This manuscript presents a demonstration study of Quiet Time, a classroom-based Transcendental Meditation intervention. The aim of the study is to assess the feasibility of implementing and evaluating QT in two pilot settings in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This study contributes to the field by targeting middle childhood, testing efficiency in two settings operating under different educational systems, and including a large array of measures. First, teacher and pupil engagement with QT was assessed. Second, the feasibility of using a (...) quasi-experimental design and a wide range of instruments to measure changes in pupil outcomes before and after the intervention was assessed. This allows us to obtain information about which instruments might be feasible to administer and most sensitive to change. The first setting included 89 students from a primary school in the United Kingdom: those in sixth grade received the QT intervention, while those in fifth grade practiced meditation using the Headspace application. The second setting included 100 fifth- and sixth-grade students from two schools in Ireland: one received the QT intervention, the other served as a control. Recruitment and retention rates were high in both settings, and the intervention was feasible and accepted by students, parents and teachers. Implementation fidelity was lower in the United Kingdom setting where delivery started later in the school year and the practice was affected by preparation for the Standard Assessment Tests. These results show that QT may be feasibly delivered in school settings, and suggest the use of a compact battery of tests to measure impact. We find suggestive evidence that the intervention affected executive function as children who practiced QT showed improved working memory in both settings. In the Irish setting, pupils in the QT group had improved ability to control responses. These results have implications for future studies by a) demonstrating that implementation fidelity is highly context dependent and b) providing suggestive evidence of the malleability of children’s skills in middle childhood. The results of this demonstration study will be used to inform a larger RCT of the QT intervention. (shrink)

Internationally recognized logicians present current thinking on the understanding of the role of deduction in human reasoning.

Although organizational and situational factors have been found to predict burnout, not everyone employed at the same workplace develops it, suggesting that becoming burnt out is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon. The aim of this study was to elucidate perceptions of conscience, stress of conscience, moral sensitivity, social support and resilience among two groups of health care personnel from the same workplaces, one group on sick leave owing to medically assessed burnout (n = 20) and one group who showed no indications (...) of burnout (n = 20). The results showed that higher levels of stress of conscience, a perception of conscience as a burden, having to deaden one’s conscience in order to keep working in health care and perceiving a lack of support characterized the burnout group. Lower levels of stress of conscience, looking on life with forbearance, a perception of conscience as an asset and perceiving support from organizations and those around them (social support) characterized the non-burnout group. (shrink)

Difficulties and ambiguities of Carnap’s conception of logic and mathematics are the main target of Gödel’s analysis in his famous drafts of “Is mathematics Syntax of Language?”. In a recent article, Gregory Lavers discusses two main recent dismissive analyses of Gödel’s drafts, concluding at a defense of Gödel’s arguments against Carnap’s position in the 1930. Lavers partially integrates in his examination an argument that I presented in a paper published in 2003. Yet, there are three important differences between my understanding (...) of Gödel’s argument and Lavers’s interpretation of it. These differences concern the appreciation of (a) Gödel’s strategy of using, in any critical examination of his opponents, only arguments that can be accepted by them; (b) Gödel’s analysis of Carnap’s position in the 1950s; (c) Gödel’s understanding of Carnap’s philosophical project. The paper aims to argue that, contrary to Lavers’s opinion, Gödel takes seriously the details of Carnap’s original conception and does not overlook the novelty of its solutions in the 1930s and 1950s. In particular, the comparison between Gödel’s arguments in the Gibbs lecture of 1951 and in version III of his draft of ‘Is mathematics Syntax of Language?’ shows how Gödel had in 1953–55 a careful concern with Carnap’s philosophical project of LSL. (shrink)

Il volume vuole consentire l'avvicinamento del grande pubblico ad argomenti scientifici difficili ma sempre più presenti nella vita quotidiana. I temi vengono affrontati anche sotto il loro aspetto medico, legale e socioeconomico.

Walter Burley was one of the most prominent logicians and metaphysicians of the Middle Ages. This volume, which contain thirteen substantial articles on his philosophy, is aimed to reconstruct the internal evolution of his doctrines and the role they played in the development of Late Medieval philosophy.

In thirteen essays from different aesthetic traditions, Aesthetic Apprehensions: Silences and Absences in False Familiarities problematizes our habituated customs of seeing and reading the familiar to focus on that which cannot easily be comprehended but may be sensed through encounters with the ruptures and gaps that quietly beckon our attention.

