Online research in philosophy

The main goal of Brain Death and Disorders of Consciousness is to provide a suitable scientific platform to discuss all topics related to human death and coma.

This essay analyzes the relation between nothingness and the work of art, where negation appears as a fundamental element of art. Starting at a discussion of the concept of nothingness in existential phenomenology, it points to the limitations of Heidegger's notion of nullity and negation, which spring from the denial of the dimension of consciousness to his Dasein. Although Sartre recovers that dimension in his portrayal of the pour-soi, now the idea of nothingness is not taken to its ultimate consequence, (...) where art would appear as a product of consciousness that is entrenched in nothingness. Only through an enlarged notion of consciousness, one that allows the perception of negative experience as intrinsically related to poiesis, will the work of art appear ontologically grounded in a form of Being that searches for its own contradiction. Such an enlarged notion of consciousness appears in the thought of Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, where concepts such as "the place of nothingness" and "pure experience" can serve as ground to an analysis of the relation between nothingness and the work of art. (shrink)

The combined use of computers and telecommunications and the latest evolution in the field of Artificial Intelligence brought along new ways of contracting and of expressing will and declarations. The question is, how far we can go in considering computer intelligence and autonomy, how can we legally deal with a new form of electronic behaviour capable of autonomous action? In the field of contracting, through Intelligent Electronic Agents, there is an imperious need of analysing the question of expression of consent, (...) and two main possibilities have been proposed: considering electronic devices as mere machines or tools, or considering electronic devices as legal persons. Another possibility that has been frequently mentioned consists in the application of the rules of agency to electronic transactions. Meanwhile, the question remains: would it possible, under a Civil Law framework, to apply the notions of “legal personhood” and “representation” to electronic agents? It is obvious that existing legal norms are not fit for such an endeavouring challenge. Yet, the virtual world exists and it requires a new but realistic legal approach on software agents, in order to enhance the use of electronic commerce in a global world. (shrink)

We present three rights-based approaches to research and policies on gender justice and equity in the context of climate change adaptation. After a short introduction, we describe the dominant discourse that frames climate change and provide an overview of the literature that has depicted women both as vulnerable victims of climatic change and as active agents in adaptive responses. Discussion follows on the shift from gendered impacts to gendered adaptive capacities and embodied experiences, highlighting the continuing impact of social biases (...) and institutional practices that shape unequal access to and control over household and community decision-making processes undermining timely, fair, and successful adaptive responses. Assessment of rights-based frameworks considers the space they provide in addressing persistent gender and other inequalities, at different political and operational scales. We argue that a human security framework is useful to fill the gap in current gender and climate justice work, particularly when implemented through the entry point of adaptive social protection. Gender justice in climate change adaptation is an obligation for transformational social change, not just rights. The time is ripe to replace narrow-minded vulnerability studies with a contextualized understanding of our mutual fragility and a commitment to enhanced livelihood resilience, worldwide. (shrink)

This study discusses the relationship between Green Chemistry and Environmental Sustainability as expressed in textbooks and articles on Green Chemistry authored by their promoters. It was found that although the Brundtland concept of Sustainable Development/Sustainability has been mentioned often by green chemists, a full analysis of that relationship was almost never attempted. In particular, green chemists have paid scarce attention to the importance of The Second Law of thermodynamics on Environmental Sustainability and the consequences of the limitations it imposes on (...) Green Chemistry, which are discussed in this paper. (shrink)

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Frontiers of Combining Systems, FroCoS 2002, held in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy, in April 2002.The 14 revised full papers presented together with 3 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 35 submissions. Among the topics covered are combination of logics, combination of constraint solving techniques, combination of decision procedures, combination problems in verification, modular problems of theorem proving, and the integration of decision procedures and other solving processes (...) into constraint programming and deduction systems. (shrink)

