From an epistemological viewpoint, the Forms constitute the objects of true knowledge. From an ontological point of view, they are the principles that underlie the order of the universe.

On Contextual Robust Alternatives Resumen: En su libro El libre albedrío: un estudio filosófico Carlos Moya presenta una objeción a los contraejemplos tipo-Frankfurt según la cual lo que hace que una alternativa sea robusta o no es el contexto en el que se encuentra el agente; así, alternativas que, en principio, no se verían como robustas y eximentes, pueden llegar a serlo en circunstancias especiales y los contraejemplos tipo-Frankfurt presentan, justamente, este tipo de circunstancias. En este escrito presento tres (...) objeciones al brillante argumento de Moya. En primer lugar, defiendo que no es claro que la alternativa que él considera robusta esté cumpliendo el papel de soportar, al menos en parte, la atribución de culpa del agente. En segundo lugar, retomo la respuesta que Moya ha dado a una crítica de Pereboom quien lo acusa de presuponer en el seno de su argumento al principio de posibilidades alternativas y, por ende, de caer en una petición de principio. Defiendo que la respuesta que ha dado Moya no le permite eludir la crítica de Pereboom. Finalmente, ofrezco una consideración acerca de cómo podría desarticularse la propuesta de Moya si se logra presentar un contraejemplo tipo-Frankfurt de corte determinista. Palabras clave: Alternativas robustas, contexto, contraejemplos tipo-Frankfurt, Principio de posibilidades alternativas, determinismo.: In his book El libre albedrío: un estudio filosófico Carlos Moya presents an argument against Frankfurt-Style cases according to which what makes an alternative robust and exempting is a matter of the context in which the agent finds himself; thus, alternatives that don’t seem to be robust can become robust and exempting in certain special circumstances, and Frankfurt scenarios present just such circumstances. In this paper I offer three objections to Moya’s brilliant argument. First, I defend that it is not clear that the alternative Moya finds in such cases is doing the work of grounding, at least partially, the attribution of blame to the agent. Secondly, I examine a reply Moya gives to a critique made by Pereboom according to which Moya’s argument presupposes the principle of alternative possibilities and thus begs the question against the compatibilist. I defend that Moya’s response is insufficient to elude Pereboom critique. Finally, I defend that Moya’s strategy can be disarticulated if a deterministic Frankfurt-case can be presented. Keywords: Robust alternatives, context, Frankfurt-style cases, Principle of alternative possibilities, determinism. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se interroga la atencionalidad propia del amor en cuanto que experiencia privilegiada y primordial del cuidado. En busca de un acceso al fenómeno del amor, se propone interrogarlo conforme al tipo de atención que promueve, asumiendo y discutiendo los recursos aportados por la fenomenología husserliana, así como por las fenomenologías contraintencionales, en particular la de Waldenfels. De este modo, si para describir este fenómeno es preciso dar cuenta del fundamento afectivo de la atención, también hay que reconocer que el (...) amor es vivido como un hecho original o un acontecimiento que implica para el amante una reorientación existencial y atencional. ABSTRACT The article inquires into the attentionality inherent to love as a privileged and primordial experience of care. Seeking access to the phenomenon of love, we suggest inquiring into it according to the type of attention it promotes, drawing on and discussing the resources provided by Husserlian phenomenology, as well as by counter-intentional phenomenologies, particularly Waldenfels'. Thus, while it is necessary to account for the affective grounds of attention in order to describe this phenomenon, it is also essential to recognize that love is experienced as an original fact or as an event that entails an existential and attentional reorientation of the lover. (shrink)

Una crítica a los contraejemplos tipo-Frankfurt, presentada por David Widerker y conocida como la "Defensa-W", ha persistido a través de los años como uno de los retos más difíciles que estos han de enfrentar. En este texto defiendo los contraejemplos tipo-Frankfurt de este ataque de Widerker presentando un dilema en el que su premisa fundamental, el Principio de expectativas alternativas, se ve envuelta: o bien la plausibilidad de este principio depende de la máxima kantiana "deber" implica "poder", lo cual haría (...) que el principio mismo, y con él todo el argumento de Widerker, sea redundante y prescindible; o bien no se basa en esta máxima, pero entonces no hay ninguna razón de fuerza por la cual se pudiera defender que este principio debe ser aceptado como válido. A critique presented by David Widerker on Frankfurt-counterexamples and known as the "W-defense" has persisted for years and has been considered one of the most difficult challenges these counterexamples have to face. This paper aims to defend Frankfurt counterexamples against Widerker's attack. For doing this, the paper presents a dilemma addressed to the main premise of Widerker's attack: The Principle of Alternative Expectations. The dilemma states: either this principle rests on the Kant's maxim, "ought" implies "can", and then this makes redundant and unnecessary the principle and Widerker's whole argument; or the principle does not rest on such maxim and then there is no good reason to accept it as valid. (shrink)

