Luca M. Possati, Jean Grondin, Paul Ricoeur ; Aurore Dumont, François Dosse et Catherine Goldenstein, Paul Ricoeur: penser la mémoire ; Paul-Gabriel Sandu, Gert-Jan van der Heiden, The Truth of Language. Heidegger, Ricoeur and Derrida on Disclosure and Displacement ; Paul Marinescu, Marc-Antoine Vallée, Gadamer et Ricoeur. La conception herméneutiquedu langage ; Witold Płotka, Saulius Geniusas, Th e Origins of the Horizon in Husserl’s Phenomenology ; Delia Popa, Annabelle Dufourcq, La dimension imaginaire du réel dans la philosophie de (...) Husserl ; Maria GyemantDenis Seron, Ce que voir veut dire. Essai sur la perception ; Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Hans Friesen, Christian Lotz, Jakob Meier, Markus Wolf, Ding und Verdinglichung. Technik- und Sozialphilosophie nach Heidegger und der Kritischen Th eorie ; Bogdan MincăLarisa Cercel, John Stanley, Unterwegs zu einer hermeneutischen Übersetzungswissenschaft. Radegundis Stolze zu ihrem 60. Geburtstag ; Denisa Butnaru Johann Michel, Sociologie du soi. Essai d’herméneutique appliquée ; Ovidiu Stanciu, Jan Patočka, Aristote, ses devanciers, ses successeurs. Trad. fr. Erika Abrams ; Mădălina Diaconu, Emmanuel Alloa, Das durchscheinende Bild. Konturen einer medialen, Phänomenologie. (shrink)

The author argues that the persuasive process is articulated within a dynamic linking beliefs and emotions. The different possible states of equilibrium balancing these two aspects define a persuasive process as more inherently rational or more inherently rhetorical. This latter, being marked by an immediate emotional participation, functions within a social context of the community type. It is dominated by an aesthetic form of communication, where epistemic belief proceeds out of a conformist adherence to the ethos of the group. Its (...) extreme form is represented by the discourse of propaganda. Linked to the epistemic structure of the rhetorical discourse there corresponds a moral structure of resentment and an authoritarian social structure. Although rational elements and emotional elements still coexist within concrete discourses, the possibility of distinguishing them in terms of autonomous functionalities represents the specific adjunct brought by philosophical reflection to the determination of the epistemic structure of persuasion. (shrink)

This study was aimed at predicting individual differences in text reading fluency. The basic proposal included two factors, i.e., the ability to decode letter strings (measured by discrete pseudo-word reading) and integration of the various sub-components involved in reading (measured by Rapid Automatized Naming, RAN). Subsequently, a third factor was added to the model, i.e., naming of discrete digits. In order to use homogeneous measures, all contributing variables considered the entire processing of the item, including pronunciation time. The model, which (...) was based on commonality analysis, was applied to data from a group of 43 typically developing readers (11- to 13-year-olds) and a group of 25 chronologically matched dyslexic children. In typically developing readers, both orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components contributed significantly to the overall prediction of text reading fluency. The model prediction was higher (from ca. 37% to 52% of the explained variance) when we included the naming of discrete digits variable, which had a suppressive effect on pseudo-word reading. In the dyslexic readers, the variance explained by the two-factor model was high (69%) and did not change when the third factor was added. The lack of a suppression effect was likely due to the prominent individual differences in poor orthographic decoding of the dyslexic children. Analyses on data from both groups of children were replicated by using patches of colours as stimuli (both in the RAN task and in the discrete naming task) obtaining similar results. We conclude that it is possible to predict much of the variance in text-reading fluency using basic processes, such as orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components, even without taking into consideration higher-order linguistic factors such as lexical, semantic and contextual abilities. The approach validity of using proximal vs distal causes to predict reading fluency is discussed. (shrink)

This appreciation outlines the life and work of Giulio Preti, a philosopher of the critical rationalist movement. His was a tormented and conflictual philosophical itinerary from his intellectual roots in 1930s Italy, via the philosophical journal Studi filosofici in the 1940s, to his major works Praxis and Empiricism and Rhetoric and Logic in the 1950s and 1960s. His anxiety about the ambiguity of contemporary reality, it is suggested, is also ours.

