BackgroundThe positive component of Mental Health Literacy refers to a person’s awareness of how to achieve and maintain good mental health. Although explored recently, the term still lacks a clear definition among healthcare practitioners.AimTo identify the attributes and characteristics of PMeHL, as well as its theoretical and practical applications.MethodsLiterature search and review, covering the last 21 years, followed by concept analysis according to the steps described by Walker and Avant approach.ResultsPositive component of Mental Health Literacy is considered one component of (...) MHL, integrating positive mental health. The concept’s attributes include: competence in problem-solving and self-actualization; personal satisfaction; autonomy; relatedness and interpersonal relationship skills; self-control; and prosocial attitude. Four case scenarios were used to clarify the antecedents and consequences of PMeHL.ConclusionPositive component of Mental Health Literacy is considered a component of MHL, which deserves attention throughout the lifespan, in different contexts and intervention levels. Considering PMeHL as a multi-faceted and dynamic construct will help understand the mechanisms that improve mental health and promote healthy behaviors. Priority should be given to robust primary research focused on nursing interventions that enhance and sustain PMeHL in people and families. (shrink)

Many philosophers believe that our ordinary English words man and woman are “gender terms,” and gender is distinct from biological sex. That is, they believe womanhood and manhood are not defined even partly by biological sex. This sex/gender distinction is one of the most influential ideas of the twentieth century on the broader culture, both popular and academic. Less well known are the reasons to think it’s true. My interest in this paper is to show that, upon investigation, the arguments (...) for the sex/gender distinction have feet of clay. In fact, they all fail. We will survey the literature and tour arguments in favor of the sex/gender distinction, and then we’ll critically evaluate those arguments. We’ll consider the argument from resisting biological determinism, the argument from biologically intersex people and vagueness, the argument from the normativity of gender, and some arguments from thought experiments. We’ll see that these arguments are not up to the task of supporting the sex/gender distinction; they simply don’t work. So, philosophers should either develop stronger arguments for the sex/gender distinction, or cultivate a variety of feminism that’s consistent with the traditional, biologically-based definitions of woman and man. (shrink)

Donald Davidson and John Searle famously differ, among other things, on the issue of animal thoughts. Davidson seems to be a latter-day Cartesian, denying any propositional thought to subhuman animals, while Searle seems to follow Hume in claiming that if we have thoughts, then animals do, too. Davidson’s argument centers on the idea that language is necessary for thought, which Searle rejects. The paper argues two things. Firstly, Searle eventually argues that much of a more complex thought does depend on (...) language, which reduces a distance between himself and Davidson. Secondly, some of Davidson’s suggestions are promising – in particular the idea that we may lack a vocabulary to capture the contents of animal thoughts. Based on this insight, one might, pace Davidson, grant thoughts to animals. However, this does not mean, pace Searle, that it should be possible to construe even the simplest of such thoughts as propositional. Perhaps we need to move beyond Davidson and Searle by developing a theory of nonpropositional thought for animals. (shrink)

El artículo intenta abordar una evaluación del modelo normativo de relaciones internacionales bosquejado recientemente por John Rawls. Para ello subraya sus virtudes y sus defectos mediante el contraste con la propuesta de otro teórico político contemporáneo que también bebe de las fuentes kantianas del ideal cosmopolita: Jürgen Habermas. El autor concluye con una propuesta en la que la diversidad cultural y los ideales normativos cosmopolitas son integrados más allá de la completa aceptación de la facticidad y de la total abstracción (...) uníversalista insensible al contexto. (shrink)

Em 1911, Henri Bergson proferiu na Universidade de Oxford conferências em que associa sua visão das ciências ao pensamento grego. Com base nessa comparação, trata-se de reconstituir sua análise das ciências e da metafísica desde os cursos que ele ofereceu na juventude sobre a filosofia grega. Consideramos que eles explicitam tanto seu vínculo com a tradição filosófica quanto a radicalidade do seu pensamento, sobretudo nas conclusões metafísicas de A evolução criadora. Nesse percurso, pretendemos distinguir a física e a matemática da (...) psicologia e da biologia; reconstituir as diferenças que ele identifica entre escolas gregas; cotejar postulados do pensamento antigo com os do pensamento moderno; e demonstrar com quais aspectos dessas referências a filosofia bergsoniana possui maiores afinidades. Não se trata de reduzir seu pensamento à filosofia dos antigos, mas demonstrar como essa interlocução é especialmente profícua em sua análise das ciências e da metafísica. (shrink)

