In Salvador Dali’s Diary of a Genius, his conception of a genius, or concept perhaps, is different from a genius is an inspired specialist. From any piece of personal data about someone, one can infer whether they are a genius or not, given a full grasp of the distinction. I raise a puzzle about his conception.

This paper tries to capture Salvador Dali’s conception of a genius in his Diary of a Genius. The Japanese writer Mishima strikes me as of a comparable level, but if so it seems he either does not think of himself as a genius or he has a different conception of genius.

The Scottish economist Adam Smith recommends specialization, but Salvador Dali was not very specialized: he painted, wrote books, acted, sang, and made films. In this paper, I draw attention to a tactical advantage of not specializing for Dali, when faced with various challenges.

Are the leading members of different fields comparable in their achievements? Is the A-grade painter (or A* if that is your top grade) somehow equivalent to the A-grade boxer, say? I would like to think so, but there is a problematic piece of data for me, though there is a philosophical question of why it is problematic: I find some brief remarks from a certain painter as funny as the jokes of leading comedians. In the appendix, I cast doubt on (...) my characterization of Salvador Dali’s humour as not trading on English language ambiguity. (shrink)

Salvador Dali titled one of his books Diary of a Genius. You might think that anyone who would title his book thus must be a spoilt brat and should be “cured” of the illusion that he, or she, is so amazing. But it seems to me that there is a “position” one can occupy in which this is difficult.

The Nature of God explores a perennial problem in the philosophy of religion.

This article develops a theory of border subjectivity that considers the cybernetic role of narrative structures and mediation in political advocacy aimed at dreamers and DACA recipients. "Cybersujetos” are border subjects who are racialized by cybernetic systems and media narratives, but can resist control by repurposing cultural technologies. In assessing the limitations of journalism, literature, and film as outlets for political advocacy, this article finds that remediated representations of undocumented youth that attempt to expand their political agency can further alienate (...) them. Outdated stereotypes in representation are substituted with a proliferation of diverse but still racialized figures meant to demarcate "exceptional" candidates for naturalization, thus failing to challenge the normative parameters of citizenship itself and the militarized position of the US on the global stage. (shrink)

Preface and Postscript Combining a Preface with a Postscript seems a particularly apposite way to introduce (and conclude) a collection of essays on ...

This book presents a systematic account of the role of the personal spiritual ideal of wu-wei--literally "no doing," but better rendered as "effortless action"--in early Chinese thought. Edward Slingerland's analysis shows that wu-wei represents the most general of a set of conceptual metaphors having to do with a state of effortless ease and unself-consciousness. This concept of effortlessness, he contends, serves as a common ideal for both Daoist and Confucian thinkers. He also argues that this concept contains within itself (...) a conceptual tension that motivates the development of early Chinese thought: the so-called "paradox of wu-wei," or the question of how one can consciously "try not to try." Methodologically, this book represents a preliminary attempt to apply the contemporary theory of conceptual metaphor to the study of early Chinese thought. Although the focus is upon early China, both the subject matter and methodology have wider implications. The subject of wu-wei is relevant to anyone interested in later East Asian religious thought or in the so-called "virtue-ethics" tradition in the West. Moreover, the technique of conceptual metaphor analysis--along with the principle of "embodied realism" upon which it is based--provides an exciting new theoretical framework and methodological tool for the study of comparative thought, comparative religion, intellectual history, and even the humanities in general. Part of the purpose of this work is thus to help introduce scholars in the humanities and social sciences to this methodology, and provide an example of how it may be applied to a particular sub-field. (shrink)

Es indudable el hecho que el mundo está viviendo una crisis sanitaria (pandemia) de magnitudes catastróficas, en la cual todas las medidas de contención, parecen no ser graves, pues el número de bajas por los efectos devastadores de este virus, conocido como Coronavirus (COVID-19 para la comunidad científica), no para crecer, abandonando a la humanidad en la desesperanza, dolor, luto y pérdida, es por eso, que considero que todos los seres humanos de la forma de pensar que sea, ideología política, (...) tendencia de pensamiento, religión, creencias, área de experticia, etc., competimos con nuestro informe y sentar una opinión en torno a un tema que es de vida o muerte para la humanidad en estos momentos y los filósofos, pesar que muchas veces se muestran como seres alejados del mundo en el ensueño de las elucubraciones y “fantasías” maniqueas, no están exentos del problema y le afectan de la misma forma que cualquiera, pues vive en este mundo y está o no, sumergido en el mismo, debe por ello “llenarse” del presente y la realidad actual y efectiva de los problemas que afectan al mundo aquí y ahora. (shrink)

