is a normative ideal drawn mainly from Book 1 of Aristotle's Politics. The aim (...) of this essay is to challenge this reading of Marx. Although Marx learned much about the Greeks from Aristotle, his chief theoretical interest lay in the unique accomplishments of the Athenian demos, not in Aristotle's conception of the human good. (shrink)

In this paper, I will deal with the way linguistics and semiotics focus on person and subjectivity in language. I start from two different meanings of the “person” word and from Benveniste and Latour’s theories of enunciation. Later, I deal with the problem of subjectivity in language and I connect it to two different views: Benveniste’s idea that subjectivity is grounded on the “I” and Guillaume’s idea of a primacy of the “he”. Starting from the Iliad and from the semiotic (...) idea of subject, I take side for Guillaume and Latour’s theory: it is the delocutive structure of the “he” which, in language, expresses subjectivity, namely the capacity of the subject to make himself the object of his reflections and of his words. (shrink)