Graphical displays of simple moving geometrical figures have been repeatedly used to study the attribution of animacy in human observers. Yet little is known about the relevant movement characteristics responsible for this experience. The present study introduces a novel parametric research paradigm, which allows for the experimental control of specific motion parameters and a predictable influence on the attribution of animacy. Two experiments were conducted using 3D computer animations of one or two objects systematically introducing variations in the following aspects (...) of motion: directionality, discontinuity and responsiveness. Both experiments further varied temporal kinematics. Results showed that animacy experience increased with the time a moving object paused in the vicinity of a second object and with increasing complexity of interaction between the objects . The experience of animacy could be successfully modulated in a parametric fashion by the systematic variation of comparably simple differential movement characteristics. (shrink)

Thomas S. Kuhn acuno la expresion tension esencial para aludir al conflicto entre las tendencias conservadora y revolucionaria en la ciencia. Estas dan lugar respectivamente a la ciencia normal, que trata de salvar al paradigma dominante de las refutaciones, y a la extraordinaria, que responde a las dificultades sustituyendo las viejas teorias por otras radicalmente novedosas. La actitud adoptada en cada momento no esta dictada por normas de racionalidad, sino por la psicologia y la sociologia de los cientificos y sus (...) comunidades. Al conceder una funcion central a la psicosociologia en la explicacion del desarrollo cientifico, Kuhn creo la alta tension hoy omnipresente entre racionalidad e irracionalidad, objetividad y subjetividad, universalismo y relativismo, realismo e idealismo. Este homenaje a la obra de Kuhn recoge diversas contribuciones a las principales caras de esta tension, desde la perspectiva de la filosofia, la sociologia, la psicologia y la historia de la ciencia. (shrink)

Quasi-set theory provides us a mathematical background for dealing with collections of indistinguishable elementary particles. In this paper, we show how to obtain the usual statistics (Maxwell–Boltzmann, Bose–Einstein, and Fermi–Dirac) into the scope of quasi-set theory. We also show that, in order to derive Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics, it is not necessary to assume that the particles are distinguishable or individuals. In other words, Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics is possible even in an ensamble of indistinguishable particles, at least from the theoretical point of view. (...) The main goal of this paper is to provide the mathematical grounds of a quasi-set theoretical framework for statistical mechanics. (shrink)

Contributed seminar papers on Vedic theory of creation, philosophy and science.

In the last few decades, assisted reproduction has introduced new challenges to the way people conceive and build their families. While the numbers of donor-conceived individuals have increased worldwide, there are still many controversies concerning access to donor information. Is there a fundamental moral right to know one’s genetic background? What does identity in DC families mean? Is there any relationship between identity formation and disclosure of genetic origins? These questions are addressed by analysing core regulatory discourse. This analysis shows (...) that the notion of narrative identity is suitable for defining and answering these questions. This review analyses the meaning of resemblance in DC families and the way donors are selected following affinity-ties and discusses disclosure strategies and agreements. As a preliminary conclusion, it could be said that, in the field of third-party reproduction, knowing about the donor conception significantly contributes towards the development of a narrative identity and also serves as a moral basis for the child’s right to know. (shrink)

« Nos sentiments ne sont perceptibles qu’en s’enfermant dans les mots ». Dès son introduction Georges Vigarello, professeur à l’Université de Paris-V et directeur d’étude à l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, rappelle cette phrase de Jean-Louis Flandrin pour à son tour s’essayer à ce terrain difficile que sont les mots, afin de penser une histoire de la beauté. Les mots, significatifs du point de vue de leurs auteurs comme de leurs époques, traduisent les prises de conscience et...

The world of work has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high instability observed in the labor market, bringing several new challenges for leaders and employees. The present study aims to analyze the role of organizational and job resources in predicting employees’ job insecurity during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak, through the mediating role of work engagement. A sample of 207 Portuguese employees participated, of which 64.7% were women. Data was collected using an online (...) survey, including self-report measures of organizational resources, job resources, job insecurity, and work engagement. Data showed that job and organizational resources negatively influenced job insecurity. Moreover, work engagement was a significant mediator of the relation between performance feedback and job insecurity. Findings suggest that investing in job and organizational resources can act as protective factors to minimize feelings of job insecurity. Likewise, leaders should foster work engagement among employees to help them balance the relation between these resources and job insecurity, especially in crisis situations. Overall, this study takes a new, underexplored perspective, theoretically bridging organizational and job resources with job insecurity and work engagement during a time of great uncertainty, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (shrink)

