Socio-economic status and mathematical performance seem to be risk factors of mathematics anxiety in both children and adults. However, there is little evidence about how exactly these three constructs are related, especially during early stages of mathematical learning. In the present study, we assessed longitudinal performance in symbolic and non-symbolic basic numerical skills in pre-school and second grade students, as well as MA in second grade students. Participants were 451 children from 12 schools in Chile, which differed in school vulnerability (...) index, an indicator of SES. We tested an explanatory model of MA that included SES and longitudinal performance in basic numerical skills as predictors. The results showed a direct effect of SES on MA and a mediating effect of performance in symbolic and non-symbolic comparison tasks in pre-school. However, in second grade, only performance in symbolic comparison significantly mediated the SES-MA relationship. These findings suggest that performance in non-symbolic comparison plays an important role in explaining MA at initial stages, but that its influence is no longer significant by the time children reach formal instruction in second grade. By contrast, as children’s formal educational experience in mathematics increases, MA becomes linked primarily to symbolic numerical tasks. In sum, SES affects MA and this is due in part to the effect of SES on the development of numerical learning in pre-school, which in turn has an impact on subsequent, more complex learning, ultimately leading to differences in MA. We discuss the implications of these findings for preventing and acting upon the emergence of MA. (shrink)

ResumoO objetivo deste trabalho é analisar o livro de Marcos Nobre, publicado em 2018 com o título Como nasce o novo. A primeira parte deste artigo consiste em um comentário propriamente dito sobre a primeira parte do livro de Nobre, a qual consiste na apresentação do mesmo. A segunda parte do artigo faz uma breve análise da tradução ecomentários sobre a Introdução da Fenomenologia do Espírito de Hegel, realizados por Marcos Nobre na segunda parte de seu livro. O objetivo último (...) deste artigo é contudo, discutir com o autor sobre um problema específico presente em Como nasce o novo: o conceito hegeliano de absoluto. AbstractThe objective of this work is to analyze the book by Marcos Nobre, published in 2018 with the title Como nasce o novo. The first part of this article consists of a commentary on the first part of the Nobre’s book, which consists of its presentation. The second part of the article makes a brief analysis of the translation and the comments on the introduction to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, carried out by Marcos Nobre in the second part of his book. The ultimate objective of this article is, however, to discuss with the author a specific problem presents in Como Nasce oNovo: the Hegelian concept of the absolute. (shrink)

While firms' engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility has been associated with positive performance impacts, little is known about the incorporation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda into business practices. Precisely, although the literature suggests that firms are pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are limited insights on their strategy to implement them in the context of developing countries. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive large-scale investigation of 2030 Agenda adoption by Brazilian companies. Accordingly, the analysis of our (...) multicase study reveals (1) variations on the business opportunities brought by the SDGs depending on the firm position in the value chain, (2) which SDGs and target stakeholders are addressed through corporate policies and practices, (3) the different ways firms embrace the SDGs to pursue ambidexterity. Our findings clarify how firms in the developing countries interpret the institutional pressures and assemble their internal resources to respond to the SDGs challenges. Boundary conditions and policy implications are further discussed. (shrink)

Sustainable development requires several stakeholders, including companies, to take action. For this, employees need to have their positions and sustainability roles defined so they can carry out activities. In turn, activities need alignment with corporate policies and strategy. However, the literature lacks discussion about job specifications and which activities relate to sustainability. Therefore, this article aims to explore the panorama of positions and professional activities of corporate sustainability professionals. To achieve this goal, we conducted a bibliometric assessment of terms related (...) to corporate sustainability professionals and to understand what scholars have addressed in the area thus far. In the second stage, we tackle this problem by conducting a world survey of 143 professionals working in sustainability-related positions. The methods are complementary because they provide different types of information that can be used to gain insights into research topics and trends. In this sense, this research contributes to the literature and practice in two main ways. First, the sustainability professionals' positions are still recent and under construction; few sustainability professionals are leaders. Second, this research identified that the sustainability professionals' actions focus on the environmental dimension, suggesting that companies have to invest more in social and governance dimensions. In addition, the findings evidence the need for more reporting on these dimensions as well as aligning all sustainability-related policies, practices and activities with the strategy's company. Theoretical and practical implications, such as the need for more training on sustainability aspects, and the study's limitations are also addressed. (shrink)

