Some plausibly necessary a posteriori theoretical claims include ‘water is H 2 O’, ‘gold is the element with atomic number 79’, and ‘cats are animals’. In this paper I challenge the necessity of the third claim. I argue that there are possible worlds in which cats exist, but are not animals. Under any of the species concepts currently accepted in biology, organisms do not belong essentially to their species. This is equally true of their ancestors. In phylogenetic systematics, monophyletic clades (...) such as the animal kingdom are composed of an ancestral stem species and all of its descendants. If the stem species had not existed, neither would the clade. Thus it could have been the case that all the organisms which actually belong to the animal kingdom might have existed yet not have been animals. (shrink)

In The Expanse, the future of humanity is constantly at stake. In The Expanse vestiges of an ancient alien civilization with incredibly advanced technology have been found—which eventually permits human interstellar expansion through the gates. James Lenman argues that, even if we agree that biodiversity is a good thing, it only means that it's good that there should be natural diversity while life exists on Earth. While we might not be facing interplanetary war or the unpredictable consequences of ancient alien (...) technology, many serious dangers face the human species today. We are quite resilient and have survived numerous disasters in the past, including floods, earthquakes, famine, pandemics, and wars. Small population size and restricted distribution range are factors that increase a species’ extinction risk. Interplanetary expansion could potentially bring about speciation, which means the separation of Homo sapiens into different species. (shrink)

Durante a “febre brasileira”, parte do processo imigratório polonês para o Brasil, na última década do século XIX, diversos intelectuais poloneses acompanharam o deslocamento, instalação e adaptação dos patrícios nos estados do sul. Os intelectuais provindos a serviço de uma sociedade científica chamada Grupo de Lwów, localizado na parte austríaca da Polônia partilhada, vinham com ideais de analisar a presença dos poloneses já instalados e acompanhar a trajetória dos novos emigrantes. Ao produzirem textos, deixaram suas impressões sobre o Brasil e (...) seus habitantes, as quais analisamos com base nas representações da “cultura do imperialismo”, vigente no contexto do continente Europeu. (shrink)

Life is a self-maintaining process based on metabolism. Something is said to be alive when it exhibits organization and is actively involved in its own continued existence through carrying out metabolic processes. A life is a spatio-temporally restricted event, which continues while the life processes are occurring in a particular chunk of matter (or, arguably, when they are temporally suspended, but can be restarted at any moment), even though there is continuous replacement of parts. Life is organized in discrete packages, (...) particular cells and multicellular organisms with differing degrees of individuality. Biological species, too, have been shown to be individuals, and not classes, as these collections of organisms are spatio-temporally localized, restricted, continuous, and somewhat cohesive entities, with a definite beginning and end. Assuming that all life on Earth has a common origin, all living organisms, cells, and tissues descending from this origin exhibit continuity of the life processes at the cellular level, as well as many of the features that define the individual character of species: spatio-temporal localization and restriction, continuity, historicity, and cohesiveness. Therefore, life on Earth is an ontological individual. Independent origins of life will have produced other such individuals. These provisionally called ‘life-individuals’ constitute a category of organization of life which has seldom been recognized. The discovery of at least one independent life-individual would go a long way toward the project of the universality of biology. (shrink)

Animalism is prima facie the most plausible view about what we are; it aligns better with science and common sense, and is metaphysically more parsimonious. Thought experiments involving the brain, however, tend to elicit intuitions contrary to animalism. In this paper, I examine two classical thought experiments from the literature, brain transplant and cerebrum transplant, and a new one, cerebrum regeneration. I argue that they are theoretically possible, but that a scientifically informed account of what would actually happen shows that (...) in none of the cases would the person be separated from the animal. Our intuitions in these cases, when adequately informed by neuroscience, do not conflict with animalism – rather, they suggest a correction of the animalist position: the persisting animal should be at least minimally sentient. Sentience animalism is a new formulation of the animalist account of personal identity that allows us to reconcile facts about our biological persistence conditions with the intuition that human persistence should involve some kind of psychological continuity. (shrink)

The United Nations World Tourism Organization has acknowledged 2020 as the worst year in tourism history due to the worldwide pandemic COVID-19. Destinations, tourists, local communities, stakeholders, and residents, and their daily activities were affected. Thus, wellbeing and resilience are two crucial variables to help the industry and the people recover. This research aims to analyze early positive approaches and attitudes to respond to the negative impact of COVID-19 in tourism everyday activities that have at its core wellbeing and resilience, (...) the two main variables of the Positive Psychology field of studies. A systematic literature review was conducted, following PRISMA guidelines to achieve this aim. The research was done using the Online Knowledge Library and all the available databases. The research led to 32 articles that were screened using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 18 scientific articles met all criteria. Overall, results show that a positive and resilient approach to deal with the adverse outcomes of the pandemic is a concern for stakeholders and the future of the organizations in the tourism and hospitality sector, as is tourists’ wellbeing. However, less research has been done on wellbeing and a clear lack of research regarding residents’ wellbeing and resilience is evident. A deeper study of wellbeing and resilience in tourism is needed, and actual practices and interventions to ensure that all tourism actors have the resources to overcome the pandemic and restart the industry’s daily lives feeling well and safe. (shrink)

