Among ethicists and engineers within robotics there is an ongoing discussion as to whether ethical robots are possible or even desirable. We answer both of these questions in the positive, based on an extensive literature study of existing arguments. Our contribution consists in bringing together and reinterpreting pieces of information from a variety of sources. One of the conclusions drawn is that artifactual morality must come in degrees and depend on the level of agency, autonomy and intelligence of the machine. (...) Moral concerns for agents such as intelligent search machines are relatively simple, while highly intelligent and autonomous artifacts with significant impact and complex modes of agency must be equipped with more advanced ethical capabilities. Systems like cognitive robots are being developed that are expected to become part of our everyday lives in future decades. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that their behaviour is adequate. In an analogy with artificial intelligence, which is the ability of a machine to perform activities that would require intelligence in humans, artificial morality is considered to be the ability of a machine to perform activities that would require morality in humans. The capacity for artificial (artifactual) morality, such as artifactual agency, artifactual responsibility, artificial intentions, artificial (synthetic) emotions, etc., come in varying degrees and depend on the type of agent. As an illustration, we address the assurance of safety in modern High Reliability Organizations through responsibility distribution. In the same way that the concept of agency is generalized in the case of artificial agents, the concept of moral agency, including responsibility, is generalized too. We propose to look at artificial moral agents as having functional responsibilities within a network of distributed responsibilities in a socio-technological system. This does not take away the responsibilities of the other stakeholders in the system, but facilitates an understanding and regulation of such networks. It should be pointed out that the process of development must assume an evolutionary form with a number of iterations because the emergent properties of artifacts must be tested in real world situations with agents of increasing intelligence and moral competence. We see this paper as a contribution to the macro-level Requirement Engineering through discussion and analysis of general requirements for design of ethical robots. (shrink)

Principle of equality of arms is part of fair trial concept, which encompasses several guarantees linked to the defence opportunities during the criminal procedure. The accused person is entitled to a fair trial. Balance of rights between the parties is bedrock for procedural fairness and the judge has to perform his competence in providing all necessary preconditions as for the trial to be fair. There are differences between interpretation and implementation of equality of arms in the jurisprudence of European court (...) on human rights and international criminal courts. Decisions of ECtHR are much more similar with domestic understanding of equality of arms as reasonable opportunity of the defence to present the case without disadvantages vis-à-vis the prosecutor, due to inherent inequity between the parties. When analyzing proceeding before the ad hoc Tribunals, there is “more liberal interpretation” of this principle, which allowed the Prosecutor to invoke equality of arms, as well. ICTY Trial Chamber in Aleksovski case concluded that application of the concept of a fair trial in favor of both parties is understandable because the Prosecution acts on behalf of and in the interests of the international community, including the interests of the victims of the offence charged and also has held that it is difficult to see how a trial could ever be considered to be fair where the accused is favored at the expense of the Prosecution. This interpretation has been justified with dependence of the international Tribunals on state cooperation and due to the fact that international criminal courts have no autonomous enforcement agencies at their disposal. Fortunately, ICC Statute considered equality of arms as solely afforded to the defence, or to the Prosecutor on the behalf of accused. (shrink)

U odnosu filozofije i umjetnosti, metaforičko mišljenje ima poseban status. Od antičke retorike, metafora je bitna jezička figura. U prošlom stoljeću postaje modelom estetičkih i znanstvenih procesa spoznaje i stvaralaštva i teorijskih rasprava u znanosti o književnosti, filozofiji jezika i lingvistici, tj. o hermeneutičkim, jezičkoanalitičkim i strukturalističkim paradigmama. Zanimati će nas Grassijeva hermeneutika metafore. Dok Heidegger drži da je pretpostavka metaforičkog mišljenja tradicionalno razlikovanje osjetilnog i nadosjetilnog bića, tj. da pjesništvo nije metafora, Grassi ide drugim putom, zastupajući tezu da je (...) pjevanje pjesnika i sâmo povijesni bitak zapadnog čovjeka − tumačeći npr. ironički izraz u romantičara novim oblikom mišljenja. Slično Grassiju, i Ricoeur smatra da je Heideggerova upotreba metafore ipak važnija od onoga što usput govori protiv nje. (shrink)

Ova četiri teksta prilagođena su izlaganja o knjizi Gordane Bosanac "Utopija i inauguralni paradoks", održana prigodom njezina predstavljanja.Predstavljanje se, uz raspravu, odvijalo u Klubu sveučilišnih nastavnika u Zagebu 24. listopada 2005.These four contributions are adapted talks on Gordana Bosanac’s book Utopija i inauguralniparadoks, delivered on the occasion of its presentation.This presentation took place at the Croatian University Teachers’ Club in Zagreb on 24th October2005.

