The study of the social implications of human enhancement is an interdisciplinary work that draws from the fields of political science, sociology, philosophy, and bioethics, among others. It is also a complex and rapidly evolving subject that raises important questions about the potential benefits and risks of these technologies, as well as how society should govern and regulate their development and use. -/- An in-depth exploration of current and future human enhancement technologies,this book delves into the specifics of current and (...) emerging human enhancement technologies, such as cognitive enhancers, brain-computer interfaces, and genetic engineering, discussing the state of the art, the limitations and also the technological developments that one can expect in the future and how they can be regulated and used responsibly. -/- A comprehensive examination of the political and ethical implications of human enhancement An interdisciplinary work, bringing together leading scholars in the field An in-depth exploration of current and future human enhancement technologies. (shrink)

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, journalism in the United States changed. Journalistic norms of objectivity and distance opened to a participatory mode of reporting. A communitarian journalism emerged in which journalists became "at one" with their subjects as they lived the story they were reporting. Chiara Lubich of Italy presents a philosophical foundation for this journalistic approach, proposing "unity" as the ethic that should guide mass media communicators. In this essay I review Lubich's moral perspective and consider (...) its implications for media ethics. (shrink)

Questo articolo si concentra sul problema del rapporto tra fenomenologia e psicologia della percezione. Nella prima parte presenterò alcuni assunti di fondo che qualificano le ricerche sulla percezione nel campo della fenomenologia teorica e in quella della cosiddetta fenomenologia sperimentale. Successivamente intendo approfondire l’analisi, considerando il concetto specifico di percezione impiegato da Husserl nella sua fenomenologia e un concetto più lasco di percezione compatibile con la prospettiva psicologica per gettar luce sulla possibilità di un approccio integrato, mirante a unificare le (...) analisi fenomenologiche e psicologiche nel pieno rispetto delle loro proprie specificità. Nella parte finale del testo cercherò di presentare alcuni elementi che accomunano l’analisi husserliana della percezione e le ricerche sulla percezione sviluppate da una prospettiva psicologica da Paolo Bozzi e Cesare Musatti. (shrink)

