Antonio Argandoña, Norbert Bilbeny, Victòria Camps, Miquel Calsina, Àngel Castiñeira, Cristian Palazzi, Ferran Requejo, Raimon Ribera, Begoña Román, Ferran Sàez, Miquel Seguró, Francesc Torralba, Josep Maria Vallès, Rosamund Thomas Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics 2012 3(3):9-16.

Conceptual congruency effects are biases induced by an irrelevant conceptual dimension of a task (e.g., location in vertical space) on the processing of another, relevant dimension (e.g., judging words’ emotional evaluation). Such effects are a central empirical pillar for recent views about how the mind/brain represents concepts. In the present paper, we show how attentional cueing (both exogenous and endogenous) to each conceptual dimension succeeds in modifying both the manifestation and the symmetry of the effect. The theoretical implications of this (...) finding are discussed. (shrink)

People implicitly associate positive ideas with their dominant side of space and negative ideas with their non-dominant side. Right-handers tend to associate “good” with “right” and “bad” with “left,” but left-handers associate “bad” with “right” and “good” with “left.” Whereas right-handers' implicit associations align with idioms in language and culture that link “good” with “right,” left-handers' implicit associations go against them. Can cultural conventions modulate the body-specific association between valence and left-right space? Here, we compared people from Spanish and Moroccan (...) cultures, which differ in the strength of taboos against the use of the left hand, and therefore in their preference for the right. Results showed stronger explicit associations between space and valence in Moroccan participants than in Spaniards, but they did not show any increased tendency for right-handed Moroccans to associate “good” with “right” implicitly. Despite differences in cultural conventions between Spaniards and Moroccans, we find no evidence for a cross-cultural difference in the implicit association between space and valence, which appears to depend on patterns of bodily experience. (shrink)

The growing academic literature on ‘food sovereignty’ has elaborated a food producer-driven vision of an alternative, more ecological food system rooted in greater democratic control over food production and distribution. Given that the food sovereignty developed with and within producer associations, a rural setting and production-side concerns have overshadowed issues of distribution and urban consumption. Yet, ideal types such as direct marketing, time-intensive food preparation and the ‘family shared meal’ are hard to transcribe into the life realities in many non-rural, (...) non-farming households, and it is unclear, in turn, how such realities can fit into models of food sovereignty. A particular practical and research gap exists in how to engage the overwhelming need for food options served under time constraints and (often) outside of the home or a full-service restaurant. The over-generalized vilification of ‘fast food’ should be replaced by a framework that allows us to distinguish between unhealthy, corporate fast foods and both traditional and emerging alternatives that can serve to extend the tenets of food sovereignty further into food processing, distribution and consumption. This article analyzes existing conceptualizations of fast food, explores fast food historically, and studies how food sovereignty can operationalize its tenets and priorities in situations where fast food is an unquestionable necessity. (shrink)

El artículo presenta una reflexión sobre la manera en que en los últimos veinte años la promoción de un determinado tipo de solidaridad en Chile ha contribuido a la conformación de una gubernamentalidad liberal avanzada, necesaria para la instalación de un programa neoliberal. La reflexión se enmarca en los aportes teóricos de Michel Foucault y tiene por objeto empírico piezas de publicidad de promoción de la solidaridad emitidas en Chile entre los años 2009 y 2010, que han sido analizadas en (...) el contexto del proyecto Fondecyt 1090534. Se presentan tres tipos de resultados: (a) se describen los sectores sociales que se construyen como agentes de la solidaridad, (b) se reflexiona sobre las prácticas solidarias más promovidas y (c) se indaga en la forma en que se interpela a los sujetos a ser solidarios. (shrink)

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The constructionist approach of philosophy includes an epistemic dimension and a pragmatic emphasis on the interdependence between knowledge and action in the social areas. Appreciative approach to philosophy is based on the work of David Cooperrider on “Appreciative Inquiry”, which is a form of pragmatic discourse that substitutes the focus (...) on the problem with the focus on successful elements of previous experience of individuals, groups, organizations or communities. This experience can be integrated in the philosophical discourse starting from Plato's dialogues and maieutic method promoted by Socrates. Hermeneutic of the real seen as a philosophical reflection on the daily positive experiences falls into tradition of philosophical search of the ultimate meaning of reality. The appreciative speech starts from a postmodern view by a constructivist and constructionist approach, through which reality itself is a social construction generated by successive negotiations on accepted interpretations. Appreciative philosophy is centered on a semiotics grid that seeks positive qualities of existence and its strengths. Appreciative theology reveals a collaborative process between humanity and divine that catalyzes transformations in human being giving them life including eternal life. The communion human-Divinity is seen as a divine-human co-creation. (shrink)

