Based on the Social Media Political Participation Model (SMPPM), this study investigates the relationship between four key motivations behind the use of Social Network Sites (SNS) and political engagement among adolescents. We collected our data in a paper-pencil survey with 15- to 20-year-old adolescents (N=294), a highly underexplored group, which is most active on social media. We theorize that adolescents’ user motivations are related to political engagement via two modes of exposure: The intentional mode, which is related to active information (...) seeking, and the incidental mode, in which adolescents run into politics only by accident. We found that political information and self-expression motivations were positively related to political engagement via the intentional mode. By contrast, entertainment motivations were negatively related to offline, but not to online engagement via the incidental mode. (shrink)

Noise in behavior is often viewed as a nuisance: while the mind aims to take the best possible action, it is let down by unreliability in the sensory and response systems. How researchers study cognition reflects this viewpoint – averaging over trials and participants to discover the deterministic relationships between experimental manipulations and their behavioral consequences, with noise represented as additive, often Gaussian, and independent. Yet a careful look at behavioral noise reveals rich structure that defies easy explanation. First, both (...) perceptual and preferential judgments show that sensory and response noise may potentially only play minor roles, with most noise arising in the cognitive computations. Second, the functional form of the noise is both non-Gaussian and non-independent, with the distribution of noise being better characterized as heavy-tailed and as having substantial long-range autocorrelations. It is possible that this structure results from brains that are, for some reason, bedeviled by a fundamental design flaw, albeit one with intriguingly distinctive characteristics. Alternatively, noise might not be a bug but a feature: indeed, we suggest that noise is fundamental to how cognition works. Specifically, we propose that the brain approximates probabilistic inference with a local sampling algorithm, one that uses randomness to drive its exploration of alternative hypotheses. Reframing cognition in this way explains the rich structure of noise and leads to a surprising conclusion: that noise is not a symptom of cognitive malfunction but plays a central role in underpinning human intelligence. (shrink)

The definitions of disease proffered by philosophers and medical actors typically require that a state of ill health be linked to some known bodily dysfunction before it is classified as a disease. I argue that such definitions of disease are not fully implementable in current medical discourse and practice. Adhering to the definitions would require that medical actors keep close track of the current state of knowledge on the causes and mechanisms of particular illnesses. Yet, unaddressed problems in medical terminology (...) can make this difficult to do. I show that unrecognized misuse of “heterogeneous,” “biomarker,” and other important health terms—which I call index terms—can misrepresent the current empirical evidence on illness pathophysiology, such that unvalidated illness constructs become mistaken for diseases. Thus, implementing common definitions of disease would require closing this “loophole” in medical discourse. I offer a simple rule that, if followed, could help do just that. (shrink)

A series of structural constitutional arguments lodged in multiple cases against Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) authorities to negotiate prescription drug prices via the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act threaten the legitimacy of CMS program and federal agency powers.

The use of sound to systematically communicate data has been with us for a long time, and has received considerable research, albeit in a broad range of distinct fields of inquiry. Sonification is uniquely capable of conveying series and patterns, trends and outliers…and effortlessly carries affect and emotion related to those data. And sound-either by itself or in conjunction with visual, tactile, or even olfactory representations-can make data exploration more compelling and more accessible to a broader range of individuals. Nevertheless, (...) sonification and auditory displays still occupy only a sliver of popular mindshare: most people have never thought about using non-speech sound in this manner, even though they are certainly very familiar with other intentional uses of sound to convey status, notifications, and warnings. This article provides a brief history of sonification, introduces terms, quickly surveys a range of examples, and discusses the past, present, and as-yet unrealized future promise of using sound to expand the way we can communicate about data, broaden the use of auditory displays in society, and make science more engaging and more accessible. (shrink)

Este artigo tem por objetivo relatar a experiência com o Projeto de educação filosófica denominado Ética e Educação para o Pensar a partir da Literatura Infantil, abordando a história da sua criação, algumas referências teóricas e metodológicas, a estrutura do projeto e o desenvolvimento através de parceria entre o Instituto Sadia, Fundação Sidónio Muralha, Instituto de Filosofia e Educação para o Pensar e seis secretarias de educação. O foco do projeto é a educação ética através da comunidade de investigação, enfatizando (...) a abordagem dialógica dos valores, procurando trabalhar na direção da autonomia moral e cognitiva das crianças. O projeto foi desenvolvido com professores e alunos da Educação Infantil e Ensino Fundamental I. No final do artigo são apresentadas algumas produções dos alunos desenvolvidas como parte do projeto e depoimentos dos professores sobre o mesmo. (shrink)

Ivancovsky et al. explore the relationship between curiosity and creativity, by suggesting they align through novelty-seeking mechanisms. We argue that a general mechanism linking both capacities together is question-asking: Curiosity drives question-asking that leads to creative problem solving. Yet, current findings from our lab suggest that question complexity relates to creativity, but not necessarily to curiosity, warranting further investigation.

