Resumen: En el presente ensayo nos apoyaremos en algunos escritos fundamentales de Talcott Parsons, especialmente en lo referente a su disputa epistemológica contra el empirismo, para luego mostrar sus propias inconsistencias e ir más allá de él en la propuesta de una forma novedosa de trabajo teórico para las ciencias sociales: la teorización sistemática dinámico-estructuralista, como distinta a la teoría sistémica funcional-estructural. La idea principal es trascender las posturas representacionalistas y antiteoricistas en pos de miradas teóricas abiertas a la crítica (...) y la autocrítica. Así, frente a una mirada que confunde distintas dimensiones del continuo empírico-metafísico sin otorgarles su relativa autonomía analítica, que a nivel teórico-social y de modelos de la sociedad piensa en términos funcionales y sistémicos, que considera que cada uno de sus conceptos refiere de manera cabal a dicho mundo social y que cree que es factible la construcción de teorías acabadas, nuestra mirada busca distinguir dimensiones, complementar tradiciones plurales, y mantenerse siempre abierta a la crítica externa y la autocrítica.: In this essay we will rely on some of the key writings of Talcott Parsons, especially with regards to his epistemological dispute against empiricism, to show his own inconsistencies and go beyond him in proposing a new form of theoretical work for the social sciences: systematic and dynamic-structuralist theorizing, as distinct from functional-structural systemic theory. The main idea is to transcend the representationalist and anti-theoretical positions in favour of a view of theory open to criticism and self-criticism. In this way, and against those outlooks that confuse the different dimensions of the empirical-metaphysical continuum without giving them their relative analytic autonomy, that think in terms of functions and systems when talking about models of society, that consider each concept to be a representation of the social world, and that believe theories can be closed for good, our own outlook seeks to distinguish dimensions, complement plural traditions, and stay open to external critique and self-criticism. (shrink)

En el año 2019 el filólogo italiano Pasquale Stoppelli publicó una investigación minuciosa en la cual, con argumentos probatorios, otorga a Nicolás Maquiavelo la autoría de Epistola della peste que había sido originalmente atribuida a Lorenzo Strozzi, un literato perteneciente a una de las más ricas e influyentes familias florentinas2. Su estudio introductorio, así como las notas al texto de Maquiavelo, serán un insumo importante para el presente trabajo introductorio y para la primera traducción al español de la carta.

En el contexto de cambios del proceso de globalización, la medicalización constituye una problemática central en la agenda de salud internacional. Durante la década de 1990, comenzó la expansión internacional del diagnóstico de trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH), entre otros factores, merced a la creciente relevancia de actores no médicos en el proceso y de legislaciones específicas para diferentes diagnósticos. El artículo busca contribuir a un análisis del espacio que le otorga la prensa escrita on line a (...) los procesos de medicalización del TDAH en Argentina en el siglo XXI, como aporte a una lectura panorámica de los procesos en la región y a nivel internacional, y como contribución a un área de vacancia en los estudios sociales. Para este artículo, analizamos 236 artículos on line de periódicos argentinos de alcance nacional y provincial entre 2001 y 2017. Para el relevamiento se diseñaron mecanismos de selección y filtro, con criterios y herramientas de búsqueda y procesamiento de noticias. Se efectuaron estimaciones de regularidad de tópicos emergentes y procesamientos parciales de información, incluyendo, entre otras dimensiones, año, jurisdicción, medio, fecha, sección, título, categoría, características de la nota, palabras clave, concepto o nombre del problema, fármaco/droga, tratamiento, actores sociales y recomendaciones. Con el artículo nos interesa engrosar los todavía escasos estudios que aportan a la comprensión de cómo el diagnóstico de TDAH está migrando a diferentes regiones del globo y, más específicamente, cómo está posicionándose como un problema de salud internacional. Los resultados muestran que, en los procesos de medicalización del TDAH en niños y niñas, la prensa escrita argentina (nacional y provincial) se constituye en un actor no médico relevante tanto en la institucionalización de la problemática como en la presentación de líneas terapéuticas a seguir y en acciones orientadas al impulso de legislaciones específicas. (shrink)

