The study investigated the influence of resilience and dispositional optimism on, first, emotional distress and, second, the intention to self-isolate, experienced by people with a lower and higher illness risk, during the lockdown imposed in Spain during the first COVID-19 wave. These effects were investigated against the background of the Health Belief Model. A convenience sample of N = 325 participants completed an online survey including an ad-hoc questionnaire measuring the HBM core factors: Perceived health threat, and perceived quarantine benefits (...) and costs. Self-efficacy and perceived social pressure were also measured. Based on reviews regarding pandemic outbreaks, quarantine benefits were conceptualized as the perceived effectiveness and solidary contribution of self-isolating in line with the quarantine protocols. Quarantine “psychosocial” costs were conceptualized as a composite of perceived boredom, loneliness, and economic concerns. Findings revealed an asymmetrical pattern of results so that people at higher risk were more distressed by the perceived severity of getting infected whereas people at lower risk were more distressed by the psychosocial costs. Moreover, resilience and optimism were more “protective” against distress within the lower and higher risk groups, respectively. In addition, quarantine benefits and self-efficacy promoted the intention to self-isolate within both groups. However, optimism hindered such intention. This finding is discussed in the light of links between dispositional optimism and optimistic bias; the underestimation of experiencing negative events, which can relax the perceived health risk. Based on these findings, communication campaigns should prioritize information about the effectiveness of the implemented preventive behaviors rather than the costs of not implementing them, and be cautionary in encouraging excessive optimism. (shrink)

Objective: To measure the stability of life-sustaining treatment preferences amongst older people and analyse the factors that influence stability. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Primary care centres, Granada (Spain). Eighty-five persons age 65 years or older. Participants filled out a questionnaire with six contexts of illness (LSPQ-e). They had to decide whether or not to receive treatment. Participants completed the questionnaire at baseline and 18 months later. Results: 86 percent of the patients did not change preferences. Sex, age, marital status, (...) hospitalisation, and self-perception of health and pain did not affect preferences. Morbidity and the death of a relative did. Conclusion: Stability of preferences of older persons in relation to end-of-life decisions seems to be more probable than instability. Some factors, such as the death of a relative or the increase in morbidity, can change preferences. These findings have implications for advance directives (ADs) and advance care planning. (shrink)

8 March, now known as International Women’s Day, is a day for feminist claims where demonstrations are organized in over 150 countries, with the participation of millions of women all around the world. These demonstrations can be viewed as collective rituals and thus focus attention on the processes that facilitate different psychosocial effects. This work aims to explore the mechanisms involved in participation in the demonstrations of 8 March 2020, collective and ritualized feminist actions, and their correlates associated with personal (...) well-being and collective well-being, collective efficacy and collective growth, and behavioral intention to support the fight for women’s rights. To this end, a cross-cultural study was conducted with the participation of 2,854 people from countries in Latin America and Europe, with a retrospective correlational cross-sectional design and a convenience sample. Participants were divided between demonstration participants and non-demonstrators or followers who monitored participants through the media and social networks. Compared with non-demonstrators and with males, female and non-binary gender respondents had greater scores in mechanisms and criterion variables. Further random-effects model meta-analyses revealed that the perceived emotional synchrony was consistently associated with more proximal mechanisms, as well as with criterion variables. Finally, sequential moderation analyses showed that proposed mechanisms successfully mediated the effects of participation on every criterion variable. These results indicate that participation in 8M marches and demonstrations can be analyzed through the literature on collective rituals. As such, collective participation implies positive outcomes both individually and collectively, which are further reinforced through key psychological mechanisms, in line with a Durkheimian approach to collective rituals. (shrink)

“There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves, no criterion that we have not created in the course of creating a practice, no standard of rationality that is not an appeal to such a criterion, no rigorous argumentation that is not obedience to our own conventions.” Richard Rorty, Consequences of Pragmatism I. Introducción: ¿es Richard Rorty el hombre que mató a la verdad? En el año 2003, apenas cuatro años antes de la muerte de (...) Richard Rorty, la cadena BBC emit... (shrink)

§1 According to the paradigmatic formula offered by Kant, the philosopher’s task consists of demonstrating “how we ought to think” as opposed to “how we do think” – that is, logical rules or norms must be separated from the functioning principles of the human mind or from psychological laws. As it is well-known, in the “Preface” to the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, the German philosopher stands against “some moderns” who “have thought to enlarge” logic “interpolating psycholo...

