This paper discusses the intellectual justification of scientometrics through the claim that it is part of the quest for a quantitative science of science. Initially, I will make a brief description of scientometrics' historical background. Next, I will explain that those disciplines that have been satisfactorily mathematized always contain two distinct basic components: an axiomatic, defining the operations that can be realized with the available data, and an interpretation of their meaning. Counting papers and citations is a way to collect (...) statistical data about scientific activities, and therefore the axiomatic basis of scientometrics comes from statistics. Regarding the interpretation of scientometrics, I will argue that the meanings attributed to their key concepts are usually borrowed from economics. Then I discuss how the promise of a science of science becomes a too well adjusted historical narrative that apparently justifies the economic concerns of governments and private corporations. (shrink)

O propósito deste artigo é o de evidenciar de que forma a afirmação de ser ser-para-a-morte de Heidegger pode ser entendido como condição de possibilidade para a responsabilização do desejo conforme formulado pela psicanálise lacaniana. Primeiro, descreve-se a estrutura do Dasein heideggeriano, bem como seus existenciais. Em seguida, analisa-se o uso e o sentido da noção de desejo em Lacan. Tanto numa existência autêntica, quanto num final de análise, onde o sujeito sabe lidar com suas perdas, diante da angústia, ele (...) assume um papel de protagonista de sua existência e consegue se responsabilizar pelo seu desejo. A análise, nesse sentido, serve como uma ferramenta que possibilita o sujeito lidar com este sofrimento decorrente da falta, deste nada que falou Heidegger. Evidentemente que a análise não objetiva eliminar esta falta ontológica, mas tão somente desconstruir os fantasmas que o sujeito construiu para afastar o que lhe é mais próprio, constitutivo de sua estrutura ontológica, qual seja, sua finitude. Portanto, tanto para Heidegger, por meio da afirmação da angústia frente à morte, quanto para Lacan, onde o sujeito assumiu a tragédia de sua existência – no final de análise –, é a afirmação da finitude que possibilita a responsabilização do desejo, de ser autêntico ou, se preferir, sujeito. (shrink)

_Resumo_ Este artigo tem por objetivo problematizar a ideia de ser a América Latina um espaço do _puro contingente_, como defende o filósofo argentino Enrique Dussel. Recorrendo a um evento extraordinário do século XIX, a Revolução Haitiana, defendemos a ideia que, mesmo no espaço colonial, é possível encontrar a circulação e a defesa de ideias universais. Mais do que isso, essa revolução apresenta um bom exemplo de como podemos refletir sobre a _universalidade hegeliana_, elaborada por dois grandes pensadores contemporâneos: Susan (...) Buck-Morss e Slavoj Žižek. _ _ _Palavras-chave: _Dussel; Buck-Morss; Žižek; universalidade hegeliana. _ _ _Abstract_ _ _ This article aims to problematize the idea of Latin America being a space of _pure contingent_, as defended by the Argentine philosopher Enrique Dussel. Using an extraordinary event from the 19th century, the Haitian Revolution, we defend the idea that, even in the colonial space, it is possible to find the circulation and defense of universal ideas. More than that, this revolution presents a good example of how we can reflect on the _Hegelian universality_, elaborated by two great contemporary thinkers: Susan Buck-Morss and Slavoj Žižek. _ _ _Key-words: _Dussel; Buck-Morss; Žižek; hegelian universality. _ _. (shrink)

Explaining is one of the most important everyday practices in science education. In this article, we examine how scientific explanations could serve as cultural tools for members of a group of pre-service physics teachers. Specifically, we aim at their use of explanations about forces of inertia in non-inertial frames of reference. A basic assumption of our study is that explanatory tools shape the ways we think and speak about the world. Drawing on the theory of mediated action, analysis illustrates three (...) major claims on scientific explanations: explaining is an act of actively responding to explanations presented by others ; the actual experience of explaining involves the enactment of power and authority; resistance might be a constitutive part of learning how to explain. These assertions expand the possibilities of dialogue between studies of scientific explanations and the social sciences. Implications for science teaching and research in science education are presented. (shrink)

The scope of this research is to study the zine, which is a handmade booklet. The purpose is to reflect on what the zine is, discussing its format, reflecting on where it is inserted in the publishing market and what its cultural relevance is. This study is a theoretical and bibliographic research with a qualitative approach. We analyze three zines – Geração Beat, by Renato Alessandro dos Santos, O Ceifador de Privilégios, by Arthus Mehanna, and Libertemo-nos, by Melina Bassoli (...) – in order to understand their format, the ways of production, where they are inserted, and their themes. Afterwards, we notice characteristics that contribute to the dissemination of culture and democratic values, thus becoming an object of great cultural relevance.Keywords: Zine. Marginal Literature. Publishing market. (shrink)