Kültürleri ve inanışları farklı insanların etkileşimi üzerinde gelişen turizm, özellikle ekonomik getirileri nedeniyle pek çok yerel ve ulusal yönetici tarafından öncelikli sektörler arasında değerlendirilmektedir. Ancak, turizm gelişimi ekonomik unsurların ötesinde çevresel ve sosyo-kültürel pek çok etki de oluşturmaktadır. Söz konusu etkilerin yerel halk tarafından algılanışında etkin olan pek çok unsur incelenmiş olmakla birlikte dindarlığın etkisi çok az araştırılmıştır. Bu kapsamda, toplumsal ve bireysel düşünce ve davranışlar üzerinde önemli bir etken olan dindarlık hususunun turizmin sosyo-kültürel etkilerinin algılanışında etkin olup olmadığının incelendiği (...) bu çalışma, alanyazına katkı sunabilecek boyuttadır. Çalışma kapsamında nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden anket tekniği benimsenmiş olup veri, Muğla Menteşe ilçesinde ikamet eden 528 bireyden elde edilmiştir. Çok değişkenli istatistik analiz yöntemlerinden yararlanılarak açıklayıcı ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizleri ile yol analizi uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar, dindarlık algısı arttıkça olumsuz sosyo-kültürel etkilerin daha kuvvetli algılandığını ancak dindarlık ile olumlu sosyo-kültürel etkilerin algılanışı arasında bağlantı bulunmadığını vurgulamaktadır. Bu sonuçlar, turizm planlaması ve gelişimini sürecinde yerel halkın inançlarının da göz önünde bulundurulmasının gerekliliğini işaret etmektedir. Özet: İnsanların aynı değerler etrafında toplanmalarını ve grup halinde hareket etmelerini sağlayan inanç sistemi veya toplumda birlikte yaşayan bireylerin ilişki ve sorumluluklarını belirlemek için düzenlenmiş inanç, uygulama, ritüel ve semboller sistemi olarak tanımlanabilecek olan din, en yaygın ve etkili sosyal kurumlardan olmasının ötesinde hem birey hem de toplumların tutumlarını, değerlerini ve davranışlarını etkilemesi nedeniyle, özellikle son yıllarda, sıklıkla incelenmektedir. Bireylerin dini bir gruba veya kurallara bağlılık dereceleri olarak tanımlanabilecek dindarlık ise dinsel öğelerin bir kişinin yaşamı üzerindeki etkinliğini ifade etmek için kullanılmaktadır. Tıp, antropoloji, psikoloji, sosyoloji gibi bilim dallarında yapılan çalışmalarda dindarlık ile mutluluk ve bedensel / ruhsal sağlık arasında genellikle olumlu bir ilişki olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Turizm alanında yapılan çalışmalarda ise, din, yoğunlukla inanç turizmi veya turistlerin tercihleri üzerindeki etkisi kapsamında ele alınmış ve dini turizmin planlanması ve kutsal alanların yönetimi, turizmin dini bölgelerdeki etkileri, hacıların seyahat motivasyonu ve seyahat şekilleri ile turistlerin dini ihtiyaçları gibi konulara odaklanılmıştır. Kültürleri ve inanışları farklı insanların etkileşimi üzerinde gelişen turizm, özellikle ekonomik getirileri nedeniyle pek çok yerel ve ulusal yönetici tarafından öncelikli sektörler arasında değerlendirilmektedir. Turizm gelişimi ekonomik unsurların ötesinde çevresel ve sosyo-kültürel pek çok etki de oluşturmaktadır. Yerel halk, turizmin gelişmesi ve sürdürülebilirliği açısından önem arz etmekte olup yerel halkın turizmin etkilerine yönelik algıları sıklıkla araştırılan konular arasında yer almaktadır. Topluma ve/veya mekâna aidiyet duygusu, destinasyonun ve/veya turizm sektörünün gelişim düzeyi, turizmin ekonomi içindeki önemi, destinasyonun turizme ekonomik bağımlılığı, turizm sektöründe istihdam edilmek gibi ekonomik unsurlar veya sosyo-demografik özellikler gibi pek çok değişkenin yerel halkın turizm algısındaki etkileri incelenmiş olmakla birlikte dindarlığın etkisi çok az araştırılmıştır. Yapılan çalışmalarda, özellikle dini bölgelerde yaşayan yerel halk ve çoğunlukla din adamlarının algıları araştırılmıştır. Sonuçlar, yerel halkın bölgeye dini amaçlarla gelen ziyaretçiler (hacılar) ile turistleri ayırdığını ve hacıların turistlere oranla daha fazla kabul gördüğünü vurgulamaktadır. Ayrıca, turistlerin alanın ve yapıların kutsallığını, güvenliğini, dekorunu tehdit ettiği ve turistlerin taleplerinin dini uygulamalara zarar verdiği algısının yaygın olduğu, hatta turizmin kendi kültürleri ve dinleri için tehdit olarak görüldüğü tespit edilmiştir. Kutsal alanlar dışında kalan turizm destinasyonlarında ikamet eden yerel halkın görüşlerinin araştırıldığı çalışma ise çok daha azdır. Alanyazın taraması ile bu kapsamda sadece bir