In this paper, we have two goals: Firstly, we intend to examine the most robust recent formulation of the problem of religious diversity or disagreement. We will argue that Sanford Goldberg’s version is better than John Greco’s. Secondly, we aim to examine different solutions and develop a new one based on Ernest Sosa’s virtue epistemology as a response to the problem of religious diversity or disagreement.

Our main question in this paper is as follow: (Q) What are the epistemic norms governing our responses in the face of disagreement? In order to answer it, we begin with some clarification. First, following McHugh (2012), if we employ a useful distinction in normativity theory between evaluative and prescriptive norms, there are two readings of (Q)––we explore such distinction in section 2. And secondly, we accept gnosticism, that is, the account that the fundamental epistemic good is knowledge. It is (...) with this assumption that we want to answer (Q). So, if gnosticism is true, what is the plausible answer to (Q)? In section 3 we argue for gnostic disagreement norms as response to (Q) and in section 4 we apply such norms to particular cases of disagreement. (shrink)

We examine conceptual and methodological problems that arise in the course of the scientific study of possible influences of religious belief on the experience of physical pain. We start by attempting to identify a notion of religious belief that might enter into interesting psychological generalizations involving both religious belief and pain. We argue that it may be useful to think of religious belief as a complex dispositional property that relates believers to a sufficiently thick belief system that encompasses both cognitive (...) and non-cognitive elements. Such a conception of religious belief is more likely to correlate with psychological properties of believers that are both sufficiently shared and sufficiently unique to distinguish their psychology from believers in another religion or from non-believers. If the dispositional psychological property that constitutes religious belief does influence pain, then our analysis suggests that it doesn’t do so directly but rather through one of its occurrent manifestations. We offer a taxonomy of the different ways in which occurrent states of belief or experience may interact with physical pain, and we try to identify those that are more interesting or promising. We then proceed to employ the conceptual framework we developed to some of the existing evidence about the neural and psychological correlates of religious belief and experience, and about the cognitive modulation of physical pain. Finally we turn to analyse two experiments that directly investigated the relation between religious belief and pain. We draw attention to the limitations of existing evidence and end by suggesting directions for future conceptual and empirical inquiry. (shrink)

David Hume’s historical thought was shaped before he even began writing the History of Great Britain in 1752. This article shows how Hume developed his historical thought in an attempt to combine two historical structures: the natural-jurisprudential conjectural history of the Treatise of Human Nature and the early eighteenth-century historical narratives of modern Europe that featured in his Essays. The Treatise’s conjectural history used the developmental categories “rude” and “civilised” to explain the origins of justice, government and the moral sentiment. (...) The narratives of modern Europe, in contrast, revolved around the historical categories “ancient” and “modern.” Hume’s historical thought was shaped by the attempt to merge those two structures into a single, coherent structure. The critical question concerned the relation between the ancient and the modern: was modern Europe merely a “revival” of classical antiquity? Or did it have new, “post-ancient” dimensions? The article shows how Hume gradually distanced classical antiquity from modern Europe, thereby creating space for exclusively modern concepts such as “civilised monarchies” and the narrative of modern civilisation that structured his History of England (1754–1762). The paper concludes by suggesting that this structure defined Enlightenment philosophical history, not just Hume’s version of it. (shrink)

Parenting is a transforming experience for the life of parents that brings joy and satisfaction as well as challenges, frustration, and demands. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between “parental stress and satisfaction” and work-home conflict, perceived social support, and global satisfaction with life, and to determine the moderating role of the parent's gender. A sample of 244 participants was studied: 49.6% (121) mothers and 50.4% (123) fathers with children between 2 and 12 years of age. (...) The data was analysed by means of multiple linear regression models and Beta regression for stress and parental satisfaction, respectively, and they were complemented with general and conditional dominance analyses to estimate the relevance of the predictors. Mothers presented higher levels of parental stress and satisfaction than fathers. Being female, having two children, and home-work conflict were predictors of a higher parental stress. Age was also a predictor, as younger parents and also those older than 37 years of age showed more parental stress. Having no partner and being male was associated to lower parental satisfaction. In conclusion, parental stress and satisfaction emerge as clearly differentiated dimensions of parenting experience. The gender gap in parental stress could be linked to the persistence of traditional roles regarding the care of the children, in agreement with the findings in other research. (shrink)

