The future of awake bruxism assessment will incorporate physiological data, possibly electromyography of the temporal muscles. But up to now, temporal muscle contraction patterns in awake bruxism have not been characterized to demonstrate clinical utility. The present study aimed to perform surface EMG evaluations of people assessed for awake bruxism to identify possible different subtypes. A 2-year active search for people with awake bruxism in three regions of the country resulted in a total of 303 participants. Their inclusion was confirmed (...) through non-instrumental approaches for awake bruxism: self-reported questionnaire and clinical exam, performed by three experienced and calibrated dentists. Also, 77 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. Temporalis surface EMG was performed with a portable device. EMG signals were sent to a computer via Bluetooth 4.0 at a sampling rate of 1,000 Hz. Digital signal processing was performed using the commercial neuroUP software, transformed in RMS and then normalized for peak detection, in a 10 min session. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct subtypes of awake bruxism: phasic, tonic, and intermediate. Individuals with a predominance of EMG peaks/min were classified as the “phasic” subtype. Those with the highest EMG rest power were classified as the “tonic” subtype. There was also an “intermediate” subtype, when both variables remained low. Characterization of awake bruxism physiology is important for future establishment of instrumental assessment protocols and treatment strategies. (shrink)

Este estudo apresenta uma abordagem aproximativa entre as discussões propostas pelo modelo social de deficiência e as concepções filosóficas do médico e filósofo Georges Canguilhem. A partir dos conceitos de doença, patologia, anomalia, normalidade e anormalidade, busca-se aqui, atualizar a discussão dialogando com as preposições do modelo social de deficiência. Elegemos como referencial teórico a obra O normal e o patológico, de Georges Canguilhem e as contribuições de Débora Diniz na obra O que é deficiência; além disso, uma busca na (...) plataforma Google acadêmico foi feita com os seguintes descritores: normal – anormal – norma – normalidade – deficiência. Foram feitas as seguintes associações de descritores: normal/deficiência, anormal/deficiência, norma/deficiência e normalidade/deficiência. Após a leitura dos resumos, constatamos que quatro textos encontrados tratam da temática abordada neste artigo, portanto, fizemos a opção de integrá-los ao referencial teórico deste estudo. Espera-se que essa abordagem aproximativa possibilite uma reflexão a respeito do conceito de normalidade, distanciando-o da deficiência, e assim, aumentando as possibilidades de alcançarmos uma sociedade cada vez mais inclusiva. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to introduce the logics of evidence and truth $$LET_{K}^+$$ and $$LET_{F}^+$$ together with sound, complete, and decidable six-valued deterministic semantics for them. These logics extend the logics $$LET_{K}$$ and $$LET_{F}^-$$ with rules of propagation of classicality, which are inferences that express how the classicality operator $${\circ }$$ is transmitted from less complex to more complex sentences, and vice-versa. The six-valued semantics here proposed extends the 4 values of Belnap-Dunn logic with 2 more values (...) that intend to represent (positive and negative) reliable information. A six-valued non-deterministic semantics for $$LET_{K}$$ is obtained by means of Nmatrices based on swap structures, and the six-valued semantics for $$LET_{K}^+$$ is then obtained by imposing restrictions on the semantics of $$LET_{K}$$. These restrictions correspond exactly to the rules of propagation of classicality that extend $$LET_{K}$$. The logic $$LET_{F}^+$$ is obtained as the implication-free fragment of $$LET_{K}^+$$. We also show that the 6 values of $$LET_{K}^+$$ and $$LET_{F}^+$$ define a lattice structure that extends the lattice L4 defined by the Belnap-Dunn four-valued logic with the 2 additional values mentioned above, intuitively interpreted as positive and negative reliable information. Finally, we also show that $$LET_{K}^+$$ is Blok-Pigozzi algebraizable and that its implication-free fragment $$LET_{F}^+$$ coincides with the degree-preserving logic of the involutive Stone algebras. (shrink)

Analizamos las Misiones Pedagógicas de la Segunda República española, que llevaban cultura, ocio e información a pueblos remotos a través de libros, películas, guiñoles y músicas. Todo ello con una filosofía no dogmatizante que valorizaba la identidad local. El cine propuesto se centraba en películas mayormente mudas, reportajes, comedias y proyecciones fijas, y puede clasificarse en documentales y cine recreativo.

