Um esboço sobre a natureza dos objetos da matemática Resumo: A natureza dos objetos da Matemática é um dos temas que reflete posicionamentos distintos em relação ao processo de ensino da disciplina. A partir dessa premissa, o presente texto tem como objetivo discutir o processo histórico-lógico de desenvolvimento da Matemática, na especificidade de seus objetos, a partir de concepções realistas e antirrealistas. Além disso, atenta para as manifestações de uma inversão metafísica da compreensão desses objetos. Esse objetivo surgiu a partir (...) do seguinte questionamento: Como se expressa a compreensão sobre a natureza dos objetos da Matemática no processo de desenvolvimento dessa ciência a partir de concepções materialistas e idealistas, realistas e antirrealistas? A discussão inicia pela caracterização dos objetos da Matemática a partir de suas manifestações realistas e antirrealistas, com ênfase nos processos de entificação realizados pelos pitagóricos, por Platão e por Aristóteles. Em seguida, realiza-se um movimento de caracterização da compreensão dos objetos da Matemática a partir do idealismo e do materialismo. Tais abordagens são realizadas a partir de uma outra, a filosófico-histórica, com o intuito de desnudar a essência pela qual se expressa o entendimento sobre os objetos matemáticos como necessário em processos de educação escolar. Palavras-chave: Filosofia da matemática; Concepções de Matemática; Educação Matemática. The nature of mathematical objects outlined Abstract: The nature of mathematical objects is one of the themes in the process of teaching mathematics that reflects distinctive positions. Based on this premise, the present article aims to discuss the historical-logical process of development of Mathematics, taking into account the specifics of its objects, found on unrealistics and realistics concepts. Furthermore, it considers the manifestations in the comprehension of metaphysics inversion of these objects. This objective emerges from the following question: How is the comprehension of the nature of mathematical objects in the process of development of this science based on materialistic and idealistic, realistic and unrealistic concepts expressed? The discussion begins with the characterization of the mathematical objects from the realistics and unrealistics manifestations, with an emphasis on the process of entification which was carried out by pythagoreans, such as Plato and Aristotle. Subsequently, it provides the characterization of the comprehension of the mathematical objects based on idealism and materialism. The approaches applied are based on another one, that is the philosophical and historical one, which intends to unveil the essence by which it expresses the comprehension of the mathematical objects as paramount for the educational process. Key-words: Philosophy of Mathematics; Mathematical concepts; Mathematics Education. Un esbozo sobre la naturaleza de los objetos matemáticos Resumen: La naturaleza de los objetos matemáticos es uno de los temas que refleja diferentes posiciones en relación con el proceso de enseñanza de la disciplina. A partir de esta premisa, el presente texto tiene como objetivo discutir el proceso histórico-lógico del desarrollo de la matemática, en la especificidad de sus objetos, a partir de concepciones realistas y antirrealistas. Además, está atenta a las manifestaciones de una inversión metafísica de la comprensión de estos objetos. Este objetivo surgió del siguiente cuestionamiento: ¿Cómo se expresa la comprensión de la naturaleza de los objetos matemáticos en el proceso de desarrollo de esta ciencia a partir de concepciones materialistas e idealistas, realistas y antirrealistas? La discusión comienza con la caracterización de los objetos matemáticos a partir de sus manifestaciones realistas y antirrealistas, con énfasis en los procesos de entificación realizados por los pitagóricos, Platón y Aristóteles. En seguida, se realiza un movimiento para caracterizar la comprensión de los objetos matemáticos basado en el idealismo y el materialismo. Tales enfoques son realizados a partir de un otro, el filosófico-histórico, con la intención de despojar la esencia por la cual se expresa el entendimiento sobre los objetos matemáticos como necesarios en procesos de la educación escolar. Palabras clave: Filosofía de la matemática; Concepciones de Matemáticas; Educación Matemática. Data de registro: 22/09/2020 Data de aceite: 28/04/2021. (shrink)

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the relevance that emotions can play in our epistemic life considering the state of the art of the philosophical debate on emotions. The strategy is the one of focusing on the three main models on emotions as evaluative judgements, bodily feelings, and perceptions, following the fil rouge of emotion intentionality for rising questions about their epistemic functions. From this examination, a major challenge to mainstream epistemology arises, the one that asks to provide (...) prominence to the epistemic agent and to her affects. This chapter discusses these implications, also providing an overview of the many alternatives available nowadays in epistemology, arguing for an open, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary approach to emotions in knowledge. (shrink)

مداخلة مترجمة عن الفرنسية للفيلسوف الفرنسي جيل دولوز.