La elegante traducción al español de Lógica. Teoría de la investigación, realizada por Ángel Faerna, confirma la importancia cultural, y no sólo filosófica, del pensamiento de Dewey, uno de los autores norteamericanos más estudiados hasta la fecha. Considerado en muchos sentidos como un punto de referencia ricamente sugerente para abordar viejos y nuevos “problemas del hombre” – por utilizar el título de un conocido volumen de Dewey –, este autor se presta, en particular, a una fructífera con...

The symposium “Peirce in the World” is a homage that EJPAP wants to pay to the Centenary of the death of the great American thinker Charles S. Peirce, one of the founding fathers of pragmatism. The idea of the symposium stems from observing that Peirce studies are nowadays spread out all over the world, and the scholarship that comes from outside the US is becoming more and more important in breadth and depth. This phenomenon is possibly the greatest change that (...) happened to Peirce scholarship... (shrink)

Neste ensaio, enquadro a narrativa de Rorty com relação ao ego na história das filosofias moderna e contemporânea. Minha tese é que sua rejeição tanto do introspectivismo cartesiano quanto das explicações reducionistas psico-biológicas nasce originalmente de uma epistemologia do ego que está alinhada aos insights de Hume sobre a contingência da individualidade, mas também, introduz uma abordagem complexa à questão filosófica sobre a relação entre os reinos estético e racional. Além disso, avanço em uma leitura anticética, dinâmica e normativa do (...) modelo narrativo de Rorty do ego, a qual associa seu entendimento de ironia – nós podemos sempre duvidar que nosso vocabulário final é o melhor disponível – e de solidariedade – concebido não apenas como um movimento afetivo em direção ao outro, mas também, como uma condição lógica para o funcionamento da comunicação humana. (shrink)

Rorty’s Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature presents the most thorough and sustained critique of Western epistemology and foundationalism in the second half of the twentieth Century. The work deconstructs philosophy as an autonomous discipline generating a “neutral matrix” to assess knowledge, truth, and rationality, offering philosophical analyses of the mind-body distinction, representation, reference, and truth, and ultimately the concept of knowledge as a “mirror of nature.” The deconstruction of Cartesian dualism undermines the mind as the immaterial ground of absolute (...) certainty; the deconstruction of the Kantian empirical-transcendental distinction destroys the transcendental realm as philosophy’s uniquely accessible and founding domain. Instead, Rorty invites us to reconceive philosophy as an edifying voice in the “conversation of mankind.”. (shrink)

I am very grateful to Michela Bella, William Curtis, and Emil Višňovský for their thorough and generous interventions on my latest work. I would also like to thank EJPAP’s executive editors, Roberta Dreon and Sarin Marchetti, for hosting a symposium on this book and Michela Bella for her editorial work. Each of the three contributions to the symposium grasps some key features of my work, indeed the spirit that animated it, even if, at times, my statements are not entirely explicit. (...) Since the... (shrink)

The paper firstly reconstructs Mario Calderoni’s criticism of the Jamesian version of pragmatism, which corresponds to his philosophical choice in favor of the ethical value assigned by Peirce to the scientific-experimental method. In this light, I propose a reading of some Calderoni’s arguments concerning the link between the construction of beliefs, practical norms and moral or legal responsibility, trying to reassess his criticisms of James and then his conception of philosophy as a practical and therapeutic activity. The latter will be (...) discussed considering Wittgenstein’s analysis of intentional verbs and Calderoni’s approach to the issues of freedom, of the definition of voluntary acts as well as of individual responsibility, both moral and legal. In particular, I will focus on the paradigm shift suggested by Wittgenstein with regard to the problem of human will, which seems useful for enhancing Calderoni’s pragmatist insights. (shrink)

