To understand the complex religious dynamics in a globalizing world, Arjun Appadurai's view on imagination as a social practice, Charles Taylor's view on social imaginaries, and John Dewey's view on moral imagination are discussed. Their views enable us to understand religious dynamics as a “space of contestation” in which secular and religious images and voices interact, argue, and clash. Imagination can be used in violent ways in service of extremist world images that spread over the world by the intensive use (...) of social media. This raises an urgent question for psychology of religion: what enables people psychologically to engage in religious pluralism, understood as negotiating and perhaps stimulating diversity in non-violent, constructive ways? It is argued that dialogical psychology helps us to understand the self as the anchor point and navigational system of the social imaginaries that are at play in religious dynamics. (shrink)

Is it possible for an individual that has gone out of being to come back into being again? The English Aristotelian, Thomas White, argued that it is not. Thomas Hobbes disagreed, and used the case of the Ship of Theseus to argue that individuals that have gone out of being may come back into being again. This paper provides the first systematic account of their arguments. It is doubtful that Hobbes has a consistent case against White. Still his criticism may (...) have prompted White to clarify his views on identity over time in his later work. (shrink)

In this essay, the relation between art and religion is explored using the concepts experience and imagination as understood by the American philosopher John Dewey. In Dewey’s view, experience involves both the experiencer and the experienced: it is a phenomenon of the in-between. When we are really touched by what we meet in interacting with our physical and social surroundings, experience acquires an aesthetic quality that opens us to the value and the potential of what we perceive. We can see (...) the factual in light of the possible, thus enriching it with new layers of meaning. We experience this as resonance between us and the world. It is the work of the imagination. Due to their imaginative capacity, humans can aspire to a ‘good life’. This aspiration is discussed in terms of invitation and response. Can we experience ourselves as being invited to respond to this unruly world with attachment and care? Here art and religion come into play. Art is understood as the domain of the possible: it explores the world behind or beyond what we usually accept as fact. An aesthetic experience acquires religious quality when it evokes in us an ideal that guides our sense of self and world, stimulating us to realize our ideals in daily actions. If inspired by imagination, art and religion may evoke intense experiences of resonance and invite us to new ways of connecting and transformative action. This is explored with the help of a hermeneutical circle, a ‘cycle of imagination’. (shrink)

In healthcare practice, care providers are confronted with decisions they have to make, directly affecting patients and inevitably harmful. These decisions are tragic by nature. This study investigates the role of Moral Case Deliberation in dealing with tragic situations. In MCD, caregivers reflect on real-life dilemmas, involving a choice between two ethical claims, both resulting in moral damage and harm. One element of the reflection process is making explicit the harm involved in the choice. How harmful are our decisions? We (...) investigated how facilitators of MCD experience the importance of addressing harm in MCD and what participants learn from reflecting on harm. The study was qualitative, focusing on the views and experiences of the facilitators of MCD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with facilitators of MCD. The research focuses on the subjective experiences of facilitators. Grounded Theory was used for analysis. The results show two main categories. The first concerns the awareness of tragedy. Within this category, five themes were discerned: making explicit that there is no solution, visualizing consequences, uncovering pain, focusing on emotion, and exploring perspectives on harm. The second category concerns the support for healthcare professionals in dealing with the tragedy of the choices they face. In this category, five themes came forward: acknowledging, offering comfort, managing harm, consideration through dialogue and repairing harm. Our study shows that addressing harm in MCD in tragic situations provides an important moral learning opportunity for participants. By formulating and becoming aware of harm, MCD aids healthcare professionals in the task they are faced with, namely making difficult and painful choices. MCD helps healthcare professionals to repair moral damage, making clear at the same time that harm cannot be undone. (shrink)

Moral Case Deliberation is intended to assist healthcare professionals faced with difficult dilemmas in their work. These are situations that involve emotions. During Moral Case Deliberation, participants are invited to reflect on moral views and deliberate on them. Emotions are not explicitly addressed. This article aims to elucidate the role of emotions in Moral Case Deliberation, by analysing experiences of Moral Case Deliberation facilitators. Our research shows the role of emotions varies according to the phase of the Moral Case Deliberation (...) process. One negative aspect of emotions is that they can obstruct the Moral Case Deliberation discussion or distract from the moral question. A positive aspect is that they bring the dilemma into sharper focus. Devoting attention to emotions can help to ensure that responsible decisions are made, while also increasing the moral resilience of participants. (shrink)