Given its non-invasive nature, there is increasing interest in the use of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation across basic, translational and clinical research. Contemporaneously, tVNS can be achieved by stimulating either the auricular branch or the cervical bundle of the vagus nerve, referred to as transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation and transcutaneous cervical VNS, respectively. In order to advance the field in a systematic manner, studies using these technologies need to adequately report sufficient methodological detail to enable comparison of results between (...) studies, replication of studies, as well as enhancing study participant safety. We systematically reviewed the existing tVNS literature to evaluate current reporting practices. Based on this review, and consensus among participating authors, we propose a set of minimal reporting items to guide future tVNS studies. The suggested items address specific technical aspects of the device and stimulation parameters. We also cover general recommendations including inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants, outcome parameters and the detailed reporting of side effects. Furthermore, we review strategies used to identify the optimal stimulation parameters for a given research setting and summarize ongoing developments in animal research with potential implications for the application of tVNS in humans. Finally, we discuss the potential of tVNS in future research as well as the associated challenges across several disciplines in research and clinical practice. (shrink)

Given its non-invasive nature, there is increasing interest in the use of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation across basic, translational and clinical research. Contemporaneously, tVNS can be achieved by stimulating either the auricular branch or the cervical bundle of the vagus nerve, referred to as transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation and transcutaneous cervical VNS, respectively. In order to advance the field in a systematic manner, studies using these technologies need to adequately report sufficient methodological detail to enable comparison of results between (...) studies, replication of studies, as well as enhancing study participant safety. We systematically reviewed the existing tVNS literature to evaluate current reporting practices. Based on this review, and consensus among participating authors, we propose a set of minimal reporting items to guide future tVNS studies. The suggested items address specific technical aspects of the device and stimulation parameters. We also cover general recommendations including inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants, outcome parameters and the detailed reporting of side effects. Furthermore, we review strategies used to identify the optimal stimulation parameters for a given research setting and summarize ongoing developments in animal research with potential implications for the application of tVNS in humans. Finally, we discuss the potential of tVNS in future research as well as the associated challenges across several disciplines in research and clinical practice. (shrink)

Los autores se preguntan por el aporte real de los biocombustibles a la solución de los problemas ambientales. Después de analizar las actuales formas de producción en Brasil, sostienen que la expansión de éstos presionará indirectamente hacia la deforestación, contribuyendo así aún más al calentamiento global. Señalan lo falaz del discurso que justifica la expansión de los biocombustibles por su aporte a la generación de empleo. Sostienen que es fundamental incorporar los requerimentos de sostenibilidad en la cadena de producción para (...) garantizar competitividad a los países potencialmente exportadores, pero que aún así esa solución es limitada ya que todas las energías alternativas y renovables juntas, no suplirían las proyecciones del patrón de consumo mundial. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se lleva a cabo un análisis comparativo de las concepciones fundamentales de la “autoconciencia” de J. G. Fichte y G. H Mead. Tal análisis busca demostrar, como tesis central, que ambas concepciones convergen en la configuración de una idea del sujeto autoconsciente en la que la interacción intersubjetiva se pone a la base de condición de posibilidad del “yo” (Fichte) o del “sí mismo” (Mead). Esta demostración obliga a explicitar los modelos de intersubjetividad que subyacen a (...) las respectivas nociones de autoconciencia, representados, en el caso de Fichte, en la teoría de la “exhortación” y, en Mead, en la teoría de la “asunción de roles”. En esta exploración se busca poner de manifiesto que ambas nociones describen un orden de la intersubjetividad práctica en virtud de la significación normativa contenida en ambos modelos, es decir, en virtud de las actitudes y comportamientos que exigen de los sujetos para toda relación intersubjetiva lograda. Esta significación normativa permite apropiarse finalmente del sentido último que encierran ambas nociones de la autoconciencia: el que ésta es, para ambos pensadores, un fenómeno posible sólo por la mediación social que le precede y en la que se halla originariamente inmersa. (shrink)

