Features of threatening cues and the associated context influence the perceived imminence of threat and the defensive responses evoked. To provide additional knowledge about how the directionality of a threat (i.e. directed-towards or away from the viewer) might impact defensive responses in humans, participants were shown pictures of a man carrying a gun (threat) or nonlethal object (neutral) directed-away from or towards the participant. Cardiac and electrodermal responses were collected. Compared to neutral images, threatening images depicting a gun directed-towards the (...) participant induced sustained bradycardia and an increased electrodermal response, interpreted as immobility under attack. This defensive immobility reaction is evoked by high perceived threat and inescapable situations and indicates intense action preparation. Pictures of guns directed-away from the participant induced shorter bradycardia and no significant modulation of the electrodermal response compared to neutral pictures, which might be consistent with the perception of a less threatening situation. The results show that the directionality of threat stimuli is a key factor that prompts different patterns of defensive responses. (shrink)

O presente artigo pretende realizar, dentro das suas limitações, uma análise crítica da interpretação de György Lukács dos aspectos fundamentais da Ontologia Fundamental de Martin Heidegger. Na obra que analisaremos, recentemente traduzida ao Português como A Destruição da Razão, encontra-se um laborioso trabalho de crítica à história da metafísica. Ser e Tempo, que na história da filosofia possui ambições com pouca semelhança, junta-se àqueles textos que mais ganham atenção na avaliação feita pelo pensador marxista. Assim, fazendo alusão ao movimento de (...) Destruktion, o artigo pretende colocar em jogo a primeira parte da crítica à ontologia hermenêutica heideggeriana e verificar contrastivamente os problemas mais fundamentais dessa recepção quanto à compreensão do paradigma fenomenológico. Dessa forma, verificando a ontologia lukacsiana do Ser-Social, que na obra é situada como um esboço ainda em sua primeira elaboração, este trabalho tem a pretensão de dar início ao exame da consistência ontológico-filosófica da crítica. (shrink)

Healthcare systems across the globe are struggling with increasing costs and worsening outcomes. This presents those responsible for overseeing healthcare with a challenge. Increasingly, policymakers, politicians, clinical entrepreneurs and computer and data scientists argue that a key part of the solution will be ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) – particularly Machine Learning (ML). This argument stems not from the belief that all healthcare needs will soon be taken care of by “robot doctors.” Instead, it is an argument that rests on the classic (...) counterfactual definition of AI as an umbrella term for a range of techniques that can be used to make machines complete tasks in a way that would be considered intelligent were they to be completed by a human. Automation of this nature could offer great opportunities for the improvement of healthcare services and ultimately patients’ health by significantly improving human clinical capabilities in diagnosis, drug discovery, epidemiology, personalised medicine, and operational efficiency. However, if these AI solutions are to be embedded in clinical practice, then at least three issues need to be considered: the technical possibilities and limitations; the ethical, regulatory and legal framework; and the governance framework. In this article, we report on the results of a systematic analysis designed to provide a clear overview of the second of these elements: the ethical, regulatory and legal framework. We find that ethical issues arise at six levels of abstraction (individual, interpersonal, group, institutional, sectoral, and societal) and can be categorised as epistemic, normative, or overarching. We conclude by stressing how important it is that the ethical challenges raised by implementing AI in healthcare settings are tackled proactively rather than reactively and map the key considerations for policymakers to each of the ethical concerns highlighted. (shrink)

A new approach to landscape ecology involves the application of the eco-field hypothesis and the General Theory of Resources. In this study, we describe the putative eco-field of bark beetles as a spatial configuration with a specific meaning-carrier for every organism-resource interaction. Bark beetles are insects with key roles in matter and energy cycles in coniferous forests, which cause significant changes to forestry landscapes when outbreaks occur. Bark beetles are guided towards host trees by the recognition of semiotic signals using (...) a specific eco-field. These signals mainly comprise a group of scents, which are called the odourtope. Their interactions with other organisms occur by sharing relevant information from the eco-field networks in the forest ecosystem. The eco-field networks modulate the expansion of the realized semiotic niche of the bark beetle towards the potential semiotic niche. Moreover, the niche construction process can be initiated by interchanging signals among species living in the same place, where these signals allow the exploitation of the required resources. If different organisms are interdependent on signals in eco-field networks, then this process may result in the establishment of mutualistic relationships. This is an example of how evolutionary processes are initiated by the recognition of signals in a network of eco-fields. (shrink)

Aforizmy dli︠a︡ usvoenii︠a︡ zhiteĭskoĭ mudrosti -- O fizionomike -- O zhenshchinakh -- K uchenii︠u︡ o stradanii︠a︡kh mira -- V dopolnenie k ėtike -- O kritike, suzhdenii, odobrenii i slave -- Ob uchenosti i uchenykh -- O samostoi︠a︡telʹnom myshlenii.

