The main target of this study is to make a comparative analysis between the presence or absence of historical thinking competencies in the official curricula of Gymnasieskola (Sweden) and Bachillerato (Spain). To reach this goal, a mixed instrument was designed, both qualitative and quantitative, to analyze the offical documents. The results show a great presence of “historical consciousness” in the case of Sweden and the use of historical sources and evidences in the case of Spain.

We standardly evaluate counterfactuals and abilities in temporally asymmetric terms—by keeping the past fixed and holding the future open. Only future events depend counterfactually on what happens now. Past events do not. Conversely, past events are relevant to what abilities one has now in a way that future events are not. Lewis, Sider and others continue to evaluate counterfactuals and abilities in temporally asymmetric terms, even in cases of backwards time travel. I’ll argue that we need more temporally neutral methods. (...) The past shouldn’t always be held fixed, because backwards time travel requires backwards counterfactual dependence. Future events should sometimes be held fixed, because they’re in the causal history of the past, and agents have evidence of them independently of their decisions now. We need temporally neutral methods to maintain connections between causation, counterfactuals and evidence, and if counterfactuals are used to explain the temporal asymmetry of causation. (shrink)

There are temporal asymmetries in our attitudes towards the past and future. For example, we judge that a given amount of work is worth twice as much if it is described as taking place in the future, compared to the past :796–801, 2008). Does this temporal value asymmetry support a tensed metaphysics? By getting clear on the asymmetry’s features, I’ll argue that it doesn’t. To support a tensed metaphysics, the value asymmetry would need to not vary with temporal distance, apply (...) equally to events concerning oneself and others, and be rational and judged to be so. But evidence suggests the value asymmetry lacks these features. There are, moreover, independent arguments against its rationality. The asymmetry’s features suggest instead that it arises as an emotion-driven generalisation from a temporal bias concerning our future actions. This explanation points towards mechanisms that can play a role in explaining other instances where we generalise about the past and future, and why we’re tempted towards metaphysical pictures of time. (shrink)

Traduzido por João Duarte, o livro A Construção das Ciências: As Lógicas das Invenções Científicas, de Gerard Fourez, foi publicado em primeira edição no Brasil em 2002, pelo Instituto Piaget, recebendo uma reimpressão em 2009. O autor trabalha com a perspectiva socioconstrutivista.

Aiming to identify the importance given by teachers to the national curriculum and its contextualisation, this paper presents a study focused on teachers’ most-used curricular practices. The analys...

Reichenbach explains temporally asymmetric phenomena by appeal to entropy and ‘branch structure’. He explains why the entropic gradients of isolated subsystems are oriented towards the future and not the past, and why we have records of the past and not the future, by appeal to the fact that the universe is currently on a long entropic upgrade with subsystems that branch off and become quasi-isolated. Reichenbach’s approach has been criticised for relying too closely on entropy. The more popular approach nowadays (...) is to appeal instead to a particular low-entropy initial state—Albert’s ‘Past Hypothesis’. I’ll argue that this neglect of Reichenbach’s approach is unwarranted. A Reichenbachian account has important advantages over Albert’s: it correctly identifies the minimal temporally asymmetric posit needed to derive key temporally asymmetries and it offers a more adequate account of the record asymmetry. While a Reichenbachian account needs to be supplemented, it provides the right foundations for explaining temporally asymmetric phenomena and what we might ultimately mean by ‘the direction of time’. (shrink)

David Albert explains why we can typically influence the future but not the past by appealing to an initial low-entropy state of the universe. And he argues that in the rare cases where we can influence the past, we cannot use this influence to knowingly gain future rewards: so it does not constitute control. I introduce an important new case in which Albert's account implies we can not only influence the past but control it: a case where our actions in (...) the present are reliably correlated with several events in the present and past. To deal with such cases, we need to appeal to epistemic conditions on deliberation: being agents requires our decisions being epistemically undetermined at the time we make them. In a world with the past-hypothesis, this implies that deliberation will typically come prior to decision. Once deliberation in this direction is established, correlations towards the past cannot then be exploited for control. To explain why we cannot effectively control the past, we need to appeal to deliberation, whether as part of a defence of Albert's account, or used independently to explain the asymmetry of control. (shrink)

