Jonathan Haidt has exhibited in several publications a strong influence by Hume as his inspiration to build up his Intuitionist Social Model especially in reference to the emotional and intuitive roots of morals. So, this article aims to go deeper into that influence to analyze, review and compare their concepts and hypotheses in order to establish common features in both Philosophers´ programs. By demonstrating some similarities between both authors -both critical to rationalism, and compelled to investigate the roots of morals (...) in Psychology-, their proposals will be compared and analyzed; and taking these critics into account the intuitionist assumptions that both Philosophers assume or could assume will be revised. In order to focus on the motivation of moral statements as a priority in Haidt research, the core of this article is dedicated to that issue. I will also explore Hume’s difficulty to conciliate his Emotivism with the rightness of moral statements that he considered necessary. Finally, my conclusions are that both positions sustain normative consequences ruled by an Ethics of Virtue. (shrink)

Los trabajos que aquí se comentan fueron confeccionados en diferentes períodos, algunos bastante alejados entre sí. Volver a leerlos para responder a las observaciones que integran este dossier me permitió revisar mi producción y examinarla a la luz de la distancia. Confirmé que siempre me han preocupado los mismos temas: las condiciones de la justicia y las causas de las injusticias, la calidad de la democracia y el compromiso ciudadano. Dividí el artículo en tres secciones, procurando reunir mis respuestas en (...) cierta unidad temática: Democracia deliberativa y razón pública (I), Felicidad, virtud y razón práctica (II) y Algo de neuroética (III). Las observaciones y críticas que realizaron los colegas me posibilitó mejorar algunos argumentos y aclarar ciertos puntos oscuros; confío en haberlo logrado. (shrink)

Según Chantal Mouffe, las concepciones deliberativas de la democracia desconocen el fenómeno político; esto se pone manifiesto en la pretensión de alcanzar un consenso racional que niega el conflicto, elemento insoslayable de la política. Otro error que les atribuye es privilegiar la razón sobre los componentes pasionales al considerar la motivación de las acciones. Como alternativa propone la democracia radical centrada en las ideas de "hegemonía", en la oposición nosotros-ellos y en la importancia de las pasiones en la política. Este (...) artículo sostiene, primero, que la democracia deliberativa puede afrontar con éxito cada una de estas críticas; segundo, a partir de realizar una reconstrucción de los elementos normativos que contiene el pluralismo agonista, argumenta que fracasa en su intención de ofrecerse como una alternativa al estatus-quo de la democracia liberal ya que disuelve la validez en la facticidad. According to Chantal Mouffe, deliberative conceptions of democracy reject the political phenomenon. This is evident when a rational consensus to deny the conflict -politically unavoidable- is supported. Another error she also underlines is to privilege rational more than emotional elements in order to consider actions motivation. As an alternative she proposes radical democracy centered on the one hand at the idea of "hegemony", according to the opposition us-them and in the other at the passions involved in politics. The author maintains that deliberative democracy can face successfully each one of those critics. After reconstructing the normative elements that radical democracy contains, the argument proves that it fails in the pretention to be an alternative to liberal democracy status-quo since it dissolves validity in facticity. (shrink)

Jonathan Haidt has exhibited in several publications a strong influence by Hume as his inspiration to build up his Intuitionist Social Model especially in reference to the emotional and intuitive roots of morals. So, this article aims to go deeper into that influence to analyze, review and compare their concepts and hypotheses in order to establish common features in both Philosophers´ programs. By demonstrating some similarities between both authors -both critical to rationalism, and compelled to investigate the roots of morals (...) in Psychology-, their proposals will be compared and analyzed; and taking these critics into account the intuitionist assumptions that both Philosophers assume or could assume will be revised. In order to focus on the motivation of moral statements as a priority in Haidt research, the core of this article is dedicated to that issue. I will also explore Hume’s difficulty to conciliate his Emotivism with the rightness of moral statements that he considered necessary. Finally, my conclusions are that both positions sustain normative consequences ruled by an Ethics of Virtue. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar si, en nuestras sociedades plurales, individualistas y asentadas en el lenguaje normativo de los derechos y los principios, existe un lugar valioso y posible para una reactualización de la tradición de las virtudes. Nuestra opinión es positiva, pero de una manera condicionada. Tal reactualización debe dar una respuesta a dos críticas bien fundadas que se han realizado a reactualizaciones previas: su riesgo de obturar la capacidad transformadora de las costumbres y tradiciones y su (...) dependencia original respecto de un ethos jerárquico. Aquí mostraremos que la creación y mantenimiento de una sociedad democrática, que haga de la igualdad relacional un valor fundamental, requiere de un conjunto de virtudes cívicas básicas y que ellas pueden justificarse reforzando el potencial crítico de las virtudes respecto de su contexto de formación. (shrink)

