In this paper we present a theoretical framework to understand the underlying psychological mechanism involved in human-Companion Robot interactions. At first, we take the case of Sexual Robotics, where the psychological dynamics are more evident, to thereafter extend the discussion to Companion Robotics in general. First, we discuss the differences between a sex-toy and a Sexual Robots, concluding that the latter may establish a collusive and confirmative dynamics with the user. We claim that the collusiveness leads to two main consequences, (...) such as the fixation on a specific and atypical type of sexual interaction, called paraphilic, and to the infantilization of the user, which we explain through the theoretical framework of “object-relation theory”. We argue that these dynamics may degrade to an infantile stage the relational abilities of users, extending this argument to Companion Robots in general. Then, we enquire if and how the relational dynamics enacted in HRI may shift to human relations: we discuss the analogy with virtual reality concluding that, under certain condition, a symbolic shift might happen. In the last part of this work, we propose an experimental setup to verify if a collusive and confirmative interaction with a Companion Robot can, over time, impact on the user’s ability to manage relational frustration. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar um dispositivo conceitual desde Laclau e Lacan que permita abordar o fenômeno político nomeado como populismo. Para isso, primeiro, estabeleceremos a definição dos conceitos utilizados. Em segundo lugar, estabeleceremos o contraponto entre populismo, neoliberalismo e fascismo. Finalmente, apresentaremos o populismo como uma possibilidade de saída de crise política, social e econômica. Devemos salientar que o texto esteve intencionalmente elaborado para um debate com uma defesa do liberalismo como saída de crise política, social e econômica. (...) Palavras-chave: Populismo. Identificação. Afetos. Laclau. Lacan. (shrink)

It is common to hear talk of the aim of belief and to find philosophers appealing to that aim for numerous explanatory purposes. What belief 's aim explains depends, of course, on what that aim is. Many hold that it is somehow related to truth, but there are various ways in which one might specify belief 's aim using the notion of truth. In this article, by considering whether they can account for belief 's standard of correctness and the epistemic (...) norms governing belief, I argue against certain prominent specifications of belief 's aim given in terms of truth, and advance a neglected alternative. (shrink)

The _Physics_ is a foundational work of western philosophy, and the crucial one for understanding Aristotle's views on matter, form, essence, causation, movement, space, and time. This richly annotated, scrupulously accurate, and consistent translation makes it available to a contemporary English reader as no other does—in part because it fits together seamlessly with other closely associated works in the New Hackett Aristotle series, such as the _Metaphysics_, _De Anima_, and forthcoming _De Caelo_ and _On Coming to Be and Passing Away_. (...) Eventually the series will include all of Aristotle's works. Sequentially numbered endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index of Terms indicates places where focused discussion of key notions occurs. An illuminating general Introduction describes the book that lies ahead, explaining what sort of work it is and what sorts of evidence it relies on. (shrink)

Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848) is commonly thought to have attempted to develop a theory of size for infinite collections that follows the so-called part–whole principle, according to which the whole is always greater than any of its proper parts. In this paper, we develop a novel interpretation of Bolzano’s mature theory of the infinite and show that, contrary to mainstream interpretations, it is best understood as a theory of infinite sums. Our formal results show that Bolzano’s infinite sums can be equipped (...) with the rich and original structure of a non-commutative ordered ring, and that Bolzano’s views on the mathematical infinite are, after all, consistent. (shrink)

1. Happiness, then and now -- Happiness, eudaimonia, and practical reasoning -- Happiness as eudaimonia -- Happiness and virtuous activity -- New directions from old debates -- 2. Happiness then: the sufficiency debate -- Aristotle's case against the sufficiency thesis -- 3. Happiness now: rethinking the self -- Socrates' case for the sufficiency thesis -- Epictetus and the stoic self -- The Stoics' case for the sufficiency thesis -- The embodied conception of the self -- The embodied conception and psychological (...) well-being -- The Stoics' case against the embodied conception. (shrink)

Sometimes it takes years of debate for philosophers to discover what it is they really disagree about. Sometimes they talk past each other in long series of books and articles, never guessing at the root disagreement that divides them. But occasionally a day comes when something happens to coax the cat out of the bag. "Aha!" one philosopher exclaims to another, "so that's why you've been disagreeing with me, misunderstanding me, resisting my conclusions, puzzling me all these years!".

