Online research in philosophy

In this study I propose an epistemological discussion of multiple spatio-temporal scales in neuroscience. Are such scales merely convenient levels of description of structure and function, or do they correspond to irreducible levels of brain organization? What criteria should we employ in order to reduce one level to another, or to identify levels that are not reducible to others? Should we think of these criteria as based on empirical and/or theoretical reasons? Beginning with an empirical criterion – the necessity of (...) different experimental methodologies for the measurement of different phenomena in the same system – I summarize spatial and temporal scales currently used in neuroscience and discuss the possibility of a more general theoretical criterion. I conclude that multiscaling should be recognized as a central concept in the epistemology of neuroscience. (shrink)

The NMDA receptor (NMDAR) channel has been proposed to function as a coincidence-detection mechanism for afferent and reentrant signals, supporting conscious perception, learning, and memory formation. In this paper we discuss the genesis of distorted perceptual states induced by subanesthetic doses of ketamine, a well-known NMDA antagonist. NMDAR blockage has been suggested to perturb perceptual processing in sensory cortex, and also to decrease GABAergic inhibition in limbic areas (leading to an increase in dopamine excitability). We propose that perceptual distortions and (...) hallucinations induced by ketamine blocking of NMDARs are generated by alternative signaling pathways, which include increase of excitability in frontal areas, and glutamate binding to AMPA in sensory cortex prompting Ca ++ entry through voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs). This mechanism supports the thesis that glutamate binding to AMPA and NMDARs at sensory cortex mediates most normal perception, while binding to AMPA and activating VDCCs mediates some types of altered perceptual states. We suggest that Ca ++ metabolic activity in neurons at associative and sensory cortices is an important factor in the generation of both kinds of perceptual consciousness. (shrink)

Epistemic naturalism holds that the results or methodologies from the cognitive sciences are relevant to epistemology, and some have maintained that scientific methods are more compatible with externalist theories of justification than with internalist theories. But practically all discussions about naturalized epistemology are framed exclusively in terms of cognitive psychology, which is only one of the cognitive sciences. The question addressed in this essay is whether a commitment to naturalism really does favor externalism over internalism, and we offer reasons for (...) thinking that naturalism in epistemology is compatible with both internalist and externalist conceptions of justification. We also argue that there are some distinctively internalist aims that are currently being studied scientifically and these notions, and others, should be studied by scientific methods. (shrink)

Research misconduct has been thoroughly discussed in the literature, but mainly in terms of definitions and prescriptions for proper conduct. Even when case studies are cited, they are generally used as a repository of “lessons learned.” What has been lacking from this conversation is how the lessons of responsible conduct of research are imparted in the first place to graduate students, especially those in technical fields such as engineering. Nor has there been much conversation about who is responsible for what (...) in training students in Responsible Conduct of Research or in allocating blame in cases of misconduct. This paper explores three seemingly disparate cases of misconduct—the 2004 plagiarism scandal at Ohio University; the famous Robert Millikan article of 1913, in which his reported data selection did not match his notebooks; and the 1990 fabrication scandal in Dr. Leroy Hood’s research lab. Comparing these cases provides a way to look at the relationship between the graduate student (or trainee) and his/her advisor (a relationship that has been shown to be the most influential one for the student) as well as at possibly differential treatment for established researchers and researchers-in-training, in cases of misconduct. This paper reflects on the rights and responsibilities of research advisers and their students and offers suggestions for clarifying both those responsibilities and the particularly murky areas of research-conduct guidelines. (shrink)

The activism of institutional investors tends more and more toward the supervision and control of the behavior of the managers of big companies. In this article, we present a model based on the creation of an activism index that lets us evaluate such activism’s effect on the sensitivity of the investment policies of a company in the face of financial variables (such as cash flow and liquidity ratio) and market variables (ownership concentration and value creation index). To test our assertions, (...) we analyze firm-level data for United Kingdom (U.K.), Germany, France, Denmark, and Spain during the period 1995–2004. Our results point to a significant reduction in the sensitivity of company investment decisions in the face of these variables, especially relative to intangible capital, as a result of the neutralizing effect of activism on the high agency costs of free cash flow and on the information asymmetries of the market. (shrink)

