This paper deals with the latent religious aspects of the tremendous impact that the Inter­net manifests in every single segment of contemporary culture. Through comparative research of the ways primordial, archetypal cognitive matrices migrated throughout different modalities of our thinking and behavior in the 20th and 21st centuries, the following research argues that deep religious longings might have been hidden (ignored, even abused) in the various ways the planetary informational network is exploited in our times. As a consequence, an alarming (...) need for philosophical and theological rethinking and re-inspiring of this prodigious, unprecedented and omnipresent social prosthesis is recognized. (shrink)

Sentences with slifting parentheticals The formal analysis of natural language, Mouton, The Hague, 1973) grammaticalize an intriguing interaction between truth-conditional meaning and speech act function. In such sentences, the assertion strength of the slifted clause is modulated by the parenthetical, which provides evidential support :480–496, 1952; Asher in J Semant 17:31–50, 2000; Rooryck in Glot Int 5:125–133, 2001; Jayez and Rossari in: Corblin, de Swart Handbook of French semantics, CSLI, Stanford, 2004; Davis et al. in Proc Semant Linguist Theory 17:71–88, (...) 2007; Simons in Lingua 117:1034–1056, 2007; Murray in Semant Pragmat 7:1–53, 2014; Maier and Bary in: Brochhagen et al. Proceedings of the 20th Amsterdam colloquium, 2015; AnderBois in Semant Pragmat 9:1–55, 2016; Hunter in Dialogue Discourse 7:1–35, 2016). Starting with the idea that assertability comes in degrees, this paper develops a probabilistic updatemodel that captures the role of parentheticality as a language tool for qualifying commitments. A crucial role here is played by the rule of Jeffrey conditionalization, which factors in the uncertainty of the parenthetical information itself. The model also derives certain effects of parenthetical modification not found in regular embedding constructions, including the fact that slifting parentheticals are limited to creating upward-entailing environments. (shrink)

Gottfried Gabriel is interviewed by Todor Polimenov about the relationship between analytic and continental philosophy.

We prove that the additive group of the rationals does not have an automatic presentation. The proof also applies to certain other abelian groups, for example, torsion-free groups that are p-divisible for infinitely many primes p, or groups of the form ⊕ p∈I Z(p ∞ ), where I is an infinite set of primes.

This paper considers the epistemological value of the concept of political theology in thanatopolitics. The concept can be useful if one wants to interpret political usage of death. In addition to blurred boundaries between politics and theology, there is a more general and deeper socially integrative affinity between the two. In addition, there have been various politicizations of salvation in the past and in the present. Every political theology accentuates obedience as an immanent condition of salvation, although interpretation of death (...) in political theology has a different function than in secular ideologies. In the centre of politically theological ideas one can find crosscutting of the divisions between public friend and public enemy from political world with similar divisions from religious world. Finally, beside the theological influence on politics, this paper considers some analogies between theology and the secular judiciary. (shrink)

The debate between individualism and holism in the philosophy of history pertains to the nature of the entities relied on in historical explanations. The question is whether explanations of historical items require the assumption that the collective historical entities used in these explanations are conceived of as irreducible to the actions, thoughts, and beliefs of individual human beings. In this paper I analyze two methodological problems that holist explanations face in the writing of intellectual history. The first problem derives from (...) the fact that holist explanations in intellectual history have to rely on the claim that certain beliefs were inconceivable to some individuals because they were members of specific collectives, whereas it is unclear how historical research can justify such claims when made from the holist position. The second problem pertains to the difficulties the holist position faces when it has to account for the novel properties of artifacts studied by intellectual history. (shrink)

We construct an algebra of generalized functions endowed with a canonical embedding of the space of Schwartz distributions.We offer a solution to the problem of multiplication of Schwartz distributions similar to but different from Colombeau’s solution.We show that the set of scalars of our algebra is an algebraically closed field unlike its counterpart in Colombeau theory, which is a ring with zero divisors. We prove a Hahn–Banach extension principle which does not hold in Colombeau theory. We establish a connection between (...) our theory with non-standard analysis and thus answer, although indirectly, a question raised by Colombeau. This article provides a bridge between Colombeau theory of generalized functions and non-standard analysis. (shrink)

