This paper aims to contribute to the current debate about the status of the “Ought Implies Can” principle and the growing body of empirical evidence that undermines it. We report the results of an experimental study which show that people judge that agents ought to perform an action even when they also judge that those agents cannot do it and that such “ought” judgments exhibit an actor-observer effect. Because of this actor-observer effect on “ought” judgments and the Duhem-Quine thesis, talk (...) of an “empirical refutation” of OIC is empirically and methodologically unwarranted. What the empirical fact that people attribute moral obligations to unable agents shows is that OIC is not intuitive, not that OIC has been refuted. (shrink)

In this paper, we set out to test empirically an idea that many philosophers find intuitive, namely that non-moral ignorance can exculpate. Many philosophers find it intuitive that moral agents are responsible only if they know the particular facts surrounding their action. Our results show that whether moral agents are aware of the facts surrounding their action does have an effect on people’s attributions of blame, regardless of the consequences or side effects of the agent’s actions. In general, it was (...) more likely that a situationally aware agent will be blamed for failing to perform the obligatory action than a situationally unaware agent. We also tested attributions of forgiveness in addition to attributions of blame. In general, it was less likely that a situationally aware agent will be forgiven for failing to perform the obligatory action than a situationally unaware agent. When the agent is situationally unaware, it is more likely that the agent will be forgiven than blamed. We argue that these results provide some empirical support for the hypothesis that there is something intuitive about the idea that non-moral ignorance can exculpate. (shrink)

Domestic litigation has become a principal strategy for realizing international treaty obligations for the human right to health, providing causes of action for the public’s health and empowering individuals to raise human rights claims for HIV prevention, treatment, and care. In the past 15 years, advocates have laid the groundwork on which a rapidly expanding enforcement paradigm has arisen at the intersection of human rights litigation and HIV/AIDS policy. As this enforcement develops across multiple countries, human rights are translated from (...) principle to practice in the global response to HIV/AIDS, transforming aspirational declarations into justiciable obligations and implementing human rights through national policies and programs. (shrink)

Domestic litigation has become a principal strategy for realizing international treaty obligations for the human right to health, providing causes of action for the public’s health and empowering individuals to raise human rights claims for HIV prevention, treatment, and care. In the past 15 years, advocates have laid the groundwork on which a rapidly expanding enforcement paradigm has arisen at the intersection of human rights litigation and HIV/AIDS policy. As this enforcement develops across multiple countries, human rights are translated from (...) principle to practice in the global response to HIV/AIDS, transforming aspirational declarations into justiciable obligations and implementing human rights through national policies and programs. (shrink)

As a topic, organization design is poorly understood. While it is featured in most management books as a chapter dedicated to organizational structures, it is unclear whether organization design is a one-off event or an ongoing process. Thus, it has traditionally been understood to be the same as an organizational configuration, with neat lines of communication and distribution of responsibilities following pre-set typologies. Yet what can be said to constitute organizational structure in this first half of the 21st century? The (...) extraordinary growth of digital communications, the decreasing relevance of hierarchical bureaucracies, and the general demise of command-and-control have all but decimated the traditional notion of organizational structure. Organization design needs a theoretical revamping. Using a mix of design and social science theories and concepts, Rodrigo Magalhães outlines a new human-centric interpretation of design, design principles, and design culture. He puts forward a paradigm where the organization, for purposes of its design, is considered to be a social actor in a permanent state of transformation, with significant repercussions for social and economic life. He also proposes a model of 'leaderful organization design', distinguished as practice-based, guided by values of democratic participation, and driven by design logics which places meaning-making and meaning-taking at the center of organizational life and can be adopted and adapted to suit different environments. (shrink)

Action theory has given rise to some perplexing puzzles in the past half century. The most prominent one can be summarized as follows: What distinguishes intentional from unintentional acts? Thanks to the ingenuity of philosophers and their thought experiments, we know better than to assume that the difference lies in the mere presence of an intention, or in its causal efficacy in generating the action. The intention might be present and may also cause the intended behavior, yet the behavior may (...) not be an intentional action; it may not be an action at all. The classic example is that of the nervous nephew who intends to kill his uncle to inherit his estate, and whose intention makes him so nervous as to drive recklessly, thereby running over a pedestrian... who happens to be his very uncle. The intention to kill is present and it causes the killing, yet the killing is not an intentional action. Rather, what appears to distinguish intentional from non-intentional action is voluntary control of the proper sort, and what distinguishes action from non-action is behavior caused in a particular manner. But spelling out the sort and specifying the manner have proven vexing tasks. (shrink)

