The advance in Internet of Things technology has increased the opportunities for a healthcare system design, which is an urgent need owing to the growth in population among the older adults in many countries. This requires giving thought to the kind of innovative technological design methods that can find suitable solutions for home care. The application of Health Smart Homes by means of the technologies of the Internet of Things, can be used to support rehabilitation treatment and help the senior (...) citizens to understand the importance of taking measures to maintain a healthy standard of living that can meet their needs. The aim of this article is to develop and assess a design method for the following purposes: to determine and map out the physical and emotional state of the home care users, such as senior citizens; to implement a participatory design that includes the user within its social, psychological and therapeutic context; to explore the flexible method when applied to older users; to provide a way for the users to be “personalized” through a wide range of solutions that involve analyzing the behavioral patterns of different individuals in a standardized manner and to define a set of smart technologies for each problem and senior citizen. This article sets out a collaborative method called FlexPersonas, which is employed for the flexible mapping of users and to improve decision-making with the support of Internet of Things technologies. In this context, computing systems can identify the behavior of the user and issue warnings to the Carers about any abnormal event. Studies with an interdisciplinary team point out the potential and drawbacks of the method. (shrink)

Este artigo tem por objetivo analisar excertos de entrevistas com professores do curso de Licenciatura em Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Pará, com a finalidade de estabelecer um panorama analítico balizado por reflexões de caráter introdutório, sobre as concepções de ciência explícitas e tácitas presentes nas respostas desses docentes. Trata-se de um estudo de natureza qualitativa realizado no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da UFPA. A título de Conclusão, está investigação nos remete ao entendimento de que, existe no Curso (...) estudado uma predominância de uma racionalidade técnica na interpretação e manutenção de um sentido de ciência aproximada de um tipo de positivismo alargado e um culto a noção de evolução-progresso de cunho neodarwinista. (shrink)

The world of work has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high instability observed in the labor market, bringing several new challenges for leaders and employees. The present study aims to analyze the role of organizational and job resources in predicting employees’ job insecurity during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, through the mediating role of work engagement. A sample of 207 Portuguese employees participated, of which 64.7% were women. Data was collected using an online (...) survey, including self-report measures of organizational resources, job resources, job insecurity, and work engagement. Data showed that job and organizational resources negatively influenced job insecurity. Moreover, work engagement was a significant mediator of the relation between performance feedback and job insecurity. Findings suggest that investing in job and organizational resources can act as protective factors to minimize feelings of job insecurity. Likewise, leaders should foster work engagement among employees to help them balance the relation between these resources and job insecurity, especially in crisis situations. Overall, this study takes a new, underexplored perspective, theoretically bridging organizational and job resources with job insecurity and work engagement during a time of great uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

IntroductionThere is a need to maintain rehabilitation activities and motivate movement and physical activity during quarantine in individuals with Cerebral Palsy.ObjectiveThis paper sets out to evaluate the feasibility and potential benefits of using computer serious game in a non-immersive virtual reality implemented and evaluated completely remotely in participants with CP for Home-Based Telerehabilitation during the quarantine period for COVID-19.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional design, a total of 44 individuals participated in this study between March and June 2020, 22 of which had CP (...) and 22 typically developing individuals, matched by age and sex to the individuals with CP. Participants practiced a coincident timing game1 and we measured movement performance and physical activity intensity using the rating of perceived exertion Borg scale.ResultsAll participants were able to engage with the VR therapy remotely, reported enjoying sessions, and improved performance in some practice moments. The most important result in this cross-sectional study was the significant increasing in rating of perceived exertion in both groups during practice and with CP presenting a higher rating of perceived exertion.ConclusionChildren with CP enjoyed participating, were able to perform at the same level as their peers on certain activities and increased both their performance and physical activity intensity when using the game, supporting the use of serious games for this group for home therapy and interactive games.Clinical Trials Registrationhttps://Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04402034. Registered on May 20, 2020. (shrink)

