Most philosophers assume that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’, and most of them hold that this principle is true not only universally but also analytically or conceptually. Some skeptics deny this principle, although they often admit some related one. In this article, we show how new empirical evidence bolsters the skeptics’ arguments. We then defend the skeptical view against some objections to the empirical evidence and to its effect on the traditional principle. In light of the new evidence, we conclude that philosophers (...) should stop unconditionally assuming that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’. (shrink)

Many philosophers claim that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’. In light of recent empirical evidence, however, some skeptics conclude that philosophers should stop assuming the principle unconditionally. Streumer, however, does not simply assume the principle’s truth; he provides arguments for it. In this article, we argue that his arguments fail to support the claim that ‘ought’ implies ‘can’.

Counterfactual thinking involves imagining hypothetical alternatives to reality. Philosopher David Lewis argued that people estimate the subjective plausibility that a counterfactual event might have occurred by comparing an imagined possible world in which the counterfactual statement is true against the current, actual world in which the counterfactual statement is false. Accordingly, counterfactuals considered to be true in possible worlds comparatively more similar to ours are judged as more plausible than counterfactuals deemed true in possible worlds comparatively less similar. Although Lewis (...) did not originally develop his notion of comparative similarity to be investigated as a psychological construct, this study builds upon his idea to empirically investigate comparative similarity as a possible psychological strategy for evaluating the perceived plausibility of counterfactual events. More specifically, we evaluate judgments of comparative similarity between episodic memories and episodic counterfactual events as a factor influencing people's judgments of plausibility in counterfactual simulations, and we also compare it against other factors thought to influence judgments of counterfactual plausibility, such as ease of simulation and prior simulation. Our results suggest that the greater the perceived similarity between the original memory and the episodic counterfactual event, the greater the perceived plausibility that the counterfactual event might have occurred. While similarity between actual and counterfactual events, ease of imagining, and prior simulation of the counterfactual event were all significantly related to counterfactual plausibility, comparative similarity best captured the variance in ratings of counterfactual plausibility. Implications for existing theories on the determinants of counterfactual plausibility are discussed. (shrink)

People’s causal judgments are susceptible to the action effect, whereby they judge actions to be more causal than inactions. We offer a new explanation for this effect, the counterfactual explanation: people judge actions to be more causal than inactions because they are more inclined to consider the counterfactual alternatives to actions than to consider counterfactual alternatives to inactions. Experiment 1a conceptually replicates the original action effect for causal judgments. Experiment 1b confirms a novel prediction of the new explanation, the reverse (...) action effect, in which people judge inactions to be more causal than actions in overdetermination cases. Experiment 2 directly compares the two effects in joint-causation and overdetermination scenarios and conceptually replicates them with new scenarios. Taken together, these studies provide support for the new counterfactual explanation for the action effect in causal judgment. (shrink)

Adults (more than 18 years old) are likely to reproduce the habits that they acquired during childhood and adolescence (from 6 to 16 years old). For that reason, teachers and parents have the responsibility to promote an active and healthy lifestyle in children and adolescents. Even though every school subject should promote healthy activities, Physical Education (PE) is the most important subject to foster well-being habits associated to healthy lifestyle during sport practice and other kinds of active tasks. Indeed, there (...) are many factors that influence the acquisition of healthy habits that should be taken into account when programs and activities are implemented in both educational and extracurricular context. In this sense, psychological and social factors are of utmost importance to achieve optimal experiences for an active and healthy lifestyle. However, due to the myriad of studies analyzing different factors in different contexts, there could be confusion when programs and pedagogical strategies are applied in educational or extracurricular contexts. The objective of this investigation is to analyze the state of art of the psychosocial factors which influence the engagement in physical activities and sport practice. The keywords used in this review were mainly: ‘Self-Determination Theory’, ‘motivation’, ‘Psychological need satisfaction, ‘physical activity and sport engagement’, ‘Elementary Education’, ‘Secondary Education’, ‘Physical Education’. The articles were selected according to the following criteria: (a) peer-reviewed original research published in international journals indexed in JCR or SJR, (b) published in English or Spanish, (c) about psychosocial factors which influence the physical activity and sport engagement, (b) in educational or extracurricular context. Research articles selected were found through nine databases. It was observed that physical activities and sport practice engagement are closely related to psychological factors. In particularly, intrinsic motivation was able to determine the active participation in any activity, including physical activity and sport practice during the implementation of Small-Sided Games and other kinds of pedagogical strategies (e.g., Pedagogical Models). Motivation was also closely related to flow state. Finally, these variables should be considered in order to organize effective programs to promote an active and healthy lifestyle in Physical Education classes. (shrink)