En este artículo examinamos el fenómeno del nihilismo desde la perspectiva del filósofo de la Escuela de Kioto, Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990). Es ampliamente aceptado que el nihilismo como fenómeno histórico surgió en Europa a raíz de una crisis generada por la ruptura con el fundamento religioso cristiano, lo que llevó a una pérdida de sentido y propósito existencial. Nishitani desarrolla su análisis filosófico e histórico del fenómeno en su obra "Nihilismo", donde investiga la cuestión desde la literatura de Fiodor Dostoevski (...) y también analiza las perspectivas de importantes filósofos como Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Max Stirner, Nietzsche y Heidegger. Sin embargo, en dicha obra, Nishitani desafía el conseso y sostiene que el nihilismo también ha sido un problema enfrentado por el pueblo japonés, y que los filósofos japoneses de la época lo diagnosticaron tardíamente. En este artículo nos centramos principalmente en la obra "Nihilismo" de Nishitani, para concluir cómo este filósofo percibió el nihilismo como un problema específicamente japonés, irreparablemente relacionado con la religión y la introducción y reproducción de la concepción de la subjetividad moderna en Japón a partir de la euroamericanización del país. (shrink)

Do time travellers retain their normal freedom and abilities when they travel back in time? Lewis, Horwich and Sider argue that they do. Time-travelling Tim can kill his young grandfather, his younger self, or whomever else he pleases—and so, it seems can reasonably deliberate about whether to do these things. He might not succeed. But he is still just as free as a non-time traveller. I’ll disagree. The freedom of time travellers is limited by a rational constraint. Tim can’t reasonably (...) deliberate on killing his grandfather, certain that he’ll fail. If Tim follows his evidence, and appropriately self-predicts, he will be certain he won’t kill his grandfather. So if Tim is both evidentially and deliberatively rational, he can’t deliberate on killing his grandfather. This result has consequences. Firstly, it shows how evidential limits in the actual world contribute to our conception of the future as open. Secondly, it undercuts arguments against the possibility of time travel. Thirdly, it affects how we evaluate counterfactuals in time travel worlds, as well as our own. I’ll use the constraint to motivate an evidential and temporally neutral method of evaluating counterfactuals that holds fixed what a relevant deliberating agent has evidence of, independently of her decision. Using this method, an agent’s local abilities may be affected by what happens globally at other times, including the future. (shrink)

This book explores the experiences and philosophical work product of mixed race philosophers, as well as possible links between the two. Some books address mixed-race identity, and some anthologies focus on mixed-race identity, but this is the first anthology on the philosophy of mixed-race, and the first anthology by mixed-race philosophers.

Transplantation continues to push the frontiers of medicine into domains that summon forth troublesome ethical questions. Looming on the frontier today is human facial transplantation. We develop criteria that, we maintain, must be satisfied in order to ethically undertake this as-yet-untried transplant procedure. We draw on the criteria advanced by Dr. Francis Moore in the late 1980s for introducing innovative procedures in transplant surgery. In addition to these we also insist that human face transplantation must meet all the ethical requirements (...) usually applied to health care research. We summarize the achievements of transplant surgery to date, focusing in particular on the safety and efficacy of immunosuppressive medications. We also emphasize the importance of risk/benefit assessments that take into account the physical, aesthetic, psychological, and social dimensions of facial disfiguration, reconstruction, and transplantation. Finally, we maintain that the time has come to move facial transplantation research into the clinical phase. (shrink)

O trabalho tem como objetivo geral evidenciar a formação continuada de profissionais da educação a partir das contribuições dos pressupostos habermasianos no tocante à racionalidade comunicativa. Advoga-se acerca da necessidade de pensar novas formas de realizar ações formativas com os profissionais da educação, que os tomem como autores da sua própria prática e sujeitos ativos de conhecimento, por meio da pesquisa-ação colaborativo-crítica e da ação comunicativa de Habermas. Constitui-se como um recorte de um trabalho de conclusão de curso, que teve (...) como foco analisar a trajetória de um grupo de estudo-reflexão com gestores de educação especial no estado do Espírito Santo. Toma Jürgen Habermas como referencial teórico-epistemológico, a partir da Teoria da Ação Comunicativa e dos conceitos de racionalidade comunicativa e instrumental. Como metodologia de pesquisa tem a análise documental dos documentos relativos ao grupo de estudo-reflexão, tais como relatórios e transcrições. Os dados evidenciam a mudança de postura, concepções e práticas dos profissionais envolvidos ao longo dos anos. Os gestores puderam construir ações formativas tanto para os profissionais da educação que atuam nas suas redes de ensino, quanto para si mesmos, de modo coletivo e colaborativo. (shrink)