Os signos e as classes dos signos estão entre os tópicos mais importantes do sistema filosófico de Charles S. Peirce. As 10, 28, e 66 classes de signos são classificações desenvolvidas especialmente a partir de 1903 e representam um grande refinamento da divisão fundamental de signos – ícone, índice, símbolo. Nossa abordagem aqui define uma estratégia de visualização das classificações dos signos, com especial atenção para as 10 e 66 classes de signos. O livro está dividido em duas partes: (i) (...) bases teóricas, (ii) diagramas para as classes de signos. Na Parte I (bases teóricas), são apresentadas introdutoriamente as noções fundamentais das categorias fenomenológicas, classes de signos, as tricotomias e diagramas, assim como implicações gerais de nossa abordagem, metodologia e aplicações. Na Parte II (diagramas para as classes de signos), são apresentados e discutidos os modelos das classes, propostos por Peirce e seus comentadores, incluindo uma introdução detalhadamente documental de nossos modelos, 10cubes e 3N3, diagramas dinâmicos para as classes de signos. (shrink)

The intrinsic dialectic in Gabriel Marcel’s thought seems to be describable in terms of alteration and doubling. That dialectic arises from the experience of wonder and of emotion; it articulates itself within a doubled consciousness which is both exclamative and interrogative. This consciousness perpetuates the original moment of alteration and doubling in the pairs characterizing Marcel’s speculative proposal: being-having, mystery-problem, transcendence-immanence, infinite-finite.

Judgments about the validity of at least some elementary inferential patterns (say modus ponens) are a priori if anything is. Yet a number of empirical conditions must in each case be satisfied in order for a particular inference to instantiate this or that inferential pattern. We may on occasion be entitled to presuppose that such conditions are satisfied (and the entitlement may even be a priori), yet only experience could tell us that such was indeed the case. Current discussion about (...) a perceived incompatibility between content externalism and first-person authority exemplifies how damaging the neglect of such empirical presuppositions of correct reasoning can be. An externalistic view of mental content is ostensibly incompatible with the assumption that a rational subject should be able to avoid inconsistency no matter what the state of her empirical knowledge may be. That fact, however, needs not be taken (as it often is) as a reductio of externalism: alternatively, we may reject that assumption, adding to the agenda of a philosophical investigation of rationality an examination of the vicissitudes of logical luck. I offer an illustration and defense of that alternative. (shrink)

Resumen. La presente investigación pretende analizar los costos y beneficios económicos de una dolarización oficial en México, tomando como punto de referencia los casos de Panamá, El Salvador y Ecuador, quienes han tenido un éxito significativo con la dolarización, como una medida para mejorar su estabilidad macroeconómica y erradicar las devaluaciones de sus monedas con respecto al dólar. Abstract. This research aims to analyze the economic costs and benefits of official dollarization in Mexico, taking as reference the case of Panama, (...) El Salvador and Ecuador, who have had significant success with dollarization, as a measure to improve its macroeconomic stability and eradicate the devaluations of their currencies against the dollar. (shrink)

O artigo discute as inovações propostas nas políticas públicas formativas implantadas no Brasil, especialmente, em contexto norte do estado de Mato Grosso e analisa as ações formativas para professores atuantes na área de Língua Portuguesa. Defendemos a tese de que, embora os empreendimentos propositivos de formação tenham alcance significativo na atualidade, insta refletir sobre novos modos para atuar junto às demandas educativas. Atentos ao mundo contemporâneo e conscientes de que a solidez se transforma em liquidez, reconhecemos, que o futuro professor (...) e aqueles em atuação devem irromper as barreiras hegemônicas educacionais, construir sua identidade com protagonismo e criticidade e intervir nas práticas situadas de linguagem. Nesse sentido, o respaldo metodológico fixa nos estudos qualitativo-interpretativistas e para tal recortamos do documento que direciona a Política Educacional do Estado de Mato Grosso, a Portaria Normativa n. 17, de 28 de dezembro de 2009, a qual dispõe sobre o Programa de Formação Nacional em Rede e a Portaria 46, de 11 de abril de 2016 e regulamenta o Programa Institucional de Bolsa de Iniciação à Docência e propomos algumas questões: a) De que forma as políticas formativas interferem/contribuem para o desenvolvimento profissional docente? Pautados na Linguística Aplicada Crítica construímos algumas asseverações, dentre elas, que as ações implementadas – e que se quer permanentes – demandam maior integração e investimento público. (shrink)