Filozofija danas, kao i posljednjih desetljeća, u različitim varijantama raspravlja o utemeljenju i širini pojma pluralizma, multikulturalizma/transkulturalizma, mogućeg prihvaćanja drugačijeg i uopće o načinima posredovanja. Tim se povodom u tekstu želi skrenuti pažnja na tek djelomično recipirano djelo Ernesta Grassija. Prije svega riječ je o njegovom drugačijem tumačenju povijesti novovjekovne filozofije, raspravljanju o odnosu filozofije i kulture i trajnom naporu u premošćivanju i međusobnom upućivanju talijanske i njemačke filozofije, te otvorenosti prema drugim kulturama.Grassi je zastupao stajalište da susret sa stranim (...) i drugačijim traži situaciji primjerene teorijske i praktičke odgovore, otvaranje izvornosti onoga što nam pridolazi kao novo. Teorijska otvorenost iskustvu drugačijih svjetova, provlačenje kroz doživljaj drugačijeg što posebno iskazuje u svojim «južnoameričkim meditacijama», ujedno je za njega propitivanje samorazumljivosti europskog iskustva i europskog tumačenja prostora, vremena, umjetnosti…Pitanje je stoga koliko Grassi, koji je kao metodu spoznaje zastupao znanstvene razgovore što uključuju individualnu, historijsku situaciju i interakciju sudionika u aktualnoj govornoj situaciji, i danas može biti zanimljiv sugovornik. Takav njegov pristup utemeljen je na tumačenju zbiljnosti polazeći od jezika, što uključuje kritiku metafizike.For several decades now, philosophy has and is attempting various approaches to the foundationand scope of pluralism, multiculturalism/transculturalism, possible ways to accepting the different,and general means of mediation. In response, this article deals with the partially received work ofErnesto Grassi – in particular, his singular interpretation of the history of modern age philosophy,his discussion on relations between philosophy and culture, his ongoing effort to bridge the differencesand refer to each other the German and the Italian philosophy, his receptiveness to othercultures.Ernesto Grassi supported the view that encounters with the strange and the different call for appropriatetheoretical and practical responses, a receptiveness to genuineness of what one approaches asnew. For him, the theoretical receptiveness to experiencing different worlds, the involvement in thedifferent that he particularly expresses in his »South American meditations«, is also the means ofquestioning the taking for granted of the European experience and its interpretation of essentialssuch as space, time, and art.It remains a question to what extend is Grassi, who viewed a scientific exchange – with its individual,historical context and the interaction of the participants in the current conversational act – asa cognitive method, still an interesting conversationalist today. He builds this approach upon interpretationof reality from the point of language, which includes a criticism of metaphysics. (shrink)