This article reflects on childhood times based on the words chrónos, kairós and aión, which the Greeks use to conceptualize time, in dialogue with different authors, such as Kohan, Pohlmann, Skliar, Kohan and Fernandes. In the pedagogical field, we explore how Pedagogy of Childhood has focused on the importance of childhood temporality and children’s agency, with contributions from Hoyuelos, Parrini, Aguilera et al., Barbosa, Oliveira-Formosinho e Araújo, Oliveira-Formosinho, Pinazza and Gobbi. We reflect on what forms of organizing time are (...) possible when we think about children and their childhoods. Would it be a continuous and chronological time, a time of opportunity for the instant or the timeless intensity of the aiónic? Would it be possible to open spaces in school for other temporalities, given its immersion in chronological time, and its extreme emphasis on routine? We seek a relationship between forms of temporality, philosophy, and early education in order to explore alternative possibilities in the relationship between child and the school context, and conclude that, since the child’s is the aiónic time of intense experience, it is in the heightened dynamic immediacy and the multiple symbolic languages of play that it may be possible to create pedagogical structures that provide a dwelling for childhood temporality. (shrink)

In 2015 a team of scientists used a new gene-editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genome of 86 non-viable human embryos. The experiment sparked a global debate on the ethics of gene editing. In this paper; I first review the key ethical issues that have been addressed in this debate. Although there is an emerging consensus now that research on the editing of human somatic cells for therapeutic purpose should be pursued further; the prospect of using gene-editing techniques for (...) the purpose of human enhancement has been met with strong criticism. The main thesis that I defend in this paper is that some of the most vocal objections recently raised against the prospect of genetic human enhancement are not justified. I put forward two arguments for the morality of genetic human enhancement. The first argument shows how the moral and legal framework within which we currently claim our procreative rights; especially in the context of IVF procedures; could be deployed in the assessment of the morality and legality of genetic human enhancement. The second argument calls into question the assumption that the average level of human cognitive performance should have a normative character. (shrink)

O presente texto propõe-se a refletir, no rastro de Arendt, sobre o declínio da política na modernidade diante de sua redução à administração da vida e das necessidades vitais. Para tanto, discutiremos a “moderna alienação do mundo” fomentada pela ascensão do trabalho e da vida, e refletiremos sobre a redução da política à administração da vida diante do advento do social e da vitória do animal laborans. Pressupõe-se que, examinarmos tais categorias nos permite observar o ocaso da política na era (...) moderna e a sua transformação em biopolítica, e, ademais, como esta categoria segue na contramão da noção política da autora. Para a metodologia, realizamos uma exegese filosófica das obras referencias, especialmente a obra A Condição Humana (1958), de Hannah Arendt. (shrink)

In Scepticism, Freedom and Autonomy, Araujo argues against this interpretation, asserting that we retain control over our opinions only through selective ...

Recent research with human embryos, in different parts of the world, has sparked a new debate on the ethics of genetic human enhancement. This debate, however, has mainly focused on gene-editing technologies, especially CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). Less attention has been given to the prospect of pursuing genetic human enhancement by means of IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) in conjunction with in vitro gametogenesis, genome-wide association studies, and embryo selection. This article examines the different ethical implications of the (...) quest for cognitive enhancement by means of gene-editing on the one hand, and embryo selection on the other. The article focuses on the ethics of cognitive enhancement by means of embryo selection, as this technology is more likely to become commercially available before cognitive enhancement by means of gene-editing. This article argues that the philosophical debate on the ethics of enhancement should take into consideration public attitudes to research on human genomics and human enhancement technologies. The article discusses, then, some of the recent findings of the SIENNA Project, which in 2019 conducted a survey on public attitudes to human genomics and human enhancement technologies in 11 countries (France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, and United States). (shrink)

The possibility of morally enhancing the behavior of individuals by means of drugs and genetic engineering has been the object of intense philosophical discussion over the last few years. However; although moral enhancement may turn out to be useful to promote cooperation in some areas of human interaction; it will not promote cooperation in the domain of international relations in those areas that are critical to state security. Unlike some moral enhancement theorists; I argue that; because of the structure of (...) the system of states; moral enhancement cannot be used to avert such major threats to humankind as terrorism and nuclear conflict. My analysis of the political implications of moral enhancement is pursued through a critical discussion of two different versions of political realism; namely human nature realism and structural realism. I conclude that; as far as major threats to the survival of humankind are concerned; moral enhancement can at most be used as a means to change the present structure of the system of states. (shrink)