América Latina es uno de los territorios del mundo más inseguros para ser mujer, siendo el femicidio/feminicidio la expresión más dramática de la violencia que soportan las mujeres. Pese a ello, los Estados latinoamericanos y caribeños no generan información actualizada, interseccional, ni de libre y fácil acceso sobre estos crímenes, impidiendo la comprensión de la complejidad de escenarios y dificultando la elaboración de políticas públicas efectivas, eficientes y sostenibles en el tiempo para dar respuesta a este flagelo.

Los seres técnicos y toda su conceptualización deben incorporarse a nuestro estudio de la cultura y a nuestras preguntas filosóficas fundamentales. La filosofía de la técnica requiere una vocación abierta e interdisciplinaria, de la antropología a la semiótica, de la ingeniera a la cibernética. También exige desplazamiento por los discursos y los textos y el conocimiento de las cosas y las máquinas. Nuestro concepto de naturaleza se modifica históricamente como también nuestro ser se modifica junto con las estructuras o los (...) mecanismos que hacen factible el mantenimiento de la meta estabilidad, es decir, la adaptación e interacción con un medio tecnológicamente texturizado. Tarnbién se modifica la explicación que darnos sobre nuestros modos de intervención, dependientes de la construcción de nuestra imagen de la natural y de los artefactos que utilizamos para producirla e intervenirla Más allá de la réplica o la simple imitación, el proceso socio-tecnológico ha devenido el dispositivo de síntesis y renvención de la naturaleza. Una tarea fundamental de la filosofía de la técnica es revisar los postulados que dan cuenta de la relación hombre-naturaleza, para realizar un recorrido genealógico que nos permita definir el proceso de constitución de la técnica y la tecnología. Este ejercicio deberla no sólo encontrar respuestas a las necesidades teoréticas que definen su campo, su método y sus vínculos interdisciplinarios, deberla dar algunas respuestas a los problemas del llamado -mundo real-, explicando las dinámicas del cambio tecnológico y comprendiendo sus orígenes.Technical beings and their concepts should be incorporated to our cultural studies and our philosophical question. The philosophy of technology requires an open and interdisciplinary commitment, from Anthropology to Semiotics, from Engineering to Cybernetics. It also demands t he thorough insight of psyches and the understanding of thing and machines. Our concept of nature is historically modified. Similarly, our being is continuously altered along with the structures or the mechanisms that make the maintenances of our meta-stability feasible. There is a continuous adaptation and interaction between a technologically texturized environment and us. The intellectual tools that are used to explain our intervention in nature change with our concept of nature itself and which the devices that we use to produce and intervene nature. Beyond the replica or the simple imitation of the nature, socio-technological process has become the device of synthesis and reinvention of nature. A task for the Philosophy of Technology will be to revise the postulates that give rise to this relationship between man and nature and make a genealogical journey that should allow us to define the process of construction of technology. This exercise should not only find answers the theoretical necessities that define the fids, methods and interdisciplinary approach of philosophy of technology, bu1it should also shed light to the questions from the so-called real world, by explaining the dynamics of technological change and understanding its origins. (shrink)

Uno de los movimientos que buscan alternativas al sistema hegemónico en este principio de milenio es el de la Economía Solidaria que, entre otras propuestas, lanza el dinero alternativo con el fin de dinamizar el movimiento de los productos y con ello una economía alternativa que propugna nuevos valores éticos como la reciprocidad y la redistribución de la riqueza. El dinero alternativo tiene posibilidades que van más allá de facilitar los intercambios entre los individuos: permite que las personas se apoyen (...) mutuamente desde lo que saben hacer (productos y servicios) y, al mismo tiempo que adquieren ingresos, conformen comunidades basadas en la confianza y la solidaridad. Sin embargo, el uso de las monedas comunitarias (como se le llama al dinero alternativo en un contexto de economía solidaria) no se ha extendido en México debido a diversos factores, entre los cuales se pueden mencionar: la necesidad de la gente de ganar pesos para pagar cuentas y deudas; la falta de oferta de bienes básicos para ser adquiridos con dichas monedas y, sobre todo, la poca comprensión de muchos usuarios potenciales de que con estas monedas se pueden hacer cambios radicales en el Mercado y con ello en la sociedad actual. (shrink)