El presente trabajo se propone advertir el momento del proceso cognitivo en el cual la habilidad del sabio de controlar sus asentimientos se haría manifiesta; dicho propósito presenta ciertas dificultades dado el marco de un determinismo radical que caracteriza al pensamiento estoico. Por tanto, y con el objetivo de dilucidar tales problemáticas, conjugaremos la existencia de una cadena de determinaciones (que constituye el destino) con la posibilidad de que un individuo cuente con una facultad que 'esté en su poder'. The (...) present paper proposes to notice the cognitive process' moment in which the sage's ability to control his assents would become apparent; this objective presents some difficulties given the context of a radical determinism that characterizes Stoic thought. Therefore, and with the aim of solving such problems, we will conjugate the existence of a determinations' chain (which constitutes fate) with the possibility that a man has a faculty which 'might be in his power'. (shrink)

Let f be a function from N to N that can not be computed in polynomial time, and let a be an element of a differential field K of characteristic 0. The problem of large powers is the set of tuples x̄ = (x 1 ,..., x n ) of K so that x 1 = a f(n) , and the problem of large roots is the set of tuples x̄ of K so that x f(n) 1 = a. These (...) are two examples of problems that the use of derivation does not allow to solve quicker. We show that the problem of large roots is not polynomial for the differential field K, even if we use a polynomial number of parameters, and that the problem of large powers is not polynomial for the differential field K, even for non-uniform complexity. The proofs use the polynomial stability (i.e., the elimination of parameters) of field of characteristic 0, shown by L. Blum. F. Cucker. M. Shub and S. Smale, and the reduction lemma, that transforms a differential polynomial in variables x̄ into a polynomial in variables x̄. and their derivatives. (shrink)

In French-speaking Belgium, the educational system is made particular and complex because of the presence of several educational networks. This structural complexity leads, in particular, to provide multiple programs studies which are used by teachers for the preparation of teaching-learning sequences. Using data from several studies on the analysis of a part of the prescribed and implanted curriculum, the authors point out the complexity of teachers’ task who have to take into account of this plurality of programs studies. Here, it’s (...) shown that this situation is far from generating well-being and self-determination in the professional development of teachers. (shrink)

Résumé Quoique les rapports amoureux soient le point névralgique de La Maman et la Putain, Mes petites amoureuses et Une sale histoire, c’est la rencontre manquée entre les sexes qui s’y fait jour, tandis que la question du corps, comme celle du désir, s’y révèle problématique et paradoxale. Les corps sont occultés ou n’apparaissent que dans une intermittence, mis à distance par une parole insatiable ou un regard qui tient séparé. Le véritable corps amoureux tel que les films le dessinent (...) est d’une part celui du cinéaste en tant que cinéphile, et d’autre part celui du spectateur. (shrink)

IntroductionTranscranial magnetic stimulation is a consolidated procedure for the treatment of depression, with several meta-analyses demonstrating its efficacy. Theta-burst stimulation is a modification of TMS with similar efficacy and shorter session duration. The geriatric population has many comorbidities and a high prevalence of depression, but few clinical trials are conducted specifically for this age group. TBS could be an option in this population, offering the advantages of few side effects and no pharmacological interactions. Therefore, our aim is to investigate the (...) efficacy of TBS in geriatric depression.Clinical trial registration[https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/], identifier [NCT04842929]. (shrink)

In 1939, the influential psychophysicist S. S. Stevens proposed definitional distinctions between the terms ‘number,’ ‘numerosity,’ and ‘numerousness.’ Although the definitions he proposed were adopted by syeveral psychophysicists and experimental psychologists in the 1940s and 1950s, they were almost forgotten in the subsequent decades, making room for what has been described as a “terminological chaos” in the field of numerical cognition. In this paper, I review Stevens’s distinctions to help bring order to this alleged chaos and to shed light on (...) two closely related questions: whether it is adequate to speak of a number sense and how philosophers can make sense of the claim by cognitive scientists that numbers are perceptual entities. Moreover, I offer further support to Stevens’s distinction between numerosity and numerousness by showing that they are relational properties that emerge through different relationships between agents and their environments. The final conclusion is that, by adopting Stevens’s distinctions, numbers do not need to be seen as perceptual entities, since the so-called number sense is better described as a sense of numerousness. (shrink)

This work relates L. S. Vygotsky’s theory to the rhetorical and poetic pedagogy, which is a set of educational ideas and practices derived from the philosophical-educational tradition initiated by the Sophists. It is verified that the Vygotskyan concepts contribute to broaden the foundations of poetic and rhetorical pedagogy, presenting a psychology of language that integrates decorum, kairos and antilogical argumentation within aesthetic experiences; communication sustains knowledge and reflection of reality, aiming at the strengthening of the individual’s identity, the education of (...) the creative subject and the improvement of the collective. It is considered that the rhetorical and poetic character of Vygotsky’s theory encourages the contemporary school to be a space for investigation and search for creative solutions, contradicting the measurementist pedagogical tendencies that dehumanize education. (shrink)