This paper aims, on the one hand, to determine the valid span of the diagram of unequal hours and, on the other, to find a mathematical expression for the error. It is found that the diagram is valid for the two days of the equinoxes and for the times when the sun is on the horizon or on the meridian. This subject has previously been treated by Delambre in 1819 and Drecker in 1925, but not comprehensively.

Previous research suggests that all-inclusive superordinate categories, such as “citizens of the world” and “humans,” may represent different socio-psychological realities. Yet it remains unclear whether the use of different categories may account for different psychological processes and attitudinal or behavioral outcomes. Two studies extended previous research by comparing how these categories are cognitively represented, and their impact on intergroup helping from host communities toward migrants. In a correlational study, 168 nationals from 25 countries perceived the group of migrants as more (...) prototypical of the superordinate category “citizens of the world” than their national group, whereas no differences in prototypicality occurred for the category “humans.” Identification with “citizens of the world” was positively associated with a disposition to oppose helping migrants and to offer dependency-oriented help. However, identification with “humans” was positively associated with helping in general, and with offering dependency- and autonomy-oriented help; and negatively associated with opposition to helping. The experimental study manipulated the salience of “citizens of the world” vs. “humans” vs. control category, among 224 nationals from 36 countries. Results showed that the salience of “humans” triggered higher entitativity and essentialist perceptions, and dual-identity representations. No differences due to salience were found for representations of relative ingroup prototypicality or helping responses. Overall, these findings suggest that the interchangeable use of different labels is problematic, considering these might activate different representations, and thus, are likely to lead, in some circumstances, to different attitudinal or behavioral outcomes. (shrink)

Life on Earth descends from a common ancestor. However, it is likely that there are other instances of life in the universe. If so, each abiogenesis event will have given rise to an independently originated life clade, of which Earth-life is an example. In this paper, I argue that the set of all IOLCs in the universe forms a Darwinian population subject to natural selection, with more widely dispersed IOLCs being less likely to face extinction. As a result, we should (...) expect that, over time, more planets will become inhabited by fewer, more successful IOLCs. (shrink)

In two experiments, we examined the impact of color on cognitive performance by asking participants to categorize stimuli presented in three different colors: red, green, and gray (baseline). Participants were either asked to categorize the meaning of words as related to the concepts of “go” or “stop” (Experiment 1) or to indicate if a neutral verbal stimulus was a word or not (lexical decision task, Experiment 2). Overall, we observed performance facilitation in response to go stimuli presented in green (vs. (...) red or gray) and performance inhibition in response to go stimuli presented in red. The opposite pattern was observed for stop‐related stimuli. Importantly, results also indicated that color might also be used to categorize neutral stimuli. Overall, these findings provide support to the green‐go and red‐stop color associations and test the potential functional autonomy acquired by these colors and the boundary conditions to their effects on stimuli categorization. (shrink)

BackgroundWomen survivors of breast cancer treatments face significant challenges around initiation or maintenance of physical activity as they transit to recovery. Embracing their needs and preferences is important to increase adherence. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of Portuguese women survivors of breast cancer regarding regular performance of PA and individual choices and strategies that should be considered in designing effective interventions.MethodsThe individual semi-structured interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis, following an inductive process, seeking to identify the barriers, facilitators, (...) and particular influencing circumstances associated with regular PA.ResultsFour themes and several contextual, emotional, physical, and social factors were identified as determinants of regular PA. Guilt, women’s duties, and altruism to help close relatives were identified as emotional and cultural factors that are less-found in the existing literature. PA showed influence both from health professionals’ counseling and from knowledge and beliefs held by these women.ConclusionWhile confirming the already-known impact of breast cancer diagnosis and treatments on PA, which redefine participants’ availability to be active, the findings highlight beliefs and specific emotional factors that should be considered when planning culturally sensitive interventions. (shrink)

