[from the publisher's website] Questions about the existence and attributes of God form the subject matter of natural theology, which seeks to gain knowledge of the divine by relying on reason and experience of the world. Arguments in natural theology rely largely on intuitions and inferences that seem natural to us, occurring spontaneously—at the sight of a beautiful landscape, perhaps, or in wonderment at the complexity of the cosmos—even to a nonphilosopher. In this book, Helen De Cruz and Johan (...) De Smedt examine the cognitive origins of arguments in natural theology. They find that although natural theological arguments can be very sophisticated, they are rooted in everyday intuitions about purpose, causation, agency, and morality. Using evidence and theories from disciplines including the cognitive science of religion, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary aesthetics, and the cognitive science of testimony, they show that these intuitions emerge early in development and are a stable part of human cognition. -/- De Cruz and De Smedt analyze the cognitive underpinnings of five well-known arguments for the existence of God: the argument from design, the cosmological argument, the moral argument, the argument from beauty, and the argument from miracles. Finally, they consider whether the cognitive origins of these natural theological arguments should affect their rationality. (shrink)

David Earl Over is a leading cognitive scientist and, with his firm grounding in philosophical logic, he also exerts a powerful influence on the psychology of reasoning. He is responsible for not only a large body of empirical work and accompanying theory, but for advancing a major shift in thinking about reasoning, commonly known as the 'new paradigm' in the psychology of human reasoning. Over's signature mix of philosophical logic and experimental psychology has inspired generations of researchers, psychologists, and philosophers (...) alike over more than a quarter of a century. The chapters in this volume, written by a leading group of contributors including a number who helped shape the psychology of reasoning as we know it today, each take their starting point from the key themes of Over's ground-breaking work. The essays in this collection explore a wide range of central topics--such as rationality, bias, dual processes, and dual systems--as well as contemporary psychological and philosophical theories of conditionals. It concludes with an engaging new chapter, authored by David Over himself, which details and analyses the new paradigm psychology of reasoning. This book is therefore important reading for scholars, researchers, and advanced students in psychology, philosophy, and the cognitive sciences, including those who are not familiar with Over's thought already. (shrink)

This research aims to fill a major gap in the relevant literature on small businesses in developing countries, specifically concerning the development of models to better explain economic and environmental performance as a result of environmental compliance, thus moving toward an explanation of the sustainable behavior of these businesses. Data from 186 pottery craft businesses located in three Mexican states (Oaxaca, Puebla and Tlaxcala) reveal that environmental compliance significantly influences economic and environmental performance, with the mediating role of environmental innovation, (...) confirming the Porter hypothesis in the context of small businesses in an emerging economy. Environmental compliance is an important factor in improving the economic and environmental performance of small businesses in emerging economies. (shrink)

This paper focusses on the experiences of Indian lesbians and gays who are subjected to unethical acts of workplace bullying which get manifested through constant guesswork, comments and questioning about their sexual identity in the hostile Indian context. Given this, LG participants usually opt for secrecy and lead a double life, using ‘passing’ and ‘covering’ strategies to manage economic, social and psychological risks. Nonetheless, this paper rewrites the negative tenor of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transexuals research by underscoring how LG (...) participants move from fear to courage in their endeavour to live authentic lives while considering the broader organizational and social context. We argue that their courage is manifested mainly through deliberate micro-disclosures and a sense of defiance which can be enhanced if organizations are designed to be more inclusive and ethical. Consequently, participants defined inclusive ethical organizations as having conducive environments with trustworthy, supportive, secure, fair, unbiased and safe non-discriminatory policies open to the idea of diverse sexual orientations. Our findings point to the fact that, first and foremost, organizations must be crafted and sustained to be courageous within a hostile social climate, for employees to overcome their fears. (shrink)

