It has been argued that neural data are an especially sensitive kind of personal information that could be used to undermine the control we should have over access to our mental states, and therefore need a stronger legal protection than other kinds of personal data. The Morningside Group, a global consortium of interdisciplinary experts advocating for the ethical use of neurotechnology, suggests achieving this by treating legally ND as a body organ. Although the proposal is currently shaping ND-related policies, it (...) is not clear what its conceptual and legal basis is. Treating legally something as something else requires some kind of analogical reasoning, which is not provided by the authors of the proposal. In this paper, I will try to fill this gap by addressing ontological issues related to neurocognitive processes. The substantial differences between ND and body organs or organic tissue cast doubt on the idea that the former should be covered by bodily integrity. Crucially, ND are not constituted by organic material. Nevertheless, I argue that the ND of a subject s are analogous to neurocognitive properties of her brain. I claim that s’ ND are a ‘medium independent’ property that can be characterized as natural semantic personal information about her brain and that s’ brain not only instantiates this property but also has an exclusive ontological relationship with it: This information constitutes a domain that is unique to her neurocognitive architecture. (shrink)

Resumen. La presente investigación busca diseñar un modelo estratégico de formación de servidores públicos que propicie el crecimiento personal y profesional, encaminado al servicio civil de carrera. Apoyándose en criterios, conceptos y estrategias propios de Administración del Capital Humano, y Aprendizaje Organizacional aplicándolas al contexto de la Administración Pública Estatal. Para alcanzar este propósito se realizó un diagnóstico con beneficios claros, que dan la oportunidad de pensar y dialogar sobre la estrategia, los objetivos, las personas y el futuro de la (...) Administración Pública Estatal Sinaloense desde una perspectiva del conocimiento. El trabajo de campo se realizó con personal que presta sus servicios en entidades y dependencias administrativas públicas pertenecientes al Poder Ejecutivo del Gobierno del Estado de Sinaloa. A través de un cuestionario, con una muestra de 400 individuos. Se han obtenido 29 indicadores cuyos valores reflejan donde reside el valor del Capital Humano. Así como una puntuación total alcanzada de 104 puntos, advirtiéndose que en el área de gestión del conocimiento, es necesario hacer “algo” para que esta administración, sea considerada como una organización que aprende en toda regla y que realiza una gestión del conocimiento de forma óptima y eficaz. Palabras claves. Administración pública, servidor público, competencias laborales. The present research pretends to design a strategic model to train public servants to help to develop both professional and personal growth, headed to civil service as a profession. Based on criteria, concepts and strategies from Human Capital Administration and Organizational Learning, applying these to the State Public Administration’s context. To achieve this goal, a diagnose took place with clear benefits, that give, to us all, the chance to think and discuss about strategies, objectives, people and future of the Sinaloa State Public Administration from a knowledge perspective. Fieldworkwas done by personnel that serve in administrative public entities and organizations that are part of the Executive Power of the Sinaloa State Government. Through a questionnaire, with a sample of 400 individuals, there was a result of 29 indicators, and its values reflect where the importance of the Executive Power of the Sinaloa State Government lies, as well as a reached total score of 104 points. Noting that in the knowledge promotion area it is necessary to do something so this administration would be considered an organization that learns with every rule and performs a knowledge management in an optimum and efficient way. Keywords. Public administration, civil servant, labor competitions. (shrink)

