While ethics in publishing has been increasingly debated, there seems to be a lack of a theoretical framework for making sense of existing rules of behavior as well as for designing, managing and enforcing such rules. This letter argues that systems-oriented disciplines, such as complexity science and human factors, offer insights into new ways of dealing with ethics in publishing. Some examples of insights are presented. Also, a call is made for empirical studies that unveil the context and details of (...) both retracted papers and the process of writing and publishing academic papers. This is expected to shed light on the complexity of the publication system as well as to support the development of a just culture, in which all participants are accountable. (shrink)

An influential view in cognitive science is that computation in cognitive systems is semantic, conceptually depending on representation: to compute is to manipulate representations. I argue that accepting the non-semantic teleomechanistic view of computation lays the ground for a promising alternative strategy, in which computation helps to explain and naturalise representation, rather than the other way around. I show that this computation-based approach to representation presents six decisive advantages over the semantic view. I claim that it can improve the two (...) most influential current theories of representation, teleosemantics and structural representation, by providing them with precious tools to tackle some of their main shortcomings. In addition, the computation-based approach opens up interesting new theoretical paths for the project of naturalising representation, in which teleology plays a role in individuating computations, but not representations. (shrink)

A POÉTICA DA VIDA E A LINGUAGEM DA FILOSOFIA.

O presente artigo se sustenta fundamentalmente em dois textos seminais de Franklin Leopoldo e Silva que representam uma contribuição essencial em meu caminho filosófico e especialmente na compreensão que desenvolvi e continuo desenvolvendo da filosofia bergsoniana. No meu modo de ver, tais textos iluminam, como poucos grandes textos, a originalidade, a importância e a potência de Bergson para o pensamento contemporâneo. Em diálogo com esses dois textos, associo, preponderantemente, textos do próprio Bergson e outros textos de Leopoldo e Silva, procurando (...) assinalar, a partir daí, o valor de suas filosofias em nossa formação ao integrarem pensamento, vida e história. (shrink)

Philosophers have disagreed on the composition of force for decades. The main divergence concerns the fundamental question: given a certain motion that is observable, which force or forces are present in it, component or resultant forces? The present paper focuses on the conditions for dealing with this problem. I will argue that we are not able to infer force from the observation of a motion, as required by the problem. I will further argue that the validity of the Newtonian algorithm (...) is not a sufficient condition for that inference because the Gaussian algorithm, which is equally valid, differs from the former with regard to the forces present in motions. Under these circumstances, I will make recourse to an experiment available in physics in which the force present in a motion is measured. Thus, we obtain a numerical value for this force. This result, playing the role of a counterexample, clarifies the composition of force issue significantly. (shrink)

The principle of conservation of energy tells us that ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only transformed’. The validity of the principle is without question. The problem is the concept. Contemporary physicists have asserted that we do not know what energy is. We find, however, 19th century physicists, contemporary physicists and historians of science who converge on the point: Mayer and Joule discovered energy. Therefore, we do not know what energy is, but we know these authors discovered it. (...) What did they then discover? What can we learn from this with regard to the energy concept problem? To deal with this issue, I will distinguish between what the authors did experimentally and what they said about the phenomena. This method of analysis makes the difference in relation to historical works on the subject. In a second step, I will consider the introduction of the energy concept, which is from 1850s, and the reification of the energy in 1880s. Finally, I will address the energy conservation principle and the concept of energy conveyed by this principle in contemporary textbooks. As we shall see, the conservation of a magnitude that we call energy nowadays was discovered by Mayer and Joule; an indestructible and transformable entity was not. Adopting the original conservation principle would be enough to avoid the energy concept problem. (shrink)

This book provides a solution to the problem with the energy concept. This problem manifests itself in the fact that physicists clearly diverge regarding the question of what energy is. Some define it but others state that we do not know what it is. Although this is a problem for physicists who need to explain the concept, it is not a problem for physics that can be solved by laboratory means. Penetrating into the origin of the notion of energy, this (...) book offers a clear idea of what was discovered and what was invented to interpret the findings. Following the development of the concept, it provides an explanation of the trends in contemporary textbooks. The author's repetition, in his "History and Philosophy of Physics Laboratory", of Joule’s famous experiment – the paddle wheel experiment – with a calorimeter as originally used by Joule and with a calorimeter as proposed in textbooks, is presented, yielding new insight into the phenomenon. Thus, science teachers and students will benefit from reading the book as well as historians, philosophers, students of the history and philosophy of science, and all who are interested in knowing about what it is that we call energy. (shrink)

