Background: COVID-19 has taken many lives worldwide and due to this, millions of persons are in grief. When the grief process lasts longer than 6 months, the person is in risk of developing Complicated Grief Disorder. The CGD is related to serious health consequences. To reduce the probability of developing CGD a preventive intervention could be applied. In developing countries like Mexico, the psychological services are scarce, self-applied interventions could provide support to solve this problem and reduce the health impact (...) even after the pandemic has already finished.Aims: To design and implement a self-applied intervention composed of 12 modules focused on the decrease of the risk of developing CGD, and increasing the life quality, and as a secondary objective to reduce the symptomatology of anxiety, depression, and increase of sleep quality. The Intervention Duelo COVID follows the principles of User Experience and is designed according to the needs and desires of a sample of the objective participants, to increase the adherence to the self-applied intervention, considered one of the main weaknesses of online interventions.Methods: A Randomized Controlled Trial will be conducted from the 22nd of December of 2020 to the first of June 2021. The participants will be assigned to an intervention with elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness and Positive Psychology. The control group will be a wait-list condition, that will receive the intervention 1.5–2 months after the pre-measurement were taken. The Power Size Calculation conducted through G*Power indicated the need for a total of 42 participants, which will be divided by 21 participants in each group. The platform will be delivered through responsive design assuring with this that the intervention will adapt to the screen size of cellphones, tablets, and computers.Ethics and Dissemination: The study counts with the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, México, and it is registered in Clinical Trials. The article is sent and registered in clinical trials before the recruitment started. The results will be reported in future conferences, scientific publications, and media. (shrink)

Neurosteroid 17 beta-estradiol (E2) is a steroid synthesized de novo in the nervous system that might influence neuronal activity and behavior. Nevertheless, the impact of E2 on the functioning of those neural systems in which it is slightly synthesized is less questioned. The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation, may provide an ideal arena for investigating this issue. Indeed, E2 modulates cerebellar parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synaptic plasticity that underlies encoding of VOR adaptation. Moreover, aromatase expression in the cerebellum of adult rodents is (...) maintained at very low levels and localized to Purkinje cells. The significance of age-related maintenance of low levels of aromatase expression in the cerebellum on behavior, however, has yet to be explored. Our aim in this study was to determine whether E2 synthesis exerts an effective and persistent modulation of VOR adaptation in adult male rats. To answer this question, we investigated the acute effect of blocking E2 synthesis on gain increases and decreases in VOR adaptation using an oral dose (2.5 mg/kg) of the aromatase inhibitor Letrozole in peri-pubertal and post-pubertal male rats. We found that Letrozole acutely impaired gain increases and decreases in VOR adaptation without altering basal ocular-motor performance and that these effects were similar in peri-pubertal and post-pubertal rats. Thus, in adult male rats neurosteroid E2 effectively modulates VOR adaptation in both of the periods studied. These findings imply that the adult cerebellum uses E2 synthesis for modulating motor memory formation and suggest that low and extremely localized E2 production may play a role in adaptive phenomena. (shrink)

Cattle fair arenas are panopticon-like spaces that are instrumental in dissecting the cow's body into functional parts or traits. The arena aestheticizes a partitioning gaze that is codified in a marking system: the "linear evaluation protocol" for milk cows. The positioning of the nonhuman animal body into a highly artificial context allows one to view the cow as a self-standing object, ready to be partitioned. The exhibition space of the cattle fair and the surveying eye of the cattle fair (...) judge aim to recreate a laboratory space within the relatively "artisanal" and approximate context of the breeding practice. However, there are several limitations, down sides, and contingencies that contrast the project of standardization of the skilled practice of breeding. (shrink)