Examinamos aquí el pensamiento filosófico político de Richard Rorty tomando como punto de partida su artículo <>, así como su libro Contingencia, ironía y solidaridad. Mostramos, en primer lugar, que la pretensión de Rorty de justificar la prioridad de la democracia sobre la filosofía basándose en la tradición liberal que va de Jefferson a Rawls, es, al mismo tiempo, la reivindicación de los supuestos antropológicos (hobbesianos) de esa tradición. A través de esos supuestos (...) se evidencia- en un plano más general-la estrecha conexión que existe entre filosofía y política, especialmente si se considera la crisis del concepto de hombre que recorre a ambas disciplinas. En segundo lugar, planteamos que así como Rorty realiza una lectura postmoderna de la tradición política liberal, también es posible ensayar una lectura liberal (incluso hobbesiana) de la pretensión postmoderna de Rorty. Con ello es posible mostrar que precisamente la fuerza y la persistencia de la imagen del hombre moderno hace inútil plantearse la relación entre democracia y filosofía en términos de prioridad.We discuss the philosophical and political thought of Richard Rorty considering his article <>, and his book Contingency, irony and solidarity. We show that Rorty's pretension to justify the priority of democracy above philosophy based on the liberal tradition that comes from Jefferson to Rawls, is at the same time, the acknowledge of the anthropological (hobbesian) statements of this tradition. Throughout these statements we can point out the close connection between politics and philosophy considering the crisis of man's concept that is common to both disciplines. Secondly, we state that as Rorty does a postmodern lecture of the political liberal tradition, it is also possible a liberal (hobbesian) lecture of the postmodern Rortys ' position. In this way it is possible to show that the strength and persistence of the man's modern image make impossible the relationship between democracy and philosophy in terms of priority. (shrink)

In this pa per we probe the eth i cal re sponse of Emmanel Lévinas from the per spec tive of spe - cific suf fer ing that so cial re la tions im pose on the ma jor ity of hu man ity. We an a lyze the el e ments of his ethic which al lows us to “read” the in jus - tices and dis-equal i ties that..

El trabajo tiene como objetivo el estudio de los modelos de civilización en dos novelas de gauchos: Aventuras de un centauro en la América Meridional , de José J. de Vedia, y Pablo, o la vida en las pampas de Eduarda Mansilla. Ambas obras elaboran una etopeya del paisano, que más adelante otros autores consagrarían, pero además establecen nuevas convenciones genéricas en cuanto novelas sentimentales. La realidad carente de cultura -religión, educación y civilidad- del gaucho conforma nuevos modelos culturales que (...) dialogan con los discursos políticos, la prensa y la literatura; y, además, convierten el romance nacional en vehículo de denuncia, discurso que se entronca más con la estética realista que con la romántica. The aim of this paper is to analyze the cultural models in two Gaucho novels: José J. de Vedia’s Aventuras de un centauro en la América Meridional , and Eduarda Mansilla’s Pablo, o la vida en las pampas . Both novels propose a gaucho’s ethopoeia. This was later developed by others writers, who also established new generic conventions for sentimental novels. The Gaucho´s lack of culture about religion, education and citizenship entail new cultural paradigms . These are linked to political discourses, the press and literature, and also turn the national romance into a means of complaint, a discourse more rooted onto a realistic aesthetics than onto a romantic one. (shrink)