Mientras no se exponga el papel del lenguaje en la construcción de lugares para vivir, su estudio estará incompleto; por ello, el espacio construido plantea el reto de definir un método de análisis que tome en cuenta el surgimiento de procesos cognitivos en la especie humana, de los cuales la percepción y categorización de los objetos en el espacio parece ser el más difícil de explicar. Y es aquí donde el enfoque en el lenguaje, desde el punto de vista de (...) los estudios de la complejidad, permite interpretar y explicar la evolución de la capacidad constructiva del ser humano. En tal sentido, es necesario revisar el problema de en qué medida puede afirmarse que el lenguaje es innato o aprendido, y si la mente es un papel en blanco al nacer, o tiene una base genética y cómo sería ello. Se examina la adquisición del lenguaje y la cognición, y la construcción de lugares para vivir, como producto de una herencia genético-cultual. Se ofrece un punto de vista necesario acerca de la relación cultura-naturaleza, considerando los lugares construidos como subsistemas de un orden superior y auto-organizado: el espacio construido. (shrink)

Michigan is a critical agricultural state, and small family farms are a crucial component of the state’s food sector. This paper examines how the race/ethnicity of the family farm owners/operators is related to farm characteristics, financing, and impacts of the pandemic. It compares 75 farms owned/operated solely by Whites and 15 with People of Color owners/operators. The essay examines how farmers finance their farm operations and the challenges they face doing so. The article also explores how the Coronavirus-19 pandemic affected (...) farming operations, the financial viability of farms, and how farmers responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic. The study found that People of Color farm owners/operators were younger than White farm owners/operators. The People of Color farm owners/operators tended to manage smaller farms for shorter periods than White farm owners/operators. Though two-thirds of the Farmers of Color owned their farms, they were more financially vulnerable than White farm owners/operators. The farmers studied had difficulty obtaining loans to finance their farms. Farmers reported increasing requests from people for food assistance during the pandemic. Farmers responded to the pandemic by participating in government programs such as the Farm to Families Food Box Program that purchased their produce. It allowed farmers to supply emergency food assistance programs with products from their farms. The products went to families receiving food assistance from soup kitchens, food banks, and other community-based nonprofits. (shrink)

Although religious belief is often claimed to help with physical ailments including pain, it is unclear what psychological and neural mechanisms underlie the influence of religious belief on pain. By analogy to other top-down processes of pain modulation we hypothesized that religious belief helps believers reinterpret the emotional significance of pain, leading to emotional detachment from it. Recent findings on emotion regulation support a role for the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, a region also important for driving top-down pain inhibitory circuits. (...) Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in practicing Catholics and avowed atheists and agnostics during painful stimulation, here we show the existence of a context-dependent form of analgesia that was triggered by the presentation of an image with a religious content but not by the presentation of a non-religious image. As confirmed by behavioral data, contemplation of the religious image eneabled the religious group to detach themselves from the experience of pain. Critically, this context-dependent modulation of pain specifically engaged the right VLPFC, whereas group-specific preferential liking of one of the pictures was associated with activation in the ventral midbrain. We suggest that religious belief might provide a framework that allows individuals to engage known pain-regulatory brain processes. (shrink)

We describe an exploratory case study about the applicability of different robotic platforms in an educational context with a child with Down syndrome. The robotic platforms tested are the humanoid robot KASPAR and the mobile robotic platform IROMEC. During the study we observed the effects KASPAR and IROMEC had in helping the child with the development and improvement of her social skills while playing different interactive games with the robots. Conceptually similar play scenarios were performed with both robots and the (...) behaviour of the child was monitored during her interactions with them. (shrink)

En este volumen José de Faria ofrece una muestra de los fundamentos que brindan una forma propia de pensar en cuanto pensamiento pensado, pero también en tanto que pensamiento pensante, con todo lo que esto acarrea de frágil, de nuevo, e incluso de ruptura a la filosofía del derecho a partir de un étimo onto-antropológico. -- En esta perspectiva es donde el derecho, en cuanto orden sumergido en la historia, se concibe como un enorme y genuino pedazo de lo (...) real construido que pertenece a la galaxia de la razón práctica.No se trata simplemente de un (válido) deber-ser que es. -- En realidad, y sobre todo, se trata de un válido es que debe ser. -- A lo largo del texto, el lector podrá encontrar reflexiones actuales e importantes, no sólo sobre el problema de la obediencia al derecho, con la búsqueda de una respuesta posible de nuestro tiempo, sino que también podrá indagar sobre aspectos más analíticos de la normatividad jurídica, especialmente en lo referente a la dimensión del derecho como categoría del pensamiento, realizado en el horizonte de una lógica comprensiva.Todo eso sin perder de vista la necesidad de analizar una vertiente crucial para la fundamentación antropológica del Derecho: su dimensión temporal, críticamente reflejada en la temporalidad de lo justo. (shrink)