Most studies investigating the relationship between cultural constructs and ethical perception have focused on individual- and societal-level values without much attention to other type of cultural constructs such as social beliefs. In addition, we need to better understand how social beliefs are linked to ethical perception and the level of analysis at which social beliefs may best predict ethical perceptions. This research contributes to the cross-cultural ethical perception literature by examining the relationship of individual-level social cynicism belief, one of five (...) universally endorsed social beliefs, together with individual social dominance orientation and the perception of unethical behavior. By means of two studies, we examine these relationships across societies that significantly differ on societal-level social cynicism belief. Using 371 business students from Russia and the U.S. in Study 1 and 268 professionals from Portugal and the U.S. in Study 2, we found that individual-level social cynicism belief was positively associated with social dominance orientation. Social dominance orientation, in turn, mediated the relationship between individual social cynicism belief and the perception of unethical behavior. Although we found significant societal-level differences in social cynicism belief in both studies, the relationships between individual-level social cynicism belief, social dominance orientation, and the perception of unethical behavior were structurally equivalent across societies in both studies, suggesting that societal-level differences did not significantly affect these relationships. Implications for cross-cultural business ethics research and practice are discussed. (shrink)

RESUMO: O sentimento religioso corresponde à experiência do sujeito em suas buscas por uma amorosa realização consigo mesmo, com os outros, com a natureza e com o mistério divino. Ao pensarmos no sentido formativo desse humano, interfaces da religiosidade, da psicologia e da pedagogia nos remetem aos deleites e conflitos presentes no desenvolvimento intrapessoal e relacional. Diante desse desafio, o presente artigo se propõe a refletir sobre o humano e sua formação interdisciplinar em busca de competências e habilidades para gestão (...) de conflitos interpessoais. A pesquisa, qualitativa e bibliográfica, tem bases conceituais em: Edith Stein (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007); Piaget (1977, 1994); Lévinas (2010); La Taille (1999, 2009); entre outros. Conclui-se que educação e religiosidade, em interdisciplinaridade com a Psicologia e com a Pedagogia, podem se unir no desafiador processo de resolver conflitos interpessoais. (shrink)