The exchange of goods and services between individuals is often formalised by a contract in which the parties establish norms to define what is expected of each one. Norms use deontic statements of obligation, prohibition, and permission, which may be in conflict. The task of manually detecting norm conflicts can be time–consuming and error-prone since contracts can be vast and complex. To automate such tasks, we develop an approach to identify potential conflicts between norms. We show the effectiveness of our (...) approach and its individual components empirically using two publicly available corpora, and contribute with a new annotated test corpus for norm conflict identification. (shrink)

The neural reuse framework developed primarily by Michael Anderson proposes that brain regions are involved in multiple and diverse cognitive tasks and that brain regions flexibly and dynamically interact in different combinations to carry out cognitive functioning. We argue that the evidence cited by Anderson and others falls short of supporting the fundamental principles of neural reuse. We map out this problem and provide solutions by drawing on recent advances in network neuroscience, and we argue that methods employed in network (...) neuroscience provide the means to fully engage in a research program operating under the principles of neural reuse. (shrink)

Cuando se estudian los hitos, modos y autores que han participado en la construcción de una suerte de canon de la poesía colombiana desde comienzos del siglo xx el investigador encuentra en diversas fuentes y a lo largo de las décadas el tópico frecuente de “la cuestión Silva”, entendido como la asimilación paulatina de la obra de José Asunción Silva dentro del canon, su referenciación como un norte pensado desde la modernidad y por tanto como legado de esa modernidad poética (...) a la poesía colombiana de las generaciones posteriores. Este artículo revisita, desde una relectura en la sombra de la obra de José Asunción Silva, ciertos hitos de su recepción relacionados con las diversas y a veces contradictorias maneras como se asumieron en Colombia -y se siguen asumiendo- los conceptos de modernidad, modernismo, simbolismo y decadentismo, y señala críticamente algunas de las referencias textuales y de lectura que tanto la obra como su recepción deben a los tránsitos de otras obras y otras estéticas y poéticas entre Europa y Colombia. (shrink)

Charles Taylor, ao refletir sobre o pano de fundo histórico-cultural da modernidade ocidental, estabelece a tarefa hermenêutica de fazer uma releitura das múltiplas facetas dos imaginários sociais modernos. Esses imaginários acabam sendo diversificados em uma pluralidade triádica e constitutiva de múltiplas formas culturais. Assim, conforme assevera o filósofo canadense, temos a esfera da moderna faceta social que está sob a égide da economia. De modo que essa é entrelaçada com a face estrutural da modernidade como esfera pública. Por fim, e, (...) sem menos importância, encontramos o autogoverno do povo em seu aspecto nuclear de soberania democrática. Então, neste texto, nutrimos a intencionalidade de acompanharmos o pensamento de Taylor, em sua reconstrução delineadora deste tipo de pluralismo, que examina sobre as fontes, ideias e práticas democráticas articuladas a partir destas facetas constitutivas e articuladoras dos imaginários sociais modernos. (shrink)

This study aimed to synthesize literature data on male judo combat time in international competitions between 2010 and 2019. The search was carried out from May 8th to June 11th, 2021, in electronic databases using the following keywords: AND. After the selection process, 8 articles were included in the systematic review and 7 in the meta-analysis. These studies analyzed 2,562 international male judo combats over the years 2010 to 2019. We observed that the average male judo combat time changed after (...) each rule change. There was a significant difference between combats that ended up to the regular time and those that needed overtime. There were differences between 60kg and +100kg categories and the others in 2011-2012. However, no significant difference was found between the combat time by weight division after the 2017 rule changes, although there are still differences in relation to the end of the combats. There were significant changes in the male judo combat time with each rule change, and the data from the included studies point to a trend of homogeneity in the combat time spent between the weight divisions over the years, and an increase in the occurrence of Golden Score. More studies need to be carried out to identify the new temporal behaviors of athletes. (shrink)