In a previous study we examined reading, spelling, and maths skills in an unselected group of 129 Italian children attending fifth grade by testing various cognitive predictors; results showed a high degree of predictors’ selectivity for each of these three behaviors. In the present study, we focused on the specificity of the predictors by performing cross-analyses on the same dataset; i.e., we predicted spelling and maths skills based on reading predictors, reading based on maths predictors and so on. Results indicated (...) that some predictors, such as the Orthographic Decision and the Arithmetic Facts tests, predicted reading, spelling and maths skills in similar ways, while others predicted different behaviors but only for a specific parameter, such as fluency but not accuracy, and still others were specific for a single behavior. To interpret these results, we propose a novel model of learning skills separately considering factors in terms of competence, performance and acquisition. Reading, spelling and calculation skills would depend on the development of discrete and different abstract competences. By contrast, overlap among behaviors would be accounted for by defective acquisition in automatized responses to individual “instances”; this latter skill is item specific but domain independent. Finally, performance factors implied in task’s characteristics may contribute to the partial association among learning skills. It is proposed that this new model may provide a useful base for interpreting the diffuse presence of comorbidities among learning disorders. (shrink)

The author argues that the persuasive process is articulated within a dynamic linking beliefs and emotions. The different possible states of equilibrium balancing these two aspects define a persuasive process as more inherently rational or more inherently rhetorical. This latter, being marked by an immediate emotional participation, functions within a social context of the community type. It is dominated by an aesthetic form of communication, where epistemic belief proceeds out of a conformist adherence to the ethos of the group. Its (...) extreme form is represented by the discourse of propaganda. Linked to the epistemic structure of the rhetorical discourse there corresponds a moral structure of resentment and an authoritarian social structure. Although rational elements and emotional elements still coexist within concrete discourses, the possibility of distinguishing them in terms of autonomous functionalities represents the specific adjunct brought by philosophical reflection to the determination of the epistemic structure of persuasion. (shrink)

This paper reformulates the analogy between text and action in Paul Ricœur’s philosophy. My hypothesis is that such a reformulation better contextualizes the tensions in Ricœur’s practical philosophy, specifically between the social and the institutional. The aim is to show that Ricœur’s philosophy is tensional because it’s based on the principle of analogy. In order to think about this tension, we must grasp its true horizon: the analogy of text and action. After outlining this analogy’s genesis, we will see that (...) each of these terms—text, action, analogy—is determined by a “grammar of analogy,” which conditions all of Ricœur’s speeches and has its roots in his interpretation of intentionality. (shrink)

El Programa de Termalismo del IMSERSO, perteneciente al Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales del Gobierno de España, se encuentra englobado dentro de de las políticas y actuaciones públicas de carácter social y económico que tienen como objetivo favorecer la salud e integración social de las personas mayores y su envejecimiento activo. Este artículo estudia, desde el año 2010 hasta el 2013, la evolución de las plazas adscritas al programa y hace una prospección para 2014-2015. Los resultados revelan una disminución (...) generalizada del número de plazas, tendencia que se mantendrá en los próximos años. (shrink)

This paper develops a hermeneutic technology assessment of quantum technologies. It offers a “vision assessment” of quantum technologies that can eventually lead to socio-ethical analysis. Section 2 describes this methodological approach and in particular the concept of the hermeneutic circle applied to technology. Section 3 gives a generic overview of quantum technologies and their impacts. Sections 4 and 5 apply the hermeneutic technology assessment approach to the study of quantum technologies. Section 5 proposes distinguishing three levels in the analysis of (...) the creation and communication of social meanings to quantum technologies: (a) fictions, (b) popularization, and (c) scientific journalism. Section 6 analyzes the results and defines some lines of action to increase social acceptance and trust in quantum technologies. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on quantum technologies by enhancing the reflection on them and their potential, as well as illustrating the complexity of technological innovation and the need to shape it. (shrink)

