All large-scale telescope facilities are constructed within a geographical, social, historical, and political context that includes nested layers at the global, national, and local levels. However, discussions about the geographic siting of astronomy facilities, for example, the communities in which they are embedded or the interactions between the facility and its locale, are uncommon in social science studies of astronomy, and no extant review focused on this gap in the literature. In this literature review and discourse analysis, we explore the (...) ways in which research about astronomy facilities and their local communities has emerged, and the extent to which it focuses on the Global South. We find that literature addressing the social and policy aspects of astronomy facilities has an emphasis on the Global North. However, literature addressing host communities has an emphasis on the Global South. Broadly, the discourses related to host communities in the Global South have emerged from reflections on the controversies related to large-scale telescopes in Hawai’i, Chile, and South Africa. One common theme linking these discourses is that a focus on benefits at the national and international levels obscures a range of problematic power dynamics and outcomes at the local level. The notion of the Global South as an ‘empty space’ in which astronomical observation does not constitute impactful action amongst local communities, is challenged by discourses that centre local contexts, and challenged by discourses that employ conceptual frameworks with a focus on revealing power dynamics. (shrink)

IntroductionParkinson’s disease patients have a significantly higher risk of developing dementia in later disease stages, leading to severe impairments in quality of life and self-functioning. Questions remain on how deep brain stimulation affects cognition, and whether we can individualize therapy and reduce the risk for adverse cognitive effects. Our aim in this systematic review is to assess the current knowledge in the field and determine if the findings could influence clinical practice.MethodsWe have conducted a systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines (...) through MEDLINE and Embase databases, with studies being selected for inclusion via a set inclusion and exclusion criteria.ResultsSixty-seven studies were included in this systematic review according to the selected criteria. This includes 6 meta-analyses, 18 randomized controlled trials, 17 controlled clinical trials, and 26 observational studies with no control arms. The total number of PD patients encompassed in the studies cited in this review is 3677, not including the meta-analyses.ConclusionCognitive function in PD patients can deteriorate, in most cases mildly, but still impactful to the quality of life. The strongest evidence is present for deterioration in verbal fluency, while inconclusive evidence is still present for executive function, memory, attention and processing speed. Global cognition does not appear to be significantly impacted by DBS, especially if cognitive screening is performed prior to the procedure, as lower baseline cognitive function is connected to poor outcomes. Further randomized controlled studies are required to increase the level of evidence, especially in the case of globus pallidus internus DBS, pedunculopontine nucleus DBS, and the ventral intermediate nucleus of thalamus DBS, and more long-term studies are required for all respective targets. (shrink)

'Risquons-Tout' is an ambitious, thematic group exhibition that explores the potential of transgression and unpredictability. It examines how art challenges the homogenisation of thought in the now infamous echo chambers of our overcrowded info-sphere. 'Risquons-Tout' presents some of the most innovative and influential artists and authors from the Eurocore region, which extends between Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne, Düsseldorf and London, with Brussels at its centre. The title is borrowed from a place located on the Belgian-French border, a real yet liminal space (...) of transition, passage and informal exchanges, notably smuggling. The invited artists negotiate different dynamics of bridging, passing, translating and transgressing. In doing so they burst the safe bubbles generated by prediction algorithms, designed to avoid any risk, whether intellectual, financial, emotional or physical. The exhibition's geographic and political scope addresses today's global connectivity, trans-national circulation and diasporic movements. 'Risquons-Tout' will occupy the entire WIELS building and range out into neighbouring exhibition and performance spaces. It will present the works of 38 internationally recognised or emerging artists. The exhibition proposes a rich array of practices that defy easy categorisation. 'Risquons-Tout' will also include a performative section and an Open School that will serve as a laboratory for artists and scholars to draw upon questions of risk, unpredictability and borders through a range of alternative methods for the transmission of knowledge. Exhibition: WIELS, Brussels, Belgium (12.09.2020 - 10.01.2021). (shrink)