Based on structural differences between spoken and written language, the purpose of this paper was to investigate whether spoken and written communication imply a different representation in reporting an experienced dream. In fact, the clausal-dynamic quality of the former and nominal-synoptic quality of the latter, with the consequent differences in length, cohesion and density, could enhance/reduce the perceptual character and narrative structure of report features often considered in order to assess sleep mentation. In particular, we wondered whether, after eliminating all (...) the elements responsible for the more conspicuous quantitative differences across the two forms , we would obtain two equivalent ways of reporting dreams. Three hundred and two subjects, raging in age from 18 to 40 years, participated as volunteers in the study and were asked to complete a dream diary daily for 14 days, by tape-recording their own dreams and putting them down in writing. The reports were analyzed by a psycholinguistic system. Results indicated that the report modality is able to affect the dream experience representation, conditioning the figurative translation carried out by the tester: written forms show a loss of hallucinatory information and a non-complete correspondence also of the bizarreness features with respect to the spoken texts. Partialling out for length eliminated any difference between spoken and written dream reports on bizarreness; on the other hand, controlling the sequence effect of the report did not introduce changes. Methodological and theoretical implications were discussed. (shrink)

In this paper, I focus on the concept of embeddedness as the background against which eros is a force and a power in and through interactions. To go beyond an internalist account of eros, I engage in a dialogue with some philosophical accounts of desire from an enactive perspective.This enables me to shed light on the location of the embodied tension as “in-between” lovers and “all-around” them. Crucial to this tensional account of embedded eros is the intertwining between self and (...) others’ becomings in processes of participatory sense-making. Through participatory sense-making lovers make their worlds, creating new ways of being and knowing in the ensemble. I advance some steps towards an enactive ethics of eros where, I claim, the cultivation of the space in-between and all-around lovers is the key to avoid the traps of a degenerated form of eros. (shrink)

: Este artigo tem por objetivo sustentar a hipercognição, resultado da interação da cognição humanacom os artefatos interativos provenientes da Convergência Tecnológica NBIC,como perspectiva factível perante as teses pós-humanistas que esboçam uma transformação ontológica doser humano a partir da fusão com máquinas. A factibilidade da hipercognição está alicerçada na concepçãode cognição sustentada pelo externalismo ativo, em especial o de Andy Clark, para o qual o ambiente possuicaracterísticas relevantes o suficiente para desempenhar um papel protagonista no processo de cognição,uma vez que (...) os humanos já seriam, por natureza, peritos na tarefa de incorporar material não biológico emsuas rotinas físicas e cognitivas. A simbiose entre humanos e máquinasseria algo que decorreria naturalmente, sobretudo na acepção de que os processos cognitivos seriamdependentes de ajuda externas. No contexto da Convergência Tecnológica NBIC, essa simbiose é o quepossibilita a hipercognição. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a postura antirrepresentacionista da abordagem incorporada da cognição em sua tentativa de fazer frente às possíveis limitações da ciência cognitiva clássica. Tal abordagem, propagada a partir da década de 1980, teve suas raízes na perspectiva ecológica de Gibson, com a noção de affordances, podendo uma versão mais acentuada ser identificada no texto Radical embodied cognitive science, de Chemero, em que o autor procura apontar a desnecessidade das representações mentais para a compreensão da cognição, tendo (...) como apoio a noção de affordances, porém numa perspectiva distinta de Gibson. Ao apresentar a distinção conceitual de affordances entre os autores em questão, pretende-se, por fim, discutir a contribuição epistemológica da abordagem radical de cognição incorporada de Chemero para o futuro da ciência cognitiva. (shrink)

_Emotions in Plato_, through a detailed analysis of emotions such as shame, anger, fear, and envy, but also pity, wonder, love and friendship, offers a fresh account of the role of emotions in Plato’s psychology, epistemology, ethics and political theory.