This article seeks to present the foundations in Foucault’s thought that led him to elaborate the concept of archeology and, in addition, try to recognize its limits. To achieve this, we present his main theoretical dialogues at the beginning of his investigations and the reasons that made necessary to reframe that concept later. Among the conclusions of this study, we suggest that the allegorical conception of language, that was sustained over the period, is formally similar to the structure of metaphysical (...) thought and, as such, is abandoned by Foucault as an attempt to create an original philosophical reflection. (shrink)

resumo: Este trabalho investiga os laços entre a técnica, a metafísica e o totalitarismo, com base nos pensamentos de Heidegger e Arendt. Além disso, propõe que tais análises sugerem que a filosofia e a história pertencem a um enredo trágico fundamental. Para tanto, de início pesquisamos em que medida o ambivalente sentido de esgotamento e salvação, presente em diversas abordagens da técnica, implica a produção de prognósticos e uma reflexão teleológica. Investigamos se estes são elementos que, no século XX, serviram (...) de artifício para a legitimação da barbárie em movimentos totalitários e se permanecem necessariamente intrínsecos a toda visão da técnica. A abordagem de Heidegger, em alternativa, volta-se às origens da metafísica, onde residem as decisões que teriam culminado na técnica moderna, e onde presumimos estar enraizada esta estrutura trágica. a bstract: This study investigates the links between art, metaphysics and totalitarianism, based on the thoughts of Heidegger and Arendt. It also proposes that such analyses suggest that philosophy and history belong to a fundamental tragic plot. To do so, we start researching how the ambivalent sense of exhaustion and salvation, present in many approaches of technique, involves the production of prognoses and teleological reflection. We investigate if these are elements which, in the twentieth century, served as a device for legitimizing barbarity in totalitarian movements and if it remains necessarily intrinsic to every view of technique. Heidegger's approach, instead, turns to the origins of metaphysics, where the decisions that would have culminated in modern technique lie, and where we presume this tragic structure is rooted. (shrink)

[Utilitarism, Nazism, and Euthanasia] The article is an answer to Prof. Munzarová who criticised my defence of physician-assisted suicide. The article points to shortcomings in the reply of prof. Munzarová which flow from the author’s underestimation of normative theory. Among these shortcomings are the ignoring of the arguments of her opponent; her calling into question the moral credit of the proponents of the competing theory (utilitarianism) rather than a critical analysis; unclear theoretical principles (a switching between paternalism and autonomy, the (...) presentation of the “principle of double-effect” as the standpoint of common sense); an unconvincing version of the “argument of the slippery slope” (ignoring the diametrical differences between the contemporary demand of some patients for assisted death and the Nazi programme of involuntary euthanasia). (shrink)

In this work I argue for the thesis that Grice’s intentional-cooperative analysis of assertion works at three levels: the logical, the epistemological and the normative. I use “conventional implicature” as example. First part shows that other approaches to assertion can’t give an accurate description of semantic content. I point to a general, twofold conclusion: the truth-conditional approach fails by neglecting intentional acts to be the meaning blocks; the rule-oriented approach misses its target by disregarding that all communicative acts are intentional, (...) but many are not conventional. Assertion includes some features of intentional action, the main theme in second part. As rational justification is the basis of intention, the solution of some remaining problems connected to assertion may rest in the justificatory structures underlying intention. Judgment, the epistemic variety of rational acceptability, determines, on one hand, the infelicity in conventional implicature cancellation and, on the other, shows why convention is just a minor component in the theory of meaning. Justification deems a special methodology in which causal explanations of meaning and representation can be replaced by justifications, teleological in character. The rationalist background of Grice’s proposal is thus stressed, as well as his conception of rationality as the body of capacities in charge of identifying and attributing value. Following this interpretation, other problems on meaning and communication, for example the relations between the Cooperative Principle and the conversational maxims, can be dealt with. (shrink)

El interés filosófico que despierta la doctrina profetológica de Maimónides encuentra su justificación si con ello se hace justicia, al menos, a lo que en cierta tradición reflexiva se ha entendido como las disposiciones fundamentales que han de acompañar a la filosofía como actitud. Pero, además, ese interés está prefijado, en contraste, por una señalada y actual merma de esas disposiciones en el pensar de buena parte de quienes hoy día se dedican a un arrogante uso publico de la razón.