The term ‘impact’ has become the kind of word which, when it relates to the evaluation of technological advances in contemporary culture, suggests signs of erosion, debilitation and evasion. The misinformed and indiscriminate use of the term in the most varied of contexts has created an impasse in the cultural semiotic approach, where sign systems are viewed in terms of borders and relations. The objective of this article is to examine the trivialisation of the use of the ballistic metaphor in (...) this explosive moment of the culture. For this, we will refer to the formulations presented by the semiotician, Juri Lotman, in his book, appropriately entitled Culture and Explosion. To what degree is the concept of explosion presented as a counterpart to the notion of impact? The desire to find answers to this question is what motivated this inquiry. (shrink)

The main focus of this article is the analysis of the concept of semiosphere as it has emerged from the conception of culture as information — instead of describing the transmission of messages from A to B, it is based on the general process of meaning generation. Following Lotman’s criticism on the paradoxes in communication and its theoretical domain, the article confronts the paradoxical concepts on: (1) the concept of message transmission from the addresser toaddressee; (2) the notion of isolated (...) processing systems; (3) the idea that culture speaks a unique language. From the standpoint of the semiosphere, the new object for studying such controversies could be found in the concept of text. When text is taken at the centre of the analysis of culture, nothing appears in an isolated fashion. Lotman’s thinking does not fear the new hypothesis in proposing the conceptual domain of semiosphere to the scientific study of culture. (shrink)

Projection is a dialogical mechanism that concerns the relationship among things in the world or in various systems, both in nature and culture. Instead of isolating these systems, projection creates an ecosystem without borderline. Projection is a way to comprehend how different cultures can link, enrich and deveop one another by understanding the relationship among different culture traditions can be related to one another by considering the nature of their sign system. That is why it is that the object of (...) semiotics of culture is not culture but its sign systems. That is why we understand the nature of relationship among sign system as projection. In this article, we are interested in a particular kind of projection: that one in which the formulations of semiotics of culture of Slavic tradition project themselves onto the Brazilian culture. The conceptual field of Russian semiotics - dialogism, carnivalization, hybridity, border, outsideness, heteroglossia, textuality and modelling semiotic sign system - projects itself on the equally defining aspects of the semiotic identity of the Brazilian culture. I will refer here to two sets of projections: the concept of textual history, as a possibility to reach internal displacement within the culture, and the notion of semiodiversity produced by the meeting of different sign systems. (shrink)

O presente estudo busca apresentar como a noçáo de fisio-psicologia proposta por Nietzsche se estrutura sobre o corpo e exige uma alteraçáo particular na determinaçáo da noçáo de vontade. Para realizar tal empreendimento, tomamos como parâmetro principalmente o aforismo 19 de Para Além de Bem e Mal . Neste texto, Nietzsche apresenta uma releitura da noçáo de vontade a partir da análise da estrutura dos afetos, dos pensamentos e dos sentimentos. A importância desse empreendimento se justifica por abrir espaço para (...) uma proposta psicológica baseada em um dinamismo que está para além dos processos conscientes. (shrink)

The “A-not-B” error is consistent with an old memory principle, Jost's Law. Quantitative properties of the effect can be explained by a dynamic model for habituation that is also consistent with Jost. Piaget was well aware of the resemblance between adult memory errors and the “A-not-B” effect and, contrary to their assertions, Thelen et al.'s analysis of the object concept is much the same as his, though couched in different language.

In 1971, Chicano activist Armando Réndon began to chart new directions for Chicana/o politics that move away from a narrow emphasis on cultural and ethnic nationalism. He argues that urban Chicana/o neighborhoods ought develop community-based organizations to provide support services for residents and to advocate local concerns to elected officials. In the first part of this essay, I reconstruct Réndon's concept of a 'barrio union' as an example of participatory democracy. I situate his concept of neighborhood democracy within Mexican (...) American and Progressive movement history, and then highlight contemporary experiments with this model that are particularly successful in transforming traditionally marginalized individuals into active democratic participants. I then suggest that the barrio union is a repository of cultural, ethical, and political ideals that might be used by progressive Chicana/o activists to challenge the meaning of dominant institutions and political traditions within the United States, particularly the ways in which we conceive of race and American citizenship. (shrink)

Con motivo del bicentenario del nacimiento de Darwin, esta obra realiza un recorrido por la Teoría de la Evolución a partir del patrimonio bibliográfico y científico de la Universidad de Sevilla. Sus autores muestran la vigencia actual de esta teoría y el papel de Antonio Machado y Núñez, destacado darwinista de la Sevilla de finales del XIX.