O objetivo deste artigo consiste em aprofundar a intuição foucaultiana no livro As palavras e as coisas a respeito da máthêsis universalis como ciência geral da ordem e da medida, para tratar da Idade Clássica. Essa caracterização de Michel Foucault lhe permite afastar-se da percepção desta época pela lente do racionalismo, mecanicismo e matematização da natureza. Ao refletir sobre a ordem empírica dos seres, palavras e coisas pela relação entre máthêsis, taxinomia e teoria do signo, Foucault relativiza também certa percepção (...) da fenomenologia (husserliana) segundo a qual o racionalismo seria o solo fundante da Modernidade. Palavras-chave: Máthêsis. Taxinomia. Arqueologia. Fenomenologia. Michel Foucault. Descartes. (shrink)

Este artigo é uma apresentação dos fundamentos da teoria modular desenvolvida por Jerry A. Fodor e uma reflexão sobre seus principais desafios. A noção de modularidade da mente de Fodor, por um lado, procura superar as insuficiências metodológicas e epistemológicas do associacionismo e do localizacionismo a respeito das explicações da estrutura e do funcionamento mental; por outro lado, é uma oposição à postura culturalista de Vygotsky, para o qual as funções superiores da mente, como a cognição, são produtos artificiais, culturais. (...) A psicologia cognitiva de Chomsky converteu esse produto "artificial" em "natural", postulando a existência de módulos inatos para desempenhar funções cognitivas específicos. Com base nessa ideia de Chomsky, Fodor procura explicar a mente como um conjunto de módulos. No entanto, sua principal contribuição para as ciências cognitivas é a apresentação da arquitetura mental em dois níveis e a afirmação da existência de módulos centrais responsáveis pelas atividades cognitivas superiores, como criatividade, reflexão ou imaginação. (shrink)

O presente texto discute, em âmbito teórico, a relação entre acontecimento e narrativa midiática. Através de Louis Quéré, situa-se o acontecimento na dialética da experiência, originária da interação entre sujeitos e acontecimentos. Pensa-se a narrativa como um lugar de manifestação e representação das culturas e das ações dos sujeitos sobre o mundo. Volta-se para a narrativa por meio da tríplice mimese de Paul Ricoeur. No âmbito analítico, o texto realiza incursões e interpretações acerca da derrota da seleção brasileira de futebol (...) para a seleção alemã por sete gols a um na semifinal da Copa do Mundo de Futebol de 2014 e busca compreender como as capas de alguns jornais brasileiros produzem uma ressignificação do revés do Brasil na Copa de 1950, conhecido como Maracanaço. (shrink)

Dans cet article j’analyse le concept de transmutatio corporalis dans la théorie des passions de Thomas d’Aquin. Je prends en considération surtout le traité sur les passions contenu dans la Somme de théologie, mais aussi d’autres textes du maître dominicain : le Commentaire sur les Sentences, les Questions disputées sur la vérité, le bref traité Sur le mouvement du cœur. Tout d’abord, je montre comment l’idée de transmutatio corporalis est essentielle pour la définition thomasienne de la passion, puis j’identifie en (...) quoi consiste cette modification corporelle dans les principales passions. Je termine avec l’analyse de la transmutatio corporalis dans la dynamique entre l’âme et le corps, m’arrêtant notamment sur l’idée de la redundantia, à savoir le processus circulaire par lequel l’âme modifie le corps et le corps modifié intervient sur l’âme. (shrink)

In this paper, we introduce an enactive account of loving as participatory sense-making inspired by the “I love to you” of the feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray. Emancipating from the fusionist concept of romantic love, which understands love as unity, we conceptualise loving as an existential engagement in a dialectic of encounter, in continuous processes of becoming-in-relation. In these processes, desire acquires a certain prominence as the need to know (the other, the relation, oneself) more. We build on Irigaray’s account of (...) love to present a phenomenology of loving interactions and then our enactive account. Finally, we draw some implications for ethics. These concern language, difference, vulnerability, desire, and self-transformation. (shrink)

Noted psychologist and philosopher develops his own brand of pragmatism, based on theories of C. S. Peirce. Emphasis on "radical empiricism," versus the transcendental and rationalist tradition. One of the most important books in American philosophy. Note.