Graciela Vidiella ha dedicado parte de su producción académica a indagar sobre la idea de una democracia deliberativa. En el marco de dicha indagación, Vidiella sostuvo que existe una incompatibilidad entre la idea de razón publica defendida por John Rawls y la concepción deliberativa de la democracia. Dicha critica deliberacionista contra la propuesta rawlsiana puede desagregarse en tres tesis: tesis del autogobierno procedimental, tesis sobre el uso crítico de la razón y tesis sobre el trato desigualitario. El (...) presente artículo argumenta en contra de dichas tesis y en defensa de la compatibilidad de la idea de razón publica rawlsiana y la democracia deliberativa. (shrink)

Uno de los problemas omnipresentes en la teoría política es el de qué tipo de relación debe existir entre el régimen democrático en tanto sistema de toma de decisiones colectivas y las vidas de sus ciudadanos, en tanto seres dotados de fines, metas y deseos. Ya sea desde las concepciones que estipulan que las decisiones mayoritarias pueden poner en riesgo ciertos ideales de buena vida o desde aquellas que creen que el tipo de justificación de las decisiones políticas no puede (...) dar cuenta de los procesos hermenéuticos individuales de búsqueda de significado a la propia existencia hasta aquellas concepciones que consideran que las condiciones para la búsqueda de la buena vida no pueden quedar libradas al desigual poder social o las que consideran que el bienestar individual debe quedar restringido a su compatibilidad con una autocomprensión colectiva de una buena sociedad, la cuestión reaparece incluso cuando se pretende hacerla a un lado. Los textos que componen este Dossier ofrecen diferentes aristas de estos problemas, los cuales vienen siendo tratados extensa y prolíficamente en la obra de Graciela Vidiella. En este sentido, el Dossier también representa un homenaje a su trabajo, algo que se ve reflejado no sólo en los temas tratados sino en que ellos se producen como una continuidad formal de largas conversaciones y discusiones informales que Vidiella mantuvo a lo largo de su carrera con sus amigos y amigas, discípulos y discípulas y estudiantes en general. (shrink)

En este trabajo me propongo realizar un homenaje a la obra filosófica de Graciela Vidiella. Con este objetivo en mente, me concentro en su trabajo “Imaginación literaria y virtudes ciudadanas”. En esta investigación, Vidiella sostiene -con cierta cautela- que la lectura de textos literarios puede hacernos mejores personas. El aporte moral crucial de la literatura sería desarrollar en sus lectores un sentido de la justicia, la tolerancia, la solidaridad y el pensamiento crítico En relación al pensamiento crítico, (...) defiendo la idea según la cual Vidiella vincula su razonamiento con el liberalismo de tipo rawlsiano. A continuación, propongo un modo alternativo de entender el pensamiento crítico de la mano de aportaciones de un teórico de izquierdas como Herbert Marcuse que estaba preocupado por dotar a la humanidad, a través precisamente del arte, de un sentido crítico respecto de una cultura hegemónica. (shrink)

Siguiendo a Martha Nussbaum, Graciela Vidiella argumenta que las humanidades están llamadas a cumplir un rol importante en la promoción de la ciudadanía virtuosa que es tan crucial para la salud de nuestras democracias. Este trabajo pretende aportar al proyecto de promover una ciudadanía virtuosa reuniendo tres reflexiones sobre el tipo de educación humanística del que cabe (y el tipo del que no cabe) esperar un aporte significativo en ese sentido. Argumentaré, en primer lugar, que una educación humanística (...) que esté a la altura de tal propósito, no puede ser concebida ni practicada como un bien Veblen. Sostendré, en segundo lugar, que una formación humanística que busque promover las virtudes cívicas necesita apoyarse en una concepción integrada del conocimiento que lo entienda como parte de la sabiduría y reconozca la centralidad del conocimiento vivo frente al conocimiento inerte. Por último, señalaré la importancia de diseñar las tareas formativas y los instrumentos de evaluación con vistas a entrenar a los estudiantes en las habilidades requeridas para el pensamiento crítico y propondré una herramienta idónea a tal efecto. De estas tres maneras, intento aportar algunas precisiones sobre el tipo de educación humanística del que cabe (y el tipo del que no cabe) esperar contribuciones significativas de cara a fomentar el desarrollo de una ciudadanía virtuosa. (shrink)