çalışma bulunulabilmiştir. İran’daki iki turizm destinasyonunda yerel halkın turizmin sosyo-kültürel sonuçlarına yönelik algılarında dindarlığın etkisinin incelendiği çalışma ile sosyo-kültürel etkilerin algılanışı ile dindarlık arasında pozitif bir ilişki bulunduğu ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu kapsamda, dindarlık hususunun turizmin sosyo-kültürel etkilerinin algılanışında etkin olup olmadığının incelendiği bu çalışma, alanyazına katkı sunabilecek boyuttadır. Çalışma kapsamında nicel araştırma yöntemlerinden anket tekniği benimsenmiştir. Ekonomik kaygıların katılımcıların görüşlerini etkilemesinin önüne geçilmesi amacıyla, Bodrum, Fethiye ve Marmaris gibi Türkiye’nin önemli turizm destinasyonlarına coğrafi olarak uzak olmamakla birlikte turizm gelişiminin sınırlı olduğu için tercih edilen Menteşe (Muğla) ilçesinde ikamet eden 528 bireyden elde edilen veriler iki aşamada analiz edilmiştir. İlk aşamada, kullanılan soru formu değişik çalışmalardan yararlanarak oluşturulduğu için ölçeklerin güvenirliğini test etmek üzere Güvenirlik Analizi ve yapısal geçerliliğini sınamak üzere Açıklayıcı Faktör Analizi (AFA) uygulanmıştır. Cronbach Alpha (α) değeri, sosyo-kültürel etkilere yönelik 22 ifade bütününde 0,907; her bir faktöre yönelik sırasıyla 0,941; 0,813 ve 0,772; Dindarlık ölçeğine yönelik ise 0,728 olarak hesaplanmış olup araştırmada kullanılan ölçeklerin güvenilir olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Sosyo-kültürel etkilere yönelik ifadelerin varyansın %64,413’ini açıklayacak şekilde 3 faktörlü bir yapı altında birleştiği, üç ifadeden oluşan dindarlık ölçeğinin ise tek faktöre yüklendiği ve varyansın %64,845’ini açıkladığı tespit edilmiştir. Dolayısıyla analiz için kullanılan yapının iyi derecede geçerli olduğu anlaşılmıştır. İkinci aşamada, AFA ile belirlenen faktörlerin çalışma kapsamında oluşturulan modele uygunluğunu test edebilmek için Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) ve ölçüm modeli ile gizli değişkenler arasındaki ilişkiyi belirlemek ve kavramsal model ile verilerin uyup uymadığını değerlendirmek için Yapısal Eşitlik Model gerçekleştirilmiştir. DFA analizi sonucunda, bütün faktör yüklerinin 0,4’ün üzerinde olduğu ve uyum indekslerinin (x 2 /df, RMSEA, CFI, NFI ve GFI) hem DFA hem de yapısal eşitlik modelinde eşik değerleri aştığı görülmüştür. Dolayısıyla, faktör yapılarının ve çalışmada sınanan modelin uygun olduğu ve sosyo-kültürel etkilerin algılanması ile dindarlık arasında ilişki olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Çalışma sonuçları dindarlık ile turizmin olumsuz sosyo-kültürel etkilerinin algılanışı arasında bir ilişki bulunduğunu ancak turizmin olumlu kültürel etkilerinin algılanışında dindarlığın bir etkisinin bulunmadığını ortaya koymuştur. Dindarlık ile muhafazakârlık arasında kuvvetli bir ilişki bulunduğu göz önüne alındığında öngörülebilecek bir sonuç olduğu belirtilebilir. Ancak, Zamani-Farahani – Musa (2012) çalışmasında dindarlık ile sosyo-kültürel etkilerin algılanışı arasında olumlu etki bulunduğu sonucuna ulaşılmış olmasının destinasyonları ziyaret eden turistlerin profillerindeki ve sayılarındaki farklılıktan kaynaklandığı öngörülmektedir. İlk çalışmada ziyaretçilerin çoğu aynı din ve kültüre mensup kişilerden oluşuyorken, çalışma alanında turistlerin yarısına yakın kısmını farklı din ve kültüre sahip olanlar oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma sonuçları doğrultusunda turizm planlama ve uygulama süreçlerinde, yerel halkın dini inanışlarının, dikkate alınması ve dini inanışlara uygun adımların atılmasının veya yapılacak uygulamaların dini inanışlarına aykırı olmadığının anlatılmasının gerekli olduğu söylenebilir. Ayrıca, turizmin yerel dini inanışlara aykırı sonuçlar doğurmayacak (ya da bu tür sonuçları en aza indirgeyecek) şekilde gelişimine yönelik kararlar alınması gerekmektedir. Kitle turizminin (özellikle deniz–kum–güneş) geliştiği popüler destinasyonlara yakın olmakla birlikte ekonomik olarak turizm ile yoğun bir bağlantının bulunmadığı bir alanda gerçekleştirilen bu çalışmanın sonuçları kesitseldir. Diğer bir ifadeyle sonuçlar çalışma alanı ve hatta katılımcılar ile sınırlıdır. Gelecek çalışmalarda farklı turizm türü ve turist profiline sahip yerleşimlere odaklanabilir. Ayrıca, sonuçların ekonomik olarak turizme bağımlı destinasyonlarda da sınanması gereklidir. (shrink)

