Henry E. Allison presents an analytical and historical commentary on Kant`s transcendental deduction of the pure concepts of the understanding in the Critique of Pure Reason. He argues that, rather than providing a new solution to an old problem, it addresses a new problem, and he traces the line of thought that led Kant to the recognition of the significance of this problem in his 'pre-critical' period. In addition to the developmental nature of the account of Kant`s views presented here, (...) two distinctive features of Allison's reading of the deduction are a defense of Kant`s oft criticized claim that the conformity of appearances to the categories must be unconditionally rather than merely conditionally necessary and an insistence that the argument cannot be separated from Kant`s transcendental idealism. (shrink)

It is unreasonable to assume that our pre-scientific emotion vocabulary embodies all and only those distinctions required for a scientific psychology of emotion. The psychoevolutionary approach to emotion yields an alternative classification of certain emotion phenomena. The new categories are based on a set of evolved adaptive responses, or affect-programs, which are found in all cultures. The triggering of these responses involves a modular system of stimulus appraisal, whose evoluations may conflict with those of higher-level cognitive processes. Whilst the structure (...) of the adaptive responses is innate, the contents of the system which triggers them are largely learnt. The circuits subserving the adaptive responses are probably located in the limbic system. This theory of emotion is directly applicable only to a small sub-domain of the traditional realm of emotion. It can be used, however, to explain the grouping of various other phenomena under the heading of emotion, and to explain various characteristic failings of the pre-scientific conception of emotion. (shrink)

It is unreasonable to assume that our pre-scientific emotion vocabulary embodies all and only those distinctions required for a scientific psychology of emotion. The psychoevolutionary approach to emotion yields an alternative classification of certain emotion phenomena. The new categories are based on a set of evolved adaptive responses, or affect-programs, which are found in all cultures. The triggering of these responses involves a modular system of stimulus appraisal, whose evoluations may conflict with those of higher-level cognitive processes. Whilst the structure (...) of the adaptive responses is innate, the contents of the system which triggers them are largely learnt. The circuits subserving the adaptive responses are probably located in the limbic system. This theory of emotion is directly applicable only to a small sub-domain of the traditional realm of emotion. It can be used, however, to explain the grouping of various other phenomena under the heading of emotion, and to explain various characteristic failings of the pre-scientific conception of emotion. (shrink)

The book is designed as an introductory text in the history of pre-Christian religion. The religions are examined in their socio-historical context and are treated as religions in the broad sense in which they provided total frameworks of meaning for a particular culture. The religions treated are the standard ones: Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Hebraic, and Greek. Loew's technique is to examine in detail the literature of each culture and to reconstruct from it the sacred space in which the people of (...) that culture must have moved. His categories of myth, sacred history, and philosophy are meant to be more or less adequate characterizations of the shape of the expression of the sacred in the Sumero-Babylonian and Egyptian, Hebraic, and Greek cultures respectively. Of course there is overlap, e.g., the obviously mythic roots of Greek literature. Loew is best on the Sumero-Babylonian and Egyptian religions. When he comes to the Hebraic religions he oversimplifies the picture to a considerable degree, as is the case also with his treatment of the Greeks. But this is perhaps a justifiable procedure in an introductory text. Each chapter concludes with a brief but helpfully annotated bibliography.--E. A. R. (shrink)

Donors, scientists and farmers all benefit when research and development projects have high impact. However, potential benefits are sometimes not realized. Our objective in this study is to determine why resource-poor farmers in Togo (declined to) adopt recommended practices that were promoted through a multi-organizational project on soil fertility management. We examine the processes and outcomes related to the adoption process. The project was undertaken in three villages in the Central Region of Togo in West Africa. The development and research (...) processes that took place during the implementation of the project were critically analyzed using a conceptual framework that may be useful for improving the impact of future participatory projects. At the macro level, opportunities for innovation were not deliberately explored with participating farmers and other village members; consequently “pre-analytical choices” made during the planning phase resulted in practices that resource-poor farmers were, for a variety of reasons, unable or unwilling to adopt. From the outset, donors and scientists focused on soil fertility management, but failed to take into account the wider economic context within which soil fertility management took place. This was a major obstacle to the subsequent adoption of recommended management strategies. Scientists and donor partners measured the success of the Project in terms of crop productivity, but farmers’ choices were influenced by a complex mix of socio-economic, political and technical factors. We also illustrate the importance of selecting appropriate categories of farmers for a particular experiment. We conclude that for participatory research and development projects to be successful, it is not enough to develop technologies that “work” in a technical sense. In order to be scaled up and widely implemented, such technologies must also meet a variety of needs of resource-poor farmers and be acceptable from a socio-cultural point of view. (shrink)

