En este artículo nos disponemos desarrollar la tesis según la cual la crítica elaborada por Santiago Castro-Gómez a Enrique Dussel se trató de una desnaturalización del análisis del filósofo argentino sobre el proyecto moderno, en la cual Castro-Gómez puso de relieve las prácticas de las herencias coloniales como condición de posibilidad para la emergencia de la modernidad, sin necesidad de recurrir a la figura fundante del sujeto, aspecto que sí se encuentra presente en la propuesta del mendocino. Esta tesis se (...) demostrará mediante un diálogo crítico entre estos dos autores en torno al problema de la modernidad y la colonialidad a partir de tres claves analíticas, la posmodernidad, la modernidad y la descolonización, con el fin de pensar el modo en que las prácticas coloniales operaron en el proyecto moderno a través del uso de los valores presentes en la misma modernidad, sin que ello implique caer en una supuesta desmodernización. (shrink)

A filosofia social se ocupa fundamentalmente de três tarefas: pelo conceito sobre uma instituição, como ela funciona e como ela se efetiva. Nesse sentido, um desafio que se apresenta para a filosofia social, sob o ponto de vista da pesquisa crítico-normativa, é pensar a instituição social não só como espinha-dorsal da sociedade, mas, sobretudo, em pensar sua possibilidade vinculativa ao argumento social-ontológico com orientação à emancipação; ou seja, de que maneira a instituição social ocupa sua tarefa crítica em promover os (...) bens sociais e direitos sociais na urdidura social. Pretendo nessa pesquisa explicitar a exigência filosófica-social do argumento social-ontológico na tratativa da pesquisa crítico-normativa tomando em consideração que, primeiramente, a instituição social se autocompreende enquanto medium à emancipação e, em segundo, que a referida instituição provém de uma concepção destranscendental da razão o que remete como corolário de pesquisa a uma forma de pensar a filosofia social inserida desde a sua gênese constitutiva nos contextos históricos das comunidades sociais. (shrink)

Sob o ponto de vista da teoria crítica e de uma crítica social, e mais recentemente, a ideia do progresso parece se estabelecer em uma ambivalência: de um lado, os postulados de Amy Allen encetaram uma _“Aufklärung”_ da concepção de progresso (ao qual eu chamo de concepção “negativa”) e os seus possíveis desdobramentos para a teoria crítica bem como para a crítica social; por outro, a concepção de progresso pode ser compreendida como uma “forma positiva” na qual se orienta junto (...) ao escopo constitutivo de uma teoria crítica ao corporificar, por exemplo, a justiça social enquanto mediação socionormativa ao processo de emancipação. Levando em consideração as assertivas supracitadas, revisitarei, nesta pesquisa, a centralidade da concepção de progresso em Amy Allen _(1) _para daí interpor uma ideia “positiva”. Nesse sentido, tomarei por referência socioinstitucional e empírica a política pública do programa social ‘Mais IDH’ ao qual se constitui tanto como uma resposta ao conceito de progresso em Amy Allen quanto uma condição possível de efetivação à justiça social (entendida basicamente pelas condições mínimas de existência) _(2)_. (shrink)

A filosofia social ocupa um lugar de destaque no âmbito da teoria crítica: em primeiro lugar, ela possui a tarefa de pensar o “Social” explicitando as contradições em uma determinada realidade; em segundo, ao encetar a reflexão sobre o “Social”, – entendido pelas práticas, relações e instituições sociais enquanto condições constitutivas para o exercício da liberdade –, a pesquisa crítica, sob a perspectiva sociofilosófica, se endereça para a identificação, análise e solução dos problemas sociais. Nesse sentido, a educação passa a (...) ser considerada enquanto uma mediação fundamental para o processo transformador da sociedade constituindo-se, portanto, enquanto esfera copartícipe desse mesmo “Social” na medida em que numa determinada ação pedagógica pode ser compreendida tanto por uma prática social quanto pelo estabelecimento de relações sociais mediadas por instituições sociais.Sob o fito de uma leitura crítica, própria dos pressupostos da filosofia social e da teoria crítica, pretendo explicitar, nesta pesquisa de caráter work in progress, que o programa educacional maranhense possui, no espírito de sua ação social, a orientação à práxis transformadora na medida em que intenta em efetivar aos assistidos pelo referido programa as condições mínimas de existência social nas quais são entendidas preliminarmente como a busca pela efetivação dos bens e direitos sociais. (shrink)

