This stimulating new international study of the state of democracy today contributes towards improving and deepening our understanding of the democratic process, both in new and old democracies. It brings together a leading group of international experts in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, journalism, anthropology and law. It covers key themes that have a bearing on the quality and sustainability of democratic practices and relates them to policies in specific countries or regions. A special concern of the book is (...) to identify and evaluate policies aimed at securing improvements in democratic practices. Most countries in the world today have embraced democracy. The rise of democracy has strengthened support for human rights and is making possible the resolution of many conflicts through political and legal means. In many countries, however, the state of democracy is a cause of concern. Countries that have recently become democratic are often unable to satisfy elementary social and economic aspirations of their citizens and many continue to restrict basic civil and political freedoms. Voters’ apathy, distrust of politicians, media manipulation and corruption are issues that also trouble citizens in old established democracies. This book was previously published as a special issue of _Democratization._. (shrink)

Resumen: Durante la Reconquista de Alberto Blest Gana puede ser leída como una novela en donde el secreto y el poder se entrelazan de manera profundamente significativa. Esta interrelación se constituye en el soporte de la narración, en cuyo desarrollo se entretejen los acontecimientos históricos, las intrigas amorosas y la descripción de costumbres sociales. En el despliegue de la novela hallamos inscritas las preocupaciones políticas y éticas de su autor.: Durante la Reconquista by Alberto Blest Gana can be read as (...) a novel in which a secret and power are intertwined in a profoundly significant manner. This interrelationship is constituted in the narrative support, in which the development of historical events, amorous intrigues and social customs are all interwoven. In the unfolding of the novel we can find the inscription of the political and ethical concerns of the author. (shrink)

Durante la Reconquista de Alberto Blest Gana puede ser leída como una novela en donde el secreto y el poder se entrelazan de manera profundamente significativa. Esta interrelación se constituye en el soporte de la narración, en cuyo desarrollo se entretejen los acontecimientos históricos, las intrigas amorosas y la descripción de costumbres sociales. En el despliegue de la novela hallamos inscritas las preocupaciones políticas y éticas de su autor.

This article explores the metaphor of Science as provider of sharp images of our environment, using the epistemological framework of Objective Cognitive Constructivism. These sharp images are conveyed by precise scientific hypotheses that, in turn, are encoded by mathematical equations. Furthermore, this article describes how such knowledge is pro-duced by a cyclic and recursive development, perfection and reinforcement process, leading to the emergence of eigen-solutions characterized by the four essential properties of precision, stability, separability and composability. Finally, this article discusses (...) the role played by ontology and metaphysics in the scientific production process, and in which sense the resulting knowledge can be considered objective. (shrink)

Although logical consistency is desirable in scientific research, standard statistical hypothesis tests are typically logically inconsistent. To address this issue, previous work introduced agnostic hypothesis tests and proved that they can be logically consistent while retaining statistical optimality properties. This article characterizes the credal modalities in agnostic hypothesis tests and uses the hexagon of oppositions to explain the logical relations between these modalities. Geometric solids that are composed of hexagons of oppositions illustrate the conditions for these modalities to be logically (...) consistent. Prisms composed of hexagons of oppositions show how the credal modalities obtained from two agnostic tests vary according to their threshold values. Nested hexagons of oppositions summarize logical relations between the credal modalities in these tests and prove new relations. (shrink)

The full Bayesian signi/cance test (FBST) for precise hypotheses is presented, with some illustrative applications. In the FBST we compute the evidence against the precise hypothesis. We discuss some of the theoretical properties of the FBST, and provide an invariant formulation for coordinate transformations, provided a reference density has been established. This evidence is the probability of the highest relative surprise set, “tangential” to the sub-manifold (of the parameter space) that defines the null hypothesis.