In this article we present the bases for a computational theory of the cognitive processes underlying human communication. The core of the article is devoted to the analysis of the phases in which the process of comprehension of a communicative act can be logically divided: (1) literal meaning, where the reconstruction of the mental states literally expressed by the actor takes place: (2) speaker's meaning, where the partner reconstructs the communicative intentions of the actor; (3) communicative effect, where the partner (...) possibly modifies his own beliefs and intentions; (4) reaction, where the intentions for the generation of the response are produced; and (5) response, where an overt response is constructed. The model appears to be compatible with relevant facts about human behavior. Our hypothesis is that, through communication, an actor tries to exploit the motivational structures of a partner so that the desired goal is generated. A second point is that social behavior requires that cooperation be maintained at some level. In the case of communication, cooperation is, in general, pursued even when the partner does not adhere to the actor's goals, and therefore no cooperation occurs at the behavioral level. This important distinction is reflected in the two kinds of game we introduce to account for communication. The main concept implied in communication is that two agents overtly reach a situation of shared mental states. Our model deals with sharedness through two primitives: shared beliefs and communicative intentions. (shrink)

Human beings frequently attribute anthropomorphic features, motivations and behaviors to animals, artifacts, and natural phenomena. Historically, many interpretations of this attitude have been provided within different disciplines. What most interpretations have in common is distinguishing children’s manifestations of this attitude, which are considered “natural”, from adults’ occurrences, which must be explained by resorting to particular circumstances. In this article, I argue that anthropomorphism is not grounded in specific belief systems but rather in interaction. In interaction, a nonhuman entity assumes a (...) place that generally is attributed to a human interlocutor, which means that it is independent of the beliefs that people may have about the nature and features of the entities that are anthropomorphized. This perspective allows us to explain the problems that emerge if we consider anthropomorphism as a belief: (i) adults under certain circumstances may anthropomorphize entities even if they perfectly know that these entities have no mental life; (ii) according to the situation, the same entity may be anthropomorphized or treated as an object; (iii) there is no consistency among the entities that are anthropomorphized; (iv) there is individual variability in anthropomorphization, and this variability derives from affective states rather than from different degrees of knowledge about the entity that is anthropomorphized or greater or lesser naivety of the person who anthropomorphizes. From this perspective, anthropomorphism is a basic human attitude that begins in infants and persists throughout life. The difference between adults and children is not qualitative but rather a matter of complexity. (shrink)

No. 93: PAPELES SEMÁNTICOS Estudio de los papeles semánticos a partir de un enfoque tipológico, intentando unificar las distintas propuestas y analizar en profundidad el significado y la utilidad de esta etiqueta.

Este artigo se divide em quatro partes. Inicialmente apresentamos a noção de biopolítica de modo introdutório, considerando a relação entre poder soberano e biopoder. Voltamo-nos para a elaboração foucaultiana do termo de modo a esclarecer, em linhas gerais, seu sentido. Essa breve análise da noção de biopolítica encaminha-nos para o conceito de tanatopolítica, que aparece, na segunda parte do texto, como epíteto da derivação funesta da biopolítica. Na terceira parte, a partir de uma perspectiva biopolítica, lançamos luz sobre a crise (...) que enfrentamos. Trata-se de um esforço de evidenciar o sentido biopolítico da crise atual, considerando o conteúdo das reflexões de Foucault. Finalmente, na quarta parte, atualizamos o debate acerca da biopolítica por meio de uma análise da noção de imunidade formulada por Esposito, a qual fornece uma importante chave interpretativa da pandemia atual. (shrink)

The article is devoted to postmodernism musical performance. There was realized a comprehensive retrospective analysis of the phenomenon development from ancient period to nowadays. It was proved that in ancient times interpretation was explained as a form of mythological worldview embodiment; in the Middle Ages as a way of uniting man and God; in Rrenaissance as a means of harmonizing material and spiritual components of personality; in Baroque as a method of theatricality of person's existence; in Classicism as an opportunity (...) to assert the power of human mind; Romanticism emphasized emotionality and subjectivity of concerting, the unique role of master; Modernism declared freedom of interpretation. Understanding the essence of musical performance with each historical stage became deeper, was enriched with new terminological, depth of scientific and theoretical understanding. The musical performance of postmodernism as a unique phenomenon has its own chronology of formation and development, based on achievements of previous epochs, transformed in accordance to philosophical aesthetics of the late XX century. Its outstanding constitutive qualities are: anthropology, religiosity, spirituality, meditation, improvisation, humanism, dialogicity, theatricality, rationalism, intellectualism, emotionality, playing, intertextuality, polystylistics etc. The performing art of postmodernism embodies the conceptual principles of its time: pluralism, irony, collage, synthesis, the death of the author, so on. It unites, eclectically mixes different artistic traditions and views, it forms a unique interpretive vision of musical text, demonstrates openness to dialogue with different historical epochs and civilizations, aimed at both the elite and the mass audience. (shrink)

