The aim of this study is to investigate students’ conceptions about proof in mathematics and mathematics teaching. A five‐point Likert‐type questionnaire was administered in order to gather data. The sample of the study included 33 first‐year secondary school mathematics students . The data collected were analysed and interpreted using the methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results have revealed that the students think that mathematical proof has an important place in mathematics and mathematics education. The students’ studying methods for (...) exams based on imitative reasoning which can be described as a type of reasoning built on copying proof, for example, by looking at a textbook or course notes proof or through remembering a proof algorithm. Moreover, they addressed to the differences between mathematics taught in high school and university as the main cause of their difficulties in proof and proving. (shrink)

We consider a new fragment of first-order logic with two variables. This logic is defined over interval structures. It constitutes unary predicates, a binary predicate and a function symbol. Considering such a fragment of first-order logic is motivated by defining a general framework for event-based interval temporal logics. In this paper, we present a sound, complete and terminating decision procedure for this logic. We show that the logic is decidable, and provide a NEXPTIME complexity bound for satisfiability. This result shows (...) that even a simple decidable fragment of first-order logic has NEXPTIME complexity. (shrink)

Foundations of Speech Act Theoryoffers a timely, thorough and, above all, compelling examination of the complexities of illocutionary acts, performatives, and their phenomenological basis. Savas Tsohatzidis has collected an impressive range of international scholars on the subject. Clearly demonstrating the relevance of speech act theory to semantic theory, the collection further interrogates the inability of pragmatic theories of illocution to properly locate such speech acts within the logic of phenomenology and intersubjectivity.

ABSTRACTEvaluative conditioning procedures change people’s evaluations of stimuli that are paired with pleasant or unpleasant items. To test whether influence awareness allows people to resist such...

As we know, the Fifteenth World Congress of Philosophy has as its general theme problems of science, technology, and man. Any aspect of this all-encompassing theme produces many questions. Our task is to single out certain important aspects in it.

IntroductionGeneralized Anxiety Disorder is a prevalent emotional disorder associated with increased dysfunctionality, which has a lasting impact on the individual’s quality of life. Besides medication, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy represents the golden standard psychotherapeutic approach for GAD, integrating multilevel techniques and various delivery formats that enable the development of tailored treatment protocols. The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of a standard CBT protocol targeting worries, dysfunctional beliefs, and intolerance of uncertainty with an integrative and multimodal CBT intervention augmented (...) with Virtual Reality.Materials and methodsThis study included 66 participants with moderate GAD symptoms that were randomized to the standard CBT group and the Integrative and Multimodal CBT augmented with VR group. The interventions comprised 10 weekly sessions conducted by trained CBT therapists, including cognitive restructuring, problem-solving, behavioral exposure, and relaxation techniques. Baseline and post-assessments were conducted with both groups. Primary outcome measures included the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Penn-State Worry Questionnaire to evaluate the severity of GAD symptoms and worries, respectively. Secondary outcomes involved the administration of Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale and Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire.ResultsBoth interventions determined statistically significant effects on both primary and secondary outcomes in the expected direction. However, CBTs was associated with higher effect sizes for anxiety and worries, in contrast to IM-VRCBT. Also, secondary analyses revealed positive correlations between changes in anxiety and worries level and the reduction of dysfunctional cognitive processes.ConclusionThis research emphasized the effectiveness of CBT interventions for treating adults with moderate GAD symptomatology. Specifically, both interventions were efficient for reducing anxiety symptomatology present at individuals with GAD. However, regarding cognitive dysfunctions like worries, the standard CBT protocol performed better, as compared to the IM-VRCBT. In addition, we conclude that VR could be integrated within CBT interventions in a single protocol for GAD treatment. (shrink)

Review of Mihaela Frunză, Tematizări în eticile aplicate. Perspective feministe (The- matizations in Applied Ethics. Feminist Perspectives), (Cluj-Napoca: Limes Publishing House, 2009), 168p.

