The social and cultural changes of the last century have transformed death from an everyday fact to something hidden from view. Shifting between the practical and the theoretical, the professional and the intimate, the real and the fictitious, this collection of essays explores the continued power of death over our lives. It examines the idea and experience of death from an interdisciplinary perspective, including studies of changing burial customs throughout Europe; an account of a"dying party" in the Netherlands; examinations of (...) the fascination with violent death in crime fiction and the phenomenon of serial killer art; analyses of death and bereavement in poetry, fiction, and autobiography; and a look at audience reactions to depictions of death on screen. By studying and considering how death is thought about in the contemporary era, we might restore the natural place it has in our lives. (shrink)

In this article, an attempt was made to identify the level of community social participation according to age, gender and the structural characteristics of the personal support networks in a population displaced by floods in the Colombian Caribbean. The research was based in a non-experimental methodology with an associative-relational strategy. An intentional non-probabilistic sample of 151 people affected by the winter wave in the south of the Department of Atlántico (Colombia) was selected. In total, the study included 42 males (27.8 (...) %) and 109 females (72.2 %) participants, with an average age of 37.48 (±14, Range 18 - 80) and average relocation time of 21.79 months (± 8.22, Range 5-36). The Arizona Social Support Interview Schedule (ASSIS) and Community Empowerment instruments were responded to with an instrument adapted from the leadership competence factor. The results show lower rates of intermediation in the older population, and the relationship between social participation and gender shows equally cohesive social support networks in men and women. This evidence is discussed to promote psychosocial interventions aimed to increase community engagement and empowerment of people that have experienced non-voluntary mobility processes. (shrink)

Social appropriateness is an important topic – both in the human-human interaction (HHI), and in the human-machine interaction (HMI) context. As sociosensitive and socioactive assistance systems advance, the question arises whether a machine’s behavior should include considerations regarding social appropriateness. However, the concept of social appropriateness is difficult to define, as it is determined by multiple aspects. Thus, to date, a unified perspective, encompassing and combining multidisciplinary findings, is missing. When translating results from HHI to HMI, it remains unclear whether (...) such insights into the dynamics of social appropriateness between humans may in fact apply to sociosensitive and socioactive assistance systems. To shed light on this matter, we propose the Five Factor Model of Social Appropriateness (FASA) which provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the notion of social appropriateness and its implementation into technical systems. Finally, we offer reflections on the applicability and ethics of the FASA Model, highlighting both strengths and limitations of the framework. (shrink)

Objects are reminiscent of actions often performed with them: knife and apple remind us on peeling the apple or cutting it. Mnemonic representations of object-related actions (action codes) evoked by the sight of an object may constrain and hence facilitate recognition of unrolling actions. The present fMRI study investigated if and how action codes influence brain activation during action observation. The average number of action codes (NAC) of 51 sets of objects was rated by a group of n = 24 (...) participants. In an fMRI study, different volunteers were asked to recognize actions performed with the same objects presented in short videos. To disentangle areas reflecting the storage of action codes from those exploiting them, we showed object-compatible and object-incompatible (pantomime) actions. Areas storing action codes were considered to positively co-vary with NAC in both object-compatible and object-incompatible action; due to its role in tool-related tasks, we here hypothesized left anterior inferior parietal cortex (aIPL). In contrast, areas exploiting action codes were expected to show this correlation only in object-compatible but not incompatible action, as only object-compatible actions match one of the active action codes. For this interaction, we hypothesized ventrolateral premotor cortex (PMv) to join aIPL due to its role in biasing competition in IPL. We found left anterior intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) to co-vary with NAC. In addition to these areas, action codes increased activity in object-compatible action in bilateral PMv, right IPS, and lateral occipital cortex (LO). Findings suggest that during action observation, the brain derives possible actions from perceived objects, and uses this information to shape action recognition. In particular, the number of expectable actions quantifies the activity level at PMv, IPL, and pMTG, but only PMv reflects their biased competition while observed action unfolds. (shrink)

To begin with -- Genealogy of the cerebral subject -- Disciplines of the neuro -- Cerebralizing distress -- Brains on screen and paper -- Up for grabs.