Given the abrupt global disruption caused by SARS-CoV-2, one might think that the COVID pandemic was an unpredictable event. But in the years leading up to the emergence of the COVID pandemic, several documents had already been warning of the increasing occurrences of new disease outbreaks with pandemic potential and lack of corresponding policies to promote pandemic preparedness and response. In this article, we call these documents “early warnings”. We argue that a survey of early warnings can help science communicators (...) to promote the public understanding of evidence-based pandemic preparedness and response policies at local or international level. Our proposal differs from other approaches to pandemic preparedness and response in that it highlights the relevance of documents published before the COVID outbreak. We show that the early warnings did not become outdated after the COVID outbreak, but, rather, that they are even more pressing now. (shrink)

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é elucidar o conceito de disposições morais a partir de uma perspectiva contratualista. Tenho especialmente em vista o tipo de teoria moral defendida por David Gauthier. Minha intenção é mostrar que a tese segundo a qual, por interesse próprio, seria racional para um indivíduo "escolher" se tornar uma pessoa movida por um senso de justiça deve ser compreendida em termos da racionalidade de uma escolha pela criação e pelo fomento às instituições que estão na origem (...) da formação de nossas disposições morais.Palavras-chave: Contratualismo - Disposições Morais - Justiça - Pessoa.: This paper aims at clarifying the concept of moral dispositions from a contractarian perspective. I have in mind the kind of moral theory advanced by David Gauthier. My intention is to show that the thesis according to which it would be rational, for the sake of self-interest, to "choose" being moved by a sense of justice must be construed in terms of the rationality of a choice for the creation and support of the institutions which are at the root of our moral dispositions. (shrink)

What are human rights? Do they exist? I propose to answer these questions by advancing a contractarian account of human rights. I focus on the human right to found a family and have children. I also show how the contractarian approach to human rights can explain the current relevance of reproductive rights in the human rights discourse, and how the emergence of ART has contributed to this shift. The contractarian account of human rights asks, firstly, the following question: which basic (...) needs and desires can be ascribed to any human being regardless of gender, nationality, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity etc.? Having an interest, for instance, in preserving one’s own bodily integrity, freedom, and private property qualifies as a basic human need or basic desire. But a basic human need or desire does not constitute in itself a human right. Secondly, the contractarian account of human rights asks, then, which basic human needs or basic desires individuals and states representatives would consider so important that they would agree to create institutional frameworks, both at the domestic and international level, in such a way as to enable individuals to pursue the fulfilment of their basic needs or desires without state interference. Human rights exist and can only be claimed in the context of these normative frameworks. (shrink)

No debate filosófico contemporâneo denomina-se “aprimoramento humano” a tentativa de se elevar nosso rendimento, no exercício de certas capacidades físicas ou cognitivas, a um patamar superior àquele considerado normal. O “aprimoramento humano” suscita uma série de questões éticas acerca das implicações sociais decorrentes do uso de tecnologias, não para se tratar uma doença ou restabelecer capacidades físicas perdidas em acidentes, mas para ampliar as capacidades físicas ou cognitivas de uma pessoa saudável. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar que esse debate (...) não é novo. Ele surgiu no período entreguerras, no contexto de uma ampla discussão sobre quais tipos de próteses permitiriam aos ex-combatentes, mutilados durante a guerra, serem reintegrados à força de trabalho. (shrink)

O uso de certas drogas e de certos procedimentos para fins de melhoramento do desempenho nos esportes é banido pelas autoridades esportivas. Mas como pretendo mostrar neste artigo, alguns dos principais argumentos contra o uso de tecnologias para aprimoramento nos esportes são problemáticos. Autores como, por exemplo, Michael Sandel se comprometem com uma concepção metafísica de natureza humana na defesa da manutenção das regras que proíbem o uso de doping. Essa concepção de natureza humana, como procuro mostrar no artigo, é (...) incompatível com a ideia corrente segundo a qual seres humanos, tal como os conhecemos hoje, resultam de um gradual processo de evolução por seleção natural. Disso não se segue, porém, como procuro mostrar na última sessão do artigo, que nenhuma das regras que proíbem o uso de tecnologias para fins de aprimoramento nos esportes seja moralmente justificada. O artigo argumenta em prol de uma liberação moderada de algumas drogas e procedimentos para fins de melhoramento do desempenho nos esportes. (shrink)

