An appropriate description for the Buddha's philosophy of persons within the frame of materialist philosophy of mind, prima facie, would understandably be a kind of reductionism, given that the Buddha reduced the self to nothing but a collection of impersonal and impermanent psychophysical elements. In this article, I argue that this view is only appropriate for understanding the self within conventional reality, as is the term used by Buddhists, and does not tackle the other half, namely, ultimate reality. I claim (...) that eliminative materialism provides a more accurate description of the Buddha's prescriptive practice, and although falling prey to the same problems that reductionism faces, creates a good basis for an alternative position of the Buddha as a Hard Eliminativist. (shrink)

En este trabajo se indaga en el comportamiento de la atenuación en los verbos que expresan duda, presentes en el corpus AMERESCO de conversaciones coloquiales de Santiago de Chile. Se describen las funciones de la atenuación de estos verbos de acuerdo con (1) el tipo de acto de habla, (2) la actividad de imagen y (3) algunas características sintáctico-discursivas. Los principales hallazgos demuestran que la atenuación se manifiesta a través de verbos doxásticos (_creer_, _parecer_, _cachar_, etc.), verbos modales (_poder_, _deber_) (...) y el verbo “saber” con polaridad negativa (“_no sé_”). Esta surge cuando se presenta lo dicho como una duda, bien para suavizar una opinión contraria o crítica, en cuyo caso su significado es de opinión, bien para informar sobre un estado de cosas, cuando su significado es epistémico. En el reconocimiento de su carácter atenuante, resultan clave el tipo de acto de habla en el que ocurren, el rol proyectado por el hablante en la conversación, la gestión de las imágenes y sus características sintáctico-discursivas, elementos que determinan si estas construcciones verbales expresan mayor o menor atenuación. (shrink)

Com a evolução da tecnologia, é cada vez mais comum encontrar robôs de conversação com maior capacidade de argumentar em um diálogo. Embora estejam muito longe de se igualarem a seres humanos nesse quesito, há vários desses robôs com performances significativas ao realizar essa tarefa. Nesse sentido, este estudo tem por objetivo discutir basicamente o conceito de ethos em máquinas que simulam personalidades humanas pré-determinadas. O estudo baseia-se em consulta bibliográfica interdisciplinar voltada às áreas de Linguística, Discurso, Retórica, Processamento de (...) Linguagem Natural, Inteligência Artificial e Processamento de Dados. A observação dos exemplos utilizados para comparação sugere que mais pesquisas na mesma direção devem ser realizadas, tendo em vista que a evolução dessas máquinas é exponencial e constante. (shrink)

Nuestro trabajo se propone presentar el pensamiento paulino trabajado por Alain Badiou en San Pablo: La fundación del universalismo. Intentaremos clarificar las posiciones que toma Badiou en torno a la figura del apóstol. Consideramos que, explicitando las lecturas del autor en cuestión, es posible tejer puentes para la discusión en el campo de la teología política. Entendemos la lectura de Badiou como una lectura filosófica política, que busca dialogar con una comunidad política. Pablo, en Badiou, es presentado como «un teórico (...) antifilosófico de la universalidad» y el fundador del universalismo cristiano. A partir de esta interpretación la tarea de Badiou es buscar lo universal en lo particular. (shrink)

I examine error diagnosis (model-model disagreement) in climate model intercomparisons including its difficulties, fruitful examples, and prospects for streamlining error diagnosis. I suggest that features of climate model intercomparisons pose a more significant challenge for error diagnosis than do features of individual model construction and complexity. Such features of intercomparisons include, e.g., the number of models involved, how models from different institutions interrelate, and what scientists know about each model. By considering numerous examples in the climate modeling literature, I distill (...) general strategies (e.g., employing physical reasoning and using dimension reduction techniques) used to diagnose model error. Based on these examples, I argue that an error repertoire could be beneficial for improving error diagnosis in climate modeling, although constructing one faces several difficulties. Finally, I suggest that the practice of error diagnosis demonstrates that scientists have a tacit-yet-working understanding of their models which has been under-appreciated by some philosophers. (shrink)