Neste texto, discutimos disposições teórico-metodológicas do Grupo de Estudos sobre Numeramento (GEN), na busca de compreender os modos como pessoas, em suas singularidades, mas como sujeitos sociais, se apropriam de práticas matemáticas, tomadas como práticas discursivas. A pesquisa, a formação docente e a atuação do GEN em contextos educativos diversos inserem-se nos campos da Educação Matemática e do Letramento, pois buscam conhecer sujeitos da Educação (crianças, adolescentes, jovens, pessoas adultas e idosas), que, vivendo em sociedades ‘grafocêntricas’ e ‘quanticratas’, movidos por (...) intenções pragmáticas e parametrizados por referências culturais, forjam usos dos sistemas linguísticos relacionados à quantificação, mensuração, ordenação, classificação e organização de formas e espaços. A esses usos chamamos práticas de numeramento. As situações em que as identificamos – os eventos de numeramento –, em seu caráter histórico, são tomadas como unidades da análise das intenções dos usos, dos efeitos de sentido que logram produzir e, principalmente, de como sujeitos se constituem nas interações por eles mediadas, ao produzirem e tensionarem significados. Na seção ‘Compreendendo práticas matemáticas como práticas discursivas: foco, perspectiva e referenciais teórico-metodológicos do Grupo de Estudos sobre Numeramento (GEN)’: explicitamos o propósito do Programa de Pesquisa do Grupo (conhecer sujeitos e grupos sociais que protagonizam práticas de numeramento); justificamos sua base teórica (os Estudos do Letramento como Prática Social; a Pedagogia da Liberdade e da Autonomia; a compreensão da cognição como processo social; e a abordagem sociológica da Linguagem); assumimos a etnografia como lógica de investigação; e propomos a análise de interações como principal tratamento do material empírico. Apontamos também, dadas as especificidades dos sujeitos, a necessidade do diálogo com diversos campos: Educação de Pessoas Jovens, Adultas e Idosas (EJA), Sociologia da/s Infância/s; Estudos da/s Juventude/s; Educação do Campo; Educação Indígena; Educação de Pessoas Surdas; Formação Docente, entre outros. Na seção ‘Compreendendo práticas de numeramento como práticas de letramento: fertilidade analítica e pedagógica das escolhas teóricas’, esclarecemos como nossos estudos se inserem numa perspectiva Etnomatemática, porque contribuem para conhecermos os sujeitos que vemos protagonizar práticas matemáticas ao assumirem posições discursivas – portanto, sociais, culturais e políticas. Na seção ‘Compreendendo a aprendizagem matemática como apropriação de práticas de numeramento: desdobramentos da concepção de práticas matemáticas como práticas discursivas’, apresentamos como o conceito de apropriação de práticas de numeramento, de inspiração vigostskiana, usado para contemplar múltiplos sentidos das ações dos sujeitos em eventos de numeramento, disponibiliza uma ferramenta teórica para compreender a aprendizagem matemática não como experiência cognitiva individual, mas como ação social. Na seção ‘Interlocuções teóricas e disposições analíticas dos estudos mais recentes do GEN’, indicamos como uma análise tridimensional do discurso (do texto, da situação discursiva e da prática social), adotada para conhecer melhor os sujeitos e reconhecê-los como sujeitos sociais, tem-nos conduzido às considerações de Paulo Freire sobre sujeito de cultura, sujeito de conhecimento, sujeito dialógico e sujeito do processo, que compõem o sujeito histórico, protagonista de eventos de numeramento. Na ‘coda’ (‘Reiterando’), reafirmamos o foco de nossa linha de investigação no campo da Educação Matemática: pessoas constituindo-se como sujeitos sociais, enquanto se apropriam de práticas de numeramento. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta três teses fundamentais desenvolvidas por Friedrich Schelling em seu sistema de Filosofia da Natureza : A primeira responde à questão levantada por Kant sobre a possibilidade da construção na filosofia; a segunda baseia-se na interpretação do jovem Schelling sobre a teoria platônica sobre a criação da natureza; a terceira afirma a produtividade da natureza, com inspiração no conceito spinosana de natura naturans.

Esse artigo parte de um relato de compreensão recente de sua autora como mulher negra de pele clara. Evocam-se, a partir daí, temas referentes ao pertencimento racial, no caminho percorrido até essa autodeclaração, e se põem em relevo, em perspectiva sócio-histórica, dispositivos como colorismo e tokenismo, a fim de se investigar o entendimento de si como pessoa negra e as formas pelas quais a branquitude pretende controlar relações e interações entre pessoas de diferentes tonalidades de pele.

Este manuscrito objetiva analisar, no âmbito do direito transnacional, do direito nacional e das convenções estabelecidas no mercado, características atinentes à certificação de orgânicos, tema extremamente relevante para a segurança alimentar. Desde 1970, o movimento orgânico se apresenta como um modelo alternativo em contestação aos impactos ambientais gerados pela agricultura industrial e pelos ditames da Revolução Verde. É nesta conjuntura que a Federação Internacional de Agricultura Orgânica (IFOAM) instaura um marco regulatório (certificação por auditoria) de abrangência global para este setor, (...) que, apesar de apresentar natureza privada, logra de legitimidade em inúmeros países. É oportuno destacar que a regulação não é exclusivamente oriunda do setor público, ela pode ser desenvolvida concomitantemente aos modelos estatais, assim, podemos ter modelos estatais nacionais, globais, inclusive oriundos do setor privado. Por seu turno, a legislação nacional também recepcionou estas diretrizes transnacionais, contudo alcançou identidade própria ao reconhecer os sistemas participativos de garantia da qualidade orgânica (SPG/OPAC) no intuito de contemplar a agricultura familiar de base agroecológica, o que, posteriormente, consubstanciará em uma inovação normativa em sede de soft law em nível internacional. Sem olvidar, inequivocamente, da exceção legal disposta para regularização da produção orgânica e agroecológica com vistas à venda direta da produção orgânica e agroecológica através das Organizações de Controle Social (OCS). Quanto à metodologia será utilizado o método dialético, abordagem qualitativa e objetivo analítico-descritivo, de sorte que a revisão bibliográfica será fundamental para analisar os materiais disponíveis sobre esta temática. (shrink)