Transracialism, defined as both experiencing oneself as, and being, a race other than the race assigned to one by society, does not exist. Translated into hermeneutics, transracialism is an unintelligible phenomenon in the specific sociocultural context of the United States in the early twenty-first century. Within this context, race is a function of ancestry, and is therefore defined in terms of something that is external to the self and unchangeable. Since transracialism does not exist, the question of whether transracialism would (...) be ethically advisable if it did exist is inapposite. Nonetheless, at a minimum we can say that racial transition (defined as attempting to change one’s race through artificial and/or associative changes, and living life as a race other than the race assigned to one by society, etc.) is possible, but is very likely unethical, since it is the same as racial passing. (shrink)

In this paper I examine the three known objections to metalinguistic semantic theory of proper names: the objection of generalization, the objection of circularity, and the objection arising from Kripke’s modal argument. I’m trying to demonstrate that these objections are not conclusive as refutation or rejection of metalinguistic theory. I argue that this is a not a theory of reference but rather of the meaning or semantic value of proper names. Thus, the semantic value of a proper name “N” is (...) “The bearer of ‘N’.” In this approach the significance of this proper name unifies all the possibilities for its referential use and allow us to defend that the name itself is an expression of language, despite arguments to the contrary. (shrink)

O que se pretende neste artigo é mostrar antes de tudo que revoluçáo galilena é fruto de uma mudança de mentalidade, de visáo de mundo, decorrente da própria crise por que passava o paradigma aristotélico . Um bom exemplo desta mudança e das dificuldades de livrar-se dos quadros tradicionais do pensamento filosofico é o matematismo(universo de precisáo) e a crença galileana em orbitas circulares, respectivamente. Com efeito, como poderá Galileu ser um dos fundadores da fisica moderna, se esta é fundamentada (...) no principio de inércia e na preponderancia da reta em relaçáo ao circulo? A resposta é a presentada a partir da analise do racíonio de Galileu no tocante a ideia de movimento. (shrink)

Fundamental physics makes no clear use of causal notions; it uses laws that operate in relevant respects in both temporal directions and that relate whole systems across times. But by relating causation to evidence, we can explain how causation fits in to a physical picture of the world and explain its temporal asymmetry. This paper takes up a deliberative approach to causation, according to which causal relations correspond to the evidential relations we need when we decide on one thing in (...) order to achieve another. Tamsin's taking her umbrella is a cause of her staying dry, for example, if and only if her deciding to take her umbrella for the sake of staying dry is adequate grounds for believing she'll stay dry. This correspondence explains why causation matters: knowledge of causal structure helps us make decisions that are evidence of outcomes we seek. The account also explains why we can control the future and not the past, and why causes come before their effects. When agents properly deliberate, their decisions can never count as evidence for any outcomes they may seek in the past. From this it follows that causal relations don't run backwards. This deliberative asymmetry is itself traced back to asymmetries of evidence and entropy, providing a new way of deriving causal asymmetry from temporally symmetric laws. (shrink)

How should we give accounts of scientific modal relations? According to the Humean, we should do so by considering the role of such relations in our lives and scientific theorizing. For example, to give a Humean account of chance, we need to identity a non-modal relation that can play the ‘role’ of chance—typically that of guiding credences and scientifically explaining events. Defenders of Humean accounts claim to be uniquely well placed to meet this aim. Humean chances are objective, and so (...) suitable for explaining. Humean chances reduce to patterns in actual events in a way that limits the possible divergence between relative frequencies and chances. So, they argue, Humean chances can uniquely be shown to satisfy chance−credence principles. I’ll argue that Humeans have no special advantage. When used in scientific contexts, Humean chances must be allowed to diverge from the relative frequencies. So, when considering the scientific question of whether agents who align their credences to the chances will do well, it is merely probable that they will. This scientific use of chance undercuts the Humean’s claimed advantage over their rivals. This undercutting also points to a deeper tension in Humeanism: Humeans must either give up the aim of recovering scientific practice, or live with a disunity between science and metaphysics. While a focus on function is laudable, the motivation for being Humean must come from elsewhere. (shrink)