Recent research in the educational context has focused not only on academic achievement but also on subjective well-being (SWB) as both play a major role in students’ lives. Whereas the determinants of academic achievement have been extensively investigated, little research has been conducted on school-related determinants of SWB in comparison with other students’ characteristics. In the present cross-sectional study, we set out to investigate whether perceived school climate predicts school grades and SWB above and beyond other variables that are important (...) for SWB and academic achievement. A sample of 767 8th and 9th grade students (n = 361 female adolescents; age: M = 14.07 years, SD = 0.92) completed measures of SWB, perceived school climate, test anxiety, self-efficacy, and interest. Grade point average (GPA) indicated students’ academic achievement. Data were analyzed with latent structural equation models in which GPA and SWB were regressed on the school climate variables and students’ characteristics. Results indicated that a positive school climate as well as self-efficacy and the worry component of test anxiety predicted SWB and/or GPA after all other variables were controlled for. Directions for future research and the importance of school climate variables on adolescents’ SWB and academic achievement are discussed. (shrink)

Aging is accompanied by a decline in associative memory, whereas item memory remains relatively stable compared to young adults. This age-related associative deficit is well replicated, but its mechanisms and influencing factors during learning are still largely unclear. In the present study, we examined mediators of the age-related associative deficit, including encoding intentionality, strategy instructions, the timing of the memory test and the material being learned in a within-subject design. Older and younger adults performed seven encoding tasks on word pairs (...) and picture pairs on two consecutive days, followed by item and associative recognition tests. The associative deficit was evident after all encoding tasks. We found no evidence for a difference in the magnitude of the associative deficit between incidental vs. intentional learning conditions. However, there was some evidence for a larger associative memory deficit with pictures versus words when the encoding task was held equal. Sentence generation and interactive imagery instructions in which participants generated their own mediators reduced the magnitude of the associative deficit. However, increased encoding guidance through the provision of mediators did not lead to an alleviation of the deficit, potentially because the specified mediators were implausible or difficult for the older adults to reconcile with prior knowledge. Finally, we found some evidence for a reduced age-related associative deficit with a test delay of 24 h. These results contribute to a better understanding of the factors affecting the relative difficulty of older adults with encoding and retrieving novel associations. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Legal certainty is a central requirement for the rule of law. Legal systems should both enable those subject to law to predict human behaviour and institutional reactions and to prevent an arbitrary use of state power against them. The value of legal certainty is usually conceived as a formal value opposed to the values of freedom or equality. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this idea and to explore a less formal conception of the value of legal (...) certainty. In this sense, I will argue that we need to depart from a purely formal understanding of the requirements imposed by such value and to consider the need to provide them with a substantive content. So, legal certainty is not completely independent of legal substantive justice and it implies that it is impossible to define ex ante which concrete aspects of justice should not be the law’s concern. (shrink)

Two thousand five hundred years ago, in 507–506 B.C.E., the institutions of Athen were rocked by the reforms of Cleisthenes. Although the word did not yet exist, here was the foundation of democracy. First published in French in 1964, Cleisthenes the Athenian has become the classic study of the philosophical, political, and aesthetic background and significance of these reforms. The book has influenced a generation of scholars in anthropology, sociology, urban planning, political science, philosophy, and classical studies. This English translation (...) contains the complete text of the original essay and is supplemented by a discussion among Vidal-Naquet, Leveque, and the philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis on the invention of democracy, as well as a new authors' introduction. (shrink)

En este artículo me propongo abordar el problema del tiempo en las sociedades contemporáneas desde un diálogo entre las construcciones teóricas de Moishe Postone y Hartmut Rosa y el trabajo de Michel Foucault. Los dos primeros se han centrado en explicar cómo la temporalidad se ha convertido en un tipo de dominación abstracta, impersonal y cuasiobjetiva a partir de conceptos como la densificación temporal, la aceleración o la hibridación. Foucault, en cambio, concibe el tiempo bajo el prisma de la racionalidad (...) política neoliberal, por la cual el tiempo pasa a ser un recurso que debe gestionarse por los sujetos en términos empresariales y que termina por configurar una ética neoliberal de la administración del tiempo. Este diálogo ejemplifica de manera privilegiada la tensión entre la coacción o la presión temporal y la administración estratégica del tiempo propia de las sociedades contemporáneas. (shrink)

