Narrative persuasion, i.e. the impact of narratives on beliefs, behaviors and attitudes, and the mechanisms underpinning endorsement of conspiracy theories have both drawn substantial attention from social scientists. Yet, to date these two fields have evolved separately, and to our knowledge no study has empirically examined the impact of conspiracy narratives on real-world conspiracy beliefs. In a first study, we exposed a group of participants (n = 37) to an X-Files episode before asking them to fill in a questionnaire related (...) to their narrative experience and conspiracy beliefs. A control group (n = 41) had to answer the conspiracy beliefs items before watching the episode. Based on past findings of both the aforementioned lines of research, we hypothesized that the experimental group would show greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs, an effect expected to be mediated by identification to the episodes’ characters. We furthermore hypothesized that identification would be associated with cognitive elaboration of the narrative information. The first two hypotheses were disproved since no narrative persuasion effect was observed. In a second study, we sought to replicate these results in a larger sample (n = 166). No persuasive effect was found in the new data and a bayesian meta-analysis of the two studies strongly supports the absence of a positive effect of exposure to narrative material on endorsement of conspiracy theories. In both studies, a significant relation between conspiracy mentality and enjoyment was observed. In the second study, this relation was fully mediated by two dimensions of perceived realism, i.e., plausibility and narrative consistency. We discuss our results, based on theoretical models of narrative persuasion and compare our studies with previous narrative persuasion studies. Implications of these results for future research are also discussed. (shrink)

The main contentions of this paper are twofold. First, there is a more than century‐old Japanese tradition of human rights based on a fusion of Western concepts of natural rights and a radical reinterpretation of Confucianism, the major proponent of which was the Japanese thinker Nakae Chomin. Secondly, this tradition, although a minority view, is crucial for remedying the serious defects in the present Japanese medical system. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Nakae Chomin sought to reinterpret Chinese (...) tradition, especially Confucianism, by injecting the concepts of popular sovereignty and democratic equality, drawn from Western sources. The resulting view maintained the Confucian commitment to a moral nexus for society, but replaced hierarchy with egalitarianism. The pressing need for such an approach to patients' rights in present‐day Japan is illustrated by two recent cases: the photographing and commercial exploitation of patients' genitals without serious response by authorities, and the attempt by physicians to manipulate the time of death and, possibly, to improperly pressure family members in order to transplant organs from the brain‐dead victim of a criminal assault. Such problems stem from hierarchy and paternalism, which seem to be a legacy of the rapid, state‐sponsored introduction of Western medicine in the mid‐nineteenth century, and in particular from the government's adoption of and support for German military medicine as a model for Japan. (shrink)

Quine claims that his naturalized epistemology which is a science about science must take the place of traditional epistemology. Because physics is the paradigm of science for Quine, there is apparently no room for normative and intentional discourses in Quine's naturalized epistemology. However, Quine uses normative and intentional discourses in his naturalized epistemological inquiry. Hence, the problem addressed in this dissertation is the place of normative and intentional discourses in Quine's naturalized epistemology. ;My procedure is to examine critically the above (...) mentioned contradiction from two different angles. In an initial and external criticism I assume the in-principle gap between physicalistic discourse and normative and intentional discourses. In an internal criticism I assume the gap merely practical. In the former criticism I offer my own interpretation of the status of naturalized epistemology in Quine's philosophy and argue for the presence of a tension between methodological concerns and what Quine calls his physicalistic bias. I explain three manifestations of the tension in Quine's writings: his discussions of language acquisition, induction and scientific method in general. I also argue that methodological concerns play the ineradicable role in an epistemology, which Quine must and at least partially does recognize. In the internal criticism I discuss the nature of the gap between physicalistic discourse and normative and intentional discourses and examine and criticize Quine's behavioristic physicialism. On the basis of the criticism of Quine's behavioristic physicalism I criticize Quine's thesis of indeterminacy of translation which denies the fact of the matter for intentional discourse. ;I find, as a result, that because both methodological concerns and physicalistic bias are basic elements of Quine's naturalized epistemology, the resultant tension is serious. I also find that Quine's naturalized epistemology as it is cannot resolve the tension, whether we assume the gap as in-principle or merely practical. ;Thus, I conclude that as the unsettling status of normative and intentional discourses indicates, Quine's naturalized epistemology does not make a coherent whole. (shrink)