In this study we examine (1) how a manager’s risk behavior is influenced by developing success (or failure) as an impending settling up deadline to report performance approaches, (2) how willingness to provide transparent accountability is negatively affected by perceived risk and eroding trust, and (3) how others interpret and respond to reduced transparency. As perceptions of high levels of risks suggest a lack of environmental control of a firm’s destiny in contemporary settings, we adopt a historical approach to examine (...) these issues. In this respect we draw on primary sources found in library archives in Spain and Argentina. Our focal case refers to the contract signed and executed between the South Sea Company and Captain José de Salinas (1731–1735) to walk 408 Negroes from Buenos Aires to Potosí and sell them en route or at destination. Drawing on this evidence, we examine how bring about unethical conduct featured by increasingly risky business practices, and how eroding trust conditions lead to only summary record-keeping and delayed reporting. In turn, diminished accountability further undermined trust. Our findings have implications for further research in this area as well as for contemporary cases of accounting failures. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:Neuroethics, the study of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying ethical decision-making, is a growing field of study. In this review, we identify and discuss four themes emerging from neuroethics research. First, ethical decision-making appears to be distinct from other types of decision-making processes. Second, ethical decision-making entails more than just conscious reasoning. Third, emotion plays a critical role in ethical decision-making, at least under certain circumstances. Lastly, normative approaches to morality have distinct, underlying neural mechanisms. On the basis of (...) these themes, we draw implications for research in business ethics and the practice of ethics training. (shrink)

What is the relationship between Thailand’s human rights crisis during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s leadership and the USA-led post-9/11 war on terror? Why did the human rights situation dramatically deteriorate after the Thaksin regime publicly supported the Bush administration’s war on terror and consequently received US counterterror assistance? This article offers two conceptual arguments that jointly demonstrate a constitutive theoretical explanation, which shows that counterterror and militaristic transnational and national discursive structures enabled the strategy of state repression in Thailand under (...) Thaksin. The first concept refers to strategic localization, which refers to how the Bush administration’s global war on terror—and its consequent overarching emphasis on military security—provided an opportunity for the Thaksin administration to strategically localize the global threat of terrorism in ways that could seem relevant to the local Thai context. The second concept pertains to resource mobilization, which shows how converging US and Thai discourses on military security facilitated Thaksin’s strategy of increased state repression that led to the proliferation of state-led human rights abuses. This research article contributes to the human rights literature in two ways: by highlighting how foreign aid programs and its constitutive political discourses shape recipient countries’ domestic human rights situation and by tracing the macro-political factors that lead to the eventual democratic decay of contemporary Thailand. (shrink)

Mediante la discusión de un artículo del musicólogo Carlos Villanueva, tomado como paradigma de un determinado tipo de discurso, problematizamos la noción de interpretación histórica para confrontar al historicismo sonoro no una lúcida crítica presentista sino un enfoque actualista capaz de contraponerse con solidez filosófica y artística a las prácticas museísticas del historicismo musicológico típicamente basado en una pretensión de objetivismo sonoro supuestamente respaldada por las disciplinas historiográficas. Esta expansión hermenéuticamente actualista, tanto de la noción de autenticidad como de fidelidad (...) a la intención del compositor, fundamentaría prácticas interpretativas que acercasen mejor el repertorio histórico al oyente actual sin el lastre del canon estético típicamente imperante en las salas de concierto. Porque, ¿y si mediante un enfoque actualizador novedoso la labor interpretativa del repertorio histórico musical lograse comunicar mejor a la idiosincrasia social actual las grandes obras del pasado sin renunciar a un rigor de adecuación estilística ni traicionar, o incluso preservando mejor aún, la intención del compositor? (shrink)

