Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering our daily lives in the form of driverless cars, automated online assistants and virtual reality experiences. In so doing, AI has already substituted human employment in areas that were previously thought to be uncomputerizable. Based on current trends, the technological displacement of labor is predicted to be significant in the future – if left unchecked this will lead to catastrophic societal unemployment levels. This paper presents a means to mitigate future technological unemployment through the introduction (...) of a Basic Income scheme, accompanied by reforms in school curricula and retraining programs. Our proposal argues that such a scheme can be funded by a special tax on those industries that make use of robotic labour; it includes a practical roadmap that would see a government take this proposal from the conceptual phase and implement it nationwide in the span of one decade. (shrink)

The issue of knowing what it means for a group to have collective beliefs is being discussed more and more in contemporary philosophy of the social sciences and philosophy of mind. Margaret Gilbert’s reconsideration of Durkheim’s viewpoint in the framework of the plural subject’s account is one of the most famous. This has implications in the history and the sociology of science—as well asin the history and sociology of philosophy—although Gilbert only outlined them in the former fields and said nothing (...) about the latter. Symmetrically but independently, a historian of science, Mara Beller, has recently challenged Kuhn’s conception of the role of consensus in sciences in a brilliant analysis by carefully studying the history of Copenhagen School of Quantum Mechanics. Not only does she show the role of disagreement and controversies (doubting whether there was any collective belief characteristic in this group of physicists), but she even shakes up the very idea of individual beliefs. Each scientist (Heisenberg, Bohr, etc.) could be seen as divided into several selves. This paper contends that these two conceptions open important new horizons in several domains, especially if they are linked together. The paper assesses this claim in the light of empirical examples like the Vienna Circle, Copenhagen School, and, eventually, Cartesian philosophy. (shrink)

L ’ histoire du droit de la guerre est marquée par trois temps principaux.Ainsi, de la période antique jusqu ’ au XIX e siècle se déploie la doctrine du justum bellum,visant à moraliser la guerre. Ensuite, au XIX e siècle, l ’ affirmation des souverainetésouvre la porte à la liberté d ’ user de la guerre comme instrument de politique internationale. Enfin, au terme de la Première Guerre mondiale, la volonté d ’ apporter une réponsenormative au recours à la force (...) s ’ est fait jour, donnant naissance au jus ad bellum. Cetteévolution juridique fut accompagnée d ’ une évolution sémantique qui, au XXI e siècle,conduira à une curieuse inversion conceptuelle. (shrink)

Stimulating discussion of the fundamental concepts we employ in every day consideration of moral questions for the general reader.

Gilbert (2000) examined the issue of collective intentionality in science. Her paper consisted of a conceptual analysis of the negative role of collective belief, consensus, and joint commitment in science, with a brief discussion of a case study investigated by Thagard (1998a, 1998b). I argue that Gilbert's concepts have to be refined to be empirically more relevant. Specifically, I distinguish between different kinds of joint commitments. I base my analysis on a close examination of Thagard's example, the discovery of Helicobacter (...) pylori, and two other historical cases involving the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics and the Austrian school of economics. I also argue that it is difficult to fulfill the condition of common knowledge, even in Gilbert's weak sense. I conclude by raising serious doubts about the very possibility of a certain type of joint commitment, which I refer to as an implicit joint commitment. (shrink)