O presente artigo insere-se no quadro da Didática da Matemática, alicerçando na Teoria Antropológica do didático, uma teoria que tem o objeto de saber como seu foco, analisando-o a nível epistemológico e institucional e tem entre os seus elementos primitivos de analise, a abordagem ecologia, praxeológica e a noção de relação ao objeto. É sobre a relação ao objeto que o artigo concentra a sua discussão, a nível teórico, objetivando mostrar como a DM pode contribuir para um debate sobre a (...) decolonização epistemológica de saberes no ensino da Matemática. Em nossa analise, destacamos a abordagem ecológica como o principal elemento de análise na TAD que, ao se situar na análise das condições e restrições de vida do objeto em seu ambiente conceitual, procura compreender como o objeto está posto nos currículos, ao questionar sobre o que existe? o que não existe? o que desapareceu e porquê? o que existe em outros ambientes de vida e não estão aqui? Porque que não estão aqui? Etc. A DM procura por este meio, questionar e denunciar as práticas de ensino que tem as epistemologias do pensamento moderno colonial, eurocêntrico/ocidental como únicas formas de produção do conhecimento matemático, e que por via disso, tendem a subjugar, subalternizar, primitivizar sabedorias outras, não eurocêntricas/ocidentais. Ao mesmo tempo que denuncia, por meio da abordagem praxeológica, propõe ações, mecanismos que possibilitem trazer e discutir as sabedorias não eurocêntricas/ocidentais em espaços escolares, para participarem do processo de produção do conhecimento científico, através do processo de circulação de saberes ou praxeologias entre instituições. (shrink)

Tyler Burge is famous for defending primitivist naturalism about mental representations, according to which mental representations are primitive natural states. Primitivist naturalism contrasts with semantic reductionism, according to which mental representations are reducible to more fundamental natural states. Burge developed the most compelling and influential attack on semantic reductionism from a primitivist naturalist point of view. My goal in this paper is to defend semantic reduc- tionism from Burge’s attack. I assess and refute his objection to the motivations for semantic (...) reductionism and his objection to the semantic reductionist theory that he takes to be the most promising one, namely, teleosemantics. I argue that in spite of the ingenuity of Burge’s objections, they fail to show that there is no motivation for taking representational states as reducible to more fundamental natural states or that the core thesis of teleosemantics is flawed. (shrink)

We describe an exploratory case study about the applicability of different robotic platforms in an educational context with a child with Down syndrome. The robotic platforms tested are the humanoid robot KASPAR and the mobile robotic platform IROMEC. During the study we observed the effects KASPAR and IROMEC had in helping the child with the development and improvement of her social skills while playing different interactive games with the robots. Conceptually similar play scenarios were performed with both robots and the (...) behaviour of the child was monitored during her interactions with them. (shrink)

Estamos reunidos, futuros professores de 1º e 2º graus, em um espaço institucional: a escola, que pretendemos discutir, e em cujo interior interessa-nos particularmente a questão do ensino da Geografia. Quem institucionalizou a escola? Por quê? As mesmas perguntas (e outras) devem se voltar à nossa questão central. Ao mesmo tempo, a escola é aquela instituição social em que parte da população (nem todos têm acesso a ela), em um dado período, assinala, de uma maneira específica, a sua participação na (...) sociedade mais ampla. Ora, participamos da vida social no sentido lato através do trabalho. Nesse sentido, ainda que soe como paradoxo, a escola é também um espaço de trabalho. Certamente, não é o espaço da fábrica, mas exige disciplina (intelectual); nem o do folguedo, embora às vezes se transforme no “jogo de ensinar”. […] Será que estamos negando o conhecimento, que, sob a forma de conteúdos “didaticamente” selecionados e distribuídos, parece ter sustentado a escola durante muito tempo? […] Palavras-chave: Ideologia; Geografia; Escola; Instituição social; Espaço da fábrica; Ensino. (shrink)

As understood today, political correctness aims at preventing social discrimination by curtailing offensive speech and behaviour towards underprivileged groups of individuals. The core proponents of political correctness often draw on post-modernism and critical theory and are notorious for their scepticism about objective truth and scientific rationality. Conversely, the critics of post-modern political correctness uphold Enlightenment liberal principles of scientific reasoning, rational truth-seeking and open discourse against claims of relativism and oppression. Yet, both the post-modern proponents and their Enlightenment liberal critics (...) make up two sides of the same phenomenon of political correctness. Both sides intend to protect a liberal value system from illiberal truth-claims, which is the function of politically correct regulation. While post-modern advocates attempt to promote liberating tolerance, Enlightenment liberals place liberal values above the open-ended search for truth. Despite appearances to the contrary, this socio-academic debate is not about two sides favouring and opposing political correctness. In fact, it is a debate about the type of politically correct regulation that can better guard liberal values. (shrink)