In the target article Hutto and Satne propose a new approach to studying mental content. Although I believe there is much to commend in their proposal, I argue that it makes no space for a kind of content that is of central importance to cognitive science, and which need not be involved in beliefs and desires: I will use the expression ‘representational content’ to refer to it. Neglecting representational content leads to an undue limitation of the contribution that the neo-Cartesian (...) approach can offer to the naturalising content project. I claim that neo-Cartesians can, on the one hand, help account for the nature of representational content and clarify what makes representational states contentful. On the other, besides explaining the natural origins of Ur-intentionality, neo-Cartesians should also take the role of accounting for the natural origins of contentful states that fall short of beliefs and desires. Finally, I argue that the only alternative for the authors is to embrace some form of non-representationalism, as Hutto elsewhere does. The success of the proposal thereby turns on the fate of the radical non-representationalist position that it accompanies. (shrink)

O artigo emerge de resultado da pesquisa sobre a inserção socioeconômica do Centro de Apoio ao Pequeno Agricultor (Capa) em territórios de remanescentes de quilombos no extremo sul do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil. O Capa se caracteriza como uma entidade mediadora, que nasce de motivações eclesiais da Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) ao final dos anos de 1970. Seu objetivo é disseminar sistemas agroecológicos entre populações de pequenos agricultores a fim de criar possibilidades (...) alternativas de sobrevivência sustentável no meio rural. A partir do núcleo estabelecido na cidade de Pelotas-RS, o Capa passa a desenvolver atividades entre os grupos de remanescentes de quilombos neste início de século. No encontro com os sujeitos da ação, emergem territorialidades específicas e constroem-se novas identidades. Para além da agroecologia emerge a força da fala. A oralidade constitui-se num instrumental estratégico utilizado pela entidade que possibilita visibilidade social aos grupos com os quais interage. Na dialética decorrente da ação mediadora do Capa recuperam-se saberes autóctones e constroem-se novos saberes considerados essenciais para articular as comunidades diante dos desafios contemporâneos. Palavras-chave: Identidade. Território. Mediação. Agro ecologiaThis article emerges from results of the research on the socioeconomic integration of the Support Center for Small Farmers (CAPA) in the remaining territories of quilombos in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil. CAPA is characterized as a mediating entity that has arisen from motivations of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) in the late 1970s and its goal is to disseminate agro ecosystems among populations of small farmers in order to create alternative opportunities for sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. Starting from the center established in the city of Pelotas, CAPA has started developing activities among groups of former quilombos at the beginning of this century. From the encounter of the subjects of the action, specific territorialities emerge and new identities are built. Beyond agroecology emerges the power of speech. Orality has become a strategic instrument used by the entity in providing social visibility to the groups it interacts with. In the dialectic due to the mediating action of CAPA, indigenous knowledge is recovered, and new knowledge is built, which is considered to be essential for articulating communities facing the contemporary challenges. Key words : Identity. Territory. Mediation. Agroecology. (shrink)

A obra de Ronald Dworkin é extensa e passou por quase 50 anos. Dessa forma, para entender seu significado e sua relevância é necessário debater de forma responsável seus principais conceitos para que enganos de interpretação sejam evitados. Nesse contexto, o objetivo principal deste artigo é explicar claramente os conceitos de perspectiva do participante, conceito interpretativo e dimensões da interpretação. Por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, a conclusão é que propor uma teoria da perspectiva do participante é uma ideia de Herbert (...) Hart que Dworkin radicalizou em suas consequências. Nela, é defendida da tese de que não é possível realizar uma teoria jurídica sem se comprometer com a prática institucional estudada. Conceito interpretativo, em seguida, explica que o significado de conceitos jurídicos é resultado de um debater em torno de seu significado a partir da melhor luz. Isso se opõe ao conceito de direito como simples fato, em que as respostas disponíveis estão no passado institucional. Por fim, a interpretação possui duas dimensões, uma relacionada a seus fundamentos e outra a sua força. Dessa forma, é possível dizer que ambas estão entrelaçadas e que há uma conexão direta entre direito e política. Dworkin se mantém fiel a esses conceitos durante toda a sua obra. (shrink)

Este presente artigo visa buscar os pressupostos da dupla reflexão de Climacus para melhor compreender a sua crítica ao pensamento dialético-especulativo. É tendo em mente que a dupla reflexão retoma os conceitos do trágico e do cômico, da seriedade e do gracejo – ainda que sobre uma nova perspectiva– que compreenderemos a importância dessa comunicação para a linguagem indireta, que tem por objetivo comunicar uma contradição absoluta.

