Building upon the insights of scholars attuned to story, narrative, and myth, this article explores the relationship between myth, science, and religion. After clarifying the interplay of the three terms—story, narrative, and myth—and the preference for the term myth, this article will argue that myth can serve as a medium through which religion, neuroscience, and mental well‐being interact. Such an exploration will cover the role of myths in religion, the neurological basis of myth, and the practices of narrative psychology and (...) bibliotherapy. The article will conclude with suggestions for understanding and utilizing the relationship between myth and the scholarly study of the relationship between science and religion. This article ultimately suggests that myth can operate as a methodological aid to the science‐and‐religion field. (shrink)

Si la pensée est universelle, nous ne pouvons toutefois pas nier la spécificité des modalités de pensées. Les études réunies dans cet ouvrage apparaissent ainsi comme une occasion d'interroger et de dégager les différentes modalités d'appropriation de la philosophie cartésienne au Brésil.

In the de Broglie–Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics, the electron is stationary in the ground state of hydrogenic atoms, because the quantum force exactly cancels the Coulomb attraction of the electron to the nucleus. In this paper it is shown that classical electrodynamics similarly predicts the Coulomb force can be effectively canceled by part of the magnetic force that occurs between two similar particles each consisting of a point charge moving with circulatory motion at the speed of light. Supposition of (...) such motion is the basis of the Zitterbewegung interpretation of quantum mechanics. The magnetic force between two luminally-circulating charges for separation large compared to their circulatory motions contains a radial inverse square law part with magnitude equal to the Coulomb force, sinusoidally modulated by the phase difference between the circulatory motions. When the particles have equal mass and their circulatory motions are aligned but out of phase, part of the magnetic force is equal but opposite the Coulomb force. This raises a possibility that the quantum force of Bohmian mechanics may be attributable to the magnetic force of classical electrodynamics. It is further shown that relative motion between the particles leads to modulation of the magnetic force with spatial period equal to the de Broglie wavelength. (shrink)

This article is a response to Josh Reeves's recent book Against Methodology in Science and Religion: Recent Debates on Rationality and Theology that welcomes Reeves's proposal for an anti‐essentialist future for the field of science‐and‐religion, particularly because it has the potential to move the field beyond current, well‐worn methods: the dominance of Christian theology and doctrine, the importance of credibility strategies, and the dependence upon philosophical discourses. Reeves’ proposal has the potential to open the science‐and‐religion field to other topics, problems, (...) and methods, such as studying lived science‐and‐religion. One way of doing this is to study popular culture and its artifacts such as literature, which portrays a co‐mingling of religion and science at the level of day‐to‐day experiences and practices of characters. For at the level of lived experience, religion and science are not well‐defined disciplines neatly compartmentalized into separate academic departments. (shrink)

Climate change exacts a devastating toll on health that is rarely incorporated into the economic calculus of climate action. By aligning health and environmental policy and collaborating across borders, governments and industries can develop powerful initiatives to promote both environmental and human health.

Current methods of obtaining an informed consent leave much to be desired. Patients rarely read consent forms or understand all of the risks, benefits, or alternatives associated with their treatment. Evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of treatment options often presents a more significant challenge for patients with lower levels of health literacy. This article reviews the evidence of shortcomings in our informed consent system and then explores the potential for a new approach to engage patients at all levels of health (...) literacy in their treatment decisions. Specifically, the article will examine the potential of shared decision-making to bridge gaps in knowledge, increase patient adherence to treatment, and improve health outcomes in low health literacy patient populations. Leveling barriers to treatment information for disadvantaged populations should be a public health imperative, especially if it can be shown to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities. (shrink)

Current methods of obtaining an informed consent leave much to be desired. Patients rarely read consent forms or understand all of the risks, benefits, or alternatives associated with their treatment. Evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of treatment options often presents a more significant challenge for patients with lower levels of health literacy. This article reviews the evidence of shortcomings in our informed consent system and then explores the potential for a new approach to engage patients at all levels of health (...) literacy in their treatment decisions. Specifically, the article will examine the potential of shared decision-making to bridge gaps in knowledge, increase patient adherence to treatment, and improve health outcomes in low health literacy patient populations. Leveling barriers to treatment information for disadvantaged populations should be a public health imperative, especially if it can be shown to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities. (shrink)

El estado actual de competición en el espacio exterior sitúa a las capacidades estratégicas espaciales de los países en el objetivo de la planificación estratégica de todos ellos. Los organismos internacionales están cobrando conciencia de la necesidad de proteger los activos espaciales ante un creciente número de amenazas, lo que requerirá de un esfuerzo adicional en cuanto a medios para mitigar sus efectos. La aproximación entre el espacio y la defensa, para poder actuar en este nuevo escenario, propicia la participación (...) de los organismos de defensa y seguridad y exige a los Estados el aporte de esta dimensión de defensa que se requiere para ello. España, tanto a través del Ministerio de Defensa como en otras iniciativas que requieren de su concurrencia, está preparada para contribuir a esta llamada desde la OTAN, Unión Europea y Naciones Unidas, con los medios disponibles y las medidas que su contexto país le permitan. (shrink)

tome I. Théorie raisonnée des idées chez Antoine Arnauld : reprise et prolongement du projet cartésien.