Perplexity is an epistemic emotion with deep philosophical significance. In ancient Greek philosophy, it is identified as a catalyst for philosophical progress and personal philosophical transformation. In psychological terms, perplexity is the phenomenological sense of lacking immersion in the world, a state of puzzlement and alienation from one’s everyday surroundings. What could make such an emotion philosophically useful? To answer this question, I examine the role of perplexity in Jane Addams’s political theory and ethics. Addams, a social reformer and American (...) pragmatist philosopher, regarded perplexity as an emotion that arises out of specific situations, such as being part of a social settlement, union actions, or trying to surmount gender expectations. Perplexity allows us cognitive distance from our everyday customary morality and ordinary habits of thinking, and this pushes us to become creative in our philosophical reflection. I contextualize perplexity in Jane Addams’s social reforms, and examine the relevance of her ideas today. (shrink)

In On the Difficulty of Living Together, Manuel Cruz launches a nuanced study of memory and forgetting, defining their forms and uses, political meanings, and social and historical implications. Memory is not an intrinsically positive phenomenon, he argues, but an impressionable and malleable one, used to advance a variety of agendas. Cruz focuses on five memory models: that which is inherently valuable, that which legitimizes the present, that which supports retributive justice, that which is essential to mourning, and (...) that which elicits renunciation or revelation. His methodical approach makes sense of memory's positive and negative effects, its contradictions, and its tensions. Cruz shows us that remembering is not necessarily an end in itself, nor is it a supreme value, immune to external influence. The exercise of memory guarantees nothing, though many insist it is a progressive act preventing the repetition of past mistakes. Tying the making of memory to the movements of history, Cruz prioritizes memory's political dimensions over its philosophical aspects and helps us remember its myriad uses. (shrink)

As children with Down syndrome (DS) typically manifest significant delays in language development, the research has pointed out the predictors of later language skills for this clinical population. The purpose of this study was to systematically explore the evidence for early predictors of language outcomes in infants and toddlers with DS from studies published between 2012 and 2022. After the search, nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that maternal educational level, adaptive level of functioning, cognitive function, attention (...) skills, communicative intent of the child, early vocalizations, gestures, baby signs, parents’ translation of their children’s gestures into words, and vocabulary level are significant predictors of language outcomes in children with DS. These findings provide a timely and warranted summary of published work that contributes to current understanding of the development of language and communication in DS. They are therefore useful to researchers, clinicians, and families. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Narrative Symposium:Conflicting Interests in MedicineLaura Jean Bierut, Sal Cruz-Flores, Laura E. Hodges, Anthony A. Mikulec, Govind K. Nagaldinne, Erine L. Bakanas, John F. Peppin, Joel S. Perlmutter, William H. Seitz Jr., Edward Diao, Andre N. Sofair, and David M. Zientek• To Recruit or Not to Recruit for a Clinical Trial• An Unexpected Lesson• Am I on call for the entire Midwest?• Why is Medicare Wasting Away?• The Downside (...) of the Informed Consent Juggernaut• Expert Testimony at the Food and Drug Administration: Who Wants the Truth?• Crossroads: The Intersection of Personal, Professional Society, and Industry Relationships• A Change of Heart• The Evolution of Conflicts of Interest in a New Subspecialty: A Case Study of the Development of Interventional CardiologyCopyright © 2011 The Johns Hopkins University Press... (shrink)

Engaging Polanyi’s embeddedness–disembeddedness framework, this study explored the work experiences of Bhil children employed in Indian Bt cottonseed GPNs. The innovative visual technique of drawings followed by interviews was used. Migrant children, working under debt bondage, underwent greater exploitation and perennial and severe depersonalized bullying, indicative of commodification of labour and disembeddedness. In contrast, children working in their home villages were not under debt bondage and underwent less exploitation and occasional and mild depersonalized bullying, indicative of how civil society organizations, (...) along with the state, attempt to re-embed economic activities in the social context. Polanyi’s double movement was evident. ‘Place’ emerged as the pivotal factor determining children’s experiences. A ‘protective alliance’ of community controls and social power, associated with in-group affiliations and cohesive ties, stemming from a common village and tribal identity, aided children working at home for Bhil farmers. ‘Asymmetric intergroup inequality’ due to pronounced social identity and class differences, coupled with locational constraints and developmental disadvantage, made migrant children vulnerable targets. Social embeddedness influences how child workers are treated because it forces employers to be ethical and not engage in bullying. However, by shifting production to children’s home villages, there is an attempt to obscure the difference between child labour and child work. Thus, the seeds of disembeddedness are sown through the very act of re-embeddeding, potentially hampering future interventions. (shrink)

