I make a review on the aplications of the Bohm-de Broglie interpretation of quantum mechanics to quantum cosmology. In the framework of minisuperspaces models, I show how quantum cosmological effects in Bohm’s view can avoid the initial singularity, and isotropize the Universe. In the general case, I enumerate the possible structures of quantum space and time.

resumo: Este artigo é uma introdução geral ao pensamento de Bernard Stiegler em torno da relação entre técnica e humano. Stiegler desconstroi a tradição filosófica que costumava separar technê e episteme com um enfoque histórico e materialista, a fim de provar como é impossível pensar a humanidade sem a técnica. Portanto, a relação não é de oposição, como a tradicional metafísica do espírito defende, mas composição, do modo como defendem Gilbert Simondon, Jacques Derrida, Andre Leroi-Gourhan e Gilles Deleuze. abstract: This (...) paper is a general introduction to Bernard Stiegler's thinking about the relation between technique and human. Stiegler deconstructs the philosophical tradition that used to separate teckhnê and episteme with a historical and materialist approach in order to prove how it is impossible to think humanity without technique. Therefore, the relation is not one of opposition, like the traditional metaphysics of spirit defends, but one of composition, as thinkers like Gilbert Simondon, Jacques Derrida, Andre Leroi-Gourhan and Gilles Deleuze defend. (shrink)

O texto investiga os “indesconstruíveis” na filosofia de Jacques Derrida e sua relação com espectrologia, fé e messianidade. Partindo de uma imagem de ziguezague, ela própria presente em diversos ensaios derridianos, aproxima e desaproxima os indesconstruíveis (justiça, perdão, promessa, dom etc.) das ideias de indecidível e decisão, místico e espectral e, finalmente, imanente e transcendente. A partir do debate sobre a Era Axial, pergunta-se, então, se os indesconstruíveis derridianos podem mesmo postular a universalidade, apresentando como contraponto o tratamento da fé (...) secular em Hägglund e da espectralidade nas metafísicas ameríndias tal como descritas por Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. (shrink)

This essay seeks a new approach between philosophy and neuroscience inspired by the recent ontological turn to think about one of the affects modulations across the contemporary sociopolitical scenario. In this regard, it theoretically triangulates the appropriation of Spinoza's philosophy by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio and the reception of Damasio's neuroscience by philosopher Catherine Malabou, taking Gilles Deleuze as a connecting point between these perspectives. It proposes to think the concept of destructive plasticity as a metamorphosis in the organism that, shocked (...) by some traumatic event, turns to a new configuration that deactivates its somatic markers and ends up taking a form of disaffection. Finally, it concludes by bringing this figure closer to what Achille Mbembe, taking the death drive as central concept for thinking necropolitics, names as "lumpenradical". (shrink)

In this paper we study in details a system of two weakly coupled harmonic oscillators from the point of view of Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics. This system may be viewed as a simple model for the interaction between a photon and a photodetector. We obtain exact solutions for the general case. We then compute approximate solutions for the case where one oscillator is initially in its first excited state (a single photon) reaching the other oscillator in its ground state (...) (the photodetector). The approximate solutions represent the state of both oscillators after the interaction, which is not an eigenstate of the individual hamiltonians for each oscillator, and therefore the energies for each oscillator do not exist in the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. We use the approximate solutions that we obtained to compute Bohmian trajectories and to study the energy transfer between the oscillators. We conclude that, even using the Bohmian view, the energy of each individual oscillator is not well defined, as the nonlocal quantum potential is not negligible even after the coupling is turned off. (shrink)