We present a new method for characterizing the interpretive possibilities generated by elliptical constructions in natural language. Unlike previous analyses, which postulate ambiguity of interpretation or derivation in the full clause source of the ellipsis, our analysis requires no such hidden ambiguity. Further, the analysis follows relatively directly from an abstract statement of the ellipsis interpretation problem. It predicts correctly a wide range of interactions between ellipsis and other semantic phenomena such as quantifier scope and bound anaphora. Finally, although the (...) analysis itself is stated nonprocedurally, it admits of a direct computational method for generating interpretations. (shrink)

Systematic semantic ambiguities result from the interaction of the two operations that are involved in resolving ellipsis in the presence of scoping elements such as quantifiers and intensional operators: scope determination for the scoping elements and resolution of the elided relation. A variety of problematic examples previously noted - by Sag, Hirschbüihler, Gawron and Peters, Harper, and others - all have to do with such interactions. In previous work, we showed how ellipsis resolution can be stated and solved in equational (...) terms. Furthermore, this equational analysis of ellipsis provides a uniform framework in which interactions between ellipsis resolution and scope determination can be captured. As a consequence, an account of the problematic examples follows directly from the equational method. The goal of this paper is merely to point out this pleasant aspect of the equational analysis, through its application to these cases. No new analytical methods or associated formalism are presented, with the exception of a straightforward extension of the equational method to intensional logic. (shrink)

Abstract Occupational stress in nursing has attracted considerable attention as a focus for research and as a consequence multiple objects of nurses' stress, or 'stressors', have been identified. This paper puts into question the dominant conceptual and methodological approach to occupational stress in nursing research by both foregrounding the notion of anxiety and juxtaposing it with the notion of 'stress'. It is argued that the notion of 'stress' and the domination of the questionnaire have produced a narrow reading of the (...) topic. Some of the literature on occupational stress/anxiety in nursing is reviewed and our analysis illustrates how the identified objects of stress have a tendency to multiply contingent on the number of studies undertaken. Thus definitive objects of nurses' stress remain elusive. We argue that a return to the notion of 'anxiety' and methodological approaches other than empirical ones can bring both depth and breadth to the consideration of occupational distress in nursing. Further, we argue that the object of 'anxiety' is unconscious, thus unknown, and given this, a more informative approach is to map nurses' response to anxiety, the discursive formations arising out of anxiety, rather than attempt to define those objects of anxiety. (shrink)

Proceedings of the Tenth Brazilian Conference on Mathematical Logic. Coleção CLE, volume 14, 1995. Centro De Lógica, Epistemologia e História da Ciência, Unicamp, Campinas, SP, Brazil.

O sentido do termo eleuthería, similarmente a muitos outros conceitos na obra de Platão, não é unívoco. Mesmo se nos restringirmos ao diálogo República, encontraremos nele uma ampla gama de concepções que vão desde a acepção popular de ‘dizer e fazer o que se quer’, até a significação, mais propriamente filosófica do termo; vale dizer também daquela que envolve uma dimensão psicológica e moral, na qual o homem deve buscar agir de acordo consigo mesmo. Esta atividade ética, que Platão (2006) (...) (seguir o modelo de citação indireta) insiste em chamar de política (Rep. IX, 592 a5 – a9), baseada no “cuidado de si” tornar-se-á uma pré-condição que prepara o homem para a vida junto aos outros homens e para outras ações derivadas, como o governo da pólis, a produção de leis e, também, para as atividades investigativas, tais como o diálogo e a dialética. Encontramos, pois, naquele diálogo, um verdadeiro embate entre algumas concepções rivais de eleuthería, por exemplo: Trasímaco acredita que o tirano é o mais livre dos homens (Rep. I, 344 a) enquanto Sócrates, ao final do diálogo, defende que o tirano jamais experimentou a liberdade (Rep. IX, 577 a). Assim, este artigo se propõe, então, investigar e circunscrever, a partir do exame da República, os sentidos da eleuthería, fixando a atenção no seu significado propriamente filosófico. (shrink)