Organizational ethics and institutional theories are extended by recovering Weberian and Pre-Weberian theorizing that emphasized the joining of ethics and institutional theories. Understanding how ethics and institutional systems influence each other can advance our understanding of the nature and causes of structural organizational ethics issues and help guide potential reforms. We consider the interplay of these elements during the recession of 2008–2009, highlighting how structural ethics problems may have to be addressed at the institutional levels and not solely the individual (...) or organizational levels. (shrink)

This paper introduces the category of b-frames as a new tool in the study of complete lattices. B-frames can be seen as a generalization of posets, which play an important role in the representation theory of Heyting algebras, but also in the study of complete Boolean algebras in forcing. This paper combines ideas from the two traditions in order to generalize some techniques and results to the wider context of complete lattices. In particular, we lift a representation theorem of Allwein (...) and MacCaull to a duality between complete lattices and b-frames, and we derive alternative characterizations of several classes of complete lattices from this duality. This framework is then used to obtain new results in the theory of complete Heyting algebras and the semantics of intuitionistic propositional logic. (shrink)

In this groundbreaking book, Daniel D. Novotny explores one of the most controversial topics of Suarez's philosophy: "beings of reason." Beings of reason are impossible intentional objects, such as blindness and square-circle.

Using an alternative to Tarskian semantics for first-order logic known as possibility semantics, I introduce an approach to nonstandard analysis that remains within the bounds of semiconstructive mathematics, i.e., does not assume any fragment of the Axiom of Choice beyond the Axiom of Dependent Choices. I define the Fr´echet hyperreal line †R as a possibility structure and show that it shares many fundamental properties of the classical hyperreal line, such as a Transfer Principle and a Saturation Principle. I discuss the (...) technical advantages of †R over some other alternative approaches to nonstandard analysis and argue that it is well-suited to address some of the philosophical and methodological concerns that have been raised against the application of nonstandard methods to ordinary mathematics. (shrink)

Les pratiques et les discours philosophiques sous l'empire romain ont été largement inspirés par le langage des cultes à mystères. Depuis la période grecque classique, la pensée philosophique antique a assimilé et réélaboré la terminologie de ces cultes afin d'exprimer l'accès au savoir philosophique, le parcours de la connaissance et l'acquisition d'une 'révélation' réservée aux seuls initiés. Au fil des siècles, le langage platonicien, pétri de références aux cultes à mystères, devient le socle commun de la plupart des lettrés, quelle (...) que soit leur appartenance religieuse, païenne ou chrétienne. Dans une approche d'histoire des religions, la réflexion sur les catégories et leurs usages, tant dans les sources que dans l'historiographie, est inséparable de la construction de la discipline elle-même. Quel est dès lors l'impact de l'historiographie dans l'appréciation des rapports entre cultes à mystères et philosophie? Ensuite, dans quelle mesure les discours et pratiques philosophiques ont-ils été nourris par le lexique mystérique et par les rituels de ces cultes? Des textes réputés avoir partie liée avec les mystères, mais passablement négligés jusqu'ici, sont scrutés en détail--les fragments de Numénius, les Oracles Chaldaïques et plus généralement les expressions respectives des écoles philosophiques. Inversement, des pratiques rituelles mystériques sont susceptibles de révéler l'influence des réflexions philosophiques. Au fil des études, ce volume interroge la relation entre cultes à mystères et philosophies selon une double perspective, émique et étique, la seule qui puisse fournir des éclaircissements sur ce problème."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Trois dossiers distincts, mais complémentaires, et rattachés à la ville d’Éphèse sont convoqués pour éclairer des cas concrets de transmission de pratiques, de savoirs ou de vocabulaire rituels. Tout d’abord, les associations dionysiaques d’Éphèse permettent d’aborder la question des référents à partir desquels se constitue un rituel, vu que chaque association est un cas unique, au profil cultuel particulier. Ensuite, l’examen de la Lettre aux Éphésiens d’Ignace d’Antioche souligne l’utilisation par un des premiers auteurs chrétiens d’un vocabulaire associatif et mystérique (...) pour véhiculer son message chrétien. Cela suppose une large diffusion et une connaissance partagée de pratiques rituelles. Enfin, une inscription d’Éphèse met en lumière le rôle du hiérophante public comme indispensable « passeur de tradition » dans l’exécution des rites publics par les magistrats et insiste sur la séparation des tâches et des savoirs en matière rituelle. La mise en parallèle de ces trois cas permet de remettre en question la distinction entre un savoir proprement cultuel et des connaissances fondées plus largement sur des références culturelles : dans un savoir religieux en action, c’est le rite effectif qui devient lui-même référence culturelle. (shrink)

