This monograph is a detailed study, and systematic defence, of the Growing Block Theory of time (GBT), first conceived by C.D. Broad. The book offers a coherent, logically perspicuous and ideologically lean formulation of GBT, defends it against the most notorious objections to be found in the extant philosophical literature, and shows how it can be derived from a more general theory, consistent with relativistic spacetime, on the pre-relativistic assumption of an absolute and total temporal order. -/- The authors devise (...) axiomatizations of GBT and its competitors which, against the backdrop of a shared quantified tense logic, significantly improves the prospects of their comparative assessment. Importantly, neither of these axiomatizations involves commitment to properties of presentness, pastness or futurity. The authors proceed to address, and defuse, a number of objections that have been marshaled against GBT, including the so-called epistemic objection according to which the theory invites skepticism about our temporal location. The challenge posed by relativistic physics is met head-on, by replacing claims about temporal variation by claims about variation across spacetime. -/- The book aims to achieve the greatest possible rigor. The background logic is set out in detail, as are the principles governing the notions of precedence and temporal location. The authors likewise devise a novel spacetime logic suited for the articulation, and comparative assessment, of relativistic theories of time. The book comes with three technical appendices which include soundness and completeness proofs for the systems corresponding to GBT and its competitors, in both their pre-relativistic and relativistic forms. -/- The book is primarily directed at researchers and graduate students working on the philosophy of time or temporal logic, but is of interest to metaphysicians and philosophical logicians more generally. (shrink)

SummaryThis article sheds light on intellectual politics under Nazism by looking at a crucial shift in the field of Hobbes studies that was marked in a congress celebrating the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Hobbes's birth, organised in Kiel, 1938. Before the congress, the decisive voice in Hobbes studies had for almost fifty years been that of Kiel University professor Ferdinand Tönnies. Tönnies was purged from the university upon the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 and died three (...) years later. At the opening of the Hobbes congress in Kiel, its convener, Cay von Brockdorff, declared that the phase of Hobbes studies shaped by Tönnies was ending and that a new phase, represented by Paul Ritterbusch and Carl Schmitt, had emerged. Against the background of a long tradition of Hobbes studies in Kiel, this article summarises Tönnies's contribution to Hobbes studies; analyses organisation and proceeedings of the congress, paying special attention to politico-theoretical disagreements between Ritterbusch and Schmitt and to von Brockdorff's exploitation of their rivalry; and contextualises Schmitt's interpretation of Hobbes published in the aftermath of the congress. (shrink)

Formiranje prepričanja v Humovi filozofiji je glavna tema članka, ki izhaja iz temeljnega razlikovanja med naravno in nenaravno domišljijo v Humovem svetu Narave. Za razliko od vere prepričanje pri Humu prestopa meje zaznave v smeri skritih vzrokov, a vendar ostaja v okvirih izkustva in navade; naloga filozofije, ki je razpeta med skepticizem in vsakdanje življenje, je formiranje domišljije, na katero se opira vzročno sklepanje v prepričanjih. Formiranje domišljije se pri Humu neposredno izrazi v razmerju filozofije na eni strani in literature (...) ter zgodovinopisja na drugi, kot gaje mogoče zaznati v kratkem spisu A Dialogue in nadaljevanja tretjega poglavja Raziskovanja človeškega razuma. To obliko neposrednega formiranja domišljije, ki jo opredeljuje razmerje odkrite prevare, Hume dopolni z razmerjem prikrite prevare, ki subjektu formiranja hkrati omogoča distanco in onemogoča, da bi se prevare zavedal. (shrink)

The article tackles the problem of studying diachronic semantic changes of modal markers in Latin. It proposes to do so by using context as a proxy for tracing the development of otherwise unchanging forms. In the first part, the main theoretical positions in modality studies are presented, especially the notions of deontic modality, epistemic modality, and pathways of modality. In the second part, Heine’s model for studying the role of context in language change is presented and applied to the modal (...) verb licet. In the case study of licet, an attempt is made to identify the so-called switch context which co-creates the conditions necessary for the semantic change. (shrink)

This study investigated how seventh-grade students rate their fear of, and disgust toward, amphibians in comparison to some other nonhuman animal species. For the purpose of evaluating these variables, a questionnaire with open-ended and self-report questions was used. The study found that direct experience of animals significantly affects students’ self-reported fear and disgust ratings. Boys generally reported less fear and disgust toward animals than girls. With regard to amphibians, students expressed relatively high disgust, but low fear. There were no differences (...) in disgust ratings between boys and girls. Also, a majority of students reported having no direct experience of amphibians, and their attitudes hovered between negative and neutral. Factor analysis placed amphibians in a category of disgust-relevant animals. The other two categories that emerged were interpreted as fear-relevant animals and companion animals. The study concluded that education should place greater importance on allowing students to experience a variety of different animal species directly in order to foster positive change in their feelings and attitudes toward them, and at the same time to build on their understanding of animals. (shrink)

Nos escritos kantianos sobre o tema da educação (Erziehung), podemos perceber que o filósofo refere-se ao processo educativo de diversos modos, seja como sendo uma arte de educar (Erziehungskunst), como formação (Bildung), como doutrina da educação (Erziehungslehre) ou como sendo uma ideia (Idee). Essa multiplicidade de noções não é de modo algum arbitrária, mas cada uma se relaciona entre si e tem como ponto fulcral o conceito de educação como uma ideia, isto é, um conceito da razão que seja a (...) medida do que se pretende, assim como a condição de possibilidade da própria experiência educativa. Sendo, desse modo, para todos os casos, um máximo como medida em consideração a outras grandezas menores. Na recomposição do conceito de educação, a ideia é o princípio regulador da teoria ou da doutrina da educação, a arte certamente é a habilidade que desenvolverá in concreto o que foi raciocinado no cânon doutrinal. Isso posto, a educação, enquanto ideia, assume a função reguladora da perseguição de fins, sendo ela o fim da doutrina da educação e, para a arte de educar, isto é, para a pedagogia (Pädagogik), ela é o máximo grau de perfeição a que se deve comparar a educação do tempo presente. (shrink)