La democracia deliberativa surgió como una concepción de la legitimidad democrática que, contrariamente a la democracia agregativa, fuera sensible a las numerosas desigualdades que afectan los intercambios intersubjetivos entre ciudadanos y ofreciera alguna justificación para limitar que el poder social desigual se traslade al campo político. En un importante texto, “Democracia e Igualdad Política”, Graciela Vidiella especifica algunas condiciones de justicia social que deben cumplirse para que esta concepción honre su promesa. En este texto, intento mostrar - a (...) través del problema de la tentación epistócrata y el problema del espacio deliberativo - que, si bien esas condiciones igualitarias tienen relevancia, el problema central del igualitarismo en la democracia deliberativa radica en la configuración de los espacios donde se produzcan los intercambios comunicativos. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente trabajo es evaluar la presunta incompatibilidad entre la idea de razón pública defendida por John Rawls y la concepción deliberativa de la democracia, tal como fue denunciada por Graciela Vidiella. La crítica deliberacionista de Vidiella contra la propuesta rawlsiana puede desagregarse en dos tesis: tesis del autogobierno procedimental y tesis sobre el uso crítico de la razón. Argumentaré en contra de dichas tesis y en defensa de la compatibilidad de la idea de razón (...) pública rawlsiana y la democracia deliberativa. (shrink)

As one approach to examining the way ethical decisions are made, we asked experts and novices to review a set of scenarios that depict some important ethical tensions in research. The method employed was “protocol analysis,” a talk-aloud technique pioneered by cognitive scientists for the analysis of expert performance. The participants were asked to verbalize their normally unexpressed thought processes as they responded to the scenarios, and to make recommendations for courses of action. We found that experts spent more time (...) working through the decision-making process than novices and also raised substantially more concerns than novices. Differences also exist among the three groups of experts. (shrink)

The purpose of public and community health is to improve the health of populations or groups rather than concentrating on individuals. This book examines the ethical issues associated with public and community health. The contributors analyse the major ethical issues in public health - prioritisation, public participation, health promotion and screening - all of which reflect current practice in the UK. They examine what health services should be available, who should have access to which health services, what are the best (...) strategies for preventing disease, how can professional and public views be reconciled and when can an individual's health needs override the choice of a community. The contributors apply up-to-date ethical theory to practical examples in public health practice to provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the key issues in public health ethics. (shrink)

Psychologists are interested in understanding how early social environments impact children’s behavior and cognition. Early social environments are comprised of social relationships; however, there have been relatively few tools available to quantify the depth and breadth of children’s social relationships. We harnessed the power of social networks to demonstrate that networks can be used to describe children’s early social environments. Descriptive data from American children aged 6 months–5 years demonstrates that network properties can be used to provide a quantitative analysis (...) of children’s early social environments and highlights how these environments vary across development. Social network methodology will provide researchers with a comprehensive picture of children’s early social experiences and improve studies exploring individual differences. (shrink)

The ability to recognize a face is crucial for the success of social interactions. Understanding the visual processes underlying this ability has been the focus of a long tradition of research. Recent advances in the field have revealed that individuals having different cultural backgrounds differ in the type of visual information they use for face processing. However, the mechanisms that underpin these differences remain unknown. Here, we revisit recent findings highlighting group differences in face processing. Then, we integrate these results (...) in a model of visual categorization developed in the field of psychophysics: the RAP framework. On the basis of this framework, we discuss potential mechanisms, whether face-specific or not, that may underlie cross-cultural differences in face perception. (shrink)

ObjectiveOverweight and obesity [body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2] are associated with poorer prognosis among women with breast cancer, and weight gain is common during treatment. Symptoms of depression and anxiety are also highly prevalent in women with breast cancer and may be exacerbated by post-diagnosis weight gain. Altered brain function may underlie psychological distress. Thus, this secondary analysis examined the relationship between BMI, psychological health, and resting state functional connectivity among women with breast cancer.MethodsThe sample included 34 post-menopausal women (...) newly diagnosed with Stage 0-IIa breast cancer who were enrolled in a 6-month randomized controlled trial of aerobic exercise vs. usual care. At baseline prior to randomization, whole-brain analyses were conducted to evaluate the relationship between BMI and seed-to-voxel rsFC of the hippocampus and amygdala. Connectivity values from significant clusters were then extracted and examined as predictors of self-reported depression and anxiety.ResultsMean BMI was in the obese range. For both seeds examined, higher BMI was associated with lower rsFC with regions of prefrontal cortex, including ventrolateral PFC, dorsolateral PFC, and superior frontal gyrus. Hippocampal connectivity with the vlPFC was negatively correlated with self-reported anxiety.ConclusionHigher BMI was associated with lower hippocampal and amygdala connectivity to regions of PFC implicated in cognitive control and emotion regulation. BMI-related differences in hippocampal and amygdala connectivity following a recent breast cancer diagnosis may relate to future worsening of psychological functioning during treatment and remission. Additional longitudinal research exploring this hypothesis is warranted. (shrink)

