Kant clearly endorses some version of the ‘old formula of the schools’, according to which all volition is sub ratione boni. There has been a debate whether he holds this only for morally good actions. I argue that a closer look at the distinction between the good and the agreeable does not support this conclusion. Considering Kant’s account of the detrimental and the correct use of this thesis, I argue that rational beings always will sub ratione boni, even when they (...) act immorally, because they act on principles. I argue that Kant’s accounts of self-love and self-conceit support this view. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar o conceito de propriedade na teoria de Arthur Schopenhauer, contida principalmente na obra Parerga und Paralipomena e a teoria de John Locke, expressa no Segundo tratado sobre o governo civil e estabelecer relações entre os conceitos, de modo a demonstrar as semelhanças enquanto direito natural e suas diferenças enquanto direito positivado na teoria dos dois filósofos.

Resumo: neste artigo, apresenta-se um prelúdio de ideias e vivências acerca da importância do ensino de Filosofia, apontando também para um caminho, onde, a partir de experiências e estudos, acredita-se que esse ensino possa ser melhor conduzido. Assim, como escopo, busca-se desenvolver breves considerações em torno da premissa de que o ensino de filosofia, este sendo aplicado em um novo paradigma educacional, pode ser uma via profícua para o processo de emancipação, esclarecimento (aufklarung) e autonomia do indivíduo. Nessa medida, o (...) artigo terá como referência o ensaio “O que é esclarecimento” de Immanuel Kant, a obra “Educação e emancipação” de Theodor Adorno, e do artigo “O ensino de filosofia e a questão da emancipação” do comentador Walter Omar Kohan, entre outros textos de apoio. Por fim, buscaremos fazer uma correlação entre o ensino de Filosofia, seu potencial crítico-emancipador e o modelo de educação a distância, procurando destacar as possibilidades a serem abordadas dentro desse novo paradigma pedagógico, que, como mostraremos, apresenta inúmeras potencialidades a serem utilizadas no demandado processo de transformação da educação explorado no texto. Palavras-chave: Educação; Ensino de Filosofia; Autonomia; Princípios da Educação Online; Emancipação. Teaching philosophy: a path to emancipation, criticity and autonomy of the student Abstract: in this article, a prelude to ideas and experiences about the importance of Philosophy Teaching is presented, also pointing to a path where, based on experiences and studies, it is believed that this teaching can be better conducted. Thus, as a scope, we seek to develop brief considerations around the premise that the teaching of philosophy, being applied in a new educational paradigm, can be a fruitful way for the process of emancipation, enlightenment (aufklarung) and autonomy of the individual. To that extent, the article will have as reference the use of Kant’s essay “which is enlightenment”, of Adorno’s work “Education and emancipation”, by the commentator Walter Omar Kohan, in his article “The teaching of philosophy and the question of emancipation”, among other supporting texts. Finally, we will try to make a correlation between Philosophy teaching, its critical-emancipating potential and the distance education model, trying to highlight the possibilities to be addressed within this new pedagogical paradigm, which, as we will show, presents countless potentialities to be used in the demanded process of transformation of education explored in the text. Keywords: Education; Teaching Philosophy; Autonomy; Principles of Online Education; Emancipation. La enseñanza de la filosofía: un camino hacia la emancipación, crítica y la autonomía del estudiante Resumen: en este artículo se presenta un preludio de ideas y experiencias sobre la importancia de la Enseñanza de la Filosofía, señalando también un camino donde, a partir de experiencias y estudios, se cree que esta enseñanza puede ser mejor conducida. Así, como alcance, buscamos desarrollar breves consideraciones en torno a la premisa de que la enseñanza de la filosofía, siendo aplicada en un nuevo paradigma educativo, puede ser un camino fecundo para el proceso de emancipación, esclarecimiento (Aufklarung) y autonomía del individuo. En esa medida, el artículo tendrá como referencia el uso del ensayo de Kant “que es la ilustración”, de la obra de Adorno “Educación y emancipación”, del comentarista Walter Omar Kohan, en su artículo “La enseñanza de la filosofía y la cuestión de la emancipación”. ”, entre otros textos de apoyo. Finalmente, buscaremos hacer una correlación entre la enseñanza de la filosofía, su potencial crítico-emancipador y el modelo de educación a distancia, buscando destacar las posibilidades a ser abordadas dentro de este nuevo paradigma pedagógico, que, como mostraremos, presenta innumerables potencialidades a ser utilizadas en el demandado proceso de transformación de la educación explorado en el texto. Palabras clave: Educación; Enseñanza de la Filosofía; Autonomía; Principios de Educación en Línea; Emancipación. Data de registro: 23/08/2022 Data de aceite: 13/12/2022. (shrink)