Este texto procura explicitar alguns aspectos da interpretação bergsoniana de Aristóteles, sobretudo aqueles que fazem de Aristóteles um eminente representante do que Bergson denomina Filosofia das formas. A leitura bergsoniana procura mostrar que não há diferença significativa entre Aristóteles e Platão, na medida em que ambos comprometem-se com a fundação do conhecimento a partir da ontologia de Parmênides. Desta maneira, o quadro categorial aristotélico e o princípio ontológico da Forma da Formas, ou Forma Pura, tentam solucionar a aporia (...) parmenídica remetendo a imobilidade ao estranho lógico do conhecimento, ou a objetividade ao conhecimento das existências em seu caráter lógico. (shrink)

A filosofia do conhecimento de Leonardo Coimbra desenvolve-se sob a noção de uma relação dialéctica intuitivo-racional e lógico-poética. Toma a realidade, não de forma parcial e redutora, mas de forma integral, na relação progressiva e ascendente do pensar com o ser, através daquilo que se revela nos diferentes níveis da experiência humana: físico, bio-psicológico, científico, estético, ético, metafísico e religioso.Um conhecimento que não se reduz ao plano cognitivo e discursivo da razão lógico-analítica, mas também abrange o plano afectivo (...) da razão analógica e poético-mistérica. Através das experiências noético-emocionais da Alegria, Dor e Graça, a gnosiologia criacionista parte do conhecimento pré-categorial do ver intuitivo, para o conhecimento discursivo do ver conceptual, terminando na experiência-síntese metafísico-religiosa da visão ginástica em que se dá a contemplação do divino. (shrink)

The book is designed as an introductory text in the history of pre-Christian religion. The religions are examined in their socio-historical context and are treated as religions in the broad sense in which they provided total frameworks of meaning for a particular culture. The religions treated are the standard ones: Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Hebraic, and Greek. Loew's technique is to examine in detail the literature of each culture and to reconstruct from it the sacred space in which the people of (...) that culture must have moved. His categories of myth, sacred history, and philosophy are meant to be more or less adequate characterizations of the shape of the expression of the sacred in the Sumero-Babylonian and Egyptian, Hebraic, and Greek cultures respectively. Of course there is overlap, e.g., the obviously mythic roots of Greek literature. Loew is best on the Sumero-Babylonian and Egyptian religions. When he comes to the Hebraic religions he oversimplifies the picture to a considerable degree, as is the case also with his treatment of the Greeks. But this is perhaps a justifiable procedure in an introductory text. Each chapter concludes with a brief but helpfully annotated bibliography.--E. A. R. (shrink)

Process philosophy is said by some to be the future of American philosophy. This collection of essays, ranging from studies of Whitehead to Camus and Sir Muhammad Iqbal, extends the discussion far beyond the boundaries of North America. Several of the essays are of a more systematic character. Donald Hanks analyzes the category of process as a pre-conceptual principle used to organize experience into an intelligible pattern. Andrew Reck provides an analysis of the meaning and justification of what he considers (...) to be the ten ideas or categories requisite for a system of process philosophy. Charles Schmidtke argues that process philosophy faces a fundamental decision regarding whether the character of reality as process is given as an ultimate datum or whether process philosophy structures reality in accordance with the characteristic of creative becoming. Other essays in the volume are concerned with the concept of process in the work of a variety of philosophers, some of whom are less directly in the process tradition. Ramona Cormier analyzes the relationship of the process of experience to its unchanging aspect in connection with Camus’ concern for the meaningfulness of life and the limitations of rational inquiry. Bertrand P. Helm provides a study of James’ concept of time and Patrick S. Madigan a study of the concept of space in Leibniz and Whitehead. Whitehead’s understanding of the interaction of things provides the basis for R. Kirby Godsey’s study of the categories of substance and relation in Whitehead, and Robert C. Whittemore provides an introduction to the process philosophy of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, the little known poet-philosopher and sometime student of James Ward. James Leroy Smith’s article on Whitehead and Marx is a critical comparison of their political philosophies.—E.T.L. (shrink)