Este artigo visa analisar indícios verbo-visuais de episódios de mal-estar enunciados por alunos que integram turmas da modalidade Educação de Jovens Adultos (EJA) em uma escola do interior baiano. Dedicamo-nos, especialmente, a compreender como os sujeitos semiotizam situações de embaraço social vivenciadas em salas de aula e(m) seus (d)efeitos. Como referencial teórico, partimos de pressupostos da Análise Dialógica do Discurso, da Clínica da Atividade e de outras categorias discursivas para lermos, a partir de uma dimensão axiológica, o corpus que é (...) composto por duas biograficzines. A análise dos dados registra que os (res)sentimentos dos discentes, que se deixam materializar em termos verbo-visuais, deflagram situações que ilustram a complexidade de dinâmicas que perfazem interações didáticas no ambiente escolar. Trabalhos como o nosso contribuem para tensionar a realidade escolar-profissional possibilitando a exploração de outros ângulos de nossas atividades como sujeitos sociais. (shrink)

In the context of agricultural activity intensification and rural abandonment, neo-rurality has emerged as a back-to-the-land migratory movement led by urban populations seeking alternative ways of life close to nature. Although the initiatives of the new peasantry are diverse, most are land related, such as agriculture and livestock farming. A priori, neorural people undertake agri-food system activities in ways that differ from the conventional model, following the principles of environmental and social sustainability. We conducted a systematic review of the literature (...) on the neo-rural phenomenon with the main objective of examining how neo-rurality has been found to support agroecological transitions. The corpus of neo-rural studies was analyzed from a social-ecological perspective, and a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was conducted to determine whether neo-rural agri-food system activities follow agroecological principles. The results indicate that neo-rural studies is an emerging research field that has received considerable attention in western countries. Diverse conceptualizations and terms have been used to address the phenomenon, but the literature agrees on political and environmental motivations and several barriers faced by neo-rural people. This population and in particular new peasants, are employing a wide variety of agroecological practices and strategies throughout the agri-food system. Overall, neo-rural people have been reported to contribute significantly to agroecological transition. (shrink)

En este artículo se trata de reconstruir el desarrollo de la idea de forma musical en el pensamiento adorniano a partir de tres textos fundamentales: “Evolución y formas en la nueva música”, “Vers une musique informelle” y “La forma en la nueva música”. A partir de ellos, se pone en relación la forma con la idea de libertad, la imaginación y el color, en cada caso, para mostrar la complejidad del término, así como la relación con otros aspectos clave de (...) la filosofía adorniana. Palabras clave: Forma musical, Theodor W. Adorno, Filosofía de la música, Darmstadt, Nueva música. (shrink)

Although Boyle has been regarded as a champion of the seventeenth century Cartesian mechanical philosophy, I defend the position that Boyle’s views conciliate between a strictly mechanistic conception of fundamental matter and a non-reductionist conception of chemical qualities. In particular, I argue that this conciliation is evident in Boyle’s ontological distinction between fundamental corpuscles endowed with mechanistic properties and higher-level corpuscular concretions endowed with chemical properties. Some of these points have already been acknowledged by contemporary scholars, and I actively engage (...) with their ideas in this paper. However I attempt to contribute to the debate over Boyle’s mechanical philosophy by arguing that Boyle’s writings suggest an emergentist, albeit still mechanistic, notion of chemical properties. I contrast Boyle’s views against those of strict reductionist mechanical philosophers, focusing on the famous debate with Spinoza over the redintegration of niter, and argue that Boyle’s complex chemical ontology provides a more satisfactory understanding of chemical phenomena than is provided by a strictly reductionist and Cartesian mechanical philosophy. (shrink)

Este artigo visa analisar modos de axiologizar o bem-estar na escola em enunciados produzidos por alunos do 9º ano do ensino fundamental de uma escola municipal do interior baiano. Interessa-nos, especialmente, compreender como os sujeitos semiotizam, em seus enunciados, o que consideram o evento mais marcante de suas experiências ao longo dos anos finais do ensino fundamental e o que isso nos informa sobre os valores ali mobilizados relativos ao papel social e institucional da escola e(m) suas modalidades de convivência (...) intersubjetiva. As análises destacam que as memórias verbo-visualmente materializadas não se limitam a registros, abrigados na consciência, mas são repositórios de experiências afetivas de e em diversos cronotopos. O fato de as memórias apresentadas recobrirem diferentes eventos interacionais oferecem-nos uma visão crítica dos estudantes de como percebem e matizam complexidades das interações por eles rememoradas e enunciadas. Trabalhos, como o nosso, que se interessam pelos afetamentos de alunos, contribuem, localmente, para que o contexto escolar seja (re)(des)coberto, tensionando como percepções sociais são semiotizadas em horizontes apreciativos de experiências. (shrink)