A utilização da água sempre foi vital para a sobrevivência humana, mas com suas ações surgiram os impactos aos ecossistemas comprometendo a qualidade. O ecossistema aquático tem sido prejudicado por isso, principalmente, pelo descarte inadequado de efluentes não tratados. Este trabalho visou avaliar a eficiência de ilhas flutuantes com plantas, a fim de observar a melhoria da qualidade hídrica de ecossistemas aquáticos. Para isso foi analisado o comportamento das macrófitas nas ilhas flutuantes, por meio de experimento controlado. A ilha se (...) mostrou eficiente e resistente e pode ser utilizada para a remoção de macronutrientes. A eficiência na remoção foi cerca de 25% de fosfato e fósforo total, em um período de análise de 60 dias. Isso indica que com um período maior de análises, o resultado de remoção poderá ser maior, bem como a densidade de biomassa para o povoamento da ilha e a sua aplicação em corpos hídricos comprometidos. (shrink)

The speculative direction that Fink in the ’30s had imprinted on phenomenology finds its development – distant in many ways from its theoretical premises in Husserl’s thought – in the first university lectures of the post-war period, among which Vom Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit (1947) is of peculiar relevance. Some common threads connect Fink’s early phenomenological reflections with his following attempt to develop a philosophical cosmology and anthropology. In the course of lectures here examined we can see the revival of (...) the theme that considers philosophy – understood as a radical inquiring, open to the world and at the same time to the self of the human being – the primary place of freedom. In connection with this theme Fink theorizes a concept of freedom that does not confine freedom to a subjective polar opposite to nature, but focuses on the exposure of the human being to the world. Fink, indeed, starts a discussion on the question of freedom through a comparison between two opposite patterns of thought, namely the philosophies of Kant and Nietzsche, read with a perspective that puts both these philosophies in contrast to the absolutization of subjectivity in the systems of German idealism. (shrink)

This paper discusses the communicability of musical listening, proposes a semanalytical perspective to approach it in terms of communicational production, and summarizes an analysis of the production of musical listenings in the case of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Instead of assuming that verbal talk on music banalizes listening, or that musical arrangers are the privileged authorities when it comes to transmitting a personal listening, our suggestion is that communication produces – in the post-structuralist sense of the word – musical listenings even (...) when it seems to simply try and account for it. In a transmissive, “phenotextual” comprehension, listening may be understood as a phenomenological, receptive act that pre-exists its communication. Instead, our communicational research on musical listening turns to the listening-accounts in order to grasp the “listenabilities” as they emerge within specific listening-territories that “genotextually” produce their regulations and habits. This semiotic production is methodologically investigated, here, in terms of interpretant signs, especially as Normal Interpretants, within a particular listening-territory. Three remarks are made on the genotextual operations that produce “insufficiency,” “monumentality,” and “distinção” as listening normalities. (shrink)

This study investigated relationships between state anxiety and leisure-domain physical activity levels during Covid-19 pandemic. We used frequency, duration, and intensity as key variables of physical activity. Trait anxiety, state anxiety before pandemic, age, gender, and education level were also included in the analysis. Our general hypothesis was that participants who declared doing more physical activity levels would exhibit lower levels of anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic. A convenient sample of 571 volunteer adults was drawn mainly from São Paulo State, (...) the epicenter of Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. To obtain the participants’ levels of anxiety we used a validated short-version of the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory. Levels of physical activity were measured via questions from VIGITEL, a validated questionnaire about the individual’s habits on risk factors. Answers were given regarding the first week of March 2020 and at the very moment the participant was filling in the electronic form. Data analyses were conducted through descriptive and inferential techniques, with the use of non-parametric tests and linear regression models. Overall, participants’ responses indicate that anxiety levels were higher during the pandemic compared to the period that preceded the pandemic, and that frequent and long physical activity in the leisure-domain reduced anxiety, regardless its intensity. The regression models revealed an inverse relationship between physical activity and anxiety and independent of gender, age, education level, trait anxiety, and physical activity before pandemic. (shrink)