Este texto reflete sobre possibilidades de educação estética na universidade como necessidade premente à formação inicial de docentes, mais especificamente de pedagogos, no sentido da ampliação e do aperfeiçoamento de sua percepção estética, aliadas ao desenvolvimento de uma postura atenta aos contextos sócio-históricos vivenciados. Nessa direção, problematiza sobre quais dispositivos pedagógicos podem ser acionadores de impulsos lúdicos na formação de docentes, sob a luz das concepções de Schiller. Dentre outras contribuições teóricas, o texto cita ainda Freire, que tece importantes considerações (...) sobre as relações entre estética e ética na formação de professores, e que, a nosso ver, o aproxima das ideias de Schiller; Snyders, que trata do espaço universitário como locus privilegiado para se gerar a alegria cultural, energia necessária à aprendizagem diversificada e enriquecedora do repertório científico-cultural dos estudantes; Moraes e Therrien que refletem sobre a necessidade de ampliação do repertório cultural dos docentes; e Moura que aponta à maleabilidade pedagógica do professor como exigência de um perfil flexível e complexo. O trabalho constitui um estudo bibliográfico imerso no campo da filosofia da educação, guiado, entretanto, por reflexões amparadas em experimentações estético-pedagógicas vivenciadas, em processos de formação inicial docente, no âmbito de uma universidade pública estadual brasileira. Com o estudo, infere-se que à universidade cabe o papel decisivo de garantir e estimular o acesso a experiências estéticas que tanto ampliem o repertório artístico-cultural de estudantes como também neles favoreça a criação de impulsos lúdicos, tornando-os mais perceptivos e criativos, sendo que isso se materializará por meio de proposições curriculares de cada curso, aliadas às condições estruturais concretas dessa universidade. Palavras-chave: Educação estética. Impulsos lúdicos. Universidade. Formação de docentes. Pedagogia. (shrink)

Dada la polaridad entre las teorías "legitimistas" (Weber) e "ilegitimistas" (Arendt) respecto de la violencia en la arena política, en este artículo se explora el aporte de Paul Ricoeur en torno al tema. Puesto que para este autor lo político es la realización de la intención ética, primero se abordará la dimensión ética y moral de la violencia. Después se ingresará en el dominio propiamente político donde Ricoeur defiende una dialéctica "asimétrica" entre los argumentos "ilegitimistas" y "legitimistas" en la cual (...) los primeros adquieren razonabilidad dentro de un concepto "amplio" de violencia próximo al de Arendt. Por último, se abordará la dimensión temporal de la violencia presente en la memoria colectiva y en la historia. Se concluirá con un balance de los méritos y de las cuestiones parcialmente irresueltas en la obra de Ricoeur. Given the polarity between the "legitimist" (Weber) and the "illegitimist" (Arendt) theories of violence in the political field, I will explore the philosophical contributions of Paul Ricoeur to this issue. Since the political field is for the author the accomplishment of the ethical intention, I will first explore the ethical and moral dimension of violence. Secondly, I will enter in the proper political field where we will see Ricoeur defends an "asymmetrical" dialectic between the "legitimist" and "illegitimist" arguments in which the former acquire reasonability within a "broad" concept of violence akin to Arendt's. Thirdly, I will approach the temporal dimension of violence as it appears in collective memory and in history. I will conclude with an account of the merits and partially unresolved questions within Ricoeur's work. (shrink)

Corporate social responsibility is increasingly viewed as a strategic management tool for companies to draw in candidates. In this arena, international responsible rankings such as ‘The Great Place to Work’, ‘Family Responsible Employer Index ’ or ‘The Best Companies for Working Mothers’ put emphasis on the value of responsible behaviours, not only for surviving in the market, but also to ‘win the war for talent’. Using a sample of Spanish University students, this research aims to analyse the process of selecting (...) responsible organizations to work and whether there is a possible future conflict of interest by students between their own and organizational values. Surprisingly, the university students assessed two opposing situations with the highest values: of looking to change employer and of letting time pass in order to ignore the conflict. The implications of the students’ assessments and the related factors which affect their decision-making criteria are explored in this article. (shrink)

This book is the first study of Aristotle s theory of generation and its revival by Averroes. For the first time, major treatises by Averroes on the physics, theory of elements, and biology of Aristotle are considered in their mutual relationship and in their connection to metaphysics. This study reveals issues at the foundation of Averroes philosophy and reinterprets them as fundamental milestones in the history of philosophy.".