Most studies investigating the relationship between cultural constructs and ethical perception have focused on individual- and societal-level values without much attention to other type of cultural constructs such as social beliefs. In addition, we need to better understand how social beliefs are linked to ethical perception and the level of analysis at which social beliefs may best predict ethical perceptions. This research contributes to the cross-cultural ethical perception literature by examining the relationship of individual-level social cynicism belief, one of five (...) universally endorsed social beliefs, together with individual social dominance orientation and the perception of unethical behavior. By means of two studies, we examine these relationships across societies that significantly differ on societal-level social cynicism belief. Using 371 business students from Russia and the U.S. in Study 1 and 268 professionals from Portugal and the U.S. in Study 2, we found that individual-level social cynicism belief was positively associated with social dominance orientation. Social dominance orientation, in turn, mediated the relationship between individual social cynicism belief and the perception of unethical behavior. Although we found significant societal-level differences in social cynicism belief in both studies, the relationships between individual-level social cynicism belief, social dominance orientation, and the perception of unethical behavior were structurally equivalent across societies in both studies, suggesting that societal-level differences did not significantly affect these relationships. Implications for cross-cultural business ethics research and practice are discussed. (shrink)

Efforts have been dedicated to the understanding of social-ecological systems, an important focus in ethnobiological studies. In particular, ethnobiological investigations have found evidence and tested hypotheses over the last 30 years on the interactions between human groups and their environments, generating the need to formulate a theory for such systems. In this article, we propose the social-ecological theory of maximization to explain the construction and functioning of these systems over time, encompassing hypotheses and evidence from previous ethnobiological studies. In proposing (...) the theory, we present definitions and two conceptual models, an environmental maximization model and a redundancy generation model. The first model seeks to address biota selection and its use by human populations. The second emphasizes how the system organizes itself from the elements that were incorporated into it. Furthermore, we provide the theoretical scenario of plant selection and use from an evolutionary perspective, which explicitly integrates the phylogenetic relationships of plants and human beings. (shrink)

Efforts have been dedicated to the understanding of social-ecological systems, an important focus in ethnobiological studies. In particular, ethnobiological investigations have found evidence and tested hypotheses over the last 30 years on the interactions between human groups and their environments, generating the need to formulate a theory for such systems. In this article, we propose the social-ecological theory of maximization to explain the construction and functioning of these systems over time, encompassing hypotheses and evidence from previous ethnobiological studies. In proposing (...) the theory, we present definitions and two conceptual models, an environmental maximization model and a redundancy generation model. The first model seeks to address biota selection and its use by human populations. The second emphasizes how the system organizes itself from the elements that were incorporated into it. Furthermore, we provide the theoretical scenario of plant selection and use from an evolutionary perspective, which explicitly integrates the phylogenetic relationships of plants and human beings. (shrink)

Most studies investigating the relationship between cultural constructs and ethical perception have focused on individual- and societal-level values without much attention to other type of cultural constructs such as social beliefs. In addition, we need to better understand how social beliefs are linked to ethical perception and the level of analysis at which social beliefs may best predict ethical perceptions. This research contributes to the cross-cultural ethical perception literature by examining the relationship of individual-level social cynicism belief, one of five (...) universally endorsed social beliefs, together with individual social dominance orientation and the perception of unethical behavior. By means of two studies, we examine these relationships across societies that significantly differ on societal-level social cynicism belief. Using 371 business students from Russia and the U.S. in Study 1 and 268 professionals from Portugal and the U.S. in Study 2, we found that individual-level social cynicism belief was positively associated with social dominance orientation. Social dominance orientation, in turn, mediated the relationship between individual social cynicism belief and the perception of unethical behavior. Although we found significant societal-level differences in social cynicism belief in both studies, the relationships between individual-level social cynicism belief, social dominance orientation, and the perception of unethical behavior were structurally equivalent across societies in both studies, suggesting that societal-level differences did not significantly affect these relationships. Implications for cross-cultural business ethics research and practice are discussed. (shrink)

