The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous and most studied drawings over the world as well as one of the most reproduced ones, e.g. in coins, space suit patches, books and movies. The aim of the present work is to discuss the Vitruvian Man as a figurative representation of the Leonardo’s scientific method. Our analysis is based on scientific elements both present in the drawing and provided by Leonardo in his approach (...) to this drawing. Our thesis is that the square symbolizes the measurable physical world and that the man inscribed within the square refers to the physics measurement process based on the operational definition of quantities, including the measurement unit system and the quantities conversion factors. Therefore, the measurement process is fundamental for the Leonardo’s approach to the scientific knowledge, albeit, the drawing also suggests that this latter does not correspond with the true knowledge. The circle, which has a different center with respect to the square, symbolizes the truth, to which the man inscribed in the square yearns, without ever achieving it, the truth being reachable only by the man inscribed within the circle. (shrink)

Transhumanisms, as cultural, philosophical, and ideological movements that permeate various areas of technical and scientific knowledge, have caused a rupture in Western philosophical praxis by asserting the possibility of genetic enhancement of the human being through biotechnoscientific procedures. However, the biophysical alterations advocated by transhumanists are not limited to the somatic and psychic realms; they encompass humanity as a whole, including moral aspects. In this sense, the aim of this article is to demonstrate the ethical and political impacts concerning human (...) moral enhancement, highlighting to what extent our freedom may be threatened by such practices. After all, is it possible to genetically enhance our morality? Should we enhance our dispositional moral traits through biotechnoscientific procedures? Faced with these questions, we will first analyze how human moral enhancement can interfere with our freedom as human beings, and then we will examine how human enhancement has become a moral urgency for transhumanists. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo mostrar o novo status ontológico e fenomenológico daresponsabilidade a partir de uma releitura do animal na obra de Hans Jonas. Neste trabalho,sustentamos que a responsabilidade deve ser entendida como um degrau presente na escala dofenômeno vida. Por ser uma escala que acumula, conserva e compartilha as características de outrosseres, nos parece possível afirmar que a responsabilidade, mesmo que em estado latente, deve estargerminalmente prefigurada em outros seres vivos. Nosso problema de pesquisa coloca o seguintequestionamento: (...) se a responsabilidade está contida na escala de desenvolvimento e aptidões do ser, ede acordo com os pressupostos jonasianos, seguindo a lógica da biologia aristotélica, de que ascamadas mais baixas são conservadas nas superiores, seria possível pensar numa manifestação daresponsabilidade nos níveis mais baixos de tal escala? A fim de tentar responder nossa problemática enosso objetivo, seguiremos o seguinte caminho: num primeiro momento, apresentaremos como aliberdade é o conceito guia fundamental para interpretarmos o fenômeno vida, veremos que quandoJonas amplia tal conceito como sendo pertencente a todo ser, o autor provoca uma revolução ontológicana filosofia, causando uma ferida no antropocentrismo moderno, uma vez que até então, o conceito deliberdade era restrito a esfera humana; num segundo momento, analisaremos como os conceitos demovimento, percepção e sensação se tornaram características próprias do reino animal e como estesseparam o mundo vegetal do animal; por fim, num terceiro momento, defenderemos que na própria obrajonasiana existem certos conceitos que exprimem nossa tese de que a responsabilidade se manifesta deforma latente e germinal no âmbito animal, principalmente nos conceitos de alteridade e sentimento, queos animais têm para com seus próximos. (shrink)

In this article, we intend to show how Habermas's intellectual project began to take shape since its first book. In this work sharp differences already appear in relation to the first generation of Critical Theory, especially when it comes to the diagnosis of late capitalism. Thus, we hope to recover the importance of the work and the subject to the understanding of the theoretical trajectory of the author. Moreover, at this point Habermas still maintains a posture of radical critique of (...) the capitalist order, which will be clearly reviewed in the works of maturity, particularly from the 80s. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to indicate in a contemporary perspective how transhumanism fits into religious discourse as, in seeking to resignify human existence and lead humanity to a posthuman dimension, it finds roots in the ancient gnostic movements, transforming itself into a new Contemporary religion. Given this, we will first try to identify common ground between Gnosticism and Transhumanism, especially the idea linked to the denial of corporeality. In a second moment, we will show the dangers that transhumanism (...) faces when it intends to give man powers to modify its existence, dispensing with the figure of the creator God. (shrink)