La diversidad cultural entre los seres humanos es un fenómeno natural y por símismo germen de potenciales conflictos que no acaban nunca. El creador de la Fenomenología, Edmund Husserl, también se preocupó por este fenómeno y podemos decir, grosso modo, que le dedicó los tres volúmenes de Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität. En la perspectiva husserliana, la Einfűhlung surge como complemento necesario de la intersubjetividad, como vía de acceso y comprensión de la interculturalidad y, por consiguiente, como la forma más eficaz (...) de superar divergencias y solucionar conflictos. Al contrario de aquellos que pretenden transformar el mundo de cualquier manera, especialmente a través de la violencia, Husserl preconiza una racionalidad y una habilidad que hagan de tal modo que esa transformación no sea penosa para la humanidad. La evolución del mundo y el progreso de la historia implican una modificación de las conciencias de los hombres-mónadas en orden a un acuerdo universal , para lo que se exige, como mínimo, una coherencia intersubjetiva en un mundo de seres humanos responsables. Para esa coherencia intersubjetiva Husserl apunta como vía indispensable la Einfühlung, de la que distingue diferentes formas y modalidades. También llamada “intencionalidad acoplante”, contribuye a una dinámica asociativa de procesos de “socialidad” y de empatía que testimonian el carácter relacional subjetivo originario presente en el mundo-de-la-vida . Husserl remonta este proceso dinámico, ciertamente con altos y bajos, a los pueblos primitivos, pasando por el mundo de los griegos y por el imperio de los romanos hasta nuestros días. En un mundo tan marcado por el egoísmo y por la violencia como es el nuestro, casi parece una utopía pretender la comprensión exhaustiva del otro por procesos intropáticos, pero es precisamente por eso por lo que la doctrina husserliana sobre esta temática nunca pierde actualidad.The cultural diversity among human beings is a natural phenomenon, which, byitself, can be the start of never-ending conflicts. Edmund Husserl, the creator of the Phenomenology, was also concerned about this phenomenon, and we can say “grossus modus” that he dedicated to this subject the three enormous volumes titled Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität. The Einfűhlung, a necessary complement of the inter-subjectivity, appears, in the perspective of Husserl, like the way to access and understanding of the intercultural, and, consequently, the most efficient method to overcome differences and resolve conflicts. Contrary to those who intend to transform the world by any means possible, especially through use of violence, Husserl extols a rationality and a skill that makes the transformation not painful for mankind. The evolution of the world and the progress of history suggest changes in the consciousness of man “as individual” in order to achieve a universal agreement . What is demanded, at least, is an intersubjective coherence in a world of responsible human beings. For this inter-subject coherence, Husserl essentially points out that the Einfűhlung distinguishes different forms and kinds. This theory is also designated by “adding intentionality” that contributes to a dynamic association of processes of “communities biding” and empathy that witness precisely the origins of the intersubjectivity relations in the life-world . Husserl discussed this dynamic process, with its ups and downs, in relation to the primitive civilizations of the Greeks, the Roman Empire, and through history until the present time. In our world, so scarred by selfishness and violence, it almost seems utopian to claim an exhaustive understanding of “other” for processes of intropathy. But it is just for this reason that the doctrine of Husserl on this subject is always updated. (shrink)

Antonio Argandoña, Norbert Bilbeny, Victòria Camps, Miquel Calsina, Àngel Castiñeira, Cristian Palazzi, Ferran Requejo, Raimon Ribera, Begoña Román, Ferran Sàez, Miquel Seguró, Francesc Torralba, Josep Maria Vallès, Rosamund Thomas Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics 2012 3(3):9-16.

Trabajar con la figura de Sócrates plantea una doble paradoja: por una parte, como ha sido señalado por Antonio Tovar, se puede pretender construir la biografía y a la vez la historia de un personaje que vive en una época en la que estos dos géneros no existen; por otra, si nos atenemos a la opinión más extendida, la propia filosofía se encuentra sólo en embrión y es imposible, por tanto, intentar recogerla realizando una historia de la filosofía.