Danilo Pejović je na Odsjeku za filozofiju, nakon Milana Kangrge, predavao estetiku od početka šezdesetih do početka sedamdesetih godina, kada je tu Katedru preuzeo Danko Grlić, zajedno s kojim je preveo Heideggerov tekst O bîti umjetnosti .U Pejovićevu promišljanju umjetnosti Heidegger je, kao i hermeneutika, bio glavni orijentir u razumijevanju umjetničkog djela preko paradigme jezika i u tom je kontekstu u suvremenoj filozofiji umjetnosti, posebno ukazujući i na značaj ekspresionizma, istraživao odnos umjetnosti i prirode, tehnike, oblika, zbiljnosti, osjećajnosti, razumljivosti i (...) slobode. Raspravljanje o mogućnosti umjetnosti Pejović uvijek postavlja u epohalni kontekst, ustvrđujući da je nakon smrti Goethea i Hegela umro i jedan svijet, koji s oscilacijama seže sve do Homerova doba, a Marx samo radikalizira Hegelovo pitanje o tome čemu još umjetnost,da bi se ono nakon Marxa, u doba tehnike, još više zaoštrilo.Pejović zastupa tezu da bez pojma slobode ne možemo dospjeti do toga što jest umjetnost, a živeći u svijetu prepunu oblika uništavanja ljudske slobode, gube se osjećajnost i ljepota kao pripadne umjetnosti.Danilo Pejović hat nach Milan Kangrga an der Abteilung für Philosophie vom Beginn der Sechziger bis zum Beginn der Siebziger Jahren Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik gehalten, als diesen Lehrstuhl Danko Grlić übernahm, mit wem er Heideggers Werk Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes übersetzte.In Pejovićs Bedenken der Kunst war Heidegger neben der Hermeneutik der Hauptorientierungspunkt im Verstehen des Kunstwerkes mittels Sprachparadigma, und in diesem Kontext in der zeitgenössischen Kunstphilosophie, mit der besonderen Betonung auf die Wichtigkeit des Expressionismus, hat er die Beziehung zwischen Kunst und Natur, Technik, Formen, Wirklichkeit, Sensibilität, Verständlichkeit und Freiheit erforscht. Die Erörterung über die Möglichkeit der Kunst wird von Pejović immer in den Epochen-Kontext gesetzt, mit der Behauptung, dass nach Goethes und Hegels Tod eine Welt, die mit den Schwankungen noch vom Homers Zeitalter dauerte, gestorben ist, und Marx radikalisiert Hegels Frage darüber, warum noch die Kunst, nur dass diese Frage im Zeitalter der Technik nach Marx immer mehr verschärft wurde.Pejović vertritt die These, dass man ohne den Begriff der Freiheit das Wesen der Kunst nicht erreichen kann, und Leben in der Welt, die voll von Vernichtung der Freiheit der Menschen ist, führt zur Verlust der Sensibilität und Schönheit als angehöriger Kunst. (shrink)

Agents and agent-based systems are becoming essential in the development of various fields, such as artificial intelligence, ubiquitous computing, ambient intelligence, autonomous computing, and intelligent robotics. The concept of autonomous agents, inspired by the observed agency in living systems, is also central to current theories on the origin, development, and evolution of life. Therefore, it is crucial to develop an accurate understanding of agents and the concept of agency. This paper begins by discussing the role of agency in natural systems (...) as an inspiration and motivation for agential technologies and then introduces the idea of artificial agents. A systematic approach is presented for the classification of artificial agents. This classification aids in understanding the existing state of the artificial agents and projects their potential future roles in addressing specific types of problems with dedicated agent types. (shrink)

What is reality for an agent? What is minimal cognition? How does the morphology of a cognitive agent affect cognition? These are still open questions among scientists and philosophers. In this chapter we propose the idea of info-computational nature as a framework for answering those questions. Within the info-computational framework, information is defined as a structure, and computation as the dynamics of information. To an agent, nature therefore appears as an informational structure with computational dynamics. Both information and computation in (...) this context have broader meaning than in everyday use, and both are necessarily grounded in physical implementation. Evolution of increasingly complex living agents is understood as a process of morphological computation driven by agents’ interactions with the environment. It is a process much more complex than random variation; instead the mechanisms of change are morphological computational processes of self-organisation. Reality for an agent emerges as a result of interactions with the environment together with internal information processing. Following Maturana and Varela, we take cognition to be the process of living of an organism, and thus it appears on different levels of complexity, from cellular via organismic to social. The simpler the agent, the simpler its “reality” defined by the network of networks of info-computational processes, which constitute its cognition. The debated topic of consciousness takes its natural place in this framework, as a process of information integration that we suggest naturally evolved in organisms with a nervous system. Computing nature/pancomputationalism is sometimes confused with panpsychism or claimed to necessarily imply panpsychism, which we show is not the case. Even though we focus on natural systems in this chapter, the info-computational approach is general and can be used to model both biological and artifactual cognitive agents. (shrink)

