The development of neuropsychological assessment methods using virtual reality (VR) is a valid and promising option for the detection of cognitive impairment in the older people, focusing on activities composed of tasks of multiple demands. This study verified the association of age, schooling, and general cognitive status on the performance of neurologically healthy older adults in ECO-VR, a virtual reality task of multiple demands for neuropsychological assessment. A total of 111 older adults answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Mini Mental State (...) Examination, the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Adults (third edition), and the ECO-VR. Correlation analyses, multiple linear regression, and comparisons between groups (effects by age and schooling groups) were used to evaluate the results. The ECO-VR total score was significantly associated with age, years of education, MMSE, and Vocabulary subtest. The linear regression models identified that age was the main predictor for total score and rule breaking of ECO-VR. According to the univariate analysis, it was identified the main effect of age group and schooling group in the total ECO-VR score, but there was no interaction effect. The results are discussed in order to understand the role of sociodemographic characteristics in the performance of older adults in a virtual reality task of multiple demands. It was also verified the possibility use of virtual reality for neuropsychological assessment of older adults. (shrink)

Tyler Burge is famous for defending primitivist naturalism about mental representations, according to which mental representations are primitive natural states. Primitivist naturalism contrasts with semantic reductionism, according to which mental representations are reducible to more fundamental natural states. Burge developed the most compelling and influential attack on semantic reductionism from a primitivist naturalist point of view. My goal in this paper is to defend semantic reduc- tionism from Burge’s attack. I assess and refute his objection to the motivations for semantic (...) reductionism and his objection to the semantic reductionist theory that he takes to be the most promising one, namely, teleosemantics. I argue that in spite of the ingenuity of Burge’s objections, they fail to show that there is no motivation for taking representational states as reducible to more fundamental natural states or that the core thesis of teleosemantics is flawed. (shrink)

Normal 0 21 This text develops some philosophical analyses on the complex and rich relationship between skepticism and dogmatism, and has as its starting point Plínio Smith's view expressed in his paper "Dogmatic Skepticism and Dogmatism without Dogmas", which critically discussed some texts I wrote on that subject. My main aim he re is to reconsider a problem noted by him in his paper, and, based on this, to advance some new ideas for a critical position on skepticism.

The central aspects of the cartesian notion of idea (representative mental operation, objective being, objective reali- ty, and object) seem to be called into question by the notion of materially false idea: a sensible, obscure and confused idea that represents “a non-thing as a thing.” Would these ideas be false representations, because they would not represent anything, or would they be misrepresentations? In order to answer this question, I analyze the canonical texts of metaphysical meditations on this theme and also (...) the objections of arnauld. I draw the articulations of this debate and interpret them. I then conclude that obscure and confused sensitive ideas, that is to say, materially false ideas, either have as their content sensations or are themselves sensations. Because they are intentional, sensations are considered as ideas of objects, but, due to their nature, they are not in accordance with the objects of which they are ideas. therefore, they have a referential function, but they are not representative of their objects.ResumoOs aspectos centrais da noção de ideia cartesiana (operação mental representativa, ser objetivo (objective being), realidade objetiva (objective reality) e objeto parecem ser postos em questão pela noção de ideia materialmente falsa (materially false): ideia sensível, obscura e confusa que representa “uma não-coisa como se fosse uma coisa” (represent non-things as things). estas ideias seriam falsas representações, pois nada representariam, ou seriam representações equivocadas (misrepresentations)? para responder a esta pergunta, o artigo analisa os textos canoÌ‚nicos das meditações metafísicas sobre esse tema e as objeções de arnauld; extrai e interpreta as articulações desse debate e conclui que as ideias sensíveis obscuras e confusas, isto é, as ideias materialmente falsas, teÌ‚m como conteúdo sensações ou, elas próprias, são sensações. em razão de serem intencionais, as sensações são consideradas ideias de objetos, mas, em razão da sua natureza, elas não são conformes aos objetos de que são ideias. portanto, elas teÌ‚m uma função referencial, mas não seriam representativas de seus objetos. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é responder à questão: a teoria cartesiana das ideias é realista direta ou representacionalista? Para responder a essa questão, analiso as noções de ideia, ser objetivo, realidade objetiva e essência nas "Meditações" de Descartes. Eu procuro mostrar que do ponto de vista da apreensão das essências das coisas externas, Descartes é um realista direto. Mas como algumas provas da existência são inferenciais, eu mostro também que deste ponto de vista a teoria cartesiana é representacionalista. My aim (...) in this article is to answer the question: is the Cartesian Theory of Ideas a direct realist or a representationalist theory? To answer this question, I analyze the notions of idea, objective being, objective reality and essence in Descartes’s "Meditations". I show that, from the point of view of the apprehension of the essences of external things, Descartes is a direct realist. However, since some proofs of the existence are inferential, I also show that, from this standpoint, the Cartesian theory is a representationalist theory. (shrink)