Normal 0 21 false false false PT-BR X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabela normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Nietzsche doesn't open the use of the word resentment in German philosophy. However, what he does is expand the meaning of the term, leading him to cover the idea of a physiological weakness of a psychic indigestion (...) and also a social sense. In this article we see some of the characteristics of this use of Nietzsche's term and scope of resignification that he imposes to the concept of resentment. (shrink)

In modern times, the philosophical and theological meaning of work acquires an urgency anticipated by the Marxistic materialism and the Christian spirituality, as witnessed by the Economic-philosophical Manuscripts of Karl Marx and the encyclical letter Laborems Exercens of John Paul II. But this preoccupation was already present in earlier times. In Greco-Roman history there were aulical preconceptions about the work of man 's hands, but there were also religious associations of workers where work was celebrated. The fact that God incarnated (...) in a carpenter made Him familiar with such work. The Church Fathers interpret the work of man 's hands as glorification of God, service to one's neighbor and perfection of self In 1127, during the intellectual and social revolution of the twelfth century, Hugh of Saint-Victor gave a philosophical statute to the mechanical arts in his Didascalicon. Saint Bernard, in De Diligendo Deo, identifies work with the flirts of the four degrees of that love which is the supreme law of the universe ordained for God, the supreme love. (shrink)

Boethius and the ideology of the Roman Senatorial aristocracy -- The illness and the healer -- How does Philosophy convey her therapy? -- Christianity and the Consolation.

The much-acclaimed present-day philosophical turn to the letters of Saint Paul points to a profound consonance between ancient and modern thought. Such is the bold claim of this study in which scholars from contemporary continental philosophy, new testamentary studies and ancient philosophy discuss with each other the meaning Paul's terms pistis, faith. In this volume, this theme discusses in detail the threefold relation between Paul and continental thought, the Graeco-Roman world, and political theology. It is shown that pistis does not (...) only concern a mode of knowing, but rather concerns the human ethos or mode of existence as a whole. Moreover, it is shown that the present-day political theological interest in Paul can be seen as an attempt to recuperate Paul’s pistis in this comprehensive sense. Finally, an important discussion concerning the specific ontological implications and background of this reinterpretation of pistis is examined by comparing the ancient ontological commitments to those of the present-day philosophers. Thus, the volume offers an insight in a crucial consonance of ancient and modern thought concerning the question of pistis in Paul while not forgetting to stipulate important differences. (shrink)

O artigo “Encíclica Poética” foi publicado por Eça de Queirós (1845 -1900) na Revista Moderna em 20 de outubro de 1897 e coligido postumamente no volume Notas Contemporâneas , em 1909. Eça versa sobre uma epístola que o Papa Leão XIII (1810-1903) escreveu e dedicou a certo Fabricius Rufus, seu conterrâneo romano, com o intuito de sugerir o que seria uma nobre alimentação cristã. O pontífice, grande conhecedor do latim e adepto de passatempos literários, dava indicações “politicamente corretas” de como (...) colocar a mesa, as bebidas e as suntuosas guloseimas que se iriam servir, constituindo, nas palavras de Eça, uma “encíclica poética sobre a alimentação cristã”. Eça tece comentários sobre a carta papal buscando confrontar os ensinamentos do Papa com as atitudes de vários santos e santas da Igreja Católica que teriam vivido diversas abdicações, dificuldades e renúncias, especialmente com relação à alimentação, para alcançar a santidade. Nas contraposições explicitadas nesse artigo, escrito por Eça apenas alguns anos antes de sua morte, podemos constatar o mesmo discurso crítico e sarcástico voltado à Instituição religiosa e aos seus representantes que permeou obras anteriores como O crime do padre Amaro (1871) e A relíquia (1887). Palavras-chave: Eça de Queirós. “Encíclica Poética”. Notas Contemporâneas. Papa Leão XIII.: The text “Encíclica Poética” was published by Eça de Queirós (1845 -1900) on Revista Moderna magazine on October, 20 th in 1897 and later gathered in the volume Notas Contemporâneas, in 1909. Eça writes about an epistle the Pope Leão XIII (1810-1903) wrote and dedicated to a certain Fabricius Rufus, his Roman countryman, with the aim to suggest what a Christian noble nourishing would be like. The pontiff, great Latin expert and fond of literary pastimes, used to give “politically correct” instructions on how to set the table, the beverages and the opulent dainties about to be served, making, in Eça's words, “ poetic encyclical about Christian food”. Eça comments about the papal letter in the attempt to confront the Pope's teachings with the atittudes of various Catholic Church saints who would have lived several abdications, difficulties and resignations, mainly related to food in order to reach holiness. In the explicit contrasts on this article, written by Eça few years before his death, we can find the same critical and sarcastic discourse towards the religious Institution and its representatives which permeated his previous works as O crime do padre Amaro (1871) and A relíquia (1887). Keywords: Eça de Queirós. “Encíclica Poética”. Notas Contemporâneas. Pope Leo XIII. (shrink)

