Cooperative behaviors within a group face the risk of being exploited by `free-riders,' individuals that reap the benefits produced by cooperators without paying the costs of cooperating. Free-riders are often perceived as a burden to the group, since the group's survival depends on tasks performed by cooperators. However, this paper challenges this perspective, arguing that an excess of cooperators may actually lower the efficiency and persistence of groups. The perspective presented in this paper has ramifications to broader issues in philosophy, (...) particularly the challenge of how to balance self-interest with the collective interests of the group. Ultimately, this paper seeks to highlight some of the subtle ways free-riders positively impact their groups, an aspect of free-riding that is often overlooked in discussions about cooperation. (shrink)

This paper examines David Hull’s and Peter Godfrey-Smith’s accounts of biological individuality using the case of biofilms. Biofilms fail standard criteria for individuality, such as having reproductive bottlenecks and forming parent-offspring lineages. Nevertheless, biofilms are good candidates for individuals. The nature of biofilms shows that Godfrey-Smith’s account of individuality, with its reliance on reproduction, is too restrictive. Hull’s interactor notion of individuality better captures biofilms, and we argue that it offers a better account of biological individuality. However, Hull’s notion of (...) interactor needs more precision. We suggest some ways to make Hull’s notion of interactor and his account of individuality more precise. Generally, we maintain that biofilms are a good test case for theories of individuality, and a careful examination of biofilms furthers our understanding of biological individuality. (shrink)

de Queiroz (1995), Griffiths (1999) and LaPorte (2004) offer a new version of essentialism called "historical essentialism". According to this version of essentialism, relations of common ancestry are essential features of biological taxa. The main type of argument for this essentialism proposed by Griffiths (1999) and LaPorte (2004) is that the dominant school of classification, cladism, defines biological taxa in terms of common ancestry. The goal of this paper is to show that this argument for historical essentialism is unsatisfactory: cladism (...) does not assume that relations of common ancestry are essential attributes of biological taxa. Therefore, historical essentialism is not justified by cladism. (shrink)

Nature is replete with borderline cases that fall somewhere between organisms and communities, such as lichens, biofilms, and the Portuguese Man-of-War. At first glance, the existence of such borderline cases might suggest that the concept of what constitutes an organism is too fuzzy to be useful in evolutionary biology. Yet, the notion of organisms is entrenched within central debates in evolution, including discussions over how fitness should be measured, what the bearers of adaptations and fitness are, and the status of (...) holobionts. Finally, accounts of organisms can set the stage for explanations of how multicellularity evolved. In particular, characterizing multicellular organisms in terms of the level of cooperation between their cells suggests that their evolution required the presence of mechanisms that could suppress conflict between cells. (shrink)

Kripke argues for origin essentialism, the view that the same individual cannot have multiple origins. Sober hypothesises that Kripke's origin essentialism applies to biological species. This paper shows that Sober's hypothesis fails. Because Kripke's original argument is invalid, it cannot vindicate Sober's proposal. Salmon offers an influential reformulation of Kripke's argument but his argument fails to extend to species: the notion of an individual's origin is too narrow to apply to species, and Salmon's argument rests on a thought experiment that (...) conflicts with how species evolve. Thus, Sober and others are wrong to think that Kripke's origin essentialism can save species essentialism. (shrink)

One curious phenomenon of several social groups is that they are ‘redundant’ in the sense that they contain more cooperators than strictly needed to complete certain group tasks, such as foraging. Redundancy is puzzling because redundant groups are particularly susceptible to invasion by defectors. Yet, redundancy can be found in groups formed by a wide range of organisms, including insects and microbes. Birch ([2012]) has recently argued that coercive behaviours might account for redundancy using insect colonies as a case study. (...) However, microbial examples suggest redundancy can evolve without coercive behaviours. This paper formulates an explanation for redundancy that does not require targeted punishment of defectors; instead, it proposes that redundancy might be due to ignorance. Specifically, it is suggested that redundancy evolves as a by-product of selection when group members have to opt whether to cooperate or not while being blind to the strategies of others. Accordingly, possessing information about the strategies of the group members might undermine rather than facilitate cooperation within groups. (shrink)

Some mathematicians and philosophers contend that set theory plays a foundational role in mathematics. However, the development of category theory during the second half of the twentieth century has encouraged the view that this theory can provide a structuralist alternative to set-theoretical foundations. Against this tendency, criticisms have been made that category theory depends on set-theoretical notions and, because of this, category theory fails to show that set-theoretical foundations are dispensable. The goal of this paper is to show that these (...) criticisms are misguided by arguing that category theory is entirely autonomous from set theory. (shrink)