The Personalisation of Domination in Labour Relations : women workers in maquilas and women in domestic service in Latin America The continent of South America is characterised by a huge diversity in the forms of employment and labour relations prevalent there. The comparison between two situations which would appear to be unrelated, that of workers in the maquiladoras of Central America and domestic employment in the continent’s southern cone, enables us to highlight the centrality of hierarchical labour relations and the (...) personalisation of domination, a dimension too often neglected in studies of domination linked to work. The article begins with a presentation of these two work environments. It then goes on to address the personalisation of domination relations, examining the hypothesis that, far from being a characteristic of certain “archaic” forms of work and employment, paternalism is in fact a dimension deeply rooted in the most contemporary and dynamic modes of labour relations, both in the “North” and in the “South”. (shrink)

Epistemological disjunctivism is a philosophical theory that has received special attention in the recent years. Particularly because it has been seen by many as a way of renewing discussions that range from the nature of justification of our daily beliefs to the possibility of unveiling the structure of the problem of radical skepticism and of responding to it. Duncan Pritchard is one of the authors who have offered a particular view of disjunctivism and ways of conceiving of disjunctivist treatments to (...) such questions. His work has as its main source of inspiration the seminal work of John McDowell. In this paper, I present a way of understanding the problem ofradicalskepticism and the mannerin which epistemological disjunctivism aimsto offer solutionsto it. In orderto do that, I present McDowell’s general proposal and discuss in which way his account differs from Pritchard’s own disjunctivism. At the end, I try to show how Pritchard’s approach tries to respond to radical skepticism not only by appealing to a disjunctivist reading of our epistemic position, but also by offering a revision of our structure of reasons. (shrink)

Constitution d’un grand corpus d’écrits émergents et novices : principes et méthodes Cette contribution propose une réflexion sur la construction d’un vaste corpus d’écrits qui permet d’approfondir notre compréhension des processus en jeu dans l’accès à la littératie dans sa diversité, au travers de la pluralité des genres et des types discursifs qui la constituent et chez des apprenants de profils divers : enfants/adultes, langue 1 / langue 2, entendants/sourds. La réflexion sur la mise en place de ce corpus s’inscrit (...) dans une perspective fonctionnaliste et énonciative et fait fond sur deux ensembles théoriques complémentaires. Du point de vue de l’acquisition des langues, nous souscrivons à la conception selon laquelle les productions d’apprenants ne constituent pas une déviance par rapport à la norme mais sont des manifestations (idiolectales) de systèmes linguistiques per se dont il s’agit de dégager les normes propres. Du point de vue de la littératie, nous nous inscrivons dans la tradition des travaux, d’inspiration bakhtinienne, qui considèrent l’hétérogénéité comme constitutive de toute production verbale. Ainsi, nous expliquons et justifions nos choix en matière de profils d’apprenants et de tâches rédactionnelles, en relation avec la perspective théorique adoptée, ainsi que les options retenues en matière d’outillage du corpus. (shrink)

Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914–1977) was born in a rural community and spent most of her life in a slum. Despite this, her literary work achieved remarkable editorial success, having its value recognized by critics and academic circles. This paper analyzes Carolina Maria de Jesus’s autobiographical narratives in the light of John Dewey’s aesthetic theory, with the purpose of investigating the factors responsible for the development of her aesthetic sensitivity – intellectual and emotional dispositions favorable to involvement with (...) artistic practices. The results suggest that Carolina Maria de Jesus’s literary skills, which express not only individual but also collective yearnings, resulted from the incentive she received to think about things that do not exist and from her relationship with people who favored the formation of a personality open to varied experiences. Such results are presented as requirements for a democratic and humanist education that aims at the flowering of aesthetic sensitivity and encourages educators and students to believe in their creative potential. (shrink)

The distinction between semantics and pragmatics is often seen as a discussion about where to place pragmatic inferences: while minimalists think that they only come into play after the proposition is grasped, for contextualists, there are already pragmatic processes in the very determination of what is said, leading to ad hoc conceptual adjustments. There is, however, another way to look at this matter: we may keep a sensitive truth-distribution across contexts without ad hoc conceptual manoeuvres. An intuitive distribution of truth-values (...) may be explained as a variation in (kaplanian) circumstances, without any tampering with sentence constituents. This way of understanding the debate connects, maybe surprisingly, a first reaction to the semantics-pragmatics divide, in Cavell, and Predelli’s original stance on this debate. (shrink)