The more we rely on digital assistants, online search engines, and AI systems to revise our system of beliefs and increase our body of knowledge, the less we are able to resort to some independent criterion, unrelated to further digital tools, in order to asses the epistemic reliability of the outputs delivered by them. This raises some important questions to epistemology in general and pressing questions to applied to epistemology in particular. In this paper, we propose an experimental method for (...) the assessment of GPT-3’s capacity to generate consistent and coherent sets of outputs. When several outputs to one and the same input are very repetitive they tend to be consistent with each other, that is they do not contradict each other. But consistency does not make the set of outputs as a whole more informative than the outputs considered individually. We argue that the less informative a set of outputs is, the less coherent it is. We establish a conceptual distinction between consistency and coherence in the light of what some epistemologists refer to as a coherence theories of truth and justification. While much attention has been given to GPT-3’s capacity to produce internally coherent individual outputs, we argue, instead, that more attention should be given to its capacity to produce consistent and coherent outputs generated on a single-input-multiple-outputs basis. (shrink)

Jacques Derrida delivered the basis of The Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, & the New International as a plenary address at the conference ‘Whither Marxism?’ hosted by the University of California, Riverside, in 1993. The longer book version was published in French the same year and appeared in English and Portuguese the following year. In the decade after the publication of Specters, Derrida’s analyses provoked a large critical literature and invited both consternation and (...) celebration by figures such as Antonio Negri, Wendy Brown and Frederic Jameson. This forum seeks to stimulate new reflections on Derrida, deconstruction and Specters of Marx by considering how the futures past announced by the book have fared after an eventful quarter century. In this fifth group of contributions, three philosophers explore the specters of colonialidade, the specifically Brazilian legacies of Portuguese and European coloniality. Carla Rodrigues opens the dialogue by exploring the haunting and melancholy provoked by colonial forms of violence and shows how confronting Brazilian necropolitics sustains the Derridean legacy; Rafael Haddock-Lobo offers a meditation on the difficulties of being before the law and standing before specters as a means of being justly haunted by the others of European philosophy in Brazil; finally, Marcelo Moraes continues the theme of Europe as a specter-producing machine and invokes specifically the presences of indigenous and Afro-Brazilian political resistances with the aim of deconstructing coloniality. (shrink)

This paper investigates the question of characterizing first-order LFIs (logics of formal inconsistency) by means of two-valued semantics. LFIs are powerful paraconsistent logics that encode classical logic and permit a finer distinction between contradictions and inconsistencies, with a deep involvement in philosophical and foundational questions. Although focused on just one particular case, namely, the quantified logic QmbC, the method proposed here is completely general for this kind of logics, and can be easily extended to a large family of quantified paraconsistent (...) logics, supplying a sound and complete semantical interpretation for such logics. However, certain subtleties involving term substitution and replacement, that are hidden in classical structures, have to be taken into account when one ventures into the realm of nonclassical reasoning. This paper shows how such difficulties can be overcome, and offers detailed proofs showing that a smooth treatment of semantical characterization can be given to all such logics. Although the paper is well-endowed in technical details and results, it has a significant philosophical aside: it shows how slight extensions of classical methods can be used to construct the basic model theory of logics that are weaker than traditional logic due to the absence of certain rules present in classical logic. Several such logics, however, as in the case of the LFIs treated here, are notorious for their wealth of models precisely because they do not make indiscriminate use of certain rules; these models thus require new methods. In the case of this paper, by just appealing to a refined version of the Principle of Explosion, or Pseudo-Scotus, some new constructions and crafty solutions to certain non-obvious subtleties are proposed. The result is that a richer extension of model theory can be inaugurated, with interest not only for paraconsistency, but hopefully to other enlargements of traditional logic. (shrink)

O contratualismo moral procura fundamentar a moralidade a partir do auto-interesse. No entanto, nem as teorias clássicas na tradição do contrato social, nem os representantes do contratualismo moral procuram oferecer uma fundamentação dos direitos humanos. O objetivo deste artigo é justamente apresentar uma tal fundamentação. Direitos humanos – essa é a tese central deste artigo – são tipos específicos de direitos morais de que os indivíduos podem lançar mão em sua relação com o Estado.Moral contractualism aims at a justifi cation (...) of morality through self-interest. Yet, neither classic social contract theories nor moral contractualism seek to provide a systematic account of human rights. The aim of this article is to present such an account. Human rights – this is a main thesis advanced in this article – are special kinds of moral rights to which individuals resort in their relationship to the state. (shrink)