The development of Information and Communication Technologies has favored access to technological resources in adolescents. These tools provide access to information that can promote learning. However, they can also have a negative effect against people, as they can be used with other functionality, in which cyberbullying situations are caused during the interactions that arise when using social networks. The objective of this study was to determine the predictive value of the role of cyberbullying victims based on variables related to other (...) roles involved in cyberbullying and bullying, as well as personal characteristics, contextual characteristics and positive teamwork habits.. Information was collected from 227 students of the educational stages of Primary Education and Secondary Education, aged between 11 and 15 years, in a city with a high index of cultural diversity. The step-by-step technique was used to build the regression model. The results indicate that the model has a good goodness of fit coefficient. The role of cyberbully is the most important predictive variable of the role of the victim in cyberbullying and, to a lesser extent, the role of the witness in cyberbullying, the role of the witness in bullying, and the role of the victim of bullying. The role of the bullying aggressor and the variables sex, age, type of educational center, and teamwork habits are excluded in the predictive model. (shrink)

The José Guadalupe Posada Collection of the Ibero‐American Institute, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation – a Case Study on Digitization and its Impacts on the Work in Libraries. Digitization in a broader sense and digitization of printed cultural heritage especially have brought about many changes regarding the tasks and responsabilities of research librarians. New ways of thinking and acting are required as the objects and their mobile and connective qualities come into focus. These alterations stand in such contrast to the traditional (...) ‘librarian’, that the concept of the ‘embedded librarian’ has arisen. A digitization project completed recently at the Ibero‐American Institute in Berlin will serve as an example to shed some light on this new phenomenon of librarianship. (shrink)

AbstractIn this article, I examine the pedagogical practices of La Red de Semillas Libres de Colombia, a grassroots national organization that works towards the construction of seed sovereignty. Using participant observation and interviews, I show the epistemic, territorial, and gender dimensions of these practices. I draw from extant scholarship on seed struggles, decolonial feminism, and feminist political ecology to analyze two specific practices: experimentation and demonstration and, visual technology creation, including drawings. I demonstrate how these practices organize territories through collective (...) epistemic gendered labor around seeds. These territories are spaces for community-based power creation that have the potential to advance agrarian and environmental agendas from below. However, they also reflect and embody the enduring character of patriarchy and the challenges it presents to achieve systemic transformations in the Colombian countryside. (shrink)

This paper shall give a review of Goedart Palm: CyberMedienWirklichkeit. Virtuelle Welterschließungen. Mün-chen: Verlag Heinz Heise, 2004. 240 Seiten Broschur. 19,00 €.

Botero’s Della Ragion di Stato has a monarchical character that has been overlooked or taken for granted. This is due to the successful reception of the reason of state formula, which justifies any kind of political regime, including principalities, republics, and monarchies, regardless of the author’s preferences. However, there is a clear distinction between monarchy and reason of state that requires further discussion. Botero not only uses Machiavellian language when referring to a political community (as res publica) or the prince (...) (as a metaphor for centralized monarchies), but also reappropriates it. In addition, he goes beyond this to explain a non-legal path to absolute sovereignty, which differs from Jean Bodin’s (1530–96) idea of the king as being above the law and Thomas Hobbes’ (1588–1679) theory of authorization and the social contract. This paper argues that Botero’s concept of reason of state can be understood as a complex process of reduction to unity, similar to God’s creation and the functioning of the natural world. Despite its contradictions and limitations, it grants the prince an unusual supremacy and control over society. (shrink)