This essay is about the conception of second person in Donald Davidson. For Davidson, what characterizes a significant act and the possibility of the content of an attitude is the interaction between two agents driven by a primary intention: the speaker has the intention that his utterances be understood by another person. The essay is organized in three sections: in the first section, I present the specific meaning of the second person as a creature with whom the speaker currently interacts, (...) regardless of whether they share a rule or linguistic convention beforehand. In the second section I present Davidson’s thesis of triangulation, which is that the individualization of beliefs and thoughts is established from systematic causal connections in triangulation between the individual, another speaker with whom he interacts, and objects or events in the world. Finally, in the third section, I present the idea of the “norm of conversation” as a theoretical tool to address epistemological issues: in conversation, when interlocutors intend to understand each other, speakers engage in a kind of investigation about the meaning and content of the sentences, beliefs, and intentions in dispute. (shrink)

In this paper, we discuss two recurring themes in Sosa’s work, reexamined in Judgment and Agency (SOSA, 2015) from a new angle, i.e. the place and importance of reflection in the cognitive economy of the epistemic agent, and epistemic value. Regarding the latter, Sosa suggests that knowing full well, which necessarily involves reflection, has value because it contributes to human flourishing. Although Sosa’s “new virtue epistemology” appears very promising in explaining different intuitions regarding epistemology and demonstrating that it is possible (...) to join reliabilist and responsibilist accounts of virtue epistemology, we believe that solving the value problem requires further clarification in order to truly explain the value of knowledge. (shrink)

O tema da sustentação das rádios comunitárias emergiu com força no Brasil, desde a I Conferência Nacional de Comunicação, em 2009. A legislação em vigor, relacionada com as iniciativas de comunicação comunitária, restringe o financiamento e compromete vários projetos ou leva outros tantos às alternativas do amadorismo ou da desobediência civil. Este artigo analisa o tema a partir da legislação existente, dos impasses percebidos, do debate formulado e das saídas encontradas, partindo da pesquisa bibliográfica e documental relacionada ao tema. Compreende (...) o setor da Comunicação Comunitária como integrante de um Sistema de Comunicação mais amplo, no qual são fundamentais a formulação de suas políticas e a compreensão do papel do Estado para fomentar e viabilizar suas práticas, diante da força dos meios comerciais no país, que continuamente deslegitimam e criminalizam sua existência. (shrink)

Jean Greisch3 (1942-), ainda pouco conhecido no Brasil, é um filósofo e professor luxemburguês. Realizou seus estudos em filosofia e teologia em seu próprio país, completando-os com um doutorado em filosofia, no Instituto Católico de Paris, onde defendeu sua tese sobre Martin Heidegger. Suas principais pesquisas estão relacionadas com as problemáticas contemporâneas da ontologia, da hermenêutica e da religião. Em A idade hermenêutica da razão, instigado em como a hermenêutica se inseriu no coração da filosofia ao ponto de hoje tratarmos (...) como corrente filosófica o que, antes, era uma disciplina auxiliar, Greisch analisa três sentidos possíveis da expressão razão hermenêutica: (i) o sentido descritivo, onde é realizada uma investigação histórica; (ii) o sentido crítico, onde se analisa os debates que envolve tal expressão; (iii) o sentido heurístico, onde ele questiona o quanto esta expressão implica ou não em uma ideia própria de razão. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the truthmaker monism , a result according to which any truthmaker makes true any true proposition. Truthmaker monism depends on the characterization of the truthmaking relation in terms of strict implication, the principle of excluded middle and the so called disjunction thesis. I will restrict the discussion to a theory of truthmakers of empirical truths and I will argue that, in the scope of such a theory, the problem does not (...) lie in the use of strict implication neither in the excluded middle but, rather, in the disjunction thesis, that must be rejected. (shrink)