Experiments in cognitive neuroscience build a setup whose set of controlled stimuli and rules elicits a cognitive process in a participant. This setup requires researchers to decide the value of quite a few parameters along several dimensions. We call ‘’contextual factors’’ the parameters often assumed not to change the cognitive process elicited and are free to vary across the experiment’s repetitions. Against this assumption, empirical evidence shows that many of these contextual factors can significantly influence cognitive performance. Nevertheless, it is (...) not entirely clear what it means for a cognitive phenomenon to be context-sensitive and how to identify context-sensitivity experimentally. We claim that a phenomenon can be context-sensitive either because it is only triggered within a specific context or because different contexts change its manifestation conditions. Assessing which of these forms of context-sensitivity is present in a given phenomenon requires a criterion for individuating it across contextual variations. We argue that some inter-level experiments that, within the mechanistic approach to explanation, are required to identify relations of constitutive relevance between a phenomenon and a mechanism, are also necessary for individuating the phenomenon across its contextual variations. We articulate a criterion according to which behavioral variations across contexts indicate different phenomena if and only if the mechanistic activities, components and/or organizational properties recruited in each context are different. We support this approach by showing how it is applied in paradigmatic studies addressing cognitive performance differences resulting from contextual variations of task features, such as stimulus type and response modality. Finally, we address the challenge that a form of context-sensitivity possessed by the so-called ‘multifunctional mechanisms’ is incompatible with our proposal because it entails that the same mechanism can be recruited in different contexts to produce different phenomena. We examine key cases of multifunctionality and argue that they are consistent with our proposal because a single mechanism can have different components, activities and/or organizational properties in different contexts. Thus, these modifications may not affect the identity of a mechanism, and they could explain how it produced different phenomena in those contexts. (shrink)

Resumo: Os escritos estéticos de Lukács durante a emigração na URSS constituem uma súmula de seu posicionamento contra o despotismo stalinista e a ortodoxia soviética. A despeito das “autocríticas protocolares”, os textos expressam a crítica interdita pelo dogmatismo e o sectarismo característicos do período e irão repercutir a preocupação do autor de que a Estética e Para uma Ontologia do Ser Social, fossem consideradas como sua contribuição à urgência da construção de um projeto de renovação e renascimento do marxismo.

The pandemic has exposed the costs of job and income losses. Emergency cash transfers can mitigate the worst immediate effects on people who lack access to safety nets. This research note provides estimates for a potential Temporary Basic Income for poor and near-poor people across 132 developing countries, as well as the minimum cost of income support sufficient to mitigate the pandemic-induced poverty increase. The total monthly cost of the TBI ranges 0.27–0.63% of developing countries’ combined GDP, depending on the (...) choice: top-ups on each country’s average incomes up to a vulnerability threshold; transfers based on each country’s median standard of living; or uniform transfers. This note argues that some form of TBI is within reach and can inform a larger conversation about how to build comprehensive social protection systems that make the poor and near-poor more resilient to economic downturns in the future. (shrink)

Alumnos con discapacidad: modelo de inclusión de la Universidad Federal de San Carlos Resumen: El objetivo fue describir cómo funciona el programa de inclusión para alumnos con discapacidad en la Universidad Federal de San Carlos, en Brasil. Es una investigación cualitativa con análisis del discurso de cuatro entrevistas semiestructuradas con alumnos con discapacidad, investigadores especialistas y gestores. Los principales resultados muestran que no es suficiente trabajar sobre los ejes de atención a estos estudiantes sino se analizan y evalúan las funciones (...) de los actores involucrados en el proceso de inclusión. Es necesaria una estructura que promueva cambios culturales en la comunidad universitaria, de otro modo, las barreras actitudinales siguen siendo uno de los principales límites para estos alumnos. Palabras clave: Educación Superior; Discapacidad; Educación Especial; Educación Inclusiva. Alunos com deficiência: modelo de inclusão na Universidade Federal de São Carlos Resumo: O objetivo desta pesquisa foi descrever o funcionamento do programa de inclusão para alunos com deficiência na Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brasil. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa com base na análise do discurso de quatro entrevistas semiestruturadas com alunos com deficiência, pesquisadores especializados e gestores. Os resultados centrais mostram que não é suficiente trabalhar sobre os eixos principais de atenção a estes alunos, que deve-se analisar e avaliar as funções dos atores envolvidos no processo de inclusão, e é preciso uma estrutura que motive uma mudança cultural na comunidade universitária, caso contrário, as barreiras atitudinais continuam sendo limites principais para estes alunos. Palavras-chave: Ensino Superior; Deficiência; Educação Especial; Educação Inclusiva. Students with disabilities: inclusion model of Federal University of São Carlos Abstract: The objective of the study is to describe the inclusion program for students with disability in the Federal University of São Carlos, in Brazil. A qualitative study based on discourse analysis of four semi-structured interviews with students with disability, specialist researchers, and managers. The main results shows that is not enough to focus on the principal subjects of inclusive education, instead, it’s necessary to analyze responsibilities of every actor involved in the inclusion process, motivation based structure is needed towards a cultural change. Otherwise, attitudinal barriers of the university community continue to be one of the principal limits for these students. Key words: Higher Education; Disability; Especial Education; Inclusive Education. Data de registro: 04/03/2020 Data de aceite: 28/08/2020. (shrink)