In this paper I analyze the tension between realism and antirealism at the basis of Kantian constructivism. This tension generates a conflictive account of the source of the validity of social norms. On the one hand, the claim to moral objectivity characteristic of Kantian moral theories makes the validity of norms depend on realist assumptions concerning the existence of shared fundamental interests among all rational human beings. I illustrate this claim through a comparison of the approaches of Rawls, Habermas and (...) Scanlon. On the other hand, however, objections to moral realism motivate many Kantian constructivists to endorse the antirealist claim that reasonable agreement is the source of the validity of social norms. After analyzing the difficulties in the latter strategy, I try to show how a balance between the realist and antirealist elements of Kantian constructivism can be reached by drawing a sharper distinction between the justice and the legitimacy of social norms. (shrink)

To address the question posed in the title, I focus on Heidegger's conception of linguistic communication developed in the sections on Rede and Gerede of Being and Time. On the basis of a detailed analysis of these sections I argue that Heidegger was a social externalist but semantic internalist. To make this claim, however, I first need to clarify some key points that have led critics to assume Heidegger's commitment to social externalism automatically commits him to semantic externalism regarding concept (...) use. I begin by explaining the independence of those positions, arguing that social externalism answers the question of whose concepts in a linguistic community are properly individuated, whereas semantic externalism makes a claim about what it takes for concepts to be properly individuated. Once these issues are distinguished, it is possible to see that Heidegger's intersubjectivist conception of language commits him to social externalism, while his conception of the ontological difference commits him to semantic internalism. (shrink)

Religious organisations are major investors with sometimes substantial investment volumes. An important question for them is how to make investments in, and to earn returns from, companies and activities that are consistent with their religious beliefs or that even support these beliefs. Religious organisations have pioneered responsible investment. Yet little is known about their investment attitudes. This article addresses this gap by studying faith consistent investing. Based on a survey complemented by interviews, we investigate religious organisations’ attitudes towards responsible investment (...) including opinions, practices and the impediments for implementing faith consistent investing. Although our results cannot be generalised because of the non-random character of our sample, six main characteristics of faith consistent investing are drawn: investing is not perceived as being in contradiction with religious values, religious values are important drivers, there is a strong community around faith consistent investing, religious investors are pioneering impact investing, implementing faith consistent investing is not without difficulties, and practices vary across regions. The survey also reveals that faith consistent investing has many commonalities with secular responsible investors. (shrink)

In his book Tales of the Mighty Dead Brandom engages Gadamer’s hermeneutic conception of interpretation in order to show that his inferentialist approach to understanding conceptual content can explain and underwrite the main theses of Gadamer’s hermeneutics which he calls “the gadamerian hermeneutic platitudes”. In order to assess whether this claim is sound, I analyze the three types of philosophical interpretations that Brandom discusses: de re, de dicto and de traditione, and argue that they commit him to an “ecumenical historicism” (...) that is directly at odds with the hermeneutic approach. Although the variety of de re interpretation that Brandom denominates de traditione comes indeed very close to the Gadamerian approach, I conclude that if Brandomian scorekeepers were to adopt it, they could become Gadamerian hermeneuts, but once they did, they would not be able to go back to their scorekeeping practices as described by Brandom. (shrink)

Recent studies have proposed that the executive advantages associated with bilingualism may stem from language-switching frequency rather than from bilingualism per se (see for example, Prior & Gollan, 2011). Barbu, Gillet, Orban and Poncelet (2018) showed that high-frequency language switchers outperformed low-frequency switchers on a mental flexibility task but not on alertness or response inhibition tasks. The aim of the present study was to replicate these results as well as to compare proficient high and low-frequency bilingual language switchers to a (...) control group of monolingual participants. Two groups of proficient bilingual adults (30 high-frequency language switchers and 21 low-frequency language switchers) and a group of 28 monolinguals participated in the study. The results showed superior mental flexibility skills in high-frequency language switchers compared to low-frequency switchers and monolinguals; furthermore, the two latter groups showed no difference in mental flexibility skills. These results provide novel support for the hypothesis that the so-called bilingual advantage is, in fact, a result of language-switching habits. (shrink)