This text investigates some difficulties that Semantic Externalism presents for the idea of “self-knowledge” and “first person authority”. I would like to defend that those difficulties originate mainly from the fact that externalist arguments often fall back on mental experiments construed in the perspective of an omniscient narrator. I believe that “self-knowledge” and “first person authority” should be thought of not from the viewpoint of epistemology, but our normal practical capacities to evaluate, ponder, criticize, judge our thoughts, attitudes and actions, (...) especially when we want to give proof, plan something, talk with other people, justify, explain, in short, when we want to offer reasons. (shrink)

A partir do Decreto n.º 5.622, publicado no D.O.U. de 20/12/2005, inicia-se o processo histórico de consolidação da Educação a Distância no Brasil a nível superior, ocorrendo mudanças Legislação educacional e novas diretrizes para a avaliação da qualidade da educação, sendo o item material didático um indicador de extrema importância a ser avaliado. Diante deste contexto abordamos os elementos que fundamentam o conceito de material didático como aula na Educação a Distância - EAD a partir dos processos educativos, organização curricular (...) e cumprimento da carga horária definida pelas diretrizes curriculares de curso. Pela pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, exploratória e descritiva, a partir da experiência de ensino em quatro Instituições de Ensino Superior - IES presentes no cenário nacional, foi possível descrever os procedimentos que envolvem o desenvolvimento do material didático, a organização de conteúdo e a rotina de estudos de acordo com a carga horária necessária à integralização de cursos, estruturando-se assim, o conceito de material didático como aula na EAD. (shrink)

A indagação que motiva o diálogo Protágoras sobre a possibilidade ou não de se ensinar a virtude, perpassa também diversos outros diálogos platônicos. Na verdade, virtude e conhecimento são temas centrais para se pensar o ânthropos, a pólis, a ética, o ser e a razão, no contexto do corpus platônico. Em As Leis, última obra escrita pelo fundador da Academia, a relação conhecimento/virtude volta a ganhar destaque no processo de reelaboração de um novo projeto para salvar o homem e a (...) cidade de suas mazelas. A arte/ciência da justa medida indicada no Protágoras (357 b) será a chave para a viabilização do projeto legislativo, ético e político em As Leis. Será pela correta educação dos sentidos e da razão que se alcançará a virtude responsável pela condução da cidade livre, amiga de si e ponderada (Leis, 701 d). Por sua vez, a educação virtuosa é fruto do conhecimento assimilado pelos costumes, pelo aprendizado, pelo discernimento racional e pelo domínio das paixões, o que assegurará o devido equilíbrio mediante o amparo das leis e das instituições da pólis. Isto se pode constatar, especialmente, na leitura dos livros I, II,VI e VII de As Leis, embora tais questões estejam entrelaçadas no conjunto da obra. (shrink)

Neste artigo, pretendo analisar na filosofia de Tomás de Aquino (i) se a “essência absolutamente considerada” (ou “natureza comum”) pode desempenhar papel de fundamento do universal na coisa singular ou indivíduo e (ii) se ela é obtida simultaneamente com a abstração inteligível da essência com intenção de universalidade ou por uma “dupla abstração”. Além disso, procurarei ponderar se a “essência absolutamente considerada” prescinde ou não de certa apropriação tomasiana de uma teoria das ideias e se relacioná-la com as ideias é (...) necessário para a fundamentação da “similitude” entre os universais e os indivíduos. Por fim, abordarei algumas recepções díspares de Tomás de Aquino nos séculos XX e XXI, como realista direto, essencialista, realista indireto, representacionalista etc. (shrink)

This article discusses the notion of transparency condition proposed by Richard Moran in Authority and Estrangement (2001). According to this notion the question in the first-person present tense about our own belief ("Do I believe in p?") is answered in reference with the same reasons that justify the answer to a corresponding question about the world (about the truth of p). Transparency, in this sense, is the fundamental characteristic of self-knowledge in the context of common experience. Understanding this idea helps (...) us to understand the notions which are normally associated to self-knowledge, such as immediacy (we do not need to turn to observation or inference) first-person authority (I have different access to my attitudes than other people do) and the relationship between self-knowledge, rationality and psychic health of a person. Through the presentation of the transparency condition and some objections to this notion, I aim to offer an interpretation of the notion of transparency which favors a modest conception of self-knowledge and rationality. (shrink)