This article discusses the Bulgarian response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bulgarian case is characterized by an ineffective constitution of the individuals as subjects of responsibility for the health of the population, which resulted in a vaccine coverage considerably lower than the European average. The article argues that the fragile responsibilization is an effect of the response to the pandemic that, building on older post-socialist regulations of the access to healthcare, instead of restricting the circulation of bodies in general, tried (...) to differentiate between economically productive and unproductive circulation and to limit only the latter by progressively increasing its differential costs (both in terms of time and efforts and in terms of risks). An analysis of the legal actions against quarantine violators, however, suggests that such a strategy stimulated the public to respond to the pandemic by calculating risks, and if the social actors nevertheless behaved irresponsibly, it was often because they took into account not only the risks posed by the virus but also smaller-scale risks affecting their social support networks. The authorities, however, tried to repair the unreliable responsibilization by articulating an ad hoc right to health defined at the level of the population. That biopolitical right to health was crucial to the implementation of certificate requirements. It was harmonized with individual rights by opening up fields of choice such as the choice between vaccination and daily testing. However, since the differential costs of the higher-risk options seemed irrational, the constellation of individual rights and right to health left a growing residue of irresponsible conducts justifying a further intensification of control. (shrink)

In recent decades, a number of authors have relied on the multiple realizability argument to reject methodological individualism. In this article, I argue that this strategy results in serious difficulties and makes it impossible to identify social entities and phenomena.

Introduction -- Plato -- Aristotle -- The rise of modernity -- Immanuel Kant -- Romanticism and historicism -- Phenomenology and hermeneutics -- Philosophes and philosophers -- Analytic philosophy -- Conclusion.

In diesem Texte werden die Kriterien zur Differenzierung von historischen, politischen und heroischen Generationen und ihren Hauptarten in USA, BR Deutschland, China, Serbien und Croatien er?rtert. Kriege und Revolutionen werden als zentrale generationsschaffende Ereignisse markiert. Es werden auch die konstruierten wie auch zugeschriebenen Generationsidentit?tsarten dargestellt. Die Generation ist als eine mehr oder wenig klare Gruppe aufgefa?t, die durch Zusammensetzung von biographischem und kollektivem Ged?chtnis entstanden ist. Die Generation als eine Art von Zeitstruktur ist bei der Reduktion und Erkl?rung der Vergangenheit (...) anwendbar. Es ist immer eine offene Frage in welchem Masse die Generationen die realen handelnden Subjekte, oder blo?e symbolische Heimat, dh. eine durchg?ngige Erinnerungsgemeinschaft sind? Es wird auf die Gr?nden der Entstehung der balkanischen heroischen Generationen hingewiesen, auf ihre Natur und Aktualit?t. In Westeuropa ist diese Art von Generation schon lange nicht mehr aktuell. Es wird auch darauf hingewiesen, dass durch die Heroisierung einer Generationserfahrung die Herrschaftsgruppen eigene Werte oktroyieren k?nnen. Razmotreni su kriteriji razlikovanja istorijskih, politickih i herojskih generacija i prikazani njihovi konkretni primeri u SAD, SR Nemackoj, NR Kini Srbiji i Hrvatskoj. Ratovi i revolucije su uoceni kao glavni generacijski formativni dogadjaji, ali su prikazani i oblici konstruisanog i pripisanog generacijskog samoopisa. Generacija je rastumacena kao manje ili vise prepoznatljiva grupa formirana prozimanjem biografskog i kolektivnog pamcenja. Kao jedna od kategorija u mrezi slozenih vremenskih struktura generacija je korisna kod redukovanja i objasnjenja slozenosti proslosti. Otvoreno je pitanje koliko su generacije realni akteri promena, a koliko tek simbolicki vremenski zavicaj, tj. efemerna zajednica secanja? Blize su analizirani uzroci nastanka, priroda i aktuelnost balkanskih herojskih generacija. U Zapadnoj Evropi ova vrsta generacija odavno nije aktuelna. Uoceno je da se heroizacijom iskustva jedne generacije mogu uspesno nametati vrednosti vladajucih grupa. (shrink)