Resumen El 30 de agosto de 2010 la Policía Federal mexicana detuvo a uno de los capos del narcotráfico más buscados del momento, Édgar Valdez Villarreal, “La Barbie”. Durante los primeros días de septiembre la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública difundió en los medios de comunicación masiva fragmentos de una entrevista al detenido realizada el 31 de agosto, que seguía un formato en apariencia oficial e institucional. El objetivo de este artículo es describir la entrevista a modo de protocolo en términos (...) del mecanismo de la interacción verbal entre el entrevistador y el entrevistado y reflexionar acerca de dicho formato según el modelo jurídico de la entrevista policiaca, así como de la configuración de la identidad del entrevistado por parte de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Se caracteriza esta entrevista policiaca desde tres perspectivas: una jurídica, en materia penal, una pragmática, de acuerdo con los parámetros conversacionales propios de cualquier interacción verbal y de los conceptos de fachada, identidad y estigma en la presentación de la persona, y una gramatical, respecto de las formas de las preguntas en las entrevistas semi-estructuradas. Se reflexiona acerca de la difusión de este material en los medios de comunicación como estrategia de propaganda política. (shrink)

Los años 80 han atraido, en los últimos tiempos, una serie de miradas nostálgicas, sobre todo hacia su música. Lejos de esa atmósfera está “ El Canto Nuevo de Chile. Un Legado Musical ”, de Patricia Díaz-Inostroza.Por el contrario, se trata de una investigación que, si bien está centrada en el movimiento llamado Canto Nuevo, abarca mucho más que eso, dejando en claro las profundas raíces históricas que afirman este tipo de música. Ese es un aporte innegable, que permite al (...) lector (o lectora) .. (shrink)

La tradición filosófica se ha aproximado al hombre en términos universales y abstractos. Este articulo explora la posibilidad filosófica de tantear al hombre de manera más concreta desde la especificidad de su sexualidad recurriendo al pensamiento de Julián Marías, quien incorpora en la filosofía las categorías y las reflexiones en torno a la condición sexuada y la existencia de la “persona masculina” y la “persona femenina” como dos modos en que deviene la persona.

La función de la educación es difundir las ventajas de vivir en sociedades democráticas, sin embargo, la diáspora de esas ventajas está articulada a intereses políticos y económicos globalizados; su misión: anestesiar a la sociedad para que observe en silencio el desmantelamiento de su proyecto de vida. La educación tradicional no fomenta la habilidad para leer la complejidad de esa realidad democrática. Se enfoca, principalmente, en aleccionar sobre las “ventajas” de la modernidad, donde la mayoría tiene como destino ser masas (...) de asalariados y una minoría, “heredar” la élite. Este documento, propone que para leer esta realidad, la ciudadanía debe ser alfabetizada más allá de la mera técnica que sólo sirva para leer, memorizar y escribir manuales; particularmente la alfabetización debe ser: reflexiva, crítica, basada en el diálogo de saberes y permanente; pero, éticamente coordinada por docentes intelectuales. (shrink)

En los últimos 20 años el debate entre los Factores Comunes y los Tratamientos con Apoyo Empírico (TAE) ha sido uno de los más relevantes para la práctica clínica. El enfoque TAE con origen en la investigación sobre fármacos (Medicina Basada en la Evidencia), promueve el uso de técnicas específicas y protocolos de tratamiento. Los Factores Comunes, por el contrario, señalan la validez de múltiples psicoterapias, la cual estaría basada en dimensiones comunes a todo tratamiento, y no tanto en el (...) uso de técnicas específicas. El proceder médico y farmacológico encaja razonablemente dentro de un marco de acción instrumental, en el que el acto sanitario se ejerce a fin de modificar ciertos parámetros fisiológico-anatómicos. Pero la psicoterapia es mejor entendida como una relación entre sujetos, ya que el paciente, el objeto de la acción terapéutica, es también un sujeto, y no un parámetro. Por ello los protocolos como secuencias prefijadas de acciones del terapeuta (ideal para la investigación por su replicabilidad y pertinencia metodológica), implican una suerte de eliminación del sujeto. Cabe entonces entender el sentido de los protocolos de tratamiento como marcos de sentido, de problemas pertinentes, de soluciones indicadas. Como una forma de conocimiento flexible sobre el problema y su funcionamiento y manejo. (shrink)