El término competencias profesionales se define en la actualidad, como la posesión por parte del individuo de los conocimientos, destrezas y actitudes necesarias para realizar su actividad. El actual estudio tiene como objetivo profundizar en el análisis de la literatura sobre las competencias profesionales con un enfoque de formación y desarrollo de la expresión escrita en las universidades médicas. Con la revisión documental, se corroboró que en estas instituciones, el tratamiento de los contenidos de los programas de las asignaturas, no (...) garantizan el desarrollo de las competencias profesionales, atendiendo a que los currículos están diseñados por habilidades lo que trae como resultado que sus egresados no cuenten con el desarrollo adecuado de tales competencias, en particular las que garantizan la práctica afectiva de la expresión escrita. Professional competencies are currently defined as an individual's knowledge, skills and attitudes required to work in a specific profession. The current study aimed to further examine the literature related to professional skills with a focus on the development of writing in medical universities. Through document review, it was confirmed that in these institutions, the syllabi do not ensure the development of professional competencies since curricula are skills based. This in turn hinders the proper development of professional competencies, particularly those that guarantee strong writing practices. (shrink)

Con el presente texto se pretende hacer un ejercicio reflexivo en torno a los nuevos retos que debe cumplir la ética personal y social a partir de las normativas de papel, las cuales emergen a raíz de la consolidación de una cultura del incumplimiento de las reglas en nuestro contexto latinoamericano y le hacen mucho daño a los individuos en los diferentes escenarios sociales. Para tal efecto, se inicia haciendo un análisis sobre la corrupción como fenómeno ejemplar que afecta el (...) cumplimiento de las normas. Posteriormente, se aborda el problema referido a la violación de la norma y la disonancia cognitiva, la cual es un conflicto mental que surge cuando existe un desacuerdo entre las actuaciones y las creencias de los individuos, por lo general, éstas tienden a contradecirse. Finalmente, se trae a colación, la situación de que los tres elementos anteriores nos conllevan a repensar la vida desde una ética personal y social. (shrink)

Es característica de las instituciones de educación superior de calidad desarrollar una pedagogía del cambio. A partir de 1999 se estableció por la Oficina Regional de Educación para América Latina y el Caribe un programa de la red de liderazgo educativo para formar una masa crítica de profesionales de la educación, precursores en liderazgo transformacional. El artículo que se presenta tiene entre sus propósitos valorar las tendencias contemporáneas de la superación en liderazgo docente en Latinoamérica, así como de los principales (...) modelos y teorías donde se incluye además, una estimación de los diversos estilos de liderazgo y su importancia para el logro de un rol transformador en el docente de la educación superior. Quality higher education institutions have the characteristic to develop a pedagogy of change. Since 1999, the Education Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean established a program of the educative leadership net, in order to create a critical group of professionals of the educative system, pioneers in transformational leadership. One of the main purposes of the following article is to assess contemporary trends of the bettering processes in teaching leadership in Latin America, as well as, the main models and theories. The different types of leadership are estimated and also their importance for the development of a transformer role of the teaching personnel in higher education. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se realizó un estudio con el objetivo de comparar las características de la conducta prosocial en adolescentes con dificultades para aprender y sus pares sin este antecedente. Estuvo integrado por 44 adolescentes, distribuidos en dos grupos. Se emplearon la entrevista semiestructurada, los cuestionarios de Conducta Prosocial, Conducta Antisocial y de Aislamiento y Soledad a los adolescentes. El procesamiento de los datos se realizó a través del SPSS v.15 en español específicamente la prueba U de Mann Withney. Se apreciaron diferencias (...) entre los grupos en cuanto a la influencia familiar. El comportamiento prosocial en ambos grupos no mostró diferencias significativas. La conducta antisocial aportó diferencias significativas con respecto a las dimensiones aislamiento y retraimiento/ansiedad sobre la dimensión de agresividad. Los indicadores de aislamiento y soledad resultaron más elevados en los adolescentes con dificultades para aprender. ABSTRACT The objective of the study was comparing the characteristics of prosocial behavior in adolescents with Difficulties to Learn and their couples without this antecedent. It was integrated by 44 adolescents. They were used the interview, the questionnaires of Prosocial Behavior, Antisocial Behavior and of Isolation and solitude to the adolescents. El prosecution of the data was carried out through the SPSS v.15 in Spanish, specifically the test U of Mann Withney. Differences were appreciated among the groups as for the family influence. The prosocial behavior in both groups didn't show significant differences. The antisocial behavior contributed significant differences with regard to the dimensions isolation and reserve/anxiety over the dimension of aggressiveness. The isolation indicators and solitude were higher in the adolescents with Difficulties to Learn. (shrink)