The problem of identity is one of the milestones of philosophical thinking. It is a complex question, a prism with multiple vertices. In this paper I will focus on two key-concepts related to identity, namely, death and community. Death stands as end of life, but as a possibility of it. The ghost "appears", then, in a privileged position for the dialogue and the understanding of this phenomenon. Moreover, as social beings, neither individuals can be separated from the community in which (...) they are registered; nor it is possible to distance the ghosts and functions historically fulfilled in this respect. Throughout the text I will discuss the functions that have been and those that would be of ghosts; understanding ghosts as a referring dialogic and therapeutic constitution of identity. El problema de la identidad constituye uno de los hitos fundamentales de pensamiento filosófico. Es una cuestión compleja, un prisma con múltiples vértices. El presente artículo se centrará en dos hitos fundamentales relacionados con la identidad, a saber: muerte y comunidad. La muerte se sitúa como fin de la vida, pero como posibilidad de la misma. "Aparece", entonces, el fantasma en una posición privilegiada para el diálogo y la comprensión de este fenómeno. Además, en tanto seres sociales los individuos no pueden ser separados de la comunidad en la que se inscriben. Tampoco es posible distanciar a los fantasmas y las funciones cumplidas históricamente en este aspecto. A lo largo del texto se examinarán cuáles han sido y pueden ser estas funciones a cumplir por los fantasmas entendidos como referente dialógico y terapéutico de la constitución de la identidad. (shrink)

This study seeks to examine the impact of alumni connections between the evaluators and evaluatees on the results of peer review ratings for the Korean national R&D project and selection success rate. Specifically, this study analyzed the evaluation results of 8,402 research proposal entries submitted between 2007 and 2011 for the “general researchers support project,” all in the Natural Science and Engineering areas and sponsored by the National Research Foundation of Korea. Each proposal entry was evaluated by three evaluators, and (...) approximately 39 percent of the proposals had at least one evaluator from the same university. The results of this study showed that evaluators have a tendency to give relatively high scores to research proposals submitted by the alumni of the same universities as their alma mater. Also, when an evaluator from the same university as an evaluatee was included in the evaluator group, the results of this study showed that the percentage of entry submissions was higher compared to the contrary. Such results show that in the process of peer review–based research proposal evaluations for national R&D projects, alumni connections have significant influence on evaluation results in South Korea. (shrink)

We classify the measures on the lattice ℒ of all closed subspaces of infinite-dimensional orthomodular spaces (E, Ψ) over fields of generalized power series with coefficients in ℝ. We prove that every σ-additive measure on ℒ can be obtained by lifting measures from the residual spaces of (E, Ψ). The measures being lifted are known, for the residual spaces are Euclidean. From the classification we deduce, among other things, that the set of all measures on ℒ is not separating.

Embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis are controlled through activation of intracellular signal transduction pathways by extracellular growth factors. In the past, signal transduction has largely been regarded as a linear process. However, more recent data from large‐scale and high‐throughput experiments indicate that there is extensive cross‐talk between individual signaling cascades leading to the notion of a signaling network. The behavior of such complex networks cannot be predicted by simple intuitive approaches but requires sophisticated models and computational simulations. The purpose (...) of such models is to generate experimentally testable hypotheses and to find explanations for unexpected experimental results. Here, we discuss the need for, and the future impact of, mathematical models for exploring signal transduction in different biological contexts such as for example development. BioEssays 30:1110–1125, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

It was not long ago when the consciousness was not considered a problem for science. However, this has now changed and the problem of consciousness is considered the greatest challenge to science. In the last decade, a great number of books and articles have been published in the field, but very few have focused on the how consciousness evolves and develops, and what characterizes the transitions between different conscious states, in animals and humans. This book addresses these questions. Renowned researchers (...) from different fields of science (including neurobiology, evolutionary biology, ethology, cognitive science, computational neuroscience and philosophy) contribute with their results and theories in this book, making it a unique collection of the state-of-the-art of this young field of consciousness studies. - First book on the topic - Focus on different levels of consciousness, including: Evolutionary, developmental, and functional - Highly interdisciplinary. (shrink)

Las mujeres desafiaron la condición de "inferiores", "incapaces" o "dependientes" a que las destinaba su esencia femenina. Eligieron la literatura, la ciencia y la filosofía para expresarse. Incluso, en los períodos más adversos por la censura pública, algunas de ellas teorizaron en diarios íntimos o epístolas. Muchas veces se les prohibió el uso de la palabra y de la pluma, o simplemente fueron asesinadas por proseguir sus investigaciones. Durante largos períodos, no les fue permitido firmar con nombre propio sus textos, (...) para no deshonrar a sus familias, figurando su obra como de "autor anónimo". Superada la etapa de anonimato forzado, la mayoría firmaba con su inicial y su apellido paterno o marital, o un seudónimo masculino, desdibujándose así su autoría. Lo cierto es que la mayoría de las filósofas tuvo que esperar hasta el siglo XX para que sus obras fueran rescatadas del anonimato. Las mujeres llevaron a cabo un debate interesante respecto de la no-sexuación del alma. Desde la Antigüedad, la mayoría de los filósofos varones sostuvo una concepción dualista del ser humano, es decir, en términos de cuerpo y alma unidos pero separados o separables. Ellos sostuvieron que la carne o cuerpo material limitaba al alma o la razón. Y como los cuerpos de las mujeres sufren procesos que no controlan -menstruación, embarazo, lactancia-no alcanzan la perfección, son materia imperfecta, haciéndolas esto más débiles, fofas y frágiles. Sin embargo, ellas siempre entendieron al "alma" o "razón" como a-sexuada y al "cuerpo" como portador de las marcas del sexo, de la raza u otras. Es decir, que un mismo argumento les valió para desmontar la jerarquización de los sexos y de las razas impuesto al pensamiento a lo largo de los siglos. Por esto, para conocer las ideas, la obra y los aportes de estas mujeres, Ellas lo pensaron antes. Filósofas excluidas de la memoria reúne una selección de veintidós filósofas que desde la Antigüedad hasta nuestros días han contribuido y contribuyen a la construcción del pensamiento y el desarrollo de la sociedad. Ellas lo pensaron antes aims to shed a light on the lives of extraordinary women who defied conventional female roles by devoting themselves to literature, science, and philosophy. In these pages, readers will become acquainted with the ideas, works, and contributions of twenty-two female philosophers from Antiquity until the present time who have been--and still are--instrumental to the evolution of ideas and the development of our societies. ​. (shrink)