The way health is conceptualized determines the actions taken to protect and promote it and, in turn, the actors responsible for such actions in an increasingly inter-dependent world. This essay presents a brief description of health policies in Peru during the last ten years in order to analyze the implications of paradigms of medical ethics, human rights and quality of care. These paradigms offer distinct ways of formulating, applying and evaluating health policies and understanding the relationship among different actors at (...) various levels. Building upon other detailed analyses of sexual and reproductive health policy in Peru (Coe, 2004; Miranda and Yamin, 2004), as well as critical appraisals of health services models (Gericke, Kurowski, Ranson and Mills, 2005; Krieger, Northridge, Gruskin, Quinn, Kriebel, Davey Smith, Bassett, Rehkopf and Miller, 2003), this article advocates the importance of construing and promoting health as a human right. (shrink)

Testosterone's connection to sex differences and key evolutionary processes arouses controversy. Effects on humans and other species, though, are not robotically deterministic but are parts of complex interactions. We discuss the societal implications of these findings and consider how the naturalistic fallacy and the person–situation dichotomy contribute to misunderstandings here.

For over a decade neuroscience has uncovered that appropriate decision-making in daily life decisions results from a strong interplay between cognition and covert biases produced by emotional processes. This interplay is particularly important in social contexts: lesions in the pathways supporting these processes provoke serious impairments on social behavior. One important mechanism in social contexts is empathy, fundamental for appropriate social behavior. This paper presents arguments supporting this connection between cognition and emotion, in individual as well as in social contexts. (...) The central claim of this paper is that biologically inspired cognitive architectures ought to include these mechanisms. A taxonomy of computational models addressing emotions is presented, together with a brief survey of the research published in this area. The Prisoner Dilemma game is used as a case study exposing the trade-off between individual rationality and cooperative behavior. Experiments using a simple implementation of empathy and emotion expression, employing an Iterated Prisoner Dilemma setup, illustrate the emergence of a cooperative behavior mutually beneficial for both players. (shrink)

The embodiment approach has shown that motor neural networks are involved in the processing of action verbs. There is developmental evidence that embodied effects on verb processing are already present in early years. Yet, the ontogenetic origin of this motor reuse in action verbs remains unknown. This longitudinal study investigates the co-occurrence of manual verbs and actions during mother-child daily routines when children were 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 years old. Eight mother-child dyads were video-recorded in 3-month intervals (...) across 12 months, and the timing of verbs and manual actions were coded by independent observers. Results showed that the probability of matched verb-action co-occurrences were much higher than that of random co-occurrences for Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. The distributions of the verb-action temporal intervals in both groups were quite symmetrical and skewed with the peak corresponding to both 0.00 s synchronic intervals and the shortest +5 s interval. Mother-led instances occurred in both groups whereas child-led instances were restricted to Group 2. Mothers pragmatically aligned their verbal productions, since they repeatedly used those verbs they shared with their children’s repertoire. In conclusion, the early multisensory communicative and manipulative scene affords grounding of verb meanings on the ongoing actions, facilitating verb-action pairing in the realm of social interactions, providing a new dimension to the prevailing solipsistic approach to embodiment. (shrink)