Digital media and technologies have significantly transformed the ways we relate to the world, in the triple sense of Selbstwelt, Mitwelt, and Umwelt. Think of the quantification of the self, the number of followers and likes on social media, or using Google maps and similar tools to orient ourselves in a city, to find and choose a good restaurant, and so on. One might say that digital media and technologies have actually transformed our interpretation, understanding, and access to the world. (...) Now, if hermeneutics is the philosophy of interpretation, then we might suppose that hermeneutics should pay attention to these transformations. For us, digital hermeneutics is the study of the ways digital media and technologies mediate between humans and the world. It is also the study of the ways digital media and technologies are embedded in non-technological relations between humans and the world – psychological, social, cultural, and so on. (shrink)

This paper intends to address social robotics from the Actor-network theory (ANT) perspective. Starting from the critique of Seibt’s approach and the distinction between anthropomorphing and sociomorphing, the paper proposes a new methodological approach based on ANT and negotiation concepts. This approach allows us to: a) assume a more symmetrical ontology in which robots are considered as social agents, like humans; b) consider all the interactional elements as of equal importance; and c) overcome the dualistic limit that is often imposed (...) on social robotics studies, i.e., the tendency to consider only the one-to-one relationship, one man-one robot, inside the laboratory. Anthropomorphing and sociomorphing are the results of a negotiation process that cannot be reduced to a series of degrees of simulation, but must be understood as a complex interactional process between many agents and material mediations. (shrink)

Most of human-robot interaction (HRI) research relies on an implicit assumption that seems to drive experimental work in interaction studies: the more anthropomorphism we can reach in robots, the more effective the robot will be in 'being social.' The notion of 'sociomorphing' was developed in order to challenge the assumption of ubiquitous anthropomorphizing. This paper aims to explore the notion of sociomorphing by analysing the possibilities offered by actor-network theory (ANT). We claim that ANT is a valid framework to re-think (...) the conceptual couple anthropomorphizing / sociomorphing and answer the following question: What kind of negotiation process and social practices can be developed in HRI, given the notion of sociomorph interactional networks? (shrink)

The central thesis of this paper is that human unconscious processes influence the behavior and design of artificial intelligence (AI). This thesis is discussed through the case study of a chatbot called Replika, which intends to provide psychological assistance and friendship but has been accused of inciting murder and suicide. Replika originated from a trauma and a work of mourning lived by its creator. The traces of these unconscious dynamics can be detected in the design of the app and the (...) narratives about it. Therefore, a process of de-psychologization and de-humanization of the unconscious takes place through AI. This psychosocial approach helps criticize and overcome the so-called “standard model of intelligence” shared by most AI researchers. It facilitates a new interpretation of some classic problems in AI, such as control and responsibility. (shrink)

This paper concerns the role of the unconscious in technology. The central thesis is that there exists an experience of non-acceptance and failed incorporation of technology, which (a) does not depend on the technical engineering dimension of the artifact but (b) instead concerns the relationship between the human unconscious and the artifact. This thesis is supported and developed through the analysis of a case study – that is, the creation and development of the first version of Google Glass. The failure (...) of the first version of Google Glass is explained in terms of the non-acceptance of this technology. This paper presents an analysis of users’ experiences and comments as a basis for interpreting the relationship between the unconscious and technology. Their non-acceptance of this technology is explained and further clarified from a postphenomenological point of view, utilizing the concept of “technological uncanny.” The analysis suggests that antimediation can be understood as a form of noise. In fact, as non-acceptance, antimediation directly concerns the relationship between contingency and control. (shrink)

The thesis of the paper is that semiotic processes are intrinsic to computation and computational systems. An explanation of computation that does not take this semiotic dimension into account is incomplete. Semiosis is essential to computation and therefore requires a rigorous definition. To prove this thesis, the author analyzes two concepts of computation: the Turing machine and the mechanistic conception of physical computation. The paper is organized in two parts. The first part (Sects. 2 and 3) develops a re-interpretation of (...) the Turing machine starting from Peirce’s semiotics. The author shows how this reinterpretation allows overcoming the dualism between a purist and a realist version of the Turing machine. The second part of the paper (Sect. 4) shows how a mechanistic explanation of physical computation such as the one developed by Piccinini is incomplete without considering semiotic relations. The paper intends to be a contribution to the philosophical debate on computation. (shrink)