The law is an extremely complex phenomenon. It is very difficult to determine it precisely as the complete comprehension and ultimate definition of the law are beyond human capabilities. Also, the law never coincides with its concept, nor does the concept of the law coincide with its definition. This fact shows that the real human capabilities for the comprehension, determination and definition of the law are very limited and the limits are unreliable. The concept of the law is relative as (...) well, which is why all the definitions of the law are also relative. The concept and the definition of the law are also relative because they are of necessity subjective. It is for this reason that they are never truthful. However, even when they are not truthful, they are always useful. Because of these essential cognitive shortcomings and limitations, the law is determined and defined realistically – in a conventional and operative manner – whenever it is possible to do so. Additional difficulties are created by the fact that the number of conventional concepts and definitions of the law is almost limitless. Fortunately, only a number of them, considered operative, are used in the law. And all this because of a possible usefulness. Should the law be useful, then its realistic concept can be determined by the establishment of its common characteristics. On the basis of having at its disposal the mentioned common characteristics, the concept of the law can be operationally determined in both the expanded sense and the restricted sense. Also, it is possible to tell the difference between the three main layers in the concept of the law: complete , incomplete and unfinished law. Obviously, the realistically determined concept of the law is not one-sided, nor is it monolithic, but complex, detailed and as a whole composed of layers of different degrees of being legal. They are used to finely tune the ordering of the relationships between different importance and the degree of the conflict and, which is also important, to legally regulate even those social areas that would otherwise be exclusively regulated with the state or with the social norms. Otherwise, even the Ten Commandments alone would be insufficient to regulate all human relationships. However, the law did not come into being out of leisure time, but out of dire human need to protect the society from self-destruction. Contrary to the realistic concept of the law, there also exist its idealistic, idealized and ideal concepts. However, the idealistic concept of the law is inoperative, the idealized concept of the law is not correct, while the ideal concept of the law is out of human reach.Das Recht stellt ein immens vielfältiges Phänomen dar. Ihn präzise festzulegen entpuppt sich als unsäglich schwierig, denn eine lückenlose Erkenntnis sowie endgültige Definition des Rechts liegt jenseits des menschlichen Vermögens. Zudem geht weder das Recht mit dessen Begriff konform, noch tut es der Begriff des Rechts mit eigener Bestimmung. Dieser Tatbestand lässt durchblicken, die wahre menschliche Befähigung zum Erkennen, Determinieren sowie Definieren des Rechts sei höchst begrenzt, wobei sich ebendiese Schranken als unzuverlässig erzeigen. Die Notion des Rechts ist ebenso relativ, weswegen hiernach sämtliche Begriffsbestimmungen des Rechts relativ sind. Der Begriff einschließlich der Definition des Rechts ist auch aufgrund der ihnen notwendigerweise innewohnenden Subjektivität relativ. Aus diesem Grund sind sie niemals wahrheitsgetreu. Allerdings, auch wenn sie der Wahrheit nicht entsprechen, sind sie stets von Nützlichkeit. Wegen der angebrachten essenziellen erkenntnismäßigen Unzulänglichkeiten und Limitierungen wird das Recht realistisch bestimmt und definiert – in einer konventionellen bzw. operativen Manier – wann immer dies durchführbar ist. Zusätzliche Erschwernisse werden von der Tatsache geschaffen, dass die Zahl der gebräuchlichen Begriffe und Definitionen des Rechts schier unermesslich ist. Glücklicherweise werden lediglich etliche, als operativ angesehene, im Bereich von Recht eingesetzt. Und all dies der denkbaren Nützlichkeit halber. Sollte das Recht nützlich sein, dann lässt sich dessen realistischer Begriff per Gründung seiner gemeinsamen Wesenszüge festsetzen. Auf der Basis der vorhin angeschnittenen, ihm zu Gebote stehenden angehörigen Merkmale, kann der Begriff des Rechts operational determiniert werden, sowohl im erweiterten als auch im engeren Sinne. Ebenfalls ist der Unterschied erkennbar zwischen drei Hauptschichten in dem Begriff des Rechts: vollständiges Recht , unvollständiges Recht und unvollendetes Recht . Augenscheinlich ist der realistischerweise bestimmte Begriff des Rechts weder einseitig noch monolithisch, stattdessen ist er komplex, detailliert und als Ganzes aus Schichten von ungleichem Rechtlichkeitsgrad zusammengestellt. Man gebraucht sie zur Feinabstimmung der Beziehungsordnung zwischen der unterschiedlichen Wichtigkeit und dem Grad des Konflikts, und, was genauso Gewicht hat, um sogar jene Gesellschaftszonen rechtmäßig zu regeln, die anderenfalls ausschließlich seitens der staatlichen bzw. gesellschaftlichen Normen geregelt würden. Ansonsten würden selbst die Zehn Gebote nicht genügen, um menschliche Verhältnisse in ihrer Gänze zu ordnen. Jedoch ist das Recht nicht als Freizeitaktivität entstanden, sondern im Gegenteil als unentbehrliches menschliches Bedürfnis nach Bewahrung der Menschheit vor Selbstauflösung. Der realistischen Notion des Rechts entgegengesetzt existieren parallel dessen idealistische, idealisierte und ideale Begriffe. Dabei gilt der idealistische Begriff als inoperativ, der idealisierte als inkorrekt, während der ideale Begriff außerhalb der menschlichen Reichweite liegt. (shrink)