In this paper we study the presence of elements related to Roman games in the work of the bishop Paulinus of Nola (355-431 AD). References to shows inhis work are not as abundant as they occurs among his contemporaries. Nevertheless, many of these references possess a great importance for us. Certainly, they are similar to other allusions made by his contemporaries; however they express the opinion of one of the most famous and prestigious bishops of the Late Antiquity about these (...) popular exhibitions. In his writings we can see his criticism of the waste of wealth in the organization of the Roman games, and also the use of a metaphorical language with ludical reminiscences whose origins go back to Paul of Tarsus. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to analyze Book III of Bernard of Clairvaux 's treatise De consideratione dedicated to his former disciple, the Pope Eugenius IIL In this particular Book, Bernard considers, on the one hand, the principal duties of the Roman Pontíff concerning spiritual affairs and, on the other reflects about the main problems that at the time were prejudicial of the good order as well as of the religious and moral life and peace expected in the interior (...) of the Ecclesia/Christianitas. The author of the article infers from this analysis that the Doctor Mellífiuous clearly supports the thesis that the Pope must not exercise the fullness of power in spiritualibus (much less in temporalibus), even though there were reasons that could justífy actions of this kind, because they do not have a basis in Scripture nor in Justice; neither does it consider the utility it might have for the faithful, or their sense of decency. The article also underlines the importance and the posterior reception of this Book III in the political writings of William of Ockham and of Marsilius of Padua against the pontifical hierocracy during the first half of the XIV century. (shrink)

La finalidad del presente ensayo consiste en partir de las nociones interrelacionadas de "capitalismo mundial integrado" (Guattari) y de "sociedad de control" (Deleuze) para intentar una deriva que cruce géneros, épocas y nombres propios: de la filosofía al cine y a la poesía (caminos de ida y vuelta), de Benjamin a Serres pasando por Homero, Kavafis, Cioran o Godard, del tardío imperio romano y sus incertidumbres a la imprecisión de nuestro propio tiempo. Posiblemente, pensar hoy la identidad humana sea como (...) nunca antes un asunto de mezcla, de viaje a través de territorios viejos que demandan una nueva cartografía. -/- The purpose of this essay is to depart from the interrelated notions of "whole global capitalism" (Guattari) and the "control society" (Deleuze) to attempt a drift across genders, epochs and proper names: from philosophy to cinema and poetry (roundtrip roads), from Benjamin to Serres, passing through Homer, Kavafis, Cioran or Godard, from the late Roman empire and its uncertainties to our own time. Possibly, thinking today about human identity is as never before, a matter of mixture, of travel through old territories that demand new maps. (shrink)

Originally published in 1921, as part of the Cambridge Plain Texts series, this volume contains two chapters from Cinque piaghe by Italian philosopher and Roman Catholic priest Antonio Rosmini-Serbati. The text is presented in Italian with a short editorial introduction in English. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Rosmini and his philosophy.

Normal 0 21 false false false ES X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} En esta presentación planteo una reflexión sobre un importante condicionante para la gobernabilidad en la actual sociedad del conocimiento: la participación ciudadana en las políticas públicas sobre ciencia y tecnología. Comenzaré con un bosquejo de lo que (...) entiendo genéricamente como “sociedad del conocimiento”. Defenderé los conceptos de sociedad del riesgo y de ciencia reguladora como necesarios para una compresión adecuada del carácter de esa “sociedad” y ese “conocimiento”. En función de este análisis, es posible detectar varios modelos de proyección futura para la sociedad del conocimiento con distintas condiciones de gobernabilidad. Sobre esta base, argumentaré que el nuevo papel del conocimiento en la transformación de la naturaleza y en la dinámica social, así como el creciente protagonismo de la sociedad civil en la vida pública, hace del involucramiento de los agentes sociales en la gestión del cambio científico-tecnológico una condición clave de gobernabilidad en la sociedad del conocimiento. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to make a rhetorical analysis of the op-ed entitled «Finding Design in Nature» by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, published by The New York Times in 2005, three months after the death of John Paul II. In this essay, the Cardinal states that it is an error to affirm that Catholic doctrine is compatible with the «neo-Darwinist» theory of evolution and that the Roman Catholic Church accepts that theory. For the Archbishop, the origin (...) of this error lies in the abuses committed in the interpretation of John Paul’s 1996 speech in which the Pope affirmed that evolution was more than a hypothesis and showed himself more favourable towards evolutionary theory than his predecessors. In his article the Cardinal described that papal message as «vague and unimportant». In this paper, the rhetorical techniques used by Schönborn in his article are analysed: the lexical choices to make a negative assessment of «neo Darwinist» evolutionary theory; the argumentative definition to make a polemical description of that theory; and the polyphonic proceedures designed to decontextualise the papal discourse and present Catholic beliefs as the truth. We interpret Cardinal Schönborn’s position as a rhetorical change with respect to John Paul II’s 1996 speech. From our point of view, the Archbishop directed his criticism against evolutionary theory not only because of its scientific theories (not rejected by Church teaching) but also for being potentially dangerous in its use by certain authors as a scientific argument in defence of their atheism. (shrink)