The relationship between Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) functional structures (f-structures) for sentences and their semanticinterpretations can be formalized in linear logic in a way thatcorrectly explains the observed interactions between quantifier scopeambiguity, bound anaphora and intensionality.Our linear-logic formalization of the compositional properties ofquantifying expressions in natural language obviates the need forspecial mechanisms, such as Cooper storage, in representing thescoping possibilities of quantifying expressions. Instead, thesemantic contribution of a quantifier is recorded as a linear-logicformula whose use in a proof will establish the (...) scope of thequantifier. Different proofs can lead to different scopes. In eachcomplete proof, the properties of linear logic ensure thatquantifiers are properly scoped. (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)

Apresentação do Dossiê sobre o Banquete de Platão.

The social responsibility field in the organizations has become recently a subject scholars have debated. Despite of the huge discussion regarding to this concept, there is no consensus. Still, there is a confusion related to “social actions,” this way reducing the social responsibility scope as a philanthropic activity. This reductionism is inadequate, distorting the essence of what is supposed to be a socially responsible conduct. The present proposal intends to evaluate enterprises in the Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR. This research (...) will investigate confessional universities in Brazil, which are organizations in higher education that have a relationship with a specific church(s) or religion and are ordinarily dependent upon that religion, through sponsorship and/or board oversight. These universities are skilled in financial reporting, but they have no good process for evaluating and reporting on the programs, activities, and outcomes that relate more directly to their educational and service missions. This paper shows the Brazilian universities scenario on CSR, describes the Hopkins and Wood’s framework followed by an evaluation of a small group of universities through a survey. From the outcomes, the framework may be reformulated, finally displaying the elements to future research and its implications. (shrink)

In this paper we show the embedding of Hybrid Probabilistic Logic Programs into the rather general framework of Residuated Logic Programs, where the main results of (definite) logic programming are validly extrapolated, namely the extension of the immediate consequences operator of van Emden and Kowalski. The importance of this result is that for the first time a framework encompassing several quite distinct logic programming semantics is described, namely Generalized Annotated Logic Programs, Fuzzy Logic Programming, Hybrid Probabilistic Logic Programs, and Possibilistic (...) Logic Programming. Moreover, the embedding provides a more general semantical structure paving the way for defining paraconsistent probabilistic reasoning with a logic programming semantics. (shrink)

Este texto analisa a experiência do pensar e do agir ético em tempos de morte do desejo de filosofar e do sujeito. Também o caráter da experiência de pensamento e a exigência de ruptura com uma determinada imagem do pensamento, consolidada pela própria tradição filosófica e por nossa prática como professores de filosofia e sujeitos éticos. Faz uma crítica à ética universal e à ideia de sujeito universal que lhe é subjacente num contexto em que se proclama a morte do (...) sujeito. (shrink)

This study attempts to identify differences in the perceptions of top management (defined as CEOs, directors, and presidents) and employees (defined as middle and supervisory management) regarding (a) the effects of dependent care responsibilities on job performance, and (b) the extent of a firm's responsibility in providing support for those faced with caring needs concerning eldercare, childcare, substance abuse, and mental/physical handicaps.The results indicate that these two groups have significantly different perceptions of the effect of dependent care responsibilities on job (...) performance, and on the firm's responsibility in providing support for three types of dependent care. (shrink)

Este trabalho pretende abordar a relaçáo entre ensino e avaliaçáo em filosofia, pois é preciso que deixemos de tratar as questões relativas a essa relaçáo no nível do senso comum.Tomando-se como referência a célebre frase de Kant, mas náo sua conclusáo e sim o texto que se encontra entre parênteses “a náo ser historicamente” entendemos que é possível, além de filosofar, ensinar história da filosofia, na educaçáo básica e no ensino superior. Por outro lado, é preciso aproveitar, criticamente, a produçáo (...) pedagógica em torno da avaliaçáo, permitindo-nos refletir sobre o por quê e como avaliar em filosofia seja como avaliaçáo do filosofar seja como avaliaçáo em história da filosofia. (shrink)