Las naciones y pueblos indígenas presentan preocupantes índices respecto a la salud, así como otras carencias como la pérdida de sus tierras, la alimentación, la educación y, en general, el ejercicio de sus derechos, consagrados por organizaciones internacionales como la ONU y la OMS-OPS. En Ecuador, de acuerdo con el orden jurídico constitucional, se han instrumentado políticas de salud que incluyen el lineamiento general de un enfoque intercultural de la atenciónprimaria que incorpora los saberes y prácticas ancestrales. Mediante una revisión (...) documental se examina la situación actual de la salud y la atención primaria entre las etnias indígenas del Ecuador. De este análisis se desprenden consideraciones para las políticas públicas de salud, la formación intercultural de los profesionales de los equipos de salud y, en especial, la articulación de las creencias, saberes y prácticas de la cultura de las etnias para la atención primaria de salud. Palabras Clave: Etnia, nacionalidad indígena, pueblo indígena, derecho a la salud, atención primaria. Referencias [1]Asamblea General de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, «Resolución 48/134 de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los pueblos y naciones indígenas,» de Asamblea General Resolución 48/134, New York, 2009. [2]Organización Panamericana de la Salud, «Derechos Humanos y Salud de los pueblos indígenas,» Organización Panamericana de la Salud, New York, 2008. [3]Alto Comisionado para los Derechos Humanos de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas. Manual para las instituciones nacionales de Derechos Humanos, Nueva York: Alto Comisionado de los Derechos Humanos de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, 2013. [4]C. Torres Parodi y M. Bolis, «Evolución del concepto etnia/raza y su impacto en la formulación de políticas públicas para la equidad,» Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, vol. 22, nº 3, pp. 405-414, 2007. [5]IIDH-OPS, «Salud indígena y derechos humanos,» OPS, Quito, 2006. [6]Organización Panamericana de la Salud, «Iniciativa de la Salud para los Pueblos Indígenas. Lineamientos estratégicos. Plan de acción 2003-2007,» Organización Mundial de la Salud, Quito, 2003. [7]Consejo Mundial de las Iglesias, «Segunda Asamblea Mundial de la Salud de los Pueblos,» Consejo Mundial de las Iglesias, Quito, 2005. [8]Grupo Internacional de Trabajo sobre asuntos indígenas, Instituto de Promoción de Estudios Sociales, Fundación Diversidad, «El Derecho a la Salud de los pueblos indígenas en aislamiento y en contacto inicial,» Grupo Internacional de Trabajo sobre Asuntos Indígenas, Quito, 2007. [9]Organización Panamericana de la Salud, «Salud de los pueblos indígenas de las Américas,» OPS, Quito, 1998. [10]Organización Inernacional del Trabajo, «Convenio número 169 de la OIT. sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales: hacia un futuro inclusivo, sostenible y justo.,» OIT, New York, 2019. [11]L. Almeida Vera, «Fundamentación del modelo de gestión intercultural ecuatoriana en la atención primaria desalud,» Medisam, vol. 8, nº 18, pp. 46-61, 2014. [12]Organización Internacional del Trabajo, «Implementación del Convenio núm 169 de la OIT sobre los pueblos indígenas y tribales: Hacia un futuro inclusivo, sostenible y justo,» OIT, New York, 2019. [13]C. Eysaguirre, Proceso de incorporación de la medicina tradicional, alternativa y complementaria en las prácticas oficiales de la salud. Tesis Magister Antropología, Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2016. [14]Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación, «Sobre la salud y la seguridad de los pueblos indígenas en riesgo debido al coronavirus,» FAO, New York, 2020. [15]Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas de las Américas, Alianza de Mujeres Indígenas de Centroamérica y México, Red de Mujeres Indígenas Asiáticas, Organización de Mujeres Indígenas Africanas, «Llamado colectivo de las mujeres indógenas ante el COVID 19. Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas,» ONU, New York, 2020. [16]Laboratorio de interculturalidad FLACSO Ecuador, Etnohistoria de los pueblos y nacionalidades originarias del Ecuador, Quito: FLACSO Ecuador, 2015. [17]UNICEF, Nacionalidades y pueblos indígenas. Políticas interculturales en Ecuador, Quito: UNICEF, 2009. [18]República del Ecuador, «Constitución de la República del Ecuador,» de 2008, Quito, 2008. [19]S. Ramírez Hita, «Políticas de salud basadas en el concepto de multiculturalidad: los centros de salud intercultural en el altiplano boliviano,» Avá Revista de Antropología, vol. 14, nº 2, pp. 1-28, 2009. [20]E. Arteaga, M. San Sebastián y A. Amores, «Construcción participativa de indicadores de la implementación del modelo de salud intercultural en el cantón Loreto, Ecuador,» Saúde em Debate, vol. 36, nº 94, pp. 402-413, 2012. [21]L. Véliz Rojas, A. Bianchetti Saavedra y M. Silva Fernández, «Competencias interculturales en la atención primaria de salud: un desafío para la educación superior frente a contextos de diversidad cultural,» Cuadernos de Saúde Pública, vol. 35, nº 1, pp. 62-71, 2019. [22]C. Walsh, Interculturalidad: Estado, sociedad: luchas decoloniales de nuestra época, Quito: Abya Yala UASB, 2015. [23]E. Ortiz Prado y G. Ceballos Serra, «Marco estratégico para la protección de los pueblos indígenas en aislamiento voluntario y contacto inicial. Consultoría sobre situación de salud de los pueblos indígenas en aislamiento y contacto inicial en el Ecuador,» Organización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica, Quito, 2014. [24]J. Betancurt, A. Green, J. Carrillo y Anane-Firempong, «Defining Cultural competence: a practical framework for adressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care,» Public Health, vol. 118, nº 2, pp. 293-302, 2016. [25]R. Ceballos, A. Amores y R. Rojas, Prestación de servicios de salud en zonas con pueblos indígenas, Quito: Programa Regional de Salud de los Pueblos Indígenas, 2009. [26]L. Pereira de Melo, «A contemporaneidade da teoría do cuidado cultural de Madeleine Leininger: una perspectiva geohistórica,» Ensaios e Ciencia: ciencias biológicas, agrarias e da Saúde, vol. 14, nº 2, pp. 21-32, 2010. [27]C. Rohrbach-Viadas, «Introducción a la teoría de los cuidados culturales enfermeros de la diversidad y la universalidad de Madeleine Leininger,» Revista Cultura del cuidado, vol. 2, nº 3, pp. 32-46, 1998. [28]O. Aguilar Guzmán, I. Carrasco González, M. García Piña, A. Saldívar y R. Ostiguín Meléndez, «Madeleine Leininger: análisis de sus fundamentos teóricos,» Revista de Enfermería Universitaria, vol. 4, nº 2, pp. 26-32, 2007. (shrink)

