This paper is an attempt to develop a paradigm in problem solving where the notion of virtuality plays a central role. Following a brief discussion on virtual simulation, the paper attempts to identify a notion of virtuality based on the identification of the self (man or computer) with the problem solver. It is shown that such an identification/distinction possibly violates some general principle of the problem environment.To deal with this violation, a new problem is generated and a new virtualization act (...) is required, in order to attain a correspondence between virtuality and reality. A better understanding of this approach requires a combination of analog and digital reasoning: the analog being related to the environment in which the problem solving is required, and the digital to the problem solver's “mental” activities.We will briefly analyze the recursive approach to problem solving and suggest a possible problem solving methodology based on virtuality. The paper concludes with comments on the relation between etnology and virtual reality. (shrink)

In this timely and highly original merging of theory and practice, conflict photographer and critical theorist Rita Leistner applies Marshall McLuhan's semiotic theories of language, media, and technology to iPhone photographs taken during a military embed in Afghanistan. In a series of what Leistner calls iProbes—a portmanteau of iPhone and probe—Leistner reveals the face of war through the extensions of man. As digital photography becomes more ubiquitous, and as the phones we carry with us become more advanced, the process (...) of capturing images becomes more democratic and more spontaneous. Leistner's photos result from both access and impulse. Looking for Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan will appeal anyone with an interest in the conflicts in the Middle East, the seminal communications theorist, or iPhone apps and photography. (shrink)

The paper studies the relation between systems of modal logic and systems of consequential implication, a non-material form of implication satisfying "Aristotle's Thesis" (p does not imply not p) and "Weak Boethius' Thesis" (if p implies q, then p does not imply not q). Definitions are given of consequential implication in terms of modal operators and of modal operators in terms of consequential implication. The modal equivalent of "Strong Boethius' Thesis" (that p implies q implies that p does not imply (...) not q) is identified. (shrink)

This article explores Futurist technophilia and some more or less latent technophobia, in the period after 1918. Fuelled by the economic and industrial advancements of the so-called “Giolittian age,” as well as an extensive employment of war technology in the First World War, the Futurist technological imagination remains both robust and wide-ranging in the postwar period. Resonant of nineteenth-century French and Italian literary traditions, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's official position clusters round the powerful, if hackneyed, images of the steam train and (...) the motorcar. A number of fellow Futurists, however, explore technology in more original and, in some cases, more persuasive fashions. From the technology of flying employed first-hand by Fedele Azari to Enrico Prampolini's mechanical applications on the European stage, from Anton Giulio Bragaglia's experimental cinema to Ivo Pannaggi's and Vinicio Paladini's technological rebirth in marxian key, the Futurists' approach to technology is characterised throughout by a problematic counterpoint of modernity and tradition. If the Futurist officialdom ultimately relies on the latter, numerous alternative experiences testify to their vibrant strife towards the former. (shrink)

If our sense of the past is inevitably shaped by the explanatory logic of narrative, then the stories that we create in turn reveal the inescapable presence and ...

. It is shown that the properties of so-called consequential implication allow to construct more than one aristotelian square relating implicative sentences of the consequential kind. As a result, if an aristotelian cube is an object consisting of two distinct aristotelian squares and four distinct “semiaristotelian” squares sharing corner edges, it is shown that there is a plurality of such cubes, which may also result from the composition of cubes of lower complexity.

La filosofía práctica abre paso a diferentes temas. Se trata de entender el papel de la filosofía misma y, además, señalar sus implicaciones con la formación de las ideas. El caso de Alemania es especialmente significativo, donde la filosofía experimenta una especie de tensión entre la continuidad o la renovación. Esa tensión puede ser identificada también en América Latina o en Brasil, de modo especial por sus patrones foráneos y exógenos. Además del positivismo francés, hubo también una especie de Eugenia (...) racial. Lo que hoy se conoce de Brasil supone una trayectoria histórica que la filosofía intercultural exige reconstruir para entender la diversidad de sus matices y las características de su gente. The practical philosophy opens the way to different subjects. It treats to understand the role of the philosophy itself and, besides, to indicate its implication with the ideas formation. The German example is especial expressive, where the philosophy tries a kind of tension between the continuation and the renewal. This tension can be to found in Latin America or Brazil, specially by their foreign and external patterns. Besides the French positivism, there was a kind of racial Eugenie in Brazil. What we know about Brazil today supposes a historical course. The intercultural philosophy demands to reconstruct this course, so the diversity of nuances and the characteristic of people can be understood. (shrink)