La question que nous nous proposons de traiter dans cet article concerne le statut de l’événement de la déconstruction en tant qu’image de la raison : Quelle raison trouvons-nous par le biais de la de'construction? Le geste déconstructeur veut dépasser le logos de la métaphysique occidentale sans le de'passer, manifestant l’impossibilité radicale d’un tel dépassement : peut-on parler donc d’un logos déconstructeur? La diffe'rance est-elle coupée du logos ou bien est-elle une autre forme de logos? Quel est son statut lo- (...) gique? Que signifie « logique » pour la rationalité de l’écriture? La diffe'rance peut-elle être formulée logiquement? Nous chercherons à démontrer a) que la déconstruction met en œuvre une logique qui est une logique analogique, et donc b) que l’analogie, conçue dans un sens très technique, b.1) peut non seulement recevoir le statut d’une logique, b.2) mais nous aide aussi à repenser le geste décons- tructeur lui-même. Ainsi la voie est ouverte pour une confrontation entre l’œuvre de Derrida et celle d’Enzo Melandri. (shrink)

La question que nous nous proposons de traiter dans cet article concerne le statut de l’événement de la déconstruction en tant qu’image de la raison : Quelle raison trouvons-nous par le biais de la de'construction? Le geste déconstructeur veut dépasser le logos de la métaphysique occidentale sans le de'passer, manifestant l’impossibilité radicale d’un tel dépassement : peut-on parler donc d’un logos déconstructeur? La diffe'rance est-elle coupée du logos ou bien est-elle une autre forme de logos? Quel est son statut lo- (...) gique? Que signifie « logique » pour la rationalité de l’écriture? La diffe'rance peut-elle être formulée logiquement? Nous chercherons à démontrer a) que la déconstruction met en œuvre une logique qui est une logique analogique, et donc b) que l’analogie, conçue dans un sens très technique, b.1) peut non seulement recevoir le statut d’une logique, b.2) mais nous aide aussi à repenser le geste décons- tructeur lui-même. Ainsi la voie est ouverte pour une confrontation entre l’œuvre de Derrida et celle d’Enzo Melandri. (shrink)

This paper intends to contribute to the emerging literature on the ethical problems posed by quantum computing and quantum technologies in general. The key ethical questions are as follows: Does quantum computing pose new ethical problems, or are those raised by quantum computing just a different version of the same ethical problems raised by other technologies, such as nanotechnologies, nuclear plants, or cloud computing? In other words, what is new in quantum computing from an ethical point of view? The paper (...) aims to answer these two questions by (a) developing an analysis of the existing literature on the ethical and social aspects of quantum computing and (b) identifying and analyzing the main ethical problems posed by quantum computing. The conclusion is that quantum computing poses completely new ethical issues that require new conceptual tools and methods. (shrink)

This article discusses the relation between software and human experience. I argue that software-based experiences are based on a radical discrepancy between the code and “lived experience.” This break is different than the so-called “opacity” of technology. I start analyzing a case study: the video game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Video games are one of the most profound digital experiences humans can have. When I play a video game I do not see the code. However, the code is the source of (...) my experience. I claim that the code’s concealment is the necessary condition of the digital experience. I discuss the ontological definition of software as an entity. Software, I claim, is a complex object, composed of many different levels, whose unity is problematic. In the last part of the essay I argue that the break between lived experience and code is recomposed by imagination through the act of design. (shrink)