ResumenEn este artículo se presenta el pensamiento de Hamann en dos aspectos principales. Por una parte, se analiza su relación crítica con el movimiento ilustrado (entendido como discurso dominante en su época) y se destaca su relación con Kant. Por otra parte, se investigan las líneas fundamentales de su concepción del lenguaje, considerada como un núcleo básico de su crítica a la Ilustración. La identificación entre razón y lenguaje permite considerar a Hamann más como un ilustrado radical que como un (...) irracionalista, al tiempo que lo convierte en iniciador de un «giro lingüístico y hermenéutico» en el siglo XVIII.Palabras claveHamann, Ilustración, Filosofía del lenguaje, racionalidadAbstractHamann’s thought is presented in this paper through two main aspects. On the one hand, we analyze his connexion with the Enlightenment –which is understood as the dominant discourse of his time– together with his relationship with Kant. On the other hand, we study the basic trends of his conception of language, considered as a basic nucleus of his critic to Enlightenment. The identification between reason and language makes us consider Hamman a radical man of the Enlightenment rather than an irrationalistic, as well as the founder of a “linguistic and hermeneutic turn” in the 18th century.KeywordsHamann, Enlightenment, Philosophy of language, rationality. (shrink)

The tensorial relativistic quantum mechanics in (1+1) dimensions is considered. Its kinematical and dynamical features are reviewed as well as the problem of finding the Dirac spinor for given finite multivectors. For stationary states, the dynamical tensorial equations, equivalent to the Dirac equation, are solved for a free particle, for a particle inside a box, and for a particle in a step potential.

This commentary addresses the neural implementation of emulation, mostly using findings from functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Furthermore, both empirical and theoretical suggestions are discussed that render two aspects of emulation theory redundant: independent modal emulators and extra measurement of amodal emulation. This modified emulation theory can conceptually integrate simulation theory and also get rid of some problematic philosophical implications.

Se trata de revisar el expresivismo respecto a emisiones de la forma "Creo que p". El expresivista sostiene que una emisión de "Creo que llueve" es una expresión, y no una descripción, de la creencia de que llueve. Se propone una variación del expresivismo según la cual una emisión así expresa la creencia consciente de que llueve, en el sentido de la teoría de la conciencia de Brentano: una creencia consciente de que llueve tiene el contenido de que llueve y (...) de que él mismo, el creyente, cree que llueve. The paper reviews expressivism with respect to statements of the form "I believe that p". The expressivist holds that the statement "I believe it is raining" is an expression and not a description of the belief that it is raining. The article proposes a variation of expressivism according to which such a statement expresses the conscious belief that it is raining, in the sense of Brentano's theory of consciousness. The content of the conscious belief that it is raining is that is raining and that the believer believes that it is raining. Neste artigo, pretende-se revisar o expressivismo a respeito de emissões da forma "Acredito que p". O expressivista sustém que uma emissão de "Acredito que chove" é uma expressão e não uma descrição da crença que chove. Propõe-se uma variação do expressivismo segundo a qual uma emissão assim expressa a crença consciente de que chove, no sentido da teoria da consciência de Brentano: uma crença consciente de que chove tem o conteúdo de que chove de que ele mesmo, o que acredita, acredita que chova. (shrink)

This article focuses on defective conditionals ? namely indicative conditionals whose antecedents are false and whose truth-values therefore cannot be determined. The problem is to decide which formal connective can adequately represent this usage. Classical logic renders defective conditionals true whereas traditional mathematics dismisses them as irrelevant. This difference in treatment entails that, at the propositional level, classical logic validates some sentences that are intuitively false in plane geometry. With two proofs, I show that the same flaw is shared by (...) a family of trivalent logics. I go on to examine the strict conditional and its derivatives. This family is the only one to avoid the faulty inference but it does so without addressing the status of the truth-value assigned to defective conditionals. (shrink)

Origenes patirsticos de la filosofia cristiana.

The concept of assisted death includes a heterogeneous variety of practices, whose common denominator is to guarantee citizens their right to participate in decisions related to their own death process, to make it as consistent with their preferences as possible. It’s one of the most controversial and discussed topics in recent decades, both in the academic field and in public opinion. This paper examines the two main justifications for its legalization: to guarantee individual autonomy as in other areas of life, (...) and to avoid unnecessary suffering to the dying. It will be argued that, although both are related and both tie the ethics of care with the autonomy of the subject, the justification for autonomy is stronger and resists better the objections of those opposed to the legalization of this right. (shrink)