The doctor patient relationship starts with a story. Doctors' notes, a patient's chart, the recommendations of ethics committees and insurance justifications all hinge on written and verbal narrative interaction. The "practice" of narrative profoundly affects decision making, patient health and treatment and the everyday practice of medicine. In this edited collection, the contributors provide conceptual foundations, practical guidelines and theoretical considerations central to the practice of narrative ethics.

In the last two decades modal logic has undergone an explosive growth, to thepointthatacompletebibliographyofthisbranchoflogic,supposingthat someone were capable to compile it, would?ll itself a ponderous volume. What is impressive in the growth of modal logic has not been so much the quick accumulation of results but the richness of its thematic dev- opments. In the 1960s, when Kripke semantics gave new credibility to the logic of modalities? which was already known and appreciated in the Ancient and Medieval times? no one could (...) have foreseen that in a short time modal logic would become a lively source of ideas and methods for analytical philosophers,historians of philosophy,linguists, epistemologists and computer scientists. The aim which oriented the composition of this book was not to write a new manual of modal logic buttoo?ertoeveryreader,evenwithnospeci?cbackground in logic, a conceptually linear path in the labyrinth of the current panorama of modal logic. The notion which in our opinion looked suitable to work as a compass in this enterprise was the notion of multimodality, or, more speci?cally, the basic idea of grounding systems on languages admitting more than one primitive modal operator. (shrink)

Resumen En los días actuales, la democracia se resiente de la escalada virtual-tecnocrática, un incremento de la virtualidad sin precedentes. Los cambios redefinen no solo las formas de interacción entre los sujetos, sino pasan a influenciar la toma de decisiones. La virtualidad se transforma en un único medio para manejar las materias de interés público, sin compromiso moral. El aspecto central se relaciona a la gramática pronominal y al uso de los pronombres personales en la interacción comunicativa. Por eso, si (...) todos los sujetos tienen voz activa, ellos son coautores en la reconstrucción del consenso intersubjetivo, participantes activos de las justificaciones. Mientras tanto, a veces, la utilización del pronombre en la tercera persona pone en evidencia un sujeto presente, pero indeseado y molestador. Se trata de un sujeto en la voz pasiva, una forma de reconocimiento discriminatoria, actitud que niega su status de coautor.In the present days, democracy suffers from the virtual-technocratic climbing, an increase of virtuality unprecedented. Changes redefine not only the forms of interaction between subjects, but a/so influence decision making. The virtuality is transformed into a single means to handle matters of public interest without moral commitment. The central aspect is related to the pronominal grammar and the use of personal pronouns in the communicative interaction. Therefore, if all subjects have an active voice, they are co-authors in the reconstruction of the intersubjective consensus, active participants in the justifications. Meanwhile, sometimes, the use of the pronoun in the third person reveals a subject present, but unwanted and annoying. It is a subject in the passive voice, a form of discriminatory recognition, an attitude that denies its co-author status. (shrink)

Este ensaio busca sistematizar, ainda que brevemente, as contribuições de Foucault para os estudos e pesquisas educacionais sobre o currículo escolar. Ao situarmos o currículo na esfera da cultura e, ao mesmo tempo, da política, apontamos as contribuições de Foucault na constituição das identidades dos sujeitos e no campo do poder governamental. Esses eixos de análise têm se mostrado ferramentas potentes de crítica ao pensamento neoliberal dominante.