I examine a major objection to the mechanistic view of concrete computation, stemming from an apparent tension between the abstract nature of computational explanation and the tenets of the mechanistic framework: while computational explanation is medium-independent, the mechanistic framework insists on the importance of providing some degree of structural detail about the systems target of the explanation. I show that a common reply to the objection, i.e. that mechanistic explanation of computational systems involves only weak structural constraints, is not enough (...) to save the standard mechanistic view of computation—it trivialises the appeal to mechanism, and thus makes the account collapse into a purely functional view. I claim, however, that the objection can be put to rest once the account is appropriately amended: computational individuation is indeed functional, while mechanistic explanation plays a role in accounting for computational implementation. Since individuation and implementation are crucial elements in a satisfying account of computation in physical systems, mechanism keeps its central importance in the theory of concrete computation. Finally, I argue that my version of the mechanistic view helps to provide a convincing reply to a powerful objection against non-semantic theories of concrete computation: the argument from the multiplicity of computations. (shrink)

In this book, Michael Arbib, a researcher in artificial intelligence and brain theory, joins forces with Mary Hesse, a philosopher of science, to present an integrated account of how humans 'construct' reality through interaction with the social and physical world around them. The book is a major expansion of the Gifford Lectures delivered by the authors at the University of Edinburgh in the autumn of 1983. The authors reconcile a theory of the individual's construction of reality as a network of (...) schemas 'in the head' with an account of the social construction of language, science, ideology and religion to provide an integrated schema-theoretic view of human knowledge. The authors still find scope for lively debate, particularly in their discussion of free will and of the reality of God. The book integrates an accessible exposition of background information with a cumulative marshalling of evidence to address fundamental questions concerning human action in the world and the nature of ultimate reality. (shrink)

Introduction -- Repression, ignorance, and undone science -- The epistemic dimension of the political opportunity structure -- The politics of meaning: from frames to design conflicts -- The organizational forms of counterpublic knowledge -- Institutional change, industrial transitions, and regime resistance politics -- Contemporary change: liberalization and epistemic modernization -- Conclusion.

Debate on the nature of representation in cognitive systems tends to oscillate between robustly realist views and various anti‐realist options. I defend an alternative view, deflationary realism, which sees cognitive representation as an offshoot of the extended application to cognitive systems of an explanatory model whose primary domain is public representation use. This extended application, justified by a common explanatory target, embodies idealisations, partial mismatches between model and reality. By seeing representation as part of an idealised model, deflationary realism avoids (...) the problems with robust realist views, while keeping allegiance to realism. (shrink)

International law is not merely a set of rules or processes, but is a professional activity practised by a diversity of figures, including scholars, judges, counsel, teachers, legal advisers and activists. Individuals may, in different contexts, play more than one of these roles, and the interactions between them are illuminating of the nature of international law itself. This collection of innovative, multidisciplinary and self-reflective essays reveals a bilateral process whereby, on the one hand, the professionalisation of international law informs discourses (...) about the law, and, on the other hand, discourses about the law inform the professionalisation of the discipline. Intended to promote a dialogue between practice and scholarship, this book is a must-read for all those engaged in the profession of international law. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente artigo é apresentar a ideia de transnacionalidade em relação com a noção hegeliana de reconhecimento e as implicações desta reflexão para a produção do direito, na formalização e efetivação da política jurídica. Para Hegel as leis e instituições são resultados da dialética de reconhecimento entre indivíduos e membros de determinada comunidade. Com isto busca-se demonstrar que o reconhecimento é condição de efetividade das instituições em perspectiva transnacional, sendo o Reconhecimento necessário para efetivação de uma produção do (...) direito funcional em dimensões transnacionais. O método utilizado é o indutivo, por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica. (shrink)

Walter Benjamin e um setor da Teologia da Libertação, em especial aquele que se articula em torno à Escola do DEI, tem diversas convergências na crítica do capitalismo como religião. Esta proposição desafia pressupostos modernos das teorias da religião exigindo uma revisão conceitual que permita compreender melhor o poder de legitimação/fascínio ou questionamento da economia política capitalista. Neste artigo procuramos refletir sobre esta revisão da teoria da religião e propor uma abordagem que relaciona Benjamin e a teologia da libertação. Para (...) isso, propomos exemplificar os desafios teórico-práticos desta relação e percorrer alguns estudos que re-situam os conflitos epistemológicos e políticos da religião com a modernidade. Em seguida, buscamos elementos de Benjamin e da Escola do DEI que fornecem instrumental analítico potente para a crítica do fetichismo capitalista como religião cotidiana. Por fim, sintetizamos a tarefa fundante de pensar, a partir da vida das vítimas, um necessário discernimento de deuses que permitem des-ocultar a razão mítico-teológica que caracteriza o espírito do fetiche. (shrink)

