The past two decades have seen an explosion in the methods and directions of neuroscience research. Along with many others, complexity research has rapidly gained traction as both an independent research field and a valuable subdiscipline in computational neuroscience. In the past decade alone, several studies have suggested that psychiatric disorders affect the spatiotemporal complexity of both global and region-specific brain activity (Liu et al., 2013; Adhikari et al., 2017; Li et al., 2018). However, many of these studies have not (...) accounted for the distributed nature of cognition in either the global or regional complexity estimates, which may lead to erroneous interpretations of both global and region-specific entropy estimates. To alleviate this concern, we propose a novel method for estimating complexity. This method relies upon projecting dynamic functional connectivity into a low-dimensional space which captures the distributed nature of brain activity. Dimension-specific entropy may be estimated within this space, which in turn allows for a rapid estimate of global signal complexity. Testing this method on a recently acquired obsessive-compulsive disorder dataset reveals substantial increases in the complexity of both global and dimension-specific activity versus healthy controls, suggesting that obsessive-compulsive patients may experience increased disorder in cognition. To probe the potential causes of this alteration, we estimate subject-level effective connectivity via a Hopf oscillator-based model dynamic model, the results of which suggest that obsessive-compulsive patients may experience abnormally high connectivity across a broad network in the cortex. These findings are broadly in line with results from previous studies, suggesting that this method is both robust and sensitive to group-level complexity alterations. (shrink)

The origin of the eukaryotic cell nucleus and the selective forces that drove its evolution remain unknown and are a matter of controversy. Autogenous models state that both the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) derived from the invagination of the plasma membrane, but most of them do not advance clear selective forces for this process. Alternative models proposing an endosymbiotic origin of the nucleus fail to provide a pathway fully compatible with our knowledge of cell biology. We propose here an (...) evolutionary scenario that reconciles both an ancestral endosymbiotic origin of the eukaryotic nucleus (endosymbiosis of a methanogenic archaeon within a fermentative myxobacterium) with an autogenous generation of the contemporary nuclear membrane and ER from the bacterial membrane. We specifically state two selective forces that operated sequentially during its evolution: (1) metabolic compartmentation to avoid deleterious co‐existence of anabolic (autotrophic synthesis by the methanogen) and catabolic (fermentation by the myxobacterium) pathways in the cell, and (2) avoidance of aberrant protein synthesis due to intron spreading in the ancient archaeal genome following mitochondrial acquisition and loss of methanogenesis. BioEssays 28: 525–533, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Algae are significant members of Earth's biodiversity. Having been studied for a long time, the discovery of new algal phyla is extremely unusual. Recently, the enigmatic “Picobiliphyta,” a group of uncultured eukaryotes unveiled using molecular tools, were claimed to represent an unrecognized early branching algal lineage with a nucleomorph (remnant nucleus of a secondary algal endosymbiont) in their plastids. However, subsequent studies rejected the presence of a nucleomorph, and single‐cell genomic studies failed to detect any plastid‐related genes, ruling out the (...) possibility of plastid occurrence. The isolation of the first “picobiliphyte,” Picomonas judraskeda, a tiny organism that feeds on very small (<150 nm) organic particles, came as final proof of their non‐photosynthetic lifestyle. Consequently, the group has been renamed Picozoa. The passage from “picobiliphytes” to “picozoa” illustrates the crucial role that classical protistology should play to provide sound biological context for the wealth of data produced by modern molecular techniques. (shrink)

This essay presupposes that Friedrich Nietzsche and Rudolf Carnap champion contrasting reactions to the fact that, throughout history, persons have been engaged in metaphysical disputes. Nietzsche embraces a libertarian reaction that is in agreement with his anti-democratic aristocratic political views, whereas Carnap endorses an egalitarian reaction aligned with his democratic and socialist political views. After characterizing these reactions, the essay argues for two claims. The first claim is that the stated contrasting reactions are to be considered, not only by the (...) few scholars who are interested both in Nietzsche’s and Carnap’s writings, but by a far larger group that includes those who have addressed the continental-analytic gap; those who are concerned with the development of contemporary philosophy; and/or those who are interested in the writings of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, David Lewis and/or Peter van Inwagen. The second claim is that we have to entertain a synthesis of Nietzsche’s libertarian and Carnap’s egalitarian reaction in order to overcome the continental-analytic gap. (shrink)