We explore some topics in the model theory of sheaves of modules. First we describe the formal language that we use. Then we present some examples of sheaves obtained from quivers. These, and other examples, will serve as illustrations and as counterexamples. Then we investigate the notion of strong minimality from model theory to see what it means in this context. We also look briefly at the relation between global, local and pointwise versions of properties related to acyclicity.

This essay discusses postpartum abortion from the perspective of E. Lévinas' concepts of alterity and responsibility. It presents a notion of postpartum abortion to then verify if the ethical impasses presented by the theme can be answered in the light of Lévinas.

Estudo sobre como a Divisão de Censura e Diversões Públicas tratou o documentário brasileiro produzido nos anos de 1960/70 e 1980. Ao analisar os pareceres de censura de 23 filmes – documentos disponíveis no site do projeto Memória da censura no cinema brasileiro 1964-1988 – optou-se por estudar os casos de O país de São Saruê e Iracema, uma transa amazônica. Nas décadas de 1960/70 presenciamos o surgimento de um novo documentarismo que buscava retratar o “Brasil profundo”, o país das (...) desigualdades que tanto se conflitava com a imagem desenvolvimentista que a propaganda da ditadura difundia. Ao analisar a censura a estes filmes constatou-se que as dinâmicas censórias se valeram tanto de questões morais quanto de posicionamentos políticos-ideológicos. (shrink)

I discuss Paul Guyer’s contribution to the Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Immanuel Kant series. The author argues that Kant derives the fundamental principle and the object of morality from the fundamental principles of reason. I provide an overview of its chapters and discuss some of its main interpretative claims.

“Only a small community has concentratedon general intelligence. No one has tried to make a thinking machine... The bottom line is that we really haven’t progressed too far toward a truly intelligent machine. We have collections of dumb specialists in small domains; the true majesty of general intelligence still awaits our attack.... We have got to get back to the deepest questions of AI and general intelligence... ” –MarvinMinsky as interviewed in Hal’s Legacy, edited by David Stork, 2000. Our goal (...) in creating this edited volume has been to?ll an apparent gap in the scienti?c literature, by providing a coherent presentation of a body of contemporary research that, in spite of its integral importance, has hitherto kept a very low pro?le within the scienti?c and intellectual community. This body of work has not been given a name before; in this book we christen it “Arti?cial General Intelligence”. What distinguishes AGI work from run-of-the-mill “arti?cial intelligence” research is that it is explicitly focused on engineering general intelligence in the short term. We have been active researchers in the AGI?eld for many years, and it has been a pleasure to gather together papers from our colleagues working on related ideas from their own perspectives. In the Introduction we give a conceptual overview of the AGI?eld, and also summarize and interrelate the key ideas of the papers in the subsequent chapters. (shrink)

For more than 25 years, research misconduct is defined as fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism —although other research misbehaviors have been also added in codes of cond...

The aim of this paper is to investigate among a group of non-profit organizations: a) the effect of ethical leadership on volunteers’ satisfaction, affective organizational commitment and intention to stay in the same organization; b) the role played by job satisfaction as a mediator in the relationship between ethical leadership and volunteers’ intentions to stay in the same organization, as well as between ethical leadership and affective commitment. An anonymous questionnaire was individually administered to 198 Italian volunteers of different non-profit (...) organizations. The questionnaire contained the Ethical Leadership Scale, the Volunteers Satisfaction Index, the Affective organization Scale, as well as questions regarding the participants’ age, sex, type of work, level of education, length of their volunteer works, intention to volunteer in the following months in the same organization. The construct as well the effects of EL on volunteers is approached in light of the Social Exchange Theory and the Social Learning Theory. Structural equation models were used to test hypothesized relationships. The results confirm the role of mediation of volunteer satisfaction in the relationships between the variables studied. In particular, ethical leadership was found to be positively associated both with volunteers’ intention of staying and with their affective commitment. In the first case this relationship is fully explained by the mediation of the volunteers’ satisfaction, while the latter is explained by both direct and indirect factors. To the authors’ knowledge, this the first attempt to understand the role played by ethical leadership on volunteers’ behavior and, more in general, in the management of non-profit organizations. Findings are relevant both for practitioners and managers of non-profit organization, since they suggest the relevance of the perception of ethical leadership by volunteers, as well as for scholars, since they further deepen the knowledge on EL and its effects on the followers. Limits of the study: the questionnaire was administered only among a group of non-statistical sample of volunteers. Furthermore, the study reached only volunteers from Italian non-profit organization. (shrink)