Una de las características más destacadas del momento actual la constituye precisamente el convencimiento generalizado de que el recurso a la historia ya no ilumina nuestro presente. Adiós, historia, adiós intenta analizar las causas por las que ello ha podido ocurrir. Porque, en efecto, no hemos llegado a un escenario así por casualidad, ni, menos aún, como resultado de ninguna fatalidad o destino. En cierto modo incluso podríamos decir que constituye un desenlace previsible de la confluencia de un esquema mental (...) con el que abordar lo humano, el diseñado por la Modernidad, y las transformaciones que ha ido sufriendo nuestra sociedad en los planos social, económico y político en las últimas décadas. El proyecto moderno nace con el desarrollo del modo de producción capitalista y lo ha acompañado en sus cambios hasta el presente. Ambos han sufrido su propia evolución, que no siempre ha ido acompasada. El ideal ilustrado acabó dando lugar a patologías en el plano del discurso político que finalmente han quedado asociadas al siglo XX mismo. Por su parte, el modelo de crecimiento económico y de producción de riqueza ha ido adoptando una deriva tal, que ahora se diría que precisamente él constituye la causa de buena parte de los males que nos asolan. En definitiva: ni estamos donde esperábamos, ni somos como (¿o quiénes?) creíamos podría ser la forma de resumir la percepción que en esta época tenemos de nosotros mismos y del lugar en que hemos ido a desembocar. De ahí a afirmar que no hemos aprendido nada de la historia o, peor aún, a sostener que la historia nada puede enseñarnos no hay más que un paso que la presente obra intenta mostrar que ya hemos empezado a dar. (shrink)

The feeling of error (FOE) is the subjective experience that something went wrong during a reasoning or calculation task. The main goal of the present study was to assess the accuracy of the FOE in the context of mental mathematical calculation. We used the number bisection task (NBT) to evoke this metacognitive feeling and assessed it by asking participants if they felt they have committed an error after solving the task. In the NBT participants have to determine whether the number (...) presented in the middle of a triplet corresponds to the arithmetic mean of the two outer numbers (e.g., 07_16_25) with a Yes/No answer. Our results show that FOE reports were strongly correlated with arithmetic errors and numerical properties of the NBT, suggesting that the FOE accurately represents the error. This finding indicates that even very fast metacognitive feelings are reliable when it comes to evaluating one’s own mental performance. Moreover, our results suggest that the occurrence of FOEs is determined by the fluency with which each triplet was solved and the post-decision evaluation processes that occurred after the NBT was solved. Additionally, we asked participants to report their confidence in the given answer for the cases where they did not report FOEs. Participants reported less confidence for the (objectively) incorrect answers than for the (objectively) correct ones, suggesting that in cases where they did not have a conscious FOE they still were able to implicitly detect their errors. Remarkably, confidence was also determined by the fluency of the NBT. (shrink)

What explains people's propensity to ask existential questions that they have little hope of resolving, such as: Why are we here? What, if any, is our purpose? What is the structure of the universe? That humans engage in these endeavors has long puzzled evolutionary theorists, as they go beyond the immediate demands of fending for ourselves, seeking safety, finding food, and reproducing, which occupy the daily lives of other animals. In this book, philosopher Helen De Cruz draws on a (...) wide range of disciplines and thinkers, from Aristotle and 12th-century Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufayl to Jewish thinker Abraham Heschel and science writer Rachel Carson, showing how awe and wonder lie at the heart of such existential questions. She argues that there is an emotional basis to this drive for inquiry, as wonder and awe are epistemic emotions that help us think about big-picture questions and that motivate the answers we provide to those questions. (shrink)