Buddhism and American Thinkers. Ed. by Kenneth K. Inada and Nolan P. Jacobson. State University of New York, Albany 1984. xix, 180pp.

Buddhist Formal Logic. A study of Dignaga's Hetucakra and K'uei-chi's Great Commentary on the Nyayapravesa. R.S.Y. Chi. Royal Asiatic Society, London 1969; revised edition, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1984. lxxxii + 222 pp. Rs. 100.

The Discipline of Freedom. A Kantian View of the Role of Moral Precepts in Zen Practice. Phillip Olson. State University of New York Press, Albany 1993. XX, 217 pp. $14.94.

Some current attempts to go beyond the narrow scope of rational choice theory (RCT) in the social sciences and the artificial reconstructions it sometimes provides focus on the arguments that people give to justify their beliefs and behaviors themselves. But the available argumentation theories are not constructed to fill this gap. This article argues that relevance theory, on the contrary, suggests interesting tracks. This provocative idea requires a rereading of Sperber and Wilson's theory. Actually, the authors do not explicitly support (...) RCT, and Sperber has even strongly criticized methodological individualism, which most of the time underlies RCT, in favor of infra-individualism. A key point of the argument presented here is to show that Sperber and Wilson do not firmly distinguish between infra-individualism and subintentionality. Only subintentionality is needed. Key Words: argumentation • rational choice • relevance theory • methodological individualism. (shrink)

The issue of knowing what it means for a group to have collective beliefs is being discussed more and more in contemporary philosophy of the social sciences and philosophy of mind. Margaret Gilbert’s reconsideration of Durkheim’s viewpoint in the framework of the plural subject’s account is one of the most famous. This has implications in the history and the sociology of science—as well asin the history and sociology of philosophy—although Gilbert only outlined them in the former fields and said nothing (...) about the latter. Symmetrically but independently, a historian of science, Mara Beller, has recently challenged Kuhn’s conception of the role of consensus in sciences in a brilliant analysis by carefully studying the history of Copenhagen School of Quantum Mechanics. Not only does she show the role of disagreement and controversies (doubting whether there was any collective belief characteristic in this group of physicists), but she even shakes up the very idea of individual beliefs. Each scientist (Heisenberg, Bohr, etc.) could be seen as divided into several selves. This paper contends that these two conceptions open important new horizons in several domains, especially if they are linked together. The paper assesses this claim in the light of empirical examples like the Vienna Circle, Copenhagen School, and, eventually, Cartesian philosophy. Key Words: plural subject • polyphony • collective briefs • Cartesian argumentation. (shrink)

On se propose, dans cet article, de montrer l'intérêt de l'ouvrage classique de Richard H. Popkin du point de vue d'une analyse sociologique et anthropologique des processus collectifs de doute et d'adhésion. Un tel examen implique toutefois, au niveau de la méthode, d'analyser les différences fines existant entre histoire des idées, sociologie de la connaissance, ethnologie des croyances et épistémologie. L'examen mérite d'être mené aussi bien pour la compréhension du développement du scepticisme au XVIIe siècle que du déferlement de la (...) vague relativiste contemporaine, qu'il faut assurément distinguer, en suivant l'inspiration de Popkin, d'une forme de scepticisme modéré proche du rationalisme critique. (shrink)