Quels sont les rapports entre l’éthique et la politique chez Paul Ricoeur? Le Cogito herméneutique est-il un sujet du droit? Chez Ricoeur, le passage de l ’éthique à la politique se révèle paradoxale. D’une part, le politique réalise la visée éthique d’une vie bonne : c ’est donc une partie de l ’éthique, un prolongement de celle-ci. De l’autre, le rapport de la politique au pouvoir bouleverse l’éthique : il existe une violence qui ne peut pas être réglée par la (...) morale. Le rapport entre l ’éthique et le politique se configure ainsi à la fois comme une identité et une différence. Ricoeur nous propose la voie d’un kantisme post-hégélien qui trouve sur le plan de la reconnaissance mutuelle et de la logique du don la médiation nécessaire entre éthique et politique. Ainsi, le paradoxe politique assume un nouveau sens créatif.What is the relationship between ethics and politics in Paul Ricoeur? Is the hermeneutic Cogito the subject of rights? In Ricoeur, the passage from ethics to politics is paradoxical. On the one hand, the politics achieves the ethical aim of a good life: it is therefore a part of ethics, an extension of it. On the other hand, the relationship between politics and power destroys ethics: there is a kind of violence that cannot be settled by moral rules. The relationship between ethics and politics is configured as both identity and difference. Ricoeur o ffers us the path of a post-Hegelian Kantianism which finds the necessary mediation between ethics and politics in mutual recognition and in the logic of giving. Thus, the political paradox takes on a new creative meaning. (shrink)

This article proposes a reading of Ricoeur and Deleuze from their respective interpretations of Spinoza's thought. Ricoeur and Deleuze are placed in the center of the Spinoza-Renaissance that took place in France in the Fifties and Sixties. However, Ricoeur's Spinozism is still largely unknown. The first two parts of the article concern Spinoza's concepts of conatus and essentia actuosa, emphasizing their importance for Ricoeur's hermeneutics of symbols, especially in relation to his reading of Jean Nabert. The following three sections concern (...) Deleuze and the role of Spinoza's thought in the genesis of rhizomatic ontology in Mille plateaux. The last part of the article seeks to explore the possibility of a dialogue between Ricoeur and Deleuze. Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage traite de la question de l'analogie chez Paul Ricoeur. L'hypothèse majeure est qu'une philosophie de l'analogie inachevée traverse toute l'oeuvre du philosophe. L'analogie se présente comme une fonction décisive qui se déroule sur plusieurs plans, mais qui ne vient jamais à la lumière en elle-même. L'effort archéologique - qui va des premiers écrits des années 30 et 40 jusqu'à la philosophie de la volonté et aux oeuvres majeures de "l'herméneutique de l'homme capable" - montre que la démarche analogique (...) ricoeurienne tient ses racines dans la réponse du théologien protestant Kart Barth au défi de l'analogia entis. Une telle réponse se configure, dans son ossature la plus essentielle, comme un refus de la doctrine de l'analogia entis auquel correspond une reprise de celle-ci en termes pratiques et intersubjectifs. L'herméneutique répète ce geste fondamental. Le détour théologique ouvre non seulement une nouvelle image, très unitaire, de l'oeuvre de Ricoeur, mais aussi un terrain philosophique inexploré : les analogués de l'analogie. Ainsi, l'exercice exégétique se transforme peu à peu en une conversation triangulaire entre Ricoeur, Barth et Derrida. (shrink)

The noema is one of the most daring and controversial concept of the Husserlian theory of intentionality. It was first introduced by Husserl in 1912, within some research manuscripts, but was only fully developed in Ideen. In this paper I claim that the noema is an ambiguous notion, the result of a theoretical operation, the epoché, whose aim is contradictory. In an effort to keep open the epoché, and therefore maintain distance with respect to every transcendent object, Husserl is forced (...) to multiply intentional objects and complicate the notions of sense and noema. Given that, I propose to overcome the paradoxes of noema through the language of game theory. Game theory offers a very fruitful descriptive model that allows us to save the original Husserlian approach without the contradictions of the epoché. For this reason, I propose to re-interpret intentionality as social game, and the noema as Nash equilibrium. By replying to possible objections, I will show that this approach gives us many theoretical advantages. The general aim of the paper is a global reformulation of the phenomenalogical method. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to contribute to understanding software from a “continental” perspective. I argue that Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical hermeneutics can help in developing a new understanding of the nature of software, thus fueling the philosophical debate on digital technology. The core of the paper is the application of the Ricoeur’s notion of text to software. A hermeneutic understanding of software allows us to explain those aspects of software that escape a strictly technical definition, such as the relationship (...) with the user, the human being, and the social and cultural transformations that software produces, the same way that any text does. The hermeneutic understanding of software considers software as a social and cultural product. (shrink)

