Arguably the most foundational principle in perception research is that our experience of the world goes beyond the retinal image; we perceive the distal environment itself, not the proximal stimulation it causes. Shape may be the paradigm case of such “unconscious inference”: When a coin is rotated in depth, we infer the circular object it truly is, discarding the perspectival ellipse projected on our eyes. But is this really the fate of such perspectival shapes? Or does a tilted coin retain (...) an elliptical appearance even when we know it’s circular? This question has generated heated debate from Locke and Hume to the present; but whereas extant arguments rely primarily on introspection, this problem is also open to empirical test. If tilted coins bear a representational similarity to elliptical objects, then a circular coin should, when rotated, impair search for a distal ellipse. Here, nine experiments demonstrate that this is so, suggesting that perspectival shapes persist in the mind far longer than traditionally assumed. Subjects saw search arrays of three-dimensional “coins,” and simply had to locate a distally elliptical coin. Surprisingly, rotated circular coins slowed search for elliptical targets, even when subjects clearly knew the rotated coins were circular. This pattern arose with static and dynamic cues, couldn’t be explained by strategic responding or unfamiliarity, generalized across shape classes, and occurred even with sustained viewing. Finally, these effects extended beyond artificial displays to real-world objects viewed in naturalistic, full-cue conditions. We conclude that objects have a remarkably persistent dual character: their objective shape “out there,” and their perspectival shape “from here.”. (shrink)

In the 10 years after the launch of the United Nations Global Compact (GC), there have been very few empirical assessments of the initiative in the academic literature. In this study, drawing from institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm, we examine motivations of business participants to adopt the GC principles in the Spanish context. Using survey data from Spain – the country reporting the highest volume of business participants in the GC – we find that external institutional (...) forces as well as internal organisational resources shape motivations for adopting GC principles. In particular, we find that early and late adopters are motivated similarly by the perceived opportunity of achieving image gains, while late adopters are motivated more by economic gains than early adopters. We further find that regardless of the extent of internal intangible resources possessed, firms are similarly motivated by economic gains. The results also show that companies with more intangible resources are motivated more by image gains than those with fewer resources. Our findings indicate that contrary to its earlier days, economic gains have emerged as an important motivator for the adopters of the GC principles with image gains still being an important motivator. (shrink)

In the 10 years after the launch of the United Nations Global Compact (GC), there have been very few empirical assessments of the initiative in the academic literature. In this study, drawing from institutional theory and the resource‐based view of the firm, we examine motivations of business participants to adopt the GC principles in the Spanish context. Using survey data from Spain – the country reporting the highest volume of business participants in the GC – we find that external institutional (...) forces as well as internal organisational resources shape motivations for adopting GC principles. In particular, we find that early and late adopters are motivated similarly by the perceived opportunity of achieving image gains, while late adopters are motivated more by economic gains than early adopters. We further find that regardless of the extent of internal intangible resources possessed, firms are similarly motivated by economic gains. The results also show that companies with more intangible resources are motivated more by image gains than those with fewer resources. Our findings indicate that contrary to its earlier days, economic gains have emerged as an important motivator for the adopters of the GC principles with image gains still being an important motivator. (shrink)

Entre los medios elegidos para el logro de los objetivos transhumanistas (TH) se encuentra el recurso a biotecnologías para incidir en la dotación genética de la descendencia. Ahora bien, el temor a una utilización desmesurada de las biotecnologías no puede significar una negación de los indudables avances para el bien de la vida humana que ellas han traído. Así, desde una perspectiva jurídica, es decisiva la cuestión de determinar los alcances de la libertad procreativa, es decir, cuáles son las opciones (...) legítimas que pueden adoptarse en relación con la transmisión de la vida humana. Esta comunicación se propone analizar este interrogante y enunciar los desafíos jurídicos implicados en esta cuestión. En tal sentido, mientras algunos sostienen una libertad procreativa absoluta y sin límites, otras posturas tienden a anular la libertad procreativa y a obligar a los padres a buscar “el mejor hijo posible” (beneficencia procreativa). Entre esas dos visiones extremas, esta comunicación propone una libertad procreativa respetuosa de la originalidad de la transmisión de la vida y enraizada en una concepción ontológica de la dignidad. Por otra parte, para que esa libertad procreativa realice los bienes propiamente humanos, se enuncian seis tópicos que el derecho debe afrontar para responder a los desafíos del TH en esta dimensión vinculada con la procreación: a) el comienzo de la existencia de la persona; b) la inviolabilidad de la vida humana; c) los límites jurídicos que deben ponerse a las técnicas de procreación artificial y sus finalidades de uso; d) si es admisible o no el uso de gametos de terceros en esas técnicas; e) el problema del diagnóstico preimplantatorio; f) los alcances de la edición genética humana aplicada a la línea germinal y la distinción entre terapia y mejora (enhancement). (shrink)

