This monograph is a detailed study, and systematic defence, of the Growing Block Theory of time (GBT), first conceived by C.D. Broad. The book offers a coherent, logically perspicuous and ideologically lean formulation of GBT, defends it against the most notorious objections to be found in the extant philosophical literature, and shows how it can be derived from a more general theory, consistent with relativistic spacetime, on the pre-relativistic assumption of an absolute and total temporal order. -/- The authors devise (...) axiomatizations of GBT and its competitors which, against the backdrop of a shared quantified tense logic, significantly improves the prospects of their comparative assessment. Importantly, neither of these axiomatizations involves commitment to properties of presentness, pastness or futurity. The authors proceed to address, and defuse, a number of objections that have been marshaled against GBT, including the so-called epistemic objection according to which the theory invites skepticism about our temporal location. The challenge posed by relativistic physics is met head-on, by replacing claims about temporal variation by claims about variation across spacetime. -/- The book aims to achieve the greatest possible rigor. The background logic is set out in detail, as are the principles governing the notions of precedence and temporal location. The authors likewise devise a novel spacetime logic suited for the articulation, and comparative assessment, of relativistic theories of time. The book comes with three technical appendices which include soundness and completeness proofs for the systems corresponding to GBT and its competitors, in both their pre-relativistic and relativistic forms. -/- The book is primarily directed at researchers and graduate students working on the philosophy of time or temporal logic, but is of interest to metaphysicians and philosophical logicians more generally. (shrink)

: This article aims to show that although the apostle Paul did not call himself a prophet, still makes his presentation in his letters in the same way that the Old Testament prophets. The article points out the many similarities between Paul and the prophets. It seeks to analyze and interact with Scripture and literature concerning the matter.We conclude that the Apostle founded the authority of his call, highlighting the prophetic aspect of his apostolate. It is evident that the Apostle (...) had a awareness of the prophetic character of his person, mission and message. It is called and sent directly by God, records the Scripture inspired by the Spirit and has a fruitful ministry of preaching and teaching. Este artigo tem como objetivo mostrar que embora o apóstolo Paulo não chame a si mesmo de profeta, ainda assim faz sua apresentação em suas cartas nos mesmos moldes que os profetas do Antigo Testamento. O artigo aponta as várias semelhanças entre Paulo e os profetas. Procura-se fazer uma análise e interação com a Escritura bem como literatura pertinente ao tema. Conclui-se que o Apóstolo fundamenta a autoridade de seu chamado, destacando o aspecto profético de seu apostolado. Evidencia-se que o Apóstolo possuía uma consciência do caráter profético de sua pessoa, missão e mensagem. É chamado e enviado diretamente por Deus, registra a Escritura de maneira inspirada pelo Espírito e tem um profícuo ministério de pregação e ensino. (shrink)

Medellín e a Teologia da Libertação têm em comum um contexto social e eclesial marcado por profundas transformações, desafiando os cristãos a se somarem na busca de alternativas à situação de uma sociedade marcada pela injustiça institucionalizada e a exclusão. E tanto Medellín como a Teologia da Libertação foram duas respostas à altura, que dariam muito que falar, que pensar e que fazer. Medellín deu à Igreja na América Latina um rosto próprio, plasmado pelas comunidades eclesiais de base, a leitura (...) popular da Bíblia, por uma Igreja pobre e para os pobres, pela pastoral social e os mártires das causas sociais. A palavra própria lhe foi dada pela Teologia da Libertação, gestada em torno a Medellín, não só “uma nova maneira de fazer teologia” como “uma teologia nova”, a primeira teologia na história da Igreja diferente da única teologia do centro e nascida na periferia. (shrink)