A gênese constitutiva da pesquisa crítica tem como base a análise da realidade social bem como a orientação à emancipação mediante o diagnóstico das patologias sociais ocorridas no interior de uma determinada realidade. Mesmo diante de tal tarefa e tomando por consideração o “Zeitgeist” hodierno de uma sociedade eivada de contradições, o pensamento crítico não está imune a constantes revisões em seus pressupostos. A exigência de tal posicionamento revisor passa a se constituir como um repto para a própria pesquisa crítica. (...) Nesse sentido, a filosofia social, ancorando-se tanto na ideia da ontologia social quanto no conceito do “Social”, se apresenta enquanto esteio para um programa socionormativo de pesquisa crítica na medida em que, por exemplo, busca pensar a justiça social como base de ação socioemancipatória. Levando em consideração tais pressupostos, pretendo explicitar, nesta pesquisa, que o programa social “Mais IDH” pode se constituir nessa referência socioemancipatória – uma forma de vida socioinstitucional – na medida em que se orienta pela efetivação dos bens sociais como condição mínima de existência social para as pessoas residentes naquelas comunidades assistidas pelo “Mais IDH”. (shrink)

Habla sobre la mirada, abunda sobre la atención que se presta a lo que nos rodea y sobre la resistencia que lo mirado nos opone.

In this work we present some reflections about the interaction of preschool children (between 3 and 5 years old) with sound-producing objects. We implemented the phenomenological approach of Alfred Schutz, who under the influence of Edmund Husserl, elaborated his own notions concerning the Lebenswelt or life-world. We present some situations of interaction with musical instruments by children that have been documented in different research on musical education in early childhood, the same ones we use to exemplify possible analyses from the (...) perspective of the phenomenology of the social world. We conclude with some remarks that conceive of Schutz’s theory as a relevant perspective for the analysis of children’s experiences with sound-producing objects. (shrink)

En el presente artículo realizamos un análisis del estatus ontológico de la noción de psicopatología que se deriva de cuatro aproximaciones metodológicas a su estudio, a saber: aproximación psiquiátrica, fenomenológico-existencial, constructivista-histórica y antipsiquiátrica. Por medio de una metodología de revisión bibliográfica sistematizada y siguiendo el marco de trabajo metaframework ReSiste-CHS (Revisiones Sistematizadas en Ciencias Humanas y Sociales), sostendremos que dicha noción presenta divergencias en al menos tres puntos: (i) la relevancia de la sintomatología como característica, (ii) la existencia o inexistencia (...) del sufrimiento psíquico y (iii) la relevancia de los factores sociales en su configuración. En el apartado introductorio abordaremos las consideraciones históricas generales relacionadas con el estudio de los trastornos mentales. En el segundo apartado nos referiremos a la metodología empleada para la realización del artículo. En el tercer apartado expondremos los rasgos fundamentales de las cuatro metodologías de estudio mencionadas anteriormente, dividiendo la descripción en los siguientes puntos: orientación, etiología, clasificación, diagnóstico y tratamiento. En el cuarto apartado contrastaremos los conceptos de psicopatología que pueden ser extraídos de ellas. A modo de conclusión, propondremos una sistematización de las condiciones mínimas que debe cumplir una noción de psicopatología que sea fructífera desde un punto de vista teórico y práctico. Estas condiciones incluyen un posicionamiento crítico ante los extremos reduccionista y relativista, la consideración del sufrimiento psíquico como rasgo constitutivo y núcleo fundamental de este género de experiencia, así como una dimensión ética relacionada con su abordaje. Por último, mostraremos algunas limitaciones y futuras directrices que se derivan del trabajo realizado. (shrink)