Resenhas dos seguintes livros: Scarlett Marton. Nietzsche e as mulheres: Figuras, imagens e tipos femininos. Autêntica, 2022; Marie-Frédérique Pellegrin. Pensées du corps et différences des sexes à l’époque moderne. ENS Éditions, 2020; e Ana Gabriela Colantoni; Georgia Cristina Amitrano; Carla Milani Damião (orgs.). Ensaios de filósofas brasileiras. Ape’Ku Editora, 2022.

The functional role of mirror neurons has been assessed in many different ways. They have been regarded, inter alia, as the core mechanism of mind reading, the mechanism of language understanding, the mechanism of imitation. In this paper we will discuss the thesis according to which MNs are a conceptual mechanism. This hypothesis is attractive since it could accommodate in an apparently simple way all the above-mentioned interpretations. We shall take into consideration some reasons suggesting the conceptualist characterization of MNs, (...) as well as some possible replies. We shall figure out how an argument for the conceptualist hypothesis could be deployed, focusing on the notion of off-line processes, which turns out to be the crucial property necessary to ascribe concept possession. Our conclusion will be that, despite of there being some evidence for the conceptualist account, the issue cannot be definitely settled, because there are both experimental shortages and conceptual difficulties. In particular, there are three distinct senses in which MNs can be regarded as a conceptual mechanism, but we shall argue that only one of these interpretations can be defended. (shrink)

The increasing use of digital technologies in judicial and arbitration proceedings increases the usage of digital evidence by the parties, which brings the necessity of creating patterns for adjudicators to admit and assess this new type of evidence. This paper generally addresses digital evidence focusing on the second moment in international arbitration proceedings. It also narrows the topic to hacked and leaked evidence and its admissibility in international arbitration. The literature review showed a significant amount of research devoted to the (...) evidence in arbitration. Some considered electronic evidence within one jurisdiction; others focused on certain forms of digital evidence such as electronic signatures. Papers on digital evidence in international arbitration approach arbitration rules for digital evidence but skip admissibility issues. No systemic and complex works research digital evidence in arbitration, explicitly focusing on the admissibility of hacked and leaked digital evidence from a comparative perspective. Also, no research deals with enforcing international arbitration awards relying on illegally obtained digital evidence. In these cases, there could be a possible violation of domestic public policy under the New York Convention terms (art. V, 2, b). That is why the paper aims to offer the concept of digital evidence in international arbitration, including hacked and leaked evidence, criteria of its admissibility and relevance, and design the arbitration guidelines for assessing hacked and leaked evidence. Comparative legal analysis of the international arbitration rules and national procedure law allowed us to compare the regulatory approaches to the definition of digital evidence and its admissibility worldwide. The method of legal modeling allowed designing model guidelines for arbitral tribunals to evaluate the admissibility and relevance of digital evidence, including hacked and leaked evidence. Moreover, the case study method allowed us to analyze jurisprudence and define criteria for admission of hacked and leaked evidence. We conclude that the admissibility of hacked and leaked evidence depends solely on the arbitrator’s broad discretion to assess the evidence. Nevertheless, thorough evidence analysis and a well-reasoned award are always mandatory. (shrink)

Soren Kierkegaard's Works of Love, a series of deliberations on the commandment to love one's neighbor, has often been condemned by critics. Here, Ferreira seeks to rehabilitate Works of Love as one of Kierkegaard's most important works. He shows that Kierkegaard's deliberations on love are highly relevant to some important themes in contemporary ethics, including impartiality, duty, equality, mutuality, reciprocity, self-love, sympathy, and sacrifice. Ferreira also argues that Works of Love bears on issues peculiar to a religious ethic, (...) such as the role of God as "middle term," and the possibility of preserving the aesthetic dimensions of love in a religious ethic of relation. (shrink)