[How is Irrationality Possible? Davidson and the Split Mind] The paper deals witht Davidson's response to the challenge posed to his theory of mind by the phenomena of irrationality. This challenge is especially acute for Davidson, since he famously argued that it is a necessary condition on intentional agency that the agent be largely rational. The author begins by defending Davidson against some recent critics of perfect rationality. The middle part of the paper is an explication of Davidson's own theory (...) of irrationality, usually ignored by his critics. Somewhat similar to Freud, Davidson posits a split within the mind -- though not between conscious and subconscious parts, but rather between the mental states that are related to others as reasons and those that are mere causes. The final part of the paper critiques this proposal. (shrink)

This article presents an analysis of how a male convert to Islam incorporates events from his life history into a narrative structure in order to construct and maintain a Muslim identity. The study focuses on how the individual and in particular a person's life history becomes social and universal, and how the social and universal becomes particularized and individualized, in the narration of life. The results of the analysis showed that the valued endpoint determines the selection and ordering of different (...) episodes, and the causal connections that are made between them. Many episodes in this convert's life story is similar to other converts' narratives, for example, descriptions of absent significant others during childhood, an inclusion of a Christian phase in life, and the importance attributed to the Qur'an in the process of conversion. The incorporation of these episodes in one's life story and the way the narratives are structured are interpreted as influences from collective narratives. Moreover, the analysis revealed that the selected episodes have important social, individualizing and sedative functions in the flux of discourses in postmodern society. Thus, the individual's Muslim identity is an amalgamation of the particular and the universal and the importance of the narratives lies in the fact that they can integrate particular experiences into a universal structure that gives them a meaning. (shrink)

The article deals with the conception of backward causation, i.e. with the question whether an effect can precede its cause. It analyses some arguments for possibility of backward causation. It is especially Dummett’s theory of quasi-causation that is a moderate form of backward causation concept. The article refuses the arguments for possibility of backward causation as unconvincing of false.

The article investigates the problem of the truth as the purpose of the criminal procedure, the problem of its cognition. Individuals carrying out criminal procedure activities (including the court) are servants of the procedural form and, at the same time, its hostages, therefore they are unable to approach the objective, absolute truth and should be content with the formal (legal) truth. This position falls under criticism. Attempts to artificial segmentation of the truth to its separate categories or forms are nothing, (...) but justification of the procedural erosion of a certain form. The article offers the opinion that the classical criminal procedure shall establish absolute, not formal (legal) truth. The truth is not only an aspiration of the criminal procedure, but, at the same time, a derivative, regulatory principle, the idea that works only in classical criminal procedure. This principle does not work in quasi-processes, i. e. in those criminal procedure forms that are organically separated from the classical procedure form. (shrink)

According to Bergson, there is no laugh without an « anaesthesia of the heart ». A kind of malice always ultimately lies in the depths of the pleasure of laughter. Can this pleasure be mora l ? It creates an affective community which can be both the site of identity and that of challenge, of calling everything into question. Cathartic, conservative, revolutionary, philosophical, desperate, the pleasure of laughter is a complex passion which must be taken seriously.

Whereas boson coherent states with complex parametrization provide an elegant, and intuitive representation, there is no counterpart for fermions using complex parametrization. However, a complex parametrization provides a valuable way to describe amplitude and phase of a coherent beam. Thus we pose the question of whether a fermionic beam can be described, even approximately, by a complex-parametrized coherent state and define, in a natural way, approximate complex-parametrized fermion coherent states. Then we identify four appealing properties of boson coherent states (eigenstate (...) of annihilation operator, displaced vacuum state, preservation of product states under linear coupling, and factorization of correlators) and show that these approximate complex fermion coherent states fail all four criteria. The inapplicability of complex parametrization supports the use of Grassman algebras as an appropriate alternative. (shrink)

[St. Bonaventura: The Mind’s Search for God.].

The paper distinguishes between various versions of conceptual relativism and tries to reduce their number to two final alternatives: those of weak and strong conceptual relativism. The author argues that while a weak, pluralist version of conceptual relativity might be acceptable, the stronger version, as defined in the paper, cannot be coherently formulated. The argument of the paper draws on recent criticism of conceptual relativism by Anthony Brueckner, and tries to extend it further.

Článek se pokouší o koherentní interpretaci Quinových nečetných vyjádření na téma realismus. Autor konstatuje, že Quinovy názory vykazují různorodé tendence: Quine ve svých textech přechází od úvah, které bychom označili za idealistické , k pozici spíš realistické. Článek má dvě části. První je věnována Quinovu chápání positů a jeho tezím o naturalizaci filosofie a imanenci pravdy teorii. Druhá část pak obsahuje úvahu o Quinově známé tezi o nevymezitelnosti reference a jejích důsledcích pro otázku realismu. Autor dochází k závěru, že diskrepance (...) epistemologického a ontologického hlediska, přítomná v mnoha Quinových pracích, vede k permenantnímu rozštěpu dvou hledisek na realitu vnějšího světa, která se zdají být neslučitelná v jedné koherentní filosofické pozici. (shrink)

