This study investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical practices used to teach business ethics. The business community has greatly increased its demands for better ethics education in business programs. Educators have generally agreed that the ethical principles of business people have declined. It is important, then, to examine how common methods of instruction used in business ethics could contribute to the development of higher levels of moral judgment competence for students. To determine the effectiveness of these methods, moral judgment competence levels (...) for undergraduate and graduate students from three institutions were measured and compared based upon the pedagogical method used in a business class. Significant differences were found for moral reasoning and moral competence scores depending on the method used for ethics instruction. Students in classes with more highly integrated ethics coverage scored higher in moral reasoning and moral competence. (shrink)

The paper explores the semiotic and legal semiotic perspectives related to posthumous digital face. In doing so, the contribution also seeks to explore the complex relationship between AI-generated faces, including deep fakes, mourning, and posthumous rights. The article has five parts. In the introduction, we discuss the challenges of _posthumous existence_ and the issues related to respecting the deceased. We also examine some examples of ‘digital personhood’. In part two, we present three case studies and use semiotics to help us (...) distinguish between _posthumous existence_ and _digital resurrection_. In part three, we provide a semiotic classification of representation in the context of digital faces and our case studies. We suggest that there is a difference between the _phenomenological presence_ of a hologram and the _cognitive value_ of recreating someone’s identity, including their biography, face, and voice. In part four, we explore the topic of digital spectra and mourning, including the concept of _imputability_. In part five, we analyse how the law offers new insights into the ontology of the face of the deceased and posthumous existence in hologram form. In the conclusion, we summarise the article’s key findings and highlight open issues and potential future developments. (shrink)

During the twentieth century statistical methods have transformed research in the experimental and social sciences. Qualitative evidence has largely been replaced by quantitative results and the tools of statistical inference have helped foster a new ideal of objectivity in scientific knowledge. The paper will investigate this transformation by considering the genesis of analysis of variance and experimental design, statistical methods nowadays taught in every elementary course of statistics for the experimental and social sciences. These methods were developed by the mathematician (...) and geneticist R. A. Fisher during the 1920s, while he was working at Rothamsted Experimental Station, where agricultural research was in turn reshaped by Fisher’s methods. Analysis of variance and experimental design required new practices and instruments in field and laboratory research, and imposed a redistribution of expertise among statisticians, experimental scientists and the farm staff. On the other hand the use of statistical methods in agricultural science called for a systematization of information management and made computing an activity integral to the experimental research done at Rothamsted, permanently integrating the statisticians’ tools and expertise into the station research programme. Fisher’s statistical methods did not remain confined within agricultural research and by the end of the 1950s they had come to stay in psychology, sociology, education, chemistry, medicine, engineering, economics, quality control, just to mention a few of the disciplines which adopted them. (shrink)

This article discusses how the legal systems in several Western countries, with a special focus on Italy, address our present day animal rights movement and how these legal systems can faithfully reflect the movement’s values as well as promote them in a manner that will ultimately change the rights themselves and their cultural context: this is an extremely interesting issue for the semiotic study of the “humanization of animals”. Therefore, I will summarize several semiotic arguments using the model of the (...) four ontologies by Philippe Descola and the concept of prospectivism by Eduardo Viveiros De Castro. I expect several important changes will come about thanks to the ties between philosophical animal rights discourse and legal discourse and I also believe that the two most interesting issues will be animal labor and reproduction. I will concentrate on the debate over zoophilia laws in Denmark, Germany and Italy in order to propose a way to understand the threshold which separates humans and animals in our naturalistic ontology. Nowadays, “becoming animals” and “becoming humans” seem to be two central and open-ended semiotic processes: legal rights and animal rights philosophy help bring several issues into focus such as animal subjectivity and informed consent. (shrink)