Collection of essays previously published by Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, a Bolivian-German writer, curator and philosopher. From 2019 to 2020 he was the director of Bolivia's National Museum of Art (Museo Nacional de Arte, MNA) in La Paz. "The texts that make up this publication appeared in the newspaper La Razón, of La Paz, between October 13, 2019 and August 24, 2021, the first five in the supplement "Tendencias" and the remaining three in the section "Voces". At the end (...) of each one the respective date is recorded. The general revision that was made for this edition does not alter the spirit of the texts, written in difficult times for our country." --Editorial note. (shrink)

The argument from design stands as one of the most intuitively compelling arguments for the existence of a divine Creator. Yet, for many scientists and philosophers, Hume's critique and Darwin's theory of natural selection have definitely undermined the idea that we can draw any analogy from design in artifacts to design in nature. Here, we examine empirical studies from developmental and experimental psychology to investigate the cognitive basis of the design argument. From this it becomes clear that humans spontaneously discern (...) purpose in nature. When constructed theologically and philosophically correctly, the design argument is not presented as conclusive evidence for God's existence but rather as an abductive, probabilistic argument. We examine the cognitive basis of probabilistic judgments in relationship to natural theology. Placing emphasis on how people assess improbable events, we clarify the intuitive appeal of Paley's watch analogy. We conclude that the reason why some scientists find the design argument compelling and others do not lies not in any intrinsic differences in assessing design in nature but rather in the prior probability they place on complexity being produced by chance events or by a Creator. This difference provides atheists and theists with a rational basis for disagreement. (shrink)

Data do not speak for themselves. Data must be narrated—put to work in particular contexts, sunk into narratives that give them shape and meaning, and mobilized as part of broader processes of interpretation and meaning-making. We examine these processes through the lens of ethnographic practice and, in particular, ethnography’s attention to narrative processes. We draw on a particular case in which digital data must be animated and narrated by different groups in order to examine broader questions of how we might (...) come to understand data ethnographically. (shrink)

Arguably, STEM undergraduate education has narrowed student engagement with the social, ethical, and global. Our paper argues that disengagement is caused by a failure of moral imagination. We propose socio-technical analysis as the cornerstone to a more inclusive approach to STEM education. It promotes four activities: (1) zooming in on technologies by describing their structure, function, and embedded values; (2) zooming out to the surrounding socio-technical system which constrains and enables the technology’s functioning; (3) moving back-and-forth through Appropriate Technology to (...) assess the fit of the technology to its socio-technical surroundings; and (4) using the capability approach to finish the (re)engagement process. We then look at graduate and undergraduate student work that has successfully used our framework to combat disengagement and conclude by discussing materials we have used to assess student engagement. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda la importancia de la comprensión del discurso en la relación médico-paciente. Su objetivo radica en valorar los múltiples condicionamientos que favorecen o entorpecen la comprensión en el proceso comunicativo que se produce entre el profesional de la salud y el enfermo. Se proporcionan, además, algunas sugerencias que el médico ha de tener en cuenta por ser quien conduce el intercambio con el paciente. This article deals with the importance of understanding doctor-patient's typical discourse. It values the several (...) conditionings that favor or hinder understanding during the communicative process between health professionals and patients. It also provides doctors with suggestions since they are in charge of leading doctor-patient interaction. (shrink)

This article explores the relationality between women’s bodies and selfies on NSFW (Not Safe For Work) tumblr blogs. We consider the way selfie practices engage with normative, ageist and sexist assumptions of the wider culture in order to understand how specific ways of looking become possible. Women’s experiences of their bodies change through interactions, sense of community and taking and sharing selfies. This article provides an empirical elaboration on what sexy selfies are and do by analysing interviews, selfies and blog (...) content of nine women in the NSFW self-shooters community on tumblr. For our participants, self-shooting is an engaged, self-affirmative and awareness raising pursuit, where their body, through critically self-aware self-care, emerges as agentic, sexual and distinctly female. Thus, this is a reading of selfies as a practice of freedom. (shrink)