Puebla's present approach 40 years later aims to identify the synchrony and diachrony between the context of yesterday and today, postulating that Francisco's new pontificate is an opportune moment to resume the liberating ecclesial tradition, woven above all around Medellín and Puebla. It is a markedly historical approach, having as reference the analysis of the renewal of Vatican II and its creative reception by Medellín, which had in Puebla a counterpoint of conservative segments and in Santo Domingo its stagnation. The (...) text is structured in three parts: in the first, it makes reference to the consensus between Latin American teaching and theology in Medellín, the confrontation in Puebla and Santo Domingo, now neutralized by Francisco; in the second part, it outlines the process of “ecclesial involution”, which began in the mid-1980s and continued until Aparecida and the election of Pope Francis; in the third part, given the new ecclesial moment created by Aparecida and the new pontificate, it is justified that there is a new chance for the liberating ecclesial tradition. The text points out that today Puebla's contribution cannot be lost sight of, disqualifying nostalgic stances from a past without return and capable of encouraging renewed hope in the liberating ecclesial tradition of the Church in Latin America. (shrink)

The COVID-19 outbreak has ravaged all societal domains, including education. Home confinement, school closures, and distance learning impacted students, teachers, and parents’ lives worldwide. In this study, we aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on Italian and Portuguese students’ academic motivation as well as investigate the possible buffering role of extracurricular activities. Following a retrospective pretest–posttest design, 567 parents reported on their children’s academic motivation and participation in extracurricular activities. We used a multi-group latent change score model to (...) compare Italian and Portuguese students’: pre-COVID mean motivation scores; rate of change in motivation; individual variation in the rate of change in motivation; and dependence of the rate of change on initial motivation scores. Estimates of latent change score models showed a decrease in students’ motivation both in Italy and in Portugal, although more pronounced in Italian students. Results also indicated that the decrease in students’ participation in extracurricular activities was associated with changes in academic motivation. Furthermore, students’ age was significantly associated with changes in motivation. No significant associations were found for students’ gender nor for parents’ education. This study provides an important contribution to the study of students’ academic motivation during home confinement, school closures, and distance learning as restrictive measures adopted to contain a worldwide health emergency. We contend that teachers need to adopt motivation-enhancing practices as means to prevent the decline in academic motivation during exceptional situations. (shrink)

Recent metaphysics has turned its focus to two notions that are—as well as having a common Aristotelian pedigree—widely thought to be intimately related: grounding and essence. Yet how, exactly, the two are related remains opaque. We develop a unified and uniform account of grounding and essence, one which understands them both in terms of a generalized notion of identity examined in recent work by Fabrice Correia, Cian Dorr, Agustín Rayo, and others. We argue that the account comports with antecedently (...) plausible principles governing grounding, essence, and identity taken individually, and illuminates how the three interact. We also argue that the account compares favorably to an alternative unification of grounding and essence recently proposed by Kit Fine. (shrink)

Background Ethical conflict is a problem with negative consequences, which can compromise the quality and ethical standards of the nursing profession and it is a source of stress for health care practitioners’, especially for nurses. Objectives The main aim of this study was to analyze Spanish critical care nurses’ level of exposure to ethical conflict and its association with sociodemographic, occupational, and COVID-19–related variables. Research Design, Participants, and Research context: This was a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among 117 nurses (...) working in critical care units. Data collection tools were sociodemographic, occupational, and COVID-19–related questionnaires and previously validated Spanish version of Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire-Critical Care Version. Ethical Considerations We obtained permission from the Ethics Committee and participants' informed consent. Findings Data indicates a moderate level of exposure to ethical conflicts. The most frequent ethical conflicts were related to situations about "treatment and clinical procedures." The most intensity of ethical conflicts was related to situations about "treatment and clinical procedures" and "dynamics of the service and working environment." No statistical significance was identified between the socio-demographic variables and level of exposure to ethical conflicts. However, for critical care nurses working in ICU, nurses with perceived worked stress had a higher level of exposure to ethical conflicts. Likewise, critical care nurses whose family/friends were infected with COVID-19 had a higher level of exposure. Conclusions Critical care nurses experience a moderate level of exposure to ethical conflicts which is consistent with the results of previous studies. A deeper understanding of ethical conflicts in conflictive situations allows recognition of the situations that occur in everyday clinical practice, identification of the ethical conflicts, and facilitation of the nurses working in the challenging clinical situation. (shrink)