Recently, Congress has focused on reforms to address pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs) role in high drug prices for patients. Congress must not excessively restrict PBMs’ ability to negotiate with manufacturers; alternatively, reforms could be paired with other policies that address the high prices of brand-name drugs.

Chronic pain is a common disorder with enormous sociomedical importance. A major part of primary and secondary costs of illness is caused by the various pain syndromes. Nociception – the sensory perception of a painful stimulus – is a complex process relying on an intricate system of anatomical, neurophysiological and biochemical networks. This applies even more so to pain – the state of experiencing a nociceptive event, of interpreting it in terms of meaning for the affected individual and of suffering (...) a range of emotions it elicits. This intricacy renders it obvious, that the empirical medical sciences alone cannot explain all aspects of pain. Hence, it has also become a focus of phenomenological research. One aspect of these investigations is the interaction of pain and the perception of the lived body’s spatiality. The focus of this article will build on these concepts to develop a construct of the alteration of temporality caused by chronic pain and the effects this spells out for the affected subject. To this end, I will primarily draw on Merleau-Ponty’s ideas of the lived body as well as on theories of enactivism and embodiment. I will also point out parallels to neuroscientific data, thereby demonstrating the proximity of phenomenology and neuroscience. A possible partial solution to the pain dilemma may be derived from psychology: techniques relying on cognitive behavioural intervention, awareness training, and existential analysis may provide alleviation to patients suffering from chronic pain. (shrink)

First Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Main Pedagogical Institute and then also St. Petersburg University, Carpatho-Rusyn P. D. Lodij spent a quarter of a century teaching philosophy and law in the Russian Empire in the first third of the 19th century. His knowledge of Kant’s philosophy and his attitude to Kant’s criticism are estimated diametrically opposed in the research literature. An analysis of his main philosophical work, “Logical Precepts which Lead to Cognition and the Distinction of the True from (...) the False” (1815), convincingly proves that Lodij was an excellent scholar of Kant’s philosophy. In Russia, he was the first thinker who spoke about the differences between the first and second editions of the “Critique of Pure Reason”. Lodij also was the first who noted both the revolutionary role of Kant’s Copernican turn, and the importance of Humeʼs causality problem for the formation of critical philosophy. In Russia, Lodij was the first who proposed a detailed description of Kant’s transcendental idealism. At the same time, Lodij’s general attitude to Kant was rather skeptical. In his own logic, he does not follow Kant’s division of logic into pure and applied, but he returns to pre-Kant’s split into theoretical and practical logics. Lodij disputes with the basic conclusions about the space derived from the transcendental aesthetic, denies synthetic judgments a priori and the rooting of the cognizing reason in illusions. Despite his unequivocal claims regarding Kant’s philosophy, “Logical Precepts” and its author were persecuted during the so-called “professorsʼ affair” of the 1820s. As a result, Lodij was suspended from teaching philosophy, and his logic textbook was withdrawn from teaching for both “disgrace” and imaginary Kantianism. (shrink)

This note examines the significance of Gylippus at Aen. 12.271–83 and argues that Virgil's narrative is an epitaphic gesture alluding to Nicander of Colophon, Anth. Pal. 7.435 and other epigrams from Anth. Pal. 7. Virgil's bilingual reader would participate in the Hellenistic Ergänzungsspiel and supplement further meaning to this otherwise generic scene.

This article represents the author’s reflections on the book by Karl Sigmund “Exact Thinking in Demented Times. The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science” and the fate of the Vienna Circle. Sigmund paints a vivid portrait of the Vienna Circle against the background of the difficult historical period in which its members lived and worked. The Vienna Circle established the tradition of liberating consciousness and science from metaphysics. But the participants of the Vienna Circle and (...) their entourage did not manage to get rid of the humanistic issues, despite the declaration of strict scientific character. The author of the article draws attention to the internal contradiction between strict scientific topics and the existential-humanistic perception of this topic by the Vienna Circle’s authors and their likeminded people, and by Sigmund himself. The author concludes that it was thanks to this contradiction the Vienna Circle became not only a stage in the development of philosophical science, but also had a broad cultural influence on art, politics, architecture, museums, etc. The historical and philosophical tradition connects the activities of the Vienna Circle with the beginning of the divergence between the philosophical scientific and humanistic traditions in the understanding of philosophy, and the controversy between R. Carnap and M. Heidegger is an important point in this process. But Sigmund’s book gives the impression that this is not the divergence strictly scientific and humanistic traditions, but the difference between two humanistic traditions, one of them tends to express its thoughts strictly analytically. (shrink)

Contributed research papers on Vedic literature and Hindu philosophy.