O debate contemporâneo sobre a ética do aprimoramento cognitivo tem se concentrado sobretudo na pergunta sobre se, e em que medida, os indivíduos deveriam ou não ter o direito a fazer uso de novas tecnologias na expectativa de aumentar suas respectivas faculdades cognitivas. A pergunta sobre se haveria uma obrigação de implementarmos o aprimoramento cognitivo dos indivíduos não tem recebido muita atenção. Neste artigo, eu defendo a tese segundo a qual o Estado tem, em princípio, a obrigação de promover o (...) aprimoramento cognitivo dos seus cidadãos. O argumento envolve uma análise do denominado efeito Flynn e das políticas públicas para a educação de crianças superdotadas. A obrigação que o Estado tem de promover o aprimoramento cognitivo de seus cidadãos está subordinada ao conhecimento disponível sobre a eficácia e a segurança dos procedimentos para fins de aprimoramento cognitivo. (shrink)

Como posso estar certo de que existe qualquer coisa de externa aos meus próprios pensamentos? Muitos filósofos procuraram ou apresentar uma prova da existência do mundo externo, ou rejeitar a inteligibilidade da própria ideia de uma “prova” nesse contexto. O objetivo desse artigo é mostrar que o denominado “problema do mundo externo” decorre de uma má compreensão acerca do que seja justificativa epistêmica. Apresento o que denomino “paradoxo de Berkeley” de modo a mostrar que o uso ordinário da linguagem não (...) deve funcionar como critério de correção para a aplicação de conceitos como conhecimento e existência. Concluo que tanto as tentativas tradicionais de se apresentar uma prova da existência do mundo externo quanto as tentativas de se mostrar que o problema não faz sentido são equivocadas. O que deve ser levado em conta no exame do problema do mundo externo é o contexto em que a proposta cética é feita. (shrink)

Discuto aqui duas diferentes interpretações acerca do que seria uma teoria do direito natural (ou jusnaturalismo). A primeira interpretação se caracteriza pela tese da “inseparabilidade” do direito e da moral, ao passo que a segunda se caracteriza pela tese segundo a qual existiriam “leis naturais”, i.e. leis cuja existência independeria da existência de instituições humanas. Tento mostrar que as duas teses são falsas. Procuro mostrar inicialmente que a confusão entre as duas teses se deve a uma má compreensão da distinção (...) entre frases do tipo “estar obrigado a”, e “ter a obrigação de”. Em seguida, mostro como a teoria moral contratualista nos permite resolver de modo satisfatório algumas questões que não são resolvidas adequadamente em nenhuma das duas versões do jusnaturalismo que apresento. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é caracterizar o conceito de justiça como uma convenção social indispensável para a emergência de obrigações morais no contexto de grupos que ultrapassam o “numero de Dunbar”. O artigo retoma, por um lado, a teoria da justiça proposta por David Hume na terceira seção de Uma Investigação sobre os Princípios da Moral, e, por outro lado, a hipótese de Robin Dunbar acerca do número máximo de indivíduos com os quais uma pessoa pode manter relações sociais estáveis (...) que envolvam laços de amizade, vínculos de família, e histórias pessoais compartilhadas. (shrink)

Nos últimos anos a legislação brasileira que trata da proteção da dignidade e da autonomia de pacientes em estado terminal passou por importantes transformações. A nova legislação brasileira foi bem recebida por um amplo segmento da sociedade, incluindo-se aí a comunidade médica, a igreja católica, e jornalistas. A discussão em torno desse tema passou a ser articulada em torno do conceito de “ortotanásia”. O objetivo deste artigo consiste em, por um lado, apresentar argumentos em favor do suicídio-assistido, uma prática atualmente (...) proibida pela legislação brasileira, mas que seria, como se procura mostrar, coerente com os fundamentos morais da nova legislação brasileira. Por outro lado, procura-se mostrar também que o conceito de “ortotanásia” é inteiramente inadequado para uma discussão pública ampla desse tema, pois ele envolve, de modo implícito ou explícito, idéias teológicas e metafísicas que podem não se compartilhadas por um amplo segmento da sociedade. (shrink)