Some of the most eminent and enduring philosophical questions concern matters of priority: what is prior to what? What 'grounds' what? Is, for instance, matter prior to mind? Recently, a vivid debate has arisen about how such questions have to be understood. Can the relevant notion or notions of priority be spelled out? And how do they relate to other metaphysical notions, such as modality, truth-making or essence? This volume of new essays, by leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, is the (...) first to address and investigate the metaphysical idea that certain facts are grounded in other facts. An introduction introduces and surveys the debate, examining its history as well as its central systematic aspects. The volume will be of wide interest to students and scholars of metaphysics. (shrink)

Nosso objetivo neste trabalho é tentar esclarecer o mal-estar causado por algumas leituras que muitas vezes despacham a influência e a presença constante de Hegel na obra de Adorno de forma muito breve e fácil, seja a partir da perspectiva antissistêmica da filosofia adorniana, ou então, desde a perspectiva negativa que a dialética assume em seu pensamento. Nesse sentido, pretendemos expor alguns pontos fundamentais da filosofia hegeliana, em relação aos quais Adorno se coloca claramente como herdeiro. Pretendemos mostrar que o (...) filósofo de Frankfurt pensa não somente sobre estes pontos, mas também a partir deles, i.e., superando-os. (shrink)

I identify a notion of logical grounding, clarify it, and show how it can be used (i) to characterise various consequence relations, and (ii) to give a precise syntactic account of the notion of “groundedness” at work in the literature on the paradoxes of truth.

Standard possible world semantics for propositional modal languages ignore truth-value gaps. However, simple considerations suggest that it should not be so. In Section 1, I identify what I take to be a correct truth-clause for necessity under the assumption that some possible worlds are incomplete (i.e., "at" which some propositions lack a truth-value). In Section 2, I build a world semantics, the semantics of TV-models, for standard modal propositional languages, which agrees with the truth-clause for necessity previously identified. Sections 3–5 (...) are devoted to systematic concerns. In particular, in Section 4, Prior’s system Q (propositional version) is given a TV-models semantics and proved adequate (i.e., sound and complete) with respect to it. (shrink)

SIRThere are some important flaws in Michael Ardagh's reasoning.11. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a “blanket term” for different interventions. Curative and supportive treatments have different ethical contexts and cannot be discussed at the same level. It is imperative to ascribe curative interventions within CPR the same status as any other curative intervention, such as antibiotics for infections or surgery for appendicitis. Then we will be able to discuss the ethical context of purely supportive measures such as chest compressions. To address the (...) “ethics of CPR” is a dangerous misnomer.The preferences of emergency personnel2 suggest the willingness to undergo curative interventions early during CPR, but not protracted supportive interventions. Conversely, withholding curative interventions during CPR should only be considered when any curative treatments would also be withheld.2. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is performed to offer the patient a benefit. However, CPR as a whole is only marginally effective. …. (shrink)

Social influence and persuasion are not synonyms. This paper traces back the different approaches and distinctions constituting the two concepts and argues that the two research traditions focused respectively on social influence in group processes and on individual attitude change through persuasive communication, could be re-examined from a different vantage point, casting a new light on the continuities between them.