Microbes often live in association with dense multicellular aggregates, especially biofilms, and the construction of these aggregates typically requires microbial cells to produce public goods, such as enzymes and signaling molecules. Public-goods producers are, in turn, vulnerable to exploitation by free-rider cells that consume the public goods without paying for their production costs. The cell population of a biofilm or other microbial aggregates are expected to pass through bottlenecks due to a wide range of factors, such as antibiotic treatments and (...) dispersal. The goal of this article is to make the case for the relevance of population bottlenecks at shaping the social interactions within microbial aggregates. The effect of bottlenecks on microbial aggregates is complex in that bottlenecks can favor producers under certain circumstances, but not in others. The concept of the Volunteer’s Dilemma from game theory will be used to motivate the hypothesis that this partly occurs because of how bottlenecks alter the risk of being a producer in a microbial aggregate. Finally, the role of bottlenecks in the microbial world impacts key issues in evolutionary biology, including the importance of ecology at shaping social evolution, and the evolution of multicellularity from unicellular ancestors. (shrink)

Doolittle :351–378, 2013) and Ereshefsky and Pedroso argue that selection can act at the level of biofilms and other microbial communities. Clarke is skeptical and argues that selection acts on microbial cells rather than microbial communities. Her main criticism is that biofilms lack one of the ingredients required for selection to operate: heritability. This paper replies to her concern by elaborating how biofilm-level traits can be inheritable.

One curious phenomenon of several social groups is that they are ‘redundant’ in the sense that they contain more cooperators than strictly needed to complete certain group tasks, such as foraging. Redundancy is puzzling because redundant groups are particularly susceptible to invasion by defectors. Yet, redundancy can be found in groups formed by a wide range of organisms, including insects and microbes. Birch has recently argued that coercive behaviours might account for redundancy using insect colonies as a case study. However, (...) microbial examples suggest redundancy can evolve without coercive behaviours. This paper formulates an explanation for redundancy that does not require targeted punishment of defectors; instead, it proposes that redundancy might be due to ignorance. Specifically, it is suggested that redundancy evolves as a by-product of selection when group members have to opt whether to cooperate or not while being blind to the strategies of others. Accordingly, possessing information about the strategies of the group members might undermine rather than facilitate cooperation within groups. 1The Evolution of Redundancy 2Explaining Redundancy via Coercion 3Explaining Redundancy via Ignorance 3.1Cooperation behind the Darwinian veil of ignorance 3.2Modelling group tasks with a public goods game 3.3Group tasks under harsh environments 4Conclusion. (shrink)

Multiple biological groups, such as ant colonies, appear to have a noteworthy inefficiency: they contain vast amounts of redundant members that are not strictly needed to maintain the group. Philosophers and biologists have proposed that such inefficiency is illusory because redundancy enhances the resilience of groups when living under harsh conditions. Still, this proposal is unsatisfactory in different respects. First, it is too vague to account for when redundancy is selectively advantageous. Furthermore, it overlooks cases in which redundancy fails to (...) increase the resilience of groups. This paper offers an account of group redundancy that addresses these difficulties. Specifically, it advances the hypothesis that the mere presence of harsh conditions is not what drives the evolution of redundancy; rather, it is the fact organisms are often unable to predict when they will face harsh conditions. Redundancy enables groups to properly respond to unpredictable circumstances without resorting to the unreliable detection systems of their members. A better understanding of the phenomenon of redundancy is likely to impact other key issues in philosophy of science, including the evolution of cooperation and transitions in individuality, and the role of redundancy in complex systems, be they biological or not. (shrink)

O presente texto observa a teoria crítica da sociedade desenvolvida por Habermas a partir da análise das duas teses apresentadas na Teoria da Ação Comunicativa, sobre a modernidade seletiva e sobre o desacoplamento das esferas socais tematizáveis, pretendendo compreender como o avanço dos imperativos funcionais do sistema (a burocracia administrativa estatal e a economia capitalista) têm extrapolado suas áreas de atuação e aumentado ainda mais sua dinâmica sistêmica sobre o ambito da reprodução simbólica nas sociedades capitalistas do século XXI. A (...) discussão que se segue analisará esta ampliação considerando que as interferências e alterações sobre os padrões de integração social são questões que se encontram em um desenvolvimento constante desde as mudanças pelas quais passaram a alterar os critérios de legitimação da modernidade capitalista. Ainda que de um modo não inteiramente distinto daquele tematizado por Habermas no contexto social do início dos anos 1980, pretende-se observar que que no atual estágio do capitalismo internacional esta interferência, assim como as alterações daí promovidas, tem provocado uma maior fragmentação social e gerado bloqueios que perturbam ainda mais a integração social (que ameaçam inviabilizar qualquer efetivação da emancipação social quanto mais são deturpados os critérios de legitimação e reconhecimento social). Circunscrito a este horizonte, pretende-se sustentar que tais fatores possam ser melhor compreendidos mediante uma investigação sobre as patologias sociais, especifiamente quando estas são compreendidas como parâmetros que proporcionariam identificar certa resistência a uma integração social orientada por imperativos sistêmicos. (shrink)

