This article argues for the elimination of the concept of life worth living from philosophical vocabulary on three complementary grounds. First, the basic components of this concept suffer from multiple ambiguities, which hamper attempts to ground informative evaluative and classificatory judgments about the worth of life. Second, the criteria proposed to track the extension of the concept of life worth living rest on unsupported axiological assumptions and fail to identify precise and plausible referents for this concept. And third, the concept (...) of life worth living is not shown to serve any major evaluative or classificatory purpose besides those served by already available axiological concepts. By eliminating the concept of life worth living, philosophers will free themselves of the task of addressing ill-posed axiological questions and ground reflection about the worth of life on more rigorous conceptual foundations. (shrink)

All humans share a universal, evolutionarily ancient approximate number system (ANS) that estimates and combines the numbers of objects in sets with ratio-limited precision. Interindividual variability in the acuity of the ANS correlates with mathematical achievement, but the causes of this correlation have never been established. We acquired psychophysical measures of ANS acuity in child and adult members of an indigene group in the Amazon, the Mundurucú, who have a very restricted numerical lexicon and highly variable access to mathematics education. (...) By comparing Mundurucú subjects with and without access to schooling, we found that education significantly enhances the acuity with which sets of concrete objects are estimated. These results indicate that culture and education have an important effect on basic number perception. We hypothesize that symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical thinking mutually enhance one another over the course of mathematics instruction. (shrink)

Manuela Ivone P. da Cunha est professeur à l'Universidade do Minho, CRIA-UM et chercheur associé à l'IDEMEC. Nous la remercions de nous avoir autorisé à reproduire ce texte déjà paru dans S. Humbert, N. Derasse & J.-P. Royer, La prison, du temps passé au temps dépassé, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2012, p. 143-153. Nous avons souvent tendance, notamment dans les rencontres scientifiques qui font du temps leur protagoniste, à parler de différents types de temps – le temps de la - Anthropologie (...) – Nouvel article. (shrink)

Este estudio se centra en las últimas acciones dirigidas a promover la plena integración de las personas con discapacidad. La Globalización en muchos caso ha llevado a la exclusión social de los grupos que sufren una mayor marginación, haciendo preciso promover desde las instituciones un enfoque social y económico integrado que considere la economía, el comercio, el empleo y la cohesión social como elementos interdependientes para la reducción de las desigualdades, debiéndose dar preeminencia a las reformas sociales que fomenten la (...) igualdad y la plena integración siendo indudablemente necesarios controles de la ejecución de las políticas con el fin de integrar a los grupos más desfavorecidos social y económicamente. (shrink)

At Seattle, as at both Genoa and Porto Allegre, the Italian component of the Anti-globalisation movement was significant. Andrea Fumagalli reconstructs the genesis of the movement in Italy through an analysis of three of its fundamental elements: the network of Social Centres; the critical reviews barn in the 1990s; the development of underground music. After Genoa and New York, and faced by the Berlusconi government’s offensive, the Italian movement seemed to be riven by a profound crisis, but the demonstration (...) of 20 July 2002, clarified the nature of the crisis as a gap between the multitudes and the representation-organisation of the antagonistic movements. (shrink)

I address some issues on the concept woman that might illuminate both feminist thought and practice, and the interpretation of Wittgenstein. Using Sonia Sedivy’s New Wittgensteinian approach to accuse Neo-Wittgensteinians and their critics of still being essentialists about the concept art, I point out that Cressida Heyes’ Wittgensteinian anti-anti-essentialism concerning the concept woman is subject to the same accusation. Heyes suggests that, in the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein provides feminist philosophers with a kind of anti-anti-essentialism based on which a dilemma concerning (...) the concept woman can be dismissed. She grounds her anti-anti-essentialism in her reading of Philosophical Investigations as offering feminist philosophers the idea that we can draw the boundaries of the concept woman according to our moral and political purposes. My goal is to call this grounding into question considering the New Wittgensteinian reading, such as Sedivy’s. I suggest that Heyes’ proposal falls prey of the essentialist illusion it tries to escape. I end by enquiring whether this same criticism can be applied to current ameliorative projects concerning the concept woman within so-called conceptual ethics or engineering. (shrink)

Gender bias is a recalcitrant problem in academia and society. However, dissent has been created on this issue. We focus on dissenting studies by Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, arguing that they reach conclusions that are unwarranted on the basis of the available evidence and that they ignore fundamental objections to their methodological decisions. Drawing on discussions from other contexts, particularly on manufactured dissent concerning anthropogenic climate change, we conclude that dissent on gender bias substantially contributes to the (...) exacerbation of biases in society and an increasing number of attacks on researchers, making it both epistemically and socially problematic. (shrink)