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 7, Page 32-33, July 2012.

In a recent opinion paper, it was argued that individuals with multiple retractions or a record of academic misconduct should not serve as editors, including as editors-in-chief, on the editorial boards of scholarly or academic journals. As a first step towards appreciating how such a policy could be applied in practice, the presence of 30 individuals listed on the Retraction Watch Leaderboard on editorial boards was screened. Six cases are highlighted to gain an appreciation of the potential reputational risks that (...) journals and publishers might incur by including individuals with a tainted academic record on editorial boards. Given the reputational, legal and other risks associated with this type of assessment and decision, more formal positioning and guidance are needed by global ethics policy-related bodies such as COPE, the ICMJE, and the CSE, even more so in journals that claim to follow these organizations’ ethical guidelines. (shrink)

Este artículo revisa el modo en que la aparición de objetos críticos, como el Portabotellas de Duchamp, hacen entrar en crisis las nociones tradicionalmente aceptadas respecto de la obra de arte: su manualidad (la “buena factura”, producto de la destreza o habilidad del artista), su función representativa (mímesis) y su valor estético (el ser “bello”, objeto de una contemplación pura y desinteresada). Se plantea, así, que la aparición del ready made configura el momento final de un proceso de disolución de (...) las convenciones artísticas (tanto respecto de la producción como de la valoración de las obras de arte) imperantes hasta el momento. Teniendo en cuenta todo esto, la pregunta que se intenta responder, al final, es: ¿cómo es posible que algo como el Portabotellas pudiera haber sido aceptado como arte, si no cumplía con las condiciones básicas de la noción tal y como se la aceptaba entonces? (shrink)

The role of academic satisfaction on persistence and successful academic behavior has been the focus of research for decades. Nevertheless, driven by positive educational psychology, subjective well-being has been highlighted as another central feature in the academic path of students. Studies aimed at identifying the variables that contribute to explain different aspects of academic performance have been widely investigated, although studies aimed at identifying the determinants of subjective well-being are still limited. The present paper examined the contribution of AS judgments (...) on subjective well-being. To this end, it was hypothesized that SWB levels depend on the balance between positive/negative emotions and life satisfaction judgments. Furthermore, it was stipulated that AS has an indirect contribution on SWB, through life satisfaction, whereas the balance of emotions influences both AS judgments and life satisfaction. Using an analysis strategy based on structural equation modeling, the results indicated that the model fitted satisfactorily, explaining 32% of the variance of SWB. Particularly, it was observed that AS judgments contributed to life satisfaction judgments. Although no direct contribution of AS on SWB was reported, a total contribution partially mediated by life satisfaction judgments was revealed. These findings support the importance of academic satisfaction judgments, not only because of their importance in academic terms, but also because of their impact on university students’ subjective well-being and health. (shrink)

Twenty years ago I put a sign on the door to my office —and it’s still there— with the sentence of Peirce that I have used in my title: "The life of science is in the desire to learn" (CP 1.235, c.1902). I learned this quote from the late professor of logic at MIT, George Boolos. Like him, I put it on my door to invite students to come in to inquire, to ask questions, since their questions are not just (...) the life of science, but also the sparks that inflame my passion for teaching. Those —professors and students— who desire to learn are the real agents, the main characters, of philosophical development. Philosophy should not be understood and taught as the transmission of old solutions to outdated problems, but as a way of life devoted to learning the truth wherever we might find it. My exposition will be divided into four sections: 1) A brief presentation of Peirce, focusing on his work as a professional scientist and a scientific philosopher; 2) Peirce considered as an educational philosopher; 3) Some practical suggestions I have drawn from Peirce's ideas and from my experience teaching philosophy today; and finally, 4) A brief conclusion. (shrink)

We now know that the evolution of multidomain proteins has frequently involved genetic duplication events. These, however, are sometimes difficult to trace because of low sequence similarity between duplicated segments. Spectrin, the major component of the membrane skeleton that provides elasticity to the cell, contains tandemly repeated sequences of 106 amino acid residues. The same repeats are also present in α‐actinin, dystrophin and utrophin. Sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees of these domains allow us to interpret the evolutionary relationship between these (...) proteins, concluding that spectrin evolved from α‐actinin by an elongation process that included two duplications of a block of seven repeats. This analysis shows how a modular protein unit can be used in the evolution of large cytoskeletal structures. (shrink)

1. Simultaneidade e presença ; O ser, o existir e o afirmar -- 2. Ensaios de axiologia realista-problemática ; Noções de moral realista-probemática ; Um novo banquete -- 3. Fragmentos filosóficos ; A anunciação de Emanuel ; Curso de filosofia realista-problemática -- 4. Uma análise realista-problemática dos absolutos ; Introdução à filosofia realista-problemática.

