A major inspiration for the leaders of both the American Revolution and the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau continues to be a widely read and referenced philosopher, novelist, and political theorist. This title devotes two chapters to Rousseaus eventful life, another to a detailed discussion of his 1762 work "The Social Contract," and a fourth to the impact that he had on the Founding Fathers of the United States. While "The Social Contract" is explored in the greatest depth, other of his (...) worksincluding his passionately argued Discourses, wildly popular novels, successful opera, and genre-shaping "Confessions"are also covered. (shrink)

Event-based prospective memory tasks require the realisation of a delayed intention at the occurrence of a specific target event. The present research investigates how performance in this kind of prospective memory task is influenced by the current affective state. By manipulating participants’ mood during intention realisation we tested two competing models of mood effects on memory (i.e., a capacity consuming account and a processing style account). Furthermore, we manipulated the valence of the target event to investigate mood-congruency effects in prospective (...) memory. No evidence was found for a mood-congruency effect, but the results showed that prospective memory performance increased with a sad mood. This effect is consistent with recent theories on mood-dependent processing-style regulation, postulating that a sad mood produces a more analytic and detailed processing style whereas a happy mood produces a more global and less detailed processing style. (shrink)

This article presents the results of a discourse analysis of press coverage on the Quantified Self (QS) movement in the German and British (online) press between 2007 and 2018. The analysis is driven by two questions: What discursive patterns can be discerned within this coverage? And, what characterizes the translation of the experimental practices and imaginaries of this pioneer community into an overall societal reflection of deep mediatization? In essence, the article shows that the QS movement becomes a ‘general signifier’ (...) for a dystopian view of deep mediatization. So, while the QS movement itself understands its practices and community as self-empowering, self-reasoning, and experimental, the constructions of the QS movement in public discourse suggest the opposite. Paradoxically, however, another basic imaginary of the pioneer community is adopted and confirmed, namely that of the (simple) mutability of society as a consequence of digital media technologies. (shrink)

The global demand for information has brought in new developments in the publicity of discursive practices of many professional areas. This study takes the professional practice of International Commercial Arbitration, a mechanism to resolve business disputes outside the courts and traditionally considered as private, to explore the process of resemiotization of information, from the strategies used by corporations in their press releases to the news reports published by national and international media. It takes the theoretical concept of interdiscursivity in critical (...) genre analysis to show that texts are the result of a combination of a very complex range of resources brought about by genres, professional practices and professional cultures, which derive not only from the ‘local’ representation of the transnational arbitration process, but also from the different corporate identities and their ways of coping with the increasing publicity of the facts of arbitration. (shrink)

Riassunto: Gli sviluppi recenti nell’ambito della ricerca sui processi decisionali relativi ai cosiddetti effetti di incorniciamento hanno ricevuto particolare attenzione da parte di quell’ambito della filosofia morale che si occupa di spiegare i dilemmi morali classici legati al famoso problema del carrello. Alcuni filosofi sostengono che illusioni cognitive come l’ effetto di incorniciamento mettano seriamente in discussione alcuni punti di vista classici della filosofia morale come, per esempio, l’ etica normativa e l’ intuizionismo morale. L’obiettivo di questo articolo è cercare (...) di mostrare se, alla luce della ricerca empirica sugli effetti di incorniciamento, possiamo mantenere un punto di vista intuizionista o meno e, più in generale, che cosa implichino questo genere di dati per la filosofia morale. Parole chiave: Filosofia morale; Intuizionismo; Effetti di inconiciamento; Dilemmi morali; Teoria del prospetto Should we Abandon Moral Intuitionism? Framing Effects and Moral Dilemmas: Recent developments in experimental research on decision-making have received attention from moral philosophers trying to explain classical moral dilemmas. The class of cognitive illusions known as framing effects have received particular attention because they appear to play a role in explaining the famous trolley-problem. Some philosophers maintain that cognitive illusions such as framing effects seriously undermine classical point of views in moral philosophy such as normative ethics and moral intuitionism. This essay investigates whether, in light of empirical research on framing effects, we can still maintain an intuitionist point of view, and what the available data imply in general for moral philosophy. Keywords: Moral Philosophy; Intuitionism; Framing Effects; Moral Dilemmas; Prospect Theory. (shrink)

If philosophy is to be faithful to her calling to serve truth and humankind, she must remain a pupil, open to the enrichment that other sciences bestow on her. This paper highlights some insights from J. H. Newman and C. S. Peirce that can shed light on our understanding of philosophy as a servant to the truth. Newman and Peirce are suitable guides for this discussion since both cultivated their intellect in various disciplines, which informed their philosophical contributions. It begins (...) by exploring how Newman and Peirce conceived philosophy as a science. Then, it discusses their views on the unity of science, which further qualify their thoughts on philosophy. Finally, it enounces some consequences for the study of philosophy which their contributions suggest. Among many others, Newman and Peirce stand out as courageous defenders of the truth and have much to contribute to the timeless conversation of philosophy. (shrink)