_Phenomenology of Perception: Theories and Experimental Evidence_ presents an interpretation of phenomenology as a set of commitments to discover the immanent grammar of perception by reviewing arguments and experimental results that are still important today for psychology and the cognitive sciences.

This article proposes a cost-benefit analysis of argumentation, with the aim of highlighting the strategic considerations that govern the agent's decision to argue or not. In spite of its paramount importance, the topic of argumentative decision-making has not received substantial attention in argumentation theories so far. We offer an explanation for this lack of consideration and propose a tripartite taxonomy and detailed description of the strategic reasons considered by arguers in their decision-making: benefits, costs, and dangers. We insist that the (...) implications of acknowledging the strategic dimension of arguing are far-reaching, including promising insights on how to develop better argumentation technologies. (shrink)

This paper deals with two theories Husserl worked out on imagery in order to see if the properties a phenomenological description ascribes to imagery are fit to give meaningful constraints upon theoretical models that guide empirical research. Husserlian descriptions and Kosslyn and colleagues models are hence compared as to their explanatory strategy and implications.

Attempts to introduce Gestalt theory into the realm of visual neuroscience are discussed on both theoretical and experimental grounds. To define the framework in which these proposals can be defended, this paper outlines the characteristics of a standard model, which qualifies as a received view in the visual neurosciences, and of the research into natural images statistics. The objections to the standard model and the main questions of the natural images research are presented. On these grounds, this paper defends the (...) view that Gestalt psychology and experimental phenomenology provide a contribution to the research into perception by the construction of phenomenological models for an ecologically meaningful interpretation of the empirical evidence and the hypothetical constructs of the natural image research within the visual neuroscience. A formal framework for the phenomenological models is proposed, wherein Gestalt theoretical principles and empirical evidence are represented in terms of topological properties and relationships, which account for the order and structures that make the environment accessible to observers at a relevant behavioural level. It is finally argued that these models allow us to evaluate the principles and the empirical evidence of various natures which are integrated from different fields into the research into perception, and in particular into visual neurosciences. (shrink)

Some issues heavily debated in perception sciences are presented: the explanatory gap and the experience measurement problem. The experimental phenomenology is said to provide substantive contribution to settle controversy over the phenome- nological adequacy of perception theory and models. An interpretation of experi- mental phenomenology as explanation of the perceptual manifold, and definition of relation varieties to eventually map onto other perception sciences’ domains is sketched.

This paper tries to sketch what phenomenological constraints for Neurosciences would be looking like. It maintains that such an adequate phenomenological description as that provided by Gestalt psychology is a condition for the Neurosciences to account for every-day experience opf the world. The explanatory gap in Cognitive sciences is discussed with reference to Jackendoff, Prinz, and Köhler.

The brief life of the Accademia del Cimento (1657–1667), the first known society with a purely experimental programme,1 is entangled with the most surprising advancements in the history of scientific instruments of that century, from the telescope to the microscope, the thermometer to the barometer, the hygrometer to the pendulum as a time-regulator, and more. The making of instruments at the Florentine court shows the interaction of princely, scholarly and artisanal actors. This paper explores this collaboration and shows how the (...) supposed “invisibility’ of artisans depended on their proximity to the academicians and princes, who mainly communicated verbally with them, directly or through middlemen. The visibility of artisans increases proportionally to their physical distance from the Court. In this essay I unveil the identity of the artisans of the Cimento and, finally, attempt to attribute five instruments (some lost and others still extant) to specific makers, shedding light also on relations between the artisan and his patron. (shrink)

In _Jesuit Philosophy on the Eve of Modernity_ Cristiano Casalini collects eighteen contributions by renowned specialists to track the existence and distinctiveness of Jesuit philosophy during the first century since the inception of the order.