Naturalist theories of representation have been attacked on the grounds of being too liberal on the minimal conditions for intentionality: they treat several states that are not representational as genuine representations. Behind this attack lies the problem of demarcation: what are the minimal conditions for intentionality that a state should satisfy to be genuinely representational? What are the limits of intentionality? This paper develops a dual proposal to solve this problem. First, I defend the explanatory role criterion in order to (...) assess proposals of minimal conditions for intentionality. I start by proposing the success pattern condition: a state represents a given external feature provided that there is a success pattern present in the behavioural output, and the system uses this state as a proxy for the presence of this external feature. However, this condition is not sufficient for minimal intentionality – there are both intentional and non-intentional success patterns. Another minimal condition is, hence, required to draw this distinction. I propose the constancy mechanism condition: a state is representational provided that the system employs a constancy mechanism in its production. The success pattern and constancy mechanism conditions jointly constitute the dual proposal for minimal intentionality. I argue that this proposal is explanatorily justified and, so, properly demarcates the limits of intentionality. (shrink)

Collection of the papers on language and globalization.

The standardized precipitation index is one of the most widely used indices for characterizing and monitoring drought in various regions. SPI's applicability has regional and time-scale constraints when it observes in several homogeneous climatic regions with similar characteristics. It also does not provide sufficient knowledge about precipitation deficits and the spatiotemporal evolution of drought. Therefore, a new method, the regional spatially agglomerative continuous drought probability monitoring system, is proposed to obtain spatiotemporal information and monitor drought characteristics more expeditiously. The proposed (...) framework uses spatially agglomerative precipitation and copulas’ functions to continuously monitor the drought probability in the homogenous region. The RSACDPMS is validated in the region of the Northern area of Pakistan. The outcomes of the current study provide a better quantitative way to obtain appropriate information about precipitation deficits and the spatiotemporal evolution of drought. (shrink)

A obra cultural, política e social de Leonardo Coimbra é a temática principal deste livro. De permeio é dada nota dos grandes traços e momentos da história da Primeira República Portuguesa, isso na justa dimensão em que tal ajuda à contextualização e melhor compreensão do objecto principal. O estudo desta extraordinária e multifacetada personalidade – filósofo, homem de ciência, escritor, orador exímio, pedagogo, político – e a análise da sua relação crítica com os poderes instituídos durante o período histórico em (...) apreço, dá-nos conta da enorme distância entre os projectos e intenções do movimento republicano e a obra social efectivamente conseguida pelo regime, ao mesmo tempo que se retratam as vicissitudes e os condicionamentos que a um tal resultado conduziram. Republicano de todas as horas, Leonardo nunca deixou de verberar no republicanismo aquilo que considerava serem erros de essência e de forma, desde os postulados positivistas até às lutas fratricidas em que, insensatamente, se empenharam os filhos da República. Mas também a sua palavra, celebrando momentos de heroicidade, de união, de glória, sobretudo um tributo ao povo republicano, ao povo humilde das grandes cidades, que tão abnegadamente amou a República e por ela se bateu. Uma chamada de atenção para um trajecto espiritual percorrido por esta figura de livre-pensador que, pouco a pouco, se foi aproximando de um cristianismo católico, acabando por se converter oficialmente a esta fé, uma semana antes da sua trágica morte. Fica-nos, por fim, o conhecimento da obra cultural de Leonardo e a perpetuação da mesma, primeiramente através de uma geração de discípulos que, de perto, privou com o Mestre e depois os discípulos dos discípulos, ou seja, uma segunda geração de seguidores, todos unidos pela figura e pelo legado cultural de Leonardo Coimbra, a quem alguém chamou, com felicidade, “Mestre dos Mestres”. (shrink)