Los estudios sobre el perfil de los aspirantes a la educación superior son escasos. Se compararon cuantitativamente características familiares, socioeconómicas y académicas de los aspirantes a la Licenciatura en Educación Primaria de las escuelas normales públicas de Baja California y Puebla. Perfil: mujer, soltera, 18 años, egresada de bachillerato general escolarizado. Se identificaron características más favorables en Baja California.

Resumen Populismo es un término que ha devenido moda en el discurso político contemporáneo, después de que algunos lo creían desaparecido. El término es aún de uso impreciso y se utiliza en diversas realidades discursivas, las que a su vez remiten a diferentes mundos objetivos: ideologías políticas, movimientos y agrupaciones políticas, estilos discursivos y programas de acción política y modos de obrar, tanto en los regímenes autoritarios como democráticos. Una primera parte de este trabajo se destina a un intento de (...) despejar esta selva semántica y tratar de ubicar el uso de los conceptos en su nivel adecuado, buscando definir los componentes que permiten caracterizar a un discurso populista. En alguna de las aproximaciones del populismo éste ha sido caracterizado como ideología, lo que también se analiza. En un segundo momento se estudian las perspectivas del análisis del discurso político, poniendo énfasis en la práctica de la cortesía y la descortesía en las manifestaciones concretas del discurso sobre el populismo, donde aparece como una forma particular de lograr adhesión afectiva, recurriendo a la construcción de una imagen social del otro o del destinatario favorable o positiva, en oposición al diferente u opuesto. Se analizan discursos de diferentes políticos del hemisferio occidental, tomados de los medios de comunicación, donde se busca ubicar los elementos populistas y el contexto en el que tienen o tuvieron lugar, tratando de analizar los efectos de ese discurso. Se toma en cuenta que en los debates políticos de cualquier escenario alrededor del populismo son más las expresiones de agresividad verbal y descortesía que las derivadas de una actitud de cortesía. (shrink)

Bioethics, Volume 36, Issue 5, Page 486-493, June 2022.

_Reseña de: Jiménez Rodríguez, Alba M., _Deducción y aplicación de las categorías en la filosofía de Kant_, Granada, Comares, 2021, pp. 278. __ISBN 978-84-1369-217-3_.

In Rita Charon's account of narrative medicine, empathy seems to be an essential element of the clinical relationship. However, empathy has not received much attention, which I believe is problematic. First, I show that not only is there no clear definition of what empathy is, but that this conceptual gap creates ambiguity about its role in the practice of narrative medicine. Second, I argue that certain passages in Charon's work seem to implicitly characterize empathy as a combination of cognitive empathy, (...) affective empathy, and sympathy, and that its inclusion in the practice of narrative medicine can be problematic. Third, following Dan Zahavi, I argue that a phenomenological account of empathy not only seems most compatible with the practices, values, and theoretical framework of narrative medicine, but is also capable of resolving the problems posed by alternative definitions of empathy and the ambiguity about the role of empathy in narrative medicine. (shrink)

This paper outlines a theory and computer implementation of causal meanings and reasoning. The meanings depend on possibilities, and there are four weak causal relations: A causes B, A prevents B, A allows B, and A allows not‐B, and two stronger relations of cause and prevention. Thus, A causes B corresponds to three possibilities: A and B, not‐A and B, and not‐A and not‐B, with the temporal constraint that B does not precede A; and the stronger relation conveys only the (...) first and last of these possibilities. Individuals represent these relations in mental models of what is true in the various possibilities. The theory predicts a number of phenomena, and, contrary to many accounts, it implies that the meaning of causation is not probabilistic, differs from the meaning of enabling conditions, and does not depend on causal powers or mechanisms. The theory also implies that causal deductions do not depend on schemas or rules. (shrink)