In his influential paper ‘‘Essence and Modality’’, Kit Fine argues that no account of essence framed in terms of metaphysical necessity is possible, and that it is rather metaphysical necessity which is to be understood in terms of essence. On his account, the concept of essence is primitive, and for a proposition to be metaphysically necessary is for it to be true in virtue of the nature of all things. Fine also proposes a reduction of conceptual and logical necessity in (...) the same vein: a conceptual necessity is a proposition true in virtue of the nature of all concepts, and a logical necessity a proposition true in virtue of the nature of all logical concepts. I argue that the plausibility of Fine's view crucially requires that certain apparent explanatory links between essentialist facts be admitted and accounted for, and I make a suggestion about how this can be done. I then argue against the reductions of conceptual and logical necessity proposed by Fine and suggest alternative reductions, which remain nevertheless Finean in spirit. (shrink)

The purpose of the book is to clarify the notion of existential dependence and cognate notions, such as supervenience and the notion of an internal relation. I defend the view that such notions are best understood in terms of the concept of metaphysical grounding, i.e. the concept of one fact obtaining in virtue of other facts, where ‘in virtue of’ has a distinctively metaphysical meaning.

This paper presents a restructured set of axioms for categorical logic. In virtue of it, the syllogistic with indefinite terms is deduced and proved, within the categorical logic boundaries. As a result, the number of all the conclusive syllogisms is deduced through a simple and axiomatic methodology. Moreover, the distinction between immediate and mediate inferences disappears, which reinstitutes the unity of Aristotelian logic.

In a recent article forthcoming in *Mind*, Leech (2020) presents a challenge for essentialist accounts of metaphysical modality: why should it be that essences imply corresponding necessities? Leech’s main focus is to argue that one cannot overcome the challenge by utilizing an account of essence in terms of generalized identity due to Correia and Skiles (2019), on pain of circularity. In this reply, we will show how to use identity-based essentialism to bridge ‘epistemic’ and ‘explanatory’ understandings of this alleged (...) essence-to-necessity gap without circularity, Leech’s arguments notwithstanding. We do so by first presenting a novel proof that generalized identities imply corresponding necessities. We then propose several substantive identity-based explanations of how it is, exactly, that essences imply necessities. -/- . (shrink)

How does metaphysical grounding interact with the truth-functions? I argue that the answer varies according to whether one has a worldly conception or a conceptual conception of grounding. I then put forward a logic of worldly grounding and give it an adequate semantic characterisation.

'Ontological dependence' is a term of philosophical jargon which stands for a rich family of properties and relations, often taken to be among the most fundamental ontological properties and relations. Notions of ontological dependence are usually thought of as 'carving reality at its ontological joints', and as marking certain forms of ontological 'non-self-sufficiency'. The use of notions of dependence goes back as far as Aristotle's characterization of substances, and these notions are still widely used to characterize other concepts and to (...) formulate metaphysical claims. This paper first gives an overview of the varieties of these notions, and then discusses some of their main applications. (shrink)

I offer and defend an account of real definitions. I put forward two versions of the account, one formulated in terms of the notion of generalised identity and of a suitable notion of grounding, and the other one formulated in terms of the former notion and of a suitable notion of comparative joint-carvingness. Given a plausible assumption, and turn out to be equivalent. I give a sketch of a unified account of the three notions involved in and from which the (...) assumption can be derived. (shrink)

Signalling games are popular models for studying the evolution of meaning, but typical approaches do not incorporate vagueness as a feature of successful signalling. Complementing recent like-minded models, we describe an aggregate population-level dynamic that describes a process of imitation of successful behaviour under imprecise perception and realization of similar stimuli. Applying this new dynamic to a generalization of Lewis’s signalling games, we show that stochastic imprecision leads to vague, yet by-and-large efficient signal use, and, moreover, that it unifies evolutionary (...) outcomes and helps avoid sub-optimal categorization. The upshot of this is that we see ‘as-if’-generalization at an aggregate level, without agents actually generalizing. _1_ Introduction _2_ Background _2.1_ Sim-max games and conceptual spaces _2.2_ Vagueness in sim-max games and conceptual spaces _2.3_ Vagueness, functional pressure, and transmission biases _3_ Imprecise Imitation _3.1_ Replicator dynamic in behavioural strategies _3.2_ Noise-perturbed conditional imitation _4_ Exploring Imprecise Imitation _4.1_ Setting the stage _4.2_ Simulation set-up _4.3_ Measures of interest _4.4_ Results _5_ Discussion _5.1_ Levels of vagueness _5.2_ Evolutionary benefits of imprecision _5.3_ Related work _6_ Conclusion Appendix. (shrink)