Dans cette contribution, j’examine la spécificité d’une perspective d’épistémologie sociale en théorie de l’argumentation en me livrant à une analyse critique de la théorie actuellement dominante dans ce champ, la pragma-dialectique de Franz van Eemeren. Cette perspective, d’inspiration interactionniste gricéenne, se réclame du « rationalisme critique », donc d’une perspective épistémologiquement « préservationniste ». Et pourtant, en faisant des normes du débat argumenté, y compris des normes de la connaissance, de simples règles de « bonne conduite », elle témoigne, de (...) facto, d’une position épistémologiquement « révisionniste ». Cette perspective manifeste, par ailleurs, une forme d’« expansionnisme » sociologique élémentaire, comme tel légitime si l’on considère qu’introduire deux sujets, c’est déjà introduire du social. La pragma-dialectique n’introduit pas de nouveaux sujets de connaissance sui generis, tels que les communautés épistémiques ou les institutions, mais comme il s’agit de rendre compte d’argumentations, elle doit envisager au moins deux interlocuteurs potentiels et donc dépasser le solipsisme épistémologique, une posture explicite chez Descartes et implicite dans la plupart des théories de la connaissance classiques, lesquelles font rarement réellement place à l’intersubjectivité. Malgré ses limites, la pragma-dialectique, par sa recherche de normes de la construction de la connaissance plus proches des processus effectifs ou naturels de la connaissance, pourrait constituer – épistémologiquement redressée – une contribution importante à une épistémologie sociale « naturalisée ». (shrink)

Dans cette contribution, j’examine la spécificité d’une perspective d’épistémologie sociale en théorie de l’argumentation en me livrant à une analyse critique de la théorie actuellement dominante dans ce champ, la pragma-dialectique de Franz van Eemeren. Cette perspective, d’inspiration interactionniste gricéenne, se réclame du « rationalisme critique », donc d’une perspective épistémologiquement « préservationniste » (au sens où elle préserverait l’idée de référence à des normes de la connaissance). Et pourtant, en faisant des normes du débat argumenté, y compris des normes (...) de la connaissance, de simples règles de « bonne conduite », elle témoigne, de facto, d’une position épistémologiquement « révisionniste ». Cette perspective manifeste, par ailleurs, une forme d’« expansionnisme » sociologique élémentaire, comme tel légitime si l’on considère qu’introduire deux sujets, c’est déjà introduire du social. La pragma-dialectique n’introduit pas de nouveaux sujets de connaissance sui generis, tels que les communautés épistémiques ou les institutions (ce qui serait pour Alvin Goldman le critère de l’expansionnisme, un critère à mon sens trop fort), mais comme il s’agit de rendre compte d’argumentations, elle doit envisager au moins deux interlocuteurs potentiels et donc dépasser le solipsisme épistémologique, une posture explicite chez Descartes et implicite dans la plupart des théories de la connaissance classiques, lesquelles font rarement réellement place à l’intersubjectivité. Malgré ses limites, la pragma-dialectique, par sa recherche de normes de la construction de la connaissance plus proches des processus effectifs ou naturels de la connaissance, pourrait constituer – épistémologiquement redressée – une contribution importante à une épistémologie sociale « naturalisée ». (shrink)

Short-circuit evaluation denotes the semantics of propositional connectives in which the second argument is evaluated only if the first argument does not suffice to determine the value of the expression. Free short-circuit logic is the equational logic in which compound statements are evaluated from left to right, while atomic evaluations are not memorised throughout the evaluation, i.e. evaluations of distinct occurrences of an atom in a compound statement may yield different truth values. We provide a simple semantics for free short-circuit (...) logic and an independent axiomatisation. Finally, we discuss evaluation strategies, some other SCLs, and side effects. (shrink)

First Published in 1961 A Philosopher's Pilgrimage is a plain-spoken autobiography of Alban G. Widgery. This is the record of the life of a philosopher who never allowed concern with ideas to distract him from the richness of experiences. He was a student, colleague and friend of some of the leading personalities of the last half century. Having lived in England, Scotland, Germany, France, India, Hawaii, and the United States, he formed definite impressions of their peoples. In India, on (...) the personal staff of H.H. Sayaji Rao III, he greatly influenced him in his pioneer achievements. Associated with Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Muslims, and Jews, he came to appreciate essentials of their faiths. He critically considered the teachings of such thinkers as Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Shaw. With a clarity of exposition and with humour he presents a philosophy of life worthy of serious consideration. This book will be of interest to students of philosophy. (shrink)

Melusine the Serpent Goddess in Myth and Literature examines how women were once worshipped as the life force, but later suppressed with the introduction of monotheism and a changing attitude regarding the sexes. It connects the literary conception of the Melusine story to myths and legends of the snake or dragon goddess, from ancient to contemporary times.