Viruses have generally been thought of as infectious agents. New data on mimivirus, however, suggests a reinterpretation of this thought. Earth’s biosphere seems to contain many more viruses than previously thought and they are relevant in the maintenance of ecosystems and biodiversity. Viruses are not considered to be alive because they are not free-living entities and do not have cellular units. Current hypotheses indicate that some viruses may have been the result of genomic reduction of cellular life forms. However, new (...) studies relating to the origins of biological systems suggest that viruses could also have originated during the transition from First to the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Within this setting, life has been established as chemical informational system and could be interpreted as a macrocode of multiple layers. The first entity to acquire these features was the First Universal Common Ancestor that evolved to an intermediate ancestral that could be named T-LUCA and be equated to Woese’s concept of progenotes. T-LUCA may have remained as undifferentiated subsystems with viruses-like structures. The net result is that both cellular life forms and viruses shared protein synthesis apparatuses. In short, virus is a strategy of life reached by two paths: T-LUCAs like entities and the reduction of cellular life forms. (shrink)

Viruses have generally been thought of as infectious agents. New data on mimivirus, however, suggests a reinterpretation of this thought. Earth’s biosphere seems to contain many more viruses than previously thought and they are relevant in the maintenance of ecosystems and biodiversity. Viruses are not considered to be alive because they are not free-living entities and do not have cellular units. Current hypotheses indicate that some viruses may have been the result of genomic reduction of cellular life forms. However, new (...) studies relating to the origins of biological systems suggest that viruses could also have originated during the transition from First to the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Within this setting, life has been established as chemical informational system and could be interpreted as a macrocode of multiple layers. The first entity to acquire these features was the First Universal Common Ancestor that evolved to an intermediate ancestral that could be named T-LUCA and be equated to Woese’s concept of progenotes. T-LUCA may have remained as undifferentiated subsystems with viruses-like structures. The net result is that both cellular life forms and viruses shared protein synthesis apparatuses. In short, virus is a strategy of life reached by two paths: T-LUCAs like entities and the reduction of cellular life forms. (shrink)

Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar o filme Equilibrium de Kurt Wimmer em que a técnica surge como única possibilidade de fundamentação do desenvolvimento da humanidade. No filme os sentimentos são identificados como fonte do sofrimento e das desgraças humanas, sendo então estabelecido que devem ser exterminados com o uso de uma droga. A técnica se apresenta no filme como fim para a história da humanidade, tal qual teme Heidegger. A fim de mostrar as conseqüências ultimas do domínio da técnica (...) sobre o sentir e sobre o próprio ser se discorrerá esse artigo, sempre fazendo uma alusão ao filme Equilibrium. (shrink)

Papers presented at the 6th BRICS Academic Forum held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2014.

No presente artigo proponho-me a reconstruir, o mais claramente possível o “paradoxo cético” a partir do modo como apresentado por Saul Kripke em seu Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (1982). Seu argumento sustenta que não há fatos ou razões que justifiquem nosso emprego de termos como dotados de significados. Para tanto, interponho as distinções que julgo pertinentes à adequada compreensão do tema, formulando os requisitos necessários à sua adequada resposta, a saber, o ontológico, o normativo e o da identificação (...) extensional no tempo. Ao final, contrasto o ceticismo ora objeto de análise com sua versão epistemológica clássica. AbstractIn the present paper I propose to rebuild as clearly as possible the “skeptical paradox” from the way presented by Saul Kripke in his Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (1982). His argument maintains that there are no facts or reasons justifying our use of terms as having meaning. Therefore, I interpose the distinctions that I consider relevant to the proper understanding of the subject and I formulate the requirements necessary for its proper response, namely the ontological, the normative and the extensional identification in time. Finally, I contrast semantic skepticism with its classical epistemological version. (shrink)

Sight is undoubtedly the most crucial sense, and accidents resulting in its loss are a significant tragedy for individuals. The scientific community embarked on a journey of scientific innovation i...

Conhecido pela sua defesa da sociedade aberta, Karl Popper inseriu no seu pensamento uma atitude de combate ao historicismo, identificado como a raiz dos totalitarismos ao longo da história do Ocidente. Propôs também uma forma de intervenção na sociedade que estaria atrelada a essa conduta, a engenharia social parcelar. Essas noções podem ser contextualizadas a partir de um dos debates da filosofia contemporânea, a dicotomia moralismo político x realismo político. Considerando as premissas que dão origem ao debate, percebe-se que os (...) conceitos popperianos dialogam com a corrente realista. (shrink)