Based on published works and unpublished materials, this article analyses how cybernetics was received by two Spanish thinkers exiled in Mexico: José Gaos (1900–1969) and Eduardo Nicol (1907–1990). This reception is particularly intriguing especially when considering the substantial presence and social impact that Norbert Wiener had in Mexican society because of his friendship with Arturo Rosenblueth. Gaos and Nicol are the first philosophers to develop a complex and original diagnosis of cybernetics in Mexico. It will be shown how the (...) exiled thinkers take on the philosophical implications of this science in the light of their respective theoretical projects, and finally, it will be defended how the critical perspective they develop is particularly significant for Mexico’s political and academic context since it illuminates some negative aspects of cybernetics that Wiener did not foresee and that had not been reported there until then. (shrink)

Socially responsible consumption reflects a consumer's political and ethical act. Its measurement is dependent on the socio-economic and cultural context. Consequently, measurement instruments reflecting various behaviour profiles of global consumers have been developed. This study employs a Latin-American-specific measurement instrument to compare socially responsible consumption behaviours in Colombia, Mexico and Peru, countries with the same cultural cluster, that is they reflect a set of values shaped by religion, family, a sense of authority and a nationalist bias in their cultural pattern. (...) The empirical test included confirmatory factorial analysis exercise, factorial invariance analysis and a contrast analysis of variance. The results for the three Latin American countries show the following. (i) The Mexican consumer, compared to the Peruvian and Colombian one, exhibits a stronger tendency to evaluate external practices of corporate social responsibility as a criterion of consumption. (ii) The rationality of the Mexican consumer is better in terms of consumption volume of products, resources and services. Finally, (iii) Peruvian and Mexican consumers (vs. Colombian consumers) exhibit a tendency to assess the responsible practices of companies in labour matters more as a consumption criterion. This study provides empirical evidence of the context-dependent nature of measuring socially responsible consumption. For practitioners, identifying consumer profiles based on the market context enables them to customise goods and services. Moreover, policymakers should implement a sustainable consumption agenda with public policy guidelines tailored to the specific context. (shrink)

Venezuelan media present corruption as a major problem of the country and a research conducted by the author shows managers perceive it as business ethics' main issue. The corruption type addressed to in this article is the collusion between public officials and private managers for illegal or undue profits. Corruption in this form is related to the long-standing policy of State intervention and overregulation of the economy in order to industrialize the country. The issue analyzed is the perception of corruption (...) as a major political and social problem. Corruption is pervasive in many societies but it is not perceived as a central problem. The explanation for this perception in Venezuela is the increased impoverishment of people as a consequence of present economic crisis (the corrupt person is perceived as taking from my pocket) and the openness and pluralistic character of the political system. Moral indignation and scandal is the result of this new feature of Venezuelan society. Changes in the economic policies and the awareness of corruption seem to establish the basis to overcome the perception of corruption as the paramount problem it is now. (shrink)

While the earlier work of Philip Kitcher, in particular The Advancement of Science (1993), continues to inform his more recent studies, such as Science, Truth, and Democracy (2001), there are significant "changes of opinion" from those articulated in the 1990s. One may even speak of two different stages in the configuration of epistemological proposals. An analysis, from an empiricist standpoint, of the shifts between one and the other indicates further evolution towards realist positions but much more modest ones than those (...) previously endorsed. Kitcher qualifies former individualism with an ensuing defence of pluralism, vital to his effort to develop a social epistemology. The present centrality of the achievement of a well-ordered science , one that promotes the common good within the context of democracies, encapsulates recent variation in the work of Kitcher and may be considered one of the author's most defendable proposals, even including its classically empiricist resonance. (shrink)

El objetivo del siguiente artículo es identificar los elementos que componen la función del intelectual en Michel Foucault y explicar el modo cómo ellos actúan. La tesis que se desarrollará es que dicha función se entiende a partir de los efectos políticos producidos por discursos de verdad. Se argumentará que en ella se concatenan estos tres elementos (Discurso, política y verdad) siendo atravesados por las relaciones de poder. Finalmente, se demostrará que su campo de acción se encuentra articulado con el (...) análisis de los discursos que funcionan políticamente conforme a unos regímenes de verdad. (shrink)