Some intriguing questions such as: What is reality for an agent? How does reality of a bacterium differ from a reality of a human brain? Do we need representation in order to understand reality? are still widely debated. Starting with the presentation of the computing nature as an info-computational framework, where information is defined as a structure, and computation as information processing, we address questions of evolution of increasingly complex living agents through interactions with the environment. In this context, the (...) concept of computation will be discussed and the sense in which computation is observer-relative. Using the results on morphological/ morphogenetic computation as information self-organization we argue that reality for an agent is a result of networked agent-based computation. Consciousness is a (computational) process of information integration that evolved in organisms with nervous system. We present an argument why pancomputationalism (computing nature) is a sound scientific strategy and why panpsychism is not. (shrink)

This paper connects information with computation and cognition via concept of agents that appear at variety of levels of organization of physical/chemical/cognitive systems – from elementary particles to atoms, molecules, life-like chemical systems, to cognitive systems starting with living cells, up to organisms and ecologies. In order to obtain this generalized framework, concepts of information, computation and cognition are generalized. In this framework, nature can be seen as informational structure with computational dynamics, where an (info-computational) agent is needed for the (...) potential information of the world to actualize. Starting from the definition of information as the difference in one physical system that makes a difference in another physical system – which combines Bateson and Hewitt’s definitions, the argument is advanced for natural computation as a computational model of the dynamics of the physical world, where information processing is constantly going on, on a variety of levels of organization. This setting helps us to elucidate the relationships between computation, information, agency and cognition, within the common conceptual framework, with special relevance for biology and robotics. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to explore the ways and forms in which history is present, represented and used in Vygotsky’s theorizing. Given the fact that Vygotsky’s theory is usually described as a cultural-historical theory, the issue of history is necessarily implicated in the theory itself. However, there is still a gap between history as implicated in the theory and an explicit theorizing of history – both in Vygotsky’s writings and in Vygotskian scholarship. Therefore it is expected that it (...) would be fruitful to shed light on some possible pathways that can bridge this gap. The prevailing theoretical role of history in Vygotsky’s theory is to serve as a general framework which provides tools for the development of higher psychic functions. Thus, history is recognized as a formative context of psychic life. Further, history appears in Vygotsky’s writings also as a projected better future. All these uses of history presuppose an idea of history as linear progress. But Vygotsky also argues for a stronger epistemological claim – that history is the most powerful explanatory principle. After conceptual and theoretical reflection on history, some limitations of Vygotsky’s historicizing of the history of psychic development will be pointed out and related to general epistemological problems of historicizing. Finally, Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, an edifice built up in the 1930s but relying on the rich philosophical and psychological legacy available up to that time, will be positioned against the pluralistic, postmodern and hermeneutic turn in contemporary social and human sciences. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to explore the ways and forms in which history is present, represented and used in Vygotsky’s theorizing. Given the fact that Vygotsky’s theory is usually described as a cultural-historical theory, the issue of history is necessarily implicated in the theory itself. However, there is still a gap between history as implicated in the theory and an explicit theorizing of history – both in Vygotsky’s writings and in Vygotskian scholarship. Therefore it is expected that it (...) would be fruitful to shed light on some possible pathways that can bridge this gap. The prevailing theoretical role of history in Vygotsky’s theory is to serve as a general framework which provides tools for the development of higher psychic functions. Thus, history is recognized as a formative context of psychic life. Further, history appears in Vygotsky’s writings also as a projected better future. All these uses of history presuppose an idea of history as linear progress. But Vygotsky also argues for a stronger epistemological claim – that history is the most powerful explanatory principle. After conceptual and theoretical reflection on history, some limitations of Vygotsky’s historicizing of the history of psychic development will be pointed out and related to general epistemological problems of historicizing. Finally, Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, an edifice built up in the 1930s but relying on the rich philosophical and psychological legacy available up to that time, will be positioned against the pluralistic, postmodern and hermeneutic turn in contemporary social and human sciences. (shrink)

Ova četiri teksta prilagođena su izlaganja o knjizi Gordane Bosanac "Utopija i inauguralni paradoks", održana prigodom njezina predstavljanja.Predstavljanje se, uz raspravu, odvijalo u Klubu sveučilišnih nastavnika u Zagebu 24. listopada 2005.These four contributions are adapted talks on Gordana Bosanac’s book Utopija i inauguralniparadoks , delivered on the occasion of its presentation.This presentation took place at the Croatian University Teachers’ Club in Zagreb on 24th October2005.