The research team measured the enterprise web accessibility levels of the Forbes 250 largest enterprises using the fully automatic accessibility evaluation tool Sortsite, and presented the compliance of the evaluated websites to WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 accessibility levels. Given the recent attention to organizational leaders having ethical duties towards their dedicated employees, we propose that ‘societal citizenship behaviour’ concerns ethical duties of organizational leaders towards society in general and in particular to those who have less means to (...) assert their needs. In effect, we found enterprise website accessibility levels to be in need of significant improvement. An interpretation of a positive path forward to better enterprise website accessibility levels is put forth based on a focus-group interaction and using BNML—a novel Business Narrative Modelling Language. (shrink)

Language’s intentional nature has been highlighted as a crucial feature distinguishing it from other communication systems. Specifically, language is often thought to depend on highly structured intentional action and mutual mindreading by a communicator and recipient. Whilst similar abilities in animals can shed light on the evolution of intentionality, they remain challenging to detect unambiguously. We revisit animal intentional communication and suggest that progress in identifying analogous capacities has been complicated by (i) the assumption that intentional (that is, voluntary) production (...) of communicative acts requires mental-state attribution, and (ii) variation in approaches investigating communication across sensory modalities. To move forward, we argue that a framework fusing research across modalities and species is required. We structure intentional communication into a series of requirements, each of which can be operationalised, investigated empirically, and must be met for purposive, intentionally communicative acts to be demonstrated. Our unified approach helps elucidate the distribution of animal intentional communication and subsequently serves to clarify what is meant by attributions of intentional communication in animals and humans. (shrink)

The use of robots had already been proven to encourage the promotion of social interaction and skills lacking in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, who typically have difficulties in recognizing facial expressions and emotions. The main goal of this research is to study the influence of a humanoid robot to develop socio-emotional skills in children with ASD. The children’s performance in game scenarios aiming to develop facial expressions recognition skills is presented. Along the sessions, children who performed the game scenarios (...) with the robot and the experimenter had a significantly better performance than the children who performed the game scenarios without the robot. The main conclusions of this research support that a humanoid robot is a useful tool to develop socio-emotional skills in the intervention of children with ASD, due to the engagement and positive learning outcome observed. (shrink)

O presente GT se constituiu a partir de convite recebido pelo atual coordenador do GT para participar de um Seminário do Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas "História, Educação e Sociedade no Brasil" em setembro de 1991. Desde então, reuniu um grupo de professores, que vem trabalhando no levantamento e catalogação de fontes primárias e secundárias na região do Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Paranaíba de interesse para a história da educação brasileira. [...] Palavras-chave: educação; história; fontes histórico-educacionais.

We argue that many-valued logics can be useful in analysing informational conflicts by using society semantics. This work concentrates on four-valued Łukasiewicz logic. SSs were proposed by Carnielli and Lima-Marques to deal with conflicts of information involving rational agents that make judgements about propositions according to a given logic within a society, where a society is understood as a collection $\mathcal{A}$ of agents. The interesting point of such semantics is that a new logic can be obtained by combining the logic (...) of the agents under some appropriate rules. Carnielli and Lima-Marques defined SSs for the three-valued logics $I^{1}$ and $P^{1}$. In this kind of semantics, all the agents reason according to classical logic and the molecular formulas behave in the same way as in CL. Marcos provided SSs with classical agents for the three-valued Łukasiewicz logic Ł$_{3}$, but in this case, the molecular formulas do not behave classically. We prove here that one can characterize Ł$_{4}^{\prime}$, a conservative extension of Ł$_{4}$ obtained by adding a connective $\blacktriangledown$, by means of a closed society where the agents reason according to Ł$_{3}$. We shall emphasize the importance of recovery operators in the construction of this class of societies. Moreover, we shall relate this semantics to Suszko’s view on the ‘two-valuedness’ of logic. (shrink)

