This paper discusses the possibility of an absolute vacuum - a space without any substance. The motivation of this study is the contrast between most philosophers, up to Descartes, who stated that a vacuum was impossible, and the 17th century change of outlook, when the possibility and effective existence of the vacuum was accepted after the experiments of Torricelli and Pascal. This article attempts to show that, contrary to the received opinion, the acceptance of an ether is preferable to the (...) acceptance of a vacuum for several reasons. First: it is impossible to provide an empirical proof of the non-existence of the ether; second, an absolute vacuum is unthinkable; third, the ether concept is useful for the understanding of physical phaenomena; and fourth, the hypothesis of an ether in apparently void spaces is useful for the future development of science. The paper also endeavours to show that no recent advance of science changed those conclusions and that no future development can change them. (shrink)

Dans cet article nous étudions le Trattato della sfera de Galilée, écrit avant 1600. C’est un traité d’astronomie géocentrique qui suit la structure du Tractatus de sphæra de Johannes de Sacrobosco. Nous analysons quelques particularités du traité, en le comparant à d’autres travaux astronomiques du xvie siècle, et nous discutons ses sources probables. Nous soutenons que l’influence du commentaire de Christoph Clavius sur la Sphæra de Sacrobosco ne peut pas être considérée comme son influence unique ou principale. Le traité de (...) Galilée était probablement inspiré par la Sfera del mondo de Piccolomini, un travail qui anticipait plusieurs particularités du Trattato della sfera. Cette influence est établie par de nombreuses annotations de Galilée trouvées dans un exemplaire du livre de Piccolomini. (shrink)

Verbal fluency is a basic function of language that refers to the ability to produce fluent speech. Despite being an essentially linguistic function, its measurements are also used to evaluate executive aspects of verbal behavior. Performance in verbal fluency (VF) tasks varies according to age, education, and cognitive development. Neurodevelopmental disorders that affect the functioning of frontal areas tend to cause lower performance in VF tasks. Despite the relative consensus that has been reached in terms of the use of VF (...) tasks for the diagnosis of dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, few studies have considered regional variations in Brazil. The present study sought to provide normative data on VF tasks in children by considering gender, age, education, and geopolitical region of origin with auxiliary purposes in neuropsychological diagnosis of disorders that occur with executive changes The study included 298 participants, 7-10 years of age of both genders, who performed three letter fluency tasks and three category fluency tasks. The data were subjected to correlational and variance analyses, with age and gender as factors. No effect of gender on the children’s performance was found. However, significant differences between age groups were observed, with better performance in letter tasks in older children and better performance in letter tasks compared with category tasks. Significant regional differences in performance on the letter VF task were observed. These results reinforce the importance of regional normative data in countries with high regional cultural variations, such as Brazil. (shrink)

Isometry hypotheses are propositions that assert the constancy of a specific physical magnitude of a system under prescribed conditions. This paper addresses the controversy concerning the conventionality of this type of hypotheses. It discusses several instances of isometry hypotheses and it is shown that experimental facts can be invoked to criticise (or "refute") isometry hypotheses, just as other types of hypotheses. This proves that isometry hypotheses, and the choices of measurement standards that are grounded in such hypotheses, are not merely (...) conventional. (shrink)

Le titre de « philosophe » n’est pas celui que l’on accorde spontanément à Bardesane (154-222), le mystérieux savant syriaque. Admiré pour ses vastes connaissances, Bardesane a été néanmoins compté parmi les « hérétiques » par de nombreux auteurs syriaques, même si les questions théologiques prennent peu de place dans sa doctrine. La nouvelle traduction française du Livre des lois des pays [LLP] – considéré comme le plus représentatif écrit du milieu bardesanite – met en évidence la dimension...

The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Ethics and Valuesis a comprehensive exploration and assessment of current and future issues facing social work practice and education. It is the first book to codify ethical practices for social workers from across the globe and in myriad workplace settings. Each section meaningfully captures this complex subject area: ethics writ large visions of diverse values abortion relationship and gender issues micro and mezzo practice settings social work education technological issues spirituality globalism economic issues special (...) topics Leaving no stone unturned, this handbook comprehensively addresses the most controversial topics in an evenhanded manner. Among professional social workers, values and ethics traverse political boundaries, cultural identifications, and languages. This handbook will help to make sense of this unity within diversity. With contributions from the world's leading scholars, this book will be a valuable resource for all social work students, academics, researchers, and practitioners who seek a coherent and objective analysis in the abstract arena of ethics and values. lity globalism economic issues special topics Leaving no stone unturned, this handbook comprehensively addresses the most controversial topics in an evenhanded manner. Among professional social workers, values and ethics traverse political boundaries, cultural identifications, and languages. This handbook will help to make sense of this unity within diversity. With contributions from the world's leading scholars, this book will be a valuable resource for all social work students, academics, researchers, and practitioners who seek a coherent and objective analysis in the abstract arena of ethics and values. (shrink)