Counterfactual conditionals are frequently used in language to express potentially valid reasoning from factually false suppositions. Counterfactuals provide two pieces of information: their literal meaning expresses a suppositional dependency between an antecedent (If the dice had been rigged...) and a consequent (… then the game would have been unfair). Their second, backgrounded meaning refers to the opposite state of affairs and suggests that, in fact, the dice were not rigged and the game was fair. Counterfactual antecedents are particularly intriguing because (...) they set up a counterfactual world which is known to be false, but which is nevertheless kept to when evaluating the conditional’s consequent. In the last years several event-related potential (ERP) studies have targeted the processing of counterfactual consequents, yet counterfactual antecedents have remained unstudied. We present an EEG/ERP investigation which employed German conditionals to compare subjunctive mood (which marks counterfactuality) with indicative mood at the critical point of mood disambiguation via auxiliary introduction in the conditional’s antecedent. Conditional sentences were presented visually one word at a time. Participants completed an acceptability judgement and probe detection task which was not related to the critical manipulation of linguistic mood. ERPs at the point of mood disambiguation in the antecedent were compared between indicative and subjunctive. Our main finding is a transient negative deflection in frontal regions for subjunctive compared to indicative mood in a time-window of 450-600 ms. We discuss this novel finding in respect to working memory requirements for rule application and increased referential processing demands for the representation of counterfactuals’ dual meaning. Our result suggests that the counterfactually implied dual meaning is processed without any delay at the earliest point where counterfactuality is marked by subjunctive mood. (shrink)

In this paper we ask whether the two-factor theory of delusions is compatible with two claims, that delusions are pathological and that delusions are adaptive. We concentrate on two recent and influential models of the two-factor theory: the one proposed by Max Coltheart, Peter Menzies and John Sutton (2010) and the one developed by Ryan McKay (2012). The models converge on the nature of Factor 1 but diverge about the nature of Factor 2. The differences between the two models are (...) reflected in different accounts of the pathological and adaptive nature of delusions. We will explore such differences, considering naturalist and normativist accounts of the pathological and focusing on judgements of adaptiveness that are informed by the shear-pin hypothesis (McKay and Dennett 2009). After reaching our conclusions about the two models, we draw more general implications for the status of delusions within two-factor theories. Are there good grounds to claim that delusions are pathological? Are delusions ever adaptive? Can delusions be at the same time pathological and adaptive? (shrink)

马忠林(1914~ ),东北师范大学数学系教授,中国数学会会员,吉林省数学会常务理事,日本三大学数学教育学研究会名誉会长.

In the present paper, we substantiate the theory according to which the ailments of imagination presented by Immanuel Kant, especially in his work Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, are sources of artistic creation. It is obvious that not anyone suffering from melancholia, nostalgia, hypochondria or any other ailment of the soul, which Immanuel Kant refers to, becomes a creator of culture. Genius is required for this, but instead of diminishing the creative power of the genius, it seems to (...) be enhanced by the ailments of imagination or generally, by the ailments of the soul. The hypertrophic imagination in the case of a genius plays a major role in the process of fixation in the individual and collective memory of what Immanuel Kant names. (shrink)

Among the meritorious attempts to unravel the enigma of artistic creation are the views of Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer. In the following, we want to emphasise an aspect that is less discussed in the specialised literature, namely the relation between memory and creation. We are talking about the authentic creation that Kant and Schopenhauer consider to be the one that carries in itself the Aesthetic Ideas. With minor differences, the concept, as well as the associated linguistic expression, come together (...) in the work of both German philosophers. An authentic work of art is the work of genius and it has the role of transmitting Ideas. Thus, we will be able to observe “the secret” of a work of art – the Aesthetic Idea. (shrink)