The extent to which English law remedies injury to autonomy as a stand-alone actionable damage in negligence is disputed. In this article I argue that the remedy available is not only partial and inconsistent but also gendered and discriminatory against women. I first situate the argument within the broader feminist critique of tort law as failing to appropriately remedy gendered harms, and of law more broadly as undervaluing women’s interest in reproductive autonomy. I then show by reference to English remedies (...) law’s first principles how imposed motherhood cases—Rees v Darlington and its predecessor McFarlane v Tayside Health Board—result in gender injustice when compared with other autonomy cases such as Chester v Afshar and Yearworth v North Bristol NHS Trust: A minor gender-neutral ITA is better remedied than the significant gendered harm of imposing motherhood on the claimant; men’s reproductive autonomy is protected to a greater extent than women’s; women’s reproductive autonomy is protected by an exceptional, derisory award. Worst of all, courts refuse to recognise imposed motherhood as detriment; and the deemed, mansplained, nonpecuniary joys of motherhood are used to offset pecuniary upkeep costs, forcing the claimant into a position she sought to avoid and thus further undermining her autonomy. The recent Singaporean case ACB v Thomson Medical Pte Ltd, awarding compensation for undermining the claimant’s genetic affinity in an IVF wrong-sperm-mix-up demonstrates some improvement in comparison to English law, and some shared gender injustices in the context of reproductive autonomy. ACB’s analysis is oblivious to the nature of reproductive autonomy harm as gendered; and prioritises the father’s interest in having genetic affinity with the baby over a woman’s interest in not having motherhood imposed upon her. (shrink)

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children and adolescents. People who have this disorder are characterized by presenting difficulties in the processes of sustained attention, being very active, and having poor control of their impulses. Despite the high prevalence of this disorder and the existence of various tests used for its diagnosis, few data are available regarding the usefulness and diagnostic validity of these tools. Given the difficulties that these subjects present in executive functions, (...) the aim of this study was to evaluate whether the Neuropsychological Assessment of Executive Functions battery for Children allows to establish specific profiles of executive performance for people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The sample was made up of 197 participants of both sexes, aged between 6 and 12 years age. A nonexperimental design was followed, using a comparative descriptive study method. The results indicated that the scales of phonological fluency, color path, rings, and interference are the most associated with the diagnosis of ADHD, providing data on inhibition, mental flexibility, sustained and selective attention, planning, verbal fluency, and working memory, among others. The practical implication of these results is in line with providing support in the clinical diagnosis that is carried out in children’s mental health units. In addition, the ENFEN tool can be valued as a suitable psychometric instrument in the psychoeducational field, helping professionals in a school environment to be more aware of the areas of cognitive development in which a student diagnosed with ADHD will have more difficulties and, in doing so, providing more adjusted and effective psychopedagogical measures when it comes to supporting students in their adaptation to the school environment. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the respective contributions to development ethics made by Louis-Joseph Lebret (1897–1966) and his pupil and successor Denis Goulet (1931–2006). Sections 2 and 3 present steps in the emergence of a field of development ethics, and introduce the work of Lebret and Goulet, noting similarities and contrasts. Sections 4 and 5 clarify different senses and forms of ‘development ethics’, to then discuss who might be called ‘father of development ethics’. Lebret had devised a field of human economics (...) and in the 1950s called for an ethics of development, which he began to sketch. His work made significant advances, especially if development ethics is seen as an interdisciplinary policy-oriented field rather than as a subdiscipline in philosophical ethics. In the 1960s, Goulet went on to outline development ethics as a philosophical subdiscipline and to articulate various themes. In his later work though, while always speaking of a ‘discipline’ of development ethics but mostly meaning disciplined investigation, Goulet largely pursued, as had Lebret, a path toward a policy-oriented field of ‘practical ethics’, not a (sub)disciplinary path in a conventional academic sense. (shrink)