Constatant que nos étudiants italiens de FLE ont contracté, au cours des années, de mauvaises habitudes de prononciation, souvent dues à un enseignement lacunaire de la connaissance correcte des sons, et que le temps d’enseignement universitaire est réduit d’année en année, notre propos est de chercher à récupérer le temps perdu en insistant, au début de l’année d’un cours de Langue et Traduction française, sur l’oralité. Partant du poème et du jeu sur les signifiants et jonglant avec les signifiés, nous (...) essayerons de motiver les étudiants, peu enclins à la lecture de la poésie et qui, en outre, négligent de se mettre quotidiennement devant un miroir durant quatre ou sept minutes, temps prescrit par les méthodes phonétiques et phonologiques, et nécessaire pour acquérir de nouvelles habitudes phonatoires. Une partie de cet article sera dédiée aux poètes pour montrer comment la force orale du poème peut devenir un atout majeur pour une bonne prononciation ; une autre, à partir d’un vers, sera une sorte de « cahier de création » phonique, sémantique voire poétique. (shrink)

"El libro "Ensayos sobre pensamiento mexicano" es una propuesta reflexiva que reúne seis diferentes acercamientos a un tema común: México en el contexto del siglo XX. Los capítulos que lo integran se entrelazan a partir de dos horizontes de análisis, por un lado, el amplio espectro de la cultura con la diversidad de pliegues y posibilidades discursivas que le distinguen, y por el otro, la controversia siempre emergente que caracteriza a la esfera política. En esta confrontación y complementariedad radica el (...) principal aporte del texto, al brindar los elementos esenciales para un trabajo crítico a partir de la filosofía que centra sus problemas de estudio en el tejido social. Aunque los diferentes ensayos nos proponen una extensa gama de referentes históricos, lo hacen siempre conservando el tratamiento filosófico de los tópicos planteados. Aquí se muestra la conformación de un país que emerge después de tres siglos de colonización, que ha pretendido hacer la recuperación de un pasado pletórico de significado y que llega a su inevitable enfrentamiento con un mundo de interacción creciente allende sus fronteras. Pero no sólo se traza la perspectiva que recoge acontecimientos y personajes de una historia nacional, también se suma la mirada desde el exilio español avecindado en México, lo que aporta un punto de vista indudablemente enriquecedor acerca del espacio y el tiempo de una memoria que recupera circunstancias y propone los elementos de crítica frente a una razón totalitaria que fue factor común de varios países durante el atribulado siglo XX"--En la cubierta. (shrink)

Some of the most relevant problems today both in Science and practical problems involves Coupled Socio-ecological Systems, which are some of the best examples of Complex Systems. In this work we discuss groundwater-management as an example of these Coupled Socio-ecological System, also known as Coupled Human and Natural Systems. We argue that it is possible and even necessary to construct a contextual statistical theory of groundwater management. Contextuality implies some very different statistical features as entanglement and complementarity. We discuss some (...) interpretation about statistical entanglement and statistical complementarity in terms of groundwater flow theory and extraction equation. To this end, we propose a non-Kolmogorobian approach following the Växjö school of thought. One of the most straightforward conclusions is that in this way, a statistical-contextual treatment of groundwater management may not only give place to new flow equations, but it could have a profound impact in resource management. Then the new basic unity of analysis should be the indivisible pair. We should not talk any more about aquifer dynamics or resource management plans by themselves. Physical and social systems are coupled in a statistical-contextual fundamental way, and a socio-hydrogeological theory should be developed. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to contribute to the discussion surrounding mediatization by presenting some arguments on how we could include questions of media specificity in an appropriate way. The core argument is that we have to do this by integrating `media specificity' into a theory of communicative practice or action. In doing so, we can grasp media in their institutional and technological sense as `molding force' of communicative action and research them empirically as part of mediatization processes.