This work is an exploration of the concept of Enlightenment. First, the historiographical construction of the Enlightenment is examined to distinguish topics that characterized the ruptures and continuities in the sucessive interpretations. Subsequently, the issue is discussed in the context of the debate between Modernity and Postmodernity. Finally, question about the Enlightenment is discussed in relation to the possibilities of the philosophy of history and language. It concludes the need to recover the philosophy of history as legacy of the Enlightenment, (...) and considers how such a recovery could be made. (shrink)

The 2019–2020 to 2020–2021 influenza seasons in the USA saw a dramatic 99.5% decrease in paediatric mortality, with only one influenza death recorded during the latter season. This decrease has been attributed to a substantial reduction in transmission, resulting from the various restrictive measures enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, onset March 2020. The relative disappearance of influenza raises specific policy questions, such as whether these measures should be kept in place after COVID-19 transmission reaches acceptable levels or herd immunity is (...) achieved. Given the nature of these measures as liberty restricting, it is worth discussing their intended outcome and what values they promote. Do these measures in fact promote health, or simply give the comfort of safety while undermining long-term health and individual liberties? I argue that the year-long endurance of the pandemic well into 2021 may have flattened our value landscape into one where health reigns supreme. Discussions are underway regarding whether we should modify previously accepted health risks, such as the risk of contracting influenza. In this paper, I attempt to clarify the values that motivate our policies and discuss how our present historical context has appreciated the value of health. I also provide an analysis of various pandemic policies and their relation to influenza paediatric deaths. Ultimately, the cost of certain measures on values such as education, socialisation and liberty, among others, is too high to justify their use beyond regulating the spread of COVID-19. (shrink)

Essa publicação requer esclarecimentos: os trabalhos escritos ou transcritos são o resultado de um evento com algumas peculiaridades. A primeira por ser um evento que convocou psicanalistas a refletir sobre o campo social, promovendo uma interlocução entre a psicanálise e a política. A segunda, e essa talvez a principal razão da singularidade, é que tal convocação se deu a partir do testemunho vivo de um evento traumático. Os diferentes textos que compõem esse livro procuram fazer um verdadeiro diálogo, tendo como (...) ponto de partida o depoimento de Estela Carlotto, presidente das Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. Um depoimento que transmite, ainda que sob as mais terríveis condições, a possibilidade de resistir, criando práticas e prosseguir lutando, sem se acomodar diante de vitórias aparentes. Uma ação intensa, contínua, que evidencia que a ação política se refere a acreditar que o impossível é possível. A "Coleção Departamento Formação em Psicanálise" reúne obras produzidas a partir de eventos científicos e culturais organizados por este Departamento, assim como de reflexões sobre a clínica psicanalítica contemporânea e de estudos desenvolvidos por seus integrantes. Os temas tratados são diversos: desde questões metapsicológicas, técnicas e teóricas, na tentativa de abarcar as diferentes formas de expressão do sofrimento psíquico, até a extensão da psicanálise além do setting analítico habitual e suas interfaces com outras ciências. Dessa forma, o espaço é pensado como um vetor de formação permanente, interlocução e pesquisa, marcado por uma psicanálise engajada nas questões políticas e sociais, e em conformidade com a Carta de Princípios do Instituto Sedes Sapientiae. (shrink)

"El devorador de sueños" es un cuento de Lafcadio Hearn, Koizumi Yakumo, publicado en 1903 en Kott?, una colección de leyendas del folclore japonés recopiladas a partir de fuentes orales y libros tradicionales. Aquí, Hearn nos presenta la criatura del Bakú, un ser mitológico creado por los dioses con las partes sobrantes de otros animales tras la Creación. Su origen se remonta a China, donde se creía que se alimentaba de malos espíritus. Al llegar a Japón, mantuvo esta función, mutando, (...) poco a poco, en un devorador de sueños malignos, de pesadillas, que protegía a los soñadores de la mala fortuna. El Bakú es un yokai cuya clara impronta en la cultura japonesa aún es visible, por ejemplo, se cantan canciones de cuna sobre él antes de dormir o es posible encontrar amuletos tallados con su figura. No siendo más, presentamos esta destacada historia de Hearn cuyo propósito fue presentar al lector occidental la sacralidad del Bakú, su relevancia e influencia en la vida cotidiana nipona y la profunda conexión espiritual de los japoneses con dioses, espíritus y seres sobrenaturales. (shrink)