Say that two sentences are factually equivalent when they describe the same facts or situations, understood as worldly items, i.e. as bits of reality rather than as representations of reality. The notion of factual equivalence is certainly of central interest to philosophical semantics, but it plays a role in a much wider range of philosophical areas. What is the logic of factual equivalence? This paper attempts to give a partial answer to this question, by providing an answer the following, more (...) specific question: Given a standard propositional language with negation, conjunction and disjunction as primitive operators, which sentences of the language should be taken to be factually equivalent by virtue of their logical form? The system for factual equivalence advocated in this paper is a proper fragment of the first-degree system for the logic of analytic equivalence put forward in the late seventies by R. B. Angell. I provide the system with two semantics, both formulated in terms of the notion of a situation’s being fittingly described by a linguistic item. In the final part of the paper I argue, contra a view I defended in my “Grounding and Truth-Functions”, that the logic for factual equivalence I advocate here should be preferred to Angell’s logic if one wishes to follow the general conception of the relationships between factual equivalence and the notion of grounding put forward in the 2010 paper. (shrink)

Many philosophers have recently been impressed by an argument to the effect that all grounding facts about “derivative entities”—e.g. the facts expressed by the (let us suppose) true sentences ‘the fact that Beijing is a concrete entity is grounded in the fact that its parts are concrete’ and ‘the fact that there are cities is grounded in the fact that p’, where ‘p’ is a suitable sentence couched in the language of particle physics—must themselves be grounded. This argument relies on (...) a principle, _Purity_, which states that facts about derivative entities are non-fundamental. Purity is questionable. In this paper, I introduce a new argument—the argument from _Settledness_—for a similar conclusion but which does not rely on Purity. The conclusion of the new argument is that every “thick” grounding fact is grounded, where a grounding fact [F is grounded in G, H, …] is said to be thick when at least one of F, G, H, … is a fact—a condition that is automatically satisfied if grounding is factive. After introducing the argument, I compare it with the argument from Purity, and I assess its cogency relative to the relevant accounts of the connections between grounding and fundamentality that are available in the literature. (shrink)

We argue that sensitivity to the distinction between the tensed notion of being something and the tensed notion of being located at the present time serves as a good antidote to confusions in debates about time and existence, in particular in the debate about how to characterise presentism, and saves us the trouble of going through unnecessary epicycles. Both notions are frequently expressed using the tensed verb ‘to exist’, making it systematically ambiguous. It is a commendable strategy to avoid using (...) that verb altogether in these contexts and to use quantification and a location predicate instead. (shrink)

I introduce a proof system for the logic of relative fundamentality, as well as a natural semantics with respect to which the system is both sound and complete. I then “modalise” the logic, and finally I discuss the properties of grounding given a suggested account of this notion in terms of necessity and relative fundamentality.

In Fine 1994, Kit Fine challenges the view that the notion of essence is to be understood in terms of the metaphysical modalities, and he argues that it is not essence which reduces to metaphysical modality, but rather metaphysical modality which reduces to essence. In this paper I put forward a modal account of essence and argue that it is immune from Fine’s objections. The account presupposes a non‐standard, independently motivated conception of the metaphysical modalities which I dub Priorean. Arthur (...) Prior never endorsed that very conception, but in some respects his own views on the topic are so close to it, and different from all currently accepted views, that the label ‘Priorean’ is perfectly appropriate. (shrink)