_Phenomenology of Perception: Theories and Experimental Evidence_ presents an interpretation of phenomenology as a set of commitments to discover the immanent grammar of perception by reviewing arguments and experimental results that are still important today for psychology and the cognitive sciences.

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the various steps of goal-processing and intention creation, as the final outcome of goal-driven action generation. Intention theory has to be founded on goal theory: intentions require means-end reasoning and planning, conflict resolution, coherence. The process of intention formation and intentional action execution is strictly based on specific sets of beliefs (predictions, evaluations, calculation of costs, responsibility beliefs, competence, etc.). The origin of an intention is not necessarily a “desire” (which is just a (...) kind of goal). Intention is a two-layered goal-structure: the intended action(s) to be executed, and the intended outcome motivating that action—with two distinct kinds of “failure”. This belief-goal perspective also allows to examine two stages/types of intention, and the relations and differences between intention “in agenda” (future directed) and intention under execution (intention in action). I will argue that the will is much more than the intention driving an intentional action. I will also claim that intentions are not there just for motivating and regulating intentional actions (from the motor level to more complex behaviors), but that they play also several other important roles. (shrink)

Cognitive Grammar postulates two modes of cognitive processing for the structuring of complex scenes, summary scanning and sequential scanning. Generally speaking, the theory is committed to basing grammatical concepts upon more general cognitive principles. In the case of summary and sequential scanning, independent evidence is lacking, but Langacker argues that the distinction should nonetheless be accepted as it buys us considerable theory-internal explanatory power. For example, dynamic prepositions, to-infinitives and participles (e.g., into, to enter, entered ) are distinguished from finite (...) and bare verbs in terms of summary vs. sequential scanning. In this paper, we try to show that various theory-internal and theory-external arguments do not seem to support the two scanning modes. In particular, we offer a detailed examination of causatives (e.g., get, make ) and argue that their complementation patterns are difficult to reconcile with differences in scanning. We conclude that the status of, and need for, summary and sequential scanning in (Cognitive) grammar is doubtful, especially if grammar is approached from the viewpoint of the language learner/user. It follows also that the parcelling of some form-function mappings may prove less clear-cut than previously assumed. (shrink)

Butler’s idea of evolution was developed over the publication of four books, several articles and essays between 1863 and 1890. These publications, although never achieving the success expected by Butler, proposed a psychological elaboration of evolution, called ‘unconscious memory’. This was strongly in contrast with the materialistic approach suggested by Darwin’s natural selection. Starting with a historical introduction, this paper aspires to ascertain the logic, meaning and significance of Butler’s idea of ‘unconscious memory’ in the post-Darwinian physiological and psychological Pan-European (...) discussion. Particular attention is devoted to demonstrating that Butler was not only a populariser of science but also an active protagonist in the late Victorian psychological debate. (shrink)

This work presents the case of the Yanomami indigenous people from Brazil that were the object of US ethnography initiated in the 1960s. The research brought harmful repercussions to the life of the Indigenous people of Brazil for several decades, and it took more than 40 years until the beginning of a process of reparation involving the Brazilian government and American universities. Objective: to discuss the meaning of the return of Yanomami blood samples, as well as contributions from the epistemologies (...) of traditional Indigenous knowledge to the debate about research ethics and the structuring of means for the social control of researchers and the protection of participants in scientific studies, having as an example the Yanomami indigenous people from Brazil, subjected to noxious ethnography in the 1960s and the 1970s. This work used data reports recorded in secondary sources. In this article we argue that Bioethics needs to further diversify its epistemological foundations and to consider epistemologies and cosmologies beyond the frontiers of Western science, as the case of the abusive research involving the Yanomami indigenous people in Brazil reveals. We argue that traditional knowledge, such as those of indigenous and quilombolas, with their epistemologies and cosmologies, are fundamental for the election of less colonized and more efficient principles of research ethics, regarding the protection of the participants' rights in scientific studies. Traditional indigenous populations can teach us a great deal about doing research. (shrink)