Gilberto Monteiro foi médico municipal da freguesia de Carnaxide de 1921 a 1961, Chefe dos Serviços Clínicos da extinta fábrica dos Fermentos Holandeses (F.P.F.H.), sediada na Cruz Quebrada, de 1934 a 1962 e, durante a II Guerrra Mundial, exerceu no Hospital Militar de Belém, na qualidade de tenente médico miliciano. Amante do desporto e desportista, G. Monteiro foi um dos fundadores do Sport Algés e Dafundo (SAD), instituição onde, enquanto membro da sua primeira Comissão Cultural, criou a Biblioteca, organizou conferências, (...) exposições e concertos e outras actividades culturais que ali atrairam figuras de relevo como Aquilino Ribeiro, Viana da Mota, Hernâni Cidade e Norton de Matos, entre outros. Se nas suas crónicas escritas para “O Fermento” deparamos com o G. Monteiro, historiador inconformado, que denuncia os constantes atentados à integridade histórica e patrimonial, no Esboço Histórico do Hospital Militar (1945) convivemos com um testemunho de vertical e desassombrada coragem cívica, denunciadora dos males de que padecia a medicina contemporânea. Finalmente, acompanhamos o esforço e as diligências que, numa linha de justiça, educação e melhoria da qualidade de vida das pessoas, G. Monteiro desenvolveu, em pleno Estado Novo, a fim de instituir na fábrica (FPFH) uma assistência médico-social moderna. (shrink)

Summary The first attempt at a classification of sundials appeared only in 1953, in the catalogue established by Henri Michel for the Museum of Liège. It was immediately followed, in the same year, by the article by Kathleen Higgins, exclusively dedicated to this topic. The influence of this second study has spread out throughout the numerous articles on sundials that have been subsequently published. The aim of the present paper is to bring some order to these two old classifications, which (...) are in fact quite similar and were sufficiently valid at the time, and to propose a new approach to the problem based, for the first time, on principles directly linked to astronomy and geometry. Moreover, this latter approach has the advantage of a flexibility in its application to all kinds of sundial collections. (shrink)

Résumé Le cadran solaire analemmatique est présenté pour la première fois par un mathématicien français, appelé Vaulezard, dans un petit fascicule publié en 1640. Suit un deuxième ouvrage, plus complet, en 1644. Dernier venu, ce cadran attire l'attention d'importants savants tels que Foster et Lalande. Parfait dès le départ, il a néanmoins la singulière particularité d'inspirer diverses tentatives d'amélioration, plutôt infructueuses, et d'être à l'origine de quelques variétés de cadrans analemmatiques qui, elles, connaissent un franc succès. Nous apportons la preuve (...) trigonométrique et, pour la première fois semble‐t‐il, la preuve géométrique de sa validité astronomique en suivant fidèlement la méthode de construction indiquée par Vaulezard. Nous effectuons, en outre, un survol aussi exhaustif que possible des différents modèles dérivés de ce cadran ainsi que de la littérature les concernant. Summary The analemmatic sundial was briefly presented for the first time in 1640 by the French mathematician Vaulezard and was described in more detail by him in 1644. The analemmatic dial is the last genuine sundial to be invented and it has attracted the attention of some important scholars such as Foster and Lalande. Although perfect from the very beginning, it had the unusual particularity of inspiring several unfortunate attempts at its improvement as well as being at the origin of a few other types of analemmatic dials, which met with a certain success. We provide here the trigonometric proof and for the first time, the geometric proof of its astronomical validity by closely following the construction method of Vaulezard. We also make a comprehensive survey of the different kinds of analemmatic sundials and of their literature. (shrink)

Le cadran solaire analemmatique est présenté pour la première fois par un mathématicien français, appelé Vaulezard, dans un petit fascicule publié en 1640. Suit un deuxième ouvrage, plus complet, en 1644. Dernier venu, ce cadran attire l'attention d'importants savants tels que Foster et Lalande. Parfait dès le départ, il a néanmoins la singulière particularité d'inspirer diverses tentatives d'amélioration, plutôt infructueuses, et d'être à l'origine de quelques variétés de cadrans analemmatiques qui, elles, connaissent un franc succès. Nous apportons la preuve trigonométrique (...) et, pour la première fois semble‐t‐il, la preuve géométrique de sa validité astronomique en suivant fidèlement la méthode de construction indiquée par Vaulezard. Nous effectuons, en outre, un survol aussi exhaustif que possible des différents modèles dérivés de ce cadran ainsi que de la littérature les concernant.SummaryThe analemmatic sundial was briefly presented for the first time in 1640 by the French mathematician Vaulezard and was described in more detail by him in 1644. The analemmatic dial is the last genuine sundial to be invented and it has attracted the attention of some important scholars such as Foster and Lalande. Although perfect from the very beginning, it had the unusual particularity of inspiring several unfortunate attempts at its improvement as well as being at the origin of a few other types of analemmatic dials, which met with a certain success. We provide here the trigonometric proof and for the first time, the geometric proof of its astronomical validity by closely following the construction method of Vaulezard. We also make a comprehensive survey of the different kinds of analemmatic sundials and of their literature. (shrink)