Most clinical neurofeedback studies based on functional magnetic resonance imaging use the patient's own neural activity as feedback. The objective of this study was to create a subject-independent brain state classifier as part of a real-time fMRI neurofeedback system that can guide patients with depression in achieving a healthy brain state, and then to examine subsequent clinical changes. In a first step, a brain classifier based on a support vector machine was trained from the neural information of happy autobiographical imagery (...) and motor imagery blocks received from a healthy female participant during an MRI session. In the second step, 7 right-handed female patients with mild or moderate depressive symptoms were trained to match their own neural activity with the neural activity corresponding to the “happiness emotional brain state” of the healthy participant. The training was carried out using the rt-fMRI NF system guided by the brain-state classifier we had created. Thus, the informative voxels previously obtained in the first step, using SVM classification and Effect Mapping, were used to classify the Blood-Oxygen-Level Dependent activity of the patients and converted into real-time visual feedback during the neurofeedback training runs. Improvements in the classifier accuracy toward the end of the training were observed in all the patients [Session 4–1 Median = 6.563%; Range = 4.10–27.34; Wilcoxon Test, 2-tailed p = 0.031]. Clinical improvement also was observed in a blind standardized clinical evaluation [HDRS CE2-1 Median = 7; Range 2 to 15; Wilcoxon Test, 2-tailed p = 0.016], and in self-report assessments [BDI-II CE2-1 Median = 8; Range 1–15; Wilcoxon Test, 2-tailed p = 0.031]. In addition, the clinical improvement was still present 10 days after the intervention [BDI-II CE3-2_Median = 0; Range −1 to 2; Wilcoxon Test, 2-tailed p = 0.50/ HDRS CE3-2 Median = 0; Range −1 to 2; Wilcoxon Test, 2-tailed p = 0.625]. Although the number of participants needs to be increased and a control group included to confirm these findings, the results suggest a novel option for neural modulation and clinical alleviation in depression using noninvasive stimulation technologies. (shrink)

Jorge Polanco Salinas, Martín Ríos López CENALTES 2016, 161 pp. ISBN: 978-956-9522-07-9.

In Spain before the 1990s there was no clear and explicit comprehensive training for future engineers with regard to social responsibility and social commitment. Following the Spanish university curricular reform, which began in the early 1990s, a number of optional subjects became available to students, concerning science, technology and society (STS), international cooperation, the environment and sustainability. The latest redefinition of the Spanish curriculum in line with the Bologna agreements has reduced the number of non-obligatory subjects, but could lead to (...) improving preparation for social responsibility due to the requirement that the design of curricula and the assessment of students should be based on competencies, some of which include human values and attitudes. (shrink)

La invitación a colaborar en la prensa diaria con artículos que abordaran el fondo de la actualidad fue para Jaime Nubiola un verdadero desafío. Después de haber defendido durante años, en sus clases y fuera de ellas, la articulación del pensamiento con la vida, aquella invitación le abría la posibilidad de intentar hacer realidad ese ideal para una audiencia mucho más amplia. Así, con la mejor tradición de la filosofía hispánica, se propuso abordar en sus colaboraciones en la prensa (...) temas vitales de la actualidad, diciendo cosas que llamaran la atención quizá por su forma y que por su profunda verdad invitaran a cada uno a seguir pensando por su cuenta. -/- Algunos de los textos compilados son circunstanciales, porque toman pie de noticias del momento o de la realidad española, pero la reflexión que contienen trasciende de ordinario la actualidad para abordar asuntos de interés permanente: el valor del pluralismo, la verdad, creatividad, la articulación de pensamiento y vida, de razón y corazón, etc. En todos ellos se muestra una manera de hacer filosofía en sintonía con el pragmatismo clásico y contemporáneo. El volumen se completa con dos textos más extensos que pueden proporcionar al lector las coordenadas más generales de la manera de pensar del autor y también la razón última del título: sin libertad no hay pensamiento y sin pensamiento no hay libertad. (shrink)

POLITICS is a system of computer programs which simulates humans in comprehending and responding to world events from a given political or ideological perspective. The primary theoretical motivations were: (1) the implemention of a functional system which applies the knowledge structures of Schank and Abelson (1977) to the domain of simulating political belief systems; (2) the development of a tentative theory of intentional goal conflicts and counterplanning. Secondary goals of the POLITICS project include developing a representation for belief systems, investigating (...) cognitive processes such as goal‐directed inferencing, and the integration of several types of knowledge representations into a functional system. (shrink)