Após a obrigatoriedade da educação sexual (ES) nas escolas portuguesas em 2009, pretendemos conhecer que perspectiva têm os professores ( N = 307) sobre a ES. Através de um questionário on-line , analisado através de estatística descritiva e de análise factorial e inferencial, avaliámos as atitudes gerais sobre a ES, o conhecimento, o conforto e a disponibilidade para a ensinar, a importância atribuída a diversos tópicos de ES e o nível de escolaridade em que devem ser introduzidos. Os professores (...) revelaram atitudes ainda mais positivas do que em estudos anteriores. Consideraram ter um conhecimento, um conforto e uma disponibilidade moderados, realidade que se mantém inalterada na última década. Ao contrário de estudos anteriores, o início da ES foi proposto mais precocemente, entre o pré-escolar e o 5º ano.1 A perspectiva de ES defendida revela um modelo médico-preventivo, valorizando-se mais a saúde sexual e menos o comportamento sexual e as questões de género. A percepção de formação considerada suficiente, a erotofilia e pontualmente o sexo feminino destacam-se na adopção de uma perspectiva abrangente de ES. A análise de resultados foi, sempre que possível, comparada com resultados de estudos similares realizados no Brasil. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta uma abordagem inicial sobre a caracterização do campo meta-teórico de pesquisa em educação inclusiva e, em particular, examina as forças que produzem seu discurso na pesquisa documental. É reconhecida a necessidade de avançar na exploração de uma perspectiva epistêmica que permita superar o absentismo teórico enfrentado pela educação inclusiva em tempos complexos. O desenvolvimento atual da pesquisa em educação inclusiva é alimentado por vários campos de confluência fora da pedagogia, o que resultou na cristalização de um discurso (...) crítico e não crítico sobre si mesmo. As diferenças entre as perspectivas crítica e acrítica residem na ausência de raciocínio para politizar a discussão sobre a inclusão como mecanismo de transformação de todos os campos da vida do cidadão. Isso confirma a presença de políticas de produção de conhecimento que impõem fundamentos intelectuais binários e poucos pontos de fuga para problematizar as relações estruturais da desigualdade. Soma-se a isso as fortes raízes de padrões que impõem modelos epistêmicos quebrados para pensar nas opressões objeto das diversas identidades que chegam ao espaço escolar e demarcam novas formas de expressão cidadã. Conclui-se com base em um modelo pré-construído de tipo normativo para refletir sobre as questões fundamentais do desenvolvimento humano e cidadão. É necessário promover um processo de descolonização em todos os campos da Ciência da Educação, bem como uma crítica genealógica dos fundamentos híbridos que este modelo propõe, dada a uniformidade de seu discurso em todos os ciclos e níveis de ensino. Palavras-chave: educação inclusiva, políticas de produção de conhecimento, epistemologia, identidades e temas educacionais. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo mostrar a leitura heideggeriana da filosofia de Edmund Husserl a partir do tema da intuição categorial desenvolvida por este último e os seus desdobramentos na própria obra de Heidegger. Defendemos a hipótese de que ao retirar a consciência da sua abordagem tradicional, isto é, ao livrá-la do psicologismo, Husserl impulsiona Heidegger na inauguração da sua fenomenologia hermenêutica, pois a consciência deixa de ser tratada como um objeto natural e tem o seu caráter ideal (...) destacado. Desse modo, afirmamos que Heidegger, radicalizando, constrói uma interrogação que desloca o objeto da fenomenologia do campo da consciência para a existência, deixando a teoria do conhecimento, na qual se inseria Husserl, indo em direção de uma ontologia. Para tal, percorreremos por alguns conceitos centrais das Investigações Lógicas, passando em seguida para a análise dos poucos fragmentos onde Heidegger explicita a sua relação com a obra husserliana. (shrink)