When we deliberate about what to do, we appear to be free to decide on different options. Three accounts use ordinary beliefs to explain this apparent freedom—appealing to different types of ‘epistemic freedom’. When an agent has epistemic freedom, her evidence while deliberating does not determine what decision she makes. This ‘epistemic gap’ between her evidence and decision explains why her decision appears free. The varieties of epistemic freedom appealed to might look similar. But there is an important difference. Two (...) rely on an agent's ability to justifiably form beliefs unconstrained by evidence, and identify decisions as beliefs—either beliefs about acts or about decisions. But, when used to explain apparent freedom, these accounts face serious problems: they imply that agents have epistemic freedom over evidence-based beliefs, and rely on a faulty notion of justification. Underlying these troubles, it turns out that these accounts presuppose an unexplained apparent ability to form different beliefs. A third variety of epistemic freedom uses ignorance conditions instead (Levi and Kapitan). We appear free partly because we’re ignorant of what we’ll decide. Ignorance-based accounts avoid the above problems, and remain a promising alternative. (shrink)

El artículo presenta un examen de la relación entre la teología cristiana católica en México en el siglo XVII, específicamente en las ideas de autores pertenecientes a la Compañía de Jesús, y el estilo barroco de las obras que se crearon en dicho periodo, sobre todo en pintura, poesía y arquitectura. Se estudian especialmente las ideas expresadas por Tomás de Alfaro, S.J. (ca. 1667) y Luis de Villanueva, S.J. (1605-1659).

Este trabajo inicia su meditación teniendo como punto de partida la enseñanza de la Biblia sobre la naturaleza misma del hombre, su influjo sobre el enigma de la libertad y de la cual el pensamiento de Kierkegaard se hace eco: sólo un Dios omnipotente puede crear un ser libre. Prosigue el estudio con las reflexiones meta- físicas de san Agustín, san Anselmo, santo Tomás y Duns Scoto, interrogándose cuál son las raíces de esa libertad y cómo se relacionan con la (...) voluntad y la inteligencia, que permiten dirigirse y elegir: la libre elección del bien y del mal (libertas minor) y la libertad dentro del bien (libertas maior). (shrink)

This research aims to identify the ethical issues perceived by intensive care nurses in their everyday practice. It also aims to understand why these situations were considered an ethical issue and what interventions/strategies have been or are expected to be developed so as to minimize them. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview with 15 nurses working at polyvalent intensive care units in 4 Portuguese hospitals, who were selected by the homogenization of multiple samples. The qualitative content analysis identified end-of-life (...) decisions, privacy, interaction, team work, and health-care access as emerging ethical issues. Personal, team, and institutional aspects emerge as reasons behind the experience of these issues. Personal and team resources are used in and for solving these issues. Moral development and training are the most significant strategies. (shrink)

Este trabalho objetivou analisar a formação dos pesquisadores da Gestão do Conhecimento, essencialmente os da Ciência da Informação no Brasil, a partir do estabelecimento de relações de concentração e dispersão das formações dos pesquisadores. Para tanto, foram considerados artigos indexados na Base de Dados Referenciais de Artigos de Periódicos em Ciência da Informação nos últimos cinco anos e verificação dos currículos lattes dos pesquisadores. A metodologia adotada foi de caráter quali-quantitativo, por meio de pesquisa tipo bibliográfica, exploratória e descritiva. Concluiu (...) que a Gestão do Conhecimento é uma área que engloba diversas áreas do conhecimento e formações multifacetadas entre os pesquisadores, e que no Brasil, no âmbito da Ciência da Informação, verifica-se maior número de produções científicas voltadas para a temática, na área de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas. Acredita-se que a investigação pode contribuir para a identificação de tendências e relacionamentos entre outros domínios do saber, a partir do estabelecimento de relações de concentração e dispersão das formações dos pesquisadores de Gestão do Conhecimento. (shrink)