The adaptive BCI known as ‘closed-loop deep brain stimulation’ (clDBS) is a device that stimulates the brain in order to prevent pathological neural activity and automatically adjusts stimulation levels based on computational algorithms that detect or predict those pathological processes. One of the prominent ethical concerns raised by clDBS is that, by inhibiting or modulating the undesirable neural states of a cognitive agent automatically, the device potentially undermines her autonomy. It has been argued that clDBS is not a threat because (...) autonomy is fundamentally relational, i.e., it essentially depends on external (e.g., social or cultural) factors. If the relational approach to autonomy includes human-computer interaction, then the mechanisms of clDBS, even if external to the brain and exerting some degree of control over the individual, may support her autonomy. However, DBS applications are substantially different from one another, each involving a specific neurological or psychiatric condition, neural target, mechanism and symptom(s), and therefore at least some of them may not fit into the relational analysis. I examine different clDBS applications for treatment resistant depression and claim that while internal capsule/ventral striatum (VC/VS) clDBS is a case of relational autonomy, subgenual cingulate gyrus (Cg25) clDBS is not. Autonomy (relational or otherwise) requires some degree of self-regulation of our motivational states, which is supported by VC/VS DBS but is absent in Cg25 DBS. In Cg25 DBS the device itself directly influences motivational states, thus substituting or overriding (instead of supporting) the auto-regulatory cognitive processes required for autonomous action. (shrink)

Spinoza distinguishes two orders of knowledge: an order conceived by the intellect, that is, the necessary order of nature and another order conceived by the imagination, that is, the common order of nature in which the contingent and the possible dwell. However, the common order is not only a deprivation of knowledge, but also a reality for the finite mode. Because we cannot exclude the existence of the common order, this paper attempts to understand how we can reconcile it with (...) the necessary order. Spinoza’s critique of imagination is that it introduces fragmentation and discontinuity into nature, since it is a kind of knowledge that does not realize the basis of this continuity: the necessary order. Through an analysis of time as a product of imagination, we will try to show how it introduces the idea of contingency and consequently that of possible. Just as time, the common order can be grasped by reason as an outer frame, it will no longer be an obstacle to the necessary chain of things in the necessary order. It is through the necessary order that we can realize the necessity that underlies the production of time, possible, and contingency as the corruptibility of all particular things. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar o conteúdo das Cartas 34, 35 e 36 da Correspondência de Espinosa a Hudde. Nele podemos perceber o esforço e engenhosidade do filósofo em conduzir o seu interlocutor a assentir à primeira definição da Ética, a definição de causa sui. Hudde, matemático de formação, se esforça em compreender como o filósofo pode demonstrar que a unicidade de Deus possa ser deduzida exclusivamente do fato de que sua natureza ou essência envolve existência necessária. É através (...) do estatuto causal da definição verdadeira que Espinosa poderá conduzi-lo, e evitar, assim, que caia nos paradoxos do uno e do múltiplo, da distinção real e da numérica. Dada a incapacidade do matemático em assentir à definição genética de Deus, o filósofo o conduzirá a assentir indiretamente à definição através do procedimento de demonstração negativa ou por redução ao absurdo. Esse movimento intelectual explicitará os propria de Deus: a eternidade, a simplicidade, a infinitude, a indivisibilidade, a perfeição e a unicidade. (shrink)