Poverty, understood as basic capability deprivation, can only be solved through a process of expanding the freedoms that people value and have reason to value. This process can only begin if the capability to imagine and aspire for an altenative lifestyle worthy of human dignity is cultivated by an education program that develops both the capability to reason and to value. These two facets play a major role in the creative exercise of human agency. This program of humane education can (...) only come from an adequate description of the human agent as a persona that seeks to actualize itself based on his/her understanding of the good. Education must therefore seek to cultivate the capability to have an adequate conception of the good (normative) as well as the capability to constantly re-evaluate one’s conception of the good (evaluative) in order to freely and reasonably choose a life that one values and has reason to value. Education must therefore entail not merely the development of skills nor specialization in a particular field but must concentrate on the integration of the human person as a whole which leads to self-creative praxis. (shrink)

On March 11, 2011, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded occurred off the northeast coast of Japan. It destroyed buildings, damaged infrastructure, and killed people in the Tohoku region. The associated tsunami was even more destructive, engulfing coastal areas and obliterating whole towns. The earthquake and the tsunami together occasioned a third disaster: the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Like most people, Dr. Makoto Sato was horrified by the destruction and suffering that he saw. He wanted (...) to help and felt that he should, but doing something appropriate and effective was not easy. He is a general internist and bioethicist at a university medical center in Hokkaido, the large island north of Tohoku. What should Dr. Sato have done then? What should he do now? (shrink)

Kenzo saw a slight movement of his opponent. “Now is the time to strike!” he thought. He started moving. But before he had time to raise his shinai (sword) he was struck on the men (head) by his opponent. “Ippon!” the judge called.

Similar to its old history, Japan has a rich traditional and ethical Architecture. Based on these tenets and ethics, different concepts and spaces are formed through the time, as now Japan's ethical and traditional design ideas has its standard principles. Linking the present and the past has always been a momentous criterion in the countries with an old rich Architecture. This fact is indeed important in Japan due to the blend of ethics and religions with peoples` life. Through this idea, (...) three Japanese Architects, Kenzo Tange, Fumihiko Maki and Tadao Ando-who are the only Japanese pritzker prize winners-have well, noticed the need for linking the country's traditional and ethical Architecture criteria with the contemporary Architecture. So, analyzing such projects of these architects prepares a good basis to find out the quality of how traditional and ethical design ideas crystallize in the works of contemporary Japanese architects. The research method for this article is a comparative analysis between the architects` particular projects and Japan's ethical and traditional design ideas, formed through the history of architecture in this country. The contents of this article rely heavily on three bases: 1) study of the historical documents concerning the ethical and traditional design concepts in Japan. 2) The consultancy of leading experts on Asian traditional constructions and ethical architecture specialists from Azad Universities in Tehran. 3) Comparative analysis between the ethical concepts applied in different contemporary works. The results show that the contemporary architects have had good bases for presenting the traditional design concepts as standard principles are all formed in the architecture of Japan today. Meanwhile, it seems that Maki and Ando are more likely to have a conceptual look at Japan's traditions while Tange has a more formal viewpoint. Chronological analysis of the architects` projects shows that despite, all the three architects were impressed by the works of le Corbusier, they were successful to keep contacts with Japan's traditional design concepts. (shrink)

Esta conferencia de 1951, impartida por Gabriel Marcel en Marruecos, Brasil y otros países latinoamericanos, tiene dos pilares sobre los que está construida: la muerte y la intersubjetividad. Ambos corresponden a la inquietud que llevó a este autor a la filosofía: “¿Dónde están los muertos?”. O, en otras palabras: ¿Es posible sobrevivir a la muerte? Estas preguntas son producidas por la turbación que ge-nera el separarse de los seres amados, pues la unión intersubjetiva que se alcanza con ellos y (...) que se experimenta como plenitud, se ve allí comprometida. De hecho, este vínculo particular hace que Marcel distinga el plano de lo intersubjetivo de lo objetivo. Con base en ello, rechaza comprender la muerte del ser amado como si fuera éste un objeto para tratarlo como un sujeto –un tú–, abriendo así un camino diferente de reflexión sobre la inmortalidad. (shrink)

In de?Hal van de acht wijzen? in de Sankeientuin (Yokohama, Japan) staan de standbeelden van grote leraren van de mensheid: Boeddha, Confucius, Jezus en enkele Zenleraren. Onder hen is ook het beeld van Socrates. Voor Kenzo Adachi, die de hal bouwde, was Socrates vooral een spirituele leider, een levensgids, een voorbeeld van deugd, wijsheid en geluk.0Bij welke filosofische traditie je ook te rade gaat, overal kom je Socrates tegen. Sommigen noemen hem de vader van de filosofie, anderen zien hem (...) als een leermeester in correct denken of morele moed. Zoveel tradities, zoveel Socratessen. En, opmerkelijk: al die Socratessen zijn nog geloofwaardig ook.0Rico Sneller presenteert een geschiedenis van de filosofie aan de hand van alle Socratessen die de filosofische traditie rijk is.Na Xenofons en Aristofanes? Socrates gaat hij onder meer in op de Socrates van Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Strauss en Derrida.0We zijn nog lang niet uitgepraat over Socrates. En de lezer van 'Het raadsel Socrates' al helemaal niet. (shrink)