In The Grammar of Society, first published in 2006, Cristina Bicchieri examines social norms, such as fairness, cooperation, and reciprocity, in an effort to understand their nature and dynamics, the expectations that they generate, and how they evolve and change. Drawing on several intellectual traditions and methods, including those of social psychology, experimental economics and evolutionary game theory, Bicchieri provides an integrated account of how social norms emerge, why and when we follow them, and the situations where we are (...) most likely to focus on relevant norms. Examining the existence and survival of inefficient norms, she demonstrates how norms evolve in ways that depend upon the psychological dispositions of the individual and how such dispositions may impair social efficiency. By contrast, she also shows how certain psychological propensities may naturally lead individuals to evolve fairness norms that closely resemble those we follow in most modern societies. (shrink)

In Norms in the Wild, distinguished philosopher Cristina Bicchieri argues that when it comes to human behavior, social scientists place too much stress on rational deliberation. In fact, she says, many choices occur without much deliberation at all. Two people passing in a corridor automatically negotiate their shared space; cars at an intersection obey traffic signals; we choose clothing based on our instincts for what is considered appropriate. Bicchieri's theory of social norms accounts for these automatic components of coordination, (...) where individuals react automatically to cues that focus their attention on what the norm is in that situation. Social norms thus act as rules for making choices in a social world where people expect others -- often unconsciously -- to follow the same rule. Some norms enable seamless social co-operation, while others are less beneficial to human flourishing.Bicchieri is famous for her interdisciplinary work on game theory and most recently her work on social norms, and Norms in the Wild represents her latest challenge to many of the fundamental assumptions of the social sciences. Bicchieri's work has broad implications not only for understanding human behavior, but for changing it for better outcomes. People have a strongly conditioned preference for following social norms, but that also means that manipulating their expectations can cause major behavioral changes. Bicchieri has been working recently with UNICEF and other NGO's to explore the applicability of her views to issues of human rights around the world. Is it possible to change social expectations around forced marriage, genital mutilations, and public health practices like vaccinations and sanitation? If so, how? What tools might we use? This short book explores how social norms work, and how changing them - changing preferences, beliefs, and especially social expectations - can potentially improve lives all around the world. It will appeal to an unusually broad range of readers including philosophers, psychologists and others in behavioral sciences, and anyone involved in public policy or at NGOs. (shrink)

The New Evil Demon Problem presents a serious challenge to externalist theories of epistemic justification. In recent years, externalists have developed a number of strategies for responding to the problem. A popular line of response involves distinguishing between a belief’s being epistemically justified and a subject’s being epistemically blameless for holding it. The apparently problematic intuitions the New Evil Demon Problem elicits, proponents of this response claim, track the fact that the deceived subject is epistemically blameless for believing as she (...) does, not that she is justified for so believing. This general strategy—which I call the “unjustified-but-blameless maneuver”—is motivated, in part, by the assumption that the distinction between epistemic justification and blamelessness is merely an extension of the familiar distinction between moral justification and blamelessness. In this paper, I consider three ways of drawing the distinction between justification and blamelessness familiar from the moral domain: the first in terms of a connection with reactive attitudes, the second in terms of the distinction between wrongness and wronging, and the third in terms of reasons-responsiveness. All three ways of drawing the distinction, I argue, make it difficult to see how an analogous distinction in the epistemic domain could help externalists explain away the intuitions which underwrite the New Evil Demon Problem. Motivating the unjustified-but-blameless maneuver, I conclude, is a much less straightforward task than its proponents tend to assume. (shrink)

Soren Kierkegaard's Works of Love, a series of deliberations on the commandment to love one's neighbor, has often been condemned by critics. Here, Ferreira seeks to rehabilitate Works of Love as one of Kierkegaard's most important works. He shows that Kierkegaard's deliberations on love are highly relevant to some important themes in contemporary ethics, including impartiality, duty, equality, mutuality, reciprocity, self-love, sympathy, and sacrifice. Ferreira also argues that Works of Love bears on issues peculiar to a religious ethic, (...) such as the role of God as "middle term," and the possibility of preserving the aesthetic dimensions of love in a religious ethic of relation. (shrink)

The thesis of mental fragmentation has recently attracted increased attention as a way of explaining facts about mind and language. This volume provides an accessible introduction and essays on foundations and applications of fragmentation.