Resenha do livro: ENKVIST, Inger. Educação: Guia para perplexos. Campinas-SP: Kirion, 2019. 142 p. Inger Enkvist é professora de literatura espanhola na Universidade de Lund, na Suécia e estudiosa das ideias pedagógicas e práticas educativas, com vasta publicação de ensaios e livros sobre o tema, analisando-o em suas aplicações em diferentes contextos. É conhecida por sua crítica às abordagens pedagógicas que se tornaram hegemônicas a partir da metade do século XX, as quais ela sintetiza sob o título de “ nova (...) pedagogia”, contrastando-as com os pressupostos teóricos e práticas da chamada “pedagogia tradicional”. Na obra em análise, a autora procura esclarecer o conceito de “pedagogia tradicional” ou “educação tradicional” que, segundo ela, normalmente é apresentado de forma superficial, pejorativa e até caricatural. Remete-se à filosofia clássica para apresentar os fundamentos dessa tradição que já vem sendo negada desde que a educação passou a ser pensada dos pontos de vistas utilitarista e igualitarista, desde o século XIX, culminando na hegemonia de tais pressupostos em meados do século XX. Aponta a crise atual como, em grande parte, consequência dessa “nova” percepção. Nessa abordagem introdutória, propõe aos educadores o aprofundar-se no conhecimento dos conceitos e princípios educação tradicional, refletindo sobre as suas implicações práticas e os resultados obtidos por países que ainda os adotam. Realiza também uma avaliação dos pressupostos da “nova pedagogia” e as suas possíveis relações não apenas com os resultados da educação escolar, mas implicações sociais mais amplas. Aborda as diversas aplicações do conceito de educação e espaços onde ela é realizada, delimitando o seu enfoque a educação escolar e as suas relações. Discute os fundamentos epistemológicos da educação, o papel do professor, sua formação e postura profissional, as disciplinas escolares, seus objetivos e métodos de ensino e aprendizagem, bem como os papéis da instituição escolar, do aluno e a imprescindível colaboração da família. Aborda ainda a educação como política de Estado, refletindo sobre avaliações dos sistemas de ensino em diferentes contextos. Enkvist (2019) discute inicialmente o conceito de educação em suas diversas aplicações e nos vários espaços de sua realização, enfatizando aquela que é produzida no âmbito da família e da escola. Nesse aspecto, apesar das diferenças de objetivos e fundamentação teórica, a abordagem lembra Brandão (2001), apontando quão amplo é este conceito e a diversidade de possibilidades de suas aplicações, sendo a educação escolar apenas uma delas. Mesmo sendo o objetivo da autora tratar especificamente da educação escolar, reconhece a necessidade de articular a sua abordagem aos outros aspectos e instituições relacionadas. Para ela, “a educação de um jovem é um projeto de colaboração entre o próprio jovem, a família, a escola e a sociedade” (p.71). Data de registro: 01/10/2020 Data de aceite: 22/09/2021. (shrink)

Editorial - Dossiê: Religião e Cultura (Religion and Culture) De religiões, cultura e capitalismo DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2011v9n21p199.

This article first points out that attempts to establish the fo u ndations of an existent ial psycho a nalysis are always pre s e nt in Sartre’s philosophy. After pre s e nt i ng philosophies that are inc o r p o rated and re c reated in the process of giving shape to the project of existent ial psycho a nalysis, it gives examples of how this psycho a nalysis should be. At end, the article suggests in (...) what way Sartre’s criticism to Fre ud ian psycho a nalysis can today ins p i re cont e m p o rary Brazilian psychoanalytical thinking. (shrink)