Bullfighting has a strong historical tradition in Spain, but now it is beginning to be challenged by various sectors in society. The debate about the ethics of bullfighting is by no means new. But,...

During the last ten years I have been working on the process of conversion to Protestantism of the indigenous people in Chimborazo province, Ecuador. Protestant evangelization in Ecuador started in the early twentieth century, but it is only in the last thirty years that the process of conversion of the indigenous people has become a large-scale one. During the first sixty years of evangelical activity North American missionaries from the Evangelical Missionary Union baptized only four natives in Chimborazo province. This (...) period was marked by strenuous resistance and rejection of the new religion. Accounts given by missionaries of the period describe the disasters and difficulties that the first evangelizing mission suffered. It was only the conviction that lost souls had to be saved that helped them overcome adversities and later achieve amazing results. (shrink)

Michael Walzer’s article ‘Political action: the problem of dirty hands’ initiated a new wave of discussion over a persistent problem in moral philosophy: are there situations in which ethical rules must be relaxed so as to bring about a greater good? In this article, we consider whether this ‘dirty hands’ approach may be applied to our current climate crisis. One proposed solution to the problem of global warming is the administration of moral enhancements to the population. Assuming that the administration (...) of moral enhancements is a necessary condition in the prevention of a climate crisis, Parker Crutchfield argues that this procedure ought to be covert. This implies lying to the public, and such dishonesty amounts to immoral behavior. We conclude that despite the severity of global warming, there is no justification for a dirty hands approach. Lying to the public in order to save the planet would probably create bigger problems, and it would ultimately be very counterproductive in trying to save the planet. (shrink)

The private sector plays an active role in implementation of mechanisms concerning the mitigation of climate change. In spite of that, the corporate actors play a limited direct role in international arenas when it comes to negotiating the design of climate and energy regime. The climate and energy governance in the United Nations system remains mostly state-centric, but the active participation of corporate actors in negotiation of climate and energy regimes is essential to increase the effectiveness of their governance. Business (...) is not just a subject of a regulatory climate and energy imposed by the state; rather, business is an intrinsic part of the fabric of climate and energy governance, as “rule-maker,” particularly in the many voluntary regimes. However, the architecture in place should guarantee that the private sector does not highjack the decisions and its positions are balanced by other non-governmental actors in the process. This article analyzes the role that the private sector can play in the global climate and energy governance. The private sector does not only play a “rule taker” role in the climate change and energy regime. Indeed, they are not passive observers as they influence through indirect means. The results suggest that the private sector is able to play a key role in global climate and energy governance based on the principle of multi-stakeholder participation in global decision-making, but the architecture should be able to balance the goods and bads of private direct influence in international regimes. (shrink)

The development of executive functions is recognizably correlated to culture, contextual and social factors. However, studies considering all the basic EF are still scarce in Brazil, most notably in the Northeast region, which is known for its social inequality and economic gap. This study aimed to analyze the developmental trajectories and structure of four EF, namely inhibition, flexibility, working memory and planning. In addition, the potential effects of socioeconomic status and gender were examined. The sample included 230 Brazilian children between (...) 7-12 years old, homogeneously distributed by age, gender and type of school. The EF were assessed through the Brazilian version of the Child Executive Functions Battery. A global effect of age was found for most of the EF measures evaluated. Gender effect was mostly non-significant, except for 4 of the 12 tasks. There was a significant SES effect on 8 tasks, all in favor of private school children. Exploratory factorial and correlation analysis showed a 4-factor EF structure, corroborating the theoretical distribution considered in the CEF-B. A developmental progression is evident in the results for all of the EF measures evaluated. While gender had little influence on EF, SES seems to significantly impact the development of EF. As normative data are still lacking in Northeast Brazil, this study may help to understand EF development trajectories and provide tools for neuropsychological evaluation. (shrink)