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries marks a period of transition between the vitalistic ontology that had dominated Renaissance natural philosophy and the Early Modern mechanistic paradigm endorsed by, among others, the Cartesians and Newtonians. This paper will focus on how the tensions between vitalism and mechanism played themselves out in the context of sixteenth and seventeenth century chemistry and chemical philosophy, particularly in the works of Paracelsus, Jan Baptista Van Helmont, Robert Fludd, and Robert Boyle. Rather than argue that these (...) natural philosophers each embraced either fully vitalistic or fully mechanistic ontologies, I hope to demonstrate that these thinkers adhered to complicated and nuanced ontologies that cannot be described in either purely vitalistic or purely mechanistic terms. A central feature of my argument is the claim that a corpuscularian theory of matter does not entail a strictly mechanistic and reductionistic account of chemical properties. I also argue that what marks the shift from pre-modern vitalistic chemical philosophy to the modern chemical philosophy that marked the Chemical Revolution is not the victory of mechanism and reductionism in chemistry but, rather, the shift to a physicalistic and naturalistic account of chemical properties and vital spirits. (shrink)

Theories of reciprocity have been surprisingly gender-blind. We develop a gendered account of reciprocity using qualitative data from Russia. We focus on gifts of unpaid task assistance, where gender differences are particularly visible. In our data, women’s gifts of labor involve greater time and effort than men’s, but women report nonreciprocation, while men do not. Paradoxically, the most onerous gifts are those least likely to be reciprocated. We show how this puzzling finding relates to the gendering of reciprocity. We define (...) four stages of the gift cycle—giving, recognition, reciprocation, and givers’ responses to reciprocation—detailing how each is gendered. We argue that reciprocity is a socially embedded phenomenon that cannot be considered in isolation from gender norms. This insight has implications for research employing reciprocity as a framework, and for debates in relation to issues such as care work and family relations. (shrink)

This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of the glamorization of the courtesan image as proposed by Baz Luhrmann’s film Moulin Rouge. The film sparked the appearance of high-street fashion inspired by the image of the 19th-century Parisian courtesan, which prompted the authors to examine how and why such images might appeal to female consumers. The critical analysis reaches beyond the images themselves to identify and discuss the modes of circulation of such images, and their function in achieving both the material (...) ends of capitalism and the promotion of one of the system’s core values. Moreover, the article hopes to illustrate the possibilities offered by integrating cultural and structural analyses of current social phenomena. (shrink)

The urgency of the study of the formation of the concept of information and communication society in the context of theoretical and methodological analysis is conditioned by the development of information and communication technologies and the Internet in the XXI century. One of the results of the development of Internet technologies is the emergence of an information and communicative society through the Internet as a social system that needs a theoretical and methodological context of measurement. In today's conditions of the (...) information revolution, the communicative clarification of social reality, the place and role in it of the individual, the study of communicative actions and communicative competences of the individual is important. The central problem is the phenomenon of an information and communication society as a complex social phenomenon. The problem of the research is to analyze theoretical and methodological principles of the formation of the concept of an information and communication society, based on advanced information and communication technologies. Methods and approaches - synergistic, anthropological, axiological, which allowed penetrating the essence of the information and communication society, analyze the socio-anthropological, socio-economic and socio-cultural dimensions of the information and communication society. The result of the research - the modern information world, informationalism and the economy are completely dependent on networks and are created by information technologies, which in general forms an information and communication paradigm of society. Information resources are presented digitally or electronically using electronic means. Conclusion. The intensive use of information and computer technologies has been acquired at the present stage of social development of a global nature, which forms new contours of modern civilization. Information and communicative development of society as a civilizational paradigm of the XXI century forms such a kind of society, which was called the informational, determined by the informatization of life, caused by information and computer revolution. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza los factores que llevaron a personas sin activismo político previo a participar en la campaña del movimiento de la Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH) la obra social de la PAH. El contexto del estudio es la crisis hipotecaria, con más de 580.000 ejecuciones hipotecarias en el Estado español entre 2009 y 2015. A través del análisis de entrevistas semi-estructuradas, los resultados muestran cómo los interlocutores construyen un relato legitimador de la desobediencia civil como última opción (...) en una serie de protestas por el derecho a la vivienda. Haber sido desahuciado, no tener dónde vivir y la incapacidad del Estado para ofrecer vivienda social son algunas de las razones justificativas expuestas por los entrevistados. Al final suelen mostrar su voluntad de cumplir con las obligaciones ciudadanas y pagar un alquiler social según sus ingresos. (shrink)