In this article, we discuss some issues concerning magical thinking—forms of thought and association mechanisms characteristic of early stages of mental development. We also examine good reasons for having an ambivalent attitude concerning the later permanence in life of these archaic forms of association, and the coexistence of such intuitive but informal thinking with logical and rigorous reasoning. At the one hand, magical thinking seems to serve the creative mind, working as a natural vehicle for new ideas and innovative insights, (...) and giving form to heuristic arguments. At the other hand, it is inherently difficult to control, lacking effective mechanisms needed for rigorous manipulation. Our discussion is illustrated with many examples from the Hebrew Bible, and some final examples from modern science. (shrink)

Ibn al-Bann1321) is the author of one of the four extant of the unfinished zq (fl. Tunis and Marrakesh ca. 1193j accessible for the computation of planetary longitudes. The present paper studies some modifications of the structure of the tables the purpose of which is to make calculations easier. The tables of the planetary and lunar equations of the centre are ' appears as a clever adapter, who displays a clear ingenuity allowing him to introduce formal modifications which give his (...) work an appearance of novelty which does not correspond to reality. (shrink)

Resumen La educación superior se ha constituido en un objeto de creciente interés en la literatura especializada. A pesar de lo anterior, la mayor parte de la investigación disponible se concentra en estudios de corte descriptivo y evaluativo, sin conectar sus desarrollos con las reflexiones de la teoría sociológica. El presente ensayo identifica las principales posibilidades teóricas y epistemológicas de la teoría de sistemas sociales para el análisis de la educación superior, examinando los rendimientos de la noción de diferenciación de (...) planos de formación sistémica (interacción, organización y sociedad) y la idea de diferenciación de sistemas parciales especializados. Abstract Higher education has become an object of growing interest in the specialized literature. Despite this, most of the available research concentrates on descriptive and evaluative studies, without connecting its developments with the reflections of general sociological theory. This essay identifies the main theoretical and epistemological possibilities of social systems theory for the analysis of higher education, examining the uses of the notion of differentiation of systemic formation planes (interaction, organization, and society) and the idea of differentiation of specialized partial systems. (shrink)

In this article, we discuss some issues concerning magical thinking—forms of thought and association mechanisms characteristic of early stages of mental development. We also examine good reasons for having an ambivalent attitude concerning the later permanence in life of these archaic forms of association, and the coexistence of such intuitive but informal thinking with logical and rigorous reasoning. At the one hand, magical thinking seems to serve the creative mind, working as a natural vehicle for new ideas and innovative insights, (...) and giving form to heuristic arguments. At the other hand, it is inherently difficult to control, lacking effective mechanisms needed for rigorous manipulation. Our discussion is illustrated with many examples from the Hebrew Bible, and some final examples from modern science. (shrink)

Sortition, i.e. random appointment for public duty, has been employed by societies throughout the years as a firewall designated to prevent illegitimate interference between parties in a legal case and agents of the legal system. In judicial systems of modern western countries, random procedures are mainly employed to select the jury, the court and/or the judge in charge of judging a legal case. Therefore, these random procedures play an important role in the course of a case, and should comply with (...) some principles, such as transparency and complete auditability. Nevertheless, these principles are neglected by random procedures in some judicial systems, which are performed in secrecy and are not auditable by the involved parties. The assignment of cases in the Brazilian Supreme Court is an example of such a procedure, for it is performed using procedures unknown to the parties involved in the judicial cases. This article presents a review of how sortition has been historically employed by societies and discusses how Mathematical Statistics may be applied to random procedures of the judicial system, as it has been applied for almost a century on clinical trials, for example. A statistical model for assessing randomness in case assignment is proposed and applied to the Brazilian Supreme Court. As final remarks, guidelines for the development of good randomization procedures are outlined. (shrink)

Inauguration speech at chair number 18 of the Brasilian Academy of Philosophy.