‘Intentionalist’ approaches portray self-deceivers as “akratic believers”, subjects who deliberately choose to believe p despite knowing that p is false. In this paper I argue that the intentionalist model leads to a number of paradoxes that seem to undermine it. I claim that these paradoxes can nevertheless be overcome in light of the rival hypothesis that self-deception is a non-intentional process that stems from the influence of emotions upon cognitive processes. Furthermore, I propose a motivational interpretation of the phenomenon of (...) ‘hyperbolic discounting bias’ which highlights the role of emotional biases in akratic behavior. Finally, I argue that we are not the helpless victims of our irrational attitudes, insofar as we have the ability – and arguably the epistemic obligation – to counteract motivational biases. (shrink)

When thinking about the notion of essence or of an essential feature, philosophers typically focus on what I will call the notion of objectual essence. The main aim of this paper is to argue that beside this familiar notion stands another one, the notion of generic essence, which contrary to appearance cannot be understood in terms of the familiar notion, and which also fails to be correctly characterized by certain other accounts which naturally come to mind as well. Some of (...) my objections to these accounts are similar to some of Kit Fine’s compelling objections to the standard modal account of (objectual) essence (Fine 1994). In the light of these objections, Fine advances the view that it is metaphysical necessity which has to be understood in terms of essence, rather than the other way around, and takes essence to be unanalyzable. When formulatinghis view, Fine had only objectual essence in mind (or had both concepts in mind, but assumed that the generic is a special case of the objectual), and for that reason, I will argue, his account fails. I will suggest that Fineans should modify their view, and take it that metaphysical necessity is to be understood in terms of the two notions of essence—a view I myself find appealing. Finally, I will end by suggesting a further move which reduces the objectual to the generic, making metaphysical necessity reducible to generic essence alone—a move with which I myself have some sympathy. (shrink)

In the third of his Logical Investigations, Husserl draws an important distinction between two kinds of parts: the dependent parts like the redness of a visual datum or the squareness of a given picture, and the independent parts like the head of a horse or a brick in a wall. On his view, the distinction is to be understood in terms of a more fundamental notion, the notion of foundation. This paper is an attempt at clarifying that notion. Such attempts (...) have already been undertaken by Peter Simons and Kit Fine, and the paper also contains elements of comparison of our three sets of views. (shrink)

Studies of multiple paternity in mammals and other animal species generally report proportion of multiple paternity among litters, mean litter sizes, and mean number of sires per litter. It is shown how these variables can be used to produce an estimate of the probability of reproductive success for a male that has mated with a female. This estimate of male success is more informative about the mating system that alternative measures, like the proportion of litters with multiple paternity or the (...) mean number of sires per litter. The probability of success for a mated male can be measured both theoretically and empirically, and gives an estimate of the intensity of sperm competition and of a male's “confidence of paternity” upon mating. The probability of success for mated males for ten “exemplar” species of mammals is estimated and they are compared for insights into the functioning of their mating systems. (shrink)

Este artigo pretende oferecer uma síntese dos principais elementos que caracterizam a epistemologia e o método da Teologia da Libertação, no pensamento de Clodovis Boff, autor que deu à Teologia da Libertação sistematização de sua semântica e de sua sintática. Em seus escritos em relação à questão, cronologicamente, identificam-se três fases distintas: a Teologia da Libertação como Teologia do Político (1), a libertação como perspectiva de uma teologia global, (2) e a Teologia da Libertação como libertação na Teologia (3). Entre (...) os elementos selecionados para esta abordagem sintética estão: a questão da identidade da Teologia da Libertação em relação a outras teologias, o ponto de partida da articulação do discurso teológico, o lugar do pobre na epistemologia da teologia e as mediações teóricas do método da Teologia da Libertação. O texto, em grande medida, reproduz o pensamento do autor, privilegiando, o máximo possível, citações textuais de sua ampla e consistente bibliografia sobre a questão. Palavras-chave: Teologia. Libertação. Método. Fé. Pobre.This article aims to present an overview of the main elements which characterize the method and epistemology of Liberation Theology, according to Clodovis Boff´s view. It was him who provided Liberation Theology with the systematization of its semantics and syntax. In his writings on the issue, chronologically, three distinct phases can be identified: Liberation Theology as the Politician´s Theology (1); the liberation as a global theology perspective (2); and Liberation Theology as the liberation in Theology. Among the selected elements are: the identity of Liberation Theology in relation to other theologies; the starting point of articulation of theological discourse; the place of the poor in the epistemology of theology; and theoretical mediations of the Liberation Theology method. The text reproduces the author's thought, focusing as much as possible, textual citations of his extensive and consistent bibliography on the issue. Keywords: Theology. Liberation. Method. Faith. Poor. (shrink)