Background The Regional Committee for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2001 expressed concern that some health-related studies undertaken in the Region were not subjected to any form of ethics review. In 2003, the study reported in this paper was conducted to determine which Member country did not have a national research ethics committee (REC) with a view to guiding the WHO Regional Office in developing practical strategies for supporting those countries. Methods This is a descriptive study. The (...) questionnaire was prepared and sent by diplomatic pouch to all the 46 Member States in the WHO African Region, through the WHO country representatives, for facilitation and follow up. The data were entered in Excel spreadsheet and subsequently exported to STATA for analysis. A Chi-Squared test (χ 2) for independence was undertaken to test the relationship between presence/absence of Research Ethics Committee (REC) and selected individual socioeconomic and health variables. Results The main findings were as follows: the response rate was 61% (28/46); 64% (18/28) confirmed the existence of RECs; 36% (10/28) of the respondent countries did not have a REC (although 80% of them reported that they had in place an ad hoc ethical review mechanism); 85% (22/26) of the countries that responded to this question indicated that ethical approval of research proposals was, in principle, required; and although 59% of the countries that had a REC expected it to meet every month, only 44% of them reported that the REC actually met on a monthly basis. In the Chi-Squared test, only the average population in the group of countries with a REC was statistically different (at 5% level of significance) from that of the group of countries without a REC. Conclusion In the current era of globalized biomedical research, good ethics stewardship demands that every country, irrespective of its level of economic development, should have in place a functional research ethics review system in order to protect the dignity, integrity and safety of its citizens who participate in research. (shrink)

This article argues that bodily awareness is a basic form of self-consciousness through which perceiving agents are directly conscious of the bodily self. It clarifies the nature of bodily awareness, categorises the different types of body-relative information, and rejects the claim that we can have a sense of ownership of our own bodies. It explores how bodily awareness functions as a form of self-consciousness and highlights the importance of certain forms of bodily awareness that share an important epistemological property with (...) canonical forms of self-consciousness such as introspection. (shrink)

It is now 25 years since Gareth Evans introduced the distinction between conceptual and nonconceptual content in The Varieties of Reference. This is a fitting time to take stock of what has become a complex and extended debate both within philosophy and at the interface between philosophy and psychology. Unfortunately, the debate has become increasingly murky as it has become increasingly ramified. Much of the contemporary discussion does not do full justice to the powerful theoretical tool originally proposed by Evans (...) and subsequently refined by theorists in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s – most effectively, I think, by Christopher Peacocke (particularly in his 1992). Even worse, significant parts of the discussion are somewhat confused. This paper makes a start on clarifying what I think ought to be the central issues in debates about nonconceptual content. I begin in §1 by pointing out how narrowly focused contemporary discussion is relative to Evans’s original discussion. We are not making as much use as we should of nonconceptual content as a tool for understanding subpersonal information processing and the complexities of its status relative to perception and thought at the personal level. In §2 I turn to what is the central focus of contemporary discussion, namely, the content of perception and identify a “master argument” for nonconceptualism based on the relation between conceptual capacities and capacities for perceptual discrimination. The aim of §3 is to clarify the relation between the claim that perception has nonconceptual content and some superficially similar claims discussed by philosophers of perception. Finally, in §4 I explain why the attention recently focused on what is sometimes called the state version of the nonconceptualist thesis seems to me to be misdirected. (shrink)

Philosophical accounts of self-deception can be divided into two broad groups – the intentionalist and the anti-intentionalist. On intentionalist models what happens in the central cases of self-deception is parallel to what happens when one person intentionally deceives another, except that deceiver and deceived are the same person. This paper offers a positive argument for intentionalism about self-deception and defends the view against standard objections.