The conversation with Jill H. Casid and Anna Campbell is a reconceptualization of several themes to develop an aesthetic that incorporates notions of the necropolitical and redefines the concept of the Anthropocene as the Necrocene. The Necrocene implies an era marked by death, decay, and the consequences of human impact on the environment, as well as a critical reflection on the choices individuals and societies make that contribute to the transition from the Anthropocene to the Necrocene. These reflections serve as (...) cautionary tales or reflections on the unsustainable path of the Anthropocene. An important reflection in the interview is how queer and transgender people are using art and assemblages to refuse the terms of the current tensions of the culture wars. (shrink)

This paper defends an interpretation of Husserl''s theory of language, specifically as it appears in the Logical Investigations, as an example of a larger body of theories dubbed ''language as calculus''. Although this particular interpretation has been previously defended by other authors, such as Hintikka and Kusch, this paper proposes to contribute to the discussion by arguing that what makes this interpretation plausible are Husserl''s distinction between the notions of meaning-intention and meaning-fulfillment, his view that meaning is instantiated through meaning-intending (...) acts of transcendental consciousness, and his view that the content of meaning-intending acts is ideal meaning simpliciter. As well, the paper argues that the phenomenological method of reduction itself presupposes the notion that reality as such can be reached by subtracting the influence of the language of the natural attitude and its ontological commitments and it, thus, presupposes the conception of language as a reinterpretable calculus. (shrink)

O artigo visa aprofundar as influências das concepções da teologia católica da Idade Moderna acerca das imagens e do uso destas no discurso em forma de metáforas cujo uso é amplo na oratória sagrada no Brasil colonial. Analisa alguns exemplos deste uso em sermões brasileiros e apresenta as doutrinas dos mais importantes teólogos da época, entre quais Alberto Pio da Carpi, Gabriele Paleotti, Paulo Aresi. Demostra que o emprego das imagens no discurso sagrado responde à necessidade de que este seja (...) acomodado aos seus destinatários e, para tanto, atingia a pessoa em seu dinamismo psíquico mobilizador de conhecimentos e de disposições. (shrink)

In all cultures, ethnomedical practices are largely the same for animals and people, whether in mode of administration of materia medica, in the materials themselves, or in surgical, mechanical, behavioral, medico-religious, and other realms. Below, parallels between veterinary and human ethnomedical techniques are outlined. Taken together, they suggest that a number of benefits could be gained by closer collaboration between veterinary and human medicine in the delivery of basic healthcare information and services.

Computer science advocates institutional frameworks as an effective tool for modelling policies and reasoning about their interplay. In practice, the rules or policies, of which the institutional framework consists, are often specified using a formal language, which allows for the full verification and validation of the framework (e.g. the consistency of policies) and the interplay between the policies and actors (e.g. violations). However, when modelling large-scale realistic systems, with numerous decision-making entities, scalability and complexity issues arise making it possible only (...) to verify certain portions of the problem without reducing the scale. In the social sciences, agent-based modelling is a popular tool for analysing how entities interact within a system and react to the system properties. Agent-based modelling allows the specification of complex decision-making entities and experimentation with large numbers of different parameter sets for these entities in order to explore their effects on overall system performance. In this paper we describe how to achieve the best of both worlds, namely verification of a formal specification combined with the testing of large-scale systems with numerous different actor configurations. Hence, we offer an approach that allows for reasoning about policies, policy making and their consequences on a more comprehensive level than has been possible to date. We present the institutional agent-based model methodology to combine institutional frameworks with agent-based simulations). We furthermore present J-InstAL, a prototypical implementation of this methodology using the InstAL institutional framework whose specifications can be translated into a computational model under the answer set semantics, and an agent-based simulation based on the jason tool. Using a simplified contract enforcement example, we demonstrate the functionalities of this prototype and show how it can help to assess an appropriate fine level in case of contract violations. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta uma discussão acerca da percepção do imaginário da cultura africana e afro-brasileira e da construção da identidade étnico-racial no enredo escolar. A investigação foi realizada a fim de: 1- analisar os tipos de suportes e referenciais culturais que a escola fornece para a construção da identidade étnico-racial; 2- identificar as consequências do tipo de representação do negro construída e percebida na escola para o desenvolvimento da identidade étnico-racial dos alunos do Ensino Fundamental I. Para tanto, utilizou-se a (...) abordagem de pesquisa qualitativa, empregando o uso da modalidade pesquisa-participante e análise documental do Plano Municipal de Educação de Corrente-PI, município onde a pesquisa foi desenvolvida, Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais e a Base Nacional Comum Curricular. A participação direta ocorreu por meio da realização de uma oficina de leitura realizada em uma turma do 2º ano do ensino fundamental, contemplando a literatura fornecida pelo PNBE, que versa sobre a construção da identidade étnico-racial. Diante da problemática e da dificuldade de implementação das leis que regem o ensino da temática, a pesquisa torna-se relevante, pois, longe de se esgotar a uma conclusão final, este estudo reforça a necessidade do constante debate e a busca por efetivação de práticas educativas que formem cidadãos emancipados e forneçam subsídios para os negros se autoafirmarem e para a valorização da cultura de matriz africana. Assim como a necessidade da busca por adequação, implementação, monitoramento e avaliação constante das leis que regem o ensino de história e cultura africana e afro-brasileira. (shrink)