Consciousness is a tremendously complex phenomenon. We examined the configurations and functions of an autonomously adaptive system that can adapt to an environment without a teacher to understand this complex phenomenon in the easiest way possible, and proposed a modeling method of consciousness on the system. In modeling of consciousness, it is important to note the difference between phenomenal consciousness and functional consciousness. To clarify the difference, a model with two layers, a physical layer and a logical layer, is proposed. (...) The functions of primitive consciousness on the autonomously adaptive system were clarified on the model. The physical layer is composed of an artificial neural node. All signals are processed in detail by the neural nodes. Contrarily, minimum information, necessary for the system to adapt itself, selected from the physical layer composes the logical layer. The operations in the logical layer are represented by interactions between only the selected information. Our daily conscious phenomenon is expressed on the logical layer. (shrink)

Jiren (畸人), literally translated as irregular (Ji) person (ren), is a critical concept in the classical Daoist text the Zhuangzi (5th–3rd century BC.).1 The concept refers to individuals with atypical body shapes. Some of them lack body parts of the standard human body, like a leg or toes. Some others have an atypical anatomy, like having a chin stuck down their navel; and some of them are, by social standards of the time, considered to be extremely ugly.1 These individuals are (...) described as incredibly virtuous. The description of Jiren individuals as virtuous does not simply aim to show there may be hidden virtues that social conventions blur. The point is not to show that we should also care for those with atypical bodies who have a hidden virtue. Rather, the point is to show that all human beings have an unconditional intrinsic value and moral worth. So, Jiren prescribes that an atypical body shape does not reflect inferiority. The variation of body anatomies should be understood as how the world is, not a value hierarchy. The concept of Jiren encourages, therefore, to consider one’s own and others’ value beyond their physical appearance. What’s more, Jiren encourages individuals to resist social pressures to fit a standard and to search inward for who they really are and accept it. This ethical groundwork set by the Jiren aims at freeing people from existing physical and mental boundaries to their well-being and helping them rethink …. (shrink)

This article aims to propose some connections between the conceptions of poetry of the Mexican poet Octavio Paz and the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Both see in poetry the element of recognition of the original condition of the human being, not as an interpretation, but as a perception and affectation of the existential reality of human beings. So that the event of the "poetic saying" is configured as a call to the possibility of glimpsing the being of each entity, inhabiting (...) oneself and, thus, learning to be with others, establishing the poetic field as the clearing of perception and of existential affectation. Poetic speech goes beyond the limits of language, creating and establishing meanings and representations to the affectations that poetry provides. Thus, through poetry man recognizes himself in his worldliness, in search of his own being and in his relationship with other beings. (shrink)

In this article, we will make the case for an intercultural philosophy of religion with a special focus on interculturality between Chinese and African philosophies. We will provide an overview of the kind of intercultural philosophy that has already been undertaken between the East and the South and point out that a philosophy of religion has been left out. We will then make the case for a global philosophy of religion approach and why Chinese and African philosophies of religion should (...) engage in philosophical interchanges. We will then highlight some directions for carrying out such a philosophy and explain why the problem of evil may be better addressed from an intercultural perspective. (shrink)

O objetivo do artigo é analisar o conceito de liberdade presente na obra de Rousseau e fornecer argumentos para questionar a imagem do homem natural como um ser livre, de modo a sustentar a tese de que a liberdade somente se torna possível com a saída do estado de natureza descrito no Discurso sobre as origens da desigualdade . Assim, o autor pretende mostrar que o surgimento da consciência e da racionalidade é indispensável para que o homem consiga desenvolver suas (...) faculdades virtuais e seja capaz de criar para si padrões de comportamento diferentes do instinto natural, um processo que ocorre graças à vida em sociedade. (shrink)

O objetivo deste trabalho é duplo: primeiramente, tecer alguns comentários sobre o uso feito pelo filósofo da ocorrência de fenômenos da natureza como fatores explicativos para mudanças profundas ocorridas no comportamento humano, um recurso argumentativo presente nas duas narrativas hipotéticas; em seguida, abordar as razões que Rousseau fornece para que esses acontecimentos deixem de ser simples fatos naturais e se tornem verdadeiras catástrofes para o ser humano, as quais podem ser encontradas, por exemplo, na Carta a Voltaire sobre a Providência.

Firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) because they consider that some kind of competitive advantage accrues to them. We contend that resource-based perspectives (RBP) are useful to understand why firms engage in CSR activities and disclosure. From a resource-based perspective CSR is seen as providing internal or external benefits, or both. Investments in socially responsible activities may have internal benefits by helping a firm to develop new resources and capabilities which are related namely to know-how and corporate culture. In (...) effect, investing in social responsibility activities and disclosure has important consequences on the creation or depletion of fundamental intangible resources, namely those associated with employees. The external benefits of CSR are related to its effect on corporate reputation. Corporate reputation can be understood as a fundamental intangible resource which can be created or depleted as a consequence of the decisions to engage or not in social responsibility activities and disclosure. Firms with good social responsibility reputation may improve relations with external actors. They may also attract better employees or increase current employees’ motivation, morale, commitment and loyalty to the firm. This article contributes to the understanding of why CSR may be seen as having strategic value for firms and how RBP can be used in such endeavour. (shrink)