This paper uses tools of philosophical analysis critically to examine accounts of the nature of racism that have recently been offered by writers including existentialist philosopher Lewis Gordon, conservative theorist Dinesh D'Souza, and sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant. These approaches, which conceive of racism either as a bad-faith choice to believe, a doctrine, or as a type of 'social formation', are found wanting for a variety of reasons, especially that they cannot comprehend some forms of racism. I propose an (...) account that conceives racism chiefly as a motivational/volitional matter, in short, as a form of moral viciousness. I show how this approach offers a unified account that comprises inter alia individual and institutional racism, expressed and unexpressed racism. I point out advantages that my view has over Thomas Schmid's somewhat similar suggestion, and use the account to examine a number of claims made about racism by H. L. Gates, Jr, Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, Gertrude Ezorsky, and others. Finally, I defend this approach from the general criticism that Benjamin DeMott has levelled against any effort so to understand racism. Key Words: Benjamin DeMott • Dinesh D'Souza • existentialism • Lewis Gordon • moral concepts • Michael Omi • racism • social formation • Howard Winant. (shrink)

Much research into morphogenesis focuses on discovering mechanisms and models able to generate or describe the forms we can observe in nature. These studies all provide insights, even though they do not directly touch upon what is the focus of this article: the understanding of form. To this end a conceptual scheme based on the following ideas is proposed: understanding , emerging , persisting , selection , and the relation concerning complexity versus uncertainty , in particular, the relation between form (...) and function. This article is thus a contribution to both the epistemology and the ontology of nature and, in particular, of the living world. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Nietzsche-Studien Jahrgang: 45 Heft: 1 Seiten: 261-267.

O objetivo do artigo é analisar, contextualmente, a fórmula de Nietzsche “[...] que o valor da vida não pode ser estimado” no capítulo “O problema de Sócrates” d’O Crepúsculo dos Ídolos. Trata-se de mostrar a trajetória teórica que Nietzsche opera, deslocando o horizonte teórico da tradição do ‘consensus sapientium’ – que supostamente teria condi- ções de estimar o valor da vida a partir de uma posição externa à vida mesma –, a fim de situar no horizonte que denominamos de sintomático-semiológico. (...) Esse deslocamento ocorre na medida em que Nietzsche se serve da figura de Sócrates como uma semiótica para exprimir seu próprio pensamento. (shrink)

INDIVIDUALITY has given philosophers considerable trouble. There are conflicting views as to how to understand it and even as to its intelligibility in spite of what appears to be its fundamental character in our experience. For, on the one hand, we seem to experience the world in terms of individuals, but when we try to explain what their individuality is we run into difficulties. Indeed, even a view which at first sight appears quite innocuous, defining individuality formally as a feature (...) which characterizes individuals as individuals, is strongly rejected by many. They argue that individuality cannot be a feature at all in the strict sense of the word, since its being a feature would presuppose that something else could share on it or have it, and that seems to contradict the very notion of individuality. At any rate, this is of no concern to us presently since it is an issue which pertains to the ontological status of individuality rather than its intension. It suffices to point out for the moment that there is ample disagreement concerning the proper understanding of individuality. (shrink)

John Ackrill argued that Aristotelian bodies are conceptually promiscuous, since they fail to exemplify the modal relations that are expected to hold between their matter and their form. Although “potentially alive”, organic bodies are bound to be ensouled, on pain of lacking the required potential; but to the extent that they are ensouled, they are already actually alive. It seems odd to claim that a body may lack what it cannot help having. This paper claims that the standard solution falls (...) short of the strong unity living beings display, given that nothing in them can be accidentally alive. An alternative proposal is advanced, based on two distinctions Aristotle draws in his philosophical lexicon: both matter and form have a claim to being called “nature”; formal nature may be found in its subject either in actuality or in potentiality. It is argued that the characterization of organic bodies as “potentially alive” conforms to, a pattern that helps explain the specific way in which bodies share in the organisms’ life. Two possible instances of are finally considered by way of illustration. (shrink)

A nonuniform superconducting loop poses a challenge to statistical mechanics: assuming thermal equilibrium and applying the accepted rules, we obtain that the heat flow does not vanish.

The article aims to point out some of the interpretive horizons of Twilight of the Idols, especially the status in relation to philological literary project regarding Will to Power and the philosophical status within the texts of 1888. Among others, the central hypothesis that will guide our interpretation is the 'heuristic of necessity': the question about desires and needs that cause or force an artistic, politic, etc. production and, moreover, a hypothesis that is found through the book. Finally, it is (...) also to point out that how Nietzsche operates with a semantic distance in relation to concepts that were previously elaborated by him, for example, the concept of ‘genius'. These assumptions help to fill a gap into the research-Nietzsche, regarding a text that didn’t receive its real significance in Brazil. (shrink)

Resumen: A la luz de la distinción elaborada por E. Tugendhat entre religión y mística, retomada a su modo por el teólogo J. Ratzinger, se examina la idea hegeliana según la cual la filosofía eleva la forma representativa propia de la religión a concepto. ¿Significa esto que la religión cristiana es..