The Fukushima catastrophe has led to important practical and conceptual shifts in contemporary Japanese architecture which in turn has led to a re-evaluation of the influential 1960s Japanese modern architecture movement, Metabolism. The Metabolists had the ambition to create a new Japanese society through techno-utopian city planning. The new generation of Japanese architects, after the Fukushima event, no longer seek evolutionally social change; rather, the disaster has made them re-consider what architecture is and what architects can do for people who (...) had everything snatched from them by technology and nature. Drawing on the architectural projects of Tange Kenzo and Metabolists in the 1960s and Ito Toyo’s ‘Home-for-All project’ in 2011, the paper explores this major paradigm shift in Japanese architectural theory and practices. (shrink)

Nonostante la pervasività della nozione di servizio e le recenti proposte per una Scienza dei Servizi unificata, esistono ancora parecchie inconsistenze tra le varie definizioni di servizio in uso nelle diverse discipline (e spesso anche all'interno della stessa disciplina). In particolare, a dispetto del fatto che l'obiettivo generale di questa scienza dovrebbe essere di permettere a persone e calcolatori di interagire agevolmente con i servizi nella vita di tutti i giorni, molti approcci alla modellazione dei servizi in informatica (specialmente quelli (...) centrati sui servizi web) sembrano focalizzarsi principalmente sugli aspetti connessi al flusso dati, per cui i servizi sono considerati come scatole nere che trasformano un ingresso in un’uscita, e che interoperano tra loro secondo modalità predefinite. Questo modello a scatola nera ha sicuramente i suoi vantaggi ma, stando a quanto dicono Petrie e Bussler, sembra funzionare bene sono all'interno di contesti omogenei, i cosiddetti parchi di servizi, dove l'interoperabilità è tecnicamente possibile solo perché i contenuti e le modalità di erogazione di ogni servizio sono predefiniti e condivisi da tutti i soggetti coinvolti. (shrink)

Se defiende la posibilidad de que el Estado sea tolerante cuando actúa como árbitro en los conflictos de tolerancia. Se consideran dos objeciones que dependen de cómo describimos los conflictos políticos y, en particular, los de tolerancia. Se presenta una teoría de descripciones políticas y cómo con ella podemos responder, de una ma-nera políticamente satisfactoria, a las dos objeciones que se plantean en el artículo. Con ello, se discute la relación entre la justificación de las acciones políticas en un (...) contexto normativo ideal y su justificación en los contextos más locales y no ideales donde ocurre la acción política. (shrink)

Nonostante la pervasività della nozione di servizio e le recenti proposte per una Scienza dei Servizi unificata, esistono ancora parecchie inconsistenze tra le varie definizioni di servizio in uso nelle diverse discipline (e spesso anche all'interno della stessa disciplina). In particolare, a dispetto del fatto che l'obiettivo generale di questa scienza dovrebbe essere di permettere a persone e calcolatori di interagire agevolmente con i servizi nella vita di tutti i giorni, molti approcci alla modellazione dei servizi in informatica (specialmente quelli (...) centrati sui servizi web) sembrano focalizzarsi principalmente sugli aspetti connessi al flusso dati, per cui i servizi sono considerati come scatole nere che trasformano un ingresso in un’uscita, e che interoperano tra loro secondo modalità predefinite. Questo modello a scatola nera ha sicuramente i suoi vantaggi ma, stando a quanto dicono Petrie e Bussler, sembra funzionare bene sono all'interno di contesti omogenei, i cosiddetti parchi di servizi, dove l'interoperabilità è tecnicamente possibile solo perché i contenuti e le modalità di erogazione di ogni servizio sono predefiniti e condivisi da tutti i soggetti coinvolti. (shrink)