In this paper we study in details a system of two weakly coupled harmonic oscillators from the point of view of Bohm’s interpretation of quantum mechanics. This system may be viewed as a simple model for the interaction between a photon and a photodetector. We obtain exact solutions for the general case. We then compute approximate solutions for the case where one oscillator is initially in its first excited state (a single photon) reaching the other oscillator in its ground state (...) (the photodetector). The approximate solutions represent the state of both oscillators after the interaction, which is not an eigenstate of the individual hamiltonians for each oscillator, and therefore the energies for each oscillator do not exist in the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. We use the approximate solutions that we obtained to compute Bohmian trajectories and to study the energy transfer between the oscillators. We conclude that, even using the Bohmian view, the energy of each individual oscillator is not well defined, as the nonlocal quantum potential is not negligible even after the coupling is turned off. (shrink)

O artigo pretende apresentar a neurofilosofia de Catherine Malabou em alguns dos seus principais eixos. Para tanto, após dividir a obra da filósofa em quatro segmentos, dirige-se aos estudos sobre o cérebro que investigam as questões epistemológicas e políticas que as neurociências colocam para as humanidades. A investigação se dá em três momentos: a) Que fazer do nosso cérebro?, que propõe superar o dualismo como modelo da resistência às neurociências e incorporar a biologia no altermundismo; b) os textos que criticam (...) a noção atual de biopolítica como chave para exclusão da problemática neuronal e biológica das principais questões ético-políticas do nosso tempo; e, finalmente c) a questão da inteligência artificial e como o problema do cérebro colabora para a construção de um novo paradigma na educação e na política a partir da relação com o cérebro azul artificial. Finalmente, conclui propondo uma internalização da problemática neurofilosófica como superação do gap natureza/simbólico que mantém as humanidades presas a uma ideia de transcendência. (shrink)

O artigo pretende apresentar a neurofilosofia de Catherine Malabou em alguns dos seus principais eixos. Para tanto, após dividir a obra da filósofa em quatro segmentos, dirige-se aos estudos sobre o cérebro que investigam as questões epistemológicas e políticas que as neurociências colocam para as humanidades. A investigação se dá em três momentos: a) Que fazer do nosso cérebro?, que propõe superar o dualismo como modelo da resistência às neurociências e incorporar a biologia no altermundismo; b) os textos que criticam (...) a noção atual de biopolítica como chave para exclusão da problemática neuronal e biológica das principais questões ético-políticas do nosso tempo; e, finalmente c) a questão da inteligência artificial e como o problema do cérebro colabora para a construção de um novo paradigma na educação e na política a partir da relação com o cérebro azul artificial. Finalmente, conclui propondo uma internalização da problemática neurofilosófica como superação do gap natureza/simbólico que mantém as humanidades presas a uma ideia de transcendência. (shrink)

O texto busca explorar a relação entre Da Gramatologia, de Jacques Derrida, e a ciência da sua época. Ele parte de três importantes obras lidas e citadas por Derrida como fontes da sua pesquisa em torno à escritura, Madeleine V-David, André Leroi-Gourhan e a compilação de um Colloque, para explicar o papel da escritura em si mesma no pensamento de Derrida enquanto um sinal do seu materialismo. Paratanto, em contraste com o uso ordinário do termo “escritura”, busca compreendê-la metonimicamente como (...) inscrição sulcada no real, buscando a partir do debate interdisciplinar de Derrida entender as múltiplas dimensões pelas quais o problema foi pensado. (shrink)

O presente estudo consiste em uma análise do processo de composição do Timeu-Crítias de Platão, sob o ponto de vista da modelagem do discurso. Pretende-se mostrar que o diálogo é marcado por uma engenhosa articulação de técnicas de composição, que combinam os aspectos pictorial e dramático da mímesis poética. Estabelecendo as Panateneias como referência implícita, a obra apresenta a performance de uma sequência de narrativas, produzidas como verdadeiras imagens discursivas. A originalidade platônica revela-se no Timeu-Crítias, portanto, no desempenho de uma (...) construção formal ao mesmo tempo dramática e imagética, mediante um singular agenciamento mimético de formas do discurso. (shrink)