The Hiatus of Sense. Framing and Cinematic Montage according to Eisenstein and Merleau-Ponty“Cinema portrays movement, but how? Is it, as we are inclined to believe, by copying more closely the changes of place? We may presume not, since slow motion shows a body floating between objects like seaweed, but not moving itself.” This interrogation constitutes the only allusion to the cinema in Eye and Mind, and, by reading the argumentation developed in this work, one cannot help thinking that the role (...) which it reserves for cinema is, finally, to be the simple revelation of the illusions of naïve consciousness in relation to movement. Nothing is said about the expressive movement of cinema itself. Nothing is said about the logic of cinematic sense and therefore of cinematic language. Does this mean that Merleau-Ponty, up to the end of his life, had a relationship to cinema that was merely supplementary, that he always privileged the analysis of pictorial, musical, or literary aesthetic experiences?In contrast, we propose to establish that his philosophical position cannot be characterized by the idea that he held the cinema in an ancillary role and status because, in other texts, Merleau-Ponty knew how to decipher in cinema, to a large degree, the enigma of movement as the form of expressivity. But we will argue here that he knew it only up to a certain point. This is what a discussion with the theoretical writings of Sergei Einstein will have to establish. We shall seek to rediscover the philosophical – and even ontological – reasons for this state of things which, if one wants to preserve for cinema the characteristic that allows it to be stimulating for thought, must not under any circumstances be interpreted as the simple result of Merleau-Ponty not having enough interest in the cinema.Lo scarto del senso. Inquadratura e montaggio cinematografico secondo Eisenstein e Merleau-Ponty«Il cinema ci dà il movimento, ma come? Forse, come generalmente si crede, riproducendo il più ravvicinatamente possibile il cambiamento di luogo ? Pare proprio di no: infatti il rallentatore ci mostra un corpo che fluttua tra gli oggetti come un’alga, ma che non si muove»Questa interrogazione costituisce la sola allusione al cinema ne L’occhio e lo spirito e, leggendo l’argomentazione sviluppata in quest’opera, non si può evitare di pensare che il ruolo che essa riserva al cinema sia, in fin dei conti, quello di essere un semplice rivelatore di illusioni della coscienza ingenua di fronte al movimento. Nulla viene detto a proposito del movimento espressivo del cinema in se stesso. Nulla viene detto della logica del senso cinematografico e dunque del linguaggio cinematografico. Questo significa forse che Merleau-Ponty ha avuto, fino alla fine della sua vita, solo un rapporto accessorio con il cinema, e che ha sempre privilegiato l’analisi delle esperienze estetiche pittoriche, musicali o letterarie?Ci proponiamo, al contrario, di stabilire che la sua posizione filosofica non può essere caratterizzata dal mantenimento del cinema in un ruolo ed in uno statuto ancillare, poiché, in altri testi, Merleau-Ponty ha saputo in gran parte decifrare l’enigma del movimento come forma d’espressività al cinema. Questo è quanto un confronto con gli scritti teorici di Sergei Eisenstein ci dovrà permettere di stabilire. Cercheremo di reperire le ragioni filosofiche – ed ontologiche – di questo stato di cose, che non deve essere in nessun caso interpretato, se si vuole conservare il suo carattere stimolante per il pensiero, come il semplice risultato di uno scarso interesse di Merleau-Ponty per il cinema. (shrink)