In the first part of this text, the author includes a synthesis of Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu’s thoughts regarding the actuality of ancient mythologies and their camouflaged presence within the cultural, political, social, and entertainment practices of the contemporary human being. The main idea of this text is that the Eliade-Culianu paradigm of the myths’ interpretations is of actuality because, in the first place, does not deceive the specific of mythology and explains myths through myths. The text then (...) presents the author’s ideas regarding the camouflaged presence of certain mythological phantasms within the games of the quotidian. Basically, these phantasms refer to the social mythologies reactivated in the world after September, 11, 2001, to mythological content of the neighborhood subcultures’ practices, as well as to the need of reinventing the “black sheep”. The author also mentions the mythological sequences disguised in a successful book - The Da Vinci Code - or in the extravagant car promotions in the contemporary Occident. (shrink)

Starting as a scientific presentation of the phenomenon of cloning, in which etymology, the definitions and some already classical examples are emphasized, this paper actually focuses on a less discussed perspective in nowadays debates on cloning. Thus, the paper aims at showing which are (if any) the mythical-religious structures of cloning, certainly without ignoring the social consequences, the advantages and disadvantages and the juridical effects of cloning. Discussing Mircea Eliadeís novella Les trois graces, the purpose of explaining the subtle reactivation (...) of ancient mythical-religious phantasms by the means of a contemporary scientific experiment such as cloning is reached. (shrink)

The paper attempts at analyzing the bases of interreligious dialogue in the West, as well as the forms of its successful or failed implementation in Romania. The author reviews the causes of the Western recent preoccupation towards the Oriental (especially Indian) religions. Then, he approaches the question of interreligious dialogue from the Romanian perspective, looking for the specific elements that transforms the framework. Thus, he firstly analyzes the failed forms of the interreligious dialogue (that are the stereotypical discourse, the missionary (...) and the proselytism), paying a special attention to the case study of MISA. Finally, he interprets Mircea Eliade’s writings on India as a successful and fruitful dialogue between two cultures and two religions. (shrink)

In this text, the problem of tolerance is discussed in the light of recent works of Umberto Eco and Stefan Afloroaei. The author argues that in the case of tolerance, the success lies not in tolerating the other, (not even in the weaker sense of the word), but rather in accepting him. The acceptance of the Other is the complete and powerful meaning of tolerance. Accep- tance ends where the very presence of the concept of tolerance is undermined and compromised (...) by its history of colonialism and exploitation. Therefore, the primary solution to understand and apply tolerance is the recognition of alterity, in an inner and outer meaning alike. (shrink)

This paper examines, and rejects, a recent argument to the effect that knowledge is not truth-entailing, i.e. that “know” is not factive.

A problem is raised for the introduction rules proposed in Benjamin Schnieder’s ‘A logic for “because”’, arising in connection with (a) inferences that the rules should not, but do, validate and (b) inferences that the rules should, but do not, validate.

This paper aims to measure the quality of all Romanian cities’ websites in 2019 and 2022, before and after the disruptive event of COVID-19. Since the official websites are the core instrument of e-governance, the changes in the quality of Romanian cities’ websites reflect the changes in the development of urban e-governance in Romania. The COVID-19 lockdowns and contact restrictions and the moving of most activities into the online environment had the potential to impact the performance of Romanian cities’ websites (...) significantly and catalyze the progress of local e-governance. The quality of Romanian cities’ official websites was measured using an adapted survey instrument proposed by Holzer and Kim and Manoharan, Melitski, and Holzer. The tool covers five critical criteria of website quality or performance: personal data security, usability, content, services, and citizen participation. The research results may seem contrary to expectations: the improvements of websites have been incremental rather than transformational. Although our research provides only a case study, we may assert that the reform of traditional administration remains a step-by-step process. Our study’s main contribution consists in showing that the progress of e-governance is an incremental process even in a situation of emergency that requires the moving of most activities into the online environment. (shrink)

Is uncertainty, often brought about by loss, collapse, interruption, or disturbance in life, an entirely negative state that must be resolved as soon and as fully as possible by resettlement? Or, can we view uncertainty and loss as affective states that might open up new possibilities for friendships, solidarities, collectivities, and hope? As a response to Carla J. Maier’s ‘The Table and the Dancer’ this essay attends to affective and emotional registers of migration. It attempts to rethink the senses of (...) loss, uprootedness, and uncertainty as possible sources for affinities and hope, with a particular focus on the new migration from Turkey. (shrink)

Şia-Mutezile etkileşiminde kilit isim olarak Şerif el-Murtaza değerlendirmesi.

The analysis of mixed quotation proposed in Cappelen & Lepore (1997), purportedly as a development of Davidson's accounts of direct and of indirect quotation, is critically examined. It is argued that the analysis fails to specify either necessary or sufficient conditions on mixed quotation, and that the way it has been defended by its proponents makes its alleged Davidsonian parentage questionable.