I argue that a particular restricted version of the Principle of Indiference is a consistent, indispensible tool for guiding our probabilistic judgements.

The paper states a hypothesis concerning Thomas Reid's moderation in his reply to skepticism. It is initially argued that commonsense beliefs, though due to reliable faculties, are doubtful, fallible, and correctable. They are not completely immune to skeptical attack. It is further argued that Reid intends to reply only to one form of skepticism, the partial one – the skepticism of authors who accept at least one mental faculty as a reliable source of knowledge. Reid does not intend to argue (...) with the skeptic who equally denies his assent to the reliability of all faculties – that is, the radical skeptic. This radical form of skepticism is harmless to practical life and philosophy and, for that reason, is not a threat. Finally, the hypothesis advanced is discussed considering other interpretations of Reid’s reply to skepticism. (shrink)

To date, the primary focus of research in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the strategic implications of CSR for corporations and less on an evaluation of CSR from a wider political, economic and social perspective. In this paper, we aim to address this gap by critically engaging with marketing campaigns of so-called ‘ethical’ bottled water. We especially focus on a major CSR strategy of a range of different companies that promise to provide drinking water for (...) (what they name as) ‘poor African people’ by way of Western consumers purchasing bottled water. Following Fairclough's approach, we unfold a three-step critical discourse analysis of the marketing campaigns of 10 such ‘ethical’ brands. Our results show that bottled water companies try to influence consumers' tastes through the management of the cultural meaning of bottled water, producing a more ‘ethical’ and ‘socially responsible’ perception of their products/brands. Theoretically, we base our analysis on McCracken's model of the cultural meaning of consumer goods, which, we argue, offers a critical perspective of the recent emergence of CSR and business ethics initiatives. We discuss how these marketing campaigns can be framed as historical struggles associated with neo-liberal ideology and hegemony. Our analysis demonstrates how such CSR strategies are part of a general process of the reproduction of capitalist modes of accumulation and legitimation through the usage of cultural categories. (shrink)

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar dois distintos projetos formativos: a paideia grega e a Bildung do esclarecimento alemão representada por Kant e Hegel, bem como o desenvolvimento desta última em Halbbildung no século XX. Para compreender os sentidos e contornos históricos em que essas formulações estavam postas, tornou-se necessário inseri-las no contexto mais geral das formações sociais em que elas estavam inseridas, revelando suas contradições.

To date, the primary focus of research in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the strategic implications of CSR for corporations and less on an evaluation of CSR from a wider political, economic and social perspective. In this paper, we aim to address this gap by critically engaging with marketing campaigns of so‐called ‘ethical’ bottled water. We especially focus on a major CSR strategy of a range of different companies that promise to provide drinking water for (...) (what they name as) ‘poor African people’ by way of Western consumers purchasing bottled water. Following Fairclough's approach, we unfold a three‐step critical discourse analysis of the marketing campaigns of 10 such ‘ethical’ brands. Our results show that bottled water companies try to influence consumers' tastes through the management of the cultural meaning of bottled water, producing a more ‘ethical’ and ‘socially responsible’ perception of their products/brands. Theoretically, we base our analysis on McCracken's model of the cultural meaning of consumer goods, which, we argue, offers a critical perspective of the recent emergence of CSR and business ethics initiatives. We discuss how these marketing campaigns can be framed as historical struggles associated with neo‐liberal ideology and hegemony. Our analysis demonstrates how such CSR strategies are part of a general process of the reproduction of capitalist modes of accumulation and legitimation through the usage of cultural categories. (shrink)