In this paper we evaluate and confirm the effectiveness of including curriculum training on career management as a component of university studies. The behaviour of the students in this study was modified by the uncertainty created by the crisis in the labour market due to the pandemic.Our results confirm that universities need to develop the generic and academic skills demanded by the labour market in order to provide their students with comprehensive training while also taking joint responsibility for developing their (...) students’ career management skills. (shrink)

Both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union believe that information and communication technologies have potential to transform the way in which we work. Many organizations, including those of the Third Social Sector, have to incorporate the web 2.0 tools and social software into their structures and their daily activity. The aim of this article is to analyze whether these tools are regularly used by institutions of the Third Social Sector in Catalonia in an attempt to (...) transform their daily tasks and move towards a change in their organizational culture. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to outline an understanding of mediatization that might be a reference point for empirical research in various fields and contexts of present media cultures and societies. Therefore, present ideas and approaches of theorizing media-tization like for example the concept of the media logic are discussed critically. Based on this, an understanding of mediatization is outlined that focuses on the media as modifiers of communication. Such a reflection makes it possible to substantiate mediatization research as (...) the empirical investigation of mediatized worlds. (shrink)

Until the end of the last century, media sociology was synonymous with the investigation of mass media as a social domain. Today, media sociology needs to address a much higher level of complexity, that is, a deeply mediatized world in which all human practices, social relations, and social order are entangled with digital media and their infrastructures. This article discusses this shift from a sociology of mass communication to the sociology of a deeply mediatized world. The principal aim of the (...) article is to outline a new media-sociological imagination: media sociology as a cross-sectional sociology, a sociology of entanglement, and a new critical sociology of technological deep structures. (shrink)

Secretion systems enable bacteria to import and secrete large macromolecules including DNA and proteins. While most components of these systems have been identified, the molecular mechanisms of macromolecular transport remain poorly understood. Recent findings suggest that various bacterial secretion systems make use of the translocation ratchet mechanism for transporting polymers across the cell envelope. Translocation ratchets are powered by chemical potential differences generated by concentration gradients of ions or molecules that are specific to the respective secretion systems. Bacteria employ these (...) potential differences for biasing Brownian motion of the macromolecules within the conduits of the secretion systems. Candidates for this mechanism include DNA import by the type II secretion/type IV pilus system, DNA export by the type IV secretion system, and protein export by the type I secretion system. Here, we propose that these three secretion systems employ different molecular implementations of the translocation ratchet mechanism. Brownian ratchets are often discussed in the context of directed molecular movement. Bacterial secretion systems transport molecules through membranes in a directed fashion. Here, we focus on recent experiments supporting a role of translocation ratchets in the secretion and import of proteins and DNA. (shrink)

The thinking of Pierre Bourdieu, even in its most subtle aspects, is characterized by a distrust of the “high” theory. He does not totally reject it, but it is questioned by his critical reflection upon it. By a resort to the functions of the social and the French epistemology, which examines and analyzes the scientific terms in connection to their constitution, Bourdieu’s theory aims to develop a “sociological thinking” in relations which integrates motives of the “social” into the theoretical reflection (...) and works out their interaction in the form of significant chains. The range and the precision of this methodical reflection is illustrated and specified in this article also on the basis of examples. (shrink)

The thinking of Pierre Bourdieu, even in its most subtle aspects, is characterized by a distrust of the “high” theory. He does not totally reject it, but it is questioned by his critical reflection upon it. By a resort to the functions of the social and the French epistemology, which examines and analyzes the scientific terms in connection to their constitution, Bourdieu’s theory aims to develop a “sociological thinking” in relations which integrates motives of the “social” into the theoretical reflection (...) and works out their interaction in the form of significant chains. The range and the precision of this methodical reflection is illustrated and specified in this article also on the basis of examples. (shrink)

Resumen Este artículo analiza las posibilidades actuales de la propuesta de T. W. Adorno en torno a su visión de las relaciones entre el arte y la verdad; para esto se exploran algunos pasajes de Teoría estética, donde plantea dos ideas centrales en su reflexión: por un lado, los contenidos de verdad que se revelan en las obras de arte y, por otro, los alcances de una subjetividad individual que aún puede pensar en las posibilidades de una vida emancipada. Para (...) Adorno, las obras de arte son la expresión de una verdad concebida subjetivamente, pero que excede cualquier intención puramente individual y, como fuerza de resistencia, puede mostrar aquello que escapa a la representación objetiva. De acuerdo con esto, la hipótesis inicial es que, independientemente de la posición o intencionalidad del autor, el arte contribuye al esclarecimiento de diversos fenómenos éticos y políticos debido a la codificación histórica de la forma y, sobre todo, por la autonomía de la obra de arte.This article analyzes the current possibilities of T. W. Adorno’s proposal regarding his vision of the relationships between art and the truth; for this, some passages of Aesthetic Theory are explored, in which he raises two central ideas in his reflection: on the one hand, the truth contents that are revealed in the artworks and, on the other, the scopes of an individual subjectivity that can still think about the possibilities of an emancipated life. For Adorno, works of art are the expression of a truth that is subjectively conceived, but that exceed any purely individual intention and, as a force of resistance, can show what escapes objective representation. According to this, the initial hypothesis is that, regardless of the position or intentionality of the author, art contributes to the clarification of various ethical and political phenomena due to the historical codification of form and, above all, by the autonomy of the work of art. (shrink)