The objects called cubes of opposition have been presented in the literature in discordant ways. The aim of the paper is to offer a survey of such various kinds of cubes and evaluate their relation with an object, here called “Aristotelian cube”, which consists of two Aristotelian squares and four squares which are semiaristotelian, i.e. are such that their vertices are linked by some so-called Aristotelian relation. Two paradigm cases of Aristotelian squares are provided by propositions written in the language (...) of the logic of consequential implication, whose distinctive feature is the validity of two formulas, A $$\rightarrow $$ → B $$\supset \lnot $$ ⊃ ¬ (A $$\rightarrow $$ → $$\lnot $$ ¬ B) and A $$\rightarrow $$ → B $$\supset \lnot $$ ⊃ ¬ ($$\lnot $$ ¬ A $$\rightarrow $$ → B), expressing two different forms of contrariety. Part of section 1 is devoted to define the notions of rotation and of r-Aristotelian square, i.e. a square resulting from some rotation of an Aristotelian square. In section 2 this notion is extended to the one of a r-Aristotelian cube, i.e. of a cube resulting from some rotation of some square of an Aristotelian cube. This notion is used in the sequel to analyze various cubes of oppositions which can be found in the literature: (1) the one used by W. Lenzen to reconstruct Caramuel’s Octagon; (2) the one used by D. Luzeaux to represent the implicative relation among S5-modalities; (3) the one introduced by D. Dubois to represent the relations between quantified propositions containing positive predicates and their negations; (4) the one called Moretti cube. None of such cubes is strictly speaking Aristotelian but each of them may be proved to be r-Aristotelian. Section 5 discusses the assertion that Dubois cube was anticipated in a paper published by Reichenbach in 1952. Actually Dubois’ construction was anticipated by the so-called Johnson–Keynes cube, while the Reichenbach cube, unlike Dubois cube, is an instance of an Aristotelian cube in the sense defined in this paper. The dominance of such notion is confirmed by J.F. Nilsson’s cube, representing relations between propositions with nested quantifiers, and also by a cube introduced by S. Read to treat quantifiers with existential import. A cube similar to Read’s cube, introduced by Chatti and Schang, is shown to be r-Aristotelian. In section 6 the author remarks that the logic of the formulas occurring in the cubes of Chatti–Schang and Read have the drawback of not satsfying the law of Identity. He then proposes a definition of non-standard quantifiers which satisfies Identity, are independent of existential assumptions and such that their interrelations are represented by an Aristotelian cube. (shrink)

The main goal of this paper is to show Nicholas de Cusa’s influence on the notion of Icon (icône) as counter-intentionality in Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness. In order to do this, first, we offer a study of the early conception of Icon in Marion, as it appears in L’Idole et la distance (1977) and Dieu sans l’être (1982), showing the passage from an early conception of the icon to its first phenomenological formulation. As we will see, in this early (...) period there is already an influence of the christian neoplatonic tradition (Dionysius the Areopagite). Secondly, we analyze the reception practiced by Marion of the Nicholas of Cusa’s thought. In this case, we indicate specifically how the Cusanian notion of eicona dei appears as a fundamental historical antecedent of the Icon as a saturated phenomenon, thus revealing the importance of Christian Neoplatonism in the phenomenology of givenness. (shrink)

In this paper, I consider the claim that a corporation cannot be held to be morally responsible unless it is a person. First, I argue that this claim is ambigious. Person flags three different but related notions: metaphysical person, moral agent, moral person. I argue that, though one can make the claim that corporates are metaphysical persons, this claim is only marginally relevant to the question of corporate moral responsibility. The central question which must be answered in discussions of corporate (...) moral responsibility is whether corporations are moral agents or moral persons. I argue that, though we can make a case for saying corporations are moral agents, they are not moral persons, and hence, we can hold them responsible. In addition, we need not treat them the way we would be obligated to treat a moral person; we needn't have the same scruples about holding a corporation morally responsible as we would a moral person. (shrink)