The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between educational marketing and student satisfaction in Higher Education Institutions in the Tacna region, in order to analyse the characteristics that are related to the study variables. The methodology was carried out under a quantitative approach, with a correlational and transversal research design; sample was composed of 249 students. Pearson's statistical test was applied, showing that the educational marketing variable is significantly related to student satisfaction in higher education institutions. Finally, (...) it was demonstrated that the students evidenced effective characteristics of their respective institutions that differentiate them from others. (shrink)

Late in 1990, the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at Illinois Institute of Technology (lIT) received a grant of more than $200,000 from the National Science Foundation to try a campus-wide approach to integrating professional ethics into its technical curriculum.! Enough has now been accomplished to draw some tentative conclusions. I am the grant's principal investigator. In this paper, I shall describe what we at lIT did, what we learned, and what others, especially philosophers, can learn (...) from us. We set out to develop an approach that others could profitably adopt. I believe that we succeeded. (shrink)

The geometric system of deduction called N-Graphs was introduced by de Oliveira in 2001. The proofs in this system are represented by means of digraphs and, while its derivations are mostly based on Gentzen's sequent calculus, the system gets its inspiration from geometrically based systems, such as the Kneales' tables of development, Statman's proofs-as-graphs, Buss' logical flow graphs, and Girard's proof-nets. Given that all these geometric systems appeal to the classical symmetry between premises and conclusions, providing an intuitionistic version of (...) any of these is an interesting exercise in extending the range of applicability of the geometric system in question. In this article we produce an intuitionistic version of N-Graphs, based on Maehara's LJ' system, as described by Takeuti. Recall that LJ' has multiple conclusions in all but the essential intuitionistic rules, e.g., implication right and negation right. We show soundness and completeness of our intuitionistic N-Graphs with respect to LJ'. We also discuss how we expect to extend this work to a version of N-Graphs corresponding to the intuitionistic logic system FIL (Full Intuitionistic Logic) of de Paiva and Pereira and sketch future developments. (shrink)

The present study aimed to translate and identify the psychometric properties of the Behavioral Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in 315 university students from Lima, Peru, aged 16 to 44 years. The BERQ and the Multicultural Inventory of Trait State Depression were administered for the assessment. Evidence of internal structure validity was obtained through confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling, while evidence of validity in relation to other variables was obtained through linear regression analysis. The results indicate that the pentafactorial (...) structure is replicated in the Peruvian sample; that adaptive strategies significantly predict eutres, and that maladaptive strategies predict distress; in addition, reliability values were acceptable. At the end, theoretical and practical aspects of the findings and the importance of continuing to provide evidence for its use in different populations and contexts are discussed, taking into account that this is the first time that a Spanish version of the BERQ has been analyzed. (shrink)

Standard adaptive control is the preferred approach for stabilization and synchronization of chaotic systems when the structure of such systems is a priori known but the parameters are unknown. However, in the presence of unmodeled dynamics and/or disturbance, this approach is not effective anymore due to the drift of the parameter estimations, which eventually causes the instability of the closed-loop system. In this paper, a robustifying term, which consists of a saturation function, is used to avoid this problem. The robustifying (...) term is added to the adaptive control law. Consequently, the learning law is also modified. The boundedness of the states and the parameter estimations is rigorously and thoroughly proven by means of Lyapunov like analysis based on Barbalat’s lemma. On these new conditions, the convergence to zero cannot be achieved due to the presence of unmodeled dynamics and/or disturbance. However, it is still possible to guarantee the asymptotic convergence to a bounded zone around zero. The width of this zone can be adjusted by the designer. The performance of this robust approach is verified by numerical simulations. Although, for simplicity, this strategy is only applied to the stabilization and synchronization of Zhang system, the procedure can easily be generalized to a broad class of chaotic systems. (shrink)