The mid-fourth-century c.e.Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi retells the biblical story using cento technique (recombining excerpted lines and partial lines from Virgil into a new poem). Its author, the Christian poet Faltonia Betitia Proba, states that her aim in writing the Cento is to demonstrate that Virgil ‘sang the pious deeds of Christ’ (Vergilium cecinisse … pia munera Christi). Her compositional strategy reflects the exegetical method of typology, as explored in detail by Cullhed: by reusing particular Virgilian verses for biblical (...) characters, Proba creates an implicit typological relationship whereby a Virgilian type both prefigures and is fulfilled by a biblical antitype. This paper first presents an extended model of typology, whereby the type not only prefigures the antitype but also enfigures it, providing the reader with a novel conceptual paradigm through which to understand a particular supernatural reality. The paper then turns to a case study: the baptism scene (380–414), the only passage in the Cento depicting all three members of the Trinity. For each, Proba reuses passages which in the Aeneid describe female characters, hinting at a feminine typological Trinity, one which highlights often-overlooked aspects of the three Christian antitypes. In so doing, she convincingly advances her thesis that Virgil's poetic works reflect typological correspondences to the Christian narrative in a similar way to Old Testament prophecy. (shrink)

The legacy of apartheid spatial planning can still be seen in the dynamics of spaces in South Africa today. The elite (according to research is racialised and mostly white people) lives in well-located city areas, close to economic activity and rule social life that defines cities as stated in 2016 by the Socio Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI). Alternatively, mostly black South Africans are confined to urban margins in densified and poorly serviced areas, with low rates of home (...) ownership. The effects of these policies extend beyond the urban nature, as spaces on the margin by design tend to have fewer opportunities for education compared to urban areas, and there are spatial limits to black business ownership. This article seeks to discuss a case study on a church’s use of space during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), to show an inclusionary spatial dynamic that may be used in South African spaces. Firstly, it presents an overview of the unequal spatial dynamics in South Africa, particularly Cape Town, and dynamics during COVID-19. Secondly, it provides a historical overview of the Church of the Nazarene and its foundational beliefs. Moreover, it discusses a case study of renewed spatial dynamic in church using the Church of the Nazarene in Khayelitsha. Furthermore, the case study will be used to show the innovative way they reached their community during this time. The final part will discuss how this inclusive spatial dynamic reveals an innovative dynamic in the concept of the missional church, one that goes beyond the going out contextually, but allowing the outside in as well. Contribution: This article discusses the new spatial dynamic of the missional church which inspires inclusivity. The article uses literature around space, COVID-19, mission studies and church history. Furthermore, a semi-structured interview with a church leader at the Church of the Nazarene in Khayelitsha is used for a contextual case study. (shrink)

Como un aspecto central del necropoder, se encuentra en lo que Michel Foucault denominó ontología política, ontología del presente, ontología histórica, ontología de uno mismo. La propuesta de esta obra es la ontología política del presente, la cual permite al necropoder redimensionar los que se convertirán en hechos históricos en sus alcances en el presente, saber qué es la actualidad implica reconocer que algún acercamiento del pasado se convirtió en un hecho histórico por sus efectos en el presente.

The automatic tendency to anthropomorphize our interaction partners and make use of experience acquired in earlier interaction scenarios leads to the suggestion that social interaction with humanoid robots is more pleasant and intuitive than that with industrial robots. An objective method applied to evaluate the quality of human–robot interaction is based on the phenomenon of motor interference (MI). It claims that a face-to-face observation of a different (incongruent) movement of another individual leads to a higher variance in one’s own movement (...) trajectory. In social interaction, MI is a consequence of the tendency to imitate the movement of other individuals and goes along with mutual rapport, sense of togetherness, and sympathy. Although MI occurs while observing a human agent, it disappears in case of an industrial robot moving with piecewise constant velocity. Using a robot with human-like appearance, a recent study revealed that its movements led to MI, only if they were based on human prerecording (biological velocity), but not on constant (artificial) velocity profile. However, it remained unclear, which aspects of the human prerecorded movement triggered MI: biological velocity profile or variability in movement trajectory. To investigate this issue, we applied a quasi-biological minimum-jerk velocity profile (excluding variability in the movement trajectory as an influencing factor of MI) to motion of a humanoid robot, which was observed by subjects performing congruent or incongruent arm movements. The increase in variability in subjects’ movements occurred both for the observation of a human agent and for the robot performing incongruent movements, suggesting that an artificial human-like movement velocity profile is sufficient to facilitate the perception of humanoid robots as interaction partners. (shrink)