O objetivo desse artigo é explicitar, na medida do possível, as críticas formuladas por Espinosa em relação a Descartes, notadamente em sua doutrina do livre-arbítrio. As críticas são fundamentadas nas proposições 48 e 49 da parte II da Ética, além das objeções que a complementam. Essa análise se deterá especialmente na identificação que Espinosa realiza entre ideia e volição, sendo a ideia concebida como um ato de afirmação ou negação, de modo que a volição é constitutiva da ideia. Com essa (...) análise, tentaremos evidenciar que a identidade entre ideia e volição não elimina o caráter voluntário da ação cognitiva do homem na filosofia espinosana. A crítica de Espinosa em relação ao conceito de vontade, entendida como uma faculdade abstrata, isto é um universal abstrato, visa a romper com a ideia de que a vontade é absolutamente livre. A vontade deixa de ser a faculdade que afirma a liberdade entre contrários e torna-se a afirmação da livre necessidade. É essa concepção de uma faculdade universal e abstrata que acarretará ilusão do livre-arbítrio. (shrink)

Este trabajo comienza ofreciendo, a modo de «status quaestionis», una panorámica de la atención que se ha prestado a la obra ensayística de Sánchez Ferlosio, desde las lecturas propuestas en los años noventa del siglo pasado por autores del círculo de nuestro autor hasta los estudios y artículos aparecidos tras su muerte, en 2019. A continuación, se presentan algunas aportaciones relevantes de Ferlosio al pensamiento contemporáneo. Concretamente, se analiza el «aprecio por lo perecedero» como uno de estas aportaciones y, además, (...) se explica cómo este aprecio surge en el marco de una «actitud reflexiva ante el lenguaje». Por último, se procede a un balance crítico de las posiciones de Sánchez Ferlosio con respecto a los asuntos mencionados. (shrink)

Pritchard sostiene que la condición de habilidad y la condición de seguridad le imponen demandas independientes al conocimiento, i.e., que la satisfacción de una no implica la satisfacción de la otra y que, por lo tanto, ninguna de ellas es suficiente por sí misma para ofrecer una caracterización adecuada de esta noción. Argumento, por el contrario, que no hay buenas razones para pensar que la condición de seguridad es insuficiente. Empleando algunos conceptos de Greco y Pritchard y Kallestrup para caracterizar (...) a las habilidades cognitivas y el caso del mentiroso consistente de Lackey, argumento que TEMP, el caso clave de Pritchard para mostrar que puede haber seguridad sin habilidad, no funciona porque el proceso cognitivo relevante constituye una realización legítima, aunque anómala, de una habilidad. Pritchard maintains that the ability and the safety conditions impose independent demands on knowledge, i.e., that satisfying only one of them is not sufficient to acquire knowledge. I argue that there are no good reasons to suppose that the safety condition is not sufficient. I claim that TEMP, the key case proposed by Pritchard to show that there can be safety without ability, fails because therelevant cognitive process constitutes a legitimate, although anomalous, realization of a cognitive ability. (shrink)

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar la relevancia de la teoría informacional del conocimiento para el problema de la suerte epistémica. Argumento que el clásico enfoque de Dretske es equivalente a la condición de seguridad de Pritchard. Sin embargo, considero que esta manera de eludir la suerte epistémica exige lidiar con el llamado "problema de la generalidad". Argumento que una respuesta a este problema requiere una noción de seguridad diferente y propongo un enfoque informacional equivalente a esta versión (...) del requisito. Concluyo que este enfoque es preferible a la condición de seguridad propuesta porque desvela relaciones conceptuales entre los elementos que constituyen el conocimiento.The aim of this paper is to determine the relevance of an informational theory of knowledge to address recently discussed epistemic problems. I argue that Dretske's classical approach is equivalent to the safety condition proposed by Pritchard to avoid epistemic luck. However, I claim that Pritchard's condition has to be modified to avoid the so-called "generality problem" for reliabilism. I propose an alternative version of the requirement to deal with these problems and provide an equivalent informational condition. I conclude that this informational version is preferable since it reveals conceptual relationships between the constituents of knowledge. (shrink)