Apresenta-se neste artigo o papel desempenhado pelo bispo e arcebispo de Cuiabá Dom Francisco de Aquino Corrêa na construção da identidade mato-grossense, entre as décadas de 1910 a 1930. Como governador de Mato Grosso, interveio na esfera cultural a fim de fortalecer as elites cuiabanas e superar as crises política, econômica e social. Para tal, arregimentou um grupo de intelectuais que se empenharam na construção da identidade regional assentada na idealização das terras e do homem mato-grossense, superando os estigmas de (...) fronteira-sertão. Para tal, criou o Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Mato Grosso e a Academia Mato-grossense de Letras, símbolos regionais, e realizou sucessivas manifestações culturais. Como membro da hierarquia eclesiástica, empenhou-se em recuperar o prestígio da Igreja Católica, valorizar os aspectos religiosos da cultura brasileira e propagar o regionalismo, o nacionalismo e o culto à nação. (shrink)

What effect does witnessing other students cheat have on one's own cheating behavior? What roles do moral attitudes and neutralizing attitudes (justifications for behavior) play when deciding to cheat? The present research proposes a model of academic dishonesty which takes into account each of these variables. Findings from experimental (vignette) and survey methods determined that seeing others cheat increases cheating behavior by causing students to judge the behavior less morally reprehensible, not by making rationalization easier. Witnessing cheating also has unique (...) effects, controlling for other variables. (shrink)

This study tests an instructional model designed to empower students in an early childhood classroom as emerging digital storytellers. Educators can use digital storytelling to support students’ learning by encouraging them to organize and express their ideas and knowledge in an individual and meaningful way while developing voice and facility in child-computer interactions. This work also helps develop traditional communication skills, fosters collaboration, and strengthens emergent literacy practices. Students may develop enhanced communications skills by learning to organize their ideas, ask (...) questions, express opinions, and construct narratives as they interact with others and computers in the creation of digital stories. The “Emerging Digital Storytellers” instructional model focuses on social-emotional development and finding student voice through writing and digital content construction in the early childhood educational context. (shrink)

This article argues that Summa Theologiae 3a Q17 art. 2 is consistent with the attribution of a proper being to Christ's human nature. It proceeds in three stages. First, it examines the emergence of the problem of Christ's being through an analysis of the Chalcedonian Decree. In so doing it argues that the decree commits its adherents to accepting that Christ's human nature was an individual nature and it shows how Aquinas used his account of natures and essences to interpret (...) this. Second, it considers five objections to the view which denies a proper being to Christ's human nature. Third, it argues that Christ's individual human nature can possess a proper being because (i) esse does not render an individual nature a person and (ii) the character and function of the divine esse entails that it could not receive any new esse from the individual human nature Christ possesses. (shrink)

Lisciandra poses a challenge for robustness analysis as applied to economic models. She argues that substituting tractability assumptions risks altering the main mathematical structure of the model, thereby preventing the possibility of meaningfully evaluating the same model under different assumptions. In such cases RA is argued to be inapplicable. However, Lisciandra is mistaken to take the goal of RA as keeping the mathematical properties of tractability assumptions intact. Instead, RA really aims to keep the modeling component while varying the corresponding (...) mathematical formulation. Thus, her argument concerning whether the associated mathematical properties of certain assumptions can be kept intact is irrelevant to the success of RA. Furthermore, we explicate and develop Lloyd’s account of “model robustness” to provide solutions to Lisciandra’s challenges. Our solutions are, namely, error analysis and independent empirical support. We conclude that although complex economic models do face potential dangers, there are solutions and robustness analysis need not be given up.. (shrink)

Based on the disproportionate amount of attention paid by climate scientists to the supposed global warming hiatus, it has recently been argued that contrarian discourse has “seeped into” climate science. While I agree that seepage has occurred, its effects remain unclear. This lack of clarity may give the impression that climate science has been compromised in a way that it hasn't—such a conclusion should be defended against. To do this I argue that the effects of seepage should be analyzed in (...) terms of objectivity. I use seven meanings of objectivity to analyze contrarian discourse's impact on climate science. The resulting account supports the important point that climate science has not been compromised in a way that invalidates the conclusions its scientists have drawn, despite the reality of seepage having occurred. (shrink)