Delusions are usually considered as harmful and dysfunctional beliefs, one of the primary symptoms of a psychiatric illness and the mark of madness in popular culture. However, in recent times a much more positive role has been advocated for delusions. More specifically, it has been argued that delusions might be an answer to a problem rather than problems in themselves. By delivering psychological and epistemic benefits, delusions would allow people who face severe biological or psychological difficulties to survive in their (...) environment - although this has obvious epistemic costs, as the delusion is fixed and irresponsive to compelling counterevidence. In other words, it has been argued that delusions are biologically adaptive. The adaptiveness of delusions has been compared by Ryan McKay and Daniel Dennett to a shear pin, a mechanism installed in the drive engine of some machines which is designed to shear whenever the machine is about to break down. By breaking, shear pins prevent the machine from collapsing and allow it to keep functioning, although in an impaired manner. Similarly, when delusions form, they would allow a cognitive or psychological system which is about to collapse to continue its functioning, although in an impaired manner. However, this optimistic picture of delusions risks being undermined by both theoretical and empirical considerations. Using Sarah Fineberg and Philip Corlett’s recent predictive coding account as a paradigmatic model of the biological adaptiveness of delusions, I develop two objections to it: principles of parsimony and simplicity suggest that maladaptive models of delusions have an upper hand over adaptive models; and the available empirical evidence suggests that at least some delusions stand good chances of being psychologically adaptive, but it is unlikely that they also qualify as biologically adaptive. (shrink)

The rapid changes that syphilis underwent after the first major outbreak that occurred in Naples in the mid-1490s are believed to constitute the first well-documented example of a human disease. The new plague was of exceptional virulence, highly contagious and causing severe ulceration at the site of infection. According to medical and other historical sources, the ‘genius epidemics’ changed some years after this onset, and a slower-progressing form of syphilis seems to have replaced the initial severe form, as do many (...) virulent epidemic infectious diseases that appear in devastating forms in a previously uninfected population. But what exactly were the features of the disease at the moment of its appearance in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century? How many years did it take for the early, virulent form to be replaced and become endemic? What was the pace of these changes through the decades following the onset of the epidemic? In this essay, I review these issues through an analysis of a large number of chronologically-ordered primary historical sources. (shrink)

The Goods and Services Directive adopted in December 2004 is the very first European Community instrument to implement the principle of gender equality outside the workplace. As such it has the potential to close an important gap in European Union law. This note, however, contends that the limited scope of application of the Directive, together with doubts surrounding its legal base and position within the overall gender equality framework of the Union, have significantly undermined its potential. Nevertheless, it is suggested (...) that for the future, should these criticisms be adequately addressed, then the Directive may provide an important platform for the wider diffusion of the gender equality principle beyond the sphere of European employment law. (shrink)

Delusions are symptoms of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and dementia. By and large, delusions are characterized by their behavioral manifestations and defined as irrational beliefs that compromise good functioning. In this overview paper, we ask whether delusions can be adaptive notwithstanding their negative features. Can they be a response to a crisis rather than the source of the crisis? Can they be the beginning of a solution rather than the problem? Some of the psychological, psychiatric, and philosophical literature has (...) recently suggested that they can. We consider different types of delusions and different ways in which they can be considered as adaptive: psychologically (e.g., by increasing wellbeing, purpose in life, intrapsychic coherence, or good functioning) and biologically (e.g., by enhancing genetic fitness). Although further research is needed to map the costs and benefits of adopting and maintaining delusional beliefs, a more nuanced picture of the role of delusions in people's lives has started to emerge. (shrink)