The present study is an analysis of Plato’s _Timaeus-Critias_ composition process, from the point of view of discourse modeling. It intends to show that the dialogue is distinguished by an insightful articulation of composition techniques, which combine the pictorial and dramatic aspects of poetic _mimesis_. Establishing the Panateneias as an implicit reference, the work presents the performance of a sequence of narratives, produced as true discursive images. Platonic originality is revealed in _Timaeus-Critias_, therefore, as the accomplishment of a formal construction (...) that is both dramatic and representational, through a singular mimetic agency of discursive forms. (shrink)

The present study is an analysis of Plato’s _Timaeus-Critias_ composition process, from the point of view of discourse modeling. It intends to show that the dialogue is distinguished by an insightful articulation of composition techniques, which combine the pictorial and dramatic aspects of poetic _mimesis_. Establishing the Panateneias as an implicit reference, the work presents the performance of a sequence of narratives, produced as true discursive images. Platonic originality is revealed in _Timaeus-Critias_, therefore, as the accomplishment of a formal construction (...) that is both dramatic and representational, through a singular mimetic agency of discursive forms. (shrink)

In this paper I try to exhibit Law’s hidden matrix: the state of exception in which we live – and the correspondent bare life – discussing relations between Law and power. To prove it, I aim to show how the liberal tradition – matrix of the recent constitutional theory – hides this phenomenon, being incapable to explain how exactly those who feels more deeply the violence of State – poor people, immigrants, etc. – are evidently out of the supposed contract.

Aristotelian Actualism is the conjunction of the theses that absolutely everything is actual, that individuals are neither reducible to nor dependent on independently identified properties, and that some individuals are genuine contingent existents. Robert Adams and Gregory Fitch, two prominent proponents of Aristotelian Actualism, have argued that this view has a consequence that any modal logic stronger than M, and so any modal logic in which symmetry and reflexivity are frame conditions, is inadequate. We argue that this is incorrect.

Background Residual dried blood spots (rDBS) from newborn screening programmes represent a valuable resource for medical research, from basic sciences, through clinical to public health. In Hong Kong, there is no legislation for biobanking. Parents’ view on the retention and use of residual newborn blood samples could be cultural-specific and is important to consider for biobanking of rDBS. Objective To study the views and concerns on long-term storage and secondary use of rDBS from newborn screening programmes among Hong Kong Chinese (...) parents. Methods A mixed-method approach was used to study the views and concerns on long-term storage and secondary use of rDBS from newborn screening programmes among Hong Kong Chinese parents of children 0–3 years or expecting parents through focus groups (8 groups; 33 participants) and a survey (n = 1012, 85% mothers) designed with insights obtained from the focus groups. We used framework analysis to summarise the themes as supportive factors, concerns and critical arguments for retention and secondary use of rDBS from focus group discussion. We used multiple logistic regression to assess factors associated with support for retention and secondary use of rDBS in the survey. Results Both in focus groups and survey, majority of parents were not aware of the potential secondary use of rDBS. Overall secondary use of rDBS in medical research was well accepted by a large proportion of Hong Kong parents, even if all potential future research could not be specified in a broad consent. However parents were concerned about potential risks of biobanking rDBS including leaking of data and mis-use of genetic information. Parents wanted to be asked for permission before rDBS are stored and mainly did not accept an “opt-out” approach. The survey showed that parents born in mainland China, compared to Hong Kong born parents, had lower awareness of newborn screening but higher support in biobanking rDBS. Higher education was associated with support in rDBS biobanking only among fathers. Conclusion Long-term storage and secondary use of rDBS from newborn screening for biomedical research and a broad consent for biobanking of rDBS are generally acceptable to Hong Kong parents given their autonomy is respected and their privacy is protected, highlighting the importance of an accountable governance and a transparent access policy for rDBS biobanks. (shrink)