RESUMO Neste artigo, procuraremos contribuir, dentro dos limites de um trabalho dessa natureza, para uma nova orientação para a filosofia social contemporânea. Com efeito, num primeiro momento mostraremos que a filosofia social recente tem se notabilizado pela análise de experiências negativas, com um acento no processo de formação da subjetividade, assim como pelo foco no diagnóstico de patologias sociais relacionadas aos padrões subjetivos de autorrealização pessoal. Num segundo momento, salientaremos que o problema é que, nesse quadro, o próprio social pode (...) eventualmente aparecer como algo tão-somente negativo, ameaçador, deficitário e gerador de patologias. Ora, acreditamos que o desafio de captar igualmente a causa das patologias, os poderes e a perspectiva do dominante, e não somente os efeitos deletérios por eles gerados e a perspectiva dos dominados, pode ser melhor enfrentado por meio da temática do capitalismo como fenômeno social. É por isso que iremos esboçar, em linhas gerais, num terceiro momento, algumas diretrizes básicas - uma abordagem praxeológica e "normativa" - para que a filosofia social simultaneamente mantenha suas conquistas fundamentais e avance no sentido de dar conta diretamente do social capitalista como causa de patologias. ABSTRACT In this paper, we will seek to contribute, within the limits of a work of this nature, to a new orientation for contemporary social philosophy. In fact, in a first moment we will show that the recent social philosophy has been notable for the analysis of negative experiences, with an emphasis on the process of subjectivity formation, as well as for the focus on the diagnosis of social pathologies related to the subjective patterns of personal self-achievement. In a second moment, we will point out that the problem is that, in this context, the social itself may eventually appear as something exclusively negative, threatening, deficient and generating pathologies. However, we believe that the challenge of capturing equally the cause of the pathologies, powers and the perspective of the dominant, and not only the deleterious effects generated by them and the perspective of the dominated, can be better dealt with through the theme of capitalism as a social phenomenon. That is why we will outline, in a third way, some basic guidelines - a praxeological and normative approach - so that social philosophy may simultaneously maintain its fundamental conquests and advances in order to directly account for the capitalist social as cause of pathologies. (shrink)

This paper investigates the relationship between Stakeholder Engagement (SE) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), approaching CSR as a complex system made up of components and interactions. Adopting a System Thinking approach to analyze CSR in a stakeholders-company network, explorative research is conducted through three stages: (1) a critical literature review aimed to identify the components of the CSR system model, (2) the development of the dataset and of the Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) model, (3) the analysis of the CSR behavior (...) in light of the ‘system archetypes’ underpinning the system. The analysis reveals both the structure and the dynamics of CSR and explain its behavior in light of the stakeholder engagement network variables. Findings from this research underscore the existence of six feedback loops, which characterize the relation CSR-SE. The ‘company-stakeholder fit’ acts as a growth engine for the stakeholder engagement network, however other balancing dynamics (e.g., detriment of business objectives) require a tradeoff between Social and Business orientation. This paper contributes to a more profound understanding of the relation between CSR and stakeholder engagement, showing in particular the link between CSR and SE under the assumption of stakeholder-company network. The insights provided serve as a guide for managers and policymakers to navigate the complex dynamics of SE to inform effective strategies of CSR based on network structural actions. (shrink)

Relatively subtle forms of exploitation of human subjects may arise from the inefficiency or incompetence of a researcher, from the existence of a power imbalance between principal and subject, or from the uneven distribution of research risks among various segments of the population. A powerful and knowledgeable person (or institution) may perpetrate the exploitation of an unempowered and ignorant individual even without intending to. There is an ethical burden on the former to protect the interests of the vulnerable. Excessive or (...) insufficient compensation may be exploitative. However, genuine economic imperatives motivating needy volunteers have to be considered. These forms of exploitation should be appreciated in the context of social and cultural factors suggesting that the relationship between researcher and subject cannot properly be appraised as a contractual undertaking. While compliance with pertinent codes and regulations minimises the exploitative potential, they cannot be enforced in a way that does not recognise a society's peculiar characteristics. The experience with some Filipino cultural traits illustrates this point. (shrink)

The concept of “transaction,” introduced by Cramer in his realistic nonlocal interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM), is herein reformulated in the language of the Feynman graphs' technique.