Od svih suvremenika Praxisa, koji je nesumnjivo najsnažnija pojava u novijoj povijesti filozofije i kulture na ovim prostorima, Blaženku Despot treba smatrati onom izuzetnom osobnošću koja, ni formalno niti konceptualno, ne pripada tom krugu, iako s njime dijeli problematsku suštinu prijepora kojim se svi oni u to doba intenzivno bave. Ona, kao i Praxis , oštro i bespoštedno kritizira »socijalističku zbilju«, ali pritom ide dalje, propitujući i promišljajući odnos misaonih, idejnih izvora na koje se »realizacija socijalističke zbilje« poziva, kao i (...) kvalitetu, domet i istinitost same realizacije. Tako su u žarište njezinih preokupacija postavljeni misaoni korpus Hegela i Marxa, njihove razlike i istovjetnosti, granice i nepotpunosti u odnosu na povijesnu zakrivljenost našeg vremena. Poduzimajući filozofsku analizu tzv. društvenih pojava ona poduzima suočavanje »socijalističke stvarnosti« s idejama njezinih marksističkih uzora. Stoga poduzima »ponovno čitanje Hegela«, koje znači i ponovno čitanje Marxa, naročito na onim mjestima na kojima ih je »socijalistička stvarnost«, kao i cjelokupna povijest, potpuno demantirala, a to je područje humanističkog dometa emancipacije žena. Otvarajući među prvima u nas upravo ovo teorijsko-filozofsko polje, Blaženka Despot slijedi svjetske trendove teorije i filozofije feminizma, u čemu je ostavila ne samo neizbrisivi trag doprinosu produbljavanja filozofije slobode nego je u nas postavila temelje feminističke filozofije.Blaženka Despot should be regarded as an extraordinary person among all Praxis’s contemporaries, because she was concerned with the same themes, although she did not belong to the group, neither formally nor conceptually. She, like the philosophers closely associated with Praxis , harshly and without pity criticizes the so called “socialist reality”, but goes on even further to examine and rethink the conceptual foundations on which it is based, as well as its quality, range and truthfulness of the whole project. Therefore, Hegel and Marx lie in the very centre of her interest – the differences and similarities between them, and their limitations and insufficiencies regarding the historical context of our times. Putting effort into the philosophical analysis of social phenomena , she puts “socialist reality” and the ideas of its Marxist role-models side by side. Thus, she “re-reads Hegel”, and thereby also unavoidably Marx, in the context completely neglected by both “socialist reality” and the entire history of ideas – in the context of humanistic emancipation of women. Opening that theoretic-philosophical field of investigation, Blaženka Despot follows the world trends in theory, including also dealing with the philosophy of feminism, where she left an indelible mark concerning her efforts to deepen the “philosophy of freedom” and to establish feminist philosophy in Croatia. (shrink)

Compte tenu de l’importance de la symbolisation dans le développement individuel de l’homme, tout comme dans le développement historique de l’humanité, se pose la question de la transformation de la symbolisation dans les conditions postmodernes. L’objectif est de montrer que, derrière les carnavals postmodernes des signes et l’extase de la communication, une profonde désymbolisation du subjectif aussi bien que du social est en train de se produire. La conséquence de ces processus est la disparition des conditions de la possibilité de (...) réflexion et de la critique de la société. Ainsi, sous le slogan de la postmodernité, l’animal symbolicum devient l’animal desymbolicum, vivant dans un désert social, incapable de transcender son expérience locale puisqu’il a dissolu les concepts généraux et mis en danger l’ordre symbolique. Il semblerait qu’il soit tombé dans une amnésie historique et sociale profonde. (shrink)

Taking into account the significance of symbolization for human individual development, as well as for historical development of mankind, a question of transformations of symbolization under postmodern conditions has been raised. The aim is to show that behind the postmodern carnivals of signs and ecstasy of communication a deep desymbolization of the subjective as well of the social is occurring. As a consequence of such processes, conditions of possibility of reflection and social critique are disappearing. Thus, under the banner of (...) postmodernity, animal symbolicum is becoming an animal desymbolicum, living in a social desert, unable to transcend its local experience as it has dissolved general notions and endangered symbolic order. It seems it has fallen into a deep historical and social amnesia. (shrink)