This paper presents an ontological perspective that enables evaluating the effectiveness of business models from an integrative worldview. Different groups’ fragmented and reductionist views on this topic create a dichotomy that makes it difficult to compare and analyze them in practice. Such groups use different values for some components, which may result in neglecting others and their interrelationship. This study discusses a functional characteristic of business models that academia still needs to address. It explores new frontiers in the field, such (...) as business models for networks, sustainability, and their practical evaluation. To achieve an integrative ontology and avoid focusing on specific constructs or systems at the expense of others, we draw upon the theory of worldviews from Wilhelm Dilthey, reformational philosophy, and Herman Dooyeweerd’s theory of modal aspects. Society should move beyond dualistic thinking and embrace practical and applicable solutions. To help companies develop effective models, we introduce a new business model framework based on an integrative worldview that enables comparisons and evaluations of companies in practice. Creating competitive advantages and value appropriations synergizes with essential aspects of reformational philosophy. Analyzing and interrelating such elements are fundamental to understanding the real applied value of business models. (shrink)

The concept of indiscernibility in a structure is analysed with the aim of emphasizing that in asserting that two objects are indiscernible, it is useful to consider these objects as members of (the domain of) a structure. A case for this usefulness is presented by examining the consequences of this view to the philosophical discussion on identity and indiscernibility in quantum theory.

BackgroundBrazil is among the sixteen countries that conducts the most clinical trials in the world. It has a system to review research ethics with human beings made up by the National Commission on Research Ethics and 779 Research Ethics Committees, in 2017. The RECs are supposed to follow the same rules regarding their membership, although the RECs that review Social Science and Humanities researches must respect Resolution 510/16. There are Brazilian RECs that review SSH and clinical trials. This study aimed (...) to analyze the academic professional profile of the members of the CONEP and Brazilian RECs, their adequacy to the norms, and the challenges faced by the REC’s Chairs to compose their membership. MethodsAll 779 Brazilian RECs’ chairs are invited to fill in a questionnaire informing academic and professional background of the RECs members, and 92 answered. However, eight were excluded for having sent an incomplete questionnaire, leaving a total of 84 participants. The variables were described by absolute and relative frequency. The Chi-square test and ANOVA was used to analyze regional differences related difficulties to compose the committee. The significance level was 95%. ResultsThe results showed a predominance of members from the biomedical area, while 33% were members of the Social Sciences and Humanities and 5.5% were community representatives. As for the academic degree, there were PhD and masters. The divergences in relation to the guidelines result from the difficulties of having participants in some areas and the little interest in the work carried out by the committees.ConclusionThe RECs are partially adequate to the norms and their performance may be compromised by the low participation of community representatives. The organization of REC’s specifics to review biomedical research could improve the ethical review process, ensuring a membership more qualified for these protocols. (shrink)

Nurse philosopher Sally Gadow (1999) has proposed the relational narrative between patient and nurse as a ‘postmodern turn’ for nursing ethics. She has conceptualized this moral approach as the construction by patient and nurse of a coauthored narrative describing the good they are seeking, as well as the means to achieve this good. The purpose of this article is to provide an elaboration of Gadow's seminal conceptualization of relational narrative based on her writings and those of other philosophers. The article (...) will further develop relational narrative's foundations in relationship and narrative and will explore engagement as a dimension essential to its creation and growth. The elaboration first builds on the notion of relationship as foundational to this postmodern moral perspective. Narrative then is advanced as being at the heart of the patient–nurse relationship and their relational narrative, based on an exploration of narrative's role in the moral realm as an epistemology for patient and nurse. Finally, the dialogic and embodied engagement expressed by a relational narrative is developed as a critical element of the ethic. (shrink)

This article is a within- and cross-country examination of the impact of fair trade certification on consumers’ evaluations and attitudes toward ethically certified products. Across three experimental studies, the authors analyze how different levels of brand familiarity and fair trade expertise impact consumer decisions. The authors study this phenomenon across markets with different social orientation cultures to analyze potential dissimilarities in the way consumers evaluate and behave toward ethically certified products. Findings suggest that fair trade certifications enhance product valuations. However, (...) this effect is especially observed for low familiar brands, once the level of fair trade expertise increases. Findings also suggest that there are individual cultural differences with respect to social and environmental labeling expertise that may account for some of the unexplained variation in choice behaviors observed across countries. Results indicate that especially in more (mature) individualistic markets (vs. collectivistic) consumer ethical behavior seems to be greatly influenced by consumers’ perceptions about the eligibility of brands using (or not) fair trade. This effect is strengthened by the significant mediating role of consumers’ ethicality perceptions on the relationship between fair trade and the willingness to pay for brands. (shrink)