Dealing with phonological variations is important for speech processing. This article addresses whether phonological variations introduced by assimilatory processes are compensated for at the pre-lexical or lexical level, and whether the nature of variation and the phonological context influence this process. To this end, Swedish nasal regressive place assimilation was investigated using the mismatch negativity component. In nasal regressive assimilation, the coronal nasal assimilates to the place of articulation of a following segment, most clearly with a velar or labial place (...) of articulation, as in utan mej “without me” > [ʉːtam mɛjː]. In a passive auditory oddball paradigm, 15 Swedish speakers were presented with Swedish phrases with attested and unattested phonological variations and contexts for nasal assimilation. Attested variations – a coronal-to-labial change as in utan “without” > [ʉːtam] – were contrasted with unattested variations – a labial-to-coronal change as in utom “except” > ∗[ʉːtɔn] – in appropriate and inappropriate contexts created by mej “me” [mɛjː] and dej “you” [dɛjː]. Given that the MMN amplitude depends on the degree of variation between two stimuli, the MMN responses were expected to indicate to what extent the distance between variants was tolerated by the perceptual system. Since the MMN response reflects not only low-level acoustic processing but also higher-level linguistic processes, the results were predicted to indicate whether listeners process assimilation at the pre-lexical and lexical levels. The results indicated no significant interactions across variations, suggesting that variations in phonological forms do not incur any cost in lexical retrieval; hence such variation is compensated for at the lexical level. However, since the MMN response reached significance only for a labial-to-coronal change in a labial context and for a coronal-to-labial change in a coronal context, the compensation might have been influenced by the nature of variation and the phonological context. It is therefore concluded that while assimilation is compensated for at the lexical level, there is also some influence from pre-lexical processing. The present results reveal not only signal-based perception of phonological units, but also higher-level lexical processing, and are thus able to reconcile the bottom-up and top-down models of speech processing. (shrink)

[The Ethics of Human Enhancement and Liberal Eugenics] The paper deals with the ethics of biotechnological enhancement of human qualities such as intelligence, health and lifespan. In contemporary bioethics three views have emerged concerning the moral permissibility of such a biotechnological enhancement of humans. While bioconservatives reject it as morally impermissible and dangerous, bioradicals welcome it as permissible and desirable. Between these two extremes we find bioliberals who admit some types of enhancement, under certain conditions. These debates are still overshadowed (...) by fear of eugenics, but this discredited term needs to be rehabilitated because it turns out that there are both desirable and undesirable forms of eugenics. (shrink)

[From Euthanasia to Infanticide] The paper revisits the recent controversy over Dr. Mitlőhner’s defense of infanticide, published in this journal. In section 1, I point out the weaknesses of Mitlőhner’s paper. In sections 2 and 3 I turn to the most sophisticated defense of infanticide on offer today, that of Peter Singer’s. Section 2 sums up Singer’s description of the medical practice as already having abandoned the traditional ethic of equal value of all human lives, which motivates ethical revisionism. However, (...) an explicit justification of a revision is necessary. This is the job of Singer’s Replacement Argument, examined in section 3. I argue that this justification of infanticide in completely impersonal terms fails. In section 4, I reject it in favor of Ronald Dworkin’s distinction between experiential interests, possessed by infants, and critical interests that develop later. Hence, neonatal euthanasia can sometimes be justified in terms of a newborn‘s own interests (presumably, to relieve its suffering), not in impersonal terms. The only exception is those infants that lack any capacity for cognitive activity whatsoever, and who thus lack even experiential interests. It is an open question whether their “life” differs from death, and whether by killing them we perform infanticide. (shrink)

The article deals with the position of Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander sen. in the history of philosophy, history of science and philosophy of science. It works on humanistic foundation of Osiander’s thought and his elaboration of the tradition of the antient wisdom and Christian cabbala of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in particular in the biblical exegesis. The article deals with Osiander’s edition of Nicolaus Copernicus’ book De revolutionibus orbium caelestium as well and with his edition of the mathematical work of (...) Girolamo Cardano. In the context of philosophy of science Osiander’s foreword to Copernicus is analyzed and its role in the controversy between instrumentalism and realism is assessed. Osiander’s instrumentalism is viewed as an anachronism. Finally, the influence of Neoplatonism and Paracelsism in Osiander’s theology is analyzed and judged as too general. (shrink)