Um estudo sobre a relação entre literatura e religião tomando ambas como expressão de produtividade da interpretação no contexto da Modernidade. O artigo aborda os pressupostos filosóficos da relação entre história da salvação e história da interpretação, e suas consequências para a consciência histórico-cultural do Ocidente, tal como examinado por Gianni Vattimo. Segundo este, o legado do Cristianismo se atualiza na Modernidade tardia em termos de produtividade da interpretação, ampliando a noção de linguagem e discurso por suas implicações ontológicas e (...) epistemológicas. A partir desses argumentos, a relação entre literatura e religião se estreita, permitindo compreender ambas como formas de produção simbólica, narrativa e discursiva de interpretações poéticas e normativas da vida no mundo. Para compreendê-lo nesses termos, recorre-se a conceitos chaves da hermenêutica literária desenvolvida por Paul Ricoeur, com o qual temos categorias de análise, bem como uma compreensão hermenêutica do próprio evento do texto literário. Finalmente, o artigo conclui com apontamentos para o que seria uma hermenêutica teológica da literatura, nos termos da teologia da cultura de Paul Tillich. Palavras-chaves: Literatura. Religião. Interpretação. Hermenêutica Literária. Teologia da cultura.: This article presents a study on the relationship between literature and religion taking both as expression of the productivity of interpretation in the context of modernity. The article discusses the philosophical assumptions of the relationship between the salvation history and the history of interpretation and its implications for historical and cultural consciousness of the West, as seen by Gianni Vattimo. According this author, the legacy of Christianity is updated in late modernity in terms of productivity interpretation, expanding the notion of language and discourse for their ontological and epistemological implications. From these arguments on, the relationship between literature and religion becomes closer, allowing us to understand both literature and religion as forms of symbolic production: poetic and normative interpretations of life in the world. To understand it in those terms, key concepts of literary hermeneutics developed by Paul Ricoeur are evoked. These terms are used as categories of analysis to facilitate a hermeneutic understanding of the actual event of the literary text. Finally, the paper concludes with some considerations for a hermeneutics of theological literature, in terms of the theology of Paul Tillich culture. Keywords : Literature. Religion. Interpretation. Literary Hermeneutics. Theology of culture. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2012v10n25p29. (shrink)

Although values have increasingly received attention in psychiatric literature over the last three decades, their role has been only partially acknowledged in psychiatric classification endeavors. The review p..

Neste artigo defendo que a Teoria da Informação Fortemente Semântica de Floridi – TIFS – está correta ao assumir a Tese da Veracidade, que por sua vez orienta a definição de informação semântica como “p é informação se e somente se p é constituído por dados bem-formados, com significado e verdadeiros”. Argumento que a teoria não é arbitrária, pois dá conta do desembaraço de conundrums filosóficos importantes, principalmente por evitar o paradoxo de Bar-Hillel e Carnap, que é gerado a partir (...) da teoria clássica da informação semântica. Primeiro é discutido um dos principais resultados da teoria clássica, o de produzir “sentenças muito informativas para serem verdadeiras”. Depois são resumidas as motivações para a elaboração de uma “lógica de estar informado” e é mostrado como o sistema KTB-IL é montado e modelado mantendo-se entre os seus axiomas o da veracidade – K ou A4. Finalmente, a TIFS é examinada e defendida ao mostrar que ela restringe aleticamente a extensão do conceito clássico de informação para evitar problemas com tautologias e contradições. A TIFS oferece uma solução original ao capturar nossas intuições modais a respeito da informatividade como noção básica. (shrink)

In this article I defend that Floridi’s Theory of Strongly Semantic Information – TSSI – is correct while encompassing the Veracity Thesis, which guides the semantic information definition as “p is information if and only if p is constituted by meaningful, truth well-formed data”. I argue that the theory is not arbitrary because it deals with important philosophical conundrums, mainly by avoiding the Bar-Hillel and Carnap paradox (1953) generated from the classical theory of semantic information. First, one of the classic (...) theory’s main result is discussed: the production of “too much informative sentences to be true”. Then the motivations to elaborate a “logic of being informed” are summarized and it is shown how the KTB-IL system is built and modelled keeping the veracity axiom among its axioms – K or A4. Finally the TSSI is examined and defended by showing that it aletically restricts the extension of the classic concept of information, avoiding problems with tautologies and contradictions. The TSSI offers an original solution by capturing our modal intuitions concerning informativeness as a basic notion. (shrink)