While it is not explicitly included in capacity assessment tools, “consistency” has come to feature as a central concern when assessing patients’ capacity. In order to determine whether inconsistency indicates incapacity, clinicians must determine the source of the inconsistency with respect to the process or content of a patient’s decision-making. In this paper, we outline common types of inconsistency and analyze them against widely accepted elements of capacity. We explore the question of whether inconsistency necessarily entails a deficiency in a (...) patient’s capacity. While inconsistency may count as _prima_ _facie_ evidence of incapacity—enough evidence to justify a closer look—when making such determinations, it is important for clinicians to slow down, inquire about the reasons underlying the inconsistency and clearly show which of the elements of capacity the patient fails to satisfy. (shrink)

_Enrique Dussel was by any meaningful measure a giant representative of Latin American and world philosophy. This personal reflection sheds light on his intellectual trajectory and his contributions to liberation philosophy, world philosophy, South-South and South-North dialogues, and the decolonial turn._.

: The feminist ethic of care has often been criticized for its inability to address four problems--the problem of exploitation as it threatens care givers, the problem of sustaining care-giver integrity, the dangers of conceiving the mother-child dyad normatively as a paradigm for human relationships, and the problem of securing social justice on a broad scale among relative strangers. We argue that there are resources within the ethic of care for addressing each of these problems, and we sketch strategies for (...) developing the ethic more fully. (shrink)

The Journal of Chinese Philosophy initiates this volume on the origins of philosophy and their relations in philosophical languages, be it Chinese or Greek or European as not merely derived from the Greek. Given this understanding we see how a philosophical issue could be discussed significantly from both the European-Western position and the Chinese perspective. Each position and perspective embodies a different historicity and viewpoint as experienced in the vision and pursuit of reality and humanity. The contrast between the European (...) and Chinese traditions of philosophy is impressive and yet mutually stimulating as shown in the works of Heidegger and post-Heideggerian authors. The authors of this book illustrate how the European-Western and Chinese approaches could be complementary and yet together could be philosophically insight-productive. (shrink)

Este artigo discute se o recurso ao povo ou ao legislador, como instrumento de resolução dos conflitos entre os poderes, viola a separação de poderes e a independência do poder judiciário ou se, antes disso, dá fiel execução à separação de poderes. Para alcançar esse objetivo, esse artigo investiga se existe relação entre o recurso ao legislador e os regimes autoritários; se a Constituição Federal de 1988 proíbe outro guardião constitucional, que não o Supremo Tribunal Federal, e quais as consequências (...) e inconsistências teóricas em se recorrer ao povo como árbitro do conflito constitucional. (shrink)

Once common, therapeutic privilege—the practice whereby a physician withholds diagnostic or prognostic information from a patient intending to protect the patient—is now generally seen as unethical. However, instances of therapeutic privilege are common in some areas of clinical psychiatry. We describe therapeutic privilege in the context of borderline personality disorder, discuss the implications of diagnostic non-disclosure on integrated care and offer recommendations to promote diagnostic disclosure for this patient population. There are no data in this work.

What does it mean to be a peacemaker in a polarized world? It can feel as if the world-and the church-has never been more polarized. But when we feel worn down by the chasms dividing us, we can take hope from the early Christian vision of God uniting all things in Christ, a hope that can lead us to act. Stuck Together explores Bible stories and narratives ancient and modern that inspire us to open hearts and minds to persons with (...) whom we disagree as we gain confidence in our own convictions. Drawing from Scripture, from his own life journey, and from the witness of others, author J. Nelson Kraybill demonstrates how even small steps of reconciliation by confessionally grounded Christians can have big effect and give loving Christian witness in a polarized church and society. (shrink)