Summary The first attempt at a classification of sundials appeared only in 1953, in the catalogue established by Henri Michel for the Museum of Liège. It was immediately followed, in the same year, by the article by Kathleen Higgins, exclusively dedicated to this topic. The influence of this second study has spread out throughout the numerous articles on sundials that have been subsequently published. The aim of the present paper is to bring some order to these two old classifications, which (...) are in fact quite similar and were sufficiently valid at the time, and to propose a new approach to the problem based, for the first time, on principles directly linked to astronomy and geometry. Moreover, this latter approach has the advantage of a flexibility in its application to all kinds of sundial collections. (shrink)

This paper addresses the question ‘what is an organism?’. Extant theories of organismality only provide a partial answer because they do not include an account of composition on which an ontology of living entities can be based. Here we develop a new account of what organisms are, based on a naturalistic answer to the special composition question, the bound state view. We argue that physical structure, including the existence of a boundary, is essential for life, and that, therefore, organisms are (...) a particular kind of composite physical object – living objects. The bound state account of composition explains how composite physical objects exist in the world, and the property ‘life’ distinguishes the subset of those objects which are organisms. Our view obviates the need for disjunctive accounts of composition for living and non-living entities, placing ‘organism’ within the context of a broader scientific ontology, while at the same time providing a clear criterion of organismality that can be used in adjudicating problematic cases of biological individuality. (shrink)

O objetivo deste estudo é identificar como a adoção aparece nas histórias de vida de indivíduos adotados e como eles normalizam suas experiências relacionadas à adoção. Focaliza-se a re-historiação do “eu” na narrativa e considera-se que o seu final é determinado por quem constrói a narrativa, não por eventos relatados cronologicamente. Os dados provêm das narrativas de dois indivíduos adotados, transcritas segundo convenções utilizadas na Análise da Conversa Etnometodológica, nas quais se destaca a presença dos eventos relacionados à adoção na (...) re-historiação dos pesquisados e na constituição de seus “eus” parciais, considerando também as características rítmicas e outras propriedades da fala em interação. Foi possível constatar que o final da história influencia na maneira como a narrativa é construída e como as experiências de adoção aparecem nas narrativas, com maior ou menor grau de normalização a elas atribuído. (shrink)

ABSTRACTPrevious research has revealed a stable preference for words with inward consonantal-articulation patterns, over outward-words. Following the oral approach-avoidance account suggesting that the in–out effect is due to the resemblance between consonantal-articulations patterns and ingestion/expectoration, recent findings have shown that when judging inward-outward names for objects with particular oral functions, valence did not modulate the effect while the oral function did. To replicate and examine further the role of edibility and valence in shaping the in–out effect, we asked participants to (...) rate inward and outward names for edible and non-edible products while controlling for valence. Results revealed that the motor-to-affect link was only observed for edible products, regardless of valence. (shrink)

This paper presents a new theoretical justification for the Cournot–Bertrand model to arise in equilibrium when firms have, at the outset, the same cost structure and sell symmetrically differentiated products. The Cournot–Bertrand model assumes some firms compete on price, adjusting their production to meet demand, while others set quantities and let their price adjust until market equilibrium is reached. We show that this may occur endogenously due to the possibility of entry, which may be deterred when some of the incumbents (...) decide to set prices, while others free ride on this behavior and choose quantities. (shrink)

O presente artigo se propõe a questionar o estatuto da filosofia ocidental a partir da percepção de que a filosofia africana foi vilipendiada pelo eurocentrismo e ressaltar nessa relação filosófica, o conceito do Ubuntu, considerado um dos termos fundadores da ética africana, representando uma práxis sócio-cultural, espiritual e política, sendo, portanto, um termo utilizado para conceituar a filosofia que permeia a convivência social coletiva. Enquanto uma ética comunitária, o Ubuntu assinala para o caráter complexo de uma filosofia relacionada à humanidade, (...) conectando de forma biocêntrica, humanos e não-humanos, sensível e o inteligível concomitantemente, fato este que se choca com o conceito elegido pelo pensamento filosófico eurocêntrico. Para alcançar o objetivo pretendido será utilizado o método filosófico para revisar conceitos e a própria historia da filosofia no ocidente, através de pesquisa exploratória com fulcro bibliográfico e uma abordagem que parte da especulação filosófica e histórica, utilizando os principais nomes da filosofia africana e da história da filosofia no ocidente. (shrink)

José Ortega y Gasset deu em Lisboa, em 1944, um curso universitário intitulado La razón histórica. Não obstante ter ficado incompleto, após interrupção por doença do autor, ele é talvez um dos mais importantes vestígios da sua estada em Portugal, durante a última etapa do seu longo exílio. Em edição da Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, Margarida I. Almeida Amoedo disponibiliza agora a tradução desse curso, enquadrando-o no contexto próximo da obra orteguiana.