In this paper, I analyse a specific kind of loneliness that can be experienced in the networked life, namely “extended loneliness”. I claim that loneliness—conceived of as stemming from a lack of satisfying relationships to others—can arise from an abundance of connections in the online sphere. Extended loneliness, in these cases, does not result from a lack of connections to other people. On the contrary, it consists in the complex affective experience of both lacking and longing for meaningful relationships while (...) being connected to many people online. The recursive interaction with a digital assistant in a smart flat is my key example for defining the contours of this specific kind of loneliness that emerges when hyperconnectivity becomes pervasive in the user’s daily-life. Drawing on Sherry Turkle’s work and employing the conceptual framework of the extended mind, I analyse the specific characteristics of extended loneliness and explore its phenomenology. (shrink)

In this paper, we provide a pragmatist conceptualization of affective habits as relatively flexible ways of channeling affectivity. Our proposal, grounded in a conception of sensibility and habits derived from John Dewey, suggests understanding affective scaffoldings in a novel and broader sense by re-orienting the debate from objects to interactions. We claim that habits play a positive role in supporting and orienting human sensibility, allowing us to avoid any residue of dualism between internalist and externalist conceptions of affectivity. We provide (...) pragmatist tools for understanding the environment's role in shaping our feelings, emotions, moods, and affective behaviors. However, we contend that in addition to environment, the continuous and recursive affective transaction between agent and environment are also crucially involved. We claim that habits are transformative, which is especially evident when we consider that emotions are often the result of a crisis in habitual behavior and successively play a role in prompting changes of habits. The final upshot is a conceptualization of affective habits as pervasive tools for feelings that scaffold human conduct as well as key features in the transformation of behaviors. (shrink)

This innovative new volume analyses the role of emotions in knowledge acquisition. It focuses on the field of philosophy of emotions at the exciting intersection between epistemology and philosophy of mind and cognitive science to bring us an in-depth analysis of the epistemological value of emotions in reasoning. With twelve chapters by leading and up-and-coming academics, this edited collection shows that emotions do count for our epistemic enterprise. Against scepticism about the possible positive role emotions play in knowledge, the authors (...) highlight the how and the why of this potential, lucidly exploring the key aspects of the functionality of emotions. This is explored in relation to: specific kinds of knowledge such as self-understanding, group-knowledge and wisdom; specific functions played by certain emotions in these cases, such as disorientation in enquiry and contempt in practical reason; the affective experience of the epistemic subjects and communities. (shrink)

In this paper, I discuss the intrinsic value of truth from the perspective of the emotion studies in virtue epistemology. The strategy is the one that looks at epistemic emotions as driving forces towards truth as the most valuable epistemic good. But in doing so, a puzzle arises: how can the value of truth be intrinsic and instrumental? My answer lies in the difference established by Duncan Pritchard between epistemic value and the value of the epistemic applied to the case (...) of subjective motivations to knowing. I argue that the value of truth is intrinsic as epistemic value and that this is not only compatible with the idea that truth can have different kinds of instrumental values but also that the subjective value of truth, disclosed by epistemic emotions, can make the value of truth stronger if regulated within patterns of virtuous enquiry. (shrink)

The aim of the chapter is to discuss and evaluate the epistemic role of emotions in participatory sense-making, assuming 4Ecognition as background. I first ask why could emotions be beneficial for the collective processes of knowledge, especially discussing Battaly and arguing for a conceptualisation of emotions as socially extended motivations in virtue epistemology; then, I discuss participatory sense-making, both conceptually and phenomenologically, arguing for a fundamental role played by emotions in boosting epistemic cooperation and determining the quality of social bonds. (...) I advocate their specific function in epistemic cooperation. Epistemic cooperation is what brings about the generation of a shared meaning in participatory sense-making and thus, since emotions function as socially extended motivations, they boost the relationships among the agents, bonding them to the aims of their epistemic community. (shrink)

This first volume contains discussions of the brain, methods for analyzing behavior, thought, consciousness, attention, association, time, and memory.