Kammerer and Frankish (this issue) challenge us to expand our conception of introspection beyond neurotypical human cases. This article describes a possible 'ancillary mind' modelled on a system envisioned in Leckie's (2013) science fiction novel Ancillary Justice. The ancillary mind constitutes a borderline case between a communicating group of individuals and a single, spatially distributed mind. It occupies a grey zone with respect to personal identity and subject individuation, neither determinately one person or subject nor determinately many persons or subjects, (...) and thus some of its processes might be neither determinately introspection within a mind nor determinately communication between minds. If ancillary minds defy discrete countability, the same might be true for some actual minds on Earth. Kammerer and Frankish's research programme can be extended to include not only the study of possible forms of introspection, but also the study of possible mental activity intermediate between introspection and communication. (shrink)

Understanding alterations of selfhood (termed self-disorders or self-disturbances) that are considered typical of the schizophrenia-spectrum is a central focus of phenomenological research. The currently most influential way of phenomenologically conceiving self-disorders in schizophrenia is as disorders of the so-called most basic or “minimal self”. In this paper, we first highlight some challenges for the minimal self-view of self-disorders, focusing on (1) problems arising from the supposedly “essential” or “universal” nature of minimal self with respect to phenomenal awareness and (2) the (...) critical implications of alterations of self-experience in schizophrenia that involve heightened or exaggerated sense of self. In the second part, we tentatively explore how a (non-egological) transparency-view of consciousness may offer an alternative way of understanding the experiential abnormalities involved in self-disorders in schizophrenia. We discuss how such a transparency-view (1) may account for loss-of-self experiences; (2) is compatible with the key notion of “hyper-reflexivity”; and (3) can help explain instances of self-disorder involving increased sense of self. In conclusion, we consider some possible advantages of this alternative view for research on self-disorders and clinical approaches. (shrink)

An account of an experience with contracting an illness that may well have been Covid‐19 gives rise to reflections on doubt and on the art of dying well. The upshot: our mortality remains a fundamentally disorienting condition of our existence. If there's any wisdom to be had concerning our deaths, it likely lies in the direction of accepting their deranging character, rather than in searching for the philosophical insight that will reconcile us to our fate.

In the portion of their reply directed to me, Professor Asch and Dr. Wasserman helpfully develop the synecdoche argument by highlighting its connections to stigma. I understand them to distinguish the situation of a woman making a decision concerning her pregnancy informed by prenatal testing from a woman making a similar decision informed by considerations of, for example, poverty, like so: In testing contexts, it will characteristically be the case that the woman's decision will be distorted by the stigma associated (...) with impairment: She will consider only the fact that, should her pregnancy come to term, the child would be impaired; she will not be able to attend in a satisfactory manner to a fuller range of possible features, both good and bad, that may characterize the child's life and her experience of being the child's parent. The woman considering whether to terminate her pregnancy due to, say, poverty will, in contrast, typically be able to deliberate in ways more responsive to a broader range of relevant matters, as the possible child's poverty will not be the only thing she is in a position to take into account about her or his life and their life together. Further, even where poverty or some other factor influencing decisions about terminating or continuing pregnancy are stigmatizing, they are not as thoroughly stigmatizing as are impairment-related conditions, due to prevalent confusions about the immutability of traits seen as biological rather than social. (shrink)

The act of drawing a line or uttering a word is often seen as integral to the process of making art. This is especially obvious in music and the visual arts, but applies to literature, performance, and other arts as well. These collected essays, written by scholars from diverse fields, take a historical view of the richness of creation out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo) in order to draw out debates, sometimes implicit and sometimes formally stated, about the production and (...) reproduction of cultural meaning in a period of great change and novelty, between the beginnings of the medieval intellectual tradition and the imprint of the Enlightenment. The authors pose the following questions: Do tradition and creativity conflict with one another, or are they complementary? What are the tensions between composition and live performance? What is the role of the audience in perceiving the object of art? Are such objects fixed or flexible? What about the status of the event? Is the event part of creation, in the sense that it disturbs the still waters of historical continuity? These and other questions build on the foundation of Roland Barthes' concept of Degree Zero, offering new insights into what it means to create"--Back cover. (shrink)