José L. Zalabardo defends a pragmatist account of what grounds the meaning of central semantic discourses--ascriptions of truth, of propositional attitudes, and of meanings. He argues that it is the procedures that regulate acceptance and rejection that give the sentences of these discourses their meanings, and explores the application of the pragmatist template to ethical discourse. The pragmatist approach is presented as an alternative to representationalist accounts of the meaning grounds of declarative sentences, according to which a sentence has (...) the meaning it has as a result of links with the bits of the world that it purports to represent. Zalabardo develops a version of the open-question argument to support the claim that the meaning grounds of the discourses he focuses on cannot receive representationalist accounts. It is generally assumed that a declarative sentence cannot perform the function of representing the world unless it has a representationalist meaning ground. Zalabardo rejects this assumption, arguing that sentences with pragmatist meaning grounds can represent the world in exactly the same sense that sentences with representationalist meaning grounds do. This requires that there are states of affairs that the target sentences represent as obtaining, and Zalabardo develops an account of the nature of the states of affairs that can play this role for sentences with pragmatist meaning grounds. Pragmatist Semantics concludes by developing the suggestion that the meaning grounds of all our representational discourses might be ultimately pragmatist. (shrink)

Table of Contents Acknowledgments 1 Self-Consciousness and the Body: An Interdisciplinary Introduction by Naomi Eiland, Anthony Marcel and José Luis Bermúdez 2 The Body Image and Self-Consciousness by John Campbell 3 Infants’ Understanding of People and Things: From Body Imitation to Folk Psychology by Andrew N. Meltzoff and M. Keith Moore 4 Persons, Animals, and Bodies by Paul F. Snowdon 5 An Ecological Perspective on the Origins of Self by George Butterworth 6 Objectivity, Causality, and Agency by Thomas Baldwin (...) 7 At Two with Nature: Agency and the Development of Self-World Dualism by James Russell 8 Ecological Perception and the Notion of a Nonconceptual Point of View by José Luis Bermúdez 9 Proprioception and the Body Image by Brian O’Shaughnessy 10 Awareness of One’s Own Body: An Attentional Theory of Its Nature, Development, and Brain Basis by Marcel Kinsbourne 11 Body Schema and Intentionality by Shaun Gallagher 12 Living without Touch and Peripheral Information about Body Position and Movement: Studies with Deafferented Subjects by Jonathan Cole and Jacques Paillard 13 Bodily Awareness: A Sense of Ownership by M. G. F. Martin 14 Bodily Awareness and the Self by Bill Brewer 15 Introspection and Bodily Self-Ascription by Quassim Cassam 16 Consciousness and the Self by Naomi Eilan Contributors Index. (shrink)

Frames and framing make one dimension of a decision problem particularly salient. In the simplest case, framesprimeresponses (as in, e.g., the Asian disease paradigm, where the gain frame primes risk-aversion and the loss frame primes risk-seeking). But in more complicated situations frames can function reflectively, by making salient particular reason-giving aspects of a thing, outcome, or action. For Shakespeare's Macbeth, for example, his feudal commitments are salient in one frame, while downplayed in another in favor of his personal ambition. The (...) role of frames in reasoning can give rise torational framing effects. Macbeth can prefer fulfilling his feudal duty to murdering the king, while also preferring bravely taking the throne to fulfilling his feudal duty, knowing full well that bravely taking the throne just is murdering the king. Such patterns ofquasi-cyclicalpreferences can be correct and appropriate from the normative perspective of how one ought to reason. The paper explores three less dramatic types of rational framing effects: (1) Consciously framing and reframing long-term goals and short-term temptations can be important tools for self-control. (2) In the prototypical social interactions modeled by game theory, allowing for rational framing effects solves longstanding problems, such as the equilibrium selection problem and explaining the appeal of non-equilibrium solutions (e.g., the cooperative solution in the Prisoner's Dilemma). (3) Processes for resolving interpersonal conflicts and breaking discursive deadlock, because they involve internalizing multiple and incompatible ways of framing actions and outcomes, in effect create rational framing effects. (shrink)

Gli autori di Politica, morale e fortuna, volume che celebra il cinquantesimo anniversario della scrittura de Il principe di Machiavelli, propongono letture aggiornate di questo classico che ci permettono di rinnovare la prospettiva con cui lo affrontiamo. In questi articoli si instaurano dialoghi tra Machiavelli e altri autori di epoche diverse che consentono ancora una volta di ricostruire e problematizzare l'inesauribile opera del fiorentino, avvicinandola ai temi d'attualità. La novità che raccolgono le diverse prospettive è una lettura che riconosce nel (...) Principe il primo trattato filosofico-politico propriamente moderno. (shrink)