The Hiatus of Sense. Framing and Cinematic Montage according to Eisenstein and Merleau-Ponty“Cinema portrays movement, but how? Is it, as we are inclined to believe, by copying more closely the changes of place? We may presume not, since slow motion shows a body floating between objects like seaweed, but not moving itself.” This interrogation constitutes the only allusion to the cinema in Eye and Mind, and, by reading the argumentation developed in this work, one cannot help thinking that the role (...) which it reserves for cinema is, finally, to be the simple revelation of the illusions of naïve consciousness in relation to movement. Nothing is said about the expressive movement of cinema itself. Nothing is said about the logic of cinematic sense and therefore of cinematic language. Does this mean that Merleau-Ponty, up to the end of his life, had a relationship to cinema that was merely supplementary, that he always privileged the analysis of pictorial, musical, or literary aesthetic experiences?In contrast, we propose to establish that his philosophical position cannot be characterized by the idea that he held the cinema in an ancillary role and status because, in other texts, Merleau-Ponty knew how to decipher in cinema, to a large degree, the enigma of movement as the form of expressivity. But we will argue here that he knew it only up to a certain point. This is what a discussion with the theoretical writings of Sergei Einstein will have to establish. We shall seek to rediscover the philosophical – and even ontological – reasons for this state of things which, if one wants to preserve for cinema the characteristic that allows it to be stimulating for thought, must not under any circumstances be interpreted as the simple result of Merleau-Ponty not having enough interest in the cinema.Lo scarto del senso. Inquadratura e montaggio cinematografico secondo Eisenstein e Merleau-Ponty«Il cinema ci dà il movimento, ma come? Forse, come generalmente si crede, riproducendo il più ravvicinatamente possibile il cambiamento di luogo? Pare proprio di no: infatti il rallentatore ci mostra un corpo che fluttua tra gli oggetti come un’alga, ma che non si muove»Questa interrogazione costituisce la sola allusione al cinema ne L’occhio e lo spirito e, leggendo l’argomentazione sviluppata in quest’opera, non si può evitare di pensare che il ruolo che essa riserva al cinema sia, in fin dei conti, quello di essere un semplice rivelatore di illusioni della coscienza ingenua di fronte al movimento. Nulla viene detto a proposito del movimento espressivo del cinema in se stesso. Nulla viene detto della logica del senso cinematografico e dunque del linguaggio cinematografico. Questo significa forse che Merleau-Ponty ha avuto, fino alla fine della sua vita, solo un rapporto accessorio con il cinema, e che ha sempre privilegiato l’analisi delle esperienze estetiche pittoriche, musicali o letterarie?Ci proponiamo, al contrario, di stabilire che la sua posizione filosofica non può essere caratterizzata dal mantenimento del cinema in un ruolo ed in uno statuto ancillare, poiché, in altri testi, Merleau-Ponty ha saputo in gran parte decifrare l’enigma del movimento come forma d’espressività al cinema. Questo è quanto un confronto con gli scritti teorici di Sergei Eisenstein ci dovrà permettere di stabilire. Cercheremo di reperire le ragioni filosofiche – ed ontologiche – di questo stato di cose, che non deve essere in nessun caso interpretato, se si vuole conservare il suo carattere stimolante per il pensiero, come il semplice risultato di uno scarso interesse di Merleau-Ponty per il cinema. (shrink)

Contra lo que podría haberse esperado, el crecimiento de la pobreza y de las desigualdades en América Latina a consecuencia de las reformas económicas no ha provocado la quiebra de las democracias ni situaciones de ingobernabilidad. Los actuales problemas de la democracia en América Latina, en cambio, surgen de una crisis de la representación política, que en parte es consecuencia de la historia previa de los partidos como mecanismos de intercambio particularista, y en parte de su dificultad para adaptarse a (...) las demandas sociales en la nueva situación económica. (shrink)

« Qui nous sauve d’une réification de la conscience est le sauveur de la philosophie, voire son créateur ». Un phénoménologue ne peut que souscrire à une telle affirmation, dont la paternité revient à Husserl et dont la clairvoyance est tout à fait frappante. Renaud Barbaras rappelle souvent cette formule et il lui est même arrivé d’écrire qu’elle constitue « en quelque sorte [sa] boussole théorique ». Puisque boussole il y a, je vais suivre son cap pour tenter de ressaisir (...) ce qu’il en est de... (shrink)

En el marco de una investigación sobre la producción de organismos trasnacionales del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia en la ciudad de La Plata, en este trabajo sostenemos que el Viceconsulado creado allí en 2013 busca resituar a las agencias consulares de ese país en un lugar central en los procesos de diasporización desarrollados en esta localidad. Por medio del análisis de documentos y balances de la Cancillería boliviana, observaciones participantes en eventos, actividades y reuniones organizadas por las instancias consulares de (...) Bolivia y asociaciones de migrantes asentados/as en la ciudad de La Plata y entrevistas y numerosos diálogos informales con los/as principales dirigentes de estos espacios, damos cuenta de los mecanismos a partir de los cuales el Estado se involucra en los procesos de “etnización” conectando (o reforzando las conexiones entre) la trama institucional y la experiencia de la nación de las personas, como de los conflictos y resistencias que debe enfrentar en los intentos de consolidación de sus posicionamientos.El artículo repasa el desprestigio que sufrieron las entidades consulares en la región durante las últimas décadas del siglo XX y los primeros años del XXI y las estrategias que sostienen este intento de reposicionamiento. De esta manera, la tramitación de documentación y la figura de Evo Morales emergen en una trama en la que se conforma y disputa la representación y la autoridad sobre la “colectividad”. (shrink)