A Amazônia Marajoara, no Pará, constituiu-se desde os tempos coloniais em importante zona de contatos sócio-culturais entre índios, colonizadores e africanos. Para além dos empréstimos, intercâmbios e sociabilidades ali estabelecidas, especialmente entre índios e negros, originando modos de vida afroindígenas, a região tornou-se palco de contínuos conflitos e (in)tolerâncias estabelecidos pelos poderes políticos e, especialmente, religiosos, contra práticas, rituais, modos de acreditar e viver de grupos oriundos de matrizes orais. Sob a orientação teórica dos Estudos Culturais Britânicos, Latino-Americanos e do (...) Pensamento Pós-Colonial, o artigo acompanha, por meio de narrativas históricas, movimentos de controle e transgressão, negação e (re)afirmação constituídos entre índios, negros, afroindígenas, elites políticas e religiosas em torno das encantarias amazônicas, destacando especialmente percepções e posturas dos padres Agostinianos Recoletos a partir de 1928, quando fundaram e assumiram a direção do projeto de evangelização do grande arquipélago em tempos de expansão e disseminação de formas e modos de romanização. Palavras-chave: Encantarias Afroindígenas; Práticas de Cura; (In)tolerâncias Religiosas; Amazônia Marajoara.The Marajoara Amazônia in Pará, consisted, since the colonial times, in contact zones of social-culture exchange between Indians, settlers and Africans. Way beyond the lends, interchanges and sociability there settled, specially between Indians and black people, giving birth to a way of living called afroindigenas, the region became a place of continuous conflicts and (in)tolerance established by the politic powers and, specially, religious, against rituals, beliefs, and way of living of those groups which came from the oral heritage. Under the theoretical orientation of the British Cultural Studies, Latin Americans and the Pos-colonial though, this article brings, from the historical narratives, movements of control, transgressions, negation and (re)affirmation putted between indians, negros, afroindigenas, political and religious elites, around the amazonic "encatarias", highlighting the perceptions and postures of the Augustinian recoletos priests, since 1928, the year of the foundation of the evangelization of the great archipelago in the times of expansion and dissemination of ways and forms of romanization. Key words: Afroindigena, encantaria, Cure practices, Religious (in)tolerance, Marajoara Amazonia. (shrink)