O presente artigo analisa as ligações entre a Cáritas Brasileira e a Economia Popular Solidária a partir do trabalho do Agente de Cáritas. A problemática central do artigo remete às representações sociais que esses Agentes constroem em seus relatos sobre os princípios da Teologia da Libertação que norteiam os projetos em economia solidária da referida instituição religiosa. A metodologia de base qualitativa e etnográfica consistiu na realização da revisão bibliográfica, consulta a materiais institucionais, observação in loco e entrevistas semiestruturadas com (...) Agentes que atuam na Economia Popular Solidária no estado do Ceará. A análise das representações sinaliza que a própria noção de “Reino de Deus” na terra pressupõe a vinculação profunda entre religião e economia, mística e movimentos sociais, religião e Estado, configurando, dessa forma, um projeto de sociedade contra hegemônico que se vislumbra mediante a transformação radical da base econômica e moral do tecido social contrapondo individualismo à solidariedade. Palavras-chave: Cáritas Brasileira. Economia Popular Solidária. Caridade Libertadora. Teologia da Libertação.This article examines the links between Brazilian Caritas and Popular Solidarity Economy from the work of Caritas Agent. The central issue of the article refers to the social representations that these agents build in his histories about the principles of Liberation Theology that guide the projects in solidarity economy of that religious institution. The basic methodology used was qualitative and ethnographic; It consisted in literature review, consultation to institutional materials, observation in loco and semi-structured interviews with agents who act in the Popular Solidarity Economy in the state of Ceará. The analysis of representations indicates that the very notion of "Kingdom of God" on earth presupposes deep linking between religion and economics, mystic and social movements, religion and state configuring a project of a counter hegemonic society who sees through the radical transformation of the economic and moral base of the social tissue opposing solidarity to individualism. Keywords : Brazilian Caritas. Popular Solidarity Economy. Liberating Charity. Liberation. (shrink)

Este texto apresenta algumas reflexões sobre os elementos poéticos presentes no discurso místico, ressaltando quais as características fundamentais destes textos, desde um ponto de vista da poesia. Ao fazer isso, o texto também pergunta quais seriam os elementos místicos da poesia. Se se pode falar de uma poética da mística, poder-se-ia também considerar uma mística da poética? Considerando-se que o discurso místico é resultado de uma experiência com o sagrado, haveria uma experiência transcendente também expressa na poesia considerada profana? O (...) procedimento adotado para a depreensão desta poética da mista é a análise literária de alguns poemas da tradição mística, de um salmo bíblico e de um texto de um poeta não comprometido com uma tradição religiosa específica. O resultado desta análise é percebido como uma possível poética da mística. Por outro lado, o aspecto transgressor da linguagem presente na poesia é apontado como sendo expressão da mística da poesia. Palavras-chave : Poesia. Mística. Teologia Negativa. Literatura. Sagrado.: This paper reflects on the poetical elements present in mystical discourse. The idea is to highlight the poetical characteristics of mystical texts. In doing so, the article asks which the mystical elements of poetry are. Another question is also raised: if it is possible to talk about poetics of mystic, is it possible to consider the existence of a mystical poetic? Considering the mystical discourse as the result of an experience with the Sacred, is there a transcendental experience expressed in poetry considered profane? For the establishment of this poetic of mysticism, the texts analyses some mystical poems: a psalm from the Bible and a poem from a Brazilian poetry that does not belong to a specific religion tradition. The result of this analysis is presented as a possible poetic of mysticism. Furthermore, the aspect of transgression of the language, present in poetry, is shown as an expression of the mystic of poetry. Keywords: Poetry. Mysticism. Negative Theology. Literature. Sacred. - DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2012v10n25p53. (shrink)