This study investigated students’ perceptions following a prepared, common presentation regarding academic integrity provided by their residence dons. This peer instruction study utilized both quantitative and qualitative analyses of survey data within a pre-test post-test design. Overall, students reported gains in knowledge, as well as confidence in their knowledge of academic integrity. Notably, students reported increases in their personal value for academic integrity after participating in the presentations. Overall, the quality and content of the presentations were judged positively, and participants’ (...) ratings of the presentation were predictive of increases in personal value of academic integrity, as well as self-reported knowledge and confidence gains. Qualitative analyses supported that the key ideas in the presentation served as the focal material for discussion, but also introduced specific topics that students wanted to explore in greater depth. (shrink)

Theory of Mind is the ability to predict and understand the mental state of another. While ToM is theorized to play a role in language, we examined whether such a mentalizing ability plays an important role in establishing shared understanding in conversation. Pairs of participants engaged in a Lego model building task in which a director instructed a builder on how to create duplicate models from a prototype that only the director could see. We manipulated whether the director could see (...) or could not see the builder’s workspace. As predicted, the Mind in the Eyes test predicted accuracy when the workspace was hidden. A high mentalizing ability was an advantage when instructing, resulting in fewer errors, but may be a disadvantage when following instructions. This research indicates that ToM plays a key role in communicating information effectively in conversation. (shrink)

The empirical literature exploring lawyers and their moral decision making is limited despite the “crisis” of unethical and unprofessional behavior in the bar that has been well documented for over a decade. In particular we are unaware of any empirical studies that investigate the moral landscape of the health lawyer’s practice. In an effort to address this gap in the literature, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Vanderbilt University designed an empirical study to gather preliminary evidence regarding the moral reasoning (...) of health care attorneys. The primary research question was how health lawyers respond when they encounter ethical or moral dilemmas in their practice for which the law fails to offer a bright-line solution. In exploring this question, we sought to understand better what motivations or influences guide action when health lawyers confront ethical quandaries, and whether there are specific differences, e.g., gender, experience, or religiosity, that are associated with specific responses to situations testing ethical or moral boundaries. (shrink)

Self‐management programmes provide strategies to optimise health while educating and providing resources for living with enduring illnesses. The current paper describes the development of a community‐based programme that combines a transdiagnostic approach to self‐management with mindfulness to enhance psychological coping for older people with long‐term multimorbidity. The six steps of intervention mapping (IM) were used to develop the programme. From a needs assessment, the objectives of the programme were formulated; the theoretical underpinnings then aligned to the objectives, which informed programme (...) design, decisions on implementation, programme adoption and evaluation steps. Bandura's social cognitive theory informed the methods and practical strategies of delivery. Among the features addressed with participants are transdiagnostic dimensions such as fatigue, pain, breathlessness, sleep disturbances. The programme utilises mindfulness to aid coping and ameliorate the psychological distresses associated with chronicity. Findings from an initial feasibility study and subsequent pilot assisted in conceptualising our programme. In conclusion, applying IM gave the planners confidence the programme is robust and evidence‐based with clearly articulated links between the behavioural goals and design elements to obtain the desired outcomes. (shrink)

Formative intervention methodologies, such as the Change Laboratory, are increasingly being used in work environments. However, the learning process entailed in the application of these methodologies has received insufficient attention and may be facilitated through the use of learning platforms. We examined the development of learning and training strategies for implementing formative interventions, drawing on the experiences of a research group focusing on workers’ health. Information obtained from individuals involved in CL formative activities was analyzed and interpreted using Cultural-Historical Activity (...) Theory and the theory of expansive learning. The process of learning to implement formative interventions unfolded gradually, beginning with the interventionists’ initial exposure to abstract concepts that they subsequently internalized via various mediations and applied in concrete situations. Four key interventionist training strategies used to foster collective learning were identified: promoting dialogues and exchange of experiences, creating environments for continuous learning and permanent discussion, creating spaces for experimentation and the practical application of concepts, and the use of the double stimulation method during training programs. (shrink)