Šiame straipsnyje aptariamas laiko (kāla) suvokimas brahmaniškose, budistų ir džainų mokyklose remiantis pirminiais sanskrito šaltiniais ir kritinėmis studijomis. Tyrimui pasitelkiama kompleksinė – tekstologinė semantinė, hermeneutinė ir lyginamoji – metodologija. Daromos išvados, jog filosofinių mokyklų požiūriai išsiskiria labiausiai šiais klausimais: ar įmanomas dabarties suvokimas? Ar jutiminė dabartis yra momentinė, ar ji turi trukmę? Ar laikas yra objektyvus ir realus, ar tik subjektyvi konstrukcija? Atskleidžiama, jog indų filosofiniuose požiūriuose nėra vienos vyraujančios perspektyvos, principinė polemika vyko tarp budistinės nyāyos bei vaiśeṣikos mokyklų. Tyrimas (...) grindžia išvadą, kad indų filosofijoje laikas suprantamas ne psichologiškai, o epistemologiškai, siejant su patikimo pažinimo ir žinių pagrįstumo klausimais. (shrink)

Straipsnyje kritikuojamas 68-ame „Problemø“ numeryje skelbtas J. Èiurlionio teiginys, kad matematiniai Zenono Elëjieèio aporijos sprendimai „remiasi klaidinga implikacine prielaida“. Pirma, logikosdësniai nedraudþia ið klaidingø teiginiø pagrástai iðvesti teisingus teiginius, todël prielaidos klaidingumas neuþtikrina iðvados klaidingumo. Antra, minimos implikacijos antecedento loginæ reikðmæ lemiaempirinis faktas, todël net jei implikacijos konsekventas bûtinai klaidingas, implikacija yra loginiupoþiûriu atsitiktinë. Treèia, implikacijos konsekventas gali bûti interpretuojamas dvejopai. Viena interpretacija padaro já nomologiðkai bûtinai klaidingà, bet nerelevantiðkà Zenono aporijai; kita interpretacija padaro teiginá relevantiðkà, bet nebûtinai klaidingà. Taigi (...) nëra jokio pagrindo manyti, kad implikacinë prielaida, kuria, Èiulionio teigimu, remiasi matematiniai Zenono Elëjieèio aporijos sprendimai, yra klaidinga.Pagrindiniai þodþiai: Achilo ir vëþlio aporija, tapatumo sàlygos, aporijø sprendimai. (shrink)

Funkcinës psichiniø savybiø analizës atveriama jø materialiojo ákûnijimo ávairovës galimybë verèia materialistiná monizmà sàmonës filosofijoje formuluoti ne psichiniø ir fiziniø savybiø tapatumo, bet pirmøjø pareities nuo antrøjø tezæ. Pareities sàvoka sàmonës filosofijoje iðreiðkia minimalius reikalavimus fizikalistinëms teorijoms – paneigus pareities fizikalizmà bûtø paneigtos ir stipresnës fizikalizmoversijos. Straipsnyje tyrinëjama fizikalizmo kritika paremta vadinamuoju kokybiø perkeitimo galimybës argumentu. Parodoma, kad, viena vertus, toks argumentas negali bûti atremtas nuorodomis áempirinius duomenis, nes svarstoma hipotetinë situacija numano jos empiriná nestebimumà; kita vertus, jei svarstoma situacija (...) ið tikrøjø yra galima, tai kokybinës psichinës charakteristikos niekaip nërasusaistytos funkciðkai ar fiziologiðkai apraðomais ryðiais, vadinasi, antireduktyvistinæ iðvadà galima grástisvarstant ne tik atvejus, kai kokybës perkeistos, bet ir kai jø apskritai nëra.Pagrindiniai þodþiai: sàmonës filosofija, fizikalizmas, funkcionalizmas, pareitis, perkeistos kokybës. (shrink)

Straipsnio tikslas – atskleisti įrankio (Zeug) ir technikos (Technik) skirtumą M. Heideggerio technikos filosofijoje. Analizuojami skirtumai nurodo pasaulio konstitucijos problematiką. Dasein santykį su įrankiu M. Heideggeris pristatė kaip parankų (Zuhandenheit), o štai santykį su technika įvardijo priešingai. Technika, kylanti iš gamtos mokslų, susaistytų machinacija (Machenschaft), filosofo pristatoma kaip Dasein kūrybines galias nuostatyne (Gestell) slopinanti terpė. Straipsnyje atskleidžiama dvejopa problematika. Pirma, parodomi įrankio ir technikos ontologiniai skirtumai. Antra, atskleidžiamas nuostatyno ontologijos ambivalentiškumas. Nuostatynas M. Heideggeriui nėra tik techniškai orientuoto pasaulio užvaldymo mechanizmas, (...) bet ir „gelbstintis“ pradas. (shrink)