In this paper we suggest an understanding of the self within the conceptual framework of situated affectivity, proposing the notion of an affectively extended self and arguing that the construction, diachronic re-shaping and maintenance of the self is mediated first by affective interactions. We initially consider the different variations on the conception of the extended self that have been already proposed in the literature. We then propose our alternative, contextualising it within the current debate on situated affectivity. While the idea (...) that we exploit the external environment in order to manage our affective life is now rather widespread among philosophers, its potential consequences for and connections with the debate on the self remain underexplored. Drawing on James’ intuition of the “material self”, which clearly connects the self and the emotions in agency, and broadly envisioning an extension of the self beyond its organismic boundaries, we propose our pragmatist conception of the self: an affectively extended self that relies on affective artifacts and practices to construct its identity extended beyond skin and skull. (shrink)

With a new foreword by Jonathan Lear 'Remarkably lively and enjoyable…It is a very rich book, containing excellent descriptions of a variety of moral theories, and innumerable and often witty observations on topics encountered on the way.' -_ Times Literary Supplement_ Bernard Williams was one of the greatest philosophers of his generation. Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy is not only widely acknowledged to be his most important book, but also hailed a contemporary classic of moral philosophy. Drawing on the (...) ideas of the Greek philosophers, Williams reorients ethics away from a preoccupation with universal moral theories towards ‘truth, truthfulness and the meaning of an individual life’. He explores and reflects upon the most difficult problems in contemporary philosophy and identifies new ideas about central issues such as relativism, objectivity and the possibility of ethical knowledge. This edition also includes a commentary on the text by A.W.Moore. At the time of his death in 2003, Bernard Williams was hailed by the Times as 'the outstanding moral philosopher of his age.' He taught at the Universities of Cambridge, Berkeley and Oxford and is the author of many influential books, including _Morality; Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry_ and _Truth and Truthfulness_. (shrink)

Lycan not only uses the numerous arguments against materialism, and functionalist theories of mind in particular, to gain a more detailed positive view of the ..

This paper discusses the virtue epistemology literature on epistemic emotions and challenges the individualist, unworldly account of epistemic emotions. It argues that epistemic emotions can be truth-motivating if embedded in co-inquiry epistemic cultures, namely virtuous epistemic cultures that valorise participatory processes of inquiry as truth-conducive. Co-inquiry epistemic cultures are seen as playing a constitutive role in shaping, developing, and regulating epistemic emotions. Using key references to classical Pragmatism, the paper describes the bridge between epistemic emotions and co-inquiry culture in terms (...) of habits of co-inquiry that act as the scaffolding of epistemic emotions. The result is a context-sensitive and practice-oriented approach to epistemic emotions that conceives of those emotions as being shaped by co-inquiry epistemic cultures. (shrink)