Neste trabalho, pretendemos avaliar criticamente algumas das teses de John McDowellsobre a natureza da virtude, tal como expostas em seu artigo “Virtue and Reason” e, ao fazê-lo,expor algumas de suas limitações. Mais especificamente, tratarei o que vejo como problemas emsua apresentação da virtude como uma forma de conhecimento, e sua proposta – corporificada natese da unidade das virtudes – de que as virtudes comumente reconhecidas deveriam ser vistascomo manifestações parciais da virtude enquanto tal. Também enfocarei a assertiva de McDowellde que (...) o conhecimento que constitui a virtude não pode ser visto como tendo um conteúdoproposicional que se preste a uma codificação em princípios de conduta – a tese de nãocodificabilidade– e a relação da postura pessoal de McDowell com a empreitada mais ampla daética de virtudes. (shrink)

Do moral beliefs motivate action? To answer this question, extant arguments have considered hypothetical cases of association (dissociation) between agents’ moral beliefs and actions. In this paper, I argue that this approach can be improved by studying people’s actual moral beliefs and actions using empirical research methods. I present three new studies showing that, when the stakes are high, associations between participants’ moral beliefs and actions are actually explained by co-occurring but independent moral emotions. These findings suggest that moral beliefs (...) themselves have little or no motivational force, supporting the Humean picture of moral motivation. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en presentar una forma de conservadurismo epistémico que sea integral, y que sostiene lo siguiente: a partir de que S cree que p, como respuesta exitosa a su entorno, p adquiere un estatus epistémico favorable por el cual es racional que la creencia se mantenga hasta que aparezcan evidencias superadoras que sean alternativas e incompatibles con p. Además, se indagará en desarrollos posibles que puedan hacer de la versión integral un principio prometedor y a (...) la vez plausible, para concluir que otorga racionalidad a nuestros compromisos doxásticos mediante la constante mejora de las habilidades cognitivas. (shrink)

This paper studies the relationship between organizational ethical climate and the forms of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), including in-role and extra-role behaviors, and examines the mediating effect of employee loyalty. A sample of employees from a traditional Hong Kong-based company was used as a study group. The purpose of this study was to examine the causes and implications of how various ethical work climates affect employee performance. Based on a model proposed by Victor and Cullen, ethical climate is arranged from (...) lower levels to higher levels. The results suggest that lower levels of ethical climate (instrumentality and independence), characterizing a weak relational contract between employee and employer, are associated with negative extra-role behavior. In contrast, higher levels of ethical climate (caring and law-and-code), symbolic of a strong relational contract at work, are associated with positive extra-role behavior. Moreover, normative commitment mediated a positive relationship between caring and identification with the company, whereas attitudinal loyalty mediated the negative relationship between independence and altruism. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. (shrink)

_The following paper highlights the contradictions that exist in the understanding of water: it is considered a marketable resource over which one can exert power and, at the same time, a common good used by the planet’s species and ecosystems. Based on this, and after an analysis of several widespread ideas, the paper proceeds to describe the paradox in the perception of water as a product of an alienated aesthetics that makes it impossible to experience the after-effects of the Westernised (...) world. This lack of perception will be called _aesthetic omission_, corresponding to Eaton’s “nonperceivables” (2000). The text urges us to be aware that these kinds of aesthetics exclusions around water have global effects and ultimately determine the fate of life on Earth itself. Therefore, a complex revision of the established ontology of water is proposed in response._ _Keywords_: water; nonperceivables; aesthetics; epistemology; Earth. (shrink)

Growing literature has linked attention bias variability to the experience and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. Unlike assessments of attention bias in only one direction, A...