El propósito de este ensayo es exponer las tesis principales de una de las teorías constitucionales norteamericanas que más fuerza ha cobrado en los últimos años y que ha sido poco explorada en nuestro entorno: el constitucionalismo popular. Se trata de una propuesta especialmente útil para repensar críticamente nuestra inclinación por algunos aspectos del constitucionalismo europeo de la postguerra, en particular la supremacía judicial y el desdén hacia los movimientos sociales como generadores de sentido constitucional. El artículo presenta las tres (...) corrientes que pueden identificarse dentro del constitucionalismo popular: la de los padres fundadores, el constitucionalismo democrático y el constitucionalismo popular mediado. A continuación se alude a ciertos cuestionamientos que la teoría ha recibido por parte de partidarios y detractores y se desarrollan algunas reflexiones propias. (shrink)

Objective To determine whether presenting delivery room management options as defaults influences decisions to resuscitate extremely premature infants. Materials and methods Adult volunteers recruited from the world wide web were randomised to receive either resuscitation or comfort care as the delivery room management default option for a hypothetical delivery of a 23-week gestation infant. Participants were required to check a box to opt out of the default. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of respondents electing resuscitation. Data were analysed (...) using χ2 tests and multivariate logistic regression. Results Participants who were told the delivery room management default option was resuscitation were more likely to opt for resuscitation (OR 6.54 95% CI 3.85 to 11.11, p<0.001). This effect persisted on multivariate regression analysis (OR 7.00, 95% CI 3.97 to 12.36, p<0.001). Female gender, being married or in a committed relationship, being highly religious, experiences with prematurity, and favouring sanctity of life were significantly associated with decisions to resuscitate. Discussion Presenting delivery room options for extremely premature infants as defaults exert a significant effect on decision makers. The information structure of the choice task may act as a subtle form of manipulation. Further, this effect may operate in ways that a decision maker is not aware of and this raises questions of patient autonomy. Conclusion Presenting delivery room options for extremely premature infants as defaults may compromise autonomous decision-making. (shrink)

All insects appear to have a transport lipoprotein in the hemolymph (blood) that is responsible for moving hydrophobic materials through aqueous compartments. This has been called lipophorin because it is believed to be a reversible transport shuttle. Since most insects undergo some degree of metamorphosis from larval stages to the adult, the need to transport hydrophobic materials or the nature of these materials may change in the course of the life span. This is especially marked in the case of the (...) holometabolous insects – those which undergo drastic change of form, e.g. caterpillar‐pupa‐adult moth. We have found that lipophorin undergoes a molecular metamorphosis paralleling that of the insect. (shrink)

Objectives: The mental health legislation of most developed countries includes either a dangerousness criterion or an obligatory dangerousness criterion (ODC). A dangerousness criterion holds that mentally ill people may be given treatment without consent if they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. An ODC holds that mentally ill people may be given treatment without consent only if they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others. This paper argues that the dangerousness criterion is unnecessary, (...) unethical and, in the case of the ODC, potentially harmful to mentally ill people and to the rest of the community. Methods: We examine the history of the dangerousness criterion, and provide reasoned argument and empirical evidence in support of our position. Results: Dangerousness criteria are not required to balance the perceived loss of autonomy arising from mental health legislation. Dangerousness criteria unfairly discriminate against the mentally ill, as they represent an unreasonable barrier to treatment without consent, and they spread the burden of risk that any mentally ill person might become violent across large numbers of mentally ill people who will never become violent. Mental health legislation that includes an ODC is associated with a longer duration of untreated psychosis, and probably contributes to a poorer prognosis and an increase risk of suicide and violence in patients in their first episode of psychosis. Conclusions: Dangerousness criteria should be removed from mental health legislation and be replaced by criteria that focus on a patient’s capacity to refuse treatment. (shrink)

This volume is the first to adress in a comprehensive way one of the main issues raised by Nietzsche's thought. The problem of subjectivity has become crucial in recent debates in Nietzschean scholarship and is key to understanding Nietzsche’s relation to modern philosophy, as well as his tremendous impact on philosophy from the time of his death until today. The collection assembles 25 essays by some of the finest Nietzsche scholars.