Sections include: experiments and generalised causal inference; statistical conclusion validity and internal validity; construct validity and external validity; quasi-experimental designs that either lack a control group or lack pretest observations on the outcome; quasi-experimental designs that use both control groups and pretests; quasi-experiments: interrupted time-series designs; regresssion discontinuity designs; randomised experiments: rationale, designs, and conditions conducive to doing them; practical problems 1: ethics, participation recruitment and random assignment; practical problems 2: treatment implementation and attrition; generalised causal inference: a grounded theory; (...) generalised causal inference: methods for single studies; generalised causal inference: methods for multiple studies; a critical assessment of our assumptions. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide an appreciation of Michel Foucault’s The Order of Things reception, from the latest book by Ivan Domingues entitled “Foucault, a arqueologia e As palavras e as coisas: cinquenta anos depois” (Ed. UFMG, 2023). One of the scopes of the book is to examine the range of The Order of Things and its archaeological strategy to account for the presentation of the birth of human sciences, as well as its fragility and instability in (...) the face of a possible change in the disposition of knowledge. Or Episteme’s disposition, according to Foucault terminology, whose signs of change can be observed on the occasion of the advent, in the twentieth century, of Lacanian psychoanalysis, ethnology and structural linguistics. By privileging its repercussions, expansions and rectifications fifty years later, it is not intended to “correct” Foucault from an epistemological point of view, but to point out the fertility and power of his thoughts for posterity. It is about going through “fertile errors and anodyne truths” (DOMINGUES, 2020, p. 386). The bet is that possible gaps, errors or confusions identifiable by Foucault himself and by his critics at the time never invalidate the fertility of a discussion concerning human sciences, which were never the same after Foucault. (shrink)

Through a discussion of the socially extended mind, this paper advances the “not possible without principle” as an alternative to the social parity principle. By charging the social parity principle with reductionism about the social dimension of socially extended processes, the paper offers a new argumentative strategy for the socially extended mind that stresses its existential significance. The “not possible without principle” shows that not only is something _more_ achieved through socially located processes of knowledge building, but also that, and (...) more importantly, what is achieved is something that _would not have been possible without_ social interaction_._ The social parity principle states that the result of an activity achieved via social interaction should be assumed functionally equivalent to a solitary investigation and is characterized by multiple realisability. Contrary to the social parity principle, the “not possible without principle” holds that the result would not have been achieved without the social interaction between (at least) two agents with specific existential needs. The socially extended mind never happens in a void. This means that the "not possible without" principle should be located in real-life, affectively charged, embodied experiences of skilful interactions between agents. This fundamental conceptual change via reference to the “existential necessity” that regulates socially extended processes is necessary in order to effectively lead the socially extended mind to a truly embedded and embodied account. (shrink)

A pergunta sobre o bem viver, a justiça e a reta ação moral acompanham a trajetória histórica do ser humano. Diante de uma sociedade plural e relativista como a nossa, a ética do discurso de Habermas apresentase como um procedimento fecundo de justificação e de validação do agir humano. Haure seu estatuto de plausibilidade na linguagem e se coaduna ao movimento da guinada linguística da filosofia contemporânea, que provocou um processo de revisão de todos os problemas filosóficos até então colocados, (...) inclusive a questão da moralidade. Ela parte dos pressupostos fundamentais do agir comunicativo e da interação linguística dos diversos sujeitos. Tem como meta a justificação, mediante o discurso prático, das normas, dos valores e de todos os conteúdos morais específicos de cada sociedade humana específica. Requer competência comunicativa e participação discursiva direta dos diversos atores sociais. (shrink)

Emotions ( pathè) such as anger, fear, shame, and envy, but also pity, wonder, love and friendship have long been underestimated in Plato’s philosophy. The aim of Emotions in Plato is to provide a consistent account of the role of emotions in Plato’s psychology, epistemology, ethics and political theory. The volume focuses on three main issues: taxonomy of emotions, their epistemic status, and their relevance for the ethical and political theory and practice. This volume, which is the first edited volume (...) entirely dedicated to emotions in Plato’s philosophy, shows how Plato, in many aspects, was positively interested in these affective states in order to support the rule of reason. (shrink)