Various methods have been employed to investigate different aspects of the brain activity modulation related to the performance of a cycling task. In our study we examined how functional connectivity and brain network efficiency varied during an endurance cycling task. To this purpose, we reconstructed EEG signals at source level: we computed current densities in 28 anatomical regions of interest (ROIs) through the eLORETA algorithm, then we calculated the Lagged Coherence of the 28 current density signals to define the adjacency (...) matrix. To quantify changes of functional network efficiency during an exhaustive cycling task, we computed three graph theoretical indices: local efficiency (LE), global efficiency (GE) and Density (D) in two different frequency bands, Alpha and Beta bands, that indicate alertness processes and motor binding/fatigue respectively. This analysis was conducted for six different task intervals: pre-cycling, initial, intermediate and final stages of cycling, active recovery and passive recovery. Fourteen participants performed an incremental cycling task with simultaneous EEG recording and RPE monitoring to detect participants’ exhaustion. LE remained constant during the endurance cycling task in both bands. Therefore, we speculate that fatigue processes did not affect segregated neural processing. We observed an increase of GE in the Alpha band only during cycling, that could be due to greater alertness processes and preparedness to stimuli during exercise. Conversely, although D did not change significantly over time in the Alpha band, its general reduction in the Beta bands during cycling could be interpreted within the framework of the neural efficiency hypothesis, which posits a reduced neural activity for expert/automated performances. We argue that the use of graph theoretical indices represents a clear methodological advancement in studying endurance performance. (shrink)

Several mechanisms of perceptual and cognitive relevance which are often activated during artistic fruition are illustrated. These are phenomena of ambiguity, incongruity and masking, largely clarified in their dynamics by perception and thinking psychology researchers. The connections between these phenomena and the psychoanalytic concepts of ambivalence, conflict and repression are indicated. It is claimed that appropriate consideration of these psychological references contributes to enrich complex communications comprehension, such as in the case of artistic languages. Through analyses carried out on renaissance (...) and contemporary works of art, it is shown how the use of the meanings suggested by the above mentioned perceptual phenomena allows to highlight latent contents. (shrink)

Several mechanisms of perceptual and cognitive relevance which are often activated during artistic fruition are illustrated. These are phenomena of ambiguity, incongruity and masking, largely clarified in their dynamics by perception and thinking psychology researchers. The connections between these phenomena and the psychoanalytic concepts of ambivalence, conflict and repression are indicated. It is claimed that appropriate consideration of these psychological references contributes to enrich complex communications comprehension, such as in the case of artistic languages. Through analyses carried out on renaissance (...) and contemporary works of art, it is shown how the use of the meanings suggested by the above mentioned perceptual phenomena allows to highlight latent contents. (shrink)

The Affective grounding hypothesis suggests that affective experiences play a crucial role in abstract concepts’ processing (Kousta et al. 2011). Vigliocco and colleagues test the role of affective experiences as well as the role of language in learning words denoting abstract concepts, comparing children with typical and atypical development. They conclude that besides the affective experiences also language plays a critical role in the processing of words referring to abstract concepts.

Dans son Apologie, Justin structure son discours selon un double plan: il se prononce en faveur des chrétiens injustement haïs, mais aussi, de manière plus personnelle, comme quelqu�un qui pressent l�approche de sa condamnation et s�y prépare en assumant le rôle du sage qui, sur le point de mourir, fustige l�autorité politique, sans en craindre les conséquences. En recourant à un topos littéraire très connu dans l�Antiquité, Justin se «construit» une image de mort honorable au sein de sa communauté.

Philosopher of science Bruno Latour defines the image as “any sign, work of art, inscription or painting serving as a mediation to reach something else.” According to this definition, mediation could very well be a synonym for image. In this article, I would like to use Latour’s work to argue for the crucial role that images play in overcoming a certain modern worldview that has divided the world into ontological essences that separate subject and object, nature and culture. It is (...) precisely the erasure of the mediations, the images that connect these different forms of life together, that has led to the positing of the modern constitution of autonomous essences, cut off from the many agencies that give them life. Using the art installations of artist Tomas Saraceno, this article will show that it is precisely this mediating role of art that lends it such an interdisciplinary and phenomenological role in allowing the invisible webs connecting earth and sky, nature and culture, human and non-human, to be seen. (shrink)