In my field of consciousness research, scientists frequently mock philosophers for their apparent uselessness. There are many issues about which philosophers have debated for centuries, and yet there are no satisfying resolutions. However, sometimes one thinks: what really is philosophy but careful thinking? Certainly that cannot be completely useless? It is therefore particularly refreshing to read Machado and Silva's article in this issue, which emphasizes the role of conceptual analysis in psychological research.

One of the leading member of logical positivism, he was born in Orianenburg, Germany, in 1905. Between March 17 and 24, 1982, Hempel gave an interview to Richard Nolan; the text of that interview was published for the first time in 1988 in Italian translation (Hempel, 'Autobiografia intellettuale' in Oltre il positivismo logico , Armando : Rome, Italy : 1988). This interview is the main source of the following biographical notes.

One of the leading member of logical positivism, he was born in Orianenburg, Germany, in 1905. Between March 17 and 24, 1982, Hempel gave an interview to Richard Nolan; the text of that interview was published for the first time in 1988 in Italian translation (Hempel, 'Autobiografia intellettuale' in Oltre il positivismo logico , Armando : Rome, Italy : 1988). This interview is the main source of the following biographical notes.

Phillips & Silverstein (P&S, 2003) propose that NMDA-receptor dysfunction may be the fundamental neurobiological mechanism underlying and associating impaired holistic perception and cognitive coordination with schizophrenic psychopathology. We discuss how the P&S hypothesis shares different aspects of the weak central coherence account of autism from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. Specifically, we believe that neither those persons with autism nor those with schizophrenia integrate visuo-perceptual information efficiently, resulting in incongruous internal representations of their external world. However, although NMDA-hypofunction may be (...) responsible for perceptual impairments in schizophrenia and possibly autism, we suggest that it is highly unlikely that NMDA-hypofunction is specifically responsible for the autistic behavioral symptomology, as described by P&S in their target article. (shrink)

A course in professional ethics for civil engineers was taught for the first time in Spain during the academic year 2007/08. In this paper a survey on the satisfaction and expectation of the course is presented. Surprisingly the students sought moral and ethical principles for their own ordinary lives as well as for their profession. Students were concerned about the law, but in their actions they were more concerned with their conscience, aware that it can be separate from the law.

: This essay analyzes the relation between nothingness and the work of art, where negation appears as a fundamental element of art. Starting at a discussion of the concept of nothingness in existential phenomenology, it points to the limitations of Heidegger’s notion of nullity and negation, which spring from the denial of the dimension of consciousness to his Dasein. Although Sartre recovers that dimension in his portrayal of the pour-soi, now the idea of nothingness is not taken to its ultimate (...) consequence, where art would appear as a product of consciousness that is entrenched in nothingness. Only through an enlarged notion of consciousness, one that allows the perception of negative experience as intrinsically related to poiesis, will the work of art appear ontologically grounded in a form of Being that searches for its own contradiction. Such an enlarged notion of consciousness appears in the thought of Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō , where concepts such as ‘‘the place of nothingness’’ and ‘‘pure experience’’ can serve as ground to an analysis of the relation between nothingness and the work of art. (shrink)