Angesichts der konstitutiven Bedeutung der Symbolisierung sowohl für die individuelle Entwicklung des Menschen als auch für die historische Entwicklung der Menschengattung wird die Frage nach den Wandlungen der Symbolisierung in der Postmoderne gestellt. Es wird gezeigt, dass hinter dem postmodernen Karneval der Zeichen und Ekstase der Kommunikation eine tiefgreifende Desymbolisierung sowohl des Subjektiven als auch des Sozialen sich vollzieht. Als Folgen dieser Prozesse werden Bedingungen der Möglichkeit der Reflexion und gesellschaftlicher Kritik abgeschafft. Das animal symbolicum hat sich im Zuge der (...) Postmoderne schrecklicherweise in ein animal desymbolicum verwandelt, das in einer verwüsteten Gesellschaft lebt, das seine lokale Erfahrung nicht transzendieren kann, weil es die Begriffe aufgelöst hat und die symbolische Ordnung in Gefahr gebracht hat und nach allem, was es begangen hat, in eine tiefe historische und soziale Amnesie gefallen ist. (shrink)

Uzimajući u obzir značaj simbolizacije za individualni razvoj čovjeka, kao i za povijesni razvoj čovječanstva, postavlja se pitanje transformacija simbolizacije u postmodernim uvjetima. Cilj rada je pokazati da se iza postmodernih karnevala znakova i ekstaze komunikacije pojavljuje duboka desimbolizacija kako subjektivnog tako i onog društvenog. Posljedica tih procesa je nestajanje uvjeta mogućnosti refleksije i kritike društva. Stoga, pod parolom postmoderne, animal symbolicum postaje animal desymbolicum, živeći u društvenoj pustinji, u nemoći da transcendira svoje lokalno iskustvo budući da je rastvorio opće (...) pojmove i ugrozio simbolički poredak. Čini se da je upao u duboku povijesnu i društvenu amneziju. (shrink)

There are plausible academic as well as social indicators that qualitative research has become an indispensable part of the methodological repertoire of the social sciences. Relying upon the tenets of the qualitative approach which require a priority of subject matter over method and a necessary socio-historical contextualization, I reconstruct some aspects of a social history that have shaped the quantitative—qualitative dichotomy and the quantitative imperative; these include modern individualism, monological rationality, manufacture operating on the grounds of common human labour, mechanics (...) as the first science, quantification as a technology of distanced objectivity and a search for certainty realized at the expense of qualitative attributes. The so-called renaissance of the qualitative approach starting in 1960s, understood as a kind of a return of repressed qualities, is also socio-culturally contextualized. Both anthropogenetic and sociogenetic reconstructions as well as a microgenetic analysis of the research process demonstrate that choices of subject matter and of methodology are socially and culturally embedded and necessarily linked to broader interests and beliefs. (shrink)

The emerging contemporary natural philosophy provides a common ground for the integrative view of the natural, the artificial, and the human-social knowledge and practices. Learning process is central for acquiring, maintaining, and managing knowledge, both theoretical and practical. This paper explores the relationships between the present advances in understanding of learning in the sciences of the artificial, natural sciences, and philosophy. The question is, what at this stage of the development the inspiration from nature, specifically its computational models such as (...) info-computation through morphological computing, can contribute to machine learning and artificial intelligence, and how much on the other hand models and experiments in machine learning and robotics can motivate, justify, and inform research in computational cognitive science, neurosciences, and computing nature. We propose that one contribution can be understanding of the mechanisms of ‘learning to learn’, as a step towards deep learning with symbolic layer of computation/information processing in a framework linking connectionism with symbolism. As all natural systems possessing intelligence are cognitive systems, we describe the evolutionary arguments for the necessity of learning to learn for a system to reach humanlevel intelligence through evolution and development. The paper thus presents a contribution to the epistemology of the contemporary philosophy of nature. (shrink)