This study integrates corpus-assisted text analysis with frame semantics to study a social problem. Taking a cognitive-linguistic approach to critical discourse studies, in this article I examine the linguistic construction of minors in a corpus of 489 articles from the Uruguayan newspaper El País in the context of the so-called ‘Criminal Imputability Referendum’. Throughout, I focus on the construal operation of framing and identify a host of discursive patterns via which minors and adolescents are recurrently placed within the semantic frame (...) CRIME, and within this, they profile the frame elements of perpetrators of violent crimes rather than victims. I argue that, in the context of the referendum, these discursive strategies run the risk of facilitating the consolidation of a strong conceptual link whereby youth become readily associated with criminality, and are subservient to the political views of groups supporting a lower cut-off age for criminal responsibility and more stringent punishments. The observations arrived at in this instance set the foundations for a future experimental study testing whether the discursive patterns unearthed here have an effect on how readers conceptualize minors outside the texts. (shrink)

Da ficção científica para a ficção religiosa: ideias para pensar o cinema de ficção científica como o culto da religião vivida (From Science Fiction to Religious Fiction: ideas to think on Science Fiction cinema as the cult of lived religion). DOI - 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2012v10n26p552 Este artigo tem como objetivo refletir sobre a chamada religião vivida como uma forma de repensar o papel da teologia e das ciências da religião na contemporaneidade. O estudo da religião vivida será investigado na relação entre o (...) cinema de ficção científica e a religião, propondo que, nesta relação, há uma forma de religião vivida intensa e viva. Sugere-se, assim, que o cinema seja hoje uma forma de culto e ritual, cumprindo parte do papel que os mitos e ritos sagrados desempenham na vida das pessoas, ao longo dos tempos. O artigo contém quatro partes: introdução sobre a religião vivida; religião vivida no caso específico do cinema; o cinema de ficção científica como uma forma de religião; aplicação da teoria no filme “Contato” (Robert Zemeckis, USA 1997); conclusões sobre a vivência religiosa em forma de mito e rito nos filmes de ficção científica e as consequências disso para a teologia e as ciências da religião. Palavras-chave : Cinema de ficção científica. Religião. Culto e rito. Religião vivida.: This article aims at reflecting about the so-called lived religion as a way of rethinking the role of theology and religion in contemporary society. The study of the lived religion will investigate the relationship between the cinema of science fiction and religion, suggesting that, in this relation, there is particular and intensive form of lived religion. The present article suggests that cinema today is a form of cult and ritual which performs part of the role that sacred rites play in the lives of people along the time. The article contains four parts: introduction about the lived religion; lived religion in the specific case of cinema; the cinema of science fiction as a form of religion; the application of theory in the movie “Contact” (Robert Zemeckis, USA 1997); conclusions on the religious experience in the form of myth and rite in science fiction movies as well as the consequences for theology and religious studies. Keywords : Science fiction cinema. Religion. Cult and rite. Lived religion. (shrink)

This article reflects on the anthropological aspect of the pilgrimage, the human journey, as a metaphor for life, as a way of relating and understanding religion, spirituality, life itself and tourism as forms of pilgrimage. The pilgrimages of the Christian tradition will be analyzed, seeking to understand them of the anthropology of Victor Turner, analyzing the pilgrimage as a state of liminality and liminoid. Concretely we will look at the case of the Romarias da Terra in Brazil, as an example (...) of liminality/ liminoid and communitas. In addition, this article reflects on the "new centers" of pilgrimage, outside the religious scope, as spaces of pop culture or the visit to tourist sites and monuments of social and cultural memory. The goal is to understand where people have pilgrims and what the meaning of these pilgrimages. In this displacement out of the religious scope, one wonders if tourism would also be a form of pilgrimage. Or would tourism lack precisely the preliminary aspect, something that could be related to Bauman's analysis of the tourist and the vagabond? It is suspected that in a globalized world, places lose their content and identity. People pass through places, but places no longer pass through them. With this, walking also loses its liminal function. (shrink)

A INTERFERÊNCIA DO PODER EXECUTIVO NOS ORÇAMENTOS DO PODER JUDICIÁRIO E DO MINISTÉRIO PÚBLICO: SEPARAÇÃO DOS PODERES E IMPACTOS NO EXERCÍCIO DE SUAS FUNÇÕES INSTITUCIONAIS.