Resumo Este artigo tem como objetivo divulgar os resultados da pesquisa realizada no mestrado em Ciências da Religião da UCG/GO (2004). O objeto desta pesquisa foi o de compreender os motivos que levaram as trabalhadoras em educação portadoras da síndrome de burnout e de depressão que atuam na educação pública no município de Goiânia a buscarem tratamento espiritual no espiritismo. Que papel a religião desempenha na busca da saúde? Por que as trabalhadoras em educação buscam o espiritismo como forma de (...) tratamento da síndrome de burnout e de depressão? A metodologia que aplicamos na pesquisa partiu do olhar das entrevistadas, dos pesquisadores e do espiritismo, por meio de uma abordagem qualitativa e fenomenológica. Palavras-chave: Educação; Burnout; Depressão; Tratamento espiritual; Espiritismo.This article aims at divulging the results of the research carried out in the Master’s Degree program of Sciences of Religion of UCG / GO (2004). The research focused on the reasons why professionals in education, working in public schools in the municipal district of Goiânia and bearers of the burnout and depression syndrome, searched spiritual treatment in Spiritism. What part does religion play in the search for health? Why do professionals in education seek Spiritism as a form of treatment of the burnout and depression syndrome? The applied methodology was based on the interviewees’, investigators’ and Spiritism’s perspectives, making use of a qualitative and phenomenological approach. Key words: Education; Burnout sundrome; Depression; Spiritual treatment; Spiritism. (shrink)

Los cinco estudios que componen este volumen estan dedicados a mostrar que es posible abordar el estudio de un film y por extension del cine en su conjunto a partir de fragmentos minimos extraidos de una obra concreta. Concebidos con una metodologia unitaria intentan, limitando al maximo el uso de esa jerga especializada que suele hacer de muralla entre el analista y el lector, proporcionar instrumentos operativos para todos aquellos que conciben el cine como territorio donde saber y placer no (...) solo no estan renidos sino que se refuerzan mutuamente. Los ejemplos han sido tomados, conscientemente, de obras al mismo tiempo muy conocidas y suficientemente representativas de determinadas maneras de hacer. Se ha huido de toda normatividad con la finalidad de hacer buena la frase de S.M. Eisenstein cuando recordaba a sus discipulos que el no podia ensenarles nada, pero ellos si que podian aprender mucho. Equidistante del moderno analisis formalista y de la tradicion clasica que reivindicaba la primacia del contenido, el tipo de trabajo patente en estas paginas reivindica el lugar central del texto filmico y sus texturas singulares en los nuevos estudios cinematograficos. (shrink)

This article argues for a viable genealogical approach within critical theory that could settle the questions regarding normative viability of such critique. Then, the implications of the normative inheritance implied lead to the pairing of Jaeggi’s conceptualization and critique of forms of life with Rosa’s dual diagnosis of (late) modernity through the structural lenses of genealogy as tridimensional endeavor posed by Saar. In the end, the final argument is that a genealogical critique in these terms could be the next step (...) towards the revitalization of decolonial studies and a path for direct political action. (shrink)

This essay, written in memory of Erik Olin Wright, considers Wright’s project of constructing and identifying real utopias. It confronts a tension in Wright’s oeuvre, the question of the knowledge by means of which reformers can identify the utopias that ground the really existing real utopias.

Sensible au problème de l'art et de la littérature, Marcel Conche ne lit pas l'Iliade comme le manifeste d'une idéologic de guerre, mais il montre, à l'arrière-plan d'un conflit démesuré, le développement d'une anthropologie archaïque, conçue dans ses liens avec les dieux, le destin, les relations entre les humains — notamment l'amitié — éclairées par l'amour et la beauté. L'Iliade est l'histoire d'un déchirement de l'âme humaine, tout homme pouvant s'y reconnaître. L' « avenir grec » de la pensée est (...) l'horizon insurpassable de l'aventure humaine. (shrink)

Plagiarism and other transgressions of the norms of academic integrity appear to be a persistent problem among upper secondary students. Numerous surveys have revealed high levels of infringement of what appear to be clearly stated rules. Less attention has been given to students’ understanding of academic integrity, and to the potential misconceptions and false beliefs that may make it difficult for them to comply with existing rules and handle complex real-life situations.In this paper we report findings from a survey of (...) European upper secondary students’ views on issues relating to academic integrity. We relate these findings to the students’ training about academic integrity, self-reported level of questionable behavior and country of study.A total of 1654 students at 51 institutions located in 6 European countries participated in the study. The participants generally believed they had a good understanding of the rules applying to them and knew how to behave in compliance with norms of academic integrity. The results indicate, however, that often, in practice, this belief was mistaken. Many students had an inadequate understanding of core elements of academic integrity. They were uncertain about how to act, and they struggled in the handling of complex situations that require context-sensitive judgement. While some differences between countries were identified, they were modest and exhibited no clear pattern. Our results also suggest that reducing students’ level of uncertainty and, to a lesser degree, improving their level of knowledge could lead them to engage less in certain types of questionable behaviours. Surprisingly, the effect of academic training is modest and ambiguous. The study also confirms that perception of peer behaviour has the strongest association with student engagement in questionable behaviours. Thus, academic integrity at the upper secondary level cannot be explained simply in terms of individual ethics or knowledge. (shrink)