El presente artículo plantea que el uso de la noción de hegemonía en la argumentación sobre el populismo y su capacidad democratizante en la obra de Ernesto Laclau implica un rezago antidemocrático que resta potencial emancipador y de ampliación de la participación política. La argumentación de Laclau incluye como horizonte ineludible de la articulación de un movimiento populista la formación de una hegemonía que sea capaz de disputar el poder político y que configure una ‘cadena de equivalencias’ entre ‘demandas sociales (...) insatisfechas’. En consecuencia, el presente artículo revisa dos frentes de crítica a la argumentación de Laclau sobre la hegemonía en el populismo: uno que proviene de la academia estadounidense y es liderado por Alberto Moreiras y Jon Beasly Murray y otro que viene de la sociología argentina con la interactuó Laclau: Aboy Carlés y Emilio de Ipola. El sentido de revisar estás críticas es repensar el populismo sin hegemonía para hallar un camino que supere las dificultades que desde distintos frentes se endilgan a la obra de Laclau. La hipótesis que se presenta como alternativa es que una vez desprendido de la noción de hegemonía, el populismo se puede recategorizar en torno a su capacidad de solución a demandas insatisfechas y ampliación de participación política institucional en lo que llamaré ‘populismo transformativo’. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the widespread use of online hearings in arbitral proceedings, raising questions about the impact of such proceedings on the determination of facts underlying a dispute. This article explores the extent to which online hearings may hinder arbitrators’ ability to assess witness credibility by drawing upon the cognitive psychology literature on truthfulness determination and lie detection. A survey of the literature suggests that the ability to differentiate truthful from dishonest statements through verbal and nonverbal cues (...) is limited, leading to the notion that observing behaviors like fidgeting, gaze aversion, vocal pitch, or body posture is not particularly relevant in assessing the credibility of a witness. Instead, focusing on the content of what is reported appears to be the most relevant strategy to determine credibility. Therefore, research does not support the idea that face-to-face contact with witnesses is essential to determine the facts of a dispute. Still, the use of in-person hearings may, in practice, continue to be preferred due to underlying cultural assumptions regarding the nature of hearings, the facilitation of communication between parties, counsel, and the tribunal, and a general sense of _Zoom fatigue_. (shrink)

Part of the appeal of the biological approach to personal identity is that it does not have to countenance spatially coincident entities. But if the termination thesis is correct and the organism ceases to exist at death, then it appears that the corpse is a dead body that earlier was a living body and distinct from but spatially coincident with the organism. If the organism is identified with the body, then the unwelcome spatial coincidence could perhaps be avoided. It is (...) argued that such an identification would be a mistake. A living organism has a different part/whole relationship and persistence conditions than the alleged body. A case will be made that the concept ‘human body’ is a conceptual mess, vague in an unprincipled manner, and that an eliminativist stance towards dead bodies is the appropriate response. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

As a continuation of the work of the third author in [5], we make further observations on the features of Galois cohomology in the general model theoretic context. We make explicit the connection between forms of definable groups and first cohomology sets with coefficients in a suitable automorphism group. We then use a method of twisting cohomology (inspired by Serre’s algebraic twisting) to describe arbitrary fibres in cohomology sequences—yielding a useful “finiteness” result on cohomology sets. Applied to the special case (...) of differential fields and Kolchin’s constrained cohomology, we complete results from [3] by proving that the first constrained cohomology set of a differential algebraic group over a bounded, differentially large, field is countable. (shrink)

Information is a central notion for cognitive sciences and neurosciences, but there is no agreement on what it means for a cognitive system to acquire information about its surroundings. In this paper, we approximate three influential views on information: the one at play in ecological psychology, which is sometimes called information for action; the notion of information as covariance as developed by some enactivists, and the idea of information as minimization of uncertainty as presented by Shannon. Our main thesis is (...) that information for action can be construed as covariant information, and that learning to perceive covariant information is a matter of minimizing uncertainty through skilled performance. We argue that the agent’s cognitive system conveys information for acting in an environment by minimizing uncertainty about how to achieve her intended goals in that environment. We conclude by reviewing empirical findings that support our view and by showing how direct learning, seen as instance of ecological rationality at work, is how mere possibilities for action are turned into embodied know-how. Finally, we indicate the affinity between direct learning and sense-making activity. (shrink)