Both scientific evidence and folklore have suggested that madness is associated with creativity, especially in the arts. Recently, more rigorous studies have confirmed to some extent these previous observations. The current view is that it is not severe and acute insanity that is related to heightened creativity, but the personality roots and soft manifestations of both schizophrenic and bipolar psychoses. The affective and cognitive peculiarities associated with schizotypic and hypomanic personalities may be preferentially related to different kinds of creative endeavours, (...) such as the sciences and arts, respectively. The connection between personality traits and creativity is produced because they share some biological-cognitive-personality features, such as cognitive disinhibition. Additionally, it has been shown that the genetic liability for both bipolar and schizophrenic psychoses is related to creativity. A prevailing hypothesis is that creativity may be one type of 'compensatory advantage' for those carrying the genes for psychosis. (shrink)

En este articulo, desarrollo una version modificada de la teoria de la conciencia en terminos de pensamientos de orden superior. Argumento que un estado mental es consciente cuando va acompanado por un pensamiento de se implicito. Esta nueva version es importante porque puede acomodar la objecion de que un pensamiento de orden superior que es la conclusion de una inferencia consciente no puede hacer que un estado mental se vuelva consciente. Argumento tambien que si la introspeccion consiste en tener un (...) pensamiento de se explicito, puede mantenerse la distincion entre estados mentales conscientes y estados mentales que, ademas, estan bajo introspeccion.In this paper I develop a modified version of the higher-order thought theory of consciousness. I argue that a mental state is conscious when it is accompanied by an implicit de se thought. This new version is important because it can accomodate the objection that a higher-order thought which is the conclusion of a conscious inference is not able to make a state mental conscious. Also I argue that if introspection consists in one’s having an explicit de se thought, the distinction between conscious mental states and mental states which are in addition introspected can be preserved. (shrink)

After proving, in a purely categorial way, that the inclusion functor |$\textrm {In}_{\textbf {Alg}(\varSigma )}$| from |$\textbf {Alg}(\varSigma )$|⁠, the category of many-sorted |$\varSigma $|-algebras, to |$\textbf {PAlg}(\varSigma )$|⁠, the category of many-sorted partial |$\varSigma $|-algebras, has a left adjoint |$\textbf {F}_{\varSigma }$|⁠, the (absolutely) free completion functor, we recall, in connection with the functor |$\textbf {F}_{\varSigma }$|⁠, the generalized recursion theorem of Schmidt, which we will also call the Schmidt construction. Next, we define a category |$\textbf {Cmpl}(\varSigma )$|⁠, of (...) |$\varSigma $|-completions, and prove that |$\textbf {F}_{\varSigma }$|⁠, labelled with its domain category and the unit of the adjunction of which it is a part, is a weakly initial object in it. Following this, we associate to an ordered pair |$(\boldsymbol {\alpha },f)$|⁠, where |$\boldsymbol {\alpha }=(K,\gamma,\alpha )$| is a morphism of |$\varSigma $|-completions from |${{\mathscr {F}}}=(\textbf {C},F,\eta )$| to |$\mathscr {G}= (\textbf {D},G,\rho )$| and |$f$| a homomorphism of |$\textbf {D}$| from the partial |$\varSigma $|-algebra |$\textbf {A}$| to the partial |$\varSigma $|-algebra |$\textbf {B}$|⁠, a homomorphism |$\varUpsilon ^{\mathscr {G},0}_{\boldsymbol {\alpha }}(f)\colon \textbf {Sch}_{\boldsymbol {\alpha }}(f)\longrightarrow \textbf {B}$|⁠. We then prove that there exists an endofunctor, |$\varUpsilon ^{\mathscr {G},0}_{\boldsymbol {\alpha }}$|⁠, of |$\textbf {Mor}_{\textrm {tw}}(\textbf {D})$|⁠, the twisted morphism category of |$\textbf {D}$|⁠, thus showing the naturalness of the previous construction. Afterwards, we prove that, for every |$\varSigma $|-completion |$\mathscr {G}=(\textbf {D},G,\rho )$|⁠, there exists a functor |$\varUpsilon ^{\mathscr {G}}$| from the comma category |$(\textbf {Cmpl}(\varSigma )\!\downarrow \!\mathscr {G})$| to |$\textbf {End}(\textbf {Mor}_{\textrm {tw}}(\textbf {D}))$|⁠, the category of endofunctors of |$\textbf {Mor}_{\textrm {tw}}(\textbf {D})$|⁠, such that |$\varUpsilon ^{\mathscr {G},0}$|⁠, the object mapping of |$\varUpsilon ^{\mathscr {G}}$|⁠, sends a morphism of |$\varSigma $|-completion of |$\textbf {Cmpl}(\varSigma )$| with codomain |$\mathscr {G}$|⁠, to the endofunctor |$\varUpsilon ^{\mathscr {G},0}_{\boldsymbol {\alpha }}$|⁠. (shrink)