At the mid-point of the twentieth century, many philosophers in the English-speaking world regarded political and moral philosophy as all but moribund. Thinkers influenced by logical positivism believe that ethical statements are merely disguised expressions of individual emotion lacking propositional force, or that the conditions for the validation of ethical statements could not be specified, or that their content, however humanly meaningful, is inexpressible. Philosophical Dimensions of Public Policy presents thirty-four articles written by research scholars numerous fields-philosophy, political theory, medicine, (...) law, biology, economics, ecology and sociology-treating a broad range of topics in practical philosophy. The Institute for Philosophy and Public Affairs has been home for these ideas, pioneering a distinctive method of conducting inquiry into the moral dimensions of public life, and contributing to public discussion and deliberation. Members of the Institute reject the idea that public philosophy means reaching into the philosopher's tool-kit and "applying" prefabricated theories to particular problems. They set in motion a dialogue between the distinctive moral features of practical problems and the more general moral theories or considerations that seem most likely to elucidate these problems. The volume is divided into five areas: "Politics, Civic Life, and Moral Education"; "Diversity, Identity, and Equal Opportunity"; "Human Rights, Development Ethics, and International Justice"; "Biotechnology, Genetic Research, and Health Policy"; and "Natural Environment, Human Communities." Philosophical Dimensions of Public Policy presents empirical data and philosophical arguments with the intention of informing public policy and public deliberation. Scholars as well as graduate and undergraduate students are certain to find it useful to their research work. Verna V. Gehring is editor at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland. She serves as editor of Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly, reviewer of ethics manuscripts for Oxford University Press, and moderator for the Aspen Institute. William A. Galston is director at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland. He is a political theorist who both studies and participates in American politics and domestic policy. Galston is the author of nearly one hundred articles on moral and political theory, American politics, and public policy, and the author of five books, including Liberal Purposes. (shrink)

Purpose: To analyze how individual characteristics and the social context are associated with mental distress symptoms in the Brazilian population.Method: A multilevel cross-sectional study with data from the 2013 National Health Survey. There were two dependent variables: decreased vital energy and somatic symptoms, the presence of depressive thoughts. The independent variables were biological characteristics, education and income, habits and lifestyle, and context variables. Bivariate analysis was performed, and Prevalence Ratios calculated in a Poisson Regression. A multilevel Poisson Regression was performed (...) to verify the effect of individual and contextual variables.Results: Regarding depressive thoughts, young and middle-aged individuals, low education, women, absence of partner, smokers or former smokers, and absence of health insurance were the categories at highest risk; belonging to classes D-E and living in states with lower expected years of schooling proved to be protective factors. Similar results were found for the second outcome.Conclusions: Symptoms of mental distress were associated with the individual characteristics and contextual aspects of the federation unit. These findings indicate the importance of strengthening psychosocial care aimed at vulnerable groups. (shrink)

In a national survey, members of 4As agencies were contrasted with non-member agencies to determine awareness and influence of the 4As Standards of Practice, the Professional Code of Ethics for 4As members. The 4As Code was selected because the 4As represents the principle professional association of the support service industry, advertising.

Il est fréquent de rencontrer, dans une grande partie des réflexions intellectuelles actuelles la formulation d’une nécessaire « modernisation » des institutions démocratiques. La démocratie irait « d'une crise à l'autre » (Gauchet, 2007), chacun s'accordant sur le constat et y allant de son petit remède. Quel lien entre ces propositions théoriques et les actuels bouleversements de la vie politique? Quelles conséquences sur l'organisation institutionnelle des « expériences politiques » classiques que sont la démocratie représentative et la lutte pour l'organisation (...) indépendante?Le contenu doctrinal de ces thèses sur un « renouvellement » de la démocratie emprunte parfois aux philosophies corporatistes qui lui sont étrangères, en premier lieu la doctrine sociale de l'Église. Plus que des vœux, ces thèses accompagnent idéologiquement des bouleversements politiques réels. Le concept de subsidiarité par exemple qui constitue le principe central de la doctrine sociale de l'Église est la colonne vertébrale des institutions de l'Union Européenne depuis 1992 et trouve sa place dans la Constitution française depuis 2008. Simple recours terminologique, filiation philosophique ou véritable objectif politique? L'article se propose de revenir sur l'histoire de la question démocratique ainsi que sur les conceptions politiques et sociales guidant ses artisans, et enfin d'interroger les arguments actuels de leur remise en cause. (shrink)