Dentre os problemas que têm norteado nossas investigações, duas indagações ganham destaque. Como a informação e o conhecimento estão inseridos no arcabouço teórico de Karl Marx? Que janelas o pensamento de Marx nos abre para discutir do papel da informação e do conhecimento no universo do trabalho, na atualidade? Fazendo dessa perspectiva objeto de pesquisa, busca-se apreender a inserção da informação e do conhecimento no arcabouço teórico marxiano, tendo como referências principais O Capital, Teorias da mais-valia e (...) Capítulo VI Inédito. A exposição aborda alguns construtos categoriais da obra marxiana onde a informação e o conhecimento laboral são elementos centrais, a exemplo das categorias mercadoria, força de trabalho, trabalho simples e trabalho complexo, subsunção formal e subsunção real, trabalhador coletivo, trabalho produtivo e trabalhador produtivo. Após a discussão das ideias de Marx, são apresentados alguns aspectos do trabalho na atualidade, para os quais o complexo categorial marxiano revela-se pertinente e necessário. Labour, information and knowledge: rereading marx in the information age AbstractAmong the problems that have guided our investigations, two questions are crucial. How information and knowledge take part in the theoretical framework conceived by Karl Marx? Which windows does Marx's thought open to discuss the role of information and knowledge in the current labour realm? Adopting this perspective, we aim to apprehend the insertion of information and knowledge in the Marxian theoretical framework, especially in the books Capital, Theories of Surplus-Value and Chapter VI (unpublished). The exposition presents some Marxian categorical constructs where information and labour knowledge are central elements, such as the categories commodity, labour force, simple unskilled labour and complex skilled labour, formal subsumption and real subsumption, collective labour, productive labour and productive worker. After discussing the ideas of Marx, we present some aspects of the contemporary labour, where the Marxian categorical complex is pertinent and necessary. (shrink)

O pensamento de Heidegger, através da analítica existencial e da proposta de destruição da metafísica, elabora um novo horizonte a partir do qual o conhecimento pode ser compreendido. Não mais da objetificação, dos dualismos sujeito e objeto, mente e mundo, mas a partir do lugar originário, do ser-aí em sua facticidade, do seu ser-no-mundo. O texto pretende mostrar e caracterizar esse horizonte originário e prévio, além de indicar algumas possibilidades que com ele se abrem. Daremos ênfase à questão do (...) horizonte compreensivo prévio, que acompanha cada conhecimento e cada conhecer, mas que tende a se manter oculto e esquecido em função da primazia do ente na Metafísica tradicional. Inicial e normalmente vivemos e pensamos a partir da disponibilidade e da presença dos entes, do que se chama de realidade. Há que retomar a historicidade e a temporalidade do ser humano como condições básicas que acompanham o fenômeno do conhecimento e, por isso, da noção de possibilidade e de abertura. Uma volta para as condições pré-teóricas e pré-lógicas do conhecimento, onde o fundamento é segundo o modo de ser do ser-aí, a facticidade, um abismo, o ser-no-mundo a partir donde se constituem as relações cognoscitivas e práticas. O conhecimento humano é finito, assim como o é o próprio ser humano e, por isso, não possui lugar fora do tempo onde possa ser ancorado e fixado. Há uma circularidade interpretativa e uma diferença ontológica já sempre em operação e que não podem ser superadas por teorias do conhecimento, mas devem ser autenticamente assumidas para que o conhecimento seja compreendido no seu ser. Palavras-chave: Conhecimento. Hermenêutica. Metafísica. Heidegger. Diferença ontológica. (shrink)