In this article, we describe the transdisciplinarity process in our education postgraduate program at the University of Veracruz. The program emphasizes the main processes of the eco-formation experience for sustainability through a transdisciplinarity methodology that is focused on three processes: Re-Learning; Eco-literacy; and Dialogue of Knowledge. The experience of self-knowledge is described through our specific re-learning practices in the Mastership program, which represents a central tenet in the process for creating our Learning Community through holarchy practices, profound dialogues, and self-organization (...) processes. Finally we discuss three central ideas: creativity, spirituality, and play, which express and nurture our Learning Community. (shrink)

This article aims to show the consistency of Simone Weil’s political thought. To this end, I will analyze some of her main writings in which a tension is displayed between an accentuated political realism and a critical longing for a politics free from the subjection to force and the legitimation of the status quo. From this point of view, Weil’s thought can be understood as a form of political mysticism in which the images, notions, and symbols of mysticism serve the (...) purpose to innervate a renewed political rationality. (shrink)

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs), are quite complex in terms of organizational structure, diversity at the workplace, as well as motivational mechanisms and values rationality. Nevertheless, from an Organizational Psychology perspective, the systematic analysis of this context is scarce in the literature, particularly regarding conflicts. This qualitative study analyzes types, prevalence and consequences of conflicts in a large NPO organization considering as theoretical framework several consolidated Organizational Psychology theories: Conflict Theory, Social Comparison Theory and the Equity Theory. Conflicts were analyzed taking into (...) account volunteers’ perspective, who has been consistently protagonist on NPOs research, but also considering paid staff’s perspective, as one of the main stakeholders in these organizations, whose relative power has increase in the past decade due the professionalization of the NPO’s sector. Results confirmed the existence of four types of conflicts: task, process, status and relationship conflicts. Relationship conflict is the least reported type, revealing the protection factor that values and engagement with a social aim have on this organizational context. The most relevant finding is the strong difference between paid staff and volunteers in conflict perceptions, showing paid staff, overall, higher levels of conflicts than volunteers. Findings also show stronger negative consequences for paid staff compared to volunteers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

El propósito de esta contribución es delinear las principales reflexiones sobre la ética de ciudad surgidas en los últimos años. Para ello se abordan, en primer lugar, las conexiones entre racionalidad práctica, urbanismo y espacio público desde la perspectiva del pragmatismo crítico y de la ciencia social fronética. Estas propuestas nos proporcionan el marco hermenéutico para presentar a continuación algunas de las aproximaciones éticas más relevantes que pueden aplicarse a las ciudades actuales: la ética de las virtudes urbanas, el derecho (...) a la ciudad, el movimiento de la ciudad justa, el giro urbano de la ética, la ética del ambiente construido, la ética del diseño y la conducta medioambiental, el discurso ético sobre el Antropoceno y, por último, la ética de los comunes urbanos, mostrando su complementariedad y significado. Finalmente se resumen las conclusiones más relevantes del estudio, destacando la importancia de fomentar propuestas prácticas en el espacio público para habitar la ciudad de una manera más consciente, orientada a profundizar y fortalecer la democracia y sus fundamentos éticos. (shrink)

La instauración de un vínculo entre historia y poder es uno de los aspectos más interesantes del pensamiento político de la filósofa francesa Simone Weil. Durante la primera mitad del siglo XX, Weil desarrolla unas reflexiones en torno al concepto de historia, desde la perspectiva de los vencidos, que aproximan su especulación a la de su contemporáneo Walter Benjamin. La comparación con Benjamin permite acercar el pensamiento weiliano a las recientes teorías de la justicia anamnética y, más en general, a (...) la exigencia actual de incorporar en el discurso político el punto de vista de las víctimas. (shrink)