O último livro escrito por Nietzsche, Ecce homo: como alguém se torna o que se é, é uma de suas obras mais controversas, tendo sido tomada como sinal de prepotência, como autoexposição egocêntrica e como prenúncio do colapso que interrompeu sua trajetória intelectual em janeiro de 1889. As controvérsias foram alimentadas, em parte, pela peculiar narrativa encontrada no livro – ele conta a si sua vida e obra em tom elogioso e hiperbólico –, em parte, pelo fato de que a (...) tardia publicação de Ecce homo, ocorrida apenas em 1908, favoreceu o contraste com o apócrifo A vontade de poder – reunião de anotações publicada em 1901 como ‘obra principal’ de Nietzsche. Nosso propósito neste artigo é refletir sobre as possíveis contribuições do teor ‘autobiográfico’ e ‘autocrítico’ de Ecce homo para o caminho de pensamento do filósofo alemão. Nossa hipótese é que a narrativa experimentada no livro possui uma íntima relação com temas precedentes da obra nietzschiana e com a tarefa da transvaloração de todos os valores. Por meio de uma autoencenação, da colocação de um certo ‘Nietzsche’ em cena, o filósofo avança em sua crítica à metafísica – e à sua versão popular, a moral cristã – enquanto realça a mundanidade de sua perspectiva, seu caráter contingente e seu condicionamento pelas “pequenas coisas”, decisão que nos parece carregar uma relevante dimensão filosófica: Nietzsche assume a parcialidade e explicita o interesse envolvido em sua tomada de posição no seio da cultura. (shrink)

In the literature on the nature and role of cognitive representation, three positions are taken across the conceptual landscape: robust realism, primitivism, and eliminativism. Recently, a fourth alternative that tries to avoid the shortcomings of traditional views has been proposed: content pragmatism. My aim is to defend pragmatism about content against some recent objections moved against the view. According to these objections, content pragmatism fails to capture the role played by representation in the cognitive sciences; and/or is an unstable view (...) that ends up collapsing into one of the traditional alternatives. I argue that those arguments fail. I show that content pragmatism has as much claim to descriptive adequacy as the traditional theories. Moreover, I defend the robustness of the view by arguing that it does not collapse into any of the traditional positions. Content pragmatism therefore offers a valid and coherent account of the nature of representational content. (shrink)

Computational perspectivalism has been recently proposed as an alternative to mainstream accounts of physical computation, and especially to the teleologically-based mechanistic view. It takes physical computation to be partly dependent on explanatory perspectives and eschews appeal to teleology in helping individuate computational systems. I assess several varieties of computational perspectivalism, showing that they either collapse into existing non-perspectival views or end up with unsatisfactory or implausible accounts of physical computation. Computational perspectivalism fails, therefore, to be a compelling alternative to perspective-independent (...) theories of computation in physical systems. I conclude that a teleologically-based, non-perspectival mechanistic account of physical computation is to be preferred. 1Introduction 2The Mechanistic View of Computation 2.1Teleological functions and meeting the desiderata 3Varieties of Perspectivalism 4Computational Perspectivalism 4.1Computational perspectivalism and pancomputationalism 4.2Computational perspectivalism and miscomputation 5The Varieties of Computational Perspectivalism Assessed 5.1Innocuous computational perspectivalism 5.2Non-innocuous computational perspectivalism 5.2.1Computational instrumentalism 5.2.2Ontic perspectivalism 6Concluding Remarks. (shrink)

Recently, a number of people have argued that certain entities embodied by groups of agents themselves qualify as agents, with their own beliefs, desires, and intentions; even, some claim, as moral agents. However, others have independently argued that fully-fledged moral agency involves a capacity for reactive attitudes such as guilt and indignation, and these capacities might seem beyond the ken of “collective” or “ corporate ” agents. Individuals embodying such agents can of course be ashamed, proud, or indignant about what (...) the agent has done. But just as an entity needs to have its own beliefs, desires, and intentions to qualify as a bona fide agent, the required capacity for reactive attitudes is a capacity to have one’s own reactive attitudes. If fully-fledged moral agency requires reactive attitudes, the corporate agent must itself be capable of guilt and indignation. In this paper, we argue that at least certain corporate agents are. Or, more precisely, we argue that if there are bona fide corporate agents, these agents can have the capacities that are both associated with guilt and indignation and plausibly required for moral agency; in particular certain epistemic and motivational capacities. (shrink)