Although the study of emotion regulation constitutes a thriving research field, there is still an ongoing debate about the very notion of emotion regulation. According to a popular approach, regulation is a second-order process which is different from (and modifies) emotion. This view has been challenged by the fact that emotion regulates itself through different feedback loops. Emotional feedback suggests that regulation may be a form of control (as defined in control theory). In this paper, I argue that none of (...) these characterizations captures all the intended applications of the notion and propose instead to identify regulation with modulation. In neuroscience, modulation is the process of changing the shape of an input-output relation. This is a notion that can be applied to the different regulatory strategies proposed in the literature and which is compatible both with second-order and feedback regulation. (shrink)

RESUMEN D. Pritchard ha sostenido que el conocimiento requiere la satisfacción de una condición de habilidad y una anti-suerte que no guardan relación de implicación entre sí. Se sostiene que la satisfacción de una condición anti-suerte implica cumplir con la condición de habilidad, primero, porque, las características centrales del caso de D. Pritchard en contra de esta implicación son compartidas con casos en los que hay habilidad; y segundo, el caso de A. Goldman del dios benevolente es más efectivo que (...) TEMP, pero involucra un tipo de seguridad diferente a la requerida para el conocimiento. Por último, se muestra que la respuesta de D. Pritchard al problema de la generalidad bloquea la implicación de seguridad a habilidad. Se propone un contraejemplo, adaptando un caso tomado de la epistemología del testimonio. ABSTRACT D. Pritchard holds that knowledge requires the satisfaction of an ability condition and an anti-luck condition that bear no relation of implication to each other. The article argues that the satisfaction of the anti-luck condition implies satisfying the ability condition for two reasons: first, that the main characteristics of Pritchard's case against this implication are shared by cases in which there is ability; and, second, that although A. Goldman's benevolent demon case is more effective than TEMP, it involves a different type of certainty than that required for knowledge. Finally, the article shows that Pritchard's response to the generality problem blocks the implication between certainty and ability, and proposes a counterexample that draws on the epistemology of testimony. (shrink)

The two leading theoretical approaches to tort law — economic analysis and corrective justice — are blind to distributive considerations. Moreover, even the main distributive approaches to tort law — loss-spreading and fairness — fail to emphasize egalitarianism as a distributive consideration. This article argues that egalitarianism should influence the normative evaluation of one’s conduct as negligent or not. It first explains why normatively negligence law should be sensitive to the egalitarian concern, suggesting three different accounts for this claim, based (...) on needs, equality, and desert as criteria for distribution. Second, it argues that egalitarianism is commensurate with the basic understanding of negligence law as reflecting corrective justice and notions of fault. The notion of fault is, therefore, reformulated from within, in order to accommodate egalitarianism. Third, I maintain that in order for egalitarianism to accommodate notions of corrective justice, egalitarian concerns should matter also at the stage of the standard of care. While the egalitarian concern can and should be integrated into the duty stage, I argue that such integration is insufficient. A correct and full understanding of the egalitarian concern and the tort of negligence requires a conclusion that the normative evaluation of one’s action as negligent or not cannot be separated from the distributive results that this action entails. The egalitarian concern works at the duty stage as an excuse for not imposing liability for wrongful activity. In contrast, at the standard stage, it works as a justification that turns an otherwise wrongful activity into a legitimate one. My claim is that morally we should usually expect more care from the better-off than from the disadvantaged. Findings of negligence are based on the failure to balance properly between one’s interests and those of another. In deciding to what extent the defendant should burden herself in order to prevent a loss to potential victims, one morally relevant criterion is the relative ability of the injurer and victim to bear precaution costs and expected accident loss, respectively. (shrink)