Conceptual congruency effects are biases induced by an irrelevant conceptual dimension of a task (e.g., location in vertical space) on the processing of another, relevant dimension (e.g., judging words’ emotional evaluation). Such effects are a central empirical pillar for recent views about how the mind/brain represents concepts. In the present paper, we show how attentional cueing (both exogenous and endogenous) to each conceptual dimension succeeds in modifying both the manifestation and the symmetry of the effect. The theoretical implications of this (...) finding are discussed. (shrink)

This article considers distinct ways of understanding the world, referred to in psychology as Functions of Consciousness or as Cognitive Modes, having as the scope of interest epistemology and natural sciences. Inspired by C.G. Jung's Simile of the Spectrum, we consider three basic cognitive modes associated to: (R) embodied instinct, experience, and action; (G) reality perception and learning; and (B) concept abstraction, rational thinking, and language. RGB stand for the primary colors: red, green, and blue. Accordingly, a conceptual map between (...) cognitive modes and primary and secondary colors is built based on the physics and physiology of color perception and epistemological characteristics of the aforementioned cognitive modes, leading to logical relations structured as an Hexagon of Opposition. Finally, this model of cognitive modes is applied to the analysis and interpretation of some important episodes in the historical development of physics and technology. (shrink)

Se ha impuesto en México, en las últimas dos décadas, un sentido común neoliberal que apuesta al Estado débil. Sin embargo la tradición de la revolución mexicana era otra, y también la historia latinoamericana muestra que los Estados han sido más fuertes que las naciones (J. Aricó). De tal modo es i..

This article deals with three elements that are related to my Ph.D. research — early Christianity, apocalyptic literature and gnosis — and their reception in contemporary public space. Specific examples are given that confirm the contemporary world’s survival interest in religions, including early Christianity, apocalyptic belief systems and gnosis. The text also discusses certain manifestations of this interest provided by works of fiction and books whose authors are not always aware of serious academic research in these fields. The article concludes (...) with some considerations on the crucial role of scholars working in the area of religious sciences in the phenomenon under discussion. (shrink)

This article has as its theme the democracy as fundamentalism, or the democratic fundamentalism. Its main objective is the recognition that the thinking about democracy can itself be fundamentalist, implying that not only religious fundamentalisms are a threat to contemporary democracy. Its method and object are the interpretation of texts by two contemporary philosophers who do not usually talk to each other, the Italian Gianni Vattimo and the French Jean-Luc Nancy. The essay's thesis is the affirmation of democratic thinking as (...) a form of fundamentalism, insofar as it fulfills certain conditions established by the two thinkers analyzed. These conditions are, in the language of the aforementioned philosophers, the framing of democracy under the so-called strong thought, or its subsumption to a metaphysical way of thought, so that it becomes incapable of self-criticism and its necessary reinvention. Thus, it is expected to contribute to the construction of a self-critical vision of democracy through dialogue with aspects of thought little known of important philosophers and also through the dialogue between philosophy and theology as emancipatory ways of knowing. (shrink)

This article provides a critical reading of the ‘Parecer CNE-CES 60, de 2014’, from the Ministry of education, Brazil, which defines the curriculum guidelines for courses of Baccalaureate in Theology. In its first section it discusses the theoretical background of the ‘Parecer’, questioning its illuminist orientation, as well as its pedagogical theory focused on contents and not on the students activities. It aims to show that are two opposed educational paradigms in the ‘Parecer’, the illuminist and the constructivist, although the (...) illuminist is the dominant one. It also question the view of the theologian present in the ‘Parecer’, marked by significant absences from the professional field of religious work. In the second section, the article presents a sample of particular interpretation of the ‘Parecer’, indicating the guidelines of a curriculum based on the constructivist paradigm. It dedicates special attention to the occult dimension of the curriculum and to an articulation of the student’s activities in relationship to the disciplines of the course. (shrink)

Comments presented at the 35th International Seminar on the -- New Institutional Economics -- Empirical Methods for the Law; Syracuse, 2018.