This book develops an original theoretical framework for understanding human-technology relations. The author's approach, which he calls technoanalysis, analyzes artificial intelligence based on Freudian psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and Latour's actor-network theory. How can we communicate with AI to determine shared values and objectives? And what, ultimately, do we want from machines? These are crucial questions in our world, where the influence of AI-based technologies is rapidly growing. Unconscious dynamics influence AI and digital technology and understanding them is essential to better controlling (...) AI systems. This book's unique methodology- which combines psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and actor-network theory-reveals a radical reformulation of the problem of the human mind. Technoanalysis views the mind as a hybrid network of humans and nonhuman actants in constant interaction with one another. The author argues that human unconscious dynamics influence and shape technology, just as technology influences and shapes human unconscious dynamics. He proceeds to show how this conception of the relationship between the unconscious and technology can be applied to social robotics and AI. Unconscious Networks will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of technology, philosophy of artificial intelligence, psychoanalysis, and science and technology studies. (shrink)

Data involving epistemic modals suggest that some classically valid argument forms, such as _reductio_, are invalid in natural language reasoning as they lead to modal collapses. We adduce further data showing that the classical argument forms governing the existential quantifier are similarly defective, as they lead to a _de re–de dicto_ collapse. We observe a similar problem for disjunction. But if the classical argument forms for negation, disjunction and existential quantification are invalid, what are the correct forms that govern the (...) use of these items? Our diagnosis is that epistemic modals interfere with hypothetical reasoning. We present a modal first-order logic and model theory that characterizes hypothetical reasoning with epistemic modals in a principled manner. One upshot is a sound and complete natural deduction system for reasoning with epistemic modals in first-order logic. (shrink)

We propose a bibliographic review that allows an approach to three concepts: movement, body and space, in order to suggest, in form of enquiries, some relationships that can be traced between them. We dare to question the denial of each one of them as a possible inauguration of the other two. The pause in movement as a gesture that reveals the body and space. The absence of the body as an agent that gives rise to movement and space. The potential (...) charge of a space that has not yet been determined, allowing the movement of bodies to be performed with creative freedom. Planteamos una revisión bibliográfica que permite un acercamiento a tres conceptos: movimiento, cuerpo y espacio, con el fin de proponer, en forma de inquietudes, relaciones que pueden trazarse entre ellos. Nos atrevemos a cuestionar la negación de cada uno como posible inauguración de los otros dos. La detención del movimiento como gesto que desvela el cuerpo y el espacio. La ausencia del cuerpo como agente que hace surgir el movimiento y el espacio. La carga potencial de un espacio que aún no se determina como aquello que permite el movimiento de los cuerpos con la libertad de crear. (shrink)

BackgroundThe psychological burden possibly deriving from not immediately undergoing radical treatment for prostate cancer could be a potential disadvantage of active surveillance, especially in the eve of some relevant clinical exams [i.e., re-biopsy, prostate-specific antigen test, and medical examination]. Even if it is known from the literature that the majority of PCa men in AS do not report heightened anxiety, there is a minority of patients who show clinically significant levels of anxiety after diagnosis. The present study aimed to investigate (...) if demographic, clinical, and psychological variables at the entrance in AS were associated with the risk of developing clinically significant PCa-related anxiety 2 months before the first re-biopsy and to offer psychological support to improve quality of life.Materials and MethodsA total of 236 patients participated in the PCa Research International: AS protocol and in PRIAS-QoL study. Demographic/clinical features, health-related QoL domains, coping with cancer, PCa-related anxiety [Memorial Anxiety Scale for PCa ], personality traits, and decision-making-related factors were assessed at T0. MAX-PC was also administered at T1. PCa-related anxiety at T1 was considered to be of clinical significance if the MAX-PC score was ≥1.5. Multivariable logistic regression coupled to bootstrap was used to detect factors associated with high levels of anxiety.ResultsThe median age was 64.4 years. Fifty-six patients reported MAX-PC total score above the cutoff. Three factors were associated with a high level of PCa anxiety at T1: anxious preoccupation [odds ratio = 4.36], extraversion, and prostate-related symptoms. Physical well-being was associated with a low PCa anxiety subscale ; neuroticism and functional well-being were associated with PSA anxiety. Neuroticism and helplessness/hopelessness were associated with fear of progression.ConclusionOnly a partial portion of the sample experienced significant levels of anxiety after 10 months. Psychological assessment should be routinely conducted to detect risk factors for increased anxiety, offering tailored psychological interventions aimed at promoting interpersonal awareness and emotional well-being. (shrink)