Neste texto apresentamos considerações sobre o agendamento midiático-esportivo realizado em relação aos Jogos Pan-americanos Rio/2007, enfatizando aspectos teórico-conceituais da teoria do agendamento (agenda-setting), bem como evidenciando algumas estratégias utilizadas pela mídia no tocante ao evento, como a utilização de elementos da identidade nacional e a figura dos ídolos esportivos.

The present paper aims to validate our research on human–humanoid interaction (HHI) using the minimalist humanoid robot Telenoid. We conducted the human–robot interaction test with 142 young people who had no prior interaction experience with this robot. The main goal is the analysis of the two social dimensions (‘‘Perception’’ and ‘‘Believability’’) useful for increasing the natural behaviour between users and Telenoid.Weadministered our custom questionnaire to human subjects in association with a well defined experimental setting (‘‘ordinary and goal-guided task’’). A thorough (...) analysis of the questionnaires has been carried out and reliability and internal consistency in correlation between the multiple items has been calculated. Our experimental results show that the perceptual behaviour and believability, as implicit social competences, could improve the meaningfulness and the natural-like sense of human–humanoid interaction in everyday life task-driven activities. Telenoid is perceived as an autonomous cooperative agent for a shared environment by human beings. (shrink)

The decolonial theory understands that Western Modernity keeps imposing itself through a triple mutually reinforcing and shaping imprisonment: coloniality of power, coloniality of knowledge, and coloniality of being. Technical design has an essential role in either maintaining or overcoming coloniality. In this article, two main approaches to decolonizing the technical design are presented. First is Yuk Hui’s and Ahmed Ansari’s proposals that, revisiting or recovering the different histories and philosophies of technology produced by humankind, intend to decolonize the minds of (...) philosophers and engineers/architects/designers as a pre-condition for such decolonial designs to take place. I call them top-down approaches. Second is some technical design initiatives that, being developed alongside marginalized/subalternate people, intend to co-construct decolonial sociotechnical solutions through a committed, decolonizing, and careful dialog of knowledge. I call them bottom-up approaches. Once that is done, the article’s second half derives ontological, epistemological, and political consequences from the conjugation of top-down and bottom-up approaches. Such consequences challenge some established or not yet entirely overcome understandings in the philosophy of technology and, in so doing, are meant to represent some steps in PT’s decolonization. Even though both top-down and bottom-up approaches are considered, the article’s main contributions are associated with decolonial technical design practices, whose methodologies and outcomes are important study cases for PT and whose practitioners can be taken as inspiring examples for philosophers who want to decolonize/enlarge PT or make it decolonial. (shrink)

Thesis: Macro-level social phenomena are implemented through the (social) actions and minds of the individuals. Without an explicit theory of the agents' minds that founds, agents' behavior we cannot understand macro-level social phenomena, and in particular how they work. AntiThesis: Mind is not enough: the theory of individual (social) mind and action is not enough to explain several macro-level social phenomena. First, there are pre-cognitive, objective social structures that constrain the actions of the agents; second, there are emergent, unaware or (...) non-contractual forms of cooperation, organisation, and intelligence. Synthesis: The real challenge is how to reconcile, cognition with emergence, intention and deliberation with unknown or unplanned social functions and social order . Both objective structures and unplanned self-organising complex forms of social order and social function emerge from the interactions of agents and from their individual mental states; both these structures and self-organising systems feedback on agents' behaviors through the agents' individual minds. (shrink)