O uso de argumentos igualmente convincentes tanto em prol quanto contra a veracidade de uma proposição era conhecido na Renascença como in utramque partem. Céticos do início da Modernidade utilizaram argumentos in utramque partem visando demonstrar que não se pode fundamentar a moralidade em um terreno sólido, já que os argumentos apresentados em favor da ideia de Justiça poderiam ser neutralizados por argumentos igualmente convincentes contra a ideia de Justiça. Nesse artigo, eu argumento que Hugo Grotius tentou refutar esse tipo (...) de ceticismo moral em seus principais escritos filosóficos, De jure bellic ac pacis e De jure praedae commentarius. Contra os céticos, Grotius procura estabelecer que as razões apresentadas a favor e contra a ideia de Justiça não são incompatíveis entre si. (shrink)

O uso de argumentos igualmente convincentes tanto em prol quanto contra a veracidade de uma proposição era conhecido na Renascença como in utramque partem. Céticos do início da Modernidade utilizaram argumentos in utramque partem visando demonstrar que não se pode fundamentar a moralidade em um terreno sólido, já que os argumentos apresentados em favor da ideia de Justiça poderiam ser neutralizados por argumentos igualmente convincentes contra a ideia de Justiça. Nesse artigo, eu argumento que Hugo Grotius tentou refutar esse tipo (...) de ceticismo moral em seus principais escritos filosóficos, De jure bellic ac pacis e De jure praedae commentarius. Contra os céticos, Grotius procura estabelecer que as razões apresentadas a favor e contra a ideia de Justiça não são incompatíveis entre si. (shrink)

Minha intenção é mostrar, contra o realismo em relações internacionais, que, ao abordarmos os conceitos de justiça internacional e de direitos humanos, a partir de uma perspectiva contratualista, o denominado conflito entre o interesse nacional e as exigências da moralidade se mostra bem menos problemático. Apresento os principais argumentos em favor do contratualismo através de uma reconstrução da teoria moral de David Gauthier. Em seguida, procuro mostrar que o tipo de contratualismo defendido por Rawls e seus seguidores não é capaz (...) de evitar as críticas feitas pelo realismo à tentativa de defendermos uma concepção de justiça e de direitos humanos no âmbito das relações internacionais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Contratualismo. Realismo. Direitos humanos. David Gauthier. John Rawls. ABSTRACT In this paper I argue against realism in international relations by showing that a contractarian approach to the concepts of international justice and human rights renders the socalled conflict between national interest and morality far less pressing than it seems to be. I discuss the thrust of the contractarian approach by means of a presentation of David Gauthier’s moral theory. Then, I show that the kind of contractarian approach advanced by Rawls and his followers is not able to counter the realist contention against the ideas of justice and human rights in the context of international relations. KEY WORDS – Contractarianism. Realism. Human rights. David Gauthier. John Rawls. (shrink)

Die Idee, der zufolge Menschen, die aufgrund von spezifischen Eigenschaften ungleich sind, der Gerechtigkeit halber auf eine ungleiche Art und Weise behandelt werden sollten, scheint nicht problematisch zu sein. Älteren Menschen werden zum Beispiel in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln gewisse Sonderrechte zugestanden; im Strafrecht werden Minderjährige anders behandelt als Erwachsene; und Menschen mit einer körperlichen Behinderung dürfen öffentliche Ressourcen beanspruchen, auf die andere Menschen keinen Anspruch haben.

In the first part of this paper I point out the reasons in virtue of which human rights discourse was seen with scepticism, in the first half of twentieth century, in its capacity to compel states to act morally in the context of international relations. Then, in the second part, I examine the reasons in virtue of which this kind of scepticism lessened at the end of the Cold War. I argue that an ever growing interaction among actors in international (...) relations – including non-state actors – has contributed to the emergence of a decentralised system of norms in the context of which the discourse on the concept of human rights may be justified without one’s commitment to such metaphysical ideas as natural laws and natural rights. (shrink)

Moral beliefs and attitudes may vary to great extent across different societies. Even within the same society, the prevailing moral beliefs and attitudes may vary throughout the history of this society. The moral beliefs and attitudes that prevail in a given society, at a given time, constitute the “positive morality” of this society. But can we morally assess the “positive morality”? In this paper I present reasons so as to give this question an affirmative answer. I argue that the moral (...) assessment of the “positive morality” must resort to the general principles of “critical morality”. The conception of “critical morality” that I defend in this paper resumes some aspects of David Hume’s moral philosophy. In the last section of this paper I also argue that formative works of art, such as novels, feature films, and documentary films may participate in the process of rational deliberation required by “critical morality”. (shrink)