Pocas personas habr n suscitado tan un nimemente la imagen del maestro como don Manuel Pedroso. Nadie que lo haya conocido ha dejado de mencionar ese ejemplar del magisterio que rebasaba ampliamente el mbito meramente universitario. Los pr logos a este libro, obra de disc pulos o amigos, dan fe, de la huella profunda que dej en ellos. Pero nos informan tambi n de la renuencia de Pedroso a rematar sus abundantes notas y esbozos y a publicar sus (...) resultados. Por eso es tan importante la labor realizada con estas p ginas, ordenadas por sus disc pulos y reimpresas ahora en esta colecci n dedicada a rescatar la labor in dita o desconocida en Espa a del exilio espa ol de 1939. (shrink)

In this article I tease out a conception of reason in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s writings that is both decoupled from Enlightenment notions of human nature, progress, and transcendental truth, as well as auto-critically engaged with the anti-authoritarian Enlightenment ethos of anarchist thought. In so doing, I hope to reveal how the Proudhonian deployment of reason retained a healthy skepticism of foundationalism, philosophical systems-building, and the intellectualism bred of its dogmatic excesses as well as reconsider Proudhon’s relation to our most privileged faculty.

In this article I tease out a conception of reason in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s writings that is both decoupled from Enlightenment notions of human nature, progress, and transcendental truth, as well as auto-critically engaged with the anti-authoritarian Enlightenment ethos of anarchist thought. In so doing, I hope to reveal how the Proudhonian deployment of reason retained a healthy skepticism of foundationalism, philosophical systems-building, and the intellectualism bred of its dogmatic excesses as well as reconsider Proudhon’s relation to our most privileged faculty.

Resehna do livro O IMPÉRIO DO DIREITO de FRANZ NEUMANN.

Theology as a science reflects the phenomena that in some way constitute the experience of faith in society, that is, looking at the world and the various periods of history with the help of the various sciences: anthropology, the sciences of religion and sociology. With the black traffic of the African continent, came the various customs lived in Africa: culture, religiosity, African myths, beliefs in the Orixás, all these elements constituted the Brazilian cultural imaginary. Thus syncretism arises as a form (...) of resistance and survival of faith. The Church with the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar declarations opens a new way of being in the world, valuing dialogue with other religions and cultures. (shrink)

O presente estudo trata-se de uma revisão integrativa de literatura que teve como objetivo descrever a produção de literatura científica acerca das condições de saúde da população LGBTQIAPN+ no sistema prisional brasileiro. A busca pelas informações foi realizada na Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde e Google Acadêmico, utilizando os filtros “minorias sexuais e de gênero”, “prisões”, “condições de saúde” e “Brasil”, compreendendo o período de 2018-2023. Após aplicar os critérios de inclusão e excluídos os duplicados, foram selecionados cinco artigos, dos quais (...) emergiram dois temas de análise macro: principais problemas de saúde que impactam a população LGBTQIAPN+ no sistema prisional brasileiro e os principais desafios na execução da Política Nacional de Atenção Integral à Saúde população LGBTQIAPN+ no Sistema Prisional. Os estudos apontam a violação dos direitos das travestis e transexuais ao observar diversos problemas que se destacam no sistema prisional: alta prevalência de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis e doenças crônicas, violação do nome social, a negação de ingresso de roupas e utensílios femininos nos presídios masculinos, a prática de estupro e violência física e psicológica. Apesar dos inúmeros direitos garantidos constitucionalmente pela população LGBTQIAPN+, ainda é notória a discriminação acentuada, invisibilidade e maior vulnerabilidade em saúde no sistema prisional brasileiro. (shrink)

This study aimed to outline the profile of retractions of scientific articles on COVID-19 published in journals indexed in the Scopus database between 2020 and 2021. To analyze the data, we used a bibliometric technique, with the Bibliometrix package in the R-Studio software, and descriptive statistics. Twenty-nine retractions were analyzed, and we found that the most common reasons for retraction were related to ethical issues and that 68.97% of authors have previously retracted articles. We concluded that there appears to have (...) been a change in the publication policies of journals, which resulted in an increase in scientific retractions related to COVID-19 during the study period. (shrink)