A plausible thought is that we should evaluate counterfactuals in the actual world by holding the present ‘fixed’; the state of the counterfactual world at the time of the antecedent, outside the area of the antecedent, is required to match that of the actual world. When used to evaluate counterfactuals in the actual world, this requirement may produce reasonable results. However, the requirement is deeply problematic when used in the context of explaining causal asymmetry. The requirement plays a crucial role (...) in certain statistical mechanical explanations of the temporal asymmetry of causation. I will use a case of backwards time travel to show how the requirement enforces certain features of counterfactual structure a priori. For this reason, the requirement cannot be part of a completely general method of evaluating counterfactuals. More importantly, the way the requirement enforces features of counterfactual structure prevents counterfactual structure being derived from more fundamental physical structure—as explanations of causal asymmetry demand. Therefore, the requirement cannot be used when explaining causal asymmetry. To explain causal asymmetry, we need more temporally neutral methods for evaluating counterfactuals—those that produce the right results in cases involving backwards time travel, as well as in the actual world. (shrink)

O INSTITUTO DA FIDELIDADE PARTIDÁRIA E A SUA APLICABILIDADE NO DIREITO ELEITORAL BRASILEIRO QUANTO À TITULARIDADE DO MANDATO ELETIVO.

Abordamos aqui a influência do método de Condillac sobre a história da química. Partindo da confessada dívida de Lavoisier com o abade, propomo-nos a avaliar o aporte que o método condillaquiano terá para a filosofia natural da segunda metade do XVIII, colocando-a primeiramente na perspectiva da onda newtoniana que contaminou progressivamente as ciências a partir do fim do XVII. Mostramos então como o método de Newton, via alquimia, é capaz de inserir aspectos alheios ao mecanicismo estrito nas discussões, o que (...) garantirá à química legitimidade para se valer de conceitos como atrações e afinidades. Mais tarde, ao constituir e sistematizar um método geral de conhecimento marcado pelo modelo newtoniano, Condillac legará aos naturalistas meios para ordenar proficuamente novas regiões de conhecimento. Quando adequadamente adaptado por Lavoisier aos problemas químicos, este método promoverá a “revolução” da química, ou seu estabelecimento definitivo como ciência positiva. (shrink)

Nesta investigação, propomo-nos demonstrar que Jesus foi um verdadeiro contador de histórias. A narrativa lucana conhecida tradicionalmente por parábola do Filho pródigo não é propriamente uma parábola, pois assume os contornos formais de um conto, podendo-se nela encontrar as caraterística centrais do género literário “o conto”. Nela encontramos propriedades configuradoras da sua individualização como género: a conclusão moralizante de uma história fechada, com princípio, meio e fim; a concentração de espaço, tempo e reduzido número de personagens; a curta extensão sintagmática, (...) mas sempre extensa comparada com a das parábolas. Em suma, concluímos que estamos perante um verdadeiro e extraordinário conto. Há, no entanto, outras narrativas evangélicas que pelas suas características se assemelham à do Filho pródigo. Podemos assim identificar a do Administrador infiel, a narrativa dos Vinhateiros homicidas, a das Moedas de ouro e respetivos paralelos de Mt, que se revestem de característica muito semelhantes às do Filho pródigo, apesar de muito menos desenvolvidas e que, no fundo, as consideramos como sendo embriões de contos. (shrink)

A Dirac-like equation for a massive field obeying the classical Proca equations of motion (PMO) is proposed in close analogy with Majorana’s construct for Maxwell electrodynamics. Its underlying algebraic structure is examined and a plausible physical interpretation is discussed. The behavior of the PMO equations in the presence of an external electromagnetic field is also investigated in the low energy limit, via unitary transformations similar to the Foldy-Wouthuysen canonical transformation for a Dirac fermion.

