A rational reconstruction of the role of moral values in diagnostic reasoning is undertaken. In the context of a case study it is shown how value and ethical considerations come into play in the complex course of making diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.

Although the genetic code is defined by a linear array of nucleotides, it is the three‐dimensional structure of the double helix that regulates most of its cellular functions. Over the past two decades, it has become increasingly clear that aspects of this three‐dimensionality which reflect topological relationships within the double helix (i.e., superhelical twisting, knotting, or tangling) influence virtually every facet of nucleic acid physiology. In vivo, DNA topology is modulated by ubiquitous enzymes known as topoisomerases. The type II enzyme (...) essential to the eukaryotic cell and is required for unlinking daughter chromosomes and maintaining chromosome structure. Moreover, topoisomerase II also has been identified as the primary cellular target for several widely used antineoplastic drugs. Before the physiological functions of topoisomerase II can be effectively dissected or its drug interactions fully exploited, it is imperative to understand the mechanism by which this important enzyme arries out its catalytic cycle. (shrink)

This article may be of significant interest to those who may want to reconsider Aristotelian principles in the light of the philosophy of science---i. e., the Aristotelian Thomistic philosophy of sensation as harmonizable with recent findings in the physics/chemistry/physiology of sensation, especially in correlation with research in colorimetry and spectrophotometry. Primarily metaphysical and epistemological in orientation, this paper makes a case for “methodological realism”---viz., how evidence may be grasped, judged, and interpreted in a way that recognizes extemal sense objects to (...) be criteria for verifying statements made about these objects. Amongst the matters and/or problems, considered philosophically, historically, and scientifically, in the course of the article, are: the kinds of sensible qualities discoverable by us; the problem of “immediate” sensation; an analysis of the intemal process of sensation, investigated in conjunction with insights from Aquinas and today’s science; objective/subjective aspects of sensation; causality in sensation; sceptical positions regarding sensation; the problem of sense error; a critique of Descartes’s assumptions about sensation; a sumrnary of conclusions, based on this examination. (shrink)

This article may be of significant interest to those who may want to reconsider Aristotelian principles in the light of the philosophy of science---i. e., the Aristotelian Thomistic philosophy of sensation as harmonizable with recent findings in the physics/chemistry/physiology of sensation, especially in correlation with research in colorimetry and spectrophotometry. Primarily metaphysical and epistemological in orientation, this paper makes a case for “methodological realism”---viz., how evidence may be grasped, judged, and interpreted in a way that recognizes extemal sense objects to (...) be criteria for verifying statements made about these objects. Amongst the matters and/or problems, considered philosophically, historically, and scientifically, in the course of the article, are: the kinds of sensible qualities discoverable by us; the problem of “immediate” sensation; an analysis of the intemal process of sensation, investigated in conjunction with insights from Aquinas and today’s science; objective/subjective aspects of sensation; causality in sensation; sceptical positions regarding sensation; the problem of sense error; a critique of Descartes’s assumptions about sensation; a sumrnary of conclusions, based on this examination. (shrink)

From past research it is well known that social exclusion has detrimental consequences for mental health. To deal with these adverse effects, socially excluded individuals frequently turn to other humans for emotional support. While chatbots can elicit social and emotional responses on the part of the human interlocutor, their effectiveness in the context of social exclusion has not been investigated. In the present study, we examined whether an empathic chatbot can serve as a buffer against the adverse effects of social (...) ostracism. After experiencing exclusion on social media, participants were randomly assigned to either talk with an empathetic chatbot about it (e.g., “I'm sorry that this happened to you”) or a control condition where their responses were merely acknowledged (e.g., “Thank you for your feedback”). Replicating previous research, results revealed that experiences of social exclusion dampened the mood of participants. Interacting with an empathetic chatbot, however, appeared to have a mitigating impact. In particular, participants in the chatbot intervention condition reported higher mood than those in the control condition. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications, as well as directions for future research are discussed. (shrink)

O ensaio busca apresentar a possibilidade de uma história subterrânea da modernidade na qual os textos das preceptivas artísticas apresentam mudanças que viriam a ser características do pensamento moderno.