The current mainstream in cancer research favours the idea that malignant tumour initiation is the result of a genetic mutation. Tumour development and progression is then explained as a sort of micro-evolutionary process, whereby an initial genetic alteration leads to abnormal proliferation of a single cell that leads to a population of clonally derived cells. It is widely claimed that tumour progression is driven by natural selection, based on the assumption that the initial tumour cells acquire some properties that endow (...) such cells with a selective advantage over the normal cells from which the tumour cells are derived. The standard view assumes that the transformed bodily cell somehow acquires "responsiveness" to natural selection independently of the whole organism to which the cell belongs. Yet, it is never explained where such an acquired capacity to respond to natural selection by the individual bodily cell comes from. This situation poses many difficult questions that so far have been left unanswered. For example, there is no explanation why some cells belonging to an organised whole and as such having no independent capacity for survival, apparently become 'independent' entities, able to respond to selective pressures in an autonomous fashion and then to be evaluated by natural selection. Hereunder it is argued that such a qualitative change cannot be the consequence of specific genetic mutations. Moreover, it is shown that natural selection is unlikely to be acting within the organism during tumour development and progression and that tumour evolution is a random, non-adaptive process, driven by no fundamental biological principle. Thus, mutations in the so-called oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes observed in epithelial cancers (that constitute more than 90% of all cancers) are not the result of selection for better cellular growth or survival under restrictive conditions. Instead, here it is suggested that they are the consequence of genetic drift acting upon gene functions that become non-relevant, either for the individual or the species fitness, once the organism is past its reproductive prime and as such, they also become superfluous for cell survival in the short term. It is proposed that the origin of cancer is epigenetic and it is a consequence of the need for a continued turnover of the individuals that constitute a species. (shrink)

Transparency has evolved from an individual, dangerous power in Plato to a desirable, collective property in the contemporary world. This paper intends to give a brief account of this long and somehow surprising path and extract some interesting consequences for economic and political activities, as well as for information technologies. Six literary masterpieces are used to highlight the contradictions and dangers entailed by the abuse of the fascinating metaphor of transparency. In the end, what is usually intended when demanding transparency (...) from a corporation, a firm or a state is more (or more accessible) information about it, i.e., understandable and abundant black and white data. This means reporting, picturing, producing material, becoming apparent, which is precisely the contrary of being transparent. We don’t want to look through , but to look directly at . The question, then, is not transparency, but opacity: what do we need and want to see, and how is this going to be produced? (shrink)

Phillips & Silverstein (P&S, 2003) have proposed that NMDA-receptor hypofunction is the central reason for impaired cognitive coordination and abnormal gestalt-like perceptual processing in schizophrenia. We suggest that this model may also be applicable to non-pathological (or normal) aging given the compelling evidence of NMDA-receptor involvement during the aging process that results in age-related change in higher-level perceptual performance. Given that such deficits are present in other neurological disorders such as autism, an argument for a systematic assessment of perceptual functioning (...) in these conditions may be posited. (shrink)

Discussion about values education has begun to dominate the educational policy agenda in a number of countries over the last 5 years. Of particular relevance are questions on what to teach, how and why. This discussion seems to be more prominent among those countries undergoing vigorous political, economic and social change. In the last few years, Mexico has intensified its active search for democracy and invigorated its march toward modernisation. Both of these intentions have proven to have important influences on (...) the values the Mexican state and educational policy makers see as necessary to be transmitted via education. Simultaneously, Mexican identity, which has evolved relatively consonant with the aims of a centralised and hierarchical state and in line with the principles of the 1910 Revolution, is being continuously challenged by internal as well as external forces. In this article we describe a study designed to understand the approaches to Mexico's values education as a particular instance of a larger comparative project to explore values education in a globally dynamic context. After describing Mexico's political economy, we present the current policy and approaches to values education in general and in the regions included in the Mexican study in particular. We present the findings from a survey to policy makers and educational élites and show regional differences and similarities. We discuss findings from other country contexts to contrast them with the Mexican findings in selected areas. We conclude with a discussion on how this study may help initiate a policy dialogue on values education in Mexico. (shrink)