This paper aims to determine whether it is necessary to propose the extreme of putrefaction as the only unmistakable sign in diagnosing the death of the human organism, as David Oderberg does in a recent paper. To that end, we compare Oderberg’s claims to those of other authors who align with him in espousing the so-called theory of hylomorphism but who defend either a neurological or a circulatory-respiratory criterion for death. We then establish which interpretation of biological phenomena is the (...) most reasonable within the metaphysical framework of hylomorphism. In this regard, we hold that technology does not obscure the difference between life and death or confect metaphysically anomalous beings, such as living human bodies who are not organisms or animals of the human species who are informed by a vegetative soul, but instead demands a closer and more careful look at the “fuzzy area” between a healthy organism and a decaying corpse. In the light of hylomorphism, we conclude that neurological and circulatory-respiratory criteria are not good instruments for diagnosing death, since they can offer only probabilistic prognoses of death. Of the two, brain death is further away from the moment of death as it merely predicts cardiac arrest that will likely result in death. Putrefaction, the criterion that Oderberg proposes, is at the opposite end of the fuzzy area. This is undoubtedly a true diagnosis of death, but it is not necessary to wait for putrefaction proper—a relatively late stage of decomposition—to be sure that death has already occurred. Rather, early cadaveric phenomena demonstrate that the matter composing a body is subject to the basic forces governing all matter in its environment and has thus succumbed to the universal current of entropy, meaning that the entropy-resisting activity has ceased to constitute an organismal unity. When this unity is lost, there is no possibility of return. (shrink)

Role congruity theory affirms that female managers face more difficulties at work because of the incongruity between female gender and leadership role expectations. Furthermore, due to this incongruity, it is harder for female managers to perceive themselves as authentic leaders. However, followers’ attributions of prototypicality could attenuate this role incongruity and have implications on a managers’ organizational identification. Hence, we expect male managers to be more authentic and to identify more with their organizations, when compared to female managers who are (...) low in prototypicality. We hypothesized that authentic leadership dimensions mediate the relation between managers’ biological gender and their OID. However, this indirect effect is conditional of these managers' team prototypicality. For testing these hypotheses, we conducted an online experiment with 149 participants from different work sectors using a 2 × 2 between-subject design. As predicted, men scored higher on authentic leadership, and three dimensions partially mediated the effect of participants’ biological gender on OID. In the low team prototypicality condition female managers scored lower in authentic leadership and identified less with the organization, whereas in the high team prototypicality condition, no gender differences were found. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the relevance of adequate decision making at both public health and healthcare levels. A bioethical response to the demand for medical care, supplies and access to critical care is needed. Ethically sound strategies are required for the allocation of increasingly scarce resources, such as rationing critical care beds. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the so-called ‘last bed dilemma’. In this paper, we examine this dilemma, pointing out the main criteria used to solve it and (...) argue that we cannot face these ethical issues as though they are only a dilemma. A more complex ethical view regarding the care of COVID-19 patients that is focused on proportional and ordinary treatments is required. Furthermore, discussions and forward planning are essential because deliberation becomes extremely complex during an emergency and the physicians’ sense of responsibility may be increased if it is faced only as a moral dilemma. (shrink)