BY OVEREMPHASIZING MATERIALISTIC VALUES, we have perverted the culture and set modern Western civilization on a self-destructive course. Some critics have said that the economy, science, and technology are the only healthy aspects of our society. We have what I have called a saber-toothed tiger civilization. In the evolutionary process, the saber-toothed tiger developed great tusks as effective weapons in combat, but perished because they obstructed its eating. We have developed a culture that is highly successful in advancing science and (...) technology and producing wealth and power, but in doing so we have undermined and subjectivized the sectors of the culture that underwrite our identity, the meaning of our existence, and the norms and values by which we live our lives, organize our society, and run our institutions, including even science and the economy. But unlike the saber-toothed tiger, we can discover our error and correct our course. (shrink)

Neste artigo, procuro avaliar o sentido para o projeto dedutivo da Crítica da Razão Pura da distinção, apresentada no §18 dessa obra, entre unidade objetiva e unidade subjetiva da apercepção. Primeiramente, apresento o objetivo geral e os passos fundamentais da dedução transcendental das categorias do entendimento. Em seguida, identifico o esboço de uma estratégia argumentativa, inaugurada no §18 da Dedução, fundada na compreensão da unidade subjetiva da apercepção como um juízo de percepção acerca de “objetos subjetivos”. Finalmente, defendo que uma (...) dedução assim construída não é uma prova consistente da possibilidade do conhecimento objetivo, na medida em que pretende se furtar à tarefa de demonstrar que as categorias do entendimento são condições da possibilidade da nossa percepção pré-judicativa de objetos sensivelmente intuídos. (shrink)

Political argument and institutions in the UnitedKingdom have frequently been represented as the products of ablend of nationalistic conservatism, liberal individualism andsocialism, in which consensus has been prized over ideology. This situation changed, as the standard story has it, with therise of Thatcherism in the late 1970s, and again with the arrivalof Tony Blair's ``New Labour'' pragmatism in the late 1990s. Solidarity as an element of political discourse makes itsappearance in the UK late in the day. It has been most (...) stronglylinked to the Third Way debate, as framed most influentially inthe work of Prof. Anthony Giddens.In this paper we review the history and pre-history of the debateon solidarity in the UK, focussing mostly on its implications forwelfare state reform. In particular we discuss the proposals forthe long-term care of the Elderly issued by the Royal Commissionon long-term care in 1999. In this context we critically examinethe idea that solidarity is a new concept in British politicalculture, and that it is a concept which has real political ``bite''in the project of welfare reform. We examine this through aconsideration of Giddens's attempted synthesis of politicalargument and social theory. (shrink)

The Phaedo and the Symposium are dialogues in which Plato's conception of philosophy is not dissociated of orphic elements and mythical constructions. I propose that the themes of the pre-existence of the soul and the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo and myths told by Aristophanes and Diotima in the Symposium, examined together, provide rich material for understanding the nature and limits of knowledge and philosophy in Plato. I also suggest, before this interpretation, a reading of the "sudden vision (...) of beauty in itself," in Symposium 210e, which takes into account these limits. Knowledge is, from this reading, a dynamic search, much more than intuition of the forms. (shrink)

Este texto pretende expor o significado da descoberta fenomenológica da intuição categorial, feita por Husserl, para o tradicional problema das categorias e para o novo encaminhamento da questão do ser, que se deu com a investigação e meditação de Heidegger. Expõe o contexto em que a descoberta foi realizada: o do esclarecimento do conhecimento em referência ao modo de captação do ente em seu ser, a partir da sensibilidade e do entendimento. Indica como o método fenomenológico transcendental, através (...) da tematização da intencionalidade, com sua análise noético-noemática, possibilitou uma retomada do problema das categorias numa nova luz. Seguindo pela via da analogia, aponta-se que o categorial se dá propriamente numa intuição, assim como o sensível, embora de modo diverso. A descoberta da intuição categorial indica que o categorial é mais do que forma. É uma verdadeira e própria datidade. Nela e com ela acontece uma genuína doação do ser. Tradicionalmente, o lógos apophantikós serviu de fio condutor para o tratamento do problema das categorias, as determinações universais do ser. Assim, os modos de ser são estabelecidos a partir dos modos do falar e dizer. Também em Kant é com base na estruturação dos juízos que Kant deduz as categorias. Mas com a descoberta da datidade da intuição categorial a doação do ser se liberta do juízo. Com isso, o contexto da descoberta, a da elucidação fenomenológica do conhecimento, e a via de sua realização, a da analogia, podem ser superados, em favor da abertura do arquifenômeno do ser. (shrink)