Across two studies, a wide age range of participants was interviewed about the nature of death. All participants were living in rural Madagascar in a community where ancestral beliefs and practices are widespread. In Study 1, children (8–17 years) and adults (19–71 years) were asked whether bodily and mental processes continue after death. The death in question was presented in the context of a narrative that focused either on the corpse or on the ancestral practices associated with the afterlife. Participants (...) aged 8 years and older claimed that death brings an end to most bodily and mental processes. Nevertheless, particularly in the context of the religious narrative, they claimed that certain mental processes continue even after death. This assertion of an afterlife was more evident among adults than children, especially with respect to cognitive processes, such as knowing and remembering. In Study 2, 5‐ and 7‐year‐olds were asked similar questions in connection with the death of a bird and a person. Seven‐year‐olds consistently claimed that bodily and mental processes cease at death, whereas 5‐year‐olds were unsystematic in their replies. Together, the two studies replicate and extend findings obtained with Western children showing that, in the course of development, different conceptions of death are elaborated—a biological conception in which death terminates living processes and a religious conception in which death marks the beginning of a new form of spiritual existence. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the ethically difficult situations experienced by care providers working in a nursing home. Individual interviews using a narrative approach were conducted. A phenomenological-hermeneutic method developed for researching life experience was applied in the analysis. The findings showed that care providers experience ethical challenges in their everyday work. The informants in this study found the balance between the ideal, autonomy and dignity to be a daily problem. They defined the culture they work in (...) as not supportive. They also thought they were not being seen and heard in situations where they disagree with the basic values of the organization. The results are discussed in terms of Habermas’s understanding of modern society. Care settings for elderly people obviously present ethical challenges, particularly in the case of those suffering from dementia. The care provider participants in this study expressed frustration and feelings of powerlessness. It is possible to understand their experiences in terms of Habermas’s theory of modern society and the concept of the system’s colonization of the life world. (shrink)

In this timely and highly original merging of theory and practice, conflict photographer and critical theorist Rita Leistner applies Marshall McLuhan's semiotic theories of language, media, and technology to iPhone photographs taken during a military embed in Afghanistan. In a series of what Leistner calls iProbes—a portmanteau of iPhone and probe—Leistner reveals the face of war through the extensions of man. As digital photography becomes more ubiquitous, and as the phones we carry with us become more advanced, the process (...) of capturing images becomes more democratic and more spontaneous. Leistner's photos result from both access and impulse. Looking for Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan will appeal anyone with an interest in the conflicts in the Middle East, the seminal communications theorist, or iPhone apps and photography. (shrink)

The presence of Neoplatonism in contemporary french phenomenology has a pregnance that crosses its most relevant points. Jean-Luc Marion's work does not escape this. In this work we approach the marionian appropriation of Nicholas of Cusa's thought, in the light of his writing Certitudes négatives, with the intention of understanding the cusanu´s ignorant doctrine as a way of negative certainty. La presencia del neoplatonismo en la fenomenología francesa contemporánea posee una pregnancia que atraviesa sus puntos más relevantes. La obra de (...) Jean-Luc Marion no escapa a esto. En este trabajo abordamos la apropiación marioniana del pensamiento de Nicolás de Cusa, a la luz de su escrito Certitudes négatives, con la intención de comprender la doctrina ignorante del Cusano como un modo de certeza negativa. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage se penche sur la question des transformations à l’œuvre dans les traditions rituelles des religions méditerranéennes antiques, avec une attention particulière portée aux acteurs à l’origine de ces changements ainsi qu’aux émotions suscitées. Plusieurs contributions sont issues de communications présentées dans le panel « agency » du colloque « Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual », organisé à Heidelberg en 2008. Je résume ici les contributions portant sur le monde grec. L’an...