This paper combines the social psychology concept of moral elevation with the evolutionary concept of traditions as descendant-leaving strategies to produce a new explanation of the role of saints in Christianity. Moral elevation refers to the ability of prosocial acts to inspire people to engage in their own acts of charity and kindness. When morally elevating stories and visual depictions become traditional by being passed from one generation to the next, they can produce prosocial behavior advantageous to survival and reproduction (...) among many generations of descendants. Traditions that increase the number of descendants in future generations can be seen as descendant-leaving strategies. Stories and visual depictions of the sacrifices of saints appear to be designed to produce states of moral elevation, and they have been transmitted from one generation to the next for many centuries. We propose that this ability of sacrificing saints to inspire future generations to engage in prosocial acts has contributed to the continuation and spread of Christianity. (shrink)

Background Although medical ethicists and educators emphasise patient-centred decision-making, previous studies suggest that patients often prefer their doctors to make the clinical decisions. Objective To examine the associations between a preference for physician-directed decision-making and patient health status and sociodemographic characteristics. Methods Sociodemographic and clinical information from all consenting general internal medicine patients at the University of Chicago Medical Center were examined. The primary objectives were to (1) assess the extent to which patients prefer an active role in clinical decision-making, (...) and (2) determine whether religious service attendance, the importance of religion, self-rated spirituality, Charlson Comorbidity Index, self-reported health, Vulnerable Elder Score and several demographic characteristics were associated with these preferences. Results Data were collected from 8308 of 11 620 possible participants. Ninety-seven per cent of respondents wanted doctors to offer them choices and to consider their opinions. However, two out of three (67%) preferred to leave medical decisions to the doctor. In multiple regression analyses, preferring to leave decisions to the doctor was associated with older age (per year, OR=1.019, 95% CI 1.003 to 1.036) and frequently attending religious services (OR=1.5, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.1, compared with never), and it was inversely associated with female sex (OR=0.6, 95% CI 0.5 to 0.8), university education (OR=0.6, 95% CI 0.4 to 0.9, compared with no high school diploma) and poor health (OR=0.6, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.9). Conclusions Almost all patients want doctors to offer them choices and to consider their opinions, but most prefer to leave medical decisions to the doctor. Patients who are male, less educated, more religious and healthier are more likely to want to leave decisions to their doctors, but effects are small. (shrink)

Inflammatory responses are essential for the clearance of pathogens and the repair of injured tissues; however, if these responses are not properly controlled chronic inflammation can occur. Chronic inflammation is now recognized as a contributing factor to many age‐associated diseases including metabolic disorders, arthritis, neurodegeneration, and cardiovascular disease. Due to the connection between chronic inflammation and these diseases, it is essential to understand underlying mechanisms behind this process. In this review, factors that contribute to chronic inflammation are discussed. Further, we (...) emphasize the emerging roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) and other noncoding RNAs (ncRNA) in regulating chronic inflammatory states, making them important future diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. Copyright Line: © 2015 The Authors BioEssays Published by Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. (shrink)

This paper studies Lamarck's scientific method both from the point of view of his methodological discourse and according to his scientific praxis. Lamarck's methodology is compared to Condillac's as well as to that of the idéologues - a group in which Lamarck is usually included. The analysis of this paper shows that Lamarck's methodological discourse is very similar to Condillac's, but his scientific praxis does not follow this view. Instead of following an empiricist approach, Lamarck's work is grounded upon general (...) metaphysical principles concerning nature. Thus, from the ideologues's point of view, Lamarck's work should have been rejected -and that is what really happened - as being a mere metaphysical system grupo no qual se costuma incluir o próprio Lamarck. Mostra-se que o discurso metodológico de Lamarck assemelha-se ao dos ideólogos; no entanto, sua prática científica não se coaduna com esse enfoque. Em vez de seguir uma abordagem empirista, a obra de Lamarck se fundamenta em princípios metafísicos gerais sobre a natureza. Sob o ponto de vista dos ideólogos, seu trabalho deveria ser rejeitado - o que de fato ocorreu - como um mero sistema metafísico - no sentido pejorativo utilizado pelos seguidores de Condillac. No entanto, o presente artigo argumenta que esse é justamente um importante e inovador aspecto da obra de Lamarck, que permitiu a eclosão do evolucionismo moderno. (shrink)