Der folgende Text geh?rt zur kritischen Thanatologie. In allen bekannten Kulturen wurden Normen f?r den guten und den schlechten Tod von der herrschenden normativen Thanatologien aufgestellt und Kontrollmechanismen installiert. Pr?mortales und postmortales soziales Sterben ist eine Art der Exklusion der Anderen und wird unter?schiedlich bestimmt: als damnatio memoriae, atlantische Sklaventum, Randst?ndigkeit, Isolation oder als Rollenverlust. Das soziale Tod hat einen Klassenaspekt, als den ganzen Klassen Ged?chtnis entnommen wurde. Hier werden nur einige Arten und Beispilen des sozialen Mord kritisch er?rtert: damnatio (...) memoriae, politische Mord und Sklaventum. Es handelt sich um die institutionelle Verarbeitung und Kodierung von Sterben und Tod durch Staat, Religion und Politik. In der Geschichte sind verschieden V?lkern und Klasssen einem intensiveren sozialen Sterbeprozess und der sozialen T?tung unterworfen. Mit Identit?tszerst?rung der Beherrschten ist das soziale mit dem physischen Sterben harmonischer zu verbinden. Es ist auch auf die Differenz zwischen sozialen und politischen T?tung hingewiesen. Am Ende sind einige Aspekte der heutigen geheimen T?tung erw?hnt. (shrink)

This text tries to shed some light on the origin of the idea of moral enhancement, on its epistemic and moral foundations. This requires a comparative analysis of similar ideas present in various trends of bioethics today - the analysis of the very roots of Poter?s global bioethics, the idea of moral enhancement, as well as the break between advocates of moral enhancement and John Harris, their transhumanist colleague, with whom they used to share the same perspective. In this article (...) we identify some basic starting points, similarities and differences between global bioethics and moral enhancement, and draw lines of demarcation between transhumanism and moral enhancement. (shrink)

This book examines the wide-ranging implications for historical research of the view that everything is physical and that no immaterial entities, forces, or phenomena exist. It presents the consequences of materialism for our understanding of the historical past, including the rejection of postmodernist perspectives on history.

Review of H. Biesenbach: Anspielungen und Zitate im Werk Ludwig Wittgensteins (2011).

The paper problematizes the work and evolution of a Bulgarian artist from the point of view of the biographical approach, his artistic interventions and his re-legitimization as a contemporary artist. It discusses various aspects of contemporary art from the point of view of the artist, his interventions, market demands, the underlying contradictions, as well as the transformative tendencies in the small graphics. The paper argues that it is necessary to expand the understanding of contemporary art with certain actions of artists.

One of the key behavioral effects of attractiveness is increased visual attention to attractive people. This effect is often explained in terms of evolutionary adaptations, such as attractiveness being an indicator of good health. Other factors could influence this effect. In the present study, we explored the modulating role of sexual orientation on the effects of attractiveness on exploratory visual behavior. Heterosexual and homosexual men and women viewed natural-looking scenes that depicted either two women or two men who varied systematically (...) in levels of attractiveness (based on a pre-study). Participants’ eye movements and attractiveness ratings towards the faces of the depicted people were recorded. The results showed that although attractiveness had the largest influence on participants’ behaviors, participants’ sexual orientations strongly modulated the effects. With the exception of homosexual women, all participant groups looked longer and more often at attractive faces that corresponded with their sexual orientations. Interestingly, heterosexual and homosexual men and homosexual women looked longer and more often at the less attractive face of their non-preferred sex than the less attractive face of their preferred sex, evidence that less attractive faces of the preferred sex might have an aversive character. These findings provide evidence for the important role that sexual orientation plays in guiding visual exploratory behavior and evaluations of the attractiveness of others. (shrink)