RESUMENEl propósito de este artículo es investigar la evolución de la lectura que hace Adorno de Kierkegaard para presentarla como un tema central en la formación de su filosofía materialista. Kierkegaard, la construcción de lo estético anticipa en buena medida algunas de las ideas importantes de sus obras posteriores. Y es que si bien critica la ruptura de la dialéctica entre sujeto-objeto que tiene lugar en Kierkegaard, ambos van a coincidir en su ataque al idealismo a través de la crítica (...) inmanente.PALABRAS CLAVECRÍTICA INMANENTE, DIALÉCTICA, COMUNICACIÓN, MATERIALISMOABSTRACTThe main goal of this article is to investigate the evolution of Adorno’s reading of Kierkegaard to present it as a central theme for the formation of his own materialistic philosophy. His work Kierkegaard: Construction of Aesthetic anticipates a good deal of his later work. While he criticizes Kierkegaard for breaking off the subject-object dialectic, they converge in their attacks on the concept of idealism through the immanent critique.KEY WORDSIMMANENT CRITIQUE, DIALECTIC, COMMUNICATION, MATERIALISM. (shrink)

Nuestro objetivo es mostrar que una caracterización adecuada de las locuciones modales del lenguaje natural depende fundamentalmente de una correcta descripción de sus propiedades lógicas. Mostramos cómo los análisis escalares en pragmática fracasan porque siguen la lógica modal estándar al tratarlos como operadores preposicionales. Esto produce contradicciones, ya que, en sentido estricto, el estatus lógico de la locución modal es el mismo que el de la proposición simple. Estas expresiones invocan la presencia del hablante y la evidencia que respalda a (...) su afirmación, y tienen por lo tanto un carácter eminentemente deíctico/pragmático.It is our aim in this article to show that an adequate characterization of the interpretation of modally qualified utterances in natural language depends crucially on a correct description of their logical properties. We show that pragmatic analyses in terms of scales fail because they rely on the standard treatment of these expressions in modal logic as operators, and this makes the wrong predictions since, in a strict sense, the logical status of the modally- qualified utterance is the same as that of the bare proposition. We argue that these expressions directly invoke the presence of the speaker and act as indexes to sets of assumptions s/he is relying on as evidence for his/her assertion. (shrink)

Expressive adjectives or expressive expletives have been argued to voice the speaker’s attitude towards the referent of the noun with which they co-occur, even though the attitude may be felt to be expressed about the referent of another sentential constituent or the state of affairs alluded to in the sentence where they are inserted. A previous pragmatic approach suggests that this is possible because these expletives perform an individual speech act, while a syntactic approach posits a feature whose detachment from (...) a particular constituent enables the speaker’s attitude to target the referent of another sentential constituent or even on the entire proposition expressed. This paper proposes an alternative relevance-theoretic account of the interpretation of utterances containing expressive expletives, which considers pragmatic factors and the cognitive processes in comprehension. It is grounded in contributions on the output of lexical pragmatic processes and the role of paralinguistic clues in utterance comprehension. (shrink)

This letter addresses the editorial decision to publish the article, “Research on group differences in intelligence: A defense of free inquiry” (Cofnas, 2020). Our letter points out several critical problems with Cofnas's article, which we believe should have either disqualified the manuscript upon submission or been addressed during the review process and resulted in substantial revisions.

Strong evidence shows that exposure and engagement with the natural world not only improve human wellbeing but can also help promote environmentally friendly behaviors. Human-nature relationships are at the heart of global agendas promoted by international organizations including the World Health Organization’s “One Health” and the United Nations “Ocean Decade.” These agendas demand collaborative multisector interdisciplinary efforts at local, national, and global levels. However, while global agendas highlight global goals for a sustainable world, developing science that directly addresses these agendas (...) from design through to delivery and outputs does not come without its challenges. In this article, we present the outcomes of international meetings between researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers from the United Kingdom and Brazil. We propose a model for interdisciplinary work under such global agendas, particularly the interface between One Health and the UN Ocean Decade and identify three priority research areas closely linked to each other: human-nature connection, conservation-human behavior, and implementation strategies. We also discuss a number of recommendations for moving forward. (shrink)