In _Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief_, Dan Arnold examines how the Brahmanical tradition of Purva Mimamsa and the writings of the seventh-century Buddhist Madhyamika philosopher Candrakirti challenged dominant Indian Buddhist views of epistemology. Arnold retrieves these two very different but equally important voices of philosophical dissent, showing them to have developed highly sophisticated and cogent critiques of influential Buddhist epistemologists such as Dignaga and Dharmakirti. His analysis--developed in conversation with modern Western philosophers like William Alston and J. L. Austin--offers an innovative (...) reinterpretation of the Indian philosophical tradition, while suggesting that pre-modern Indian thinkers have much to contribute to contemporary philosophical debates. In logically distinct ways, Purva Mimamsa and Candrakirti's Madhyamaka opposed the influential Buddhist school of thought that emphasized the foundational character of perception. Arnold argues that Mimamsaka arguments concerning the "intrinsic validity" of the earliest Vedic scriptures are best understood as a critique of the tradition of Buddhist philosophy stemming from Dignaga. Though often dismissed as antithetical to "real philosophy," Mimamsaka thought has affinities with the reformed epistemology that has recently influenced contemporary philosophy of religion. Candrakirti's arguments, in contrast, amount to a principled refusal of epistemology. Arnold contends that Candrakirti marshals against Buddhist foundationalism an approach that resembles twentieth-century ordinary language philosophy--and does so by employing what are finally best understood as transcendental arguments. The conclusion that Candrakirti's arguments thus support a metaphysical claim represents a bold new understanding of Madhyamaka. (shrink)

Three studies test eight hypotheses about (1) how judgment differs between people who ascribe greater vs. less moral relevance to choices, (2) how moral judgment is subject to task constraints that shift evaluative focus (to moral rules vs. to consequences), and (3) how differences in the propensity to rely on intuitive reactions affect judgment. In Study 1, judgments were affected by rated agreement with moral rules proscribing harm, whether the dilemma under consideration made moral rules versus consequences of choice salient, (...) and by thinking styles (intuitive vs. deliberative). In Studies 2 and 3, participants evaluated policy decisions to knowingly do harm to a resource to mitigate greater harm or to merely allow the greater harm to happen. When evaluated in isolation, approval for decisions to harm was affected by endorsement of moral rules and by thinking style. When both choices were evaluated simultaneously, total harm -- but not the do/allow distinction -- influenced rated approval. These studies suggest that moral rules play an important, but context-sensitive role in moral cognition, and offer an account of when emotional reactions to perceived moral violations receive less weight than consideration of costs and benefits in moral judgment and decision making. (shrink)

Deleuze’s philosophy of immanence, because it vigorously rejects every appeal to the beyond, is often presumed to be indifferent to the concerns of religion. This book argues against such a presumption. It does so, first of all, by emphasising how both Deleuze’s thought and the notion of religion are motivated by a demand to create new modes of existence, or to imagine and enact a future that would substantively break with the present configuration of being. If Deleuze’s thought and the (...) notion of religion intersect in this regard, then their divergence must be located elsewhere, namely in the distinction between immanence and transcendence. The book thus argues that the enemy of Deleuze’s thought is not religion in general but instead the specific operation of transcendence. Furthermore, it argues that since Deleuze’s thought is not simply anti-religious, it cannot be identified with secularism. Along these lines, the book shows how Deleuzian immanence is able both to oppose religious transcendence and to enter an allliance with immanent accounts of the name of God. The effect of this is to suspend the paralysing debate between religion and the secular in order to attend to the ways in which immanence – whether “religious” or “secular” – is able to break with the present and to create the future. (shrink)

Spirituality in Palliative Care Aimed at the ElderlyEspiritualidade no contexto de cuidados paliativos oncológicos a idososIn the last decade, spirituality has been studied in oncological palliative care for the elderly from quantitative, qualitative, and mixed perspectives. The study seeks to reveal the meaning of spirituality in this context. It reviews indexed literature from the MEDLINE database through PubMed between 2009 and 2019, which was accessed online, in full text, anonymously, and in English and Spanish. Revista Medicina Paliativa was manually searched. (...) The results include 50 subject-relevant articles and four categories. It is concluded that there are challenges related to the meaning of spirituality and quality of life, education, and research perspectives.Para citar este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigoArenas-Massa A, Nocetti-de la Barra A, Fraile-Ducviq CG. La espiritualidad en contexto de cuidados paliativos oncológicos dirigidos a personas mayores. Pers Bioet. 2020;24:136-150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/pebi.2020.24.2.2Recibido: 05/07/2020Aceptado: 01/09/2020Publicado: 27/11/2020. (shrink)