By analyzing discursive equalization of the categories of life and death in different spoken and written genres in the 1990s, the author uncovers a number of ideas and strategies around which the discourses guided by this phenomenon are structured. The first part of the paper is aimed at understanding the relation of these categories in Serbian folk culture and possible influences of the latter on recent articulations of the examined phenomenon. In the second part of the paper the central ideas (...) of the phenomenon are identified. These refer to the survival of the nation, "not betraying the ancestors", and ethnic territorialization. From the analysis of different spoken and written genres the conclusion may be derived that the "cancellation of boundaries" between the extremely opposed categories of life and death is made possible by the following discursive strategies: 1. "non-existification", 2. collective individualization, 3. vitalization, 4. mortification, and 5. various combination of the foregoing strategies.. Analizom diskursivnog izjednacavanja kategorija zivota i smrti u razlicitim govornim i pisanim zanrovima devedesetih godina XX veka, autorka iznalazi krug ideja i strategija oko kojih se struktuiraju diskursi usmereni ovim fenomenom. Prvi deo teksta posvecen je razumevanju odnosa ovih kategorija u srpskoj narodnoj kulturi i eventualnim uticajima ove kulture na novije aktualizovanje fenomena koji tematizuje. U drugom delu teksta identifikovane su nosece ideje ovog fenomena, koje se ticu opstanka nacije, "neizneveravanja predaka" i etnicke teritorijalizacije. Iz analize razlicitih govornih i pisanih zanrova proizlazi daje "ukidanje granica" izmedju ekstremno suprotstavljenih kategorija zivota i smrti omoguceno diskursivnim strategijama: 1. "onepostojanja", 2. kolektivne individualizacije, 3. vitalizacije, 4. mortifikacije i 5. razlicitim kombinacijama ovih strategija.. (shrink)

The Smart Home designed to extend older adults independence is emerging as a clinical solution to the growing ageing population. Nurses will and should play a key role in the development and application of Smart Home technology. Accordingly, conceptual frameworks are needed for nurse scientists who are collaborating with multidisciplinary research teams in developing an intelligent Smart Home that assists with managing older adults’ health. We present a conceptual framework that is grounded in critical realism and pragmatism, informing a unique (...) mixed methodological approach to generating, analyzing, and contextualizing sensor data for clinician‐based machine learning. This framework can guide nurse scientists in knowledge construction as they participate in multidisciplinary health‐assistive Smart Home and artificial intelligence research. In this paper, we review philosophical underpinnings and explicate how this framework can guide nurse scientists collaborating with engineers to develop intelligent health‐assistive Smart Homes. It is critical that clinical nursing knowledge is integrated into Smart Home and artificial intelligence features. A conceptual framework and practical method will provide needed structure for knowledge construction by nurse scientists. (shrink)

The paper is an analytic retrospective of the author?s work during the preceding research period, involving the study of role, meaning and place of stereotypes in identity discourses. In order to explain the reasons for and ways of dealing with stereotypes, she reviews the evolution of her own research approach and the alternative approaches to the topic from the perspective of various scholarly disciplines. Seeking to avoid the trap of?interpreting stereotypes stereotypically?, the author chooses not to follow the usual method (...) whereby ethnic stereotypes are?deconstructed? as false and generalizing image of oneself and others, and exposed to social-psychological and political-anthropological critique. Instead, the author looks at stereotypes primarily in terms of their linguistic and social?semiotics? and their theoretical and practical usability. Stressing the necessity of relativizing the binary structure of discourse, the author argues that stereotypes, though indispensable as elements of the?economy? of language and thought, should be socially conceptualized and historicized in analysis. U ovom tekstu autorka daje pregled svog rada tokom proteklog projektnog perioda u kome je istrazivala ulogu, znacenje i mesto stereotipa u identitetskim diskursima. Da bi objasnila razloge i nacine svog bavljenja stereotipima, ona se osvrce kako na evoluciju sopstvenog istrazivackog postupka, tako i na alternativne pristupe temi iz perspektiva razlicitih naucnih disciplina. U nastojanju da izbegne zamku?stereotipnog tumacenja stereotipa?, autorka ne sledi uobicajeni postupak?dekonstrukcije? etnickih stereotipa, kao lane i uopstavajuce predstave o sebi i?drugom?, te njihove socijalno-psiholoske i politicko-antropoloske kritike, vec se prevashodno bavi dimenzijama jezicke i socijalne?semiotike? stereotipa i njihovom teorijskom i prakticnom upotrebljivoscu. Polazeci od neophodnosti stereotipa u?misaonoj ekonomiji?, autorka se u svom postupku zalaze za relativizaciju binarne strukture diskursa, kao i za socijalnu kontekstualizaciju i istorizaciju stereotipa u teorijskoj analizi. (shrink)