This research is part of the last study Drugs and School IX developed in the Basque Country (Spain) by the Instituto Deusto de Drogodependencias (Deusto Institute of Drug Addiction) of the University of Deusto and the data gathered by means of cluster sampling in two stages. The sample is made up of N= 6.007 girls and boys ranging from 12 to 22 years of age in Secondary Education and the aim is to answer the following new research questions based on (...) those parameters: (1) describe the reality of drug consumption and some psychosocial variables in this sample, as well as analyse several relations between variables; (2) analysing the role of school well-being, self-esteem and self-concept regarding consumption; (3) taking a close look at the moderating role of age and gender on the relationship of school well-being, self-concept and self-esteem with consumption; and (4) understand the existing interaction between all these variables, studying the moderating role of self-esteem and self-concept in the influence of school well-being on consumption. Using a correlation, hierarchical regression and mediation analysis with SPSS (v. 26) and Amos (v. 26) applications, three main conclusions were reached. Firstly, that educational and academic well-being, academic self-concept and self-esteem seem to play the role of protecting factors in adolescence, while assertiveness is linked to a higher consumption level. Secondly, that academic self-concept has a mediating effect between well-being and consumption. Some of these relations are moderated by the variables of gender and age. Thirdly, that age and gender are very relevant sociodemographic variables that must be taken into account in order to understand this phenomenon. Age has shown its covariant effect, which is especially relevant in the influence of academic well-being measured as being held back years. It has also proved to be important in order to understand its experiential or experimental and transitory character. Moreover, significant differences in consumptions have been found based on gender. (shrink)

The relationship between regularity and chance, or necessity and contingency, is a common concern of classical pragmatists. The metaphysical quality of this issue flows into the construction of postmodern discourse, although in a very different framework and, paradoxically, under the auspices of the anti-metaphysics that such a discourse claims. This paper proposes at first a brief reconstruction of the chance and regularity issue in postmodernism; then Peirce’s cosmological-metaphysical theory of chance, namely his ‘tychism,’ is recalled as a fruitful suggestion to (...) avoid the conceptual split between chance and regularity. Subsequently, considering the family resemblances between postmodernism and Rorty’s neo-pragmatism, the insistence upon history and contingency that stands out in his work will be tackled as a ‘postmodern tychism’ that, in fact, does not fit too-easy readings according to which he would have turned pragmatism into an extreme form of irrationalism and radical moral relativism. In particular, this paper aims to enlighten Rorty’s effort to re-propose, with new and more refined philosophical tools, the great challenge posed by the classical pragmatists: namely, the challenge to translate the pathos of contingency into an anti-dogmatic ethos, that is a cultural stance that might be able to combine the rejection of absolutes with the commitment to construct meanings and values hosting argumentative interpersonal and intercultural practices as the ‘rule’ of our moral history. (shrink)

Dans cet article, l’auteur examine le naturalisme de James comme un exemple des intersections entre la biologie, la psychologie et la philosophie. L’article reconstruit les principaux arguments épistémologiques, éthiques et métaphysiques de James pour montrer comment sa philosophie s’inscrit dans la biologie de Darwin. Ainsi, le contingentisme de James devient cohérent avec sa critique de l’interprétation du principe darwinien de la « sélection naturelle » et avec l’idée de Darwin de l’ambiguïté comme marque de la réalité physique et humaine.

In this paper the Augustinian concept of metonymy is analyzed through a commentary on de ciuitate Dei 11, 8 and other parallel texts as well as their survival in some grammatical texts produced in Visigothic Spain. This study demonstrates the enormous influence of Augustine's thought in these texts, either through an indirect tradition, or through direct reading of his writings.

This paper proposes the “conceptual pragmatism” of C. I. Lewis as a useful epistemological orientation for studying the relationship between the social and individual registers, in particular as it is set out in Bourdieu’s sociology of practice. Bourdieu’s concepts of habits based upon ‘social schematism’ and of culture as a ‘second nature,’ as well as Lewis’ conception of logical schemas constructed by humans are all formulated in the wake of Kant, and mediating between sensorial experience and the conceptual level is (...) a common issue for Lewis and the French sociologist. This paper discusses Lewis’ controversial idea of “sense meaning” in order to show his commitment to a pragmatic, interactive theory of knowledge and language. Moreover, I emphasize Lewis’ intertwining of conceptual schemas, actions, and reality as a theoretical network for reshaping analysis of the relationship between sociality and individuality according to a pragmatist perspective, and for implementing and improving Lewis’ commitment to observing, describing, and interpreting the effective functioning of conceptual schemas, one that includes an option in favor of an externalist philosophical methodology which, in principle, tallies with the methodological attitude that mostly characterizes the contemporary social sciences. (shrink)

Together with the members and promoters of the Associazione Culturale Pragma, we very pleased to celebrate the third anniversary of its foundation with the launching of a new journal devoted to the study of American philosophy, the European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy. It is, in fact, a particularly important achievement which comes to strengthen our confidence in the positive relationships among a wide international group of academics and scholars that already produced a nu...