The contemporary debate on the ethics of cognitive enhancement has mainly focused on the question whether, and to which extent, individuals should be granted the right to make use of new technologies in order to enhance their own cognitive powers. The question on the existence of a duty to implement the cognitive enhancement of the individuals has received less attention. In this paper, I argue that the state has a prima facie duty to pursue the cognitive enhancement of its citizens. (...) The argument involves an analysis of the so-called effect Flynn and of the public policies for the education of gifted children. The duty the state has to further the cognitive enhancement of its citizens is qualified by our knowledge of the efficacy and the safety of the procedures used for cognitive enhancement. (shrink)

A pandemia de COVID suscitou diversas questões morais relacionadas, por exemplo, à vulnerabilidade de populações indígenas frente à nova doença, ou ao comportamento dos Estados mais ricos relativamente aos Estados mais pobres na distribuição de vacinas, ou relativamente à elaboração de protocolos para alocação de recursos escassos tomando-se como critério a idade dos pacientes. Consideradas isoladamente, essas questões dizem respeito a diferentes domínios de investigação da filosofia moral, a saber: o da justiça social, o da justiça internacional, e o da (...) justiça intergeneracional. Até o momento, no âmbito da bioética e da filosofia moral, pouco esforço tem sido feito na tentativa de se mostrar que essas e diversas outras questões moralmente relevantes, discutidas durante a pandemia de COVID, deveriam ser examinadas como pertinentes a um campo distinto de investigação filosófica, ao qual me refiro neste artigo como ética pandêmica. Neste artigo, procuro estabelecer uma estrutura conceitual para a ética pandêmica tendo especialmente em vista a discussão recente sobre atribuições de responsabilidade no âmbito da ética climática. (shrink)

This paper reviews the central points and presents some recent developments of the epistemic approach to paraconsistency in terms of the preservation of evidence. Two formal systems are surveyed, the basic logic of evidence (BLE) and the logic of evidence and truth (LET J ), designed to deal, respectively, with evidence and with evidence and truth. While BLE is equivalent to Nelson’s logic N4, it has been conceived for a different purpose. Adequate valuation semantics that provide decidability are given for (...) both BLE and LET J . The meanings of the connectives of BLE and LET J , from the point of view of preservation of evidence, is explained with the aid of an inferential semantics. A formalization of the notion of evidence for BLE as proposed by M. Fitting is also reviewed here. As a novel result, the paper shows that LET J is semantically characterized through the so-called Fidel structures. Some opportunities for further research are also discussed. (shrink)

There are two foundational, but not fully developed, ideas in paraconsistency, namely, the duality between paraconsistent and intuitionistic paradigms, and the introduction of logical operators that express metalogical notions in the object language. The aim of this paper is to show how these two ideas can be adequately accomplished by the logics of formal inconsistency and by the logics of formal undeterminedness. LFIs recover the validity of the principle of explosion in a paraconsistent scenario, while LFUs recover the validity of (...) the principle of excluded middle in a paracomplete scenario. We introduce definitions of duality between inference rules and connectives that allow comparing rules and connectives that belong to different logics. Two formal systems are studied, the logics mbC and mbD, that display the duality between paraconsistency and paracompleteness as a duality between inference rules added to a common core—in the case studied here, this common core is classical positive propositional logic. The logics mbC and mbD are equipped with recovery operators that restore classical logic for, respectively, consistent and determined propositions. These two logics are then combined obtaining a pair of LFI and undeterminedness, namely, mbCD and mbCDE. The logic mbCDE exhibits some nice duality properties. Besides, it is simultaneously paraconsistent and paracomplete, and able to recover the principles of excluded middle and explosion one at a time. The last sections offer an algebraic account for such logics by adapting the swap structures semantics framework of the LFIs the LFUs. This semantics highlights some subtle aspects of these logics, and allows us to prove decidability by means of finite nondeterministic matrices. (shrink)

Much forensic inference based upon DNA evidence is made assuming Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) for the genetic loci being used. Several statistical tests to detect and measure deviation from HWE have been devised, and their limitations become more obvious when testing for deviation within multiallelic DNA loci. The most popular methods-Chi-square and Likelihood-ratio tests-are based on asymptotic results and cannot guarantee a good performance in the presence of low frequency genotypes. Since the parameter space dimension increases at a quadratic rate on (...) the number of alleles, some authors suggest applying sequential methods, where the multiallelic case is reformulated as a sequence of “biallelic” tests. However, in this approach it is not obvious how to assess the general evidence of the original hypothesis; nor is it clear how to establish the significance level for its acceptance/rejection. In this work, we introduce a straightforward method for the multiallelic HWE test, which overcomes the aforementioned issues of sequential methods. The core theory for the proposed method is given by the Full Bayesian Significance Test (FBST), an intuitive Bayesian approach which does not assign positive probabilities to zero measure sets when testing sharp hypotheses. We compare FBST performance to Chi-square, Likelihood-ratio and Markov chain tests, in three numerical experiments. The results suggest that FBST is a robust and high performance method for the HWE test, even in the presence of several alleles and small sample sizes. (shrink)