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar o conhecimento teórico de conselhos tutelares sobre o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente e suas atuações a partir disso. Para isso, realizamos entrevistas com dois conselhos por meio de um questionário. As respostas foram dadas por escrito e, com elas, pudemos notar convergências e divergências entre esses conselhos. Com a análise, percebemos que cada conselho possui um olhar no seu trabalho, porém ambos possuem consciência de que seu dever é o de proteger e (...) garantir os direitos das crianças e dos adolescentes. Ambos os conselhos admitiram existir interação com a escola, porém, ela se restringe ao controle de frequência e da evasão escolar. Também, ambos remetem casos de violação de direitos à realidade social, afirmando que fatores econômicos não são determinantes nesses atos, porém, nos casos de famílias em situações econômicas desfavoráveis, o conselho tutelar é acionado. Por fim, enquanto um dos conselhos diz que aquele que viola algum direito da criança ou do adolescente deve ser responsabilizado, outro afirma que ele deve intervir com medidas educativas para resgatas a proteção do menor. Concluímos que os conselhos conhecem seus deveres, porém deixam a desejar no que tange à relação com as escolas. (shrink)

This article investigates the relationship between emotional sharing and the extended mind thesis. We argue that shared emotions are socially extended emotions that involve a specific type of constitutive integration between the participating individuals’ emotional experiences. We start by distinguishing two claims, the Environmentally Extended Emotion Thesis and the Socially Extended Emotion Thesis. We then critically discuss some recent influential proposals about the nature of shared emotions. Finally, in Sect. 3, we motivate two conditions that an account of shared emotions (...) ought to accommodate: Reciprocal Other-awareness and Integration. Consideration of and discussion of relational accounts of joint attention lead us to the proposal that a construal of socially extended emotions in terms of a constitutive integration of the participating individuals’ experiences is more promising than proposals that simply appeal to various forms of social situatedness, embeddedness, or scaffolding. (shrink)

This book provides an up to date, high-level exchange on God in a uniquely productive style. Readers witness a contemporary version of a classic debate, as two professional philosophers seek to learn from each other while making their cases for their distinct positions. In their dialogue, Joshua Rasmussen and Felipe Leon examine classical and cutting-edge arguments for and against a theistic explanation of general features of reality. The book also provides original lines of thought based on the authors’ own (...) contributions to the field, and offers a productive and innovative inquiry into on one of the biggest questions people ask: what is the ultimate explanation of things? (shrink)

. Este artículo se propone discutir las dificultades que pertenecen al ejercicio de pensarnos en cuanto corporales. Guía de estas reflexiones son los índices heideggerianos sobre la corporalidad humana realizados en Zollikoner Seminare. Dichos seminarios advierten que la actual experiencia de nuestro cuerpo, pese a poder ser estimada como inmediata, se halla mediada por nuestros propios supuestos epocales y se enraiza ya en el pensar ontológico de Occidente. Así, este artículo intentará examinar las aporías filosóficas de tal mediación histórico-epocal, exponiendo (...) la reflexión heideggeriana del cuerpo desde el claro del ser como una respuesta a la idea tradicional de subjetividad fundada en la noción de “mera presencia”. (shrink)