Uma concepção de cosmopolitismo, de base eurocêntrica, é questionada por pensadores como K. A. Appiah, Walter Mignolo, Silviano Santiago entre outros, para buscar possíveis ressemantizações do termo no contexto contemporâneo, marcado pela globalização, pelo multiculturalismo e pela expansão das novas tecnologias de comunicação. Considerando esse confronto de noções de cosmopolitismo, indaga-se como se deu a interpretação do Brasil no início do século XX, quando recrudesceram as tensões entre cosmopolitismo e nacionalismo. Busca-se, por outro lado, confrontar tais interpretações com as que (...) surgem no início do século XXI, quando a nação vai deixando de ser o centro de um sistema de significação, em tempo heterogêneo e de globalização, em que se pode falar em “cosmopolitismo do pobre” (cosmopolitismo do subalterno), como formulou Silviano Santiago. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between information and abductive reasoning in the context of problem-solving, focusing on non-human animals. Two questions guide our investigation: What is the relation between information and abductive reasoning in the context of human and non-human animals? Do non-human animals perform discovery based on inferential processes such as abductive reasoning? In order to answer these questions, we discuss the semiotic concept of information in relation to the concept of abductive reasoning and, (...) more specifically, to the notion of manipulative abduction proposed by Magnani. Finally, we investigate a case study of corvids’ intelligence, namely, their capacity of causal cognition. (shrink)

The Ways that Big History Works: Cosmos, Life, Society and our Future reflects on how Big History helps us understand the nature of our existence and consider the pathways to our future.

The article examines Kant's notion of conceptual extension in order to determine a conception of predication that could integrate, in a coherent fashion, basic theoretical commitments of general logic as he conceived it and the central tenets of his transcendental logic. After a brief overview of the several characterizations of thatnotion in the Kantian corpus, I distinguish three interpretative models concerning it in the literature. Such models are criticized and their prospects of integrating Kant's commitments in a fully satisfactory way (...) are rejected. Finally, I sketch an alternative account of Kant's notion of conceptual extension, which respects the criteria of adequacy that guided the examination of the former models. It points, on its turn, to a revaluation of Kant's notion of conceptual content. (shrink)

Ce travail s’insère dans un projet intitulé « Le discours aux frontières du social », qui vise à analyser, dans des films documentaires, l’entrecroisement des différents matériaux en jeu dans ces productions. Pour comprendre comment se formule la critique sociale, j’ai choisi d’analyser deux documentaires ayant pour thème des conflits sociaux : Tereza (« Thérèse », qui met en scène la vie des détenus dans une prison de Campinas) et Boca de Lixo (« Décharge publique », qui présente la vie (...) de personnes qui habitent et travaillent dans les dépôts d’ordures). (shrink)

In this paper, I defend that the historiographical category of eclecticism is a correct way to describe the epistemology and the exegetical activity of the Anonymous commentator on Plato’s Theaetetus. In addition, I show that the interpretation of the platonic philosophy presented in this text not only presupposes an eclectic philosophical attitude, but also offers a conscious defense of a positive and philosophically relevant form of eclecticism. By eclecticism, I understand a method of inquiry based on the deliberate use of (...) hypotheses and arguments from different philosophical traditions. My claim is that Anon. intends to lay ground of his way of doing philosophy by attributing it to Plato and the platonic tradition. In doing so, Anon. provides us with a positive understanding of eclecticism as a legitimate methodology of philosophical investigation. (shrink)

This article is a belated contribution to a Common Knowledge symposium on the “unanticipated conceptual practice” of “anthropological philosophy.” The basic argument is that the groundwork for this emerging approach, associated foremost with Eduardo Viveiros de Castro's book Métaphysiques cannibales of 2009, was laid in the 1970s by the controversial French anthropologists Pierre and Hélène Clastres. It is argued that the Clastres took the intellectual practices of Guarani shamans and prophets as analogous to the those of ancient Greek philosophers but (...) also as sharply critical of the principles that underlay early Western metaphysics. (shrink)

In this study the influence of irrational beliefs and perfectionism on the emergence of competitive anxiety was investigated. While previous studies indicate that higher irrational beliefs predict greater competitive anxiety, in the present study it is hypothesized that this relationship is mediated by perfectionism. A serial atemporal multiple mediation analysis revealed that both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism were significant partial mediators between irrational beliefs and competitive anxiety. The total score and all four subscale scores on irrational beliefs had both direct (...) and indirect effects on cognitive competitive anxiety, the latter effects mediated by both forms of perfectionism. Depreciation beliefs had a direct effect, and demandingness and awfulizing had indirect effects, on somatic competitive anxiety when both forms of perfectionism were entered as mediators. These findings suggest that both irrational beliefs and perfectionism influence the emergence of competitive anxiety, therefore rational emotive behavioral therapy with a focus upon perfectionism may be an effective means of reducing competitive anxiety in athletes. (shrink)