This article describes the Full Bayesian Significance Test for the problem of separate hypotheses. Numerical experiments are performed for the Gompertz vs. Weibull life span test.

This article aims to highlight about representative character of new digital technologies and from their contradictory accelerated effects to society and their constitutive relationships. To this end, reflects concerning state considerations of private and real things in which new technologies deal. Moreover, search highlight the proximity of this advance in knowledge with to the enlightened myths. Finally, signals the actuality of critical to nonconformity and resistance to modern regressions, because the possible fusion of biological and digital results in more control (...) being the sophistry of nature’s liberation in slavery irrational of technoscientific reason. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to characterize the concept of justice as an indispensable social convention for the emergence of moral duties in the context of groups that surpass the so-called “Dunbar’s number”. The article resumes, on the one hand, David Hume’s theory of justice, as it is discussed in the third section of An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, and on the other hand it resumes Robin Dunbar’s hypothesis relative to the maximum number of individuals with whom (...) a person may keep stable social relationships that comprise kinship, fellowship, and a sense of shared personal histories. (shrink)

Discuto aqui duas diferentes interpretações acerca do que seria uma teoria do direito natural. A primeira interpretação se caracteriza pela tese da “inseparabilidade” do direito e da moral, ao passo que a segunda se caracteriza pela tese segundo a qual existiriam “leis naturais”, i.e. leis cuja existência independeria da existência de instituições humanas. Tento mostrar que as duas teses são falsas. Procuro mostrar inicialmente que a confusão entre as duas teses se deve a uma má compreensão da distinção entre frases (...) do tipo “estar obrigado a”, e “ter a obrigação de”. Em seguida, mostro como a teoria moral contratualista nos permite resolver de modo satisfatório algumas questões que não são resolvidas adequadamente em nenhuma das duas versões do jusnaturalismo que apresento. (shrink)

O uso de argumentos igualmente convincentes tanto em prol quanto contra a veracidade de uma proposição era conhecido na Renascença como in utramque partem. Céticos do início da Modernidade utilizaram argumentos in utramque partem visando demonstrar que não se pode fundamentar a moralidade em um terreno sólido, já que os argumentos apresentados em favor da ideia de Justiça poderiam ser neutralizados por argumentos igualmente convincentes contra a ideia de Justiça. Nesse artigo, eu argumento que Hugo Grotius tentou refutar esse tipo (...) de ceticismo moral em seus principais escritos filosóficos, De jure bellic ac pacis e De jure praedae commentarius. Contra os céticos, Grotius procura estabelecer que as razões apresentadas a favor e contra a ideia de Justiça não são incompatíveis entre si. (shrink)

Minha intenção é mostrar, contra o realismo em relações internacionais, que, ao abordarmos os conceitos de justiça internacional e de direitos humanos, a partir de uma perspectiva contratualista, o denominado conflito entre o interesse nacional e as exigências da moralidade se mostra bem menos problemático. Apresento os principais argumentos em favor do contratualismo através de uma reconstrução da teoria moral de David Gauthier. Em seguida, procuro mostrar que o tipo de contratualismo defendido por Rawls e seus seguidores não é capaz (...) de evitar as críticas feitas pelo realismo à tentativa de defendermos uma concepção de justiça e de direitos humanos no âmbito das relações internacionais. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Contratualismo. Realismo. Direitos humanos. David Gauthier. John Rawls. ABSTRACT In this paper I argue against realism in international relations by showing that a contractarian approach to the concepts of international justice and human rights renders the socalled conflict between national interest and morality far less pressing than it seems to be. I discuss the thrust of the contractarian approach by means of a presentation of David Gauthier’s moral theory. Then, I show that the kind of contractarian approach advanced by Rawls and his followers is not able to counter the realist contention against the ideas of justice and human rights in the context of international relations. KEY WORDS – Contractarianism. Realism. Human rights. David Gauthier. John Rawls. (shrink)