Este artigo analisa em perspectiva histórica a discussão eugênica do estatístico inglês Ronald Aylmer Fisher no início da sua trajetória profissional. Entre 1914 a 1919, Fisher publicou artigos e revisões de livros na revista especializada The Eugenics Review, na qual expunha a viabilidade do pensamento eugenista. Por meio de tais fontes investigo de que modo estatística e biologia evolutiva estavam ligadas às suas propostas eugênicas e qual era o contexto científico da eugenia nas primeiras décadas do século XX.

En este ensayo explicaré mis argumentos con relación a las incoherencias que identifico en el realismo científico de Karl Popper. Fundamentalmente, creo que en la filosofía de este autor no existe una definición coherente de la noción de verdad para que tenga un papel relevante en la doctrina realista. Más allá de que a Popper se le reconozca por asumir una teoría correspondentista de la verdad, él en varios pasajes de su obra se muestra escéptico sobre la labor que puede (...) cumplir la verdad para determinar el éxito de la ciencia. Además, plantearé que Popper tiene inclinaciones fuertes hacia el realismo metafísico, en especial hacia el esencialismo, pero la manera de defender esta teoría resulta oscura porque en su proyecto epistemológico se encuentran apartados en los que se opone a ella. (shrink)

El relato “Los teólogos”, de Borges, puede ser leído a partir de un eje de contrarios que se confunden, de verdades que falseadas vuelven a ser consideradas tales, puestas al servicio del mantenimiento de un orden en el que los personajes varían de acusadores a víctimas. Esa perspectiva permite reflexionar acerca del modo en que se lleva a cabo una argumentación en juicio, las formas de resolver un litigio, el rol de los jueces y su lugar dentro del sistema en (...) el que operan, el concepto de la verdad dentro del sistema penal y la cuestión de cómo se neutraliza la violencia social o se resuelven los conflictos en una comunidad. En el relato, los personajes se dedican construir argumentaciones en defensa de la fe dentro de un modelo ideado para el mantenimiento del orden que la iglesia pretendía consolidar tras la caída del imperio romano. A partir de ese modelo de disputa, el texto revisa brevemente cómo se ha construido hasta hoy el sistema de persecución y juzgamiento de delitos y cuál es el rol que ocupan las personas designadas para juzgar y aplicar un castigo. Intentaré, a partir de las descripciones del relato, presentar ciertas formas de fundamentación y de manipulación de las herramientas argumentales y la trascendencia de la noción de verdad en una administración de justicia cuya finalidad central es la de resolver conflictos en el marco de un determinado modelo de convivencia. (shrink)

This article compares certain aspects of Socratic ethics and of Christian morality. It stresses what Christian morality adds to Socratic ethics on the basis of Revelation, and surveys certain versions of Christian ethics which its author considers to be misguiding. In particular, the author notes defects in Luther’s, Kant’s and Fenelon’s ethical views, and in certain other views which stand in clear opposition to Christian ethics, such ad that of Nietzsche and other postmodern authors.

Semantic theories based on a hierarchy of types have prominently been used to defend the possibility of unrestricted quantification. However, they also pose a prima facie problem for it: each quantifier ranges over at most one level of the hierarchy and is therefore not unrestricted. It is difficult to evaluate this problem without a principled account of what it is for a quantifier to be unrestricted. Drawing on an insight of Russell’s about the relationship between quantification and the structure of (...) predication, we offer such an account. We use this account to examine the problem in three different type-theoretic settings, which are increasingly permissive with respect to predication. We conclude that unrestricted quantification is available in all but the most permissive kind of type theory. (shrink)

The Overgeneration Argument is a prominent objection against the model-theoretic account of logical consequence for second-order languages. In previous work we have offered a reconstruction of this argument which locates its source in the conflict between the neutrality of second-order logic and its alleged entanglement with mathematics. Some cases of this conflict concern small large cardinals. In this article, we show that in these cases the conflict can be resolved by moving from a set-theoretic implementation of the model-theoretic account to (...) one which uses higher-order resources. (shrink)

Plural expressions found in natural languages allow us to talk about many objects simultaneously. Plural logic — a logical system that takes plurals at face value — has seen a surge of interest in recent years. This book explores its broader significance for philosophy, logic, and linguistics. What can plural logic do for us? Are the bold claims made on its behalf correct? After introducing plural logic and its main applications, the book provides a systematic analysis of the relation between (...) this logic and other theoretical frameworks such as set theory, mereology, higher-order logic, and modal logic. The applications of plural logic rely on two assumptions, namely that this logic is ontologically innocent and has great expressive power. These assumptions are shown to be problematic. The result is a more nuanced picture of plural logic's applications than has been given thus far. Questions about the correct logic of plurals play a central role in the final chapters, where traditional plural logic is rejected in favor of a "critical" alternative. The most striking feature of this alternative is that there is no universal plurality. This leads to a novel approach to the relation between the many and the one. In particular, critical plural logic paves the way for an account of sets capable of solving the set-theoretic paradoxes. (shrink)