Resumo: A salvaguarda do ser na verdade é uma expressão empregada por Martin Heidegger no período conhecido como hermenêutica da facticidade. Apesar de referências e análises ocasionais, que pontualmente a desenvolvem em vista de outros assuntos, tal temática é, de modo geral, pouco desenvolvida por parte da literatura secundária. O artigo sugere que a explicitação do termo salvaguarda e conceitos correlatos não é apenas uma tarefa ineludível, em vista de sua constância na trajetória intelectual de Heidegger, mas que ela toca (...) no cerne da questão do sentido do ser. A análise inicia com um exame da salvaguarda do ser a partir do Informe Natorp para, em seguida, apontar continuidades, quebras e reformulações em relação ao tratamento do tema da guarda em obras da década de 1930. Palavras-chave: Facticidade. Pluralismo ontológico. Afinação fundamental. Maquinação. Acontecimento-apropriador. (shrink)

En este artículo se exponen las objeciones éticas y jurídicas a la maternidad subrogada. Algunos opinan que ésta es una cuestión de solidaridad con las parejas infértiles, por lo que es una práctica reproductiva, que nace de la autonomía de la mujer gestante y del derecho que a todo ser humano le asiste de ser padres. Otros opinan que los defensores de la maternidad subrogada en cualquiera de sus dos modalidades: comercial y altruista, olvidan a los dos sujetos más importantes (...) implicados en la misma: la mujer gestante y su bebé. Consideran que la maternidad subrogada discrimina y cosifica al bebé y a la mujer gestante mercantilizando e instrumentalizando su cuerpo. Utiliza a la gestante y al niño, como medios al servicio del cumplimiento de los deseos de otros. Luego parece que con la admisión de la maternidad subrogada resulta evidente que la dignidad de la mujer y la maternidad no se contemplan como algo indisponible y digno de protección. También el bebé no tiene valor en sí mismo, sino que lo tiene únicamente si es querido, recibido, deseado. En definitiva, no se puede admitir una práctica reproductiva que, en mi opinión, tiene como objetivo ser padre o madre a cualquier «precio». (shrink)

O presente trabalho pretende discutir o conceito de história em Karl Marx a partir do confronto com a teoria do “fim da história” de Francis Fukuyama. No contexto histórico de queda do comunismo na União Soviética e no Leste Europeu, o autor americano introduz sua concepção sobre a vitória da democracia liberal como o momento culminante da história da humanidade. Pretendendo, assim, colocar-se como herdeiro de uma visão hegeliana da história. Ora, em que medida podemos considerar um sistema como o (...) defendido por Fukuyama como sendo o objetivo de toda a história da humanidade? Mais ainda, em que medida podemos considerar que há um objetivo na história da humanidade? Procuro mostrar como a concepção marxista da história responde a estas duas questões. (shrink)

This article addresses some useful coordinates for the analysis of the relationship between philosophy and taxation. My argument aims to show the relevance of a philosophy of taxation and thus draw attention to civic education required to shape a democratic public reason, truthful, critical and attentive. I emphasize the character of “donation” that is the rule of law within a democratic constitutional regime, which depends on tax payments for the purposes proposed, and particularly those of a social distributive justice. I (...) distinguish between charity and justice and political obligation to maintain that by implementing an effective "rule of law" citizens “donate” ourselves mechanisms and procedures for advancing a system of justice as fairness. This grant does not pertain to the field of natural duties, charity or sacrifice of supererogatory acts, but is expressed in institutional programs whose implementation and maintenance required from us pay taxes, but always based on personal commitment. Thus, close to John Rawls I emphasize the value of freedom. (shrink)