We apply the Galilean covariant formulation of quantum dynamics to derive the phase-space representation of the Pauli–Schrödinger equation for the density matrix of spin-1/2 particles in the presence of an electromagnetic field. The Liouville operator for the particle with spin follows from using the Wigner–Moyal transformation and a suitable Clifford algebra constructed on the phase space of a (4 + 1)-dimensional space–time with Galilean geometry. Connections with the algebraic formalism of thermofield dynamics are also investigated.

The doctor-patient relationship is a crucial aspect of primary-care practice Research on associations between quality of care provision and burnout and empathy in a primary care setting could improve this relationship. Cross-sectional study of family physicians and nurses of twenty-two primary care centers in the health district of Lleida, Spain. Empathy and burnout were measured using the Jefferson Physician Empathy Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, while quality of care delivery was evaluated using Quality Standard Indicator scores. JPSE and MBI (...) results were grouped into low, medium, and high scores to analyze associations with QSI scores and sociodemographic variables. The mean QSI score recorded for the family physicians and nurses was 665. Higher, albeit insignificant, QSI scores were observed for practitioners with high burnout. No differences were observed according to level of empathy. The differences with respect to sex, age, and area of practice were not significant. Practitioners with low empathy had higher QSI scores than those with high empathy while those with high burnout had higher scores than those with low burnout. Burnout and empathy did not significantly influence quality of care delivery scores in 22 primary care centers. More studies, however, are needed to investigate the unexpected trend observed that suggests that physicians and nurses with higher levels of burnout provide higher quality care. (shrink)

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) foi um proeminente escritor e um dos maiores intelectuais europeus do movimento positivista do século XIX. Filósofo, sociólogo, biólogo, educador e cientista, fortemente influenciado pela teoria da evolução de Charles Darwin, foi também autor de prolíficas obras filosóficas e educativas, como Os Princípios da Sociologia, A Educação Intelectual, Moral e Física. Do livro intitulado The Philosophy of Style, publicado originalmente na Inglaterra, em 1852, apresenta-se as traduções de seis ensaios filosófico-literários ao português brasileiro, nos quais Spencer discorreu (...) sobre a aplicação da economia às palavras, ao texto literário e traços peculiares da linguagem estética.Palavras-chave: Herbert Spencer. Filosofia. Linguagem. Estilo. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta a pertinência do olhar dissidente de Jan Patočka para a atualidade. A partir de sua obra fundamental, tecemos considerações em torno à sua perspectiva fenomenológico-existencial. O intuito é destacar seu engajamento filosófico existencial, a pertinência de suas críticas ao totalitarismo e sua preocupação com o avanço de uma tecnocracia que ameaça a existência humana. Argumenta-se que a postura filosófica do filósofo de Praga torna-se paradigmática para a conjuntura atual e para a práxis filosófica autêntica.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) raise important questions about whether people view moral evaluations by AI systems similarly to human-generated moral evaluations. We conducted a modified Moral Turing Test (m-MTT), inspired by Allen et al. (Exp Theor Artif Intell 352:24–28, 2004) proposal, by asking people to distinguish real human moral evaluations from those made by a popular advanced AI language model: GPT-4. A representative sample of 299 U.S. adults first rated the quality of moral evaluations when blinded to their source. (...) Remarkably, they rated the AI’s moral reasoning as superior in quality to humans’ along almost all dimensions, including virtuousness, intelligence, and trustworthiness, consistent with passing what Allen and colleagues call the comparative MTT. Next, when tasked with identifying the source of each evaluation (human or computer), people performed significantly above chance levels. Although the AI did not pass this test, this was not because of its inferior moral reasoning but, potentially, its perceived superiority, among other possible explanations. The emergence of language models capable of producing moral responses perceived as superior in quality to humans’ raises concerns that people may uncritically accept potentially harmful moral guidance from AI. This possibility highlights the need for safeguards around generative language models in matters of morality. (shrink)