How water is perceived and represented has an impact on the relationships between a given society and its water infrastructure. Historians have identified a shift in the perception of water during the nineteenth century, which was connected to the development of chemistry. From an understanding based in Hippocratic medicine and natural history that treated it as an infinite variety of substances, water eventually became understood as a simple compound consisting of oxygen and hydrogen. This resulted in the abstraction of water (...) from its social and environmental contexts, with consequences for the way water was managed. This article aims to demonstrate that such a view gives a mistaken intellectual coherence to a fragmented and conflicted process, which involved continuities, an adaptation of old frameworks to new social priorities, and fine changes in scientific thinking and practices. This paper examines the scientific and political debates concerning water infrastructure, surveys and analyses on water quality, medical reports and political measures in nineteenth-century Italy. Ultimately, the reduction of ‘waters’ to ‘water’ in Italy was more about determining who had the authority to assess water quality in the process of creating and stabilizing new power relations between the public and the private spheres than about the abstraction of water from its social and environmental contexts. (shrink)

We present a reference model for finding evidence of discrimination in datasets of historical decision records in socially sensitive tasks, including access to credit, mortgage, insurance, labor market and other benefits. We formalize the process of direct and indirect discrimination discovery in a rule-based framework, by modelling protected-by-law groups, such as minorities or disadvantaged segments, and contexts where discrimination occurs. Classification rules, extracted from the historical records, allow for unveiling contexts of unlawful discrimination, where the degree of burden over protected-by-law (...) groups is evaluated by formalizing existing norms and regulations in terms of quantitative measures. The measures are defined as functions of the contingency table of a classification rule, and their statistical significance is assessed, relying on a large body of statistical inference methods for proportions. Key legal concepts and reasonings are then used to drive the analysis on the set of classification rules, with the aim of discovering patterns of discrimination, either direct or indirect. Analyses of affirmative action, favoritism and argumentation against discrimination allegations are also modelled in the proposed framework. Finally, we present an implementation, called LP2DD, of the overall reference model that integrates induction, through data mining classification rule extraction, and deduction, through a computational logic implementation of the analytical tools. The LP2DD system is put at work on the analysis of a dataset of credit decision records. (shrink)

Plural logic is widely assumed to have two important virtues: ontological innocence and determinacy. It is claimed to be innocent in the sense that it incurs no ontological commitments beyond those already incurred by the first-order quantifiers. It is claimed to be determinate in the sense that it is immune to the threat of non-standard interpretations that confronts higher-order logics on their more traditional, set-based semantics. We challenge both claims. Our challenge is based on a Henkin-style semantics for plural logic (...) that does not resort to sets or set-like objects to interpret plural variables, but adopts the view that a plural variable has many objects as its values. Using this semantics, we also articulate a generalized notion of ontological commitment which enables us to develop some ideas of earlier critics of the alleged ontological innocence of plural logic. (shrink)

Este artigo visa apresentar uma taxonomia original dos argumentos mais difundidos contra o Princípio de Identidade dos Indiscerníveis ao longo da história da Filosofia, mas focando em versões defendidas no século XX e XXI; bem como uma taxonomia das respostas mais efetivas para esses argumentos usados no início do século XXI com uma breve avaliação sobre quais são as mais efetivas para cada argumento de ataque. O leitor também encontrará uma bibliografia atualizada sobre os debates envolvendo esses argumentos e contra-argumentos (...) nas seções correspondentes. Palavras-chave: identidade; indiscernibilidade; Princípio de Identidade dos Indiscerníveis; concebilidade. (shrink)