The present paper draws a contrast between the notions of τὸ παρ’ ἡμᾶς and τὸ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν to the effect that, according to Chrysippus, each has a different role to play and different requirements to meet, the former being especially tailored to suit the exigencies of praise and blame taken as exhortations, the latter those of desert and justice in praising and blaming as well as honoring and punishing.

I suggest here ecologies of the nascent state, posing the following general questions: what is this state and what is it to live, to fabricate modes of life, in its immanence? I believe populating this state is, by right, ‘ecological’, even if what I offer here is only a sketch or glimpse, playful as it is, of the possibility of such modes of life, of dwelling. As I develop it here, the nascent is in flight of being. It is populated (...) by lesser, minoritarian existences. If it is ‘ecological’, it is because these existences, or modes of becoming, are themselves, in their own right, ‘ecologies’, that is, modes of dwelling, of life, on the ‘other side of existence’, as Antonin Artaud put it once, in exile from Being. The power to return eternally to the nascent state is the power to live, to dwell, in the absolute forgetfulness of Being, in the interstice where philosophy supposedly ends, but where it nevertheless begins again, in oblivion itself, where being is never already the verticality of Being, its difference with beings, but always nascent, in the beginning, eternally so. (shrink)

We report the results of an experiment designed to determine the effects of psychological proximity—proxied by awareness of pain and friendship—on moral reasoning. Our study tests the hypotheses that a moral agent’s emphasis on justice decreases with proximity, while his/her emphasis on care increases. Our study further examines how personality, gender, and managerial status affect the importance of care and justice in moral reasoning. We find support for the main hypotheses. We also find that care should be split into two (...) components, one related to protection and the other to the preservation of relationships. Although gender does not affect moral reasoning directly, we find that it does so indirectly via personality, controlling for age, professional status, and professional background. We do not find a significant effect of managerial status on ethics of justice, but do find that holding a managerial position has a negative impact on ethics of care. Regarding personality, we detect significant positive effects of conscientiousness on ethics of justice and of neuroticism on ethics of care. (shrink)

Recent studies have proposed that the executive advantages associated with bilingualism may stem from language-switching frequency rather than from bilingualism per se (see for example, Prior & Gollan, 2011). Barbu, Gillet, Orban and Poncelet (2018) showed that high-frequency language switchers outperformed low-frequency switchers on a mental flexibility task but not on alertness or response inhibition tasks. The aim of the present study was to replicate these results as well as to compare proficient high and low-frequency bilingual language switchers to a (...) control group of monolingual participants. Two groups of proficient bilingual adults (30 high-frequency language switchers and 21 low-frequency language switchers) and a group of 28 monolinguals participated in the study. The results showed superior mental flexibility skills in high-frequency language switchers compared to low-frequency switchers and monolinguals; furthermore, the two latter groups showed no difference in mental flexibility skills. These results provide novel support for the hypothesis that the so-called bilingual advantage is, in fact, a result of language-switching habits. (shrink)

This dissertation discusses friendship in relation to self-identity in the thought of Paul Ricoeur. Its main claim is that Ricoeur's notion of self-identity designates a hermeneutically mediated experience, and that this complex experience can only be illumined by a phenomenology that is sensitive to ethical aspects. Another finding is that, according to Ricoeur, whatever we do, say, or write, takes on the form of narrative experience. Finally, the dissertation shows that what looks like the force of the discourse, driving author (...) to reader, and readers to one another, is in fact the force of philia, and that the latter is a source that nourishes practical wisdom exercised in relations with others. The call to friendship is a call to esteem for the being-like-me, a call to recognize a likeness beyond question and doubt, which relates selfhood and alterity, sameness and difference. (shrink)