O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar a presença de Arthur Schopenhauer como tema de dissertações de mestrado e teses de doutorado no Brasil. Essa avaliação é realizada a partir das respostas a quatro perguntas fundamentais: Em que localidades a Pesquisa Schopenhauer se concentra? Em quais níveis da pós-graduação stricto sensu ela ocorre? Quais áreas do conhecimento a produziram e a produzem? Quais são seus temas predominantes? A metodologia empregada é predominantemente quantitativa e consiste na análise dos dados de trabalhos registrados (...) no Catálogo de Teses e Dissertações da Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. (shrink)

In this paper we put forward the thesis that qualia are tropes (or qualitons), and not (universal) properties. Further, we maintain that Wittgenstein hints in this direction. We also find in Wittgenstein elements of an account of language acquisition that takes the presence of qualia as an enabling condition. We conclude by pointing out some difficulties of this view.

'Deus no Século XXI e o Futuro do Cristianismo' é uma colectânea de textos organizada por Anselmo Borges de grande interesse e qualidade. Reúne comunicações ao Congresso Internacional com o mesmo título realizado no Seminário da Boa Nova, Valadares, de 8 a 11 de Setembro de 2005, no âmbito das comemorações do 75o Aniversário da Sociedade Missionária Portuguesa.

Em mais de uma ocasião, e em variados escritos, Tarso Mazzotti enfatizou a importância do diálogo e do debate como parte constitutiva do fazer científico e demonstrou a importância da Teoria da Argumentação como ferramenta essencial ao exame das teorias e doutrinas pedagógicas. Podese seguramente identificar como algumas das principais características da filosofia da educação, praticada por este autor, o rigor na apresentação das idéias e construção dos argumentos, além do amplo espectro de temas que aborda. Seu último livro, Doutrinas (...) pedagógicas: máquinas produtoras de litígio, é um testemunho da originalidade inerente ao seu pensamento, que focaliza, dessa feita, o exame de algumas doutrinas pedagógicas, as quais, a partir do século XVII, operam direta ou indiretamente nos discursos a respeito da educação escolar. (shrink)

In this classic work David Bohm, writing clearly and without technical jargon, develops a theory of quantum physics which treats the totality of existence as an unbroken whole.

Solving poverty is a laudable public policy goal. While there are many approaches, one that has gained popularity is the conditional cash transfer that requires recipients to satisfy conditions imposed on them such as requiring regular medical checkups. Another approach, which is gaining interest is unconditional cash transfers that do not impose conditions. The question we ask in this paper is: what do these past and current attempts tell us about the implications for gender? To answer this question, we explore (...) two programs using a gendered framework: Brazil's Bolsa Familia,which is a conditional cash transfer, and Manitoba's Mincome experiment, which was an unconditional cash transfer in Canada. We then consider how this information might be used by states, particularly as it relates to ending social marginalization. Broadly, this research contributes to academic discussions of public policy, income, gender and social vulnerability. (shrink)

A ideia de uma crise do rádio consolidou-se no imaginário coletivo nas últimas décadas, a despeito de não haver ancoragem na realidade. Se muitas rádios tradicionais AM e FM saem do ar, vendidas a igrejas eletrônicas ou novos grupos empresariais, multiplica-se a oferta de conteúdos no contexto de um rádio expandido, que transborda para novas plataformas e é consumido nos mais diversos dispositivos. O rádio vai bem, obrigado, embora algumas emissoras de rádio em ondas hertzianas estejam mal das pernas, lamentando-se (...) da concorrência com serviços on-line e da erosão dos habituais índices de audiência, antes medidos em centenas de milhares de ouvintes por minuto. (shrink)

Is it possible to find resistance in the thought of Michel Foucault? Amid the diversity of his ideas, would he have left us clues to think the resisting act? By directing his intellectual production to power dispositfs, by invoking the figure of the "specific intellectual", and, also, in the later years of his life, then turning towards the constitution of subjectivities, Foucault provides us with unique ways to conceive and operate resistances. In this article we explore two directions of the (...) resistances in the thought of the philosopher. One of them, the resistances coextend the field of power, keeping a special relationship with the specific role of the intellectual and with Philosophy. In second place, we indicate that the resistances are “starting points” or “key supports” for the issues that Foucault confronts in his work, becoming an essential part of your own research method. (shrink)

Entrevista com o professor Mauro Rêgo Sá Costa para o dossiê Rádio nas Bordas.