La autoevaluación institucional actualmente responde a las demandas de lograr una Universidad que esté a tono con los avances de la sociedad y a su vez se convierta en un reflejo de ella. En el artículo se realiza una valoración conceptual de las concepciones existentes sobre este proceso. Asimismo se ofrece una panorámica de las tendencias referidas a las diversas maneras de visualizar este fenómeno de innegable importancia para la vida y permanencia de las instituciones de educación superior. Nowadays, institutional (...) self-appraisal meets the demands of creating a university that keeps up with the new advances of society, and at the same time a university that becomes the reflection of its society. A conceptual assessment of the existing conceptions of this process is carried out in this article. Likewise, it is given a panoramic view of the tendencies referring to the different ways of visualizing this phenomenon of undeniable importance for the life and permanence of the higher education institutions. (shrink)

In case of special engineering projects of important relevance it is interesting to pay attention to several possible risks; some of them are in the field of morality or ethics. Due to the social importance of these risks, additional considerations or even additional warranties are justified.

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)

Compreendendo a Metafisica como uma forma de conceber a realidade a partir da crença na dicotomia de valores - Bem x mal , Verdade x Mentira, Alma x Corpo, etc - Nietzsche pretende lançar 0 pensamento filosófico para longe dos muros metafisicos. Questionando a filosofia, náo em seu conteúdo, em sua verdade, mas em sua vontade, Nietzsche inicia e anuncia um modo de filosofar que está além da oposiçáo de valores, uma filosofia que está além do B em do Mal.

Este breve ensaio tem como objetivo apresentar, em linhas gerais, alguns aspectos da critica de Nietzsche à nocáo de verdade. Partindo do principio de que a raz áo n áo é uma fiel representaç áo do estatuto ontologico, ja que o pensamento racional é uma instancia que nasce das relaç áo es de forcas instintivas, para Nietzsche a racionalidade n áo descobre a verdade, ela inventa uma: a sua verdade. Assim sendo, por mais que ofereca demonstraçoes logicas, a raz áo (...) náo é capaz de sustentar uma verdade universal, mesmo porque como poderia uma coisa ser sustentada por ela propria? (shrink)

La extensión universitaria es una de las vías en las que la Universidad demuestra su carácter de centro cultural de suma importancia para el desarrollo. En el artículo se valora su importancia e impacto en la sociedad; definiciones del concepto de extensión y de los modelos que poseen en la actualidad un arraigo en la vida de las instituciones de educación superior, estos últimos responden a diversas posturas ideológicas y concepciones acerca de la relación que debe existir entre la Universidad, (...) la sociedad y los sectores involucrados. Se analizan tres conceptos directamente relacionados con la temática de manera determinante: cultura, pertinencia y desarrollo sostenible. University extension is one of the ways through which the university shows being a very important cultural center for guaranteeing the development. In the following article its relevance and impact in the society is assessed; as well as the definition of the concepts of extension and the models that nowadays are very deep-rooted in the life of the high education institutions. These models respond to the different ideological positions and conceptions related to the relationship that must exist between the university, the society, and the sectors involved. Three concepts directly related to theme of the work are analysed in a determining way: culture, pertinence, and sustainable development. (shrink)

Se realizan algunas conceptualizaciones que constituyen premisas de la Universidad del siglo XXI, como es el desarrollo endógeno, como una mirada de la institución de educación superior para lograr la transformación y desarrollo local sustentable. La realidad impone, que el proceso formativo, no sea solo hacia dentro sino que los actores internos y externos confluyan en los propósitos de progreso económico y social y la Universidad se convierta en el líder que guía dicho desarrollo. Some conceptualizations that constitute premises of (...) the University of the XXI Century, like the endogenous development as a look of the high education institution to achieve the transformation and local sustainable development, were made. The reality imposes that the formative process is not only projected to the inside but that the internal and external actors concur in the intention of getting a social and economic progress and that the university becomes the leader that guides this development. (shrink)