On a widely held characterization, triadic joint attention is the capacity to perceptually attend to an object or event together with another subject. In the last four decades, research in developmental psychology has provided increasing evidence of the crucial role that this capacity plays in socio-cognitive development, early language acquisition, and the development of perspective-taking. Yet, there is a striking discrepancy between the general agreement that joint attention is critical in various domains, and the lack of theoretical consensus on how (...) to account for it. This paper pursues three interrelated aims: (i) it examines the contrast between reductive and non-reductive views of (triadic) joint attention, by bringing into focus the notion of recursive mindreading; (ii) it assembles, advances, and discusses a number of arguments against reductive views; (iii) finally, in dialogue with some prominent non-reductive views, it outlines the case for a non-reductive view that gives pride of place to the idea that co-attenders relate to one another as a ‘you’. (shrink)

The reward system of science is the priority rule. The first scientist making a new discovery is rewarded with prestige, while second runners get little or nothing. Michael Strevens, following Philip Kitcher, defends this reward system, arguing that it incentivizes an efficient division of cognitive labor. I argue that this assessment depends on strong implicit assumptions about the replicability of findings. I question these assumptions on the basis of metascientific evidence and argue that the priority rule systematically discourages replication. My (...) analysis leads us to qualify Kitcher and Strevens’s contention that a priority-based reward system is normatively desirable for science. (shrink)

One way to theorize about we-identities—the identities that individual subjects have as ‘one of us’—is in terms of the uniformity, interchangeability, and prototypicality of group members. The social-psychological theory of self-categorization epitomizes this approach, which has strongly influenced contemporary phenomenological research on the we. This paper argues that this approach has one important and largely overlooked limitation: the we-identities tied to close personal relationships—exemplified by long-term friendships and romantic partnerships—are based on patterns of interpersonal interaction and integration through which individuals (...) tend to grasp their non-substitutability and complementarity. This limitation suggests that another approach is needed to tackle the we-identities characteristic of close personal relationships. I outline such an approach, by combining resources from classical phenomenology and ongoing research on the socially extended mind. (shrink)

Replicability is widely taken to ground the epistemic authority of science. However, in recent years, important published findings in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences have failed to replicate, suggesting that these fields are facing a “replicability crisis.” For philosophers, the crisis should not be taken as bad news but as an opportunity to do work on several fronts, including conceptual analysis, history and philosophy of science, research ethics, and social epistemology. This article introduces philosophers to these discussions. First, I (...) discuss precedents and evidence for the crisis. Second, I discuss methodological, statistical, and social-structural factors that have contributed to the crisis. Third, I focus on the philosophical issues raised by the crisis. Finally, I discuss proposed solutions and highlight the gaps that philosophers could focus on. (shrink)

The philosophy of perception has been mostly focused on vision, to the detriment of other modalities like audition or olfaction. In this paper I focus on olfaction and olfactory experience, and raise the following questions: is olfaction a perceptual-representational modality? If so, what does it represent? My goal in the paper is, firstly, to provide an affirmative answer to the first question, and secondly, to argue that olfaction represents odors in the form of olfactory objects, to which olfactory qualities are (...) attributed. In order to do this I develop an empirically adequate notion of olfactory object that is sensitive to the peculiarities of olfaction, and defend it against various objections. (shrink)

The experimental interventions that provide evidence of causal relations are notably similar to those that provide evidence of constitutive relevance relations. In the first two sections, I show that this similarity creates a tension: there is an inconsistent triad between Woodward’s popular interventionist theory of causation, Craver’s mutual manipulability account of constitutive relevance in mechanisms, and a variety of arguments for the incoherence of inter-level causation. I argue for an interpretation of the views in which the tension is merely apparent. (...) I propose to explain inter-level relations without inter-level causation by appealing to the notion of fat-handed interventions, and an argument against inter-level causation which dissolves the problem. (shrink)