Let $\varSigma $ be a signature without $0$-ary operation symbols and $\textsf{Sl}$ the category of semilattices. Then, after defining and investigating the categories $\int ^{\textsf{Sl}}\textrm{Isys}_{\varSigma }$, of inductive systems of $\varSigma $-algebras over all semilattices, which are ordered pairs $\mathscr{A}= (\textbf{I},\mathscr{A})$ where $\textbf{I}$ is a semilattice and $\mathscr{A}$ an inductive system of $\varSigma $-algebras relative to $\textbf{I}$, and PłAlg$ (\varSigma )$, of Płonka $\varSigma $-algebras, which are ordered pairs $(\textbf{A},D)$ where $\textbf{A}$ is a $\varSigma $-algebra and $D$ a Płonka operator (...) for $\textbf{A}$, i.e. in the traditional terminology, a partition function for $\textbf{A}$, we prove the main result of the paper: There exists an adjunction, which we call the Płonka adjunction, from $\int ^{\textsf{Sl}}\textrm{Isys}_{\varSigma }$ to PłAlg$ (\varSigma )$. (shrink)

This paper presents some modern and interdisciplinary concepts about creativity and creative processes specially related to problem solving. Central publications related to the theme are briefly reviewed. Creative tools and approaches suitable to support problem solving are also presented. Finally, the paper outlines the author’s experiences using creative tools and approaches to: Facilitation of problem solving processes, strategy development in organisations, design of optimisation systems for large scale and complex logistic systems, and creative design of software optimisation for complex non-linear (...) systems. (shrink)

Since the 19th century, and despite tremendous progress in science, the topic of 'brain and sex' remains a matter of misleading interpretations, far beyond the field of science. The media are not solely responsible for this situation. Some scientific circles still actively promote the ideology of biological determinism in their attempt to explain differences in behaviour and cognitive abilities between men and women. Experimental data from brain imaging studies, cognitive tests or the discovery of new genes are often distorted to (...) serve deterministic ideas. As biotechnologies and genetic engeneering represent today a new economic and lucrative challenge, the question of what is innate and what is acquired is becoming more and more significant, requiring vigilant scrutiny from us all. (shrink)

There is an argument by M. Dummett about the relative priority of language as a social phenomenon. The first step is to explain how the speaker and the hearer have to know the same language, ceteris paribus. The second step is to show how the speaker's idiosyncratic beliefs depend on his knowledge of common language; the last step is to appeal to Quine's principle of translation between languages in order to have a language at all.

Jackson has ellaborated an argument to show that our experiences or qualitative states gather information which cannot be obtained in any other way. Functionalists reject in many ways that experience may bring new information. The point of this paper is to argue that, if func-tionalism is right, if experiences or "qualia" are not informative, then functionalism cannot report about them. The functionalist criticism of Jackson's argument makes it impossible for any functionalist theory to know experience.

Breeds are classifications of domestic animals that share, to a certain degree, a set of conventional phenotypic traits. We are going to defend that, despite classifying biological entities, animal breeds are social kinds. We will adopt Godman’s view of social kinds, classifications with predictive power based on social learning processes. We will show that, although the folk concept of animal breed refers to a biological kind, there is no way to define it. The expert definitions of breeds are instead based (...) on socially learnt conventions and skills (artificial selection), yielding groupings in which scientific predictions are possible. We will discuss in what sense breeds are social, but not human kinds and in what sense the concept of a breed is necessary to make them real. (shrink)