Esse ensaio busca apresentar as dualidades presentes nos primeiros movimentos da edição de Fausto como elementos constituintes da formação do todo da obra. É a própria caracterização dual que garante à obra o estatuto de tragédia. Buscando estabelecer relações com as polaridades abordadas por Goethe essa leitura dual se faz de acordo com alguns postulados teóricos do próprio autor e é uma ferramenta que auxilia a compreensão dessa obra.

RESUMO O ensaio busca apresentar como as caracterizações da alegoria, em Winckelmann, ultrapassam a mera tentativa de se compreender um modo de figurar, nos moldes de uma iconologia, configurando uma espécie de metodologia geral para a compreensão da História da arte dos antigos e para a própria apreensão do ideal das artes. Tal possibilidade é dada num ambiente de debates artísticos que antecede a distinção canônico-romântica entre símbolo e alegoria. ABSTRACT This essay aims to show how the central characteristics that (...) Winckelmann gave to the allegory surpass the very range of the modes of figuration and became an original method to understand arts in History and in its ideal. This way of thinking took place in an age that the distinction between allegory and symbol was not canonic and it is very distant from the core of this opposition that became clear in romantic thought. (shrink)

In my book, The Language of Time, it was argued that the distinctions of past, present and future are objective. The over-all structure of the argument was as follows: ‘now’, as well as other temporal demonstratives, although not designating a sensible property, has an informative role in our language, and for this reason temporal demonstratives cannot be eliminated without loss of information; ‘now’ is “semantically” objective but “pragmatically” subjective, i.e. a sentence containing a word such as ‘now’ is not used (...) to refer to any mental event or linguistic tokening of itself, but the rules controlling the use of such a sentence for making a true statement do specify that a specific kind of temporal relation must obtain between the tokening event and the event reported by the statement made through this tokening event; the use of ‘now’ is not selective, picking out some moment of time or class of simultaneous events from amongst others that might have been designated in its place; and, the realistic commitments of ordinary language or common-sense concerning ‘now’ are not, and could not be, inconsistent with any empirical fact or physical theory. Points -, taken in conjunction, go a long way toward establishing that there is nothing mind-dependent or linguocentric about now, that events could be past, present and future and change in respect to these distinctions even in a world devoid of perceivers or language-users. (shrink)

In my book, The Language of Time, it was argued that the distinctions of past, present and future are objective. The over-all structure of the argument was as follows: ‘now’, as well as other temporal demonstratives, although not designating a sensible property, has an informative role in our language, and for this reason temporal demonstratives cannot be eliminated without loss of information; ‘now’ is “semantically” objective but “pragmatically” subjective, i.e. a sentence containing a word such as ‘now’ is not used (...) to refer to any mental event or linguistic tokening of itself, but the rules controlling the use of such a sentence for making a true statement do specify that a specific kind of temporal relation must obtain between the tokening event and the event reported by the statement made through this tokening event; the use of ‘now’ is not selective, picking out some moment of time or class of simultaneous events from amongst others that might have been designated in its place; and, the realistic commitments of ordinary language or common-sense concerning ‘now’ are not, and could not be, inconsistent with any empirical fact or physical theory. Points -, taken in conjunction, go a long way toward establishing that there is nothing mind-dependent or linguocentric about now, that events could be past, present and future and change in respect to these distinctions even in a world devoid of perceivers or language-users. (shrink)