O presente artigo mostra, antes de mais, como nas últimas décadas surgiu no panorama editorial uma grande profusão de obras no âmbito da Teologia Fundamental e da Teologia da Criação. Mostra-se também de que modo as primeiras se ressentem de uma apropriação mais adequada das ciências naturais, enquanto as segundas carecem por vezes de reflexividade, auto-crítica e rigor epistemológico. Por outro lado, o artigo chama a atenção para o facto de a literatura existente evidenciar uma busca sequiosa de alternativas, traduzida (...) no recurso a "novos paradigmas", holismos, tendências pôs-modernas e outras, que se posicionam tanto contra a teologia referendada pelo magistério quanto a uma ciência mecanicista e supostamente desumanizante. Uma descrição destes movimentos é exemplificada pela recente contenda, no mundo de língua portuguesa, entre António M. Baptista e Boaventura S. Santos, mostrando-se algumas das fraquezas da posição deste último. Como forma de lidar com as consequentes aporias ontológicas e epistemológicas, o autor do artigo sugere algumas formas de apropriação de desenvolvimentos das ciências naturais e da epistemologia, que possibilitem uma teologia fundamental sólida, realista e relevante para o século XXI. /// In the last decades a host of materials at the levels of fundamental theology and theology of Creation have emerged. The first lack a suitable use of the natural sciences, whereas the latter lack reflexivity, self-criticism and epistemological rigor. The author also sees a hasty search for alternatives, which resort to "new paradigms", holisms, post-modern tendencies and others, over against a theology backed by the magisterium and a mechanistic and purportedly dehumanizing science. A description of such movements is exemplified by a recent struggle, in the Portuguese world, between Antdnio M. Baptista and Boaventura S. Santos, showing some shortcomings of the latter. As a way of dealing with these ontological and epistemological aporias, the author suggests some ways of resorting to the developments of the natural sciences and epistemology, which may enable a solid and realistic natural theology, relevant for the xxi century. (shrink)

It is not enough to simply claim that one has every right to do whatever they desire to do because there is always the possibility of false empowerment. Through the presence of BDSM in mass media, it has caught enough attention for it to elicit influence and uneducated inclusion to their lifestyle. I attempt to revive the debate between the abolitionist versus the sex-positive because there is a necessity to provide a critical analysis of BDSM today in the age of (...) post-sex revolution. Despite of the backlash it received from the thinkers from different walks of field, it is an empowering act because there is mutual respect, condemnation of abuse, and recognition of one’s individuality despite of its coercive, violent, and possessive act. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to explore what Paul Ricoeur's theory of narrative can contribute to the discussior about the nature and aims of education. Debates about what learning is and how teaching ought to be conducted are usually based ontological theories, i.e., claims about the nature of pedagogy and its desiderata. Theories of narrative (seeTaylor 1989, Polkinghorne 1988, Carr 1986, and Mctclntyre 1981, for example) are usually applied to discussions about teaching and research methods. However I want to (...) show that Ricoeur's concept of narrative identity is relevant not just to issues of methodology; it has both ontological and ethical implications. It constitutes the basis of a unique view of the learning process, one that emphasizes intersubjectivity and authenticity. It also provides a set of ethical principles for the practice of teaching as storytelling. (shrink)

In his discussion of our idea of time in the Treatise, Hume makes the perplexing claim that unchanging objects cannot be said to endure. While Hume is targeting the Newtonian conception of absolute time, it is not at all clear how his denial that unchanging objects are in time fits with this target. Moreover, Hume diagnoses our belief that unchanging objects endure as the product of a psychological fiction, but his account of this fiction is also riddled with puzzling claims (...) about our experience of unchanging objects. In this paper, we argue that Hume’s claims are a lot less baffling and indeed, much more sophisticated than they appear. We do so by considering his arguments as a response to Locke’s specific approach to the concept of absolute time. (shrink)