This study provides a scoping review of the recent conceptual developments about the deviant work behavior and counterproductive work behavior constructs. It also examines the specific types of deviant work behavior that have been more consistently investigated in the last decade, and whether they cover the interpersonal or organizational type of deviant behavior. In addition, individual, group, and organizational predictors of deviant work behaviors are examined. A scoping review of reviews was conducted on Scopus and Web of Science databases and (...) 54 studies published from 2010 to June 2021 were taken into account. Results show that more recent conceptualizations are based on well established models in the literature and consider the hierarchical structure of these two constructs. Recent reviews examine the relationships of deviant work behavior with job performance and ethical behavior constructs, the multilevel nature of deviant work behavior, and the consequences for the actor of the deviance. The specific types of deviant work behavior more frequently reviewed in the last decade are workplace abuse, incivility, ostracism, bullying and sexual harassment, and abusive and destructive leadership; this evidence suggests a much greater attention to interpersonal, rather than organizational, forms of deviant work behavior. Regarding antecedents, results show the continuing prevalence of personality factors antecedents. Limitations of the study and theoretical and practical implications for the field are also provided. (shrink)

My intention is not to get into specific, detailed historical observation about the ways that led the term ‘democracy’ to take on its current meaning, in science as much as in politics, but rather to establish a comparison between the models that political science proposes and interprets as important for the existence of democracy and those that science illustrates as indicators of scientific knowledge constructed in a democratic form. The debate about the contemporary meaning of democracy has generated an extraordinary (...) diversification of models of democracy: from technocratic conceptions of government to conceptions of social life that include widespread political participation. And it is exactly for this reason that the assumption of a specific point of view on the question we are dealing with inevitably brings with it the choice of a model suitable to describe democratic form as a form of politics without further explanation, that is, as a political system with which science measures itself as a cultural category. In this sense, we can consider the passage from the concept of democracy to that of politics and generally of science to be a peaceful one, since politics has been appointed with that set of behaviours and democratic practices (including science) that political culture demands for the social benefit. This demand can be met only on condition that structural obstacles are removed and new cultural and epistemological mediators are introduced. (shrink)

Quine maintained that philosophical and scientific theorizing should be conducted in an untyped language, which has just one style of variables and quantifiers. By contrast, typed languages, such as those advocated by Frege and Russell, include multiple styles of variables and matching kinds of quantification. Which form should our theories take? In this article, I argue that expressivity does not favour typed languages over untyped ones.

Semantic interpretations of both natural and formal languages are usually taken to involve the specification of a domain of entities with respect to which the sentences of the language are to be evaluated. A question that has received much attention of late is whether there is unrestricted quantification, quantification over a domain comprising absolutely everything there is. Is there a discourse or inquiry that has absolute generality? After framing the debate, this article provides an overview of the main arguments for (...) and against the possibility of unrestricted quantification, highlighting some of the broader implications of the debate. (shrink)

Palabras de agradecimiento al promotor del Congreso Internacional y a los participantes en él. Asimismo, a la persona que ha trabajado en la labor de transcripción de mis escritos y a otros colaboradores míos. También a quienes han tomado en cuenta mis ideas para elaborar sus tesis doctorales, y a otros colegas cuyos planteamientos filosóficos distan de los míos. Como la filosofía es una actividad interminable, queda abierta la sucesiva investigación en mis propuestas.

In linguistics, the dominant approach to the semantics of plurals appeals to mereology. However, this approach has received strong criticisms from philosophical logicians who subscribe to an alternative framework based on plural logic. In the first part of the article, we offer a precise characterization of the mereological approach and the semantic background in which the debate can be meaningfully reconstructed. In the second part, we deal with the criticisms and assess their logical, linguistic, and philosophical significance. We identify four (...) main objections and show how each can be addressed. Finally, we compare the strengths and shortcomings of the mereological approach and plural logic. Our conclusion is that the former remains a viable and well-motivated framework for the analysis of plurals. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is less ambitious than its title might suggest, since it does not deal with everything that Plato has said on time and on eternity. Rather, it attempts to clarify some issues which have arisen in the controversy as to whether Parmenides or Plato was the first Western philosopher to grasp the notion of atemporal eternity. It is particularly concerned with some publications on the subject that have appeared within the last twelve years or so. G. (...) E. L. Owen, in a paper published in this journal, has defended his earlier interpretation that Parmenides discovered the notion of atemporal eternity. J. Whittaker for his part has contended that both Parmenides and Plato failed to grasp it, and would ascribe its discovery to some later thinker. Yet another scholar, G. Reale, believes that there is no essential difference between the position of Parmenides as reconstructed by Owen and others and that of Melissus. For Reale maintains that Melissus’ formula “it is and always was and always will be” does not exclude atemporality, that it means the same thing as the alleged tenseless ‘is’ predicated of Parmenides’ Being. (shrink)