The constantly accelerating progress of contemporary natural science is indissolubly associated with the development and use of mathematics and with the processes of mathematical modeling of the phenomena of nature. The essence of this diverse and highly fertile interaction of mathematics and natural science and the dialectics of this interaction can only be disclosed through analysis of the nature of theoretical notions in general. Today, above all in the ranks of materialistically minded researchers, it is generally accepted that theory possesses (...) a value of its own. Contrary to positivist concepts of the nature of our knowledge, the meaning and significance of theory do not consist merely of the recording of experimental data, their classification and notation in abbreviated form. The meaning of theory is considerably more significant and is revealed, above all, in its explanatory and predictive functions. Contemporary theoretical knowledge is quite advanced and comprises a highly complex system, relatively self-contained and capable of internal development. Mathematics is the most interesting and distinctive phenomenon in the system of theoretical knowledge, in the system of science in general. It is in its dialectical development that the internal force and dynamics of the development of theory, in the very broadest sense of that word, find expression. Paul Lafargue tells us that Karl Marx held that "science only attains perfection when it succeeds in making use of mathematics" . In many fields of research the formulation of new ideas and concepts rests upon mathematics, its concepts and notions, and "is suggested" by the latter. "Mathematics," writes F. Dyson, "is the main source of the notions and principles out of which new theories are created" . The basic significance of mathematics to theory has been noted by outstanding thinkers over the course of the entire history of development of science. Today the expressive phrase, "the mathematization of knowledge," has come into general currency as a description of the principal direction of growth of theoretical notions in natural science. However, with respect to the growth of modern theoretical physics in general, the statement that it develops primarily by the method of the mathematical hypothesis has general validity. For example, the principal findings and discoveries of quantum theory and particle physics, starting from the corpuscularwave dualism and terminating with the omega minus hyperon and hypothetical quarks, were obtained or made "at the tip of a mathematician's pen.". (shrink)

The deep and many-sided penetration of mathematical methods into virtually all branches of scientific knowledge is a characteristic feature of the present period of development of human culture. Even fields so remote from mathematics as the theory of versification, jurisprudence, archeology, and medical diagnostics have now proved to be associated with the accelerating process of application of disciplines such as probability theory, information theory, algorithm theory, etc. Mathematical methods are rapidly penetrating the sphere of the social sciences. One can no (...) longer speak of the "exact" sciences in the traditional sense , for today they cannot even be conceived of without the most powerful mathematical "armament." These highly complex processes proceed differently, of course, in different sciences. Let us attempt to analyze them, with our chief emphasis upon the experience of the progress of astronomy, mechanics, physics, and other "exact" branches of natural science. (shrink)

This book is concerned with the problem of applying the theory of verisimilitude to cognitive problems of a quantitative nature. Attention is mostly focused on hypotheses concerned with (physical or other) systems whose state can be represented with an element of a multidimensional state space, but hypotheses concerned with quantitative laws are also considered. The book provides a systematic introduction to the main contemporary forms of the theory of verisimilitude, including both proposed definitions of quantitative degrees of verisimilitude and proposed (...) definitions of the relation `closer to the truth than'. It shows why the quantitative measures that have been proposed earlier produce unacceptable results in the multidimensional case and, using the tools of geometric measure theory, works out alternatives for them in detail. In addition, the standard structuralist theory of science and the way in which the problems of approximation are dealt with in it are presented and evaluated critically. (shrink)

Purpose of the work is to identify and justify the moral priorities in multicultural communication. Theoretical basis is the works of foreign and Ukrainian authors, revealing the main approaches to the problem of multiculturalism; studies on ethics and philosophical anthropology that define the problem field in the anthropo-logy of morality. The work uses: the conceptual provisions of phenomenology – for the disclosure of the semantic uncertainty of human existence as a prerequisite of moral search; existential philosophy – to substantiate the (...) essential relationship of a man and culture. Originality of the results obtained consists of 1) understanding multiculturalism as a "dialogue of people", in which the moral search of every person is actualized; 2) in justifying the demand for inter-individual communication of "negative" ethics : its requirement not to commit immoral acts stimulates a person to moral search, reveals the specifics of the existence of a "person navigator" ; 3) in the definition of intercultural communication as the creation of opportunities for the search for tolerant forms of existence. Conclusions : 1) multiculturalism is a contradictory phenomenon, producing conflicts and creating prerequisites for overcoming them; 2) the possibilities of non-conflict existence in a situation of multiculturalism arise in inter-individual communication, which is a situation of moral search for every person; 3) "ethics of opportunities" unites universal and situational moral norms in multicultural communication: people enable each other to remain people; 4) "ethics of opportunities" creates conditions for tolerant interaction between people and cultures. (shrink)

ch. 1. Filosofii︠a︡ russkikh revoli︠u︡t︠s︡ionnykh demokratov i estestvoispytateleĭ.

В серии очерков представлены не только русские философы, но и ученые, писатели, композиторы, политики, оказавшие большое влияние на развитие русской мысли. По своим философским предпочтениям одни из них были идеалистами, другие - материалистами.