This collection highlights the new trend away from rationalism and toward empiricism in the epistemology of modality. Accordingly, the book represents a wide range of positions on the empirical sources of modal knowledge. Readers will find an introduction that surveys the field and provides a brief overview of the work, which progresses from empirically-sensitive rationalist accounts to fully empiricist accounts of modal knowledge. Early chapters focus on challenges to rationalist theories, essence-based approaches to modal knowledge, and the prospects for naturalizing (...) modal epistemology. The middle chapters present positive accounts that reject rationalism, but which stop short of advocating exclusive appeal to empirical sources of modal knowledge. The final chapters mark a transition toward exclusive reliance on empirical sources of modal knowledge. They explore ways of making similarity-based, analogical, inductive, and abductive arguments for modal claims based on empirical information. Modal epistemology is coming into its own as a field, and this book has the potential to anchor a new research agenda. (shrink)

This article investigates the relationship between for-me-ness and sociality. I start by pointing out some ambiguities in claims pursued by critics that have recently pressed on the relationship between the two notions. I next articulate a question concerning for-me-ness and sociality that builds on the idea that, occasionally at least, there is something it is like ‘for us’ to have an experience. This idea has been explored in recent literature on shared experiences and collective intentionality, and it gestures towards the (...) question of the extent to which some social interactions make a difference in the phenomenal character of their participants’ experiences. Finally, I present a construal of for-us-ness that complements the received understanding of for-me-ness, by drawing on Alfred Schutz’ concept of the we-relationship, and on the idea of second-personal awareness, i.e. awareness of a ‘you’. The current proposal provides a suitable account of some basic forms of phenomenally manifest social connectedness, in a way that is cognitively undemanding and without incurring the costs of a sui generis plural pre-reflective self-awareness. (shrink)

Advocates of the self-corrective thesis argue that scientific method will refute false theories and find closer approximations to the truth in the long run. I discuss a contemporary interpretation of this thesis in terms of frequentist statistics in the context of the behavioral sciences. First, I identify experimental replications and systematic aggregation of evidence (meta-analysis) as the self-corrective mechanism. Then, I present a computer simulation study of scientific communities that implement this mechanism to argue that frequentist statistics may converge upon (...) a correct estimate or not depending on the social structure of the community that uses it. Based on this study, I argue that methodological explanations of the “replicability crisis” in psychology are limited and propose an alternative explanation in terms of biases. Finally, I conclude suggesting that scientific self-correction should be understood as an interaction effect between inference methods and social structures. (shrink)