If social relations often require the choice of a cooperative solution to a prisoners' dilemma, we must ask how people generally solve the games. Three possible devices are that those who choose non-cooperative strategies get a bad reputation and so learn to be cooperative, that people are taught by parents that non-cooperators have unhappy lives, or that an official can be paid a salary to make the cooperative choice. By analyzing erotic love and marriage, and why people try to do (...) their jobs, it is suggested that these devices result in people often solving prisoners' dilemma games without being conscious of them. How then do these structures that 'have the function' of solving prisoners' dilemmas get created and maintain themselves? It is suggested that Deweyan consciousness, existing only when structural strains or unsolved games create personal problems, is adequate to explain many such functional structures. (shrink)

I.-II. bd. Die welt als wille und vorstellung.--III. bd. Der satz vom grunde. Über den willen in der natur. Die beiden grundprobleme der ethik.--IV.-V. bd. Parerga und Paralipomena kleine philosophische schriften.--VI. bd. Über das sehn und die farben. Theoria colorum physiologica. Balthazar gracians hand-drakel. Über das interessante. Eristische dialektik. Über die verhunzung der deutschen sprache.

Aforizmy dli︠a︡ usvoenii︠a︡ zhiteĭskoĭ mudrosti -- O fizionomike -- O zhenshchinakh -- K uchenii︠u︡ o stradanii︠a︡kh mira -- V dopolnenie k ėtike -- O kritike, suzhdenii, odobrenii i slave -- Ob uchenosti i uchenykh -- O samostoi︠a︡telʹnom myshlenii.

This is the first book to offer the best essays, articles, and speeches on ethics and intelligence that demonstrate the complex moral dilemmas in intelligence collection, analysis, and operations. Some are recently declassified and never before published, and all are written by authors whose backgrounds are as varied as their insights, including Robert M. Gates, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; John P. Langan, the Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Professor of Catholic Social Thought at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown (...) University; and Loch K. Johnson, Regents Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia and recipient of the Owens Award for contributions to the understanding of U.S. intelligence activities. Creating the foundation for the study of ethics and intelligence by filling in the gap between warfare and philosophy, this is a valuable collection of literature for building an ethical code that is not dependent on any specific agency, department, or country. (shrink)

I have, in other places, claimed that philosophy is the analysis of the forms of presentation, the description of the ways in which things can be presented. †11 The philosophical reflection that issues in such analysis is not, of course, the same as the kind of reflection we are discussing in this paper, the kind that establishes human existence in language. But unless there were the reflection that opens the possibility of meaning, there could not be any philosophical reflection either. (...) Philosophical thinking brings to a new level the distancing to experience that is begun in all human speech. (shrink)

v. 1. Livros e capítulos de livros -- v. 2. Artigos de periódicos -- v. 3. Eventos -- v. 4. Resenhas.

RESUMO O ensaio revê a análise crítica de V. N. Volóchinov a respeito dos processos de transmissão discursiva, questionando estudos consagrados das categorias estilísticas e impressionistas. Ao descobrir formas em que o discurso citado tensiona a citação fazendo emergir um discurso quase direto, que tanto pode ser do narrador como da personagem, Volóchinov entende ter encontrado uma outra história do discurso, muito mais favorável à manifestação da bivocalidade como reação ativa ao discurso de outrem e como plena manifestação do ideologema. (...) Inferimos, por conseguinte, que o problema examinado pelo teórico se coloca como uma nova episteme discursiva nos estudos dialógicos. ABSTRACT This essay reviews the critical analysis of V.N. Voloshinov with respect to the process of discursive transmission, questioning consecrated studies of stylistic and impressionistic categories. Voloshinov, on discovering ways in which reported speech creates tension in the citation, causing a quasi-direct discourse to emerge, which can be attributed to both the narrator as well as the character, understands he has found another history of discourse that is much more favorable to the manifestation of bivocality as active reaction to the discourse of the other, and as a full manifestation of the ideologeme. We infer, thus, that the problem examined by the theorist establishes a new discursive episteme in dialogic studies. (shrink)

For 30 years, Quine, a dominant figure in logical theory and philosophy of logic, has combined insights in methodology, language, epistemology, and ontology, to blur the boundaries of speculative metaphysics and natural sciences. This revised text contains two new essays with replies from Quine.

Working in the theory “ZF + There is a nontrivial elementary embedding j: V → V ”, we show that a final segment of cardinals satisfies certain square bracket finite and infinite exponent partition relations. As a corollary to this, we show that this final segment is composed of Jonsson cardinals. We then show how to force and bring this situation down to small alephs. A prototypical result is the construction of a model for ZF in which every cardinal μ (...) ≥ ℵ2 satisfies the square bracket infinite exponent partition relation μ → [μ]ωℵ2. We conclude with a discussion of some consistency questions concerning different versions of the axiom asserting the existence of a nontrivial elementary embedding j : V → V. By virtue of Kunen's celebrated inconsistency result, we use only a restricted amount of the Axiom of Choice. (shrink)