Los constantes cambios que sacuden el mundo actual han hecho entrar en una situación organizacional de ruptura paradigmática; hoy los viejos lenguajes son insuficientes para llegar a ser éticos, sensitivos y rentables en el día a día. Las organizaciones que aprenden, concebidas como sistemas complejos, deben ser autoconscientes y estar en proceso de construcción y deconstrucción permanente que posibiliten el desarrollo de valores para un ambiente de trabajo dinámico y potenciador. Se propone el concepto de “fárbices caórdicas” como elemento esencial (...) de un conjunto que resulta parte indeclinable de la composición de otros elementos que coinciden en resonancia sinérgica, en un todo llamado globalización. (shrink)

The 16th and 17th centuries marked a period of transition from the vitalistic ontology that had dominated Renaissance natural philosophy to the Early Modern mechanistic paradigm endorsed by, among others, the Cartesians and Newtonians. This paper focuses on how the tensions between vitalism and mechanism played themselves out in the context of 16th and 17th century chemistry and chemical philosophy. The paper argues that, within the fields of chemistry and chemical philosophy, the significant transition that culminated in the 18th century (...) Chemical Revolution was not a transition from vitalism to full-blown mechanism. Rather, chemical philosophy shifted from a vitalistic theory of matter and spirits to a naturalistic, physicalistic, and corpuscularian conception of chemical properties and reactions. Despite being naturalistic, physicalistic, and corpuscularian, however, this theory was not fully mechanistic. Special attention is paid to the contributions made by Paracelsus, Sebastien Basso, Jan Baptista van Helmont, and Robert Boyle to this ontological transition. (shrink)

Conclusions As my paper draws to a close, it may seem quite clear that by posing such questions about the organisation of work and labour, one opens up more problems than are actually solved. There is one question in particular that has to be answered. I shall ask that question rhetorically: Can there be a world in which group activities are not started up?

It seems natural to think that emotional experiences associated with a memory of a past event are new and present emotional states triggered by the remembered event. This common conception has nonetheless been challenged at the beginning of the 20th century by intellectuals who considered that emotions can be encoded and retrieved, and that emotional aspects linked to memories of the personal past need not necessary to be new emotional responses caused by the act of recollection. They called this specific (...) kind of memories “affective memories” and defended their existence. My aim here is to expound the historical background of this debate as well as the characterization and development of the notion of affective memory since its first inception. I aim to show that although the debate was left unresolved and the term disappeared from academy around 1930, many of the characterizations of the nature of emotions and memory done by the advocates of affective memory have reappeared in the scientific agenda and been further developed during the last decades. (shrink)

Marina McCoy explores Plato's treatment of the rhetoric of philosophers and sophists through a thematic treatment of six different Platonic dialogues, including Apology, Protagoras, Gorgias, Republic, Sophist, and Phaedras. She argues that Plato presents the philosopher and the sophist as difficult to distinguish, insofar as both use rhetoric as part of their arguments. Plato does not present philosophy as rhetoric-free, but rather shows that rhetoric is an integral part of philosophy. However, the philosopher and the sophist are distinguished by (...) the philosopher's love of the forms as the ultimate objects of desire. It is this love of the forms that informs the philosopher's rhetoric, which he uses to lead his partner to better understand his deepest desires. McCoy's work is of interest to philosophers, classicists, and communications specialists alike in its careful yet comprehensive treatment of philosophy, sophistry, and rhetoric as portrayed through the drama of the dialogues. (shrink)