RESUMENEl ensayo intenta mostrar la peculiar importancia que el arte, desde finales del s. XVI, concede al afecto y la atención que paralelamente le dedica la reflexión filosófica, hasta llegar a la obra de Baruch Spinoza. No pretende hacer una historia sino destacar ciertos registros que permitan pensar el valor concedido al afecto, concebido sin sublimaciones, desde su raíz corporal.PALABRAS CLAVEFILOSOFÍA DEL ARTE, AFECTO, SPINOZAABSTRACTThis paper intends to show the specific value which art has attached to affection as well as (...) the attention it is subject of on the part of philosophical reflections from the end of XVI century to Baruch Spinoza’s works. The essay doesn´t attempt to draw a historical process, but rather to highlight some aspects which may allow us to consider the importance attached to bodily affections without any sublimation.KEYWORDSPHILOSOPHY OF ART, AFFECTION, SPINOZA. (shrink)

A partir de la afirmación de que el capitalismo prosigue su expansión, el autor se pregunta cómo llevar a cabo una lucha anticapitalista en esas condiciones. Rescata que éste fue el contexto de los primeros socialistas, pre-marxistas o utópicos, y que esta radicalidad anticapitalista se encuentra hoy en la protesta ecologista. Introduce el concepto de "discrepancia radical" con el derroche capitalista, que amenaza para la vida de la especie humana y de la naturaleza. Acude el autor en su tesis al (...) Segundo Tratado sobre el Gobierno Civil, de John Locke, para luego postular los elementos políticos de una discrepancia radical y la necesidad de redefinir el papel militante de la izquierda. (shrink)

El autor recupera el planteamiento de Jacques Maritain respecto de la presencia que deben tener en la teoría democrática los pequeños grupos dinámicos libremente organizados, o “minoría de choque” que desatan luchas de emancipación y materializan su crítica, a través de una acción práctica, movimientista y asambleísta, orientada al autogobierno. Analiza el artículo su legitimidad en las condiciones actuales del neoliberalismo y la globalización.

This article delves into Blaise Pascal’s religious philosophy, focusing on his use of the phrase “Scio cui credidi” (I know whom I have believed) to explore his understanding of faith. It analyzes Pascal’s “Memorial” and the “Summary of the Life of Jesus Christ”, highlighting how Christ is central to Pascal’s belief system. The discussion reveals the transformational nature of Pascal’s faith, particularly after his mystical experience on November 23, 1654. This experience is crucial in understanding his shift from a philosophical (...) to a deeply personal, Christ-centered faith. The article underscores Pascal’s journey from a scientific and philosophical perspective to an intimate, emotional resonance with Christian faith, demonstrating how his personal encounters with the divine profoundly shaped his religious perspective. (shrink)

In the provocative discussions comprising this collection, scholars Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson and Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda explore the multifaceted, enduring legacy of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. In the process they challenge and inspire the reader to do as these great figures once did—to look deep inside oneself to discover potential for growth, to encounter the natural world with reverence and delight, and to express themselves with poetry and imagination. With great appreciation for the timeless and universal (...) relevance of the American Renaissance, Bosco, Myerson, and Ikeda encourage each person to lead lives of greatness and to do nothing less than create Waldens of their own. (shrink)

The Scottish philosopher David Hume had a major influence on the Founding Fathers. While Hume was friends with Benjamin Franklin (who stayed at Humes home on one of his visits to Edinburgh), his real influence came from the fact that his works were widely read and passionately discussed in what would become the United States. Chapters include a biography of the affable Scot, a discussion of the philosophical schools that he is most associated with, an in-depth examination of his seminal (...) "A Treatise of Human Nature," and a discussion of his importance to early American history. (shrink)

This article examines religious socialism as an American social movement. It focuses on the most recent iteration of this tradition, the Religion and Socialism Commission, formed in the 1970s as a subgroup of the Democratic Socialists of America. Drawing on concepts from social movement theory such as frame alignment and political opportunity structure, it argues that the Religion and Socialism Commission ultimately failed in its attempt to transition from an organization into a social movement. It then considers various possibilities for (...) the future of religious socialism in the United States, given new variables such as a changing political opportunity structure and the rise of social media. (shrink)