A Amazônia constituiu-se, ao longo de sua formação histórica e sociocultural, em importante território de crenças em saberes de cura que expressam interculturalidades entre humanos e sobrenaturais. Nas fronteiras que separam e interligam o período colonial e os tempos contemporâneos, fios de memórias escritas e orais trazem à tona experiências em que religiosidades nativas, coloniais e diaspóricas se conformam em profunda bricolagem com a natureza, erigindo um panteão de divindades afroindígenas na região. Neste artigo, sob a orientação teórica dos Estudos (...) Culturais, do Pensamento Pós-Colonial e da Antropologia das Religiões, exploramos diálogos realizados com memórias de um pai de santo, um curandeiro, uma irmã consagrada e uma “pajé”, além de percepções de um sacerdote católico e escritos de uma outra pajé. A análise dessas fontes evidencia que crenças em saberes de cura, aspectos constituintes das cosmologias afroindígenas, traduzem modos específicos com os quais populações amazônicas, com destaque para a Amazônia Marajoara, lidam com encantados, espíritos, santos, orixás em seu fazer religioso. Por esse ângulo, a cultura é apreendida como território de experiências intersticiais e a natureza se refaz como paisagem cultural, pois sofre intervenções e interfere na configuração do sistema religioso local. Palavras-chave : Saberes de Cura. Natureza. Afroindígena. Interculturalidade. Amazônia Marajoara.The Amazon has been constituted, throughout its historical and socio-cultural formation, in an important area of beliefs towards healing knowledges that express interculturalism between the humans and the supernatural. Within the borders that separate and connect the colonial and contemporary times, written and oral memories bring up experiences where the native, colonial and diasporic religiosity configure themselves into a deep tinkering with nature and erect a pantheon of Afroindigenous deities in the region. In this article, under the theoretical guidance of Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Thought and Anthropology of Religions, we explore dialogues conducted with memories of a saint father, a medicine man, a Catholic nun and a “Pajé” (a female shaman or witch-doctor), besides the perceptions of a Catholic priest and writings of another female Shaman. The analysis of these sources shows that beliefs in healing knowledges, constituent aspects of Afro-indigenous cosmologies, translate specific modes with which Amazonian populations, especially the Marajoara Amazon ones, deal with enchanted beings, spirits, saints, African orishas in their religious practices. From this perspective, culture is perceived as a territory of interstitial experiences and nature is remade as a cultural landscape, once it suffers interventions and also interferes within the local religious system configuration. Keywords : Healing Knowledges. Nature. Afroindigenous. Interculturalism. Marajoara Amazon. (shrink)

I offer an account of fundamentality for facts in terms of metaphysical grounding. The account does justice to the idea that whether a fact is absolutely fundamental, and whether a fact is more fundamental than, or as fundamental as, another fact, are a matter of where in a grounding-induced hierarchy of kinds of facts these facts appear.

I give a semantic characterisation of a system for the logic of grounding similar to the system introduced by Kit Fine in his “Guide to Ground”, as well as a semantic characterisation of a variant of that system which excludes the possibility of what Fine calls ‘zero-grounding’.

I provide and defend two natural accounts of fundamentality for facts that do justice to the idea that the “degree of fundamentality” enjoyed by a fact is a matter of how far, from a ground-theoretic perspective, the fact is from the ungrounded facts.

Living organisms have long since been a source of inspiration for humans to build artifacts mimicking their behaviour. Usually models used are quite simple by comparison to their natural sources of inspiration. However, on computers, we have the freedom to test approaches both realistic and outnght speculative, from the biological point of view. This article overviews several Artificial Life (ALife) models and their application areas. On the one hand we have models that are currently used as tools in engineeering, especially (...) for optimisation, and on the other hand we have environments and models that exhibit properties alike those observed in bio-organisms, that are useful to study and develop biological theories. Therefore, we will describe computer based models, such as artificial neural networks, evolutionary algonthms, artificial immune systems, swarm based algonthms as bio-inspired tools and artificial life environments and autonomous robots in the perspective of artificial beings. A bnef reference to biochemistry research, with the nickname of wet ALife, especially onented to build artificial cells will complete this review. The paper ends with a discussion on the implications of natural versus artificial life. (shrink)

ABSTRACT We critically review two extant paradigms for understanding the systematic interaction between modality and tense, as well as their respective modifications designed to do justice to the contingency of time’s structure and composition. We show that on either type of theory, as well as their respective modifications, some principles prove logically valid whose truth might sensibly be questioned on metaphysical grounds. These considerations lead us to devise a more general logical framework that allows accommodation of those metaphysical views that (...) its predecessors rule out by fiat. (shrink)

Realism about tense is the view that the contrast between what was, what is and what will be the case is real, and not merely a projection of our ways of thinking. Does this view entail realism about temporal passage, namely the view that time really passes, in the same sense of ‘real’? We argue that the answer is affirmative for many versions of tense realism, and indeed for all sensible versions. We thereby address an important conceptual issue regarding these (...) two forms of realism and rebut recent claims that tense realism is compatible with anti-realism about temporal passage. (shrink)