This paper makes the case for the relevance of C. G. Hempel’s 1942 proposal of the usage of «covering laws» in History. To do so, it argues that such a proposal reflects how 18 and 19th centuries «philosophy of History» became methods or epistemology of History. This carried a change in meaning of «History»: no longer a succession of past events but the study of documented human action (including of scientific kind in general), its distinction vis-à-vis philosophy, sociology etc., becomes (...) a minor matter as far as logic of research is concerned. Also present in this paper is the conception of theory as a conceptual mode of narrative, and the defense of a development of theories alongside their practice, not apart from them. Authors considered besides Hempel range from Max Weber to Sigmund Freud, from Arthur C. Danto to Albert O. Hirschmann. (shrink)

Bernardi Perini, G. Aceto italico e poesia luciliana: Hor. Sat. I 7.--Bernardinello, S. Bessarione riassume la Fisica di Aristotele.--Bottecchia, M. E. I Mechanicha di Aristotele nel Parisinus graecus 2507.--Bottin, L. La tradizione araba della Retorica di Aristotele e il problema dell'exemplar decurtatum.--Chiereghin, F. Analogie di struttura tra la metodologia della storiografia filosofica di Platone e di Kant.--Ciani, M. G. Poesia come enigma.--Degani, E. Hippon. fr. 40 Med.--Donaldi, F. Note preparatorie all'edizione dell'Encomio di Elena gorgiano nella traduzione latina inedita di Pietro (...) Bembo.--Fumarola, V. Euripide e la tetralogia della femminilità.--Gentilini, A. Una consolatoria inedita del Bessarione.--Ghinatti, F. I culti greci di Paestum.--Longo, O. Note all'Elena e alle Nuvole.--Lunelli, A. Solis rota.--Meschini, A. Su alcuni luoghi del Reso.--Mignucci, M. In margine al concetto aristotelico di esistenza.--Mioni, E. L'Antologia greca da Massimo Planude a Marco Musuro.--Pianezzola, E. Haurio=ferio, perfodio. Un calco omerico mediato dagli scolii.--Pontani, F. M. La distruzione di Melos di Ghiannis Ritsos.--Rinaldi Mioni, G. Aspetto verbale nel greco classico e strutturalismo.--Riondato, E. Problematicità semantica ed etica nell'Etica a Nicomaco.--Serra, G. Alcune osservazioni sulle traduzioni dall'arabo in ebraico e in latino del De generatione et corruptione di Aristotele e dello pseudo-aristotelico Liber de causis.--Traina, A. Convexo nutantem pondere mundum (Verg. Ecl. 4,50).--Valentini, R. La reintroduzione dell'onciale e la datazione dei manoscritti greci in minuscola. (shrink)