Do abusive supervisors benefit from their own harmful behaviors, or do they experience the same repercussions as their victims do? This article extends a growing stream of research that aims to understand how bad actors process their own negative actions, when they are most impacted by their adverse behaviors, and how their job performance is influenced as a result. We ground this research in a moral emotions perspective to suggest that enacted abusive supervision elicits prominent moral responses (i.e., shame or (...) guilt), which subsequently influence the supervisor’s own work conduct. Specifically, we suggest that feelings of guilt will prompt an abusive boss to compensate for their negative behaviors by increasing performance efforts, whereas supervisors with feelings of shame will withdraw and exhibit lower work performance. Multiple mediation results from Study 1 revealed that abusive supervisors predominantly experience shame and, in turn, reduced performance. In Study 2, we expand on these findings by considering the moderating role of supervisor core self-evaluations (CSE). We find that the negative relationship between enacted abuse and supervisor performance (through shame) is exacerbated when managers possess a fragile sense of self (i.e., low CSE). Overall, the current article adds to the argument that abusive supervisors do not profit from their own negative behaviors and that they, too, suffer performance setbacks. (shrink)

Résumé Cet article analyse l’idée de contexte par rapport à l’histoire intellectuelle. La référence au contexte se révèle une évidence et une nécessité. Toute idée de contexte implique une relation et une référence à l’espace et au temps. S’interroger sur cette notion impose ainsi une perspective historique et une approche forcément interdisciplinaire. L’article illustre ces considérations à travers une réflexion sur le concept de représentation politique, qui impose une approche interdisciplinaire. L’exemple offert ambitionne d’apporter une nouvelle perspective par rapport aux (...) courants qui ont marqué le rapport entre histoire et contexte, tels que l’intellectual history britannique et la Begriffsgeschichte allemande. Il en ressort qu’une réflexion sur la représentation politique demande d’élargir la perspective d’espace et de temps, au-delà d’une conception holistique du contexte, ce qui rend possible de saisir la relation entre la pluralité des contextes au niveau de l’abstraction. (shrink)

In the paper Busaniche and Cignoli we presented a quasivariety of commutative residuated lattices, called NPc-lattices, that serves as an algebraic semantics for paraconsistent Nelson’s logic. In the present paper we show that NPc-lattices form a subvariety of the variety of commutative residuated lattices, we study congruences of NPc-lattices and some subvarieties of NPc-lattices.

In this article I analyse the structural and cultural conditions of low-caste women's political agency in urban north India. Whereas in Western feminist political theory, the sexual division of labour is considered to be a key constraint for women's political participation, I show how this has a secondary relevance in the context analysed. I argue that issues concerning the division of labour are intertwined with and subject to those of male consent and support for women's activities. I illustrate how it (...) is often the supposedly ‘oppressive’ household boundaries rather than alternative outer spaces that, under a series of enabling circumstances, initiate women's political activities. Against this backdrop, I show how Indian women activists’ political agency is shaped by men's role, and how agency's relational nature is embedded in women's lifecycles, everyday practices and cultural expectations; in essence, in overall gendered agency. Comparative analyses between Western and non-Western models of political participation and discourse have only just begun. In this respect, I contribute to this nascent field in the following directions: not only do the arguments I present in this article challenge the individualistic Western subject of political action, but they also complicate the idea of the resulting empowerment as a culturally constructed process whose understanding arises from the dialectics between insider and outsider values. (shrink)

This chapter explores the impact of Ralph Waldo Emerson on Latin American philosopher José Ingenieros. The chapter maintains that this impact is crucial because it aids in understanding and appreciating Ingenieros and his moral philosophy and it has never before been explored. However, for over a hundred years, this unique connection has been hiding a link between Latin American philosophy and American pragmatism.

Philosophers of science have argued that epistemic diversity is an asset for the production of scientific knowledge, guarding against the effects of biases, among other advantages. The growing privatization of scientific research, on the contrary, has raised important concerns for philosophers of science, especially with respect to the growing sources of biases in research that it seems to promote. Recently, Holman and Bruner ( 2017 ) have shown, using a modified version of Zollman ( 2010 ) social network model, that (...) an industrial selection bias can emerge in a scientific community, without corrupting any individual scientist, if the community is epistemically diverse. In this paper, we examine the strength of industrial selection using a reinforcement learning model, which simulates the process of industrial decision-making when allocating funding to scientific projects. Contrary to Holman and Bruner’s model, in which the probability of success of the agents when performing an action is given a priori, in our model the industry learns about the success rate of individual scientists and updates the probability of success on each round. The results of our simulations show that even without previous knowledge of the probability of success of an individual scientist, the industry is still able to disrupt scientific consensus. In fact, the more epistemically diverse the scientific community, the easier it is for the industry to move scientific consensus to the opposite conclusion. Interestingly, our model also shows that having a random funding agent seems to effectively counteract industrial selection bias. Accordingly, we consider the random allocation of funding for research projects as a strategy to counteract industrial selection bias, avoiding commercial exploitation of epistemically diverse communities. (shrink)

We previously showed that owner personality and human-dog relationship predicted the performance of a human-dog dyad in a practical task. Based on the same data set we presently investigate the effects of individual and social factors on the social attraction of dogs to their owners. Twenty-two male and female owners and their intact male dogs were observed during a “picture viewing” test, where we diverted the owner's attention away from their dog whilst it was permitted to move freely around the (...) room. Owner personality axis “neuroticism” and dog personality axis “vocal and aggressive” were, respectively, positively and negatively related to the time the dog stayed in proximity to the owner. Quality of relationship and attachment also had significant effects on this proximity. We conclude that personality and the nature of the human-dog relationship may all influence dogs' social attraction to their owners. (shrink)