La expulsión de los poetas fuera de la ciudad ideal, política elaborada en la República de Platón, es uno de los episodios más comentados en la historia de la filosofía, de modo que no parece haber lugar a novedades sobre el tema. No obstante, en este artículo me dedicaré a un aspecto que parece desatendido por los comentaristas del texto: hay una relación íntima entre la poesía y la oligarquía, entre los imitadores y el régimen de gobierno que ocupa el (...) centro de la escala que va de los mejores a los peores. Entre los poetas caracterizados por Platón y los oligarcas, propondré, la diferencia es únicamente de grado, no de naturaleza, en el mismo sentido en que el filósofo establece la diferencia entre un amo y un rey, ambos por igual gobernantes. A tal fin me detendré en el tratamiento de las figuras del suplicante, el imitador, el oligarca y Odiseo (como personaje que las sintetiza), para atender a los aspectos comunes que hacen posible su reunión. Esto nos llevará a algunas conclusiones sobre el conflicto entre Platón y el anonimato. (shrink)

The paper concentrates on the Chinese philosophical strand of Daoism and analyses in how far this philosophy can contribute to new directions in management theory. Daoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy, which can only be traced back roughly to about 200 or 100 BC when during Han dynasty the writers Laozi and Zhuangzi were identified as “Daoists”. However, during Han dynasty Daoism and prevalent Confucianism intermingled. Generally, it is rather difficult today to clearly discern Daoist thought from other philosophical strands (...) as in the same period also Buddhism, Mohism and Legalism shaped contemporary thinking. Furthermore, there is a difference between the religious practice of Daoism in the sense of popular religion and the theoretical basis of Daoist thought presented in Laozi and Zhuangzi. The religious practice in contrast can have very mystical elements, which are linked to superstition. Moreover, there is also the question of in how far Daoist thought and practice is still prevalent at all in Chinese society today. Hence, the picture of Daoism is heterogeneous, first, regarding the question of what can be defined as the “original core” of Daoism, second, the difference between thought and religious practice, and third, the question of the prevalence of Daoist thought in China today. This paper offers a broader discussion regarding the potential ways of application of Daoist thought today over five parts. First, it illuminates the most important values taught under the name of Daoism. Thereby, it focuses on the Daoist thought and leaves out the actual religious practice together with its mystical elements. Second, these values are then put into the management context to analyse in how far Daoism can broaden our contemporary understanding of management in general and different management styles in particular. Third, Daoism in a management context is then contrasted with the comparably rigid Confucian doctrine also applied in a business context. Here, the application of Daoist and Confucian thought in the fields of leadership, management and corporate ethics is presented and compared. Fourth, insights into the real business practice in China regarding Chinese philosophies like Daoism and Confucianism in fields like management, strategy or corporate ethics are provided. Fifth, an outlook is presented where Daoism is discussed in the context of contemporary debates on sustainability and CSR. Here, the proposed paper illuminates in how far the philosophy of Daoism can also contribute to a more holistic understanding of sustainability and CSR today, thereby contributing to more innovative solutions in management. (shrink)

This study examines what Social Studies teachers can learn from Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) in terms of the content that club members examine and the queer pedagogical approaches they employ. Findings reveal how educators can borrow students’ queer teaching and learning practices, and integrate their insights within Social Studies classrooms to disrupt (hetero/cis)normativity. Data derived from semi-structured interviews with five Canadian high school GSA members were analyzed using the queer theoretical and pedagogical insights of Britzman (1995. Educational Theory, 45(2), 151–165 ; (...) 1998. Lost subjects, contested objects: towards a psychoanalytic inquiry of learning. New York, NY: State University of New York Press), Sedgwick (1990/2008. Epistemology of the closet. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.), and Shlasko (2005 Equity & Excellence in Education, 38(2), 123–134). Three prominent themes emerged: (1) GSAs’ queer educative role compensated for a void in LGBTQ curricular content. Although LGBTQ-inclusive content was evident within some Social Studies, English, and French classes participants called for their teachers to integrate more content that disrupts homophobia and transphobia; (2) the personal characteristics of GSA members provide insight into how Social Studies educators can mirror students’ drive to learn about and challenge preconceived and (hetero/cis)normative assumptions/beliefs; and (3) GSA's queer educational approaches differed from the (hetero/cis)normative teaching and learning practices of their educators. GSA members engaged in student-led dialogue, and spearheaded queer initiatives and events to contest anti-LGBTQ attitudes at their schools. It is argued that when educators follow the lead of GSA members they may enhance their approach to and engagement with LGBTQ topics, and expand the queer pedagogical potential of the Social Studies. (shrink)