L’ouvrage de P. Ismard (P.I.) cherche à comprendre « le poids de l’événement que représente le procès de Socrate dans la mémoire occidentale » (p. 11). Cet objectif repose sur trois angles d’approche : il s’agit de saisir les enjeux du procès comme tel, d’utiliser cet « événement » comme clé d’analyse des institutions athéniennes contemporaines du procès, et d’étudier la réception du procès aux époques ultérieures. L’analyse est structurée autour de neuf chapitres, dans un langage fluide et a...

Derrière un titre assez sobre, la structure de l’ouvrage de R. Gagné (R.G.) permet d’entrevoir son originalité. Loin de se contenter d’une brève circonscription du concept de faute ancestrale dans l’introduction, l’A. consacre les deux premiers chapitres à la réception et à la réinterprétation de cette notion après l’Antiquité. Il cherche ainsi à montrer par quels filtres successifs a transité la notion avant d’arriver jusqu’à nous. Ce n’est qu’après un exposé assez érudit sur les nombreux au...

'Manning successfully argues that theory and ethics should once again be reunited...thorough and provocative...'—THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW.

In this paper, I survey liberal and communitarian defenses of privacy, paying particular attention to defenses of privacy in the workplace. I argue that liberalism cannot explain all our of intuitions about the wrongness of workplace invasions of privacy. Communitarianism, on the other hand, is able to account for these intuitions.

Rita Carter ponders the nature, origins, and purpose of consciousness in this fascinating inquiry into the toughest problem facing modern science and philosophy. Building on the foundation of her bestselling book _Mapping the Mind, _she considers whether consciousness is merely an illusion, a by-product of our brain's workings, some as yet inexplicable feature or property of the material universe or—as the latest physics may suggest—the very fundament of reality. Little, she discovers, is as it first seems. Carter draws from (...) a solid body of knowledge—empirical findings and theoretical hypotheses--about consciousness, much of it derived from recent discoveries about the brain. Her lively, accessible narrative ranges widely over new ways of thinking about the subject and what direction new research is taking. Leading scholars from a range of perspectives provide topical essays that complement Carter's account. The book also discusses how traditional approaches—philosophical, scientific, and experiential—might be brought together to create a more complete understanding of consciousness. (shrink)

How does human language contribute to the cognitive edge humans have over other species? This question eludes most current theories of language and knowledge. Incorporating research results in psychology and cutting a path through a broad range of philosophical debates, Nolan develops a strikingly original account of language acquisition which holds important implications for standard theories of language and the philosophical foundations of cognitive science.

What does it mean to get hooked by a work, whether a bestseller or a classic, a TV series or a painting in a museum? What is this aesthetic experience that makes us feel captivated? What do works of art do, and how, in particular, do they bind us to them? In "Hooked," Rita Felski builds an aesthetics premised on our attachments rather than our free agency and challenges the ethos of critical aloofness that is so much a part (...) of modern intellectuals' self-image. The result is sure to be as widely read, and as controversial, as Felski's 2015 book, "The Limits of Critique." Felski looks at several "attachment devices." One of these is "attunement"--those affinities and stirrings that often fall below the threshold of consciousness. Why, for example, are we drawn to a painting or piece of music in ways we struggle to explain, while being left cold by others whose merits we duly acknowledge? Another attachment device is "identification"--a widespread response to fiction that is often invoked by critics but usually treated as synonymous with either identity or empathy. But Felski shows that identifying has no neat fit with identity categories, and it can trigger ethical, political, or intellectual affinities that have little to do with co-feeling. What people most commonly identify with, Felski argues, are characters who are alluring, arresting, or alive, not in spite of their aesthetic qualities but because of them. This kind of identification is not limited to naïve readers or over-invested viewers, but is also a defining aspect of what scholars in the humanities do. Relatedly, academic "interpretation" emerges here as another circuit of connection: critics forge ties to the works they explicate, the methods they use, the disciplinary identities they inhabit. "Hooked" returns us to the fundamentals of aesthetic experience, showing that the social meanings of artworks do not lie encrypted in their depths, within reach only of expert critics, but are generated within the embrace of captivated audiences. (shrink)