In this innovative study, Lea David critically investigates the relationship between human rights and memory, suggesting that, instead of understanding human rights in a normative fashion, human rights should be treated as an ideology. Conceptualizing human rights as an ideology gives us useful theoretical and methodological tools to recognize the real impact human rights has on the ground. David traces the rise of the global phenomenon that is the human rights memorialization agenda, termed 'Moral Remembrance', and explores what (...) happens once this agenda becomes implemented. Based on evidence from the Western Balkans and Israel/Palestine, she argues that the human rights memorialization agenda does not lead to a better appreciation of human rights but, contrary to what would be expected, it merely serves to strengthen national sentiments, divisions and animosities along ethnic lines, and leads to the new forms of societal inequalities that are closely connected to different forms of corruptions. (shrink)

Liberal thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were alert to the political costs and human cruelties involved in European colonialism, but they also thought that European expansion held out progressive possibilities. In Progress, Pluralism, and Politics David Williams examines the colonial and anti-colonial arguments of Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, and L.T. Hobhouse. Williams locates their ambivalent attitude towards European conquest and colonial rule in a set of tensions between the impact of colonialism on European states, the (...) possibilities of progress in distant and diverse places, and the relationship between universalism and cultural pluralism. In so doing he reveals some of the central ambiguities that characterize the ways that liberal thought has dealt with the reality of an illiberal world. Of particular importance are appeals to various forms of universal history, attempts to mediate between the claims of identity and the reality of difference, and the different ways of thinking about the achievement of liberal goods in other places. Pointing to key elements in still ongoing debates within liberal states about how they should relate to illiberal places, Progress, Pluralism, and Politics enriches the discussion on political thought and the relationship between liberalism and colonialism. (shrink)

In Fact, Fiction and Forecast, Nelson Goodman claims that the problem of justifying induction is not something over and above the problem of describing valid induction. Such claim, besides suggesting his commitment to the collapse of the distinction between the context of description and the context of justification, seems to open the possibility that the new riddle of induction could be addressed empirically. Discoveries about psychological preferences for projecting certain classes of objects could function as a criterion for determining which (...) predicates are after all projectible. In this paper, I argue that Goodman's claim must be construed within his project for constructional definitions, which is methodologically oriented by reflective equilibrium. The description of inductive practice is committed to the articulation of the extension of the class selected by the predicate ‘valid induction’. The mutual adjustment between theoretical considerations and inductive practice involved in the proposal of a definition of ‘valid induction’ must preserve that practice as much as possible, there is no way to get rid of entrenchment. Empirical discoveries about the psychological mechanism that underlies projections may help that adjustment but they cannot substitute the role played by the entrenchment of predicates. (shrink)

Thus, Meyers provides a valuable account, not only of current medical attitudes, but also of relevant case and statute law as it stands at present.

A formalização dos raciocínios a que Aristóteles se consagra nos Primeiros Analíticos é restrita, como sabemos, a proposições da forma categórica. Embora reconheça certas especificidades formais nas proposições encerrando predicados relacionais, Aristóteles parece reservar-lhes um estatuto secundário, considerando-as, em alguma medida, redutíveis a proposições categóricas. Neste artigo, pretendo examinar algumas passagens de Categorias 7 que possam lançar alguma luz sobre o estatuto que Aristóteles confere às atribuições relativas, visando melhor precisar as razões que o teriam conduzido a negligenciar um tratamento (...) formal mais rigoroso das proposições relacionais nos Primeiros Analíticos. (shrink)

In this paper I claim that perceptual discriminatory skills rely on a suitable type of environment as an enabling condition for their exercise. This is because of the constitutive connection between environment and perceptual discriminatory skills, inasmuch as such connection is construed from an ecological approach. The exercise of a discriminatory skill yields knowledge of affordances of objects, properties, or events in the surrounding environment. This is practical knowledge in the first-person perspective. An organism learns to perceive an object by (...) becoming sensitized to its affordances. I call this position ecological disjunctivism. A corollary of this position is that a case of perception and its corresponding case of hallucination—which is similar to the former only in some respects—are different in nature. I show then how the distinguishability problem is addressed by ecological disjunctivism. (shrink)

David Charles presents a major new study of Aristotle's views on meaning, essence, necessity, and related topics. These interconnected views are central to Aristotle's metaphysics, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science, and are also highly relevant to current philosophical debates. Charles aims to reach a clear understanding of Aristotle's claims and arguments, to assess their truth, and to evaluate their importance to ancient and modern philosophy.