In our paper we aim at reflecting upon the extent to which educational theory may be used as a framework in the analysis of policy documents. As policy texts are ‘heteroglossic in character’ (Lingard and Ozga, in The Routledge Falmer reader in education policy and politics, Routledge, London and New York, 2007 , p. 2) and create “circumstances in which the range of options available in deciding what to do are narrowed or changed” (Ball in, Education policy and social class: (...) The selected works of Stephen J Ball, Routledge, London and New York, 2006 , p. 46), they need to be theoretically tackled in their underlying assumptions and implications. This proposal draws on an analysis of two sets of documents of the European Union: texts produced between 2000 and 2006, underlying the European Union programmes; and texts produced by a working group focusing on the key competences of Lifelong Learning (2003–2006). Initially, the framework for the analysis of different documents was grounded on the existing research in the field of educational policy. Now we attempt a secondary analysis of the collected data by transposing the borders of this particular and highly prolific field. We argue that what is outside the texts may reshape what is inside the texts. Educational theory allows us to define some conceptual tools in order to question the documents as political apparatus which open and constrain possibilities. Therefore, we will use educational theory as an arena where different matters, perspectives and possibilities may be explored and assembled. We have engaged in a conversation with both the data and some theoretical approaches. Central to this conversation are the concepts of “ignorant schoolmaster” (Rancière, in The ignorant schoolmaster five lessons in intellectual emancipation, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1991 ), “learning contexts” (Edwards, in Rethinking contexts for learning and teaching, Routledge, Oxon and New York, 2009a , b ), and “experience” (Larrosa, in Revista Brasileira de Educação, 19:20–28, 2002 ). (shrink)

I. The New Inscription from Cales. II. The Date of the Operations Recorded by the Inscription Dessau 8965. III. The Identity of the General. I. The following inscription was recently discovered at Cales: M. Vinicius P.f., M.n., L.pron., cos. II, VII vir [epu]lonum, sodalis Augustalis, thriumphalibus ornamentis, quinq viam ab angiporto aedi[s] Iunonis Lucinae usque [ad] aedem Matutae et [clivum] ab ianu ad g[isiarios portae] Stellatin[ae et viam patulam] ad portafm laevam et ab foro] ad port[am domesticam sua pecunia stravit].

This volume presents twenty-two uncollected philosophical essays by Sir Peter Strawson, one of the leading philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. The essays (two of them previously unpublished) are drawn from seven decades of work, from 1949 to 2003. They span the broad range of Strawson's work: metaphysics, epistemology, philosophical logic, philosophy of language, ethical theory, and history of philosophy, along with metaphilosophical reflections and intellectual autobiography.

Background Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) designed to screen for fetal genetic conditions, is increasingly being implemented as a part of routine prenatal care screening in the United States (US). However, these advances in reproductive genetic technology necessitate empirical research on the ethical and social implications of NIPT among populations underrepresented in genetic research, particularly Black women with sickle cell disease (SCD).Methods Forty (N = 40) semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with Black women in the US (19 participants with SCD; 21 (...) participants without SCD) from June 2021 to January 2022. We employed a qualitative approach to examine the study participants’ perceptions of the potential advancement of NIPT for screening SCD in the fetus. Data were analyzed using NVivo 12 qualitative software.Results The themes revealed the complexities involving the intersectional lived experiences of SCD, prenatal care, lack of synergy among health providers, and NIPT decision-making. The results further revealed that even when Black women have shared commonalities in their lived experiences while navigating SCD and motherhood, their perceptions of NIPT screening technologies are divergent.Conclusion Expanding the ethical discourse on the social implications of NIPT is critical to fully elucidate how Black women perceive NIPT’s utility, particularly as NIPT advances to screen for SCD in the fetus. Neglecting to include Black women with genetic conditions in empirical studies on NIPT may contribute to ongoing health inequities and limit and constrain reproductive choices among Black women with and without SCD. (shrink)

The paper deals with the question of whether poverty as such violates the dignity of persons. It is argued that it does. This is, it is argued, not due to a lack of basic goods, nor to the fact that poverty prevents persons from enjoying the rights they have, particularly the right to bodily integrity. Poverty does violate dignity, so it is argued, insofar as poor people are dependent on others in a degrading way.