In this paper we analyse the concepts of Promise and Threat and their inter-relations. Our objective is to study the uses of P and T in persuasion and to shed some light on related concepts such as requesting, ordering, giving prizes, punishing, etc. First, we show that some Ps and Ts are used for persuasion and some are conditional in nature. Using general definitions of P and T and a broad notion of persuasion, four different typologies of P and T (...) are introduced. They are distinguished on their conditional/non-conditional dimension and on their influencing/non-influencing aim. We then focus on Conditional Influencing Ps and Ts used in persuasion. CIPs and CITs are incentive-based influencing actions rooted on dependence and power relations. Moreover, in the CIP and CIT classes the concepts of threat and promise are closely connected: the CIP is always accompanied by a CIT, and vice versa. Next, we discuss the issue of why CIPs and CITs are credible. We also identify — beyond their surface, rhetorical form — a deeper difference: a ‘substantial’ threat consisting in a choice between two losses compared with a ‘substantial’ promise where the choice is between a gain and a missed-gain. In the article we present a pre-formal model as a basis for a computational treatment of these concepts. (shrink)

This article attempts to bring some questions proposed by Hegel on the philosophy of Leibniz, in view of the considerations of this with respect to Principles of Philosophy or Monadology. Specifically, the question to be addressed is about reading proposed by Hegel around the whole notion of Monad in order to clarify some thoughts on this concept and how this comes within the second part of the Science of Logic, namely, the Doctrine of the Concept. The question posed is affiliated (...) with two separate issues: the principle of sufficient reason and principle of identity. We should consider ultimately the thought of Leibniz proposes a philosophy for the reasoning of the individual, and the experience of identity and difference are still, albeit insufficient author Monadology. (shrink)

I will first discuss how social interactions organize, coordinate, and specialize as “artifacts,” tools; how these tools are not only for coordination but for achieving something, for some outcome (goal/function), for a collective work. In particular, I will argue that these artifacts specify (predict and prescribe) the mental contents of the participants, both in terms of beliefs and acceptances and in terms of motives and plans. We have to revise the behavioristic view of “scripts” and “roles”; when we play a (...) role we wear a “mind.” No collective action would be possible without shared and/or ascribed mental contents. This is also very crucial for a central form of automatic mind-reading (mind ascription). Second, I will argue that often what really matters is the ascribed/prescribed, worn, mind not the real, private one. We have to play (like in the symbolic play) “as if” we had those mental contents. This social convention and mutual assumption makes the interaction work. The ascribed beliefs and goals are not necessarily explicitly there; they might be just implicit as inactive (we act just by routine and automatically) or implicit as potential. The coordination and social action works thanks to these “as if” (ascribed and pretended) minds, thanks to those conventional constructs. Our social minds for social interactions are coordination artifacts and social institutions. (shrink)

Decolonial approaches to technical design are part of a broader category of design methodologies, which actualize unfulfilled sociotechnical potentialities. In this paper, I present some decolonial theory concepts and discuss three decolonial approaches to illuminate philosophical debates that: 1) Can find in them clear traces of a third set of elements that shape every design/technology, along with the well-analyzed technical-scientific and ethical-political ones. In dialogue with Walter Vincenti and some others, I call these elements structured procedures, imagery lexicon, and aesthetical (...) values, which constitute the central aspects of Eugene Ferguson’s art of engineering; 2) Identify, starting from some Gilbert Simondon’s and Andrew Feenberg’s ideas, any invention as triply situated ; 3) Can be taught by these decolonial approaches about some of the mainstream philosophy of technology’s colonial limitations, becoming thus able to widen it. (shrink)

Andrew Feenberg is an essential author in the field of philosophy of technology. His ideas are particularly relevant in revealing the political dimension of technology, be it shaping society or being shaped by society. However, current Feenberg’s reflection fails to consider the internal domain of technical disciplines more rigorously. Indeed, he usually stops his analysis in the border between lifeworld (where the democratizing mobilizations occur and new/different requirements or values arise) and the technical disciplines. To identify and overcome this failure, (...) I articulate some elements from Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Yuk Hui. I also present the example of three decolonial (or empowering) technical interventions, which illustrate: how what Santos and Hui theorize is already being developed by some technical interventions in the Global South, and the impacts of such interventions on the technical teams (and, through that, also on the technical disciplines). (shrink)