Es característica de las instituciones de educación superior de calidad desarrollar una pedagogía del cambio. A partir de 1999 se estableció por la Oficina Regional de Educación para América Latina y el Caribe un programa de la red de liderazgo educativo para formar una masa crítica de profesionales de la educación, precursores en liderazgo transformacional. El artículo que se presenta tiene entre sus propósitos valorar las tendencias contemporáneas de la superación en liderazgo docente en Latinoamérica, así como de los principales (...) modelos y teorías donde se incluye además, una estimación de los diversos estilos de liderazgo y su importancia para el logro de un rol transformador en el docente de la educación superior. Quality higher education institutions have the characteristic to develop a pedagogy of change. Since 1999, the Education Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean established a program of the educative leadership net, in order to create a critical group of professionals of the educative system, pioneers in transformational leadership. One of the main purposes of the following article is to assess contemporary trends of the bettering processes in teaching leadership in Latin America, as well as, the main models and theories. The different types of leadership are estimated and also their importance for the development of a transformer role of the teaching personnel in higher education. (shrink)

Encontramos em escritos de juventude póstumos de Nietzsche uma reflexáo sobre a formaçáo da linguagem, sobre a formaçáo do pensamento. Segundo o jovem filósofo-filólogo, o pensamento racional, lógico, dedutivo, surge a partir de imagens, metáforas, metonímias. Todo discurso reconhecido como “científico” parte da imaginaçáo, que é uma atividade poética, artística e ilógica.

I argue contra Larry Laudan and Robert Nozick that valuable goals that are impossible (i.e., ideal goals) can be rational, if they are approachable without a known limit. It is argued that Laudan proscribes as irrational impossible goals because he holds a confused scheme for means/ends rationality. Moreover it is argued that it is counterintuitive to hold ideal goals to be irrational. On the other hand I argue that Nozick's generalization of utility theory so as to admit symbolic utilities will (...) allow the characterization of ideal goals as rational. (shrink)

Em entrevista a Alexandre Fontana intitulada “Verdade e Poder”, publicada na coletânea organizada por Roberto Machado, Microfísica do Poder, Michel Foucault esclarece que em seus primeiros escritos, História da Loucura (1961) e Nascimento da Clínica (1963), o campo de análise acerca do poder não estava a sua disposição, deixa claro ao leitor que a situação política a qual se achava no momento o incapacitava para tal empreendimento. Segundo Foucault, somente após os acontecimentos revolucionários de 1968 houve fecundidade possível para (...) análises do poder. Em 1970 o filósofo pronuncia sua aula inaugural no Collège de France, texto publicado com título de A Ordem do Discurso. Nota-se neste escrito, pela primeira vez e ainda não completamente elaborada, uma guinada metodológica no pensamento do filósofo que perpassará por textos como Vigiar e Punir (1975), História da Sexualidade – A vontade de saber (1976), Em defesa da Sociedade (1975-1976). O presente artigo, apresentado na XIX Semana de Filosofia da UFG, pretende discorrer sobre o texto Nietzsche, Genealogia e a História (1971), tendo em vista que é neste escrito que o método genealógico que o percorrerá Foucault por toda a década de 70 encontra-se mais maduro. E a partir desta questão de método, será possível alçar luzes para uma análise do poder conforme propõe Michel Foucault. (shrink)

Tomando como fontes basilares a “Doutrina da Virtude” (segunda parte da Metafísica dos Costumes) e a Lições de ética – obras nas quais Kant trata com mais afinco o tema intentado –, o texto que segue apresenta em linhas gerais a noçáo kantiana de “deveres perfeitos para consigo mesmo”. Partindo das dificuldades que Kant aponta como subjacentes ao conceito de “dever para consigo mesmo” e, definindo os pontos distintivos entre deveres perfeitos e imperfeitos, pretende-se apresentar os pontos por ele realçados (...) como pertencentes aos deveres perfeitos que o agente moral tem para consigo próprio. (shrink)

pt. 1. G.W.F. Hegel -- 2. pt. Friedrich Nietzsche --.