Against those who dismiss Kant's project in the "Religion" because it provides a Pelagian understanding of salvation, this paper offers an analysis of the deep structure of Kant's views on divine justice and grace showing them not to conflict with an authentically Christian understanding of these concepts. The first part of the paper argues that Kant's analysis of these concepts helps us to understand the necessary conditions of the Christian understanding of grace: unfolding them uncovers intrinsic relations holding between God's (...) justice and grace. Parts two and three provide an analysis of two concepts of grace used by Kant. Getting clear on their differences is the key to understanding why Kant's account is not Pelagian. (shrink)

Lo spettro di un paradosso si aggira nella Galassia Lumière, attraversando tenacemente i sette lemmi chiave (rilocazione, reliquie e icone, assemblage, espansione, ipertopia, display, performance) che scandiscono la struttura interna dell’ultimo libro di Francesco Casetti: come può mantenersi un’identità nel cambiamento? Come può il cinema pur deformandosi nel corso del tempo rimanere sempre lo stesso? Da questo paradossale interrogativo, che innerva il volume dal principio alla fine, sorge s...

Il disagio dell’estetica, uscito nell’edizione originale francese nel 2004 e in traduzione italiana nel 2009 per ETS a cura di Paolo Godani, è uno dei contributi più incisivi e maturi nella riflessione estetico-politica del filosofo francese Jacques Rancière. Il ripensamento e la ricostruzione della logica del rapporto estetico tra arte e politica è un tema già presente nel precedente percorso critico di Rancière sul “disaccordo” politico e sulla “partizione del sensibile” (LaMésentente. Poli...

Drawing from a multi-sourced data corpus gathered from high-net-worth social media influencers, this article explores how these individuals reconcile ethicality and living a luxury lifestyle through the enactment of three types of personas on Instagram: Ambassador of ‘True’ Luxury, Altruist, and ‘Good’ Role Model. By applying the concepts of taste regimes and social moral licensing, we find that HNW social media influencers conspicuously enact and display ethicality, thereby retaining legitimacy in the field of luxury consumption. As these individuals are highly (...) influential, they could leave a potentially significant mark on public discourse and, consequently, on their audiences’ construction of ethically responsible luxury consumption. In this vein, this article offers significant managerial insights into professional influencers and discusses ethical managerial practices to ensure ethical collaborations between influencers and managers. (shrink)

In many areas of the social and behavioral sciences, the nature of the experiments and theories that best capture the underlying constructs are themselves areas of active inquiry. Integrative experiment design risks being prematurely exploitative, hindering exploration of experimental paradigms and of diverse theoretical accounts for target phenomena.

What, if anything, do the ‘square’ protests and ‘occupy’ movements of 2011 bring to contemporary democratic theory? And how can we, as political theorists, analyse their discourse and do justice to it? We address these questions through an analysis of the Greek and Spanish protest movements of the spring and summer of 2011, the so-called aganaktismenoi and indignados. We trace the centrality of the critique of representation and politics as usual as well as the ideas about horizontality and autonomy in (...) the protesters’ discourse. These ideas are not only important to their critique of the contemporary liberal democratic regimes in the two countries, but also important to the way in which the protesters organise themselves. Nonetheless, as we shall argue, the protesters are caught within a tension between horizontality and verticality, between autonomy and hegemony, or between moving beyond representation and accepting representational structures. Given this tension, we examine how the protesters negotiate it in three key areas: politics, representation and organisation. Drawing on Jacques Rancière, we further argue that the protesters can be seen as making a claim to equal voice. This is what Rancière refers to as politics proper, and the question is then whether such a politics is possible without falling back into traditional forms of politics. (shrink)

This paper explores Kant's concept of the highest good and the postulate of the existence of God arising from it. Kant has two concepts of the highest good standing in tension with one another, an immanent and a transcendent one. I provide a systematic exposition of the constituents of both variants and show how Kant’s arguments are prone to confusion through a conflation of both concepts. I argue that once these confusions are sorted out Kant’s claim regarding the need to (...) postulate God’s existence from a moral point of view makes much more sense. (shrink)