James Watson February 6, 2002 Genes, Girls, and Gamow Lou Massa: Welcome to Science & the Written Word. I'm Lou Massa. Dr. James D. Watson is President of ...

Much has been written about medicine and the market in recent years. This book is the first to include an assessment of market influence in both developed and developing countries, and among the very few that have tried to evaluate the actual health and economic impact of market theory and practices in a wide range of national settings. Tracing the path that market practices have taken from Adam Smith in the eighteenth century into twenty-first-century health care, Daniel Callahan and (...) Angela A. Wasunna add a fresh dimension: they compare the different approaches taken in the market debate by health care economists, conservative market advocates, and liberal supporters of single-payer or government-regulated systems. In addition to laying out the market-versus-government struggle around the world -- from Canada and the United States to Western Europe, Latin America, and many African and Asian countries -- they assess the leading market practices, such as competition, physician incentives, and co-payments, for their economic and health efficacy to determine whether they work as advertised. This timely and necessary book engages new dimensions of a development that has urgent consequences for the delivery of health care worldwide. (shrink)

Beta integrals for several non-integer values of the exponents were calculated by Leonhard Euler in 1730, when he was trying to find the general term for the factorial function by means of an algebraic expression. Nevertheless, 70 years before, Pietro Mengoli (1626–1686) had computed such integrals for natural and half-integer exponents in his Geometriae Speciosae Elementa (1659) and Circolo(1672) and displayed the results in triangular tables. In particular, his new arithmetic–algebraic method allowed him to compute the quadrature of the circle. (...) The aim of this article is to show how Mengoli calculated the values of these integrals as well as how he analysed the relation between these values and the exponents inside the integrals. This analysis provides new insights into Mengoli’s view of his algorithmic computation of quadratures. (shrink)

Father Dulles is now largely thought by friend and foe alike to be one of the most forceful voices for a renewed orthodoxy in the Church. Liberals see him as having turned his back on his younger radicalism; like many an older man, they suggest, he has grown more conservative with age. His experiences with certain forms of liberal Catholicism, while not changing his ideas about the Church, seemed to have alerted him to their potential for disaster.1.

Occupational health covers technical, medical, social and legal aspects. This article analyzes it from the perspective of biodiversity, specifically aspects related to risky behavior and its protective factors that are contained in binding international instruments, resolutions and declarations issued by the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization, which seek to improve safety and health at work and in the environment. A bibliographic review of legal documents and scientific articles of reference was conducted to that end. The challenge is (...) to raise awareness among public and business policy-makers concerning the complexity of the phenomenon of work. The implementation of good practices in the various sectors involved is emphasized as well. (shrink)

Le présent volume sur Dionysos est issu d’un colloque qui a eu lieu à l’université de Varsovie en janvier 2019, dans le cadre du National Programme for the Development of Humanities financé par le ministère polonais de la Science et de l’Éducation supérieure. Il se concentre sur un aspect spécifique du dieu grec, celui de son rapport avec la politique et l’autorité. Dans une brève introduction (p. 1–5), Filip Doroszewski et Dariusz Karlowicz rappellent que, par-delà l’imaginaire nietzschéen d...

Das Buch zeigt, in welcher Weise Heidegger und Wittgenstein die Grundlagen der traditionellen Philosophie sowie der Psychologie einer Kritik unterziehen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf dem jeweiligen Frühwerk und wie dort die Problemkreise Sprache, Ethik und Leben miteinander verbunden sind. Konvergenzen ihres Philosophierens liegen u.a. darin, dass sie jeweils eine semantische Bewegung ausmachen, die die Grenzen der individuellen Welt umschreibt, dass sich bei beiden ein Appell an das Ethos der Verschwiegenheit findet, der eine Verknüpfung zwischen Sprache und Ethik nahelegt, und (...) dass das Leben für beide Philosophen eine ethische Bedeutung gewinnt. (shrink)