The article attempts to describe adonization, a specific tactic for exerting influence which employs physical attraction, as well as its determinants. The article presents a proprietary model of determinants and motivational mechanisms which constitute the basis of the attitude toward adonization. A cycle of 3 studies on individual determinants for the attitude toward adonization was described. Results of study 1 confirmed that male gender, psychological masculinity, narcissism, Machiavellianism and high self-monitoring were correlates of a positive attitude toward adonization. Study 2 (...) showed that extraversion was the predictor of a positive attitude toward adonization of men and women and that agreeableness was the predictor of a less positive attitude of women. In Study 3 it was established that there were no differences in the attitude toward adonization in young and middle-aged men. Comparison among young and middle-aged women proved that younger women had a more positive attitude toward adonization in the cognitive and in the affective components than older women. (shrink)

Gustave Le Gray was one of the most technically accomplished and aesthetically enlightened of the early "artist-photographers." Trained as a painter of portraits and landscapes, Le Gray was attracted in the 1840s to the artistic potential of photographic processes. As a photographer he evolved and refined much of photography's primary aesthetic theory. By 1855 he had influenced, if not taught, every important photographer in France. Drawing on entirely new material Eugenia Parry Janis fully analyzes the life and work of (...) Le Gray and demonstrates the originality of his artistic achievement in the context of discoveries about his personal and professional history. Janis, approaching the photographs of Le Gray with the methods and sensibilities of an art historian, reveals telling connections between Le Gray's choices of subject matter and formal means of presentation and the existing pictorial practice of other media such as painting. This same approach makes her sensitive to Le Gray's departures from such traditional practice, and she skillfully illustrates how he evolved from student painter into master photographer. In doing so she gives us a glimpse of the way in which Le Gray's manipulation of the photographic process was always informed by his pictorial needs and by his developing style. (shrink)

Empathizing with others is thought to be a useful, if not necessary, skill for a wise person to possess. Beyond this general conceptual assonance, however, there have been few systematic attempts to conceptualize this relationship. This paper aims to address this issue by investigating what role empathy is said to play in phronesis and whether there is a legitimate place for it in Aristotelian (or neo-Aristotelian) accounts of practical wisdom. First, after a brief overview of Aristotle’s account of phronesis, I (...) will try to define three different ways in which empathy is thought to contribute to it according to the existing literature, based on a conceptual distinction between affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and sympathy. Second, I will ask whether empathy is the best conceptual candidate for Aristotle’s account of phronesis and, more generally, whether the wise person should always rely on empathy in order to deliberate and act well. My tentative answer will be that empathy does not seem to be perfectly compatible with the concept of phronesis, nor is it its best ally. (shrink)

Delusions are usually depicted in one of two contrasting ways. They are either characterized as harmful and dysfunctional beliefs or as fostering engagement with the environment and sometimes even psychological wellbeing in the face of psychological or biological difficulties – something which, according to some accounts, would make them biologically adaptive. It is this “adaptive hypothesis” that I focus on in this paper, by empirically investigating the adaptiveness of delusions in a sample of people suffering from OCD. The paper shows (...) that delusions in OCD entertain complex and heterogeneous relationships with psychological wellbeing and engagement with the environment, highlighting some future directions that clinical and philosophical research on the topic should take. (shrink)

We have questioned the assumption that SV (agent-action) structures are basic and primary and have shown that thetic VS unaccusative structures, involving an event+theme unit, are better candidates for simple, primary proto-syntactic “fossils.” We have shown that thetic unaccusative structures are simpler syntactically, prosodically, semantically and informationally, and have suggested that this is due to the fact that syntactic evolution progressed from a stage with thetic statements (with no arguments, such as It is cold, or with only one argument, typically (...) unaccusative, such as Spanish Ha llegado Juan (has arrived Juan) or Serbian Pao sneg (fallen.PP snow)), to more complex categorical assertions, involving agents and a syntactic and intonational separation between the subject and the predicate. Obviously, this raises many questions. How did thetic statements intergrade into categorical statements, and what were the evolutionary factors that facilitated this transition? Did both of the informational dichotomies (Topic-Comment and Focus-Background) develop from thetic statements or are F-B structures simpler than T-C? We leave these questions for future research. (shrink)