- Lo sfondo religioso del pensiero di John Dewey ha una forte incidenza sulla sua concezione della democrazia, la quale tuttavia prevede espressamente l'affrancamento dalle credenze nel soprannaturale. Il carattere ‘quasi-religioso'che egli assegna agli ideali democratici č un'espressione peculiare di un ‘naturalismo umanistico' che valorizza la capacitÀ immaginativa e la conoscenza scientifica, quali strumenti basilari per sviluppare le migliori possibilitÀ umane, prescindendo dall'individualismo e da ogni forma di dogmatismo. La complessitÀ del pensiero deweyano, delle sue fonti di ispirazione cosě come (...) delle sue istanze piů originali, sembra offrire sufficienti motivi tanto per mitigare i rischi di un incauto scientismo quanto per lasciare spazio a un ulteriore approfondimento del problema delle credenze religiose, problema che, nel nostro tempo, appare tutt'altro che secondario. (shrink)

It is common knowledge that pragmatism acquired a new and quite relevant space within European philosophical debate during the second half of Nineteen Century, and the leading actors of such a renewed interest for the classics of American thought have been Karl Otto Apel and Jürgen Habermas. Especially in Italy, the so called revival of pragmatism took place via their neo-kantianianism, and actually one could say that the pragmatist thought has been, so to speak, cleared from previous discred...

La centralitÀ della categoria temporale del futuro e la preminenza della "conversazione umana" sono gli aspetti basilari della versione rortiana del pensiero democratico americano e della filosofia pragmatista. Nel rinnovare gli assunti di base del migliorismo statunitense, Rorty chiama in causa le consonanze tra autori come John Dewey e William James e le istanze anti-fondazionaliste provenienti dall'Europa, in vista di un ripensamento radicale della pratica filosofica. Essa va intesa non piů alla stregua di una ricerca dei fondamenti ultimi della realtÀ (...) ma piuttosto come un impegno edificante basato sul criterio della Social Hope. Gli autori del pragmaatismo sono frequentati con disinvoltura da Rorty, che condivide con James e particolarmente con Dewey la fiducia nella capacitÀ costruttiva dell'intelligenza umana e nella cooperazione sperimentale degli individui, accantonando invece Peirce e la sua importante nozione di "infinite hope". (shrink)

El interés por la investigación de los miedos en la infancia y la adolescencia ha adquirido una importancia creciente en las últimas décadas por tratarse de fenómenos muy frecuentes, asociados al desarrollo infantojuvenil, que pueden perturbar significativamente sus vidas provocándoles sufrimiento y siendo la causa de serios trastornos futuros.

The aims of this research were twofold: first, to compare the levels of organisational harmony between family and non-family firms and, second, to study the influence of organisational harmony on family firms’ performance (profitability, longevity and group cohesion). Starting from a definition of organisational harmony as a value and considering the importance of the management of organisational values, we use the main topics indicated by the general literature (organisational climate, trust and participation) to analyse organisational harmony, as well as three (...) other topics for performance (profitability, survival and group cohesion). Results indicate that family firms have higher levels of these three qualities than non-family firms, and that the levels of trust, participation and organisational climate have a positive and significant influence on the performance of family firms. These results can be understood as a consequence of the influence of family social capital on organisational social capital and so on the performance of family businesses. From the perspective of institutionalism, the higher levels of harmony existing in family businesses are a reflection of the pressures that the owning family as an institution exercises on the organisational social capital in its companies. (shrink)