This volume is about moral judgment, especially its exercise in selected social settings.

This article follows Deleuze in investigating the ways in which the symptom as a form of representation can be collapsed into immanence. Exploring the symptoms of schizophrenia and autism, it examines what implications such a collapse may have for the production of the symptom in its double articulation as representation and immanent production. The argument follows Deleuze and Guattari in asserting that symptoms hold an implicit limit for the social forms that deploy them. Arguing that schizophrenia, as one such limit, (...) has been successfully appropriated and deferred by postmodern capitalism, it is proposed that the proliferating symptom cluster of autism may indicate a new form of limit and that ‘‘becoming autistic’’ thus may have potential as revolutionary practice. (shrink)

Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary effort to understand the structures and functions of the brain and brain-mind relations. This effort results in an increasing amount of data, generated by sophisticated technologies. However, these data enhance our descriptive knowledge, rather than improve our understanding of brain functions. This is caused by methodological gaps both within and between subdisciplines constituting neuroscience, and the atomistic approach that limits the study of macro- and mesoscopic issues. Whole-brain measurement technologies do not resolve these issues, but rather (...) aggravate them by the complexity problem. The present article is devoted to methodological and epistemic problems that obstruct the development of human neuroscience. We neither discuss ontological questions nor review data, except when it is necessary to demonstrate a methodological issue. As regards intradisciplinary methodological problems, we concentrate on those within neurobiology and psychology. As regards interdisciplinary problems, we suggest that core disciplines of neuroscience can be integrated using systemic concepts that also entail human-environment relations. We emphasize the necessity of a meta-discussion that should entail a closer cooperation with philosophy as a discipline of systematic reflection. The atomistic reduction should be complemented by the explicit consideration of the embodiedness of the brain and the embeddedness of humans. The discussion is aimed at the development of an explicit methodology of integrative human neuroscience, which will not only link different fields and levels, but also help in understanding clinical phenomena. (shrink)

The living mycelium networks are capable of efficient sensorial fusion over very large areas and distributed decision making. The information processing in the mycelium networks is implemented via propagation of electrical and chemical signals en pair with morphological changes in the mycelium structure. These information processing mechanisms are manifested in experimental laboratory findings that show that the mycelium networks exhibit rich dynamics of neuron-like spiking behaviour and a wide range of non-linear electrical properties. On an example of a single real (...) colony of _Aspergillus niger_, we demonstrate that the non-linear transformation of electrical signals and trains of extracellular voltage spikes can be used to implement logical gates and circuits. The approaches adopted include numerical modelling of excitation propagation on the mycelium network, representation of the mycelium network as a resistive and capacitive network and an experimental laboratory study on mining logical circuits in mycelium bound composites. (shrink)

Asheim, O. Om handlingsformidling.--Hellesnes, J. Hending, handling og aktør.--Apel, K.-O. Vår tids konflikter og muligheten for en etiskpolitisk grunnorientering.--Böhler, D. Å kunne handle, å kunne forstå, å kunne tale.--Nordenstam, T. Vetenskaplig kompetens.--Måseide, A. Perspektivitet, intensjonalitet, refleksjon.--Øfsti, A. Moral og erscheinungswelt hos Kant.--Haga, Å. Transcendentalfilosofi og refleksiv argumentasjon.--Skirbekk, G. Folkelege tankar om sikt og oversikt.--Johannessen, K. S. Mening, kontekst, praksis og transcendentalitet.--Kalleberg, R. Fra kritikk av positivismen til kritikk av kapitalismens politiske økonomi.--Slagstad, R. Struktur-funksjonalisme og historisk materialisme.--Wyller, E. A. Politisk oppløsning (...) og forfall ifølge Platon.--Høibraaten, H. Romantisk eller teknologisk refleksjon. (shrink)

First publication of a letter of Albert Einstein to Hans Vaihinger, dated May, 1919, concerning Vaihinger's concept of "Fiktionen", the role of Geometry in Poincaré's system, and the importance of "real culture" in the intellectual's style of life. The letter is introduced and annotated.

The present volumes unites papers which explore the European image of god in an intercultural context. They range from classical antiquity to contemporary philosophy and science.

The present volumes unites papers which explore the European image of god in an intercultural context. They range from classical antiquity to contemporary philosophy and science.