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 A distinçáo entre o dizer e o mostrar ocupa um lugar central no desenvolvimento da crítica da linguagem empreendida pelo primeiro Wittgenstein. Partindo do pressuposto que o sistema de numeraçáo do Tractatus assinala (apesar de todas as controvérsias existentes) certa estrutura argumentativa do livro, o presente texto possui dois objetivos: (1) situar o grupo de proposições que versam sobre o tema do solipsismo (5.6 à 5.641) dentro dessa estrutura; e (2) mostrar que o (...) local onde essas proposições se encontram faz parte de uma estratégia argumentativa de Wittgenstein, uma vez que é nela onde encontramos o clímax da distinçáo entre aquilo que pode ser dito e aquilo que deve ser mostrado. (shrink)

About the Republic is the only commentary left by Averroes, the Commentator, so called on behalf of his commentaries on Aristotle’s work. Although the original in Arabic is lost, there is a medieval version in Hebrew and two later translations in Latin from the Hebrew version. Averroes’ Commentary on the ‘Republic’ – divided in three Books – can be considered an original work as only 1/3 of it corresponds to the platonic treatise. Averroes presents in it aristotelic concepts drawn from (...) the Nicomachean Ethics and also several notions from Alfarabi’s political works. He also presents his own thoughts and offers criticisms of his own society. KEY WORDS – Plato’s Republic; a commentary or an original work? Ethics. Politics. Cardinal virtues. Ideal city. Education. (shrink)

Basically the anti-infallibility position of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries is fivefold: that infallibility, especially papal, is unfounded, unverified, undesirable, unnecessary, and impossible.

As a human rights activist and lawyer who believes in the mutuality of theology and legal philosophy, the author argues that Catholic philosophy can catalyse the process of global reconciliation. This is because the Church has the ability to recognise the double burden faced by Christians around the world (especially in Asia) who are struggling to disassociate themselves from an “alien” and “western” mantle, while still trying to live and preach the Christian doctrine and find common ground with other religions (...) and cultures. Catholic philosophy, therefore, must engage itself and others meaningfully at an inter-religious, interdisciplinary, and multi-cultural level. We now live at a time in Church history when the gap in education between the clergy and the laity has been dramaticallynarrowed; as a result, it is imperative—especially now—to allow competing voices within the Church to be heard so that a healthy tension might arise andthrive. This will help to increase the transparency of discourse within the Catholic community itself, while also providing adaptive tools for dialogue with other,non-Catholic communities. (shrink)

This paper develops two main themes: in the first place, one tries to make clear how, from the point of view of our contemporary philosophical ideas, a retrospective interpretation of Greek sceptic pyrrhonism allows us to read it, not only as a questioning of the theses and arguments of dogmatic philosophy, but as a questioning, too, of the very legitimity of the traditional plilosophical problems and philosophical language. But the second part of the text is a "positive" one, which proceeds (...) to an analysis of the relation between a phenomenic and a dogmatic level of language and, then, explatrins how the idea of a philosophical investigation of problems formulated in the phenomenic level is plainly compatible with (neo)pyrrhonic philosophy. And a discussion is undertaken of the relation between problems formulated in one and another levels. (shrink)

Esse trabalho apresenta uma reconstruçáo das referidas Deduçáo e Refutaçáo como argumentos contra uma forma empirista de ceticismo questionando a validade de juízos empíricos acerca de objetos externos na chamada acepçáo empírica, náo-transcendental do termo.