Suddha Dharma Mandalam (SDM) is name of an ancient Hierarchy which watches over the evolutionary progress of the Humanity. In the whole Universe the Bhagavad Gita—the Yogic art of Brahman—occupies the most exalted position. The aim of this study is to explain the composition and the mystic-philosophical principles that sustain SDM Bhagavad Gita of 745 slokas and 26 chapters. Suddha Gita contains 745 verses in 26 chapters conformed by the dual extreme “The Pranava” (first and last chapters) and the central (...) body “The Gayatri” of 24 chapters (4 feet). The first (Proem) and last one (Epilogue) represent Vyasthi- and Samasthi-para aspects of The Pranava; these aspects correspond to the Brahman conception of One and Many, respectively. While 4 feet or headings (Gñana-knowledge, Bhakti-desire, Karma-action and Yoga-synthesis) correspond to 4 aspects of eternal Dharma and the 4 keys for life learning (quadruple life-path), the 24 chapters represent the 24 material tatwas. By the other hand, the greatest symbols known are The Pranava or the syllable Om and The Gayatri consisting of 24 syllables. The syllable of Pranava contains 2 expressions: 1) the analytical three-letters AUM which normally appear at the beginning of important mantras, where the first letter represents Atma or the Self-aspect of Brahman; U the Prakriti or the Not-self aspect; M the Shakti or the Force-aspect; 2) the synthetical two-letters OM which normally appear at the end of important mantras, where O (pronounced at center of the palate) integrates the 2 extreme vowels and M similar like before. The AUM at the beginning signifies that Brahman is the source from which the factors manifest themselves, and Om at the end signifies that these factors merge and become synthesized in that very Brahman. No reference has been made to the reason for the introduction by the author of the first and the twenty-sixth chapters and his linking them with the body of the twenty-four chapters compacted together under the four groups. The whole of the current recension is divided into 18 chapters and empirically divided into three shatkas—Kriya, Bhakti and Gñana shatkas, which are based on “tripada gayatri”, although Gayatri to be complete has to be “chatuspada-shadangula” representing the well-known 24 principles, six in each pada. The absence, thus, of a fourth pada as such is a serious unfortunately omission. Today Suddha Gita is valid and it is being read by many people around world, since SDM Order as an outer organization has several schools distributed in American and European countries. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se lleva a cabo un análisis comparativo de las concepciones fundamentales de la “autoconciencia” de J. G. Fichte y G. H Mead. Tal análisis busca demostrar, como tesis central, que ambas concepciones convergen en la configuración de una idea del sujeto autoconsciente en la que la interacción intersubjetiva se pone a la base de condición de posibilidad del “yo” (Fichte) o del “sí mismo” (Mead). Esta demostración obliga a explicitar los modelos de intersubjetividad que subyacen a (...) las respectivas nociones de autoconciencia, representados, en el caso de Fichte, en la teoría de la “exhortación” y, en Mead, en la teoría de la “asunción de roles”. En esta exploración se busca poner de manifiesto que ambas nociones describen un orden de la intersubjetividad práctica en virtud de la significación normativa contenida en ambos modelos, es decir, en virtud de las actitudes y comportamientos que exigen de los sujetos para toda relación intersubjetiva lograda. Esta significación normativa permite apropiarse finalmente del sentido último que encierran ambas nociones de la autoconciencia: el que ésta es, para ambos pensadores, un fenómeno posible sólo por la mediación social que le precede y en la que se halla originariamente inmersa. (shrink)

O bullying é uma violência que pode levar as vítimas a desenvolverem ansiedade, depressão, baixa autoestima e outras sequelas. O objetivo deste estudo foi explorar como o bullying vivenciado na infância e/ou adolescência comprometeu o autoconceito atual de indivíduos adultos, e conhecer as consequências percebidas deixadas pela experiência adversa em suas vidas. Participaram 44 estudantes universitários com média de idade de 22,3 anos, a maioria do sexo feminino, que responderam a um questionário com duas perguntas abertas e questões demográficas. Os (...) dados foram analisados por meios dos softwares SPSS e Iramuteq. Os resultados mostraram a percepção de sintomas clássicos (e.g., ansiedade, baixa autoestima) e deram indícios de trauma psicológico, bem como confirmaram o comprometimento do autoconceito atual. É discutida a necessidade de intervenções preventivas do bullying, acompanhamento psicológico e promoção de autoconceito positivo nas vítimas como estratégias para promover saúde psicológica e melhor qualidade de vida para as mesmas. (shrink)

This volume is a study of the influence of Timaeus on the development of Western cosmology in three axial periods of European culture: Late Antiquity, Middle Ages and Renaissance.

As Anotações sobre as cores não têm tido o destaque merecido, pois parecem um conjunto parcialmente amorfo e desconexo, com precária estrutura de conjunto. Isso se deve, em grande medida, ao estado da edição dos textos realizada por G. E. M. Anscombe, que despreza variantes, faz sugestões equivocadas para a datação dos manuscritos, suprime parágrafos, além de ter desfigurado a Parte II, ordenando equivocadamente esses parágrafos. Uma edição bem cuidadaé necessária à recuperação de suas chaves interpretativas, permitindo-nos um roteiro claro (...) de leitura. Desse modo, a Parte II logo se apresenta como um projeto de tratamento de proposições gramaticais sobre cores, ao que se segue o extenso e rico material da Parte III, a ser lido em conjunto com a Parte IV. Assim, em conjunto, essas partes preparam a bem elaborada Parte I, que sintetiza os principais problemas anteriores e, de modo claro, mostra as razões mais profundas para o fracasso da análise fenomenológica de Goethe e, por conseguinte, de toda fenomenologia que se pretenda uma ciência definitiva do conceito de cor ou que, em relação a outros temas, pretenda universalizar a "matemática" própria de um emprego específico. (shrink)