The work of the Paduan Aristotelian philosopher Iacopo Zabarella (1533–1589) has attracted the attention of historians of philosophy mainly for his contributions to logic, scientific methodology and because of his possible influence on Galileo. At the same time, Zabarella's views on Aristotelian psychology have been little studied so far; even those historians of Renaissance philosophy who have discussed them, have based their analysis mainly on the psychological essays included in Zabarella's De rebus naturalibus , but have avoided Zabarella's commentary on (...) Aristotle's De anima . This has led to an inaccurate, but widespread, understanding of Zabarella's views. The intention of this article is to provide a systematic analysis of Zabarella's arguments about the (im)mortality of the soul in the context of Aristotelian psychology. Zabarella's view that the soul is mortal according to Aristotle is remarkable for his time, while his elaboration of this position is far more comprehensive than that of Pietro Pomponazzi, the other significant Renaissance thinker who shared the same view. (shrink)

The natural law is a overempiric law that does not owe his dignity to the legal norm than to the intrinsic qualities of a human being. This paper presents a different hierarchical position of the natural law in the critics of capitalism from K. Marx to our days and its different intonation as a superpositive framework of justice. One should analytically differentiate between theoretical search for social justice in the philosophy of the natural law and empirical identification of power relations (...) that allowed or hindered social justice in the reality. The paper provides analysis of historically different relationships between positive and radical natural law in both the compressed 20th century epochal conscience and today?s neoliberal one. In addition, it compares role of the natural law in capitalism and socialism and differentiates between social justice from above and social justice from below. The first one is gratuitous, paternalistic and limited, the second one is radical and has to be conquered. Radical natural law should express itself as a fully developed social justice liberated from capitalism. Critic of social unjustice from the viewpoint of natural law has no practical effects in our days, and in spite of it, it is not anachronistic. (shrink)

Rad je deo kritike vladajuceg diskursa o smrti i o umiranju. Razmotreni su dublji segmenti kod poimanja smrti u ideologiji levice i desnice. Kao neosnovano je uoceno i problematizovano antitotalitarno izjednacavanje vidjenja smrti kod komunista i fasista. Mistifikovanja i pravdanja zrtve koja je pala u slavu bozje volje, rasne krvi ili klase nisu istovetna. Razlicit je stupanj iracionalizacije i drugaciji je sadrzaj nade u spasenje. Razlicita politicka upotreba smrti prikazana je na primerima ideologije i prakse fasizma i socijalizma. Za razliku (...) od konzervativnog i melanholicnog gledanja da je smrt pravedna i nepotkupljiva otuda sto nas sve pogadja, levica istice da su smrt i umiranje nerazdvojivo povezani sa uslovima zivljenja. Vlast, a ne bog, ideoloski uoblicava strah od smrti, tumaci ga i koristi. Kriticka teorija vidi suocavanje sa smrcu kao deo emancipatorske prakse i kritike kapitalizma. Izneta kritika antitotalitarne neoliberalne tanatologije deo je istog nastojanja. PR Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 149005: Drustveni akteri i drustvene promene u Srbiji 1990-2010. (shrink)

Der folgende Text geh?rt zur kritischen Thanatologie. In allen bekannten Kulturen wurden Normen f?r den guten und den schlechten Tod von der herrschenden normativen Thanatologien aufgestellt und Kontrollmechanismen installiert. Pr?mortales und postmortales soziales Sterben ist eine Art der Exklusion der Anderen und wird unter?schiedlich bestimmt: als damnatio memoriae, atlantische Sklaventum, Randst?ndigkeit, Isolation oder als Rollenverlust. Das soziale Tod hat einen Klassenaspekt, als den ganzen Klassen Ged?chtnis entnommen wurde. Hier werden nur einige Arten und Beispilen des sozialen Mord kritisch er?rtert: damnatio (...) memoriae, politische Mord und Sklaventum. Es handelt sich um die institutionelle Verarbeitung und Kodierung von Sterben und Tod durch Staat, Religion und Politik. In der Geschichte sind verschieden V?lkern und Klasssen einem intensiveren sozialen Sterbeprozess und der sozialen T?tung unterworfen. Mit Identit?tszerst?rung der Beherrschten ist das soziale mit dem physischen Sterben harmonischer zu verbinden. Es ist auch auf die Differenz zwischen sozialen und politischen T?tung hingewiesen. Am Ende sind einige Aspekte der heutigen geheimen T?tung erw?hnt. (shrink)