O texto utilizado aqui, o qual corresponde ao período final do pensamento heideggeriano, tem o intuito de propor uma breve iluminação do que Heidegger supõe sobre o sentido do Ser enquanto Ser a partir da analítica existencial do Dasein lograda em Ser e Tempo enquanto fenômeno de compreensão do Ser temporal. O artigo é uma tentativa de pormenorizar os problemas investigados na obra Tempo e Ser enquanto problemas decorrentes da questão em Ser e Tempo. Estará pressuposto, portanto, ao longo do (...) texto, o postulado de que a filosofia de Heidegger é um contínuo temático, uma continuação sempre a cada vez (com o passar dos anos), aprofundada sobre a mesma questão. O que significa dizer que o pensamento do acontecimento não poderia ser posto se não houvesse o estudo próprio do sentido do Ser que vem sendo pensado na tradição, e se não houvesse uma destruição fenomenológico-ontológica desta mesma tradição – uma vez que este pensamento pensa o Ser como a não-subsistência. (shrink)

Foreign language education in the twenty-first century still teaches vocabulary mainly through reading and listening activities. This is due to the link between teaching practice and traditional philosophy of language, where language is considered to be an abstract phenomenon of the mind. However, a number of studies have shown that accompanying words or phrases of a foreign language with gestures leads to better memory results. In this paper, I review behavioral research on the positive effects of gestures on memory. Then (...) I move to the factors that have been addressed as contributing to the effect, and I embed the reviewed evidence in the theoretical framework of embodiment. Finally, I argue that gestures accompanying foreign language vocabulary learning create embodied representations of those words. I conclude by advocating the use of gestures in future language education as a learning tool that enhances the mind. (shrink)

In parallel with a process that has characterised modern history and in accordance with the constitutive features of utopian literature, utopian discourses have expunged fear – even fear of death or illness – from their theoretical universe. However, while describing in detail ideal places, utopias also reveal, wordlessly, the lengthy list of fears troubling a given historical age. On the contrary, the many-sided universe of negative utopias, embracing dystopian as well as ant-utopian narratives, has brought the attention back on fear, (...) putting it at the centre of human experience. (shrink)

The concept of jus post bellum deals with moral considerations in the aftermath of conflict and is concerned with how a just peace should look like. This paper analyses the concept of jus post bellum as developed by contemporary Just War theorists. Its aim is to provide a critical perspective on the proposed substantial scope of this concept. In other words, it will consider the question: in restoring peace after war, is it justified for just combatants to change the political (...) structure of a defeated aggressor? The piece will be divided into two main parts. First, through a review of the literature, I define the current state of the art on jus post bellum thinking in relation to a number of key aspects of this concept. What does241 it entail? Which principles is it made of? What sort of activities do just war theorists speak about when they speak of creating a just peace? Second, I focus on the principle of ?political rehabilitation? of the defeated state: is it permissible? Under what circumstances? While considering these questions and authors' views on this matter, the paper will provide a critical reappraisal of the current debate on the justifiability of political reconstruction in post-conflict states. (shrink)

Due to its allegedly diverse population and strong doctor–patient relations, Latin America has become one of the most attractive locations for international clinical trials. In the paper, I examine the case of recruitment of women and minority patients to serve as subjects of international clinical trials, through CROs operating in Latin America. In particular, the paper examines some of the strategies that CROs use to expand their services in the Latin American medical market, illuminating the mechanisms through which the current (...) organization of medical research contributes to power imbalances in the Global South. After analyzing the epistemic and ethical shortcomings of such endeavor, I show how Latin American patients participating in clinical trials are located in a position of double disadvantage. First, they suffer the consequences of a lack of appropriate understanding of symptoms and reaction to treatment. Second, they suffer the consequences of being subjects in clinical trials which are not designed to meet their needs, but the needs of patients in the Global North. Accordingly, I conclude by highlighting the importance of this double disadvantage and suggesting that the problem can be understood in terms of a misalignment of commercial, ethical, and epistemic concerns in clinical research. (shrink)

We propose a principle of sustainability to complement established principles used for justifying healthcare resource allocation. We argue that the application of established principles of equal treatment, need, prognosis and cost-effectiveness gives rise to what we call negative dynamics: a gradual depletion of the value possible to generate through healthcare. These principles should therefore be complemented by a sustainability principle, making the prospect of negative dynamics a further factor to consider, and possibly outweigh considerations highlighted by the other principles. We (...) demonstrate how this principle may take different forms, and show that a commitment to sustainability is supported by considerations internal to the ethical principles already guiding healthcare resource allocation. We also consider two objections. The first of these, we argue, is either based on implausible assumptions or begs the question, whereas the second can be adequately accommodated by the principle we propose. (shrink)