While some countries are moving toward legalization, euthanasia is still criticized on various fronts. Most importantly, it is considered a violation of the medical ethics principle of non-maleficence, because it actively seeks a patient’s death. But, medical ethicists should consider an ethical alternative to euthanasia. In this article, we defend cryocide as one such alternative. Under this procedure, with the consent of terminally-ill patients, their clinical death is induced, in order to prevent the further advance of their brain’s deterioration. Their (...) body is then cryogenically preserved, in the hope that in the future, there will be a technology to reanimate it. This prospect is ethically distinct from euthanasia if a different criterion of death is assumed. In the information-theoretic criterion of death, a person is not considered dead when brain and cardiopulmonary functions cease, but rather, when information constituting psychology and memory is lost. (shrink)

Meu artigo tem como principal objetivo mostrar que Hume apresenta uma posição cética quanto ao problema do mundo externo. Vou mostrar dois princípios que Hume arrola para se defender do ceticismo, mas que não são suficientes para legitimar ou tronar válida a crença no mundo externo. Argumentarei que para Hume só é possível ter um conhecimento imperfeito do mundo externo. Resumé: Mon article a pour but montrer que Hume présent une position sceptique en ce qui concerne la question du monde (...) exterieur. Je vais montrer deux principes que Hume a mis en place pour mettre fin au scepticisme. Neanmoins, je pense qu'il n'a pas reussi s'en sortir du scepticisme. Je vais argumenter que pour Hume nous n'avons qu'un connaissance imparfait du monde exterieur. (shrink)

A capoeira ou capoeiragem é uma expressão cultural brasileira que mistura jogo, esporte, arte marcial, cultura popular, tradição, dança e música. Desenvolvida no Brasil por descendentes de escravos africanos, a capoeira é caracterizada por golpes e movimentos ágeis e complexos, utilizando primariamente chutes e rasteiras, além de joelhadas e cabeçadas, cotoveladas, acrobacias aéreas ou em solo. Praticantes da capoeira aprendem não apenas a lutar e jogar, mas também a tocar os instrumentos típicos e cantar. Assim, os discentes do 6º ano (...) de uma escola estadual da cidade de Itabuna—BA, os quais apresentavam dificuldades para ler e escrever. Entretanto, nas aulas de capoeira, os alunos se mostravam mais motivados para ler. Então, surgiu o problema que norteou essa pesquisa, a saber: como o jogo de capoeira vem sendo trabalhado, para estimular a melhoria da aprendizagem em leitura dos alunos, do 6ºano, em um colégio estadual, na cidade de Itabuna – BA? Portanto, o objetivo geral desse artigo é analisar de que maneira o mestre usa o jogo da capoeira, como ferramenta motivacional, nas práticas pedagógicas, para a melhoria da aprendizagem da leitura, entre os alunos do 6º ano, do ensino fundamental II. Desse modo, a utilização de estratégias de leitura, partindo da diversidade dos gêneros textuais, de modo lúdico, através da capoeira, no processo de ensino-aprendizagem, é um assunto que é discutido nessa pesquisa, pois esta se justifica pela necessidade de contribuir para uma melhora do processo de ensino e aprendizagem, partindo de pressupostos presentes na BNCC. Palavras-chave: Capoeira, Fomento à Leitura, Gêneros Textuais, Lúdico. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to promote an analysis of the intercultural experience carried out through the exchange of letters with children from the city of Ninomiya, Kanagawa Province – Japan, with children from the Municipal Education Network of the Veranópolis, Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil. The exchanges take place annually through the Post and Telegraph service in Brazil and Japan, between students from the 3rd to 9th years of this network. Japanese children write to Veranians and vice (...) versa. They tell facts about their routine, their city, peculiar aspects of their daily lives, including photos and geographic and cultural characteristics specific to each local space. This experience invites us to expand our gaze on the importance of thematizing, in the educational process, sociocultural aspects of different peoples, social groups, customs and ways of being and living together. We challenge ourselves to reflect on how this practice of exchanging letters, between children from two very different countries, both socially and culturally, manages to raise awareness about issues related to interculturality as a field of debate about identity processes that constitute an environment. Furthermore, it allows us to analyze issues related to the ease of writing and the symbology used to describe aspects related to the daily life of each child, as well as the subjectivity in each message in the exchange of letters. The reciprocity in exchanges, the care with the details present in each report, the richness that makes up the writing and how everyday life presents itself with similarities and differences in the life of each student, whether here or in Japan, are essential components in the construction of this analysis. Keywords: Local history. Interculturality. Education. Global citizenship. (shrink)