The notion of an object file figures prominently in recent work in philosophy and cognitive science. Object files play a role in theories of singular reference, object individuation, perceptual memory, and the development of cognitive capacities. However, the philosophical literature lacks a detailed, empirically informed theory of object files. In this paper, we articulate and defend the multiple-slots view, which specifies both the format and architecture of object files. We argue that object files represent in a non-iconic, propositional format that (...) incorporates discrete symbols for separate features. Moreover, we argue that features of separate categories are stored in separate memory slots within an object file. We supplement this view with a computational framework that characterizes how information about objects is stored and retrieved. (shrink)

A obra traz a análise detalhada da teoria dos modelos jurídicos, fundada na doutrina moderna das estruturas sociais, e examina a experiência jurídica pré-categorial e a objetivação científica, as estruturas fundamentais do conhecimento jurídico, a filosofia jurídica, a teoria geral do Direito e a dogmática, a natureza e o objeto da Ciência do Direito, as fontes do Direito, a hermenêutica jurídica, a experiência moral, a pena de morte, o mundo moral e o mundo jurídico.

Max Velmans' target article and response to commentaries in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 9, No. 11, 2002, can be seen as something of a milestone in the history of consciousness studies. In them he takes this elusive subject to the limits of rational discussion. Through exhaustive analysis and theorizing, he fills the gaps in our understanding of the multifaceted mind-brain issue. On the one hand, he establishes the mutual irreducibility of the two. On the other, he elucidates their (...) causal interactions. As he explains on page 91, this is possible only because both mind and brain 'are grounded in something deeper' — a 'self-revealing universe'. The ultimate nature of that universe is neither pure matter, nor pure spirit. It is a combination of the two. (shrink)

The theory of intentionality is the most important core of the theoretical inheritance of E. Husserl’s phenomenology. Starting from this awareness, Levinas carries out a deep research within the phenomenology in order to see whether «intentionality exhausts modalities in which the thought is meaningful». This paper will try to show how the French-Lituan philosopher, going over the genetic phenomenology research which comes to a precategorial issue, can point out the «pre-intentional», or better the «non-intentional», the original «passivity» of conscience which (...) is not the negation of subjectivity, but instead the possibility of «giving» of transcendency. This «would not be a missed immanency», but would have in sociality – responsibility of the neighbour – the own spiritual excellency, which is the perfection of God. (shrink)

St Augustine himself recognised in Retractationes that De Mendacio is a difficult text to understand, because its argument is both complex and dialectical. Understanding the treatise has been further complicated by St Thomas Aquinas’ reading of it in the light of Aristotle, and under the influence of a possibly flawed textual tradition. This article clarifies Augustine’s well known eight categories of lies to resituate them in the social experience of Augustine and his contemporaries. It shows that Augustine’s argument and exegesis (...) are strikingly exploratory and undogmatic. His hard-won conclusion is driven by a demanding understanding of sanctity. A synopsis of the argument of De Mendacio is appended. (shrink)

Durkheim écrit ce livre avec un but double : d'abord il voulait expliquer ce qui crée une société, ce qui la tient ensemble ; ensuite il voulait éclaircir l'influence qu'a la société sur la pensée logique. Pour Durkheim, la religion est la clé utilisée pour déverrouiller ces deux problématiques.Dans ce livre, Durkheim argumente que les représentations religieuses sont en fait des représentations collectives : l'essence du religieux ne peut être que le sacré. Il est une caractéristique qui se trouve universellement (...) dans toutes les religions. Le sacré, être collectif et impersonnel, représente ainsi la société elle-même. Ensuite il argumente que la société a un impact majeur dans la genèse de la pensée logique. C'est la société qui fournit à l'individu les catégories (le temps, l'espace, le nombre etc.) et les concepts nécessaires pour la pensée logique. (shrink)