En este artículo nos proponemos explicitar la doble significación que presenta el concepto de reconocimiento en la teoría psico-social del sí mismo que expone G. H. Mead en su texto fundamental Espíritu, Sí Mismo y Sociedad (1973) La tesis de fondo es la de que esta distinción apunta, a su vez, a una doble forma de realización del individuo, gracias a la cual éste deviene como sujeto reconocido como portador de derechos en el todo de la comunidad a la que (...) pertenece (socialización), y como individuo dueño de una peculiaridad o superioridad funcional que se ven reconocidas en el proceso de relacionarse con los otros (individuación). En una conclusión final se pone de manifiesto el modelo de sociedad que subyace a esta distinción en el planteamiento de Mead. Palabras clave: Comunicación, autoconciencia, reconocimiento, “mí”, “yo”, autorrealización. (shrink)

Anticipating the fifth centennial of Vives’ birth in 1992, this is the first comprehensive study of two of Vives’ main works, De Anima et Vita, Book 3 and De Prima Philosophia, accompanied by the first general biography based on recent research. Juan Luis Vives was a Spanish sixteenth-century humanist who spent most of his life as an exile in England and the Low Countries. De Anima et Vita, the third book of which makes up the tract on emotions, represents the (...) culmination of Vives’ effort to understand human nature. Noreña has organized Vives and the Emotions into three parts. Part one incorporates recent research on Vives and corrects some of the inaccuracies of Noreña’s 1970 Luis Vives. He provides expanded accounts of Vives’ attitude toward Erasmus and religion, his reaction to terminist logic, his social and legal views, and his contributions to Renaissance pedagogy. The second part of the book examines in detail one of Vives’ most philosophical and forgotten tracts, a lengthy summary of his metaphysical views published in 1531 under the title De Prima Philosophia seu de Intimo Naturae Opificio, which is probably the most speculative of Vives’ works. Part three compares Vives’ thoughts on emotion to those of Aristotle, some ancient Stoic sources, Saint Thomas, Descartes, and Spinoza, while dividing the entire material under such headings as the nature, the classification, the interaction, and the therapeutic control of emotion. (shrink)

In a series of recent papers, Jonathan Schaffer presents a novel framework for understanding grounding. Metaphysical laws play a central role. In addition, Schaffer argues that, contrary to what many have thought, there is no special 'explanatory gap' between consciousness and the physical world. Instead, explanatory gaps are everywhere. I draw out and criticize the methodology for metaphysics implicit in Schaffer's presentation. In addition, I argue that even if we accept Schaffer's picture, there remains a residual explanatory gap between consciousness (...) and the physical. The residual gap does most of the same philosophical work as the original. Schaffer has introduced a troublesome metaphysical methodology that fails to follow through on its biggest promise: to deflate the explanatory gap. (shrink)

Mathematical Essays in Honor of Gian-Carlo Rota, Boston, Basel, Berlin, ... Crapo, H. (1993), On the Anick-Rota Representation of the Bracket Ring of the ...

Starting from the first centenary of Carlo Cattaneo's birth in 1901, the Author reviews the publication of his works in concomitance with the interpretation and diffusion of his thinking. From the first ample collection of writings, down to Bertani and other friends, to the anthology by Gaetano Salvemini, from Alessandro Levi's monograph to the interpretations of Norberto Bobbio and Luigi Ambrosoli, the article shows the interweaving between the exegesis and the piecing together of Cattaneo's dispersed works, the complete retrieval of (...) which is being undertaken by the Italo-Swiss Committee set up in 1946. It ends with the new national edition of his works, which on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death in 2019 saw the publication of the fourth volume of his Lettere, the eighth volume in the entire collection. (shrink)

Averroès, musulman andalou du XIIe siècle, discute le " De anima " d'Aristote dans une approche rationalisante du rapport entre religion et philosophie, entre étude de la vérité révélée et surnaturelle, et étude démonstrative de l'univers. La béatitude spirituelle de l'homme est décrite dans le Coran. En philosophie, elle serait l'union de son intellect à l'intellect agent universel.