Throughout the philosophical tradition that stems from Plato, Socratic irony has represented an enigma that all interpreters of the Platonic dialogues have had to face from different points of view. In this article I aim to present the peculiar Straussian reading of Socratic irony. According to Leo Strauss, Socratic irony is a key element of Plato’s political philosophy, linked to the «logographic necessity» that rules his texts. I will therefore examine the genesis and the main features of Straussian hermeneutics. I (...) will end the article by highlighting the relevance of the esoteric interpretation of Platonic thought as a conceptual tool that responds to the crisis of modern political philosophy. (shrink)

The present paper aims at presenting Averroes’ doctrine of act and potency in the framework of his general conception of metaphysics as a science. By tracing the origins of his doctrine back to Alexander of Aphrodisias, it shows that Averroes conceives act and potency as concomitant attributes of being qua being and as terms πρὸς ἕν and ἀφ’ ἑνός. According to this reading, the study of these two notions, considered as such, constitutes an essential step in Averroes’ metaphysical project, whose (...) ultimate goal is to account for the essence of the first of all forms: God. (shrink)

In this essay I address the difficult question of how citizens with conflicting religious and secular views can fulfill the democratic obligation of justifying the imposition of coercive policies to others with reasons that they can also accept. After discussing the difficulties of proposals that either exclude religious beliefs from public deliberation or include them without any restrictions, I argue instead for a policy of mutual accountability that imposes the same deliberative rights and obligations on all democratic citizens. The main (...) advantage of this proposal is that it recognizes the right of all democratic citizens to adopt their own cognitive stance in political deliberation in the public sphere without giving up on the democratic obligation to provide reasons acceptable to everyone to justify coercive policies with which all citizens must comply. (shrink)

La denominada desigualdad vertical es uno de los temas centrales del debate internacional de los últimos años ya que su desmedido crecimiento ha alcanzado límites intolerables en términos éticos y económicos que no pueden ser ya ignorados por nadie. Al respecto se discute la manera de abordar el problema. En concreto el movimiento de los derechos considera que puede ofrecer herramientas útiles para enfrentar esta injusta situación, mientras otros dudan de la relación entre desigualdad económica y derechos humanos y de (...) la capacidad de los derechos humanos para luchar frente a este tipo de desigualdad. En esta tesitura se pueden distinguir posiciones “en contra”, “a favor” e “intermedias”. Analizar atentamente este debate y los conceptos que en él se manejan es de fundamental relevancia para valorar el problema de raíz que está detrás de los llamados derechos económicos, sociales y culturales, y que tiene que ver entre otras cosas con un problema de concepto y fundamentación de los derechos. Al respecto se destacan los argumentos esenciales y se muestran críticamente las definiciones y consideraciones más cuestionables con el objetivo de afianzar a continuación una noción de derechos sociales más resistente. Una solución razonable pasa por combinar el proyecto de suficiencia con el proyecto de igualdad volviendo a las bases del auténtico Estado social de Derecho que dio origen a estos derechos y que los configura como derechos de dignidad basados en la libertad real, la igualdad sustancial y también la solidaridad, ésta última prácticamente ausente en el debate. (shrink)

En este artículo se intenta mostrar cómo es posible defender un punto de vista universalista y cognítivista en cuestiones morales sin tener que negar el pluralismo ético que caracteriza a las sociedades modernas. Para ello se analiza una dificultad que ha sido planteada recientemente a la ética del discurso de Habermas en relación con la posibilidad de compaginar ambas cosas. Si defender un universalismo moral implica defender lo que Habermas denomina "la premisa de una respuesta correcta» en relación con las (...) cuestiones morales, tal universalismo tiene que suponer, pues, que sólo puede haber una interpretación correcta de dichas cuestiones; si esto es así, el universalismo moral, en realidad, excluye el pluralismo como alternativa racional al acuerdo en cuestiones prácticas. Dicha dificultad puede evitarse, sin embargo, si se muestra que «la premisa de una respuesta correcta» no implica, en realidad, «la premisa de una única interpretación correcta». (shrink)