O artigo se propõe a pensar o retorno dos adolescentes às escolas após a pandemia fazendo a articulação entre conceitos psicanalíticos e a importância da escola na transição que a adolescência representa para a constituição psíquica do sujeito. A partir de uma experiência de pesquisa-extensão em uma escola com estudantes do Ensino Médio, pensamos sobre como o laço social contemporâneo impacta os modos de subjetivação e a educação, relacionando-o ao mal-estar nos estudantes adolescentes nos contextos educativos brasileiros. Além disso, a (...) dimensão da temporalidade tanto a própria da adolescência, quanto da escola e da pandemia que lhe atravessam foram tomadas como direcionamentos sendo o artigo dividido três partes: tempo na pandemia, tempo da escola e o tempo da adolescência. (shrink)

This paper discusses the role of cultural anthropology in Cognitive Science. Culture is described as a very large pool of information passed along from generation to generation, composed of learned “programs” for action and understanding. These cultural programs differ in important ways from computer programs. Cultural programs tend to be unspecified and inexplicit rather than clearly stated algorithms learned through a slow process of guided discovery, and involve the manipulation of content based rather than formal symbol systems. Cultural symbol systems (...) often have affective as well as objective referents, giving them a strong directive effect. The argument is made that in the process of repeated social transmission and use, cultural programs come to take forms which have a good “fit” to the natural capacities and constraints of the human information processing system. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta questões consideradas centrais na reflexão sobre o processo de alfabetização e letramento e as intervenções da prática docente. Inicialmente apresentamos uma ampla abordagem conceitual sobre os referidos temas no contexto da sala de aula, evidenciando a necessidade de ampliar as experiências letradas sem negar a base alfabética, pois ambos são fundamentais para que o sujeito possa participar autonomamente dos diferentes eventos sociais. Em seguida apresentamos alguns dados da pesquisa de campo a qual objetivou investigar como se dá (...) o trabalho docente no processo de alfabetização e letramento, tomando como referência uma escola pública de ensino fundamental da Rede de Ensino do Estado da Bahia que atende um público heterogêneo, proveniente de famílias das classes populares urbanas e rurais. Os sujeitos foram quatro professoras do primeiro ciclo do Ensino Fundamental e a metodologia utilizada foi a observação participante no ambiente escolar e a realização de entrevistas semi­estruturadas, que contemplaram três questões básicas, a saber: 1. Como alfabetiza? 2. O que entende por alfabetizar letrando? 3. Quais as atividades/ações que considera essenciais para alfabetizar letrando? Os resultados da pesquisa revelaram uma grande fragilidade na prática docente no que se refere ao processo indissociável de alfabetizar e letrar, pois as professoras nas suas narrativas afirmaram utilizar atividades dissociadas dos eventos de letramento e na prática observada in loco foi possível perceber um grande distanciamento das ações docentes com as discussões atuais no que se refere a necessidade de articular a aquisição da base alfabética aos seus usos sociais reais. Por fim apresentamos algumas possibilidades para fortalecer as práticas docentes no que se refere ao processo de alfabetizar letrando. (shrink)

This paper presents an analysis of several experimental tests of Einstein's theories, together with their Popperian evaluation and a discussion of Einstein's reaction to these tests. It is shown that several relevant refutations of Einstein's theories were not accepted by Einstein as significant, and that therefore Einstein did not follow Popper's methodological rules. This is regarded as a strong case against Popper's criterion of demarcation.

This is not merely a theoretical problem, as Fernandes relates it to the very current crisis of nativist/multicultural identity in the West.

The Machiavellian model is often praised as a realistic description of modern corporate life. My analysis of Tne Prince follows Rousseau in arguing that the prince can survive and prosper most easily by creating an environment in which almost all the citizens prosper. Far from licensing unrestrained self-aggrandizement, in this model success only comes from providing real value to almost every citizen for the entire period of one's leadership.Translation from the early sixteenth to the late twentieth century is far from (...) simple; for example, the CEO is in many ways far less powerful than a Medici prince. The closest approximation is a far less bureaucratic organization with very small units possessing maximum autonomy. Also, deciding who is, and who is not, a citizen is not nearly as straightforward as it was for Machiavelli; it probably includes every stakeholder on whom the corporation has a major impact. (shrink)