National Book Award Finalist. How did humanity originate and why does a species like ours exist on this planet? Do we have a special place, even a destiny in the universe? Where are we going, and perhaps, the most difficult question of all, "Why?" In The Meaning of Human Existence, his most philosophical work to date, Pulitzer Prize–winning biologist Edward O. Wilson grapples with these and other existential questions, examining what makes human beings supremely different from all other species. (...) Searching for meaning in what Nietzsche once called "the rainbow colors" around the outer edges of knowledge and imagination, Wilson takes his readers on a journey, in the process bridging science and philosophy to create a twenty-first-century treatise on human existence—from our earliest inception to a provocative look at what the future of mankind portends. Continuing his groundbreaking examination of our "Anthropocene Epoch," which he began with The Social Conquest of Earth, described by the New York Times as "a sweeping account of the human rise to domination of the biosphere," here Wilson posits that we, as a species, now know enough about the universe and ourselves that we can begin to approach questions about our place in the cosmos and the meaning of intelligent life in a systematic, indeed, in a testable way. Once criticized for a purely mechanistic view of human life and an overreliance on genetic predetermination, Wilson presents in The Meaning of Human Existence his most expansive and advanced theories on the sovereignty of human life, recognizing that, even though the human and the spider evolved similarly, the poet's sonnet is wholly different from the spider's web. Whether attempting to explicate "The Riddle of the Human Species," "Free Will," or "Religion"; warning of "The Collapse of Biodiversity"; or even creating a plausible "Portrait of E.T.," Wilson does indeed believe that humanity holds a special position in the known universe. The human epoch that began in biological evolution and passed into pre-, then recorded, history is now more than ever before in our hands. Yet alarmed that we are about to abandon natural selection by redesigning biology and human nature as we wish them, Wilson soberly concludes that advances in science and technology bring us our greatest moral dilemma since God stayed the hand of Abraham. (shrink)

Los almohades utilizaron sus monedas para difundir sus mensajes religiosos e ideológicos, no constituyendo una excepción en este aspecto. La nueva forma cuadrada, la metrología y las leyendas de la numismática almohade reflejan la situación histórica y sus posicionamientos sociales y políticos. La forma cuadrada equipara la moneda con su correspondiente dineral y fue un elemento de identificación política. Las leyendas religiosas proclaman la teología almohade de la unicidad de Dios y el lema de la dinastía. Las leyendas genealógicas tuvieron (...) gran importancia para evidenciar la legitimidad dinástica del soberano. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the extent to which allowing for individuals to be indifferent among alternatives may alter the qualitative results that are obtained in social choice theory when domain restrictions are defined on profiles of linear orders. The general message is that indifferences require attention and careful treatment, because the translation of results from a world without indifferences to another where agents may be indifferent among some alternatives is not always a straightforward exercise. But the (...) warning is not one-directional: sometimes indifferences complicate the statement of results, but preserve their essential message. Sometimes, they help to create domains where some rules work better than in the presence of linear orders. In other cases, however, their presence destroys the positive results that would apply in their absence. I provide examples of these three situations. (shrink)

Extant research notes a tendency to propound the idea that female managers are secondary to men. Gender differences constitute an ethical issue and the discursive constructions of gender management are central to research in business ethics. Drawing on evidence gathered from a time–space intersection that has been widely neglected by research in this area, we address whether female business leaders develop gender-stereotypic management styles as well as their propensity to adopt masculine management patterns such as making risky decisions and implementing (...) formal management systems. Our findings suggest that gender-stereotypic management styles are chosen strategically and target-driven, which implies a selective use of masculine and feminine management styles. Furthermore, as part of the masculine approach, female business owners adopt risk-taking decisions and implement formal management systems. Our results provide support for the argument that gender is context dependent and, hence, the findings of this study may be useful for contemporary jurisdictions featuring male-dominated societies and a strong intervention by the State in the economy. (shrink)

The main objective of performance sport is to obtain achievements at the highest level through the adequate development of the athlete. The scientific literature demonstrates the fundamental role played by the inclusion of certain psychological variables in the training plan. This study examined the psychological profile of kayak polo players through the variables of burnout, optimism, and mood in the hours prior to the competition, relating these to each other and to some sociodemographic data. A sample of 86 canoeists, 60 (...) men and 26 women, with an age measurement of 24.4 ± 9.1 years belonging to the first male and female kayak polo division, completed the POMS-29, the LOT-R, and the IBD-R. Athletes' levels of optimism were found to be significantly correlated with mood. Optimism also influenced emotional exhaustion. In addition, seniority and internationality were decisive factors in the level of optimism and mood achieved. (shrink)