African philosophy, as a negritude, is a moment in the postcolonial critique of European/Western colonialism and the bodies of knowledge that sustained it. Yet a critical analysis of its' original articulations reveals the limits of this critique and more broadly of postcolonial studies, while also pointing towards more radical theoretical possibilities within African philosophy. Jean-Paul Sartre's essay 'Black Orpheus', a philosophical appropriation of negritude poetry, serves as a guide for this reflection, for the text reveals the inspiration and wealth of (...) expressions of negritude, as well as their ambiguity. Sartre's essay however also renders possible a further act of re-appropriation that takes us beyond culture and identity-centred readings of African philosophy and postcolonialism, readings whose conceptual and critical potential is far greater than what has hitherto been explored. (shrink)

O texto assinala que os estudos e pesquisas de Pierre Bourdieu apresenta uma clara identificação com a educação e com a análise educacional. Observa que no Brasil, até bem pouco tempo, a abordagem desse autor esteve associada com uma de suas obras A reprodução, sendo por isso transformado num pedagogo ou num filósofo educacional, cuja pedagogia devia ser rejeitada em nome de um humanismo otimista, que era justamente o que ele estava criticando. Mais recentemente, no entanto, verifica-se que Bourdieu passa (...) a ser considerado como um teórico social importante para a análise e para a própria teoria da educação. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper selected by ICIL 2019 committee in Rome is to demonstrate the current importance of the internet in the protection of democracy in developting countries.Design/methodology/approachIt is intended to make a comparison with the growing and current phenomenon of Brazilian disinformation with other contemporary phenomena related to new technologies through literature review methodology.FindingsThe Brazilian elections in 2018 represent an authentic model in a post-Cambridge Analytical phase where the myth of the sanctity of data has been broken. The (...) big influence of the algorithmic revolution on democracies in Latin America has never been more evident. The misuse of algorithms created an artificial environment that does not put us in contact with different realities; the consequences of this conjuncture have the deepest impacts, especially in countries that rely on a deficient educational system.Social implicationsBesides that, the broad use of zero-rating on the internet delivery in developing countries is also considered a factor of fake news dissemination. The information bubbles promote political polarization to the detriment of diversity – and the diversity is par excellence one of the pillars of democracy.Originality/valueThe research about the impact that the phenomenon of disinformation has on underdeveloped countries, it is essential to analyze the new role of the legislator in the elaboration of hypercomplex laws with multi-stakeholder interests that respect the essential core of digital human rights as the freedom of expression online. (shrink)

Recent metaphysics has turned its focus to two notions that are—as well as having a common Aristotelian pedigree—widely thought to be intimately related: grounding and essence. Yet how, exactly, the two are related remains opaque. We develop a unified and uniform account of grounding and essence, one which understands them both in terms of a generalized notion of identity examined in recent work by Fabrice Correia, Cian Dorr, Agustín Rayo, and others. We argue that the account comports with antecedently (...) plausible principles governing grounding, essence, and identity taken individually, and illuminates how the three interact. We also argue that the account compares favorably to an alternative unification of grounding and essence recently proposed by Kit Fine. (shrink)

Many philosophers have recently been impressed by an argument to the effect that all grounding facts about “derivative entities”—e.g. the facts expressed by the (let us suppose) true sentences ‘the fact that Beijing is a concrete entity is grounded in the fact that its parts are concrete’ and ‘the fact that there are cities is grounded in the fact that p’, where ‘p’ is a suitable sentence couched in the language of particle physics—must themselves be grounded. This argument relies on (...) a principle, _Purity_, which states that facts about derivative entities are non-fundamental. Purity is questionable. In this paper, I introduce a new argument—the argument from _Settledness_—for a similar conclusion but which does not rely on Purity. The conclusion of the new argument is that every “thick” grounding fact is grounded, where a grounding fact [F is grounded in G, H, …] is said to be thick when at least one of F, G, H, … is a fact—a condition that is automatically satisfied if grounding is factive. After introducing the argument, I compare it with the argument from Purity, and I assess its cogency relative to the relevant accounts of the connections between grounding and fundamentality that are available in the literature. (shrink)

Better memory, greater motivation and concentration lead to greater productivity, efficiency and performance, all of which are features that are highly valued in a modern society focused on productivity. In the effort for better cognitive abilities, otherwise healthy individuals use cognitive enhancers, medicines for the treatment of cognitive deficits of patients with various disorders and health problems, such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, stroke, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ageing. The use of these is more common in professions with emphasised cognitive (...) abilities, or in occupations that require more attention, focus and alertness. Their use is also associated with the general working population, in that they are supposed to use them to alleviate the effects of sleep deprivation and to cope with increasing workloads. In the paper, we are addressing the ethical issue and the dilemmas of the use of pharmaceutical enhancements by healthy people who have no medical reason for taking such substances, in the context of improving their cognitive functions. (shrink)

Nosso objetivo neste trabalho é tentar esclarecer o mal-estar causado por algumas leituras que muitas vezes despacham a influência e a presença constante de Hegel na obra de Adorno de forma muito breve e fácil, seja a partir da perspectiva antissistêmica da filosofia adorniana, ou então, desde a perspectiva negativa que a dