Jeremy Sherman distills Terrence Deacon's breakthrough natural science hypothesis for the emergence of agents and agency, selves and aims in an otherwise aimless universe. The theory cuts a new path through the dualistic spirit vs. mechanism debate, unifying the hard and soft sciences and suggesting new solutions to philosophical mysteries.

Moral emotions are evolved mechanisms that function in part to optimize social relationships. We discuss two moral emotions— disgust and the “cuteness response”—which modulate social-engagement motives in opposite directions, changing the degree to which the eliciting entity is imbued with mental states (i.e., mentalized). Disgust-inducing entities are hypo-mentalized (i.e., dehumanized); cute entities are hyper-mentalized (i.e., “humanized”). This view of cuteness—which challenges the prevailing view that cuteness is a releaser of parental instincts (Lorenz, 1950/1971)—explains (a) the broad range of affiliative behaviors (...) elicited by cuteness, (b) the marketing of cuteness to children (by toy makers and animators) to elicit play, and (c) the apparent ease and frequency with which cute things are anthropomorphized. (shrink)

RésuméL'authenticité et la diversité font aujourd'hui figure de slogans dans les sociétés contemporaines de part et d'autre de l'Atlantique nord. En revanche, on a peu exploré les liens entre ces deux idées. À cette fin, cet article aborde les écrits tantôt convergents, tantôt divergents de Charles Taylor et Martin Heidegger pour prolonger leurs réflexions respectives sur l'authenticité et montrer en quoi elles peuvent servir defondement à une nouvelle forme de diversité culturelle. Pour tous deux, l'être-au-monde authentique nous permet d'accider au (...) tréfonds du matériel culturel dont nous devons disposer pour que se nouent des rapports fructueux avec les autres cultures. (shrink)

Hoje vou comentar de um livro que é antigo, de 2009, da Comboio de Corda. Eu tenho este livro desde 2017, mas reli nestes tempos de quarentena. Gosto muito de contos porque, como diz Julio Cortázar, ele nos ganha por nocaute (enquanto o romance nos ganha por pontos).Mas, ainda não falei do título do livro: “Leituras de Escritor”. Neste caso, uma organização de Moacyr Scliar, um escritor que tive a honra de conhecer pessoalmente (que falta ele faz). Ou seja, são (...) contos escolhidos a dedo pelo Scliar. Os contistas? Desde os muito conhecidos como Tchekhov, Machado, Poe, Lima Barreto. (shrink)

In recent years, membrane contact sites (MCS), which mediate interactions between virtually all subcellular organelles, have been extensively characterized and shown to be essential for intracellular communication. In this review essay, we focus on an emerging topic: the regulation of MCS. Focusing on the tether proteins themselves, we discuss some of the known mechanisms which can control organelle tethering events and identify apparent common regulatory hubs, such as the VAP interface at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We also highlight several currently (...) hypothetical concepts, including the idea of tether oligomerization and redox regulation playing a role in MCS formation. We identify gaps in our current understanding, such as the identity of the majority of kinases/phosphatases involved in tether modification and conclude that a holistic approach—incorporating the formation of multiple MCS, regulated by interconnected regulatory modulators—may be required to fully appreciate the true complexity of these fascinating intracellular communication systems. (shrink)

This book develops an original and comprehensive theory of political liberalism. It defends bold new accounts of the nature of autonomy and individual liberty, the content of distributive justice, and the justification for the authority of the State. The theory that emerges integrates contemporary progressive and pluralistic liberalism into a broadly Aristotelian intellectual tradition. The early chapters of the book challenge the traditional conservative idea of individual liberty-the liberty to dispose of one's property as one wishes-and replace it with a (...) new one, according to which liberty is of equal value to all persons, regardless of economic position. The middle chapters present an original theory of socio-economic justice, arguing that a society in which every citizen enjoys an equal share of liberty should be the distributive goal of the State. It is argued that this goal is incompatible with the existence of large disparities in wealth and economic power, and that (contra conservative and libertarian economic arguments) such disparities are harmful to the overall health of national and global economies. The final chapters provide an original argument that the State has both a moral duty and a moral right to pursue this program of socio-economic justice (contra conservative and libertarian moral arguments), and that only the measures necessary to implement this program lie within the morally justifiable limits on the State's authority. Though primarily a political work, it spans most areas of practical philosophy-including ethical, social, and legal theory; and meta-ethics, moral psychology, and action theory. And though fundamentally a philosophical work, it incorporates research from a number of fields-including decision theory, economics, political science, and jurisprudence; primatology, neuroscience, and psychology; and history, anthropology, sociology, and ecology-and is sure to be of interest to a wide range of scholars and students. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in (...) the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Even among scholars who emphasize Nietzsche’s naturalism (“the naturalists”), what it actually involves is disputed. This article identifies the foundations of Nietzsche’s naturalism and then elaborates on these foundations through a critical analysis of the works of those naturalists who also identify them. Nietzsche is a methodological naturalist, who, epistemically, is a reliabilist, and while he acknowledges the innate limitations of our cognitive inheritance, which is reflected in his perspectivism, he sees no reason to conclude that we cannot grasp the (...) natural world truly. As to the primary issue in scientific explanation, causation, Nietzsche adopts a regularity theory as early as The Gay Science, and, on the basis of this theory, rejects determinism. One consequence of this analysis is that Nietzsche’s naturalism is not as restrictive as the naturalists tend to portray it, and this opens up new possibilities for interpreting many of his other commitments. (shrink)

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, founded July 1, 1978, at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, was established by the American scholar, industrialist, and philanthropist Obert Clark Tanner. Lectureships are awarded to outstanding scholars or leaders in broadly defined fields of human values and transcend ethnic, national, religious, or ideological distinctions. Volume 30 features lectures given in 2010 at Princeton University; Yale University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Utah; Stanford University; Clare Hall, Cambridge University; Harvard University; and Brasenose (...) College, Oxford University. CONTRIBUTORS: Bruce Ackerman, “The Decline and Fall of the American Republic” Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale and the author of fifteen books that have had a broad influence in political philosophy, constitutional law, and public policy. John Adams, “Doctor Atomic and His Gadgets” John Adams is a musician, composer, writer, and conductor whose work stands out for its depth of expression, its sonic brilliance, and the profoundly humanist nature of its themes. Isabel Allende, “In the Hearts of Women” Isabel Allende is a social activist and feminist whose novels and memoirs have established her as one of the most res-pected writers of our time. Abdullahi An-Nacim, “Transcending Imperialism: Human Values and Global Citizenship” Abdullahi Ahmed An-Nacim is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory Law School and an internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights in cross-­cultural perspectives. Mark Danner, “Torture and the Forever War” Mark Danner is a writer, journalist, and professor who has written for more than two decades on foreign affairs and international conflict. Sir Christopher Frayling, “Art and Religion in the Modern West: Some Perspectives” Sir Christopher Frayling is a historian, critic, and an award-winning broadcaster on British network radio and television. He has written seventeen books on the arts and popular culture. Jonathan Lear, “Becoming Human Does Not Come That Easily” Jonathan Lear is the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor at the Committee on Social Thought and the Depart-ment of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. His research and writings focus on philosophical conceptions of the human psyche. Ahmed Rashid, “Afghanistan” and “Pakistan” Ahmed Rashid is a reporter from Pakistan whose unique knowledge of this complex region allows him a panoramic vision and nuanced perspective that no Western writer can emulate. (shrink)

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values were founded July 1, 1978, at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, by American scholar, industrialist, and philanthropist Obert Clark Tanner, to advance and reflect upon scholarly and scientific learning related to human values. The purpose embraces the entire range of physical, moral, artistic, intellectual, and religious values pertinent to the human condition, interest, behavior, and aspirations. Appointment as a Tanner Lecturer is a recognition of uncommon abilities and outstanding scholarly or leadership achievement. Volume 29 also (...) includes an extensive and diverse series of lectures and panel discussions held at Brasenose College, Oxford, in honor of the five hundreth year since the founding of King's Hall and Brasenose College. (shrink)

The Equal Weight View holds that, when we discover we disagree with an epistemic peer, we should give our peer’s judgment as much weight as our own. But how should we respond when we cannot tell whether those who disagree with us are our epistemic peers? I argue for a position I will call the Earn-a-Spine View. According to this view, parties to a disagreement can remain confdent, at least in some situations, by fnding justifable reasons to think their opponents (...) are less credible than themselves, even if those reasons are justifable only because they lack information about their opponents. (shrink)

Exploring the meeting of mystical and philosophical theology, Partakers of the Divine shows that Christian philosophical and contemplative practices arose together and that throughout much of Christian history, philosophy, theology and contemplation remained internal to one another. In this compelling volume, Jacob Holsinger Sherman demonstrates that the relation of philosophy, theology and contemplation to one another provides theologians and philosophers of religion today with a way forward beyond many of the stalemates that have beset discussions about faith and reason, (...) the role of religion in contemporary culture, and the challenges of modernity and postmodernity"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Journal Name: Cognitive Linguistics Issue: Ahead of print.

Understanding Literary Theory is the essential guide for every reader looking to understand what literary theory is and why it matters. This concise and accessible text introduces today's foremost schools of literary theory, offering historical background and outlining the important ideas of each. The theories are then applied to a variety of classic short stories, demonstrating how the different theoretical approaches can yield diverse interpretations of the same literary works. This volume separates itself from similar texts by providing clear and (...) accurate explanations of theory's most challenging concepts. It examines all of the major schools of criticism, including ecocriticism, ethnic studies, feminism, formalism, Marxism, narratology, new historicism, postcolonialism, postmodernism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, queer theory, reader response, and structuralism. Each chapter begins with a straightforward summary that outlines the focus of the theoretical approach, its notable practitioners, its advantages and disadvantages, and a concise definition. The chapters then delve into each theory by explaining the key concepts and the ideas that led to them. This book is indispensable for anyone intimidated by words like deconstruction, differance, heteroglossia or hyperreality. Understanding Literary Theory shows readers the interpretative possibilities that literary theory can provide. It is the ideal introduction for those who want to get the most out of the literature they read. (shrink)

The essential guide to understanding what literary theory is and why it matters.

According to Karl Weick, a distinguished scholar in Organizational Behavior and Psychology, the organization cannot be imagined as an architectural design, static and prescriptive, but should be described as a Jazz improvisation, a flexible mental model. By conceiving both the organization and its environment as a social and mental construct, we are able to get a better view on the denotation of the individual factor. In his approach the dichotomy between theory and practice dissolves. The organization is studied as an (...) activity. These dynamics (dis)continuously generate sense. Because of his radical choice for understanding the organization as dynamic and without ground, his thinking has parallels with post-modern thinking. In his description of the characteristics of organizations, he identifies as sixth element, ongoing. This concept is only conceivable in its disturbance, its interruption. Herein we sense affinity with the post modern deconstruction concept (Derrida). With interruption, aspects like misunderstanding, failure, mistakes, conflict, contradiction and exclusion get a role in understanding the organization dynamic. In order to manage the resulting confusion, individuals, in social interaction, actively make sense of that experience retrospectively. In organizations, managers and employees alike, are essential in signaling interruptions and the contribution to the process of sensemaking. Managers are expected to take the initiative in facilitating the open space in which judgment is temporarily suspended. Managing becomes the managing of sense, sharing of meaning, of diversity and oppositions. (shrink)

While Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics does not provide a guide for action in the form of rules for a decision process as deontological or consequentialistethical theories purport to do, he does present a description of the virtuous agent and the virtues that this agent exercises in his choices of action. In this paper Iargue that Aristotle’s mature virtuous agent characteristically exercises the virtue of wisdom (sophia) as well as the practical virtues of character and intelligence in his choices of (...) action and that students of virtue (those sincerely interested in becoming virtuous by acting as the virtuous agent does) can derive certain action-guiding rules from a description of these three virtues and how they are exercised by the mature virtuous agent in any given choice of action. (shrink)

This book explores the concept of citizenship, and the role that organizations can or do play in its creation, stimulation and control. Offering multiple organizational perspectives and their relation to several types of output, this work presents a rich collection of philosophical thoughts and practices on the subject of citizenship within and without the organizational context. Particular attention is given to this human aspect, an element of unpredictability, a gut feeling, the unknown... something immeasurable that plays a part in human (...) relations and how they organize themselves. Citizenship in Organizations casts new light on the impact of organizations to the notion of citizenship. (shrink)

Is the ability to start and stay in dialogue a hard or a soft skill? Is it a courageous risk to stay in dialogue within an organization? Or is dialogue, interaction, the building block of organizing, and does its neglect lead to disorganizing? Organizations in their broadened context, riveted at state regulations, technology and environmental contingencies, are changing. Under the influence of far-reaching digitalization processes and redesign, management layers disappear in favor of personal responsibility. But are we, as human beings, (...) ready to take up high-risk and ultimate responsibilities? After all, not everyone is a whizz kid with extraordinary qualities. Moreover, can we deal with an economy that is no longer in need of traditionally skilled employees? An economy running out of paid labor because of—among other things—the growing amount of light, fast and IT-steered production processes? Societal issues that cannot be solved from one single point of view, the so-called boundary objects, need a lot of debate and dialogue with many stakeholders involved before a clear direction can appear. What, then, does dialogue actually mean, how can we implement it and what can it create and bring about in an organization? Can it manage the gap between system-oriented control and coercive power on the one hand and a growing fragmentation of high-skilled expertise and creativity on the other? Organizing randomly provokes and neglects resistance at the same time, but how does this dynamic work? In this chapter, the above questions will be addressed and the concept of criticism as ‘counter-conduct’ linked to dialogue as the turntable of organizing will be introduced. (shrink)

Ever since Max Weber started an argument about the role of Protestantism in jump-starting northern Europe's economic development, scholars have clashed over the influence of religion and culture on a society's economic prospects. Today, many wonder whether the "explosion" of Protestantism in Latin America will effect a similar wave of growth and democratization. In this book, Sherman compiles the results of her field study and national survey of 1000 rural Guatemalan households. She offers persuasive evidence that, in Guatemala and (...) throughout the region, religious world-views significantly influence economic life. Sherman explains how the change in attitude and behavior that accompanies conversion from animism to a Biblically orthodox world-view has improved the domestic welfare and economic status of many families. Further, she asserts that this new attitude, sympathetic to democratic-capitalism, has created a "moral cultural soil" in which freedom, personal empowerment, an enhanced status for women, and a desire to get ahead can be nurtured. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Life Before the Fall A Short Pre‐History of the Absurd Camus's Absurd Problematic One Giant Leap Back, One Small Step Forward: the Problem of Meaning Camus's Existential Phenomenology Camus's Sisyphean Ethics The Myth of Sisyphus notes further reading.

This chapter contains sections titled: notes further reading.

This chapter contains sections titled: Exile Rebirth notes further reading.

This chapter contains sections titled: notes.

This chapter contains sections titled: From Mersault (A Happy Death) to Meursault (The Stranger) Meursault: Outsider or Stranger? Meursault's “Selflessness” Meursault's “Bad Faith” Meursault's Rebirth and Death From Meursault to Caligula notes further reading.