The extended mind thesis claims that at least some cognitive processes extend beyond the organism’s brain in that they are constituted by the organism’s actions on its surrounding environment. A more radical move would be to claim that social actions performed by the organism could at least constitute some of its mental processes. This can be called the socially extended mind thesis. Based on the notion of affordance as developed in the ecological psychology tradition, I defend the position that perception (...) extends to the environment. Then I will expand the notion of affordance to encompass social affordances. Thus, perception can in some situations also be socially extended. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a concepção de Justiça Internacional em Kant e Rawls e colocá-las em diálogo. Os eixos de análise serão o direito cosmopolita (Weltbürgerrecht) de Kant e o direito dos povos de Rawls. Nesse sentido, os setores internacionalistas dessas teorias serão discutidos e comparados em seus principais componentes, como a visão dos autores sobre a guerra, a imigração e a obrigação de acolhimento de refugiados. Buscar-se-á, ao longo do artigo, colocar essas teorias lado a lado com (...) o direito internacional moderno, e com alguns institutos de proteção do ser humano, como os direitos humanos e o direito dos refugiados. Ao final, buscar-se-á ponderar como esses autores conceberam a factibilidade de suas teorias, demonstrando que ambas podem ser consideradas “utopias realistas”. Esses temas foram escolhidos por estarem estritamente vinculados à temática da justiça internacional e aos desafios mais urgentes dessa disciplina. Nesse sentido, a análise das teorias de dois grandes expoentes da filosofia política será o pano de fundo para buscar tecer algumas considerações sobre o problema dos refugiados no mundo contemporâneo. Adicionalmente, buscar-se-á demonstrar que a teoria kantiana, por levar em conta os anseios e a autonomia do indivíduo e abranger obrigações cosmopolitas e humanitárias, é mais adequada para lidar com o desafio dos refugiados contemporaneamente. (shrink)

Beneath the stylized violence and thrilling car crashes, the Mad Max films consider universal questions about the nature of human life, order and anarchy, justice and moral responsibility, society and technology, and ultimately, human redemption. In Mad Max and Philosophy, a diverse team of political scientists, historians, and philosophers investigates the underlying themes of the blockbuster movie franchise, following Max as he attempts to rebuild himself and the world. -/- This book guides you through the barren wastelands of a post-apocalyptic (...) future as you explore ethics and politics in The Wasteland, the importance of costumes and music, humankind's relationship with nature, commerce, gender, religion, madness, and more. (shrink)

O presente artigo deseja evidenciar que, ainda que a libido e a sexualidade tenham sido incluídas no conceito de Eros a partir de Além do princípio do prazer, a sexualidade no interior no pensamento freudiana não perdeu seu caráter disruptivo e não deixou de ser considerada como causa de profundas perturbações para a vida psíquica humana. Para tal, serão reconstruídos os argumentos sobre a natureza conservadora das pulsões e se procurará propor a ideia de que os conceitos de expansão, repetição (...) e conservação, intimamente associados à dinâmica pulsional, não podem ser vistos como elementos que teriam retirado à sexualidade sua natureza disruptiva e conflitiva no interior da obra freudiana. (shrink)

La co-autora del libro es Post-doctora en Ciencias Sociales por la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo/Argentina, Doctora en Educación, Magister en Ciencias del Deporte y Especialista en Lazer (Ocio) por la Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais de Brasil (UFMG). El co-autor es Post-doctorando en Geografía Humana en la UFMG, Doctor y Magister en Educación con mención en Aprendizaje Transformacional por la Universidad Bolivariana de Chile (UB), Especialista en Educación Ambiental, Globalización y Desarr..

RESUMO Este trabalho objetiva aproximar a perspectiva filosófica de Mikhail Bakhtin à literatura de Clarice Lispector. Percebe-se a abordagem bakhtiniana da noção de “ato responsável” encenada na crônica-conto “Mineirinho” que, além de nos deslocar e nos convidar a refletir sobre o nosso ser e estar no movimento da vida, nos convoca a pensar ativa e participativamente no/o mundo experienciado e partilhado com o outro.