This article aims to clarify facts and contribute reasons that could lead one to consider the possibility of the existence of natural dispositions which, in that case, should be considered as ethical precursors. Given that the neuroethics proposal focuses attention and studies on the human brain in order to carry out the search of those natural dispositions, this text suggest an initial question: is it possible to go beyond the brain in that search? Or even better, before it? In this (...) regard, Baruch Spinoza proposes lines of reflection in his Ethics which appear susceptible to be taken into account and that, interestingly, connect with the recent works of the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. (shrink)

This study is an investigation of both comprehension and production of Wh- questions in Malay-speaking children with a developmental language disorder. A total of 15 Malay children with DLD were tested on a set of Wh- questions, comparing their performance with two control groups [15 age-matched typically developing children and 15 younger TD language-matched children]. Malay children with DLD showed a clear asymmetry in comprehension of Wh- questions, with a selective impairment for which NP questions compared with who questions. Age-matched (...) controls performed at ceiling in all Wh- questions, while the language-matched group reported a subject/object asymmetry selective for the which NP, as reported in other languages. In production, both children with DLD and younger children showed a preference for questions with in situ Wh- elements, a structure that is allowed in colloquial Malay, but which is not produced by the age-matched TD group. Several non-adult-like strategies were adopted particularly by the children with DLD to avoid complex sentences, including substitution with yes/no echo questions, production of the wrong Wh- question, and use of a generic Wh- element. The study provides an insight on the mastery of Wh- questions in both typical Malay children and children with DLD. Implications for the definition of a clinical marker for DLD in a free word order language with Wh- in situ option will be discussed. (shrink)

Cet article analyse le rôle croissant, la signification et la fonction d’une couche logicielle intermédiaire : les intergiciels en tant que technologie de base dans un environnement en évolution rapide. Il montre leur rôle clé dans une nouvelle ère de moteurs modulaires.This article analyses the increasing role, significance and function of “middleware”, the intermediate software layer that drives interactive gaming, as a fundamental technology in a rapidly evolving environment, to illustrate its key role in the new age of modular game (...) engines. (shrink)

The paper aims to assess the theory of mind of sexual offenders. We administered to 21 sexual offenders and to 21 nonoffenders two classical first- and second-order ToM tasks, a selection of six Strange Stories, and a semi-structured interview, the Theory of Mind Assessment Scale , which provides a multi-dimensional evaluation of ToM, investigating first- vs. third-person and egocentric vs. allocentric perspectives. Results show that sexual offenders performed worse than controls on second-order ToM tasks, on Strange Stories and on each (...) of the Th.o.m.a.s dimensions, whereas they did as well as the control group on first-order ToM tasks. A detailed analysis of participants’ performance on Th.o.m.a.s. showed that sex offenders performed worse on the third-person than on the first-person ToM scale, and worse on the allocentric than on the egocentric perspective; these findings did not apply to the controls. Implications for future research and treatment are discussed. (shrink)

The benefits of Artificial Intelligence in medicine are unquestionable and it is unlikely that the pace of its development will slow down. From better diagnosis, prognosis, and prevention to more precise surgical procedures, AI has the potential to offer unique opportunities to enhance patient care and improve clinical practice overall. However, at this stage of AI technology development it is unclear whether it will de-humanize or re-humanize medicine. Will AI allow clinicians to spend less time on administrative tasks and technology (...) related procedures and more time being present in person to attend to the needs of their patients? Or will AI dramatically increase the presence of smart technology in the clinical context to a point of undermining the humane dimension of the patient–physician relationship? In this brief commentary, we argue that technological solutions should be only integrated into clinical medicine if they fulfill the following three conditions: they serve human ends; they respect personal identity; and they promote human interaction. These three conditions form the moral imperative of humanity. (shrink)