Human emotions guide verbal and non-verbal behaviour during social encounters. During public performances, performers’ emotions can be affected directly by an audience’s attitude. The valence of the emotional state (positive or negative) of a broad range of animal species is known to be associated with a body and visual orientation laterality bias. Here, we evaluated the influence of an audience’s attitude on professional actors’ head orientation and gaze direction during two theatrical performances with controlled observers’ reactions (Hostile vs Friendly audience). (...) First, our speech fluency analysis confirmed that an audience’s attitude influenced actors’ emotions. Second, we found that, whereas actors oriented more their head to the left (i.e. Right Hemisphere Bias) when the audience was hostile, they gazed more straight ahead at Friendly spectators. These results are in accordance with the Valence-Specific Hypothesis that proposes that processing stimuli with negative valences involves the right hemisphere (i.e. left eye) more than the left hemisphere. (shrink)

Human emotions guide verbal and non-verbal behaviour during social encounters. During public performances, performers’ emotions can be affected directly by an audience’s attitude. The valence of the emotional state (positive or negative) of a broad range of animal species is known to be associated with a body and visual orientation laterality bias. Here, we evaluated the influence of an audience’s attitude on professional actors’ head orientation and gaze direction during two theatrical performances with controlled observers’ reactions (Hostile vs Friendly audience). (...) First, our speech fluency analysis confirmed that an audience’s attitude influenced actors’ emotions. Second, we found that, whereas actors oriented more their head to the left (i.e. Right Hemisphere Bias) when the audience was hostile, they gazed more straight ahead at Friendly spectators. These results are in accordance with the Valence-Specific Hypothesis that proposes that processing stimuli with negative valences involves the right hemisphere (i.e. left eye) more than the left hemisphere. (shrink)

IntroductionAlthough the motor signs of Parkinson’s disease are well defined, nonmotor symptoms, including higher-level language deficits, have also been shown to be frequent in patients with PD. In the present study, we used a lexical decision task to find out whether access to the mental lexicon is impaired in patients with PD, and whether task performance is affected by bradykinesia.Materials and MethodsParticipants were 34 nondemented patients with PD, either without medication or under optimum medication. A total of 19 age-matched control (...) volunteers were also recruited. We recorded reaction times to the LDT and a simple RT task. In each task, stimuli were either visual or auditory. Statistical analyses consisted of repeated-measures analyses of variance and Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests.ResultsIn the LDT, participants with PD both off and on medication exhibited intact access to the mental lexicon in both modalities. In the visual modality, patients off medication were just as fast as controls when identifying real words, but slower when identifying pseudowords. In the visual modality of the control task, RTs for pseudowords were significantly longer for PD patients off medication than for controls, revealing an unexpected but significant lexicality effect in patients that was not observed in the auditory modality. Performances of patients on medication did not differ from those of age-matched controls.DiscussionMotor execution was not slowed in patients with PD either off or on medication, in comparison with controls. Regarding lexical access, patients off medication seemed to have difficulty inhibiting a cognitive-linguistic process when it was not required, and exhibit a specific pseudoword processing deficit in the LDT, which may have been related to impaired lateral word inhibition within the mental lexicon. These deficits seemed to be compensated by medication. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and (...) made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and (...) made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Methodological Individualism and Rational Choice Theory (broadly understood) can integrate various research programmes in cognitive sociology (itself broadly understood). This article sets out two different but closely related conceptions, depending on the focus of the analysis (macro-sociological or micro-sociological) and the goals, although both deal — to some extent — with the bridge between these levels. Raymond Boudon's programme is relevant when the focus is the macro-sociological level but can be considered as weakly `cognitive'. Alban Bouvier presents a slightly (...) stronger cognitive programme — the argumentativist programme — that makes sense when the focus is on the micro-sociological level. This new programme leads to integrating cognitive psychology and recent argumentation theory more and, as well, the philosophy of mind and social philosophy. Examples here are borrowed from historical sociology. (shrink)

Gilbert (2000) examined the issue of collective intentionality in science. Her paper consisted of a conceptual analysis of the negative role of collective belief, consensus, and joint commitment in science, with a brief discussion of a case study investigated by Thagard (1998a, 1998b). I argue that Gilbert's concepts have to be refined to be empirically more relevant. Specifically, I distinguish between different kinds of joint commitments. I base my analysis on a close examination of Thagard's example, the discovery ofHelicobacter pylori, (...) and two other historical cases involving the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics and the Austrian school of economics. I also argue that it is difficult to fulfill the condition of common knowledge, even in Gilbert's weak sense. I conclude by raising serious doubts about the very possibility of a certain type of joint commitment, which I refer to as an implicit joint commitment. (shrink)

Dialogues with Scientists and Sages. The Search for Unity. Renée Weber. Routledge & Kegan Paul. London 1986. 256 pp. £7.95.