My topic in this paper is social understanding. By this I mean the cognitive skills underlying social behaviour and social coordination. Normal, encultured, non-autistic and non-brain-damaged human beings are capable of an impressive degree of social coordination. We navigate the social world with a level of skill and dexterity fully comparable to that which we manifest in navigating the physical world. In neither sphere, one might think, would it be a trivial matter to identify the various competences which underly this (...) impressive level of performance. Nonetheless, at least as far as interpersonal interactions are concerned, philosophers show a rare degree of unanimity. What grounds our success in these interactions is supposed to be our common mastery of folk psychology. (shrink)

In Thinking without Words I develop a philosophical framework for treating some animals and human infants as genuine thinkers. This paper outlines the aspects of this account that are most relevant to those working in animal ethics. There is a range of different levels of cognitive sophistication in different animal species, in addition to limits to the types of thought available to non-linguistic creatures, and it may be important for animal ethicists to take this into account in exploring issues of (...) moral significance and the obligations that we might or might not have to non-human animals. (shrink)

Reliabilist accounts of knowledge are widely seen as having the resources for blocking sceptical arguments, since these arguments appear to rely on assumptions about the nature of knowledge that are rendered illegitimate by reliabilist accounts. The goal of this book is to assess the main arguments against the possibility of knowledge, and its conclusions challenge this consensus. The book articulates and defends a theory of knowledge that belongs firmly in the truth-tracking tradition, and argues that although the theory has the (...) resources for blocking the main standard lines of sceptical reasoning, there is a sceptical argument against which the theory offers no defence, as it doesn’t rely on any assumptions that the theory would render illegitimate. The book ends with the suggestion that the problem might have a metaphysical solution—that although the sceptical argument may make no illegitimate epistemological assumptions, it does rest on a questionable account of the nature of cognition. (shrink)

In their recent book The Inessential Indexical Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever take issue with what has become close to philosophical orthodoxy – the view, most often associated with John Perry and David Lewis, that psychological explanations are essentially indexical. Cappelen and Dever claim that claims of essential indexicality are typically driven by intuitions rather than supported by arguments. They issue a challenge to supporters of essential indexicality: Produce an argument to back up the intuitions. This paper answers their challenge.

In a recent paper, Fredérique de Vignemont has argued that there is a positive quale of bodily ownership . She thinks that tactile and other forms of somatosensory phenomenology incorporate a distinctive feeling of myness and takes issue with my defense in Bermúdez of a deflationary approach to bodily ownership. That paper proposed an argument deriving from Elizabeth Anscombe’s various discussions of what she terms knowledge without observation . De Vignemont is not convinced and appeals to the Rubber Hand Illusion (...) to undercut my appeal to Anscombe. Section 1 of this article restates the case against the putative quale of ownership. Section 2 explains why de Vignemonts’ objections miss the mark. Section 3 discusses in more detail how to draw a principled distinction between bodily awareness and ordinary perceptual awareness. (shrink)

Debates about bodily ownership and psychological ownership have typically proceeded independently of each other. This paper explores the relation between them, with particular reference to how each is illuminated by psychopathology. I propose a general framework for studying ownership that is applicable both to bodily ownership and psychological ownership. The framework proposes studying ownership by starting with explicit judgments of ownership and then exploring the bases for those judgments. Section 3 discusses John Campbell’s account of ψ-ownership in the light of (...) that general framework, emphasizing in particular his fractionation of ψ-ownership into two dissociable components. Section 4 briefly presents an account of φ-ownership that I have developed in more detail elsewhere. Section 5 explores the suggestion, originating with Alexandre Billon, that there needs to be an integrated account of φ-ownership and ψ-ownership because depersonalization disorders typically involve breakdowns of both φ-ownership and ψ-ownership. The argument from depersonalization is not compelling, but Section 6 proposes a different way of reaching the same conclusion. Section 7 shows how reflecting on agency and practical reasoning offers a common thread between the models of φ-ownership and ψ-ownership discussed earlier in the paper. (shrink)