CYBATHLON is an international championship where people with severe physical disabilities compete with the aid of state-of-the-art assistive technology. In one of the disciplines, the BCI Race, tetraplegic pilots compete in a computer game race by controlling an avatar with a brain-computer interface. This competition offers a perfect opportunity for BCI researchers to study long-term training effects in potential end-users, and to evaluate BCI performance in a realistic environment. In this work, we describe the BCI system designed by the team (...) Mirage91 for participation in the CYBATHLON BCI Series 2019, as well as in the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition. Furthermore, we present the BCI’s interface with the game and the main methodological strategies, along with a detailed evaluation of its performance over the course of the training period, which lasted 14 months. The developed system was a 4-class BCI relying on task-specific modulations of brain rhythms. We implemented inter-session transfer learning to reduce calibration time, and to reinforce the stability of the brain patterns. Additionally, in order to compensate for potential intra-session shifts in the features’ distribution, normalization parameters were continuously adapted in an unsupervised fashion. Across the aforementioned 14 months, we recorded 26 game-based training sessions. Between the first eight sessions, and the final eight sessions leading up to the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition, the runtimes significantly improved from 255 ± 23 s to 225 ± 22 s, respectively. Moreover, we observed a significant increase in the classifier’s accuracy from 46 to 53%, driven by more distinguishable brain patterns. Compared to conventional single session, non-adaptive BCIs, the inter-session transfer learning and unsupervised intra-session adaptation techniques significantly improved the performance. This long-term study demonstrates that regular training helped the pilot to significantly increase the distance between task-specific patterns, which resulted in an improvement of performance, both with respect to class separability in the calibration data, and with respect to the game. Furthermore, it shows that our methodological approaches were beneficial in transferring the performance across sessions, and most importantly to the CYBATHLON competitions. (shrink)

Behavioral engagement is a key determinant of students’ learning. Hence, knowledge about mechanisms affecting engagement is crucial for educators and stakeholders. Self-determination theory offers a framework to understand one of these mechanisms. However, extant studies mostly consider only parts of SDT’s theoretical paths from basic psychological need satisfaction via regulations to student engagement. Studies that investigate the full model are rare, especially in mathematics, and results are inconclusive. Moreover, constructs are often merged in ways that may preclude detailed understanding. In (...) this study, we used structural equation modeling to test several hypothesized paths between the individual variables that make up higher-order constructs of need satisfaction, regulations, and behavioral engagement. Satisfaction of the need for competence had a dominating effect on engagement, both directly and via identified regulation. Similarly, satisfaction of the need for relatedness predicted identified regulation, that in turn predicted engagement. Satisfaction of the need for autonomy predicted intrinsic regulation as expected but, in contrast to theory, was also positively associated with controlled motivation. Neither intrinsic nor controlled regulation predicted engagement. Theoretical and method-related reasons for this unexpected pattern are discussed, as well as implications for research and teaching. (shrink)

This paper deals with the differences between the concept of the agent intellect in Thomas Aquinas and in the early Franciscan school with a focus on St. Bonaventure. While according to Aquinas the agent intellect is the faculty of the human soul, in the thought of Alexander of Hales, John of La Rochelle and St. Bonaventure it has a double or even a triple meaning. In the Franciscan Masters the agent intellect is simultaneously considered as a faculty of the human (...) soul but also as God himself and in John of La Rochelle as an angelic intelligence, too. This comparison could be useful in a new interpretation of the Condemnation of 1277 where the proposition on the separate agent intellect is also considered. It seems that the condemnation of this proposition 118 is in accord with the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas. What is actually being condemned here is the doctrine, partially held by the Franciscan friars, who are traditionally considered as initiators of the Condemnation. (shrink)

The paper is focused on the question whether a human person should be treated as a rational animal or an embodied spirit. The first definition of a human being goes back to Aristotle. In his conception human being is the highest animal, i.e. he is on the top of the hierarchy of material beings. The second definition shows human being on the lowest position in the realm of spirits. Here human being is the lowest and the least perfect among spiritual (...) beings, the only spirit who is submerged into material world. The paper presents and discusses the ideas of W. Norris Clarke, who was influenced by James Etzwiller. (shrink)

The article deals with the concepts of matter and form. These concepts belong to the Aristotelian theory of hylomorphism which was very influential in the Middle-Ages and in the early modern second-scholastic cosmology. At present, this theory is discussed by authors of both scholastic and analytical backgrounds. The article presents and discusses some of the recent commentaries on this topic.

This paper deals with the virtue of prudence in the thinking of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. It compares the two different approaches of Dominican and Franciscan High Medieval Scholasticism concerning the virtue of prudence, which is an intellectual virtue but one that is closely related to human acts and consequently to the final end of human life.