Este estudo tem como finalidade analisar a perspectiva da arte como parte do aparato de dominação social, desenvolvida na obra A ideologia da sociedade industrial, de Herbert Marcuse. Para isso, utilizaremos como referência constante as teorias propostas pelos filósofos da Escola de Frankfurt, em especial Theodor W. Adorno e Max Horkheimer no que diz respeito, sobretudo, ao termo “indústria cultural”, cujo conceito aparece no capítulo homônimo de A dialética do esclarecimento. Apoiaremo-nos também na tese de doutorado de Imaculada Kangussu, intitulada (...) Leis da liberdade: as relações entre Estética e Política na Filosofia de Herbert Marcuse, e, ainda, nas demais obras marcuseanas, com destaque para Eros e Civilização: uma interpretação filosófica do pensamento de Freud. (shrink)

Reseña del libro de Jean Grondin, La belleza de la metafísica, traducción de María Pons Irazazábal, Herder, Barcelona, 2021, 181 pp.

O objetivo do artigo é articular os conceitos de autogenealogia e de reivindicação de objetividade moral, na medida em que exploro a fecundidade da noção de autorreferencialidade do argumento autogenealógico, e de uma concepção deflacionada de objetividade, onde o mais importante é o controle sobre o conteúdo dos juízos morais, e menos a verdade correspondencial desses juízos. Para isso, lanço mão de algumas categorias do debate contemporâneo em metaética, de modo sustentar que Nietzsche ocupa uma posição não-cognitivista, mas com algum (...) sucesso de reivindicação de objetividade moral. (shrink)

Resumo O objetivo do texto é relacionar a abordagem expressivista do agente moral em Nietzsche com as condições de sucesso de avaliação de juízos práticos perfeccionistas. Como locus da transformação, o agente moral se exprime por meio do potencial transformativo que consegue produzir, e não como entidade por trás das ações. Duas condições podem ser usadas, regulativamente, para avaliar o sucesso de juízos de caráter perfeccionista: por um lado, a maximização de conexões e interrelações no espaço, bem como o endosso (...) afirmativo de promessas no tempo e, por outro lado, a boa constituição que alguém mantém em meio à tensão entre um plano individual e supraindividual. No desdobramento do potencial transformativo, crítica e transformação são interdependentes e, além disso, o julgamento público reforça a dimensão social da filosofia de Nietzsche.The aim of the text is to relate the expressivist approach of the moral agency in Nietzsche to the conditions for successful evaluation of practical perfectionist judgments. As the locus of transformation, the moral agent expresses him/herself in the transformative potential that he/she manages to produce, and not as an entity behind the actions. Two conditions can be used, regulatively, to evaluate the success of perfectionist judgments: on the one hand, the maximization of connections and interrelationships in space, as well as the affirmative endorsement of promises in time, and, on the other hand, the good constitution one keeps in the middle of the tension between an individual and supraindividual plan. In the unfolding of transformative potential, criticism and transformation are interdependent and, moreover, public judgment reinforces the social dimension of Nietzsche's philosophy. (shrink)

El artículo analiza la relación entre religión y política en el Leviatán de Hobbes. Primero, se recuerda la idea de religión en Hobbes y su lugar en su filosofía política; esto es, que sea una teología política. En segundo lugar, se examina la conformación de una república cristiana y su fundamento en las Escrituras. En tercer lugar, se explica por qué la mejor forma de gobierno para Hobbes es el absolutismo de los soberanos en la tierra, similar al de Dios (...) en los Cielos. Para terminar con una crítica a la recepción del cristianismo en Hobbes. (shrink)

Parenthood is a highly valued life goal, independent of one’s sexual orientation. However, the majority of studies exploring young adults’ parenthood plans have relied exclusively on samples of heterosexual individuals. This study aimed (i) to explore differences in parenthood intentions as a function of sexual orientation, (ii) to investigate to what extent sociodemographic and psychological characteristics predict parenthood intentions of lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual individuals, (iii) to test the mediating effect of stigma between sexual orientation and parenthood intentions, (...) and (iv) to identify and characterize profiles of prospective parenthood (through cluster analysis). Data were gathered using an online survey from 375 self-identified LGB and heterosexual young adults without children in Portugal, with a mean age of 25.83 years old (SD = 4.49). Findings indicated that LGB individuals were less likely to intend to have children than heterosexual individuals; furthermore, among LGB individuals, lesbian women expressed stronger intentions to have children than did gay men. Similarities between heterosexual and LGB young adults were observed concerning the psychological determinants of parenthood intentions. Four distinctive profiles of prospective parenthood were identified: aspiring parents not anticipating stigma, aspiring parents anticipating stigma, childfree intent, and childfree ambivalent. Lesbian and bisexual women mostly populated the childfree ambivalent cluster, in contrast the aspiring parents anticipating stigma cluster contained an overrepresentation of men, including sexual minority men. Professionals may want to attend to communalities and specificities of prospective parenthood as a function of sexual orientation, in order to provide unbiased and culturally competent support to sexual minority individuals. (shrink)