v. 1. La tópica horaciana en Europa -- v. 2. Teoría poética del Siglo de Oro.

In this study, based in the main political works of D. Fr. Alvarus Pelagius O. Min. (c. 1270- c.1350) we analyze his conception on the origin or efficient cause of the spiritual power and, also, his thought about the finality or final cause of the mentioned power. Referring to the first topic, the Bishop of Silves wants principally refutes some Marsilius of Padua’s thesis contained in the Second Dictio of his Defensor Pacis, completely different of the theology of the catholic (...) priesthood and their hierarchic degrees and the Peter’s Primacy. With this purpose, ad litteram, he bases, between other sources, specially, in James’ of Viterbo OSA De regimine christiano (1301). Concerning the finality of the spiritual power, on the one hand, Alvarus supports the Church’s traditional thought about this matter and, the other hand, by consequence, as member and defender of the hierocratic thought, he defends the thesis according which, in the Societas Christiana, the priests, the bishops and, principally, the Roman Pontiff hold the most important position concerning the secular rulers. (shrink)

Antonio Argandoña, Norbert Bilbeny, Victòria Camps, Miquel Calsina, Àngel Castiñeira, Cristian Palazzi, Ferran Requejo, Raimon Ribera, Begoña Román, Ferran Sàez, Miquel Seguró, Francesc Torralba, Josep Maria Vallès, Rosamund Thomas Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics 2012 3(3):9-16.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} This article aims to examine the phenomenon of social services in post-1989 Romania, underscoring the role of the religious factor in the establishment and operation of nongovernmental organisations active in the area of family and child protection/child welfare. The results are based on empirical data collected from interviews with representatives (...) of NGO-s in Iaşi that correspond to the profile of faith-based organisations and which have been included in the list of accredited providers of social services. We used an assessment grid that allowed us to highlight a number of specific characteristics to the Romanian space, found among faith-based organisations involved in the development of social and medical services. One direction that Romanian organisation took was to dilute in time the religious message and to secularise their practices under the influence of the Orthodox majority, as well as following the requirements imposed by secular donors and especially by public ones. The channelling of private resources donated to religious cults predominantly towards building and restoring establishments (churches, monasteries) rather than towards the development of social faith-based programmes aimed at vulnerable populations has caused in faith-based organisations a high level of dependency on secular donors. The process in which the practices and the discourse are secularised is accompanied by a trend towards the fragmentation of the Christian-based civil society. (shrink)

En este artículo se analiza una recreación quijotesca en la novela de Graham Greene Monseñor Quijote. Para ello se utilizan dos términos procedentes del Derecho romano: los conceptos de autoridad y poder. En esta obra de Greene, la autoridad surge de los libros o de autores de libros, cuya lectura permite que la vida siga teniendo sentido. En Greene encontramos la estrategia de lectura conocida como las sortes virgilianae que permite a los personajes orientarse en las dificultades diarias. Sin embargo, (...) el poder está caracterizado por su condición iletrada, la ausencia de libros y su ignorancia. In this article a novel by Graham Greene entitled Monsignor Quixote is analysed, a book that involves a recreation of the novel by Cervantes. The author of this article employs two concepts from Roman law: authority and power in his analysis. In this work by Greene, authority arises from the books or the book writers, whose reading allows life to keep making sense. In Greene, a strategy of reading known as the sortes virgilianae is found and this allows the characters to get their bearings in the daily difficulties. However, power is described as illiterate, the absence of books and ignorance. (shrink)