Discusses the nature of choice in terms of discovering God's will, tells how to face the fear of choosing, and looks at the role of compromise.

Wie sich die Augen der Nachteule zum Tageslicht verhalten, so die Vernunft unserer Seele zu dem was, seiner Natur nach am offenbarsten ist. Dieser Vergleich des Aristoteles am Anfang der Metaphysik (II, 993b9-11) hat in der mittelalterlichen Philosophie Anlass gegeben zu verschiedenen Interpretationen. Was hier zur Diskussion steht, ist die Frage, ob dem Menschen eine Erkenntnis dessen moglich ist, was sich der sinnlichen Wahrnehmung entzieht. Kann der Geist, der mit dem Korper verbunden ist, die substantiae separatae erkennen, die ersten Ursachen (...) dieser Welt, die selbst diese physische Ordnung uberschreiten. Es ist die scholastische Version der modernen Frage nach der Moglichkeit der Metaphysik. In dieser Lectio Albertina untersucht Carlos Steel am Beispiel der Interpretation des Nachtvogel-Gleichnisses, wie unterschiedlich Thomas und Albert die Frage nach der erkenntnistheoretischen Grundlage der Metaphysik beantwortet haben. Die Differenz zwischen beide Positionen wird auch die spatere Diskussion bis in die Renaissance kennzeichen. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Heirs of Plato: A Study of the Old Academy (347–274 BC)Carlos SteelJohn M. Dillon. The Heirs of Plato: A Study of the Old Academy (347–274 BC). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2003. Pp. x + 252. Cloth, $65.00.When Plato died, in 347 BC, he left behind not only the collection of philosophical dialogues we still read with admiration, but also a remarkable organization, the "Academy," wherein his students (...) continued the discussion he had initiated. Dillon's latest book is an attempt to recreate the intellectual climate in the Academy during the first generations after Plato's death, the "Old Academy," called thus to distinguish it from the "New Academy," which started with Arcesilaus in the mid 270's, who abandoned doctrinal speculations for a sceptical stance. Given the elusive nature of the dialogues, the interpretation of Plato's philosophy has been controversial from the beginning. Therefore, scholars always have been eager to know in which direction Plato's first successors—Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo—took the Academy; thus they hoped to find some justification for their own interpretation of Plato. Unfortunately, our information on the doctrines of Plato's first successors is scarce. Browsing through the fragments collected by scholars, one may be tempted to conclude that it is not such a great disaster that most texts of the Old Academy have been lost. For it seems that the Academy after Plato was leaning towards a rather esoteric metaphysical speculation about the first principles, which makes us lament on what has become of the philosophical heritage of Plato, a genius fallen into the hands of epigones. One gets the impression that the original and refreshing philosophical contributions came from outside the Academy, from the Lyceum founded by Aristotle and continued by Theophrastus, and later from Epicurus and Zeno and their new schools, which will dominate the Hellenistic period. This, however, is not the view of Dillon: "It will be the thesis of this book that Speusippus and Xenocrates set the agenda for what was to become, over the succeeding centuries, the intellectual tradition which we call Platonism" (v). Even early Stoicism is, in Dillon's view, a "development and formalization of contemporary Platonism" (235).In an introductory chapter Dillon discusses the location and juridical structure of the Academy and gives a general survey of the main doctrines of the school. The following three chapters present the lives, work and thought of the first heads of the Academy; a final chapter is devoted to some minor members of the early Academy. The book concludes with a short epilogue on Arcesilaus and the reasons for his turn to scepticism. Dillon is an [End Page 204] excellent writer who knows how to tease out and expound the most abstruse philosophical doctrines in a captivating way, mixing, as he does here, biographical anecdotes and witty comments with a sharp analysis of arguments and a speculative reconstruction of lost doctrines. I doubt, however, whether this book will become such a classic as his celebrated The Middle Platonists (Ithaca, 1977).My first worry is anticipated by Dillon himself: "This is perforce a rather speculative book, and no doubt it will be criticized for that" (vii). Dillon defends himself against this critique: I have tried, he says, "to put the most favourable construction on the evidence available to us," his assumption being that the figures he is dealing with "were not philosophical imbeciles"(vii). My reservations are not about Dillon's attempt to construct a coherent doctrine using all relevant information on an author, but about his method of reconstruction, in particular his speculation and his preference for often questionable later material to fill the gaps in our information. "With a good deal of speculation, our exiguous information on Polemo's philosophical position can be fleshed out somewhat" (176). Thus, in his exposition of Speusippus's doctrine of the first principles, Dillon does not start from Aristotle, considering him too biased, but from chapter 4 of Iamblichus's treatise De communi mathematica scientia. In this Neo-Pythagorean treatise, Speusippus is not even mentioned. Even if there are arguments, as Dillon believes, to attribute the doctrine of Chapter 4 to Speusippus, one should... (shrink)