This article examines a series of Schelling-like models of residential segregation, in which agents prefer to be in the minority. We demonstrate that as long as agents care about the characteristics of their wider community, they tend to end up in a segregated state. We then investigate the process that causes this and conclude that the result hinges on the similarity of informational states among agents of the same type. This is quite different from Schelling-like behavior and suggests that segregation (...) is an instance of macrobehavior that can arise from a wide variety of micromotives. (shrink)

A number of anthropologists have argued that religious concepts are minimally counterintuitive and that this gives them mnemic advantages. This paper addresses the question of why people have the memory architecture that results in such concepts being more memorable than other types of concepts by pointing out the benefits of a memory structure that leads to better recall for minimally counterintuitive concepts and by showing how such benefits emerge in the real‐time processing of comprehending narratives such as folk tales. This (...) model suggests that memorability is not an inherent property of a concept; rather it is a property of the concept, the context in which the concept is presented, and the background knowledge that the comprehendor possesses about the concept. The model predicts how memorability of a concept should change if the context containing the concept were changed. The paper also presents the results of experiments carried out to test these predictions. (shrink)

A pesar de su frecuente confusión, los paradigmas de totalitarismo y biopolítica resultan muy heterogéneos. Mientras el libro de Hannah Arendt, El origen del totalitarismo, todavía parece inscrito dentro del marco de la filosofía de la historia, aunque sea invertido y vuelto hacia el origen perdido (la polis griega), la categoría de biopolítica, tematizada a mitad de los años setenta por Michel Foucault, pero anticipada ya en la obra de Nietzsche, impide toda reconstrucción lineal de la relación entre pasado y (...) presente. La conexión directa entre política y vida biológica, que se establece desde un cierto punto de vista, altera radicalmente la filosofía política moderna y la aprehende desde un nuevo horizonte de sentido. Por otra parte, mientras Arendt, pese a la deconstrucción de la idea de ʻderechos humanosʼ, no elabora una verdadera crítica del derecho, Foucault discute explícitamente el nexo entre derecho individual y soberanía estatal. (shrink)

Frankenstein é um dos personagens mais populares da ficção. Nascido no romance de Mary Shelley, ele está completando 180 anos, mas já transcendeu as fronteiras da literatura. Há 65 anos, é encontrado nas telas cinematográficas, somando 117 aparições, perdendo apenas para o Conde Drácula, com 161, no gênero de filmes de terror. Este ensaio, atravessado por suas precariedades e limitações históricas, procurará respostas sobre o mito de Frankenstein. É importante investigar as significações desta experiência de alma, que lhe asseguram atualidade (...) e permanência às vésperas do terceiro milênio. Para tanto, serão usados os pressupostos da Psicanálise, compatibilizados com os do filósofo Louis Althusser. (shrink)

Este texto plantea un estudio comparativo desde la tesis de “la banalidad del mal” de Hannah Arendt, a partir de dos personajes inscritos uno desde la literatura y el otro desde la filosofía moral. Por un lado, el personaje del poeta y piloto de la Fuerza Aérea en la dictadura militar de Augusto Pinochet, Carlos Wieder, que aparece en la novela Estrella distante (1996), del escritor chileno Roberto Bolaño, y, por el otro, el oficial nazi Adolf Eichmann y el (...) conflicto político que generó su juicio penal en Jerusalén en 1961, luego de su captura en un suburbio de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, en 1960. De esta manera, propongo un diálogo entre ambos personajes: uno literario, basado en aconte- cimientos históricos y ficticios, y la crítica desarrollada por la filósofa alemana Hannah Arendt, con indicios de filosofía política y moral, al acusado por críme- nes al pueblo judío, contra la humanidad y crímenes de guerra durante el régi- men nazi en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Las reflexiones de Arendt, elaboradas ante la invitación a realizar un “relato de hechos” sobre el caso para la revista estadounidense The New Yorker durante el periodo del juicio, se publicaron en: Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil, en 1963. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta a Weber y Habermas como los umbrales o polos de una modernidad que tiene al progreso como horizonte teórico-práctico. El diagnóstico weberiano sobre la modernidad y su proceso de desencantamiento del mundo y la injustificada reducción de la actividad racional a una actividad u..