Emotion-processing impairment represents a risk factor for the development of somatic illness, affecting negatively both health-related quality of life and disease management in several chronic diseases. The present pilot study aims at investigating the associations between alexithymia and depression, anxiety, and HRQoL in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis ; examining the association between these three psychological conditions together with HRQoL, and thyroid autoantibodies status as well as thyroid echotexture in patients with HT; and comparing the intensity of all these clinical psychological (...) features in patients with HT versus controls. Twenty-one patients with serologically or ultrasonographically verified HT and 16 controls with non-toxic goiter or postsurgical hypothyroidism were recruited for this study. Serum thyrotropin and free thyroxine, as well as thyroid autoantibodies, were assayed. Alexithymia, depression, anxiety, and HRQoL were assessed with Toronto Alexithymia Scale; Beck Depression Inventory, second edition; Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale; and Health Survey Short-Form 36, respectively. A negative relationship between the difficulty to describe feelings and the cognitive component of depression was found. Besides, patients with seronegative HT had lower somatic anxiety than patients with HT who tested positive. Besides, no statistically significant difference was found between patients with HT and controls with regard to somatic anxiety. The present study suggests the relevance of alexithymia in patients suffering from HT, which may be intertwined with a possible state of underreported depression that is mainly expressed through physical complaints. Promoting the capability to describe and communicate feelings could contribute to psychological elaboration and coping with the disease and, consequently, to the improvement of self-management and perceived HRQoL. (shrink)

In this article, I compare WANG Bi’s 王弼 rendition of Dao 道 as the nameless, unfathomable root of language and the totality of beings, with Derrida’s analysis of the term khōra. Both cases include a text that presents itself as a commentary on another text, namely the Laozi 老子 for Wang Bi and Plato’s Timaeus for Derrida, whose matter is declared as elusive and ungraspable. I analyze the analogies between these two attempts to convey the unsayable, as well as the (...) philosophical differences in highlighting the “ipseity,” or the “otherness,” of what resides beyond the edge of discourse. On the basis of my analysis, I claim that decisive parallelisms can be found in the homology between text and theme, in the linguistic strategies and common metaphors, whereas the main difference lies in the metaphysical background. Whereas the Dao presumes a harmonious ability for self-ordering, khōra is centered on the concept of absolute otherness, whose unsayability is that of an entity that is constantly removing itself from any determination and which properly consists in dispossessing itself. (shrink)

After a brief discussion of Kreisel’s notion of informal rigour and Myhill’s notion of absolute proof, Gödel’s analysis of the subject is presented. It is shown how Gödel avoids the notion of informal proof because such a use would contradict one of the senses of “formal” that Gödel wants to preserve. This Gödelian notion of “formal” is directly tied to his notion of absolute proof and to the question of the general applicability of concepts, in a way that overcomes both (...) Kreisel and Myhill’s conceptions. This paper aims to contribute to the present-day debate on informal and epistemic mathematics, focusing on what appears necessary for a better understanding of the issues at stake. (shrink)

This volume represents the beginning of a new stage of research in interpreting Kurt Gödel’s philosophy in relation to his scientific work. It is more than a collection of essays on Gödel. It is in fact the product of a long enduring international collaboration on Kurt Gödel’s Philosophical Notebooks (Max Phil). New and significant material has been made accessible to a group of experts, on which they rely for their articles. In addition to this, Gödel’s Nachlass is presented anew by (...) the current state of research and the corpus of Gödel’s Philosophical Notebooks (Max Phil) is described in its entirety for the first time in its details. The volume is sub-divided into three parts. The fist part is dedicated to descriptions of the Gödel Nachlass that is to be found in The Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center des Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. This part starts with an updated overview on Kurt Gödel’s Nachlass by the current state of research and is followed by a detailed description of Gödel’s Philosophical Notebooks (Max Phil). The second part is dedicated by several Gödel scholars to the close reading of single remarks in the Max Phil. And the third part of this volume unites a variety of papers by experts in Gödel studies, logic, and Leibniz as well as by some enthusiasts for Gödel. These papers are nearly all written for this volume. (shrink)

The authors describe the construction, development and content of Kurt Gödel’s Philosophical Remarks—the Max Phil notebooks—for the first time in detail and giving a thorough technical description of them. The Max Phil notebooks are part of the Nachlass that is handed down to us in the shorthand Gabelsberger. The notebooks start as an intellectual diary and then evolve to be philosophical notebooks that contain an outline of Gödel’s rational metaphysics as well as some of his reflections on logic, mathematics, physics, (...) biology, history, philology and theology. Crocco and Engelen make a first attempt to relate these reflections to Gödel’s published work and to his scientific oeuvre to make it clear why they enlarge our knowledge of Gödel’s thinking. They then go on to offer first insights into the content of the Philosophical Remarks. This article not only gives an insight into Gödel’s philosophical work that is not yet known to the academic world but it also constitutes the background to classify the publication of notebook Max Phil X within the context of the Max Phil notebooks in their entirety. (shrink)

This article is an attempt to present Gödel's discussion on concepts, from 1944 to the late 1970s, in particular relation to the thought of Frege and Russell. The discussion takes its point of departure from Gödel's claim in notes on Bernay's review of ?Russell's mathematical logic?. It then retraces the historical background of the notion of intension which both Russell and Gödel use, and offers some grounds for claiming that Gödel consistently considered logic as a free-type theory of concepts, called (...) intensions, considered as the denotations of predicate names. (shrink)