Plutarch, in his work,_ Peri __Deisidaimon_ia_ __,_ presents a striking portrayal of superstition in the First Century. The Philosopher who also served for decades as a priest of Apollo portrays the pernicious effects of some supposed religious practices as worse than the outcome of atheism. His position constitutes a forceful explanation to ostensibly controversial socio-religious behaviours. This article discusses some of the priest’s concerns as well as his rebuff of religious attitudes that are borne out of what he describes as (...) misrepresentation of the gods or superstition. Plutarch’s essay is seen as illustrating a reason for a socio-religious situation in Africa, a continent that shares a similar religious background with the world of the writer. Specifically, with the example of the hard fight against street begging in some parts of Nigeria, the article shows how social reform programmes could fail when effects of traditional African beliefs and cultural practices remain potent. __. (shrink)

Organic crosstalk or intercommunication among different organs is an interesting medical concept based on the biosemiotic perspective which considers the organism as a process maintained by the vital information flow between structural plane and biosemiotic plane, both with their different layers of biological complexity. From this point of view the organ is not merely the structure which produces crosstalk but just as much its product. The crosstalk perspective seeks two main goals: to investigate the characteristic serum biosemiotic patterns of pathogenic (...) organic crosstalk in order to achieve early diseases diagnosis, and to learn how to correct it. These achievements could allow physicians to evolve from a medical practice that focuses on misbiosemiotic effects, diagnosing and treating damaged organs, to a medical practice that focuses on misbiosemiotic processes, in this way diagnosing and treating pathogenic organ crosstalk before it culminates in organ damage. (shrink)

Nnewi is situated some 30 kilometres South East of Onitsha in Anambra State in the southeastern part of Nigeria. This highly commercial town has undergone rapid urbanisation and industrialisation within the past two decades, since the end of the 1967–1970 Nigerian civil war. The Igbo community of the study area had traditionally employed bioconversion methods and other indigenous technology to process or recycle bio and non-degradable wastes. Industrialisation has enjoyed priority status in this locality as a requirement for modernisation and (...) economic progress. The rapid urbanisation, aggressive industrialisation, and the attendant uncontrolled population growth have had a deleterious impact on the environment. There is now a wide range of industrial wastes that are released daily into the environment. Effects of these activities on the socio-cultural practices of the people, plant genetic resources and the environment are highlighted. In addition to palliative measures suggested here, a call is made to revisit the successful indigenous waste treatment and management technology formerly practised by the Igbo community. The importance of combining modern biotechnological approaches with the indigenous technology, norms and practices of Nwewi people to effect suitable waste treatment and management, as well as improving the living habits and the education of the people about their environment, is recommended. (shrink)

The incense used in some cults and oracles in antiquity seems to have possessed the power to induce visions and prophecies. a study of its components, from an ethnobotanical perspective, reveals us their psychoactive power.

Philosophy of Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa's Lam rim chen mo.

He also protected higher causes from responsibility by saying that evil may result from a combination of goods. Proclus objects: evil is real, and not the mere privation of form. Rather, it is a parasite feeding off good. Parasites have no proper cause, and higher beings are thus vindicated as being the causes only of the good off which evil feeds."--BOOK JACKET.

Desde el terreno de la filosofía como estilo de vida, y de la subjetividad social y la interpretación como quehacer investigativo, analizo primero los relatos autobiográficos en su relación con la acción social y sus sentidos, es decir, la subjetividad social. Luego, presento una reflexión sobre la reconstrucción de la experiencia personal durante el relato (y el papel que juega la memoria en dicho proceso), que culmina con la incorporación del mito, como forma de configurar la narración desde un saber (...) colectivo de gran plasticidad. Termino presentando la utilidad metodológica del relato de vida en una investigación de corte praxeológico. (shrink)