This essay presupposes that Friedrich Nietzsche and Rudolf Carnap champion contrasting reactions to the fact that, throughout history, persons have been engaged in metaphysical disputes. Nietzsche embraces a libertarian reaction that is in agreement with his anti-democratic aristocratic political views, whereas Carnap endorses an egalitarian reaction aligned with his democratic and socialist political views. After characterizing these reactions, the essay argues for two claims. The first claim is that the stated contrasting reactions are to be considered, not only by the (...) few scholars who are interested both in Nietzsche’s and Carnap’s writings, but by a far larger group that includes those who have addressed the continental-analytic gap; those who are concerned with the development of contemporary philosophy; and/or those who are interested in the writings of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, David Lewis and/or Peter van Inwagen. The second claim is that we have to entertain a synthesis of Nietzsche’s libertarian and Carnap’s egalitarian reaction in order to overcome the continental-analytic gap. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Experience Without Qualities: Boredom and ModernityFelipe GutterriezExperience Without Qualities: Boredom and Modernity. Elizabeth Goodstein. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005. Pp. 461. $50.00, cloth.Winner of the Modern Language Association's 2005 award for Best First Book, Elizabeth Goodstein's Experience Without Qualities: Boredom and Modernity is a work impressive for its erudition and rigorous analysis. Experience Without Qualities is a genealogical study of the modern "modern discourse on boredom," a phrase (...) referring both to a family of experiences and to the uses of language associated with them. (Although somewhat murkily introduced, a further distinction operates in Goodstein's account of the modern discourse on boredom, a distinction between language of boredom, language that is part of the expression of boredom, and language on boredom, language that is part of the reflection on boredom. It's the difference between saying, "I'm bored, there's nothing to do," and saying, "Powerlessness is the cause of boredom.") Goodstein believes the modern discourse on boredom exemplifies the modern rhetoric of reflection, the way of understanding and interpreting human experience that is historically and culturally specific to modernity. Through her genealogy of the modern discourse on boredom she hopes "to further the historical task of coming to terms with the fragmentation of subjective experience in the face of the dissolution of metanarratives that is the legacy of the Enlightenment." Experience without Qualities is a dense and complex text over 450 pages in length, and the account that follows necessarily fails to capture the richness that is a principal strength of the text.As an introduction to her genealogy proper, Goodstein examines two contrasting contemporary accounts of boredom. These accounts serve as paradigmatic examples of idealist and materialist accounts of boredom and, by implication, subjectivity generally. Reinhard Kuhn's idealist account treats all social and historical forms of boredom as either incidental to or a manifestation of "ennui," an ahistorical feature of the human condition, an "encounter with nothingness" that is productive of human creativity. Wolf Lepenies's materialist account treats boredom as epiphenomenal, a symptom of "action-inhibition" and a way of legitimating a feeling of powerlessness. On one level, the two accounts provide competing types of explanations, but on another level both are [End Page 257] examples of the characteristic fallacy of the modern rhetoric of reflection, the abstraction of categories of language and their reification into things. Although Goodstein does not use the term, this fallacy could be called the "fallacy of misplaced concreteness." (This is a phrase that Alfred North Whitehead coined in connection with his critique of scientific materialism. Its use suggests the affinities between his critique and Goodstein's account of the modern rhetoric of reflection.)In the case of Kuhn, the fallacy of misplaced concreteness takes the form of an abstraction drawn from the historically and culturally specific language of boredom that Kuhn and his audience share and its reification as an ahistorical principle that grounds Kuhn's idealist language on boredom. In the case of Lepenies, this fallacy takes the form of an abstraction drawn from the language of boredom and reified as the social practices that ground Lepenies's language on boredom. Neither Kuhn's idealist history nor Lepenies's materialist sociology recognize the historicity of the modern discourse on boredom.Goodstein faults Kuhn and Lepenies for their failure to think through the relationship between the language of boredom and the language on boredom. The conditions that make this failure possible are addressed in Chapter 3, "Boredom and the Modernization of Subjectivity." This chapter describes the spread of Enlightenment skepticism in an environment of rapid political and economic change. Beginning toward the end of the eighteenth century and continuing to the middle of the nineteenth, a discursive paradigm shift occurs. The result is a rhetoric of reflection organized around a radically isolated subjectivity and a "clocktime" view of temporality, time as a series of empty, meaningless moments stretching forward in linear progression. This rhetoric of reflection maintains a tension between idealist and materialist accounts of experience within a materialist framework that medicalizes subjectivity.Goodstein's genealogy of the modern discourse on boredom is strongly reminiscent of Foucault's genealogy of modernity... (shrink)

Research has shown that experiences of discrimination cause harm to the health and well-being of people. In terms of the identity of members of a group, a positive evaluation of that group might involve devaluing the out-group as a way of raising the endo-group, causing discrimination toward the out-group. In the Chilean context, the Mapuche people have historically suffered discrimination and violations of their rights. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between Collective Identity, perceived experiences of (...) discrimination, psychological well-being and distress in the inhabitants of the Mapuche conflict zone according to their sense of belonging to their ethnic group. This descriptive, correlative, and cross-sectional study involved 200 participants, including 94 men, and 106 women, between the ages of 18 and 83 years old, who had lived for at least 1 year in communities in the Araucanía Region. The sample was stratified according their sense of ethnic identity, including 30% Mapuche, 33.5% Caucasian, and 36.5% Mestizo. The results show that participants with a sense of Mapuche ethnicity experienced more instances of discrimination, had a greater sense of collective identity, and that they also supported the Mapuche social movement and its methods. Based on evidence that well-being is directly related to collective identity, the study undertook a regression analysis of emotional distress and the psychological well-being of participants. The interaction between experiences of discrimination and collective identity has a significant influence. Collective identity and experiences of discrimination in themselves as well as the interaction between them, predict psychological well-being. The results suggest that the importance of the Mapuche group’s identity phenomena are related to a broad socio-historical context that leads them to identify themselves as a collective in conditions of inequality. This relationship between well-being and collective identity could be explained by their sense of cultural belonging, which can be a factor in protecting mental health. (shrink)