Background The increasing incidence of people affected by overweight or obesity is a significant health problem. The knowledge of the factors which influences the inappropriate eating behaviours causing excessive body fat is an essential goal for the research. In fact, overweight and obesity are significant risk factors for many health diseases, such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, etc. Recently, many studies have focused on the relationship between body weight and cognitive processes. Objectives This systematic review is aimed to investigate the existence (...) and the nature of the relationship between excessive body weight (overweight/obesity) and executive functions, analysing cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in order to verify the evidence of a possible causality between these variables. Methods The review was carried out according to the PRISMA-Statement, through systematic searches in the scientific databases PubMed, Medline, PsychInfo, and PsycArticles. The studies selected examined performance on executive tasks by participants with overweight or obesity, aged between 5 and 70 years. Studies examining eating disorders or obesity resulting from other medical problems were excluded. Furthermore, the results of studies using a cross-sectional design and those using a longitudinal one were separately investigated. Results Sixty-three cross-sectional studies and twenty-eight longitudinal studies that met our inclusion and exclusion criteria were analysed. The results confirmed the presence of a relation between executive functions and overweight/obesity, although the directionality of this relation was not clear; nor did any single executive function emerge as being more involved than others in this relation. Despite this, there was evidence of a reciprocal influence between executive functions and overweight/obesity. Conclusions This systematic review underlines the presence of a relationship between executive functions and overweight/obesity. Moreover, it seems to suggest a bidirectional trend in this relationship that could be the cause of the failure of interventions for weight reduction. The results of this review highlight the importance of a theoretical model able to consider all the main variables of interest, with the aim to structuring integrated approaches to solve the overweight/obesity problems. (shrink)

Context: I extend the enactive account of loving in romantic relationships that I developed with Hanne De Jaegher to the love of nature. Problem: I challenge a universal conceptualization of love of nature that does not account for the differences that are inherent to nature. As an alternative, I offer a situated account of loving a place as participatory sense-making. However, a question arises: How is it possible to communicate with the other-than-human? Method: I use panpsychist and enactive conceptual tools (...) to better define this situated approach to the love of nature and to reply to the research question. In particular, I focus on Mathews’s “becoming native” and the generative tensions that unfold in a dialectic of encounter when a common language is not shared. Results: The fundamental difference experienced in encountering the other-than-human is generative for building up the human-Earth connection if we let each other be listened to. I describe the ethical dimension that permeates this type of “enactive listening” at the core of a situated account of love of nature. Implications: Love of nature is of paramount importance in our current climate crisis characterized by environmental anxiety, despair, and anger. A situated love of nature emphasizes the importance of community-based local interventions to preserve the Earth. Love, thus understood as a fundamental moral and political power, is a catalyst for environmental activism. Constructivist content: My article links to participatory sense-making as defined by De Jaegher and Di Paolo, and De Jaegher’s loving epistemology. It offers a broader understanding of participatory sense-making that includes the other-than-human. It also introduces the new concept of “enactive listening.”. (shrink)

A representationalist-friendly introduction to representationalism which covers a number of central problems and objections.

Liberal thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were alert to the political costs and human cruelties involved in European colonialism, but they also thought that European expansion held out progressive possibilities. In Progress, Pluralism, and Politics David Williams examines the colonial and anti-colonial arguments of Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, and L.T. Hobhouse. Williams locates their ambivalent attitude towards European conquest and colonial rule in a set of tensions between the impact of colonialism on European states, the possibilities (...) of progress in distant and diverse places, and the relationship between universalism and cultural pluralism. In so doing he reveals some of the central ambiguities that characterize the ways that liberal thought has dealt with the reality of an illiberal world. Of particular importance are appeals to various forms of universal history, attempts to mediate between the claims of identity and the reality of difference, and the different ways of thinking about the achievement of liberal goods in other places. Pointing to key elements in still ongoing debates within liberal states about how they should relate to illiberal places, Progress, Pluralism, and Politics enriches the discussion on political thought and the relationship between liberalism and colonialism. (shrink)

The Gifford Lectures were established in 1885 at the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh to promote the discussion of 'Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term - in other words, the knowledge of God', and some of the world's most influential thinkers have delivered them. The 1901–2 lectures given in Edinburgh by American philosopher William James are considered by many to be the greatest in the series. The lectures were published in book form in (...) 1902 and have been reprinted many times. James, who was educated in the United States and Europe, and spent much of his career teaching philosophy at Harvard, was very influential in the development of modern psychology, and in these twenty lectures he explores the personal experience of religion. Some of the topics include religion and neurology, 'the sick soul', saintliness, and mysticism. (shrink)