This paper, which gives continuity to another article, analyzes the content of I Dialogus V, 14-22 and, in an appendix, presents our Portuguese translation of this excerpt. In these chapters, the Inceptor Venerabilis discusses whether St. Peter and the Roman Church possess primacy over all other apostles and churches; andwhether this primacy is granted by God himself. Ockham first presents, not ad litteram, the opinion of those who refute the thesis that Christ did not give primacy to Peter and the (...) Roman Church. Then, because this thesis fully deflates papal power, he proposes a contrary thesis based on five proofs. We conclude that Ockham’s unnamed opponent is Marsilius of Padua, whose opinions are in his Defensor Pacis. (shrink)

The paper investigates the type of realism that best suits the framework of decoherence taken at face value without postulating a plurality of worlds, or additional hidden variables, or non-unitary dynamical mechanisms. It is argued that this reading of decoherence leads to an extremely radical type of perspectival realism, especially when cosmological decoherence is considered.

In the so-called digital culture, there is a constant presence of radical transformations on the cognitive and affective dimensions of the relations established among teachers and students. Upon this ubiquitous accessibility of information, the very historical and hierarchically verticalized relation between teachers and students has been increasingly questioned. Upon this situation, the authors in this article aim at stating that the revitalization of concepts developed by Paulo Freire, mainly the ones discussed in the books: ‘Pedagogy of Hope’, that sought a (...) re-encounter with ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’, ‘Extension or Communication’ and ‘Pedagogy of Freedom’ became essential to understanding how the relationship between teachers and students can be mutually re-signified. In these times of digital culture, we argue that the revitalization of the critical thinking proposed by Freire is able to foment a dialogical communication both in the pedagogical link shared by teachers and students and in the transformation of information into substantially and ethically experienced concepts. Such substantial and ethical experiences are the ones able to attest that the pedagogy of hope and the pedagogy of freedom are possible, provided they are constituted with the students and not for them. (shrink)

Between the zone of certainty beyond all doubt and the zone of incomprehensible uncertainty, the sources of which are nothing but chance, we need to use solid results from a vast interdisciplinarity. We wish to give here a sense of the factors in play and the state of the debate and advance in the territory of how interdisciplinarity may help to solve problems which are common in many areas of knowledge. Chaos and complexity certainly put limits on what we can (...) know. High complexity, asymmetry and/or non-linearity are universal types of imprecision. Can hazard have purpose and direction?The idea is that the more effort we put into project design to cover as many details and possible consequences as possible we can grasp in our in-depth analysis aiming to create the project (in art or science or society), the greater the chances that the random occurrence of the unpredictable event will settle on the project's purpose and direction and not on contrary to them. There is no vicious circle here. This kind of method can explain many good results already obtained in such circumstances. Simplicity, beauty, rationalistic optimism, are features of unshakeable scientific results We may call this feature of scientific theory or art _uniqueness. _Uniqueness is strongly correlated with _essentialization. _Science is working in that sense: to simplify a phenomenon to its essence in order to study it easily without losing anything important in the analysis. That is _essentialization. _Why and how complex systems move to the edge of chaos? And what do they do to stay there? They are in constant struggle to create or keep order in complexity. That is the pattern of self-organization, the specific feature of human nature. That is why our action is meant to build resilience to deal better with unpredictable events and prevent the emergence of a critical threshold. Uncertainty, indeterminacy, randomness, and contradictions appear, not as non-essential substances of debate to be eliminated by explanation, but as everlasting ingredients of our conception of reality. There are compelling reasons to believe that it is impossible to make accurate, nontrivial predictions concerning human behavior. Logic and reason are and remain priority, but unpredictability forces us to imagination and creative thinking. Indeed we are confronted with a new human landscape. The anomalies become the new normal. (shrink)

The earliest writer who deserves to be called a psychologist is Hobbes; and if we consider the time when he wrote, we cannot fail to be surprised at what I may term his prevision of the most important results which have now been established by science. He was the first clearly to sound the note which has ever since constituted the bass, or fundamental tone, of scientific thought. Let us listen to it through the clear instrumentality of his own language:-.

Pure shape dynamics (PSD) is a novel implementation of the relational framework originally proposed by Julian Barbour and Bruno Bertotti. PSD represents a Leibnizian/Machian approach to physics in that it completely describes the dynamical evolution of a physical system without resorting to any structure external to the system itself. The chapter discusses how PSD effectively describes a de Broglie-Bohm N-body system and the conceptual benefits of such a relational description. The analysis will highlight the new directions in the quest for (...) an understanding of the nature of the wave function that are opened up by a modern relationalist elaboration on de Broglie's and Bohm's original insights. (shrink)

Translated excerpts from works by various authors; original titles and names of the translators given in captions.