In the age of neoliberalism, feminists strongly disagree on the ideal legal status of prostitution while the pro-prostitution lobby endeavours to keep their male-dominated business running smoothly. Feminist debates should be concerned with the sex buyers' belief system about women, which is likely to have practical consequences in the way they behave with women (prostituted and non-prostituted) in terms of sexuality and, therefore, for feminist purposes of equality, on a broader scale. A Critical Discourse Analysis of buyer-authored online reviews of (...) prostituted women provides the opportunity to verify whether the relationship they establish with them is based on democratic mutual equality or gendered power relations driven by domination and subordination.En la era del neoliberalismo, no hay consenso entre las feministas acerca del estatus legal que debería tener la prostitución; mientras, el lobby pro-prostitución intenta proteger tan lucrativo negocio. Los debates feministas deben abordar críticamente el sistema de creencias de los sujetos prostituyentes, en tanto que afecta a cómo actúan con las mujeres (prostituidas y no prostituidas) dentro del marco de la sexualidad y, por tanto, al potencial logro de la igualdad fáctica a nivel social. El análisis crítico del discurso online de los sujetos prostituyentes sobre las mujeres prostituidas permite comprobar si las relaciones que establecen con ellas están basadas en términos igualitarios o en la dicotomía dominación-subordinación característica de las relaciones de poder de género. (shrink)

Training for sustainable development is an educational challenge of prime importance. Physical activity and sports in natural environments provide training committed to sustainability and environmental education. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of an undergraduate training program in Physical Activities and Sports in Natural Environments concerned with sustainable development. A total of 113 students from the Autonomous University of Madrid who are studying a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences and a Master’s Degree in (...) Teacher Training for Secondary Education and High School were involved. Specifically, we aimed to assess the impact of this training program on three dimensions related to Environmental Education. Its effect was also examined bearing in mind students’ sex, age and educational profile. Mixed-methods were used: for the quantitative approach, data were collected with the Environmental Attitude in Physical Activities in Natural Environments validated scale; for the qualitative approach individual reflective diaries completed by students that attended the program were analyzed. The results show positive effects on the students regarding the three dimensions of Environmental Education, for both the sportive and educational training profiles. The quantitative results do not present significant differences concerning the gender variable, although the qualitative information shows that female students perceived a greater environmental sensitivity during their practices. Regarding the age variable, significant differences are found in the youngest students with an educational profile. To conclude, the study ratifies that the program carried out generated improvements in terms of knowledge, behaviors and attitudes toward the environment and sustainable development. Future research should use larger samples and consider other variables related to education for sustainability. (shrink)

Over the last decades, migration across Europe has continued to increase. Consequently, offering educational support for migrant students in the schools of host countries has been an extensively debated issue across Europe and further afield, especially in countries with a history of immigration. However, less is known about how education systems in the ‘new’ immigration countries have responded to the needs of recently arrived migrants. This article focuses on language support measures set up for migrant students in state-funded schools in (...) the Republic of Ireland and Spain – both multilingual countries with more than one official language and with a heterogeneous migrant population. In reviewing educational policy and practice in these jurisdictions in the areas of language support for migrants, this article seeks to contribute to the debate on challenges involved in supporting language acquisition by migrant students in formal educational settings. (shrink)

Globalisation leads to increasing multiculturalism in societies. Preparing university students to recognise the growing diversity and to engage positively with one another in contemporary societies is therefore of paramount importance. However, the variables affecting the development of intercultural sensitivity have hardly been assessed. This study analysed the degree to which the influence of sex, year of study, and mobility experiences of university students influence the advancement of intercultural sensitivity. To this end, a scale was applied to Spanish university students (N (...) = 645). The results showed a significant gap between the students’ perceived orientation of their intercultural sensitivity and their actual orientation. In addition, there were some differences across sex, year of study, and mobility experiences in favour of females, final-year students, and students who had undergone some sort of mobility experiences. Four profiles were also identified according to intercultural sensitivity: initial, mid-initial, medium, and advanced. The findings demonstrate the need to incorporate an intercultural approach into higher education institutions in pro of more inclusive societies. (shrink)

Medium-sized language communities face competition between local and global languages such as Spanish, Russian, French and, above all, English. The various regions of Spain where Catalan is spoken, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania show how their medium-sized languages (a term used to distinguish them as much from minority codes as from more widely-spoken codes) coexist alongside or struggle with their big brothers in multilingual families. This comparative analysis offers unique insight into language contact in present-day Europe.