Modern information communication technology eradicates barriers of geographic distances, making the world globally interdependent, but this spatial globalization has not eliminated cultural fragmentation. The Two Cultures of C.P. Snow (that of science– technology and that of humanities) are dri6ing apart even faster than before, and they themselves crumble into increasingly specialized domains. Disintegrated knowledge has become subservient to the competition in technological and economic race leading in the direction chosen not by the reason, intellect, and shared value-based judgement, but rather (...) by the whims of autocratic leaders or fashion controlled by marketers for the purposes of political or economic dominance. If we want to restore the authority of our best available knowledge and democratic values in guiding humanity, first we have to reintegrate scattered domains of human knowledge and values and offer an evolving and diverse vision of common reality unified by sound methodology. This collection of articles responds to the call from the journal Philosophies to build a new, networked world of knowledge with domain specialists from different disciplines interacting and connecting with other knowledge-and-values-producing and knowledge-and-values- consuming communities in an inclusive, extended, contemporary natural–philosophic manner. In this process of synthesis, scientific and philosophical investigations enrich each other—with sciences informing philosophies about the best current knowledge of the world, both natural and human-made—while philosophies scrutinize the ontological, epistemological, and methodological foundations of sciences, providing scientists with questions and conceptual analyses. This is all directed at extending and deepening our existing comprehension of the world, including ourselves, both as humans and as societies, and humankind. -/- Print copies (17. (shrink)

The article deals with the explanatory relevance of the concept of stereotype in one of its original meanings - as a "mental image". This meaning of the term is the starting point for further differentiations, such as: between linguistic and behavioral stereotypes ; universal and particular stereotypes; self representative and introspective stereotypes; permanent and contemporary stereotypes; and finally, what is most important for our purposes, the difference between silent and audible stereotypes. These distinctions, along with the functions of stereotype, are (...) discussed in the first part of the paper. In the second part, the relations of silent and audible stereotypes are tested against the introduction of "innovative vocabularies" in popular lore. In other words, the explanatory power of this differentiation is checked through an analysis of unconventional motives in Serbian epic poems. The goal of the argument is to clarify the procedure of self creation of masculinity as a relevant feature of the "national character" through "tactic games" of silent and audible stereotypes. The examination of these "poetic strategies" serves a twofold purpose: to illustrate the process of constructing particular features of the "ethno type", on one hand, and to check hypotheses and models which are taken as frameworks in analyzing stereotypes, on the other. Predmet radja je ispitivanje znacaja pojma stereotipa i reafirmisanje ovog pojma u jednom od njegovih prvobitnih znacenja kao "slika u nasim glavama". Takvo shvatanje stereotipa u ovom tekstu je polaziste za diferencijacije u okviru samog fenomena: na jezicke stereotipe i stereotipe u postupanju i glasne stereotipe. Funkcije stereotipa i ove podele su, u najkracem, predmet razmatranja prvog delu teksta. U drugom delu teksta testiranje odnos izmedju nemih i glasnih stereotipa na nekoj vrsti "inovativnog vokabulara" u narodnom predanju. To drugim recima znaci da se u ovom delu teksta proverava funkcionalnost ovako diferenciranih stereotipa putem analize nekonvencionalnih motiva usmene knjizevnosti. Cilj je da se osvetli postupak samokreiranja jednog svojstva "nacionalnog karaktera" putem "takticke igre" izmedju nemih i glasnih stereotipa. Stoga je ispitivanje ovih poetickih strategija koliko u funkciji priblizavanja mehanizama izgradnje specificnih svojstava "etnotipa", odnosno u funkciji pokazivanja dispozitiva savremenih prica o "kolektivnom imidzu", toliko i u funkciji provere unapred naznacenih pretpostavki i zadatih modela u okviru kojih se ispituje fenomen stereotipa. (shrink)