L'ordre juridique qui se met en place, en France, aux derniers siècles du Moyen Âge a encore tout récemment été l'objet de riches débats : l'auto-développement des coutumes, l'autorité des droits savants et l'interventionnisme du roi de France ont notamment été au cœur de vives controverses historiographiques. La lecture des sources est à l'origine de querelles interprétatives, auxquelles s'ajoutent des difficultés méthodologiques que rencontrent les historiens du droit. Tandis que l'historien n'a accès qu'à une proportion infime du concret, celui-ci s'efforce (...) de combler ces lacunes, parfois même à l'aide d'une projection des catégories juridiques contemporaines. Cet anachronisme des concepts – parfois couplé à un anachronisme des faits – ne constitue-t-il pas l'un des vices rédhibitoires de la discipline? Cette méthode ne présente-t-elle pas, à l'inverse, une indéniable vertu heuristique et disciplinaire? Certains estiment alors que la théorie du droit est anhistorique, quand d'autres critiquent l'emploi par les historiens des concepts contemporains, comme la hiérarchie des normes, la souveraineté ou encore l'État. Outre de telles projections, c'est le sens donné à certains signifiants médiévaux ou modernes qui peut être relativisé, comme c'est le cas notamment pour les notions de droit positif, de droit commun ou encore de loi. Ces difficultés révèlent aussi à certains égards l'ambivalence de l'histoire du droit, écartelée entre science historique et dogmatique juridique. Ce livre propose alors une réflexion épistémologique sur l'un des grands enjeux de l'historiographie juridique contemporaine : peut-on penser l'ordre juridique médiéval et moderne à partir des catégories juridiques contemporaines? (shrink)

This article summarizes a variety of current as well as previous research in support of a new theory of consciousness. Evidence has been steadily accumulating that information about a stimulus complex is distributed to many neuronal populations dispersed throughout the brain and is represented by the departure from randomness of the temporal pattern of neural discharges within these large ensembles. Zero phase lag synchronization occurs between discharges of neurons in different brain regions and is enhanced by presentation of stimuli. This (...) evidence further suggests that spatiotemporal patterns of coherence, which have been identified by spatial principal component analysis, may encode a multidimensional representation of a present or past event. How such distributed information is integrated into a holistic percept constitutes the binding problem. How a percept defined by a spatial distribution of nonrandomness can be subjectively experienced constitutes the problem of consciousness. Explanations based on a discrete connectionistic network cannot be reconciled with the relevant facts. Evidence is presented herein of invariant features of brain electrical activity found to change reversibly with loss and return of consciousness in a study of 176 patients anesthetized during surgical procedures. A review of relevant research areas, as well as the anesthesia data, leads to a postulation that consciousness is a property of quantumlike processes, within a brain field resonating within a core of structures, which may be the neural substrate of consciousness. This core includes regions of the prefrontal cortex, the frontal cortex, the pre- and paracentral cortex, thalamus, limbic system, and basal ganglia. (shrink)

This article, taking a social semiotic approach, analyses two pieces of music written, shared and exalted by two pre-1945 European fascist movements – the German NSDAP and the British Union of Fascists. These movements, both political and cultural, employed mythologies of unity, common identity and purpose in order to elide the realities of social distinction and political–economic inequalities between bourgeois and proletarian groups in capitalist societies. Visually and inter-personally, the fascist cultural project communicated a machine-like certainty about a vision for (...) a new society based on discipline, conformity and the might of the nation. In this article, we are interested in the ways that these very same discourses are also communicated through sound and music in two songs: The Horst Wessel Lied and the BUF marching song, two songs that used the same melody. We analyse the discourses communicated by the semiotic choices made in melody, arrangements, sound qualities, rhythms as well as in lyrics. The article first identifies some of the underlying semiotic resources for meaning making in sound and then shows how these are used in order to communicate specific ideas, values and attitudes. (shrink)

Paul E. Griffiths argues that most research on the emotions has been as misguided as Aristotelian efforts to study "superlunary objects" - objects...

Considering liberty as a social notion implies the adoption of both an innovative method and style. With this aim in mind, Axel Honneth provides a fresh outlook on notions typically found with Hegel, Marx, Dewey, or Habermas. At last, inspired by psychoanalysis, he pioneers fruitful and unprecedented social therapeutics.