U radu se analizira slika danasnjeg hegemonog secanja na titoizam. Prikazane su raznovrsne instrumentalne redukcije u domacoj kulturi secanja koje obuhvataju demonizacije i negativne simbolizacije titoizma. Blize su razmotreni raznovrsni mitovi i ideologizacije kod pamcenja titoizma, zatim cinioci selektivnog secanja i novi sklop secanja na titoizam. Uoceno je da su privatizacija i retradicionalizacija glavni cinioci kreiranja novih okvira za pamcenje socijalizma i za novu negativnu simbolizaciju titoizma.

U radu se analizira slika danasnjeg hegemonog secanja na titoizam. Prikazane su raznovrsne instrumentalne redukcije u domacoj kulturi secanja koje obuhvataju demonizacije i negativne simbolizacije titoizma. Blize su razmotreni raznovrsni mitovi i ideologizacije kod pamcenja titoizma, zatim cinioci selektivnog secanja i novi sklop secanja na titoizam. Uoceno je da su privatizacija i retradicionalizacija glavni cinioci kreiranja novih okvira za pamcenje socijalizma i za novu negativnu simbolizaciju titoizma.

The social and institutional background of this research can be summarized as the relation between public and governmental policies on the one hand, and the experience of patients and IVF experts on the other. Namely, one third of all pregnancies achieved in state-funded in vitro fertilizations obscure some ethical and health issues, especially among patients who abandon the state-funded IVF programme in Serbia. The goal of the current research is to identify, describe and understand ethical and social issues that parents (...) encounter in attempts to fulfil their idea of a sovereign life through IVF. The method comprised a tri-level analysis based on semi-structured interviews with participants who exhibit personal experiences of basic ethical principles and social and health needs within IVF. The results obtained indicate that all three explored levels of patients' experience build a picture of Assisted Reproductive Technology as a means of a sovereign or good life. However, the cultural image of the fulfilment of expected parental social roles resulted in a denial of autonomy and led to self-abnegation through silent acceptance of unethical practices. There is an overlap of the margins of secular ideas and roles on the one hand, and religiosity on the other, making such consent socially acceptable and more easily explainable. Finally, the conclusion reached is that apparently a decrease in sovereignty of parental decisions causes a loss of trust in state clinics and medical procedures, reduces solidarity and establishes norms and patterns of social injustice and inequality. (shrink)

This text tries to shed some light on the origin of the idea of moral enhancement, on its epistemic and moral foundations. This requires a comparative analysis of similar ideas present in various trends of bioethics today - the analysis of the very roots of Poter?s global bioethics, the idea of moral enhancement, as well as the break between advocates of moral enhancement and John Harris, their transhumanist colleague, with whom they used to share the same perspective. In this article (...) we identify some basic starting points, similarities and differences between global bioethics and moral enhancement, and draw lines of demarcation between transhumanism and moral enhancement. (shrink)

The debate between the individualist and the holist understanding of social items (social entities, events, institutions, phenomena and so on) has a long history and potentially a wide range of political implications. Political positions and political assumptions often play a significant role in the debate and it is not rare that participants in the discussion seek to associate the positions they oppose with unpopular political views, instead of providing actual theoretical arguments. The tendency to associate individualist positions in the social (...) sciences with political libertarianism and neo-liberal economic agendas is particularly common. At the same time, disciplinary politics and concerns about the integrity of the social sciences (especially in the form of fears from their reducibility to psychology) also play an important role in the debate. In this paper I analyze such political assumptions that often motivate, or are stated to motivate, the debate. (shrink)

Imagine that you have volunteered to participate in a research project in social psychology. You arrive at the venue on time. In the room you find the psychologist and five other people participating in the experiment, who arrived a short time before you. The psychologist explains that the par- ticipants will be asked to respond to a series of questions pertaining to the geometrical figures she will draw on the board. She asks the participants to respond in the order they (...) arrived in the room. Then she draws seven straight lines of different lengths on the board and asks the participants to come individually to the board and point to the shortest line. Much to your surprise, one after another, the participants go to the board and point to the second longest line, declaring it to be the shortest. When your turn comes, you point to the line that is obviously the shortest. You immediately notice that some people in the group look at you with surprise. The psychologist then draws five squares and asks which one is the smallest. (shrink)