From his initial writings on imagination and memory, to his recent studies of the glance and the edge, the work of American philosopher Edward S. Casey continues to shape 20th-century philosophy. In this first study dedicated to his rich body of work, distinguished scholars from philosophy, urban studies and architecture as well as artists engage with Casey's research and ideas to explore the key themes and variations of his contribution to the humanities. -/- Structured into three major parts, the volume (...) reflects the central concerns of Casey's writings: an evolving phenomenology of imagination, memory, and place; representation and landscape painting and art; and edges, glances, and voice. Each part begins with an extended interview that defines and explains the topics, concepts, and stakes of each of area of research. Readers are thus offered an introduction to Casey’s fascinating body of work, and will gain a new insight into particular aspects and applications of Casey's research. -/- With a complete bibliography and an introduction that at once stresses each of Casey’s areas of research while putting into perspective their overarching themes, this authoritative volume identifies the overall coherence and interconnections of Edward S. Casey's work and his impact in contemporary thought. (shrink)

To organise future behaviour, it is important to remember both the central and contextual aspects of a situation. We examined the impact of contextual threat or safety, learned through verbal instructions, on face identity recognition. In two studies (N = 140), 72 face–context compounds were presented each once within an encoding session, and an unexpected item/source recognition task was performed afterwards (including 24 new faces). Hierarchical multinomial processing tree modelling served to estimate individual parameters of item (face identity) and source (...) memory (threat or safety context) as well as guessing behaviour. Results show that language was highly effective in establishing threatening and safe context conditions. In Study 1, a fleeting picture stream (1 s per picture) led to poor item and source recognition. Prolonged presentation times (Study 2 with 6 s per picture) improved face memory but no contextual modulation was observed. Thus, incidental face learning was surprisingly poor and rapidly changing contextual settings might have interfered with the accurate encoding of face identity information and item–source binding. (shrink)

There is a large gap between the specialized knowledge of scientists and laypeople’s understanding of the sciences. The novice-expert problem arises when non-experts are confronted with (real or apparent) scientific disagreement, and when they don’t know whom to trust. Because they are not able to gauge the content of expert testimony, they rely on imperfect heuristics to evaluate the trustworthiness of scientists. This paper investigates why some bodies of scientific knowledge become polarized along political fault lines. Laypeople navigate conflicting epistemic (...) and social demands in their acceptance of scientific testimony; this might explain their deference to scientific fringe theories, which often goes together with denying established scientific theories. I evaluate three approaches to mitigate denialism: improving the message, improving the messenger, and improving the environment in which the message is conveyed. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é contextualizar, sinteticamente, o liberalismo da Teoria da justiça de John Rawls dentro da tradição, a partir de alguns de seus elementos essenciais, tais como as idéias de contrato, de liberdade, de igualdade e de racionalidade, e identificá-lo a uma forma própria e metódica de se pensar a política como sabedoria. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Liberalismo. Teoria da justiça. John Rawls. ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to summarily contextualize the liberalism of Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, (...) within the political tradition and its essential elements, such as the ideas of contract, liberty, equality, and rationality, so as to identify its proper form and method to think politics as wisdom. KEY WORDS – Liberalism. Theory of justice. John Rawls. (shrink)

Epistemic peer disagreement raises interesting questions, both in epistemology and in philosophy of science. When is it reasonable to defer to the opinion of others, and when should we hold fast to our original beliefs? What can we learn from the fact that an epistemic peer disagrees with us? A question that has received relatively little attention in these debates is the value of epistemic peer disagreement—can it help us to further epistemic goals, and, if so, how? We investigate this (...) through a recent case in paleoanthropology: the debate on the taxonomic status of Homo floresiensis remains unresolved, with some authors arguing the fossils represent a novel hominin species, and others claiming that they are Homo sapiens with congenital growth disorders. Our examination of this case in the recent history of science provides insights into the value of peer disagreement, indicating that it is especially valuable if one does not straightaway defer to a peer’s conclusions, but nevertheless remains open to a peer’s evidence and arguments. (shrink)