This book analyzes a rich and diverse body of philosophical and theological literature concerning the import of narrative for the understanding of morality. Nelson begins by examining the theses that to understand oneself, a tradition, and history as a whole, they must be understood in the context of a narrative. Recent philosophical writings on the relation of narrative to the moral concepts of social groups and individuals—including Alasdair MacIntyre's proposal for the rehabilitation of an ethic of virtue shaped by (...) narrative—are explored. Issues discussed include the freedom of moral agents in relation to their narratives, the relation between narrative and universal moral rules, and the problem of relativism. Next, Nelson classifies theological uses of narrative as belonging to either a liberal-universalistic or postliberal-particularistic tradition and considers the implications of construing scripture as narrative for the problematic relation between scripture and ethics. The work of Stanley Hauerwas, the foremost narrativist in Christian ethics, is analyzed at length. Nelson argues that while narrative is a necessary focus, it does not exhaust the methodological agenda. Narrative is not, as its advocates sometimes suggest, a universal solvent for every theological problem and disagreement. An adequate Christian ethics must not lose sight of the universal, narrative-independent features of morality. Since the realm of the moral is an interweaving of narrative-dependent and narrative-independent features, Christian ethics stands to profit from both narrativist and rationalist insights. The role of narrative is demonstrably a major topic of conversation across several fields in religious studies today. Particularly designed for scholars in ethics, theology, and the philosophy of religion, the book is a reliable guide to an expanding literature and a judicious introduction to these interdisciplinary discussions. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be (...) preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This study empirically tests a sequential mediation model that links ethical leadership with employees’ unethical behaviour. The corruption index for countries is used as the moderator, because it represents both the instrumental ethical climate and the employee displacement of responsibility embedded in society’s ethical standards. A total of 175 participants comprising 41 teams (134 dyads) across 13 countries participated in a dyadic two-wave survey. The findings show that ethical leadership has an indirect influence on the avoidance of unethical behaviour by (...) reducing the instrumental ethical climate and by negating the displacement of individuals’ responsibility. In addition, the results also show that this process is not sensitive to the countries’ corruption levels. Such findings suggest that organizations are less prone to adjust their ethical standards to the environment than is usually expected. Accordingly, ethical leaders of MNCs may be instrumental in counteracting any corruptive pressure in the social environment, and likewise, non-ethical leaders may be a contributing factor to fostering corrupt organizations in a society that otherwise values ethical principles in business. (shrink)

Dans cet article, j’essaie de montrer que l’idée du langage comme calcul structure la philosophie de Wittgenstein dans le Big Typescript. Pour ce faire, je commence par mettre en relief les différences entre la conception du langage comme calcul dans le Tractatus, et sa reformulation dans le Big Typescript ; j’explique ensuite comment l’idée de l’autonomie de la grammaire est à la base de la conception de la « grammaire » ou du langage comme calcul. J’espère pouvoir montrer ainsi l’unité (...) de la philosophie de Wittgenstein aux alentours de 1932-1933. Il doit en ressortir que sa philosophie à l’époque du Big Typescript présente un intérêt en elle-même, quoiqu’il ne s’agisse pas encore de la philosophie des Recherches philosophiques.I aim at showing that the idea of language as a calculus is the central view that shapes Wittgenstein’s philosophy in the Big Typescript. In order to do so, I first contrast the conception of language as a calculus in the Tractatus with its reformulation in the BigTypescript ; then I explain how the idea of the autonomy of grammar grounds the conception of “grammar” or language as calculus. With this on hand, I give an overview of the unity of Wittgenstein’s philosophy around 1932-1933. It should become clear that his philosophy at the time is worth arguing for, even though it is not yet the philosophy of the PhilosophicalInvestigations. (shrink)

Thesis summary BATISTA, Jefferson Pinto.The social doctrine of the Catholic Church and the foundations of social work: the graduation course of Social Work at PUC Minas.