What insights into Church teaching can be drawn from the biblical account of Abraham and Sarah’s experience with surrogate pregnancy? When Sarah’s maid, Hagar, conceives Abraham’s son Ishmael, negative conse­quences ensue. Hagar’s contempt for Sarah incites Sarah’s jealousy. Sarah’s abuse of Hagar leads Hagar to run away. Abraham is forced to banish Hagar and his son Ismael. These unhappy repercussions arise from the fact that surrogacy violates God’s plan for marriage and for the dignity of the human person. Although reproductive (...) technologies continue to advance, human nature remains the same. The lessons learned from Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Hagar, and Ishmael’s experience with surrogacy can be profitably applied to Church teaching on marriage and reproductive technologies. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.3 (Autumn 2011): 443–451. (shrink)

The ongoing process of revising and rethinking the foundations of economic theory leads to great complexities and contradictions at the heart of economics. ‘Economics of innovation’ provides a fertile challenge to standard economics, and one that can help it overcome its many criticisms. This authoritative book from Cristiano Antonelli provides a systematic account of recent advances in the economics of innovation. By integrating this account with the economics of technological change, this exceptional book elaborates an understanding of the effects (...) of the introduction of new technologies. This excellent, comprehensive account from respected expert Antonelli will be much appreciated within the innovation economics community, yet it is also a book that should be read by all those with either a private or professional interest in economic theory. (shrink)

Among the research that nowadays deals with the impact of digital technologies on attention, little is concerned with problematizing the theoretical premises about the nature of this cognitive faculty. Hence, even highly credited studies on digital distraction draw their conclusions from underexamined models of attention, despite them not being the only ones available. In our article we intend to focus on this problem, starting by discussing two case studies in the field of cognitive psychology and trying to show their theoretical (...) shortcomings when compared with an alternative model of attention. We will thus explore the account that a contemporary phenomenologist, Paul Sven Arvidson, has provided of attention and distraction. Finally, we will try to question the conclusions of the empirical studies by reframing them within Arvidson’s model, suggesting the importance of sharpening the definition of attention and distraction as preliminary work for investigating how the digital relates to them. (shrink)

Jean-Paul Sartre is often portrayed as a philosopher whose ethics would inevitably have subjectivist or relativist outcomes. Yet, even in Sartre’s early works there are several stances that blatantly belie this image, relying rather on an objectivist conception of value that he notably draws from Max Scheler. The aim of this paper is thus to investigate the influence of Scheler’s moral reflection on Sartre, arguing how it can represent an original and fruitful starting point to approach Sartrean ethics. To this (...) aim, we will first report on and discuss some passages from Sartre’s early works where this debt is most noticeable. Then, we will provide an overview of the Schelerean legacy, arguing how it represents for Sartre the very opening of the ethical issue addressable in phenomenological terms, avoiding the dead end of Hume’s and Kant’s more classical positions, while at the same time being consistent with other peculiar themes of Sartrean philosophy, namely existence and historicity. (shrink)

The general aim of this work is to show the importance of the adressee's mind as planned by the author of a speech act or of a norm; in particular, how important are the expected motivations for goal adoption. We show that speech acts differ from one another for the different motivations the speaker is attempting to obtain from the hearer. The description of the participants' social positions is not sufficient. Important conflicts can arise which are not relative to what (...) to do, but to the different motives requested by the speaker. This view is applied to norms, pointing out that what is required by a norm is not only a behaviour but also a mental attitude, and that the prescribed mind might be even more important than the prescribed behaviour. Norms don't want just behavioural conformity, but also that this conformity implies an acknowledgement and a reinforcement of both the authority and the norm itself. Norms ask for submission. Any form of norm is aimed at influencing the addressee by changing his or her mind. (shrink)