In what follows I propose to bring out certain methodological properties of projects of modelling the tacit realm that bear on the kinds of modelling done in connection with scientific cognition by computer as well as by ethnomethodological sociologists, both of whom must make some claims about the tacit in the course of their efforts to model cognition. The same issues, I will suggest, bear on the project of a cognitive psychology of science as well.

Efforts have been dedicated to the understanding of social-ecological systems, an important focus in ethnobiological studies. In particular, ethnobiological investigations have found evidence and tested hypotheses over the last 30 years on the interactions between human groups and their environments, generating the need to formulate a theory for such systems. In this article, we propose the social-ecological theory of maximization to explain the construction and functioning of these systems over time, encompassing hypotheses and evidence from previous ethnobiological studies. In proposing (...) the theory, we present definitions and two conceptual models, an environmental maximization model and a redundancy generation model. The first model seeks to address biota selection and its use by human populations. The second emphasizes how the system organizes itself from the elements that were incorporated into it. Furthermore, we provide the theoretical scenario of plant selection and use from an evolutionary perspective, which explicitly integrates the phylogenetic relationships of plants and human beings. (shrink)

Søren Kierkegaard and Walter Lippmann wrote in very different times and places but both characterized the public as a “phantom.” Importantly, each did so within the context of a broader analysis that linked the press with specific notions about the public and democracy. This paper highlights the specific characteristics of the press that each thinker believed were responsible for the construction of the phantom public and its effects. While taking seriously the differences between Kierkegaard and Lippmann, in both their respective (...) sociopolitical contexts and their formulations of the public and the press, this paper applies their critiques to a vastly different media terrain than either thinker could have envisioned. (shrink)

Awareness of, and respect for differences of gender, race, religion, language, and culture have liberated many oppressed groups from the hegemony of white, Western males. However, respect for previously denigrated collective identities should not be allowed to confine individuals to identities constructed around one main component used for political mobilisation, or to identities that depend on a priority of properties that are not optional, like race, gender, and language. In this article I want to sketch an approach for accommodating different (...) kinds of identity within a multicultural constitutional democracy. From a vantage point provided by a definition and explanation of personal identity, I want to show how people define, construct and change their personal identities to make themselves into unique individuals. Next I show how democratic political institutions and the personal identities of individuals reciprocally influence one another. In the final section I sketch ways in which diverse personal identities ought to be accommodated in multicultural constitutional democracies. The conclusion is that a society which gives its members the liberty, space, and opportunity to freely construct their own identities might avoid the formation of closed groups committed exclusively to their own sectional interests. (shrink)

The roles companion animals have played in our lives has dramatically changed over the last few decades. At the same time, the terms we use to describe both the people and animals in these human-animal relationships have also changed. One example includes the use of the terms ‘owner’ or ‘guardian’ to refer to the human caretaker. While preferences by society appear to indicate increased interest in referring to companion animal caretakers as ‘guardians’, others have cautioned against its use or attempted (...) to restrict it. Additionally, the use of animal welfare terminology has direct implications for how we conduct both welfare research and practice. Our paper examines the use of ‘owner’ and ‘guardian’ with respect to (1) the implications for changing terminology on the function, clarity and uniformity of their use, and (2) the ethical and welfare impact that coincides with each term’s use. Our goal is to propose terminological considerations that could influence future welfare research, as well as help guide our interactions with companion animals. (shrink)