Globalization, technological advances, and changing employment structures have facilitated greater flexibility in how and where many Americans do their paid work. In response, a new work arrangement, coworking, has emerged in the United States. Coworking organizations bring together professionals from different companies to share a common workspace and build community. Despite the prevalence and potential benefits of coworking, little systematic research about coworking contexts exists, let alone research focused on gender inequality therein. Using 78 interviews and more than 700 hours (...) of observation across nine coworking spaces, we examine the organizational logics that shape gender dynamics, as well as intersecting racial and class dynamics, in coworking spaces. Building on Acker’s inequality regimes framework, we uncover organizational logic that either reduces or reproduces inequality for diverse groups of women in coworking contexts. We conclude by discussing important theoretical and empirical implications of these findings. (shrink)

The dream-lag effect refers to there being, after the frequent incorporation of memory elements from the previous day into dreams , a lower incorporation of memory elements from 2 to 4 days before the dream, but then an increased incorporation of memory elements from 5 to 7 days before the dream. Participants kept a daily diary and a dream diary for 14 days and then rated the level of matching between every dream report and every daily diary record. Baseline matching (...) was assessed by comparing all dream reports to all diary records for days that occurred after the dream. A significant dream-lag effect for the 5–7 day period, compared to baseline and compared to the 2–4 day period, was found. This may indicate a memory processing function for sleep, which the dream content may reflect. Participants’ and three independent judges’ mean ratings also confirmed a significant day-residue effect. (shrink)

Our aim in this paper is to take quite seriously Heinz Post’s claim that the non-individuality and the indiscernibility of quantum objects should be introduced right at the start, and not made a posteriori by introducing symmetry conditions. Using a different mathematical framework, namely, quasi-set theory, we avoid working within a label-tensor-product-vector-space-formalism, to use Redhead and Teller’s words, and get a more intuitive way of dealing with the formalism of quantum mechanics, although the underlying logic should be modified. We build (...) a vector space with inner product, the Q-space, using the non-classical part of quasi-set theory, to deal with indistinguishable elements. Vectors in Q-space refer only to occupation numbers and permutation operators act as the identity operator on them, reflecting in the formalism the fact of unobservability of permutations. Thus, this paper can be regarded as a tentative to follow and enlarge Heinsenberg’s suggestion that new phenomena require the formation of a new “closed” (that is, axiomatic) theory, coping also with the physical theory’s underlying logic and mathematics. (shrink)

The concept of individuality in quantum mechanics shows radical differences from the concept of individuality in classical physics, as E. Schrödinger pointed out in the early steps of the theory. Regarding this fact, some authors suggested that quantum mechanics does not possess its own language, and therefore, quantum indistinguishability is not incorporated in the theory from the beginning. Nevertheless, it is possible to represent the idea of quantum indistinguishability with a first-order language using quasiset theory (Q). In this work, we (...) show that Q cannot capture one of the most important features of quantum non-individuality, which is the fact that there are quantum systems for which particle number is not well defined. An axiomatic variant of Q, in which quasicardinal is not a primitive concept (for a kind of quasisets called finite quasisets), is also given. This result encourages the searching of theories in which the quasicardinal, being a secondary concept, stands undefined for some quasisets, besides showing explicitly that in a set theory about collections of truly indistinguishable entities, the quasicardinal needs not necessarily be a primitive concept. (shrink)

Multiple realization occurs when a natural kind is variably realized at more basic levels and the common physical structure of the realizers is not essential for supporting nomological statements. It has been suggested that this phenomenon may be an outcome of natural selection acting over multiple realizers that perform an adaptive function. In this paper, we make the following contributions. First, we present a revision of this model, characterized by stricter equilibrium conditions and superior explanatory power. Second, we present a (...) typology of multiple realization that provides a plausible account of the differences between across- and within-species multiple realization. Third, we perform a formal analysis of the dynamics of multiple realization that sheds light on the differences between multiple realization at different levels of organization. (shrink)

El artículo desarrolla una primera propuesta para abordar el tema de la relación universidad-comunidad como un espacio de reconfiguración de lo público, explicitando en primer lugar una posición teórica acerca de los conceptos espacio público, comunidad y universidad, comunidad, para poder avanzar luego en las posibles relaciones entre los mismos. Señala los cambios acontecidos en el siglo XXI en relación a la reconfiguración del espacio público ya no exclusivamente ligado al Estado sino que como espacio de participación ciudadana y comunitaria; (...) proponiendo una modalidad de trabajo de la universidad en sus relaciones con la comunidad, que coloca a los ciudadanos como protagonistas desde la idea de democratización del saber. (shrink)