O homem contemporâneo vive um mundo de incertezas, onde muitos dos antigos paradigmas que o senso comum considerava como absolutos se desmoronam com incrível velocidade. Esta volatilidade de sentidos é observada com ampla nitidez na busca do sagrado: as religiões tradicionais são deixadas de lado ou misturadas a práticas esotéricas, místicas e ocultas, tentativa humana de explorar o mundo através de um enfoque holístico, que reimprima na vida a magia outrora perdida. Neste contexto de construção de uma nova realidade, a (...) percepção e manifestação do sagrado não desaparecem, mas, seguindo a mentalidade de seu tempo, transformam-se. A religiosidade assume um caráter individualista, imediatista e descompromissado, restaurando conceitos e práticas da antigüidade, em uma tentativa clara de reencantamento do mundo, agora sob a perspectiva da sociedade globalizada. Filosofias orientais invadem a dimensão religiosa do mundo ocidental, numa mistura explicitamente paradoxal. Deste epicentro nasce a cultura da Nova Era, movimento que busca restaurar a tradição sagrada do homem postulando um saber místico, pretendendo conectar o ser humano ao transcendente partindo não de instituições específicas, mas de conhecimentos e práticas do esoterismo, ocultismo e magia. Palavras-chave: Nova Era; Subjetivismo; Consumismo. ABSTRACT Contemporary man lives in a world of uncertainties, where many of the old paradigms that common sense used to consider absolute are falling apart with incredible speed. Such volatility of senses is clearly noticed in the search for the sacred: traditional religions are left behind or mingled with esoteric, mystical and occult practices, in a human attempt to explore the world from a holistic viewpoint capable of rescuing life’s lost magic. In that context of construction of a new reality, the perception and manifestation of the sacred do not disappear; they rather change, following the mentality of the times. Religion assumes an individualistic, immediate and uncommitted feature, restoring old concepts and practices, in an attempt to render the world enchanted once more, now in the perspective of globalized society. Oriental philosophies invade the religion scope of the Western world, in an explicitly paradoxical blend. From that epicenter is born the New Age culture, a movement that tries to restore human sacred tradition by postulating a mystical dimension and connecting man to the transcendent, not through specific institutions, but through the knowledge and practice of esoterism, occultism and magic. Key words: New age; Subjectivism; Consumerism. (shrink)

Abstract6‐methyladenine (6mA) is fairly abundant in nuclear DNA of basal fungi, ciliates and green algae. In these organisms, 6mA is maintained near transcription start sites in ApT context by a parental‐strand instruction dependent maintenance methyltransferase and is positively associated with transcription. In animals and plants, 6mA levels are high only in organellar DNA. The 6mA levels in nuclear DNA are very low. They are attributable to nucleotide salvage and the activity of otherwise mitochondrial METTL4, and may be considered as a (...) price that cells pay for adenine methylation in RNA and/or organellar DNA. Cells minimize this price by sanitizing dNTP pools to limit 6mA incorporation, and by converting 6mA that has been incorporated into DNA back to adenine. Hence, 6mA in nuclear DNA should be described as an epigenetic mark only in basal fungi, ciliates and green algae, but not in animals and plants. (shrink)

A country‘s development is bound to be influenced by external occurrences. This article analyses two astronomical examples in which Portuguese nationals used high visibility events in the international scientific community to press their own scientific interests upon the government, whether these interests were, or were not, directly linked to the events themselves.During the 1840s and 1850s the parallax, i.e. the distance, of Groombridge’s star 1830 was hotly debated. The astronomer Hervé Faye‘s suggestion at the Académie des Sciences de Paris that (...) observations be made in Lisbon due to its privileged location and the inadequacy of the Lisbon Navy Observatory to perform them rekindled the efforts to improve the Portuguese Navy observatory.In the 1850s and 1860s other Portuguese higher education institutions also wanted to upgrade their facilities or build new ones. Following accepted traditions, scientific field trips were considered a useful part of the acquisition planning for larger instruments, and therefore an important part of regeneration and renewal projects. The Portuguese scientists were, however, limited in their travels by government imposed budget constraints. The total solar eclipse of 18 July 1860 provided an extra argument to send Portuguese scientists abroad. The government support of the eclipse expedition led to an opportunity to travel through other countries and view their observatories and equipment.In the end, neither the Navy astronomers nor those from the Coimbra Astronomical observatory, the other significant site of Portuguese astronomical research, managed to fulfil their objectives, but the contacts initiated by some of the Portuguese travellers were important for the development of the Portuguese national Meteorological and Magnetic Observatories. (shrink)