The Problem of Old Evidence (POE) states that Bayesian confirmation theory cannot explain why a theory H can be confirmed by a piece of evidence E already known. Different dimensions of POE have been highlighted. Here, I consider the dynamic and static dimension. In the former, we want to explain how the discovery that H accounts for E confirms H. In the latter, we want to understand why E is and will be a reason to prefer H over its competitors. (...) The aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, I stress that two recent solutions to the dynamic dimension, recently proposed by Eva and Hartmann, can be read in terms of Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE). On this base, I gauge the weaknesses and strengths of the two models. Namely, I show that the two authors endorse a particular IBE’s formulation, and that it is still unsure if it is the one descriptively used. Moreover, I contend that, while one condition of their first model is not expression of this formulation, the only condition of their second model is. Secondly, I focus on the static dimension of POE which, now, has to be expressed in IBE terms. To solve it, I rely on the counterfactual approach, and on a version of IBE in which explanatory considerations help to evaluate the terms in Bayes’ theorem. However, it turns out that the problems of the counterfactual approach recur even when it is used to solve the static POE in IBE terms. (shrink)

This article analyzes efforts in Nicaragua to create ethical organizations and an ethical economy. Three societal ethea found in contemporary Nicaragua are examined: the ethos of revolution, the ethos of corruption, and the ethos of human development. The emerging ethos of human development provides the most hope for the nation's social and economic evolution. The practices of three successful economic development organizations explicitly aligned with the ethos of human development are described and evaluated: (1) a microfinance foundation (FDL), (2) a (...) federation of cooperatives (FENACOOP), and (3) a local branch of an international NGO (IO-Nicaragua). The article concludes with additional reflections on the meaning of ethical organizations and an ethical economy in the context of contemporary Nicaragua. (shrink)

Resumen El mundo globalizado actualmente ofrece innumerables beneficios para la humanidad, debido al desarrollo tecnológico, la comunicación, el intercambio entre economías, culturas y credos, la reducción de distancias, entre otros factores. Pero no existe un acceso real de todas las personas a los recursos de este mundo, ni un reconocimiento del valor de la otredad. Tensiones, conflictos y guerras marcan la actual era de globalización, excluyendo a gran parte de la humanidad del derecho de vivir en libertad, igualdad y dignidad. (...) Este artículo analiza cómo la encíclica Fratelli tutti propone la hospitalidad, la ciudadanía y la fraternidad como fundamentales para superar ambigüedades y contradicciones en un mundo globalizado. A partir del método de análisis cualitativo, exploramos los conceptos de hospitalidad, ciudadanía y fraternidad en la encíclica social, en conversación con otra literatura. La conclusión es que sólo en el horizonte de la fraternidad se superan aquellas ambigüedades y contradicciones para lo cual urge la práctica de la hospitalidad y la ciudadanía, proveiendo a todas las personas del derecho a habitar este mundo. Hospitalidad y ciudadanía, entonces, son esenciales para la globalización de la solidaridad y para la construcción de un mundo de fratelli tutti. Abstract The current globalized world enables countless benefits for humanity, through technological development, communication, exchange between economies, cultures and creeds, the reduction of distances, among other factors. But there is no real access by all people to the resources of this world, or recognition of the value of otherness. Tensions, conflicts and wars mark the current era of globalization, excluding a large portion of humanity from the right to live with freedom, equality and dignity. This article analyzes how the encyclical Fratelli tutti proposes hospitality, citizenship and fraternity as fundamental to overcoming ambiguities and contradictions in a globalized world. The method is a qualitative analysis of the concepts of hospitality, citizenship and fraternity in Fratelli tutti, in relation to similar studies. The conclusion is that it is only on the horizon of fraternity that the existing contradictions in today's humanity can be overcome. For this, the practice of hospitality and citizenship is urgent, giving all people the right to inhabit this world. Thus, hospitality and citizenship are essential for the globalization of solidarity and the construction of a world of fratelli tutti. (shrink)