The concept of community of persons, which focuses on both persons and the whole, helps understand solidarity. The latter is based on the social nature of persons. Community of persons and solidarity seems to be able to move away from the individualist perspective or the individualism-collectivism dichotomy. Using autopraxeography in a pragmatic constructivism epistemological paradigm, this article aims to explore how organizations can develop solidarity in a workplace. The experience presented takes place in a bank. It shows that communities of (...) persons with employees and customers are both ethical and financially efficient. These communities build a dialogue between persons and organizations. Nevertheless, it is impossible to force solidarity because it could generate derision that is contrary to the wished goal. Finally, while this model is based on solidarity, it focuses solely on internal solidarity. (shrink)

In recent years, companies receive pressure to release environmental, social, and governance disclosure, since these are perceived as critical issues by society. Despite this pressure, ESG disclosure practices considerably vary by firm. Prior academic literature investigated country- and firm-level factors determining such variation, alternatively adopting the institutional and legitimacy theory. By combining these theories in a unique framework, this study investigates the extent to which social structures and social legitimization influence ESG disclosure practices and each pillar. Results obtained using a (...) cross-country sample of 14,174 firm-year observations during 2005–2012 provide evidence that country-level characteristics such as a political system, labor system, and cultural system significantly affect firms’ ESG disclosure practices. However, their impact is heterogeneous in that they either reduce or enhance disclosure levels and may differ by pillar. Results for firm-level characteristics related to a firm’s visibility demonstrate a positive and homogeneous effect on ESG disclosure and each pillar. These results inform policy makers and regulators aiming to enhance ESG disclosure levels of the risk they incur when managing variables related to social structure and the benefits of exposing firms to higher visibility. (shrink)

Before broaching our main subject, and exploring why, among all disorders of the mind, obsessive-compulsive disorders have a place apart, I would like to start from a dilemma that is well-known to historians interested in mental disorders. According to one approach, a mental illness X is considered as a bona fide or ‘genuine’ illness if, and only if, it originates from a disturbance of the brain. Its neurobiological form is in this case considered as invariant, whatever cultural veneer might give (...) it a different aspect in accord with historical and local settings. The assumption is that this veneer does not, properly speaking, have any deep grounding in reality... (shrink)

Essays by some of the world's leading educators provide a revolutionary portrait of new ideas and developments in education that can influence the possibility of social and political change. The authors take into account such diverse terrain as feminism, ecology, media, and individual liberty in their pursuit of new ideas that can inform the fundamental practice of education and promote a more humane civil society. The book consolidates recent thinking just as it reflects on emerging new lines of critical theory.

Scholarship on the early modern period assumes that the Creation story of Genesis and its chronology were the only narratives openly available in Renaissance Europe. This essay revisits the topic by exploring a wide range of literature on the age and nature of the Earth in early modern Italy. It suggests that, contrary to received notions, in the early 1500s an Aristotelian ancient world characterized by slow geological change was a common assumption in discourse on the Earth. These notions were (...) freely disseminated by popularizations and didactic literature in the vernacular, which made them available to a large readership. Counter-Reformation cultural policies eventually called for a tighter integration of theology and natural philosophy; however, the essay argues that even then the creation of the world was usually placed in a remote and undetermined past, not necessarily tied to the short timescales of contemporary chronology. (shrink)

The paper aims to present two distinct ways of defending John Locke’s theory of personal identity from Thomas Reid’s objection. First, it will be argued that this objection is not effective since it starts from a misunderstanding of Locke’s theory. The identity of a person is not preserved by the psychological continuity of consciousness, as Reid understood it, but by its ontological continuity: the existence of the same consciousness preserves the personal identity. Secondly, it will be argued that it is (...) possible to reply to that objection in the light of the observation that the personal identity is preserved by the identity of the man: person and man are connected by means of the notion of body. (shrink)