In a series of articles, the most extensive of which are [9] and [10], Carl R. Kordig has attacked the "new empiricism" of the late Norwood R. Hanson, P. K. Feyerabend, Thomas S. Kuhn, and Stephen E. Toulmin. While there are differ- ences among the views of these philosophers, they agree at least on the following claims: (1) scientific method does not proceed inductively from neutral observations because (a) observations are not free of interpretation; and (b) scientists, as a matter (...) of history, have not used induction as the means of arriving at scientific laws; and (2) the key to scientific progress is the discovery of theories, hypotheses, or paradigms which order phenomena and influence the ways in which data are experienced. While Kordig admits that the new empiricism has the valuable effect of underscoring the truth that scientific revolutions do not consist merely in finding new facts or in paying closer attention to already known facts, contrary to the new view, he maintains that observations must be and are neutral ([9], pp. 478-479). Kordig contends against the new empiricists that if observations are not neutral but theory-laden, then it is impossible to test, compare and verify theories. Conse- quently, Kordig concludes that the new empiricist view implies that scientific progress is impossible ([9], pp. 470-471; [10j, p. 470). In opposition to their view, Kordig maintains that observations are neutral and independent of theories (and this was the insight of the logical empiricists) ([10], p. 468); and moreover, observa- tions must be neutral to and independent of theory in order that (a) differing theories may be truly said to compete and (b) the observations may be the basis of testing and deciding between competing theories. (shrink)

It is natural to wish to study miniaturisations of Cohen forcing suitable to sets of low arithmetic complexity. We consider extensions of the work of Schaeffer [9] and Jockusch and Posner [6] by looking at genericity notions within the Δ2 sets. Different equivalent characterisations of 1-genericity suggest different ways in which the definition might be generalised. There are two natural ways of casting the notion of 1-genericity: in terms of sets of strings and in terms of density functions, as we (...) will see here. While these definitions coincide at the first level of the difference hierarchy, they turn out to differ at other levels. Furthermore, these differences remain when the remainder of the Δ02 sets are considered. While the string characterization of 1-genericity collapses at the second level of the difference hierarchy to 2-genericity, the density function definition gives a very interesting hierarchy at level w and above. Both of these results point towards the deep similarities exhibited by the n-c.e. degrees for n ≥ 2. (shrink)

Books on William James quickly succeed one another nowadays, but the best and most durable to appear is Richard Gale’s The Divided Self of William James. What makes the book exceptional is its intimate grasp of James’s thought and of the thinker behind it. Gale’s interpretations of texts, meticulously selected from the corpus of James’s writings, are valuable as criticisms but even more as widening our sights on James’s favorite philosophical targets. Gale has made James his intellectual (...) colleague for many years, contributing brilliant articles to Jamesian scholarship along the way, and the insights gained from that collegial association now come together in this wonderfully original and stimulating volume. (shrink)

Le jeu de l'Etre a une règle et un sens à tous commun, ceux de la créativité universelle depuis son origine. Faute de respecter leur radicale exigence, notre espèce mondialise les déséquilibres naturels et culturels causés par sa croissance au détriment des autres espèces comme de ses propres congénères, quitte à disparaître avant ravagé sa planète. Dans un univers en constante évolution, l'incessant rééquilibrage des déséquilibres est crucial. Tant qu'a tout moment, elle n'équilibrera pas l'un par l'autre, l'égoïste liberté et (...) l'amour altruiste, notre espèce, quels que soient ses progrès techniques, ne pourra affirmer par son verbe qu'elle préfère la vie à la mort et démontrer le contraire par ses actes, du fait que leur croissante incohérence est à la fois plus facile et plus rentable. (shrink)

"This book gathers together eighteen of the most important and influential scholarly articles of the last 60-70 years (three of which are translated into..

There has been in recent years a plethora of defenses of theism from analytical philosophers such as Plantinga, Swinburne, and Alston. Richard Gale's important book is a critical response to these writings. New versions of cosmological, ontological, and religious experience arguments are critically evaluated, along with pragmatic arguments to justify faith on the grounds of its prudential or moral benefits. A special feature of the book is the discussion of the atheological argument that attempts to deduce a contradiction from (...) the theist's way of conceiving of God's nature. In considering arguments for and against the existence of God, Gale is able to clarify many important philosophical concepts including exploration, time, free will, personhood, actuality, and the objectivity of experience. (shrink)