A cross-linguistic/cultural study of verbal metaphor compares responses to terrorism in the UK (N = 96) and to urban violence in Brazil (N = 11). Focus groups discussed how violence changes perceptions of risk, decisions of daily life, and attitudes to others. Metaphor vehicles were identified in transcribed data, then grouped together semantically; 15 vehicle groupings were used with similar frequencies, 16 groupings more in UK data, 14 more in Brazil data. Systematic and framing metaphors were found inside vehicle groupings. (...) A small set of frequent verbal metaphors work as predicted by conceptual metaphor theory. Other verbal metaphor vehicles work much more specifically, as posited by discourse dynamics theory, metaphorizing contextually distinct aspects of living with violence. Major differences were found in responses to violence: UK participants demonstrate feelings of powerlessness and lack of agency through metaphor vehicles relating to Games of Chance, the Concealed nature of terrorist activity, and Body Postures negatively evaluating response from the authorities; Brazilian participants use metaphor vehicles of Violence to emphasize how the threat of urban violence itself becomes a powerful social force that constrains daily activities. (shrink)

Este artigo aborda a temática do idoso nas Instituições de Longa Permanência, em face do envelhecimento bem-sucedido e da qualidade de vida. A revisão bibliográfica contempla os artigos entre o período 2006 a 2012 e um artigo de 2001. Consultaram-se as bases de dados da biblioteca virtual em saúde -..

Throughout the last decades, scientific and therapeutic communities have made common efforts to collect reliable information concerning the efficacy of psychotherapies. One of these initiatives has, recently, involved the psychodrama community and its desire to achieve progress in the validation of this therapy. Based on Robert Elliot's Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design (HSCED), we followed five participants (3 women, 2 men, aged 27-48) of a psychodrama group over the course of their therapeutic process, which ranged from 24 months to 5 (...) years. We chose one of them for the single case study. Quantitative outcome measures included the Portuguese versions of the Revised Spontaneity Assessment Inventory, Clinical Outcome Routine Evaluation and the individualized Personal Questionnaire. Qualitative process measures included Helpful Aspects of Therapy Form and the Client Change Interview. Participants generally reported improvement in their personal therapeutic goals, decrease in symptoms and life problems, and some showed a marked increase in spontaneity levels. In the single case presented, these results are confirmed, and following decision criteria it is possible to assert that the participant improved in all the variables assessed and that therapy is the main cause of these changes. Furthermore, the participant frequently rated psychodrama sessions as being helpful and stated they had a transformational impact on his life. This research contributes towards validating psychodrama as an efficient therapeutic method, hopefully stimulating practitioners to integrate therapy and research - which, for years, were considered independent and incompatible - and to facilitate their use in a complementary way. (shrink)

From the standpoint of the school settings, sport participation constitutes a key strategy concerning the manifestation of positive behaviors that result from the development of personal and social responsibility. Based on the TPSR model, the goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of an intervention geared toward teaching life skills through sport to youngsters who had been committed. The participants were evaluated before and after the intervention. After the initial evaluation, they were randomly assigned to the experimental and (...) control groups. The experimental group took part in the community football program, while the control group attended physical education classes not based on the TPSR model. The experimental model consisted of 3 weekly sessions over the course of 6 weeks, which totaled 18 sessions. This investigation supplied empirical evidence concerning the potential of community sport programs in the teaching and development of life skills deemed necessary for an adequate reintegration of such at-risk youngsters. The model was shown to be valid both in stimulating changes of attitudes and in promoting the adherence to socially positive behaviors. The effectiveness of the model, as well as its unique approach, make its application attractive to both the youngsters and the professionals. This program facilitates the training of youngsters to act, in the sense of promoting both their autonomy and the acquisition of a system of ethics and moral values within a culture of responsibility for how decisions affect the individual and the community. Finally, this intervention generated empirical support in favor of the argument that sport constitutes a unique opportunity within the educational process to establish values, beliefs, attitudes, and practical habits pertaining relationships and cooperation that generate social responsibility in individuals. (shrink)

João Galrão, fundador de uma das mais importantes oficinas tipográficas na Lisboa do século XVII, possuía quatro marcas tipográficas, as quais apresentam como característica comum a presença das suas iniciais – IG. Se muitas das espécies produzidas na oficina de João Galrão ostentam, no rosto ou no cólofon, a marca do impressor, após a sua morte, a situação altera-se. António Pedroso Galrão, sobrinho e continuador do impressor João Galrão, utilizou, até meados do século XVIII, o material tipográfico da oficina (...) de seu tio, reduzindo as marcas tipográficas a uma função meramente decorativa. Curiosamente, em contrafacções estampadas na sua oficina tipográfica, não se coibiu de as utilizar, deixando a sua marca identificadora. (shrink)