En este trabajo analizo las propuestas de insertar minipúblicos deliberativos en el proceso político para superar las numerosas “brechas” de representación que aquejan actualmente a los sistemas de partidos tradicionales. Sostengo que la noción de representación que subyace a muchas de estas propuestas tiene algunas similitudes importantes con la noción de representación como “encarnación” del pueblo propia del populismo. A partir de un análisis comparativo entre las variedades populistas y lotocráticas de la representación como “encarnación” del pueblo, destaco dos características (...) que comparten y que son perjudiciales para la democracia. Sobre la base de este análisis, defiendo una forma de entender la relación entre los participantes de los minipúblicos y la ciudadanía en general que evita los rasgos problemáticos de la concepción populista de la representación como encarnación. Para finalizar, expongo cómo las propuestas de usos de los minipúblicos basados en la “confianza” ciega es problemática y abogo, en cambio, por usos participativos de los minipúblicos que realmente empoderarían a la ciudadanía. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger generalizes hermeneutics from a traditional method for interpreting authoritative texts (mainly sacred or legal texts) to a way of understanding human beings themselves. It is precisely because human beings are nothing but interpretation all the way down that the activity of interpreting a meaningful text offers the most appropriate model for understanding any human experience whatsoever. Recognizing the linguistically articulated intelligibility that Dasein shares with others by virtue of sharing a natural language leads to the crucial hermeneutic claim (...) of Being and Time, namely, the priority of understanding over perception. The most challenging feature of Heidegger's application of his projective view of interpretation to cognition is the transformation of the traditional conception of a priori knowledge that follows from it. This transformation lies behind Heidegger's choice of the term “fore‐structure of understanding” to explicitly mark the presuppositional character of all interpretation. (shrink)

InA Theory of Justice, Rawls claims that “to each according to his threat advantage is not a conception of justice.” Although it may indeed seem intuitively plausible that a principle based on “threat advantage” cannot count as a principle of justice, it is an altogether different matter to explain why this is so. The question is especially pressing if one bears in mind that such a principle of bargaining in fact underlies many institutionally regulated interactions. Moreover, to the extent that (...) morality is thought of as a mechanism for guaranteeing mutual advantage in the resolution of conflicts, it may indeed seem necessary that it reflect the bargaining power of the parties (in order to make sure that it is indeed advantageous for all of them). In fact, there is a prominent tradition of social-contract theories (from Hobbes to Gauthier) that work under this assumption and claim to provide an answer to what justice requires as much as Rawls's theory does. So seen, the burden of proof seems to fall rather on the shoulders of those committed to claim both that morality is a mechanism that works to the advantage of all and that it nevertheless requires neutralizing all differences in bargaining power. (shrink)

By applying Arrow’s impossibility theorem for social choice to scientific theory choice, Okasha concludes that there is no acceptable theory choice rule. Okasha identifies the only way out of the impossibility in enriching the input for the theory choice rule, following Sen’s work for social choice. However, such a route seems not to be available for ‘large scale’ theory choices—i.e. choices among ‘key theories’ which imply a change of paradigm—based on Kuhn’s criteria, since these criteria cannot provide a richer input. (...) The aim of the paper is to explore two lines of response to this conclusion. The first response proposes an example suggesting that Kuhn’s criteria may, indeed, provide sufficiently rich inputs. The second one proposes to use Kuhn’s criteria to evaluate prior probability and likelihood of the theories, and then take these as elements of the ‘Bayesian theory choice rule’ that avoids the impossibility. I will then argue against an objection to the second response, derived from Stegenga’s observation that a rule that translates the information provided by Kuhn’s criteria into prior probabilities suffers from Arrovian impossibility. Finally, I will answer a separate interesting question suggested by Stegenga’s observation. (shrink)