In this paper, we intend to offer an interpretation about the explanation of the (relative) idea of pure substance in general on John Locke’s philosophy, from Thomas Reid’s notion of ‘natural suggestion’. To achieve this aim, after contextualizing Locke’s notion of pure substance in general and distinguishing it from the idea of particular substance (section 1), we explicit that Locke’s words about the source of the idea of the former in the mind (either empirical or rational) are ambiguous and inconclusive (...) (section 2). Then, we argue that the parallels between this idea and that of ‘relation’, as well as of ‘power’ do not assist in that answer, due to some problems we identify on them (section 3). Finally, we argue that the Reidian explanation for the source of the idea of ‘mind’, from the notion of ‘natural suggestion’ allows us to i) avoid those problems and ii) inasmuch as, according to this interpretation, the idea of pure substance in general would have an empirical source, Lockian empiricism would remain intact (section 4). (shrink)

The definition of a pseudofinite structure can be translated verbatim into continuous logic, but it also gives rise to a stronger notion and to two parallel concepts of pseudocompactness. Our purpose is to investigate the relationship between these four concepts and establish or refute each of them for several basic theories in continuous logic. Pseudofiniteness and pseudocompactness turn out to be equivalent for relational languages with constant symbols, and the four notions coincide with the standard pseudofiniteness in the case of (...) classical structures, but the details appear to be slightly more important here than in the usual translation of definitions from classical logic. We also prove that injective “formula-definable” endofunctions are surjective, and conversely, in strongly pseudofinite omega-saturated structures. (shrink)

Communication Studies currently undergoes a crisis of paradigms that requires an ontological review that must begin with a debate about the conditions of possibility of every communicational phenomena. In this article we argue that semiosis offers a conceptual framework that allows for the study of communication as qualitative action. Semiosis, or the action of the sign, is here defined as a fundamental process based on perception that models the world of species, creating cognition and culture. At the core of semiosis (...) are dynamic structures that the authors have defined as ‘ontological diagrams’. The first purpose of Semiotics of Communication is to understand how these modeling systems evolve ontologically and phylogenically, producing, in the case of human culture, means of communication ever more varied and technologically advanced. (shrink)

Reflective capacity is integral to core healthcare professional practice competencies. Reflection plays a central role in teacher education as reflecting on teaching behaviours with critical analysis can potentially improve teaching practice. The humanities including narrative and the visual arts can serve as a valuable tool for fostering reflection. We conducted a multinational faculty development workshop aiming to enhance reflective capacity in medical educators by using a combination of abstract paintings and narratives. Twenty-three family physicians or physicians-in-training from 10 countries participated (...) in the workshop. Qualitative assessment of the workshop showed that the combined use of art and narrative was well received and perceived as contributing to the reflective exercise. Participants generally felt that viewing abstract paintings had facilitated a valuable mood transformation and prepared them emotionally for the reflective writing. Our analysis found that the following themes emerged from participants’ responses: narratives from different countries are similar; the use of art helped access feelings; viewing abstract paintings facilitated next steps; writing reflective narratives promoted examination of educational challenges, compassion for self and other, and building an action plan; and sharing of narrative was helpful for fostering active listening and appreciating multiple perspectives. Future research might include comparing outcomes for a group participating in arts–narrative-based workshops with those of a control group using only reflective narrative or in combination with figurative art, and implementing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods of assessment. (shrink)

The advance in Internet of Things technology has increased the opportunities for a healthcare system design, which is an urgent need owing to the growth in population among the older adults in many countries. This requires giving thought to the kind of innovative technological design methods that can find suitable solutions for home care. The application of Health Smart Homes by means of the technologies of the Internet of Things, can be used to support rehabilitation treatment and help the senior (...) citizens to understand the importance of taking measures to maintain a healthy standard of living that can meet their needs. The aim of this article is to develop and assess a design method for the following purposes: to determine and map out the physical and emotional state of the home care users, such as senior citizens; to implement a participatory design that includes the user within its social, psychological and therapeutic context; to explore the flexible method when applied to older users; to provide a way for the users to be “personalized” through a wide range of solutions that involve analyzing the behavioral patterns of different individuals in a standardized manner and to define a set of smart technologies for each problem and senior citizen. This article sets out a collaborative method called FlexPersonas, which is employed for the flexible mapping of users and to improve decision-making with the support of Internet of Things technologies. In this context, computing systems can identify the behavior of the user and issue warnings to the Carers about any abnormal event. Studies with an interdisciplinary team point out the potential and drawbacks of the method. (shrink)