In this study I propose an epistemological discussion of multiple spatio-temporal scales in neuroscience. Are such scales merely convenient levels of description of structure and function, or do they correspond to irreducible levels of brain organization? What criteria should we employ in order to reduce one level to another, or to identify levels that are not reducible to others? Should we think of these criteria as based on empirical and/or theoretical reasons? Beginning with an empirical criterion – the necessity of (...) different experimental methodologies for the measurement of different phenomena in the same system – I summarize spatial and temporal scales currently used in neuroscience and discuss the possibility of a more general theoretical criterion. I conclude that multiscaling should be recognized as a central concept in the epistemology of neuroscience. (shrink)

A great deal of progress has been made on information ethics. Which portion is not sufficient? That might be the comparison from countries to countries. The purpose of this study was closely examined using the cross-cultural method for comparison. To determine the ethics cognitions and behaviors of the students, a comprehensive survey was distributed. The questionnaire for the study used Mason’s four essential factors in information ethics that included Privacy, Accuracy, Property and Accessibility (PAPA). The samples were comprised of Kaohsiung (...) Taiwan and Nanjing China, junior high school students in 2006. The sample and the survey were obtained from two stages of random sampling that was conducted using an Internet website. Students could read the online questionnaire in the computer laboratory and then send immediate feedback to the website server. The result of the experiment showed the divergence of information ethics in cognition and behavior between Kaohsiung and Nanjing school children. The effects of background and correlation are from cognition and behavior between two regions. (shrink)

The NMDA receptor (NMDAR) channel has been proposed to function as a coincidence-detection mechanism for afferent and reentrant signals, supporting conscious perception, learning, and memory formation. In this paper we discuss the genesis of distorted perceptual states induced by subanesthetic doses of ketamine, a well-known NMDA antagonist. NMDAR blockage has been suggested to perturb perceptual processing in sensory cortex, and also to decrease GABAergic inhibition in limbic areas (leading to an increase in dopamine excitability). We propose that perceptual distortions and (...) hallucinations induced by ketamine blocking of NMDARs are generated by alternative signaling pathways, which include increase of excitability in frontal areas, and glutamate binding to AMPA in sensory cortex prompting Ca++ entry through voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs). This mechanism supports the thesis that glutamate binding to AMPA and NMDARs at sensory cortex mediates most normal perception, while binding to AMPA and activating VDCCs mediates some types of altered perceptual states. We suggest that Ca++ metabolic activity in neurons at associative and sensory cortices is an important factor in the generation of both kinds of perceptual consciousness. (shrink)

Taking the increasing implementation and practice of ?quality?oriented education? as the background to the current reform, the paper outlines moral education in the Chinese junior high school over the last 25 years. It offers a brief review of a few theoretical and empirical research projects which have had some influence on the 2003 reform of the course of Ideology and Morality. It describes: three basic principles behind this new curriculum, focusing on the developing lives of students; curriculum characteristics with ideological, (...) humanistic, practical and integrative dimensions; and the objectives of developing feelings, attitudes and value orientations, competencies and knowledge. The curriculum is illustrated by four textbook and class?based examples of respect for parents, self?esteem, environmental awareness and being a responsible citizen, which offer some insights into contemporary moral education with distinctive Chinese characteristics. Finally, the paper gives an overview of the significance of the moral education curriculum reform and of its ongoing challenges. (shrink)

No livro “As vozes da igualdade” (“Las voces de la igualdad. Bases para una teoría crítica de la justicia”. Ed. Proteus, 2010. 288 páginas – Ainda sem tradução para o português), o Prof. Dr. Gustavo Pereira, da Universidad de la Republica, Uruguai, procura analisar estas questões investigando as principais teorias de justiça contemporâneas que pretendem respondê-las e apresenta sua proposta de um caminho para a fundamentação de uma teoria crítica de justiça renovada, mais abrangente, que ofereça meios mais adequados (...) e eficazes para promover a justiça social e desenvolver as capacidades humanas necessárias para a construção de uma “eticidade democrática”. (shrink)

A questionnaire probing the distribution of authorship credit was given to postdoctoral associates (“postdocs”) in order to determine their awareness of the professional society’s ethical statement on authorship, the extent of communication with their supervisors about authorship criteria, and the appropriateness of authorship assignments on submitted papers. Results indicate a low awareness of the professional society’s ethical statement and that little communication takes place between postdocs and supervisors about authorship criteria. A substantial amount of authorship credit given to supervisors and (...) other workers is perceived by the postdocs to violate the professional society’s ethical statement. (shrink)