Background:A total of 71,000 people in Norway suffer from some form of dementia in 2013, of whom approximately 30,000 are in nursing homes. Several studies focus on the experiences of those who have close relatives and who are staying in a nursing home. Results show that a greater focus on cooperation between nursing staff and relatives is a central prerequisite for an increased level of care. Benefits of developing systematic collaboration practices include relief for nursing staff, less stress, and greater (...) mutual understanding. Going through studies focusing on the experiences of nursing home patients’ relatives, negative experiences are in the majority. In this study, relatives are invited to share positive experiences regarding the care of their loved ones; a slightly different perspective, in other words.Aim:The aim of the study is to investigate relatives of persons with dementia’s experiences with quality care in nursing homes.Method:The study is a part of a larger project called Hospice values in the care for persons with dementia and is based on a qualitative design where data are generated through narrative interviews. The chosen method of analysis is the phenomenological–hermeneutical method for the study of lived experiences.Participants and research context:Participants in the project were eight relatives of persons with dementia who were living in nursing homes, long-term residences. The sampling was targeted, enrolment happened through collective invitation. All relatives interested were included.Ethical considerations:The Norwegian Regional Ethics Committee and the Norwegian Social Science Data Services approve the study.Findings:Findings show that relatives have certain expectations as to how their loved ones ought to be met and looked after at the nursing home. The results show that in those cases where the expectations were met, the relatives’ experiences were associated with engagement, inclusion and a good atmosphere. When the expectations were not met, the relatives experienced powerlessness, distrust and guilt.Discussion:The results are discussed considering the concepts of trust, power and asymmetry.Conclusion:When asked about experiences with quality care, the relatives spoke both of expectations met and of expectations not met. Results in this study are important knowledge for developing units where performing quality care is the overall aim. (shrink)

v. 1. Piaget's genetic epistemology, 1965-1980.--v. 2. Critique of Piaget's genetic epistemology, 1965-1980.

This volume is based on the papers presented at the international conference Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology (MBR09_BRAZIL), held at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil, December 2009. The presentations given at the conference explored how scientific cognition, but several other kinds as well, use models, abduction, and explanatory reasoning to produce important or creative changes in theories and concepts. Some speakers addressed the problem of model-based reasoning in technology, and stressed the issue of science and technological innovation. (...) The various contributions of the book are written by interdisciplinary researchers who are active in the area of creative reasoning in logic, science, and technology: the most recent results and achievements about the topics above are illustrated in detail in the papers. The book is divided in three parts, which cover the following main areas: part I, abduction, problem solving, and practical reasoning; part II: formal and computational aspects of model based reasoning; part III, models, mental models, representations. (shrink)

Introduction:To meet and take care of people with dementia implicate professional and moral challenges for caregivers. Using force happens daily. However, staff also encounter challenges with the management in the units. Managing the caretaking function is also significant in how caretakers experience working in dementia care.Purpose:The purpose of this study is to explore the caregiver’s experiences with ethical challenges in dementia care settings and the significance of professional leadership in this context.Method:The design is qualitative, and data appear through narrative interviews. (...) A total of 23 caretakers participated in the study. The transcribed interviews were subjected to a phenomenological-hermeneutical interpretation.Ethical considerations:The respondents signed an informed consent for participation prior to the interviews. They were assured anonymity and confidentiality in the publication of the data. Ricoeur’s method for interpretation ensures anonymity as the researcher relates to the data as one collective text. The study is part of a larger research project in ethics, in its entirety approved in line with the Helsinki Convention.Results:The findings show that the caretakers experienced inadequacy. Some of them described a negative work atmosphere where they experienced that their leaders did not take them seriously. Because of this, informal negative sub-groups functioned as an exclusive debriefing arena. Some of the informants described the opposite experience where the leaders actively supported them.Discussion:The analyses of the findings are discussed in light of the concepts of trust and mistrust in leadership.Conclusion:There is a correlation between the leadership and the caregivers’ experience of being in difficult situations. (shrink)