La doctrtna de Tomás de Aquinorespecto de la delimitación ·entre e! ámbito de lo"natural" - entendiendo por tal la naturaleza"Inferior", esta.. es, e! · ámbito de lo. máterial,corporal y sensible - y el ámbito de lo humanopuede ser reconstruida entres momentos: a) unaintegración inicial dei hombre ai ámbito de lonatural - en particular por la doctrina de launidad esencial de alma y cuerpo; b) una relativaemergencia o trascendencia dei hombre respectodei lo material - en especial por · 1a subsistenciadei alma (...) racional humana y la trascendencia desu fin último; c) una slntesis que marca lacontinuatio entre naturaleza. y hombre, en lamedida en que éste es concebido como "fin detàda la generación". La orientación teleológica dela naturaleza que tiende hacia el hombre, puedeadvertirse en la creciente perfección dei disefiodei orden de las formas naturales, en lascondiciones físicas propias de la corporalidad.humana, y el en proceso generativo dei embriónhumano. En cada caso, ai tender hacia elhombre, la naturaleza busca, en forma mediata,trascenderse a sí misma. (shrink)

El pensamiento politico medieval concibe a la ley como esencialmente ligada a un concepto de justicia superior y objetivo. El trabajo procura zanjar las divergencias en tomo del concepto ley en Marsilio de Padua. Para ella, se efectua un analisis de la ecuacion entre las facultades cognoscitivas y volitivas que aparecen en el tratamiento del fin de la ley, de las cualidades personales requeridas para el juez, y de la idoneidad dellegislador humano. La ley debe poseer un contenido de justicia (...) que es objeto de una captacion racional y de un recto querer. Sin embargo, ese concepto de justicia adquiere en Marsilio una definicion estrictamente politica: se trata del "equilibria" o la "medida" que deben alcanzar los actos transitivos de los hombres, can el fin de preservar la comunidad politica. (shrink)

Nos últimos anos, cada vez mais os "ismos" estão sendo deixados de lado. Neste sentido, quando se fala de aristotelismo ou de averroísmo de Marsílio de Pádua, torna-se necessário examinar o que se entende precisamente por tais atributos e, depois, até que ponto, mesmo de forma aproximativa, eles podem ser aplicados a Marsílio.

La noción de ironía aparece en la Filosofía del derecho de Hegel como una figura del “mal moral” hacia el final de la segunda parte dedicada a la moralidad, junto con otras nociones como la hipocresía, la mala conciencia, el relativismo, etc. Si bien es cierto la crítica hegeliana a la ironía guarda una relación directa con la crítica al romanticismo de Schlegel en sus Lecciones de estética y con la figura del espíritu del “alma bella” en la Fenomenología del (...) espíritu, en la Filosofía del derecho Hegel aborda la dimensión moral de dicha expresión radical de subjetividad que requerirá ser superada desde el punto de vista de la eticidad. (shrink)

La encíclica Laudato si´ del papa Francisco plantea el vínculo irrompible que hay entre cuestiones ambientales y cuestiones sociales y humanas, a través de la categoría de la «ecología integral» y la apuesta por la «ética del cuidado». Es un excelente ejercicio de diálogo honesto y decidido del pensamiento teológico y filosófico con las aportaciones de las ciencias naturales y sociales, para preservar la supervivencia de la humanidad. Ideas similares movieron a la bioética potteriana hace más de cuarenta años, y (...) hoy, cuando la bioética no parecer atravesar su mejor momento, esta encíclica constituye un valioso impulso para reenfocar la «bioética global» y enfatizar la necesidad del diálogo tanto interdisciplinar como intercultural/interreligioso, de los cuales nuestro mundo no puede prescindir. La injusticia y la desigualdad adoptan nuevas formas en este tiempo de interdependencia global, demandando de la ética una nueva visión social, con la ampliación del campo de la moralidad que incluya a la naturaleza y de una justicia social que alcance lo global y se piense intra e intergeneracionalmente. (shrink)

The current tendency to moderate expectations that DNA barcode can be a method of discovering new species is due to the essentialist interpretation of this scientific analogy that is conceptually unsustainable. Something similar has happened in the philosophical field with the weakening of the initial versions of intrinsic biological essentialism. To examine the nature of this transition, I propose two principles that define a moderate EBI: one that assumes that the history of the taxon is metaphysically dependent on the evolution (...) of its intrinsic properties and another that assumes the necessary coextensivity between the intrinsic properties that explain the phenotype of the species and the bearers of identity conditions of a species. I argue that both principles are conceptually and empirically unsatisfactory. (shrink)

The current tendency to moderate expectations that DNA barcode can be a method of discovering new species is due to the essentialist interpretation of this scientific analogy that is conceptually unsustainable. Something similar has happened in the philosophical field with the weakening of the initial versions of intrinsic biological essentialism. To examine the nature of this transition, I propose two principles that define a moderate EBI: one that assumes that the history of the taxon is metaphysically dependent on the evolution (...) of its intrinsic properties and another that assumes the necessary coextensivity between the intrinsic properties that explain the phenotype of the species and the bearers of identity conditions of a species. I argue that both principles are conceptually and empirically unsatisfactory. (shrink)

This paper has three main objectives: (a) Discuss the formal analogy between some important symmetry-invariance arguments used in physics, probability and statistics. Specifically, we will focus on Noether’s theorem in physics, the maximum entropy principle in probability theory, and de Finetti-type theorems in Bayesian statistics; (b) Discuss the epistemological and ontological implications of these theorems, as they are interpreted in physics and statistics. Specifically, we will focus on the positivist (in physics) or subjective (in statistics) interpretations vs. objective interpretations that (...) are suggested by symmetry and invariance arguments; (c) Introduce the cognitive constructivism epistemological framework as a solution that overcomes the realism-subjectivism dilemma and its pitfalls. The work of the physicist and philosopher Max Born will be particularly important in our discussion. (shrink)

This article discusses the mathematizing of the chemical periodic system as a grid, which leads to a quadratic function or “binódica function” formed by pairs of periods or binodos. We describe the periodic law as an increasing function of the principal quantum number. It works subject to the dialectical laws that generate; first: gradual quantitative changes:, with “duplication” of periods:. Second: radical quantitative changes:, with the emergence of new quantum transitions, growth and a change in the format of the binodos. (...) We use analytical and graphic methods to mathematize Mendeleev’s law, making the size of the binodos and the continuous series depend on the number of the binode, which is the same quantum number. Likewise, we show a graphic representation, in 2D, of a continuous and self-similar spiral function of the elements, in a geometric growth pattern. (shrink)

John Rawls é um dos filósofos políticos mais proeminentes do século XX. A partir da publicação em 1971 da obra Uma Teoria da Justiça, o filósofo estadunidense se tornou mundialmente famoso nos meios políticos e acadêmicos. Contudo, um ponto que sempre suscitou um enorme debate é naquilo que dizia respeito aos regimes econômicos apoiados e defendidos pelo autor. Esse ponto só foi esclarecido quando Rawls publicou em 2001, portanto 30 anos depois de sua principal obra, o livro Justiça como equidade: (...) uma reformulação. Na obra de 2001, Rawls se coloca abertamente contrário ao estado de bem-estar social e defensor da democracia de cidadãos-proprietários e do socialismo (democrático) liberal. Nesse trabalho, além de apresentar o modo pelo qual Rawls chega aos regimes econômicos consonantes com a justiça como equidade, deseja-se investigar a relação da democracia no local de trabalho com os regimes econômicos rawlsianos. Assim, argumenta-se que Rawls não pode ser visto como exigindo a democracia no local de trabalho, apesar de que seus regimes podem ser consonantes com tal prática. (shrink)

The main goal of this article is to use the epistemological framework of a specific version of Cognitive Constructivism to address Piaget’s central problem of knowledge construction, namely, the re-equilibration of cognitive structures. The distinctive objective character of this constructivist framework is supported by formal inference methods of Bayesian statistics, and is based on Heinz von Foerster’s fundamental metaphor of objects as tokens for eigen-solutions. This epistemological perspective is illustrated using some episodes in the history of chemistry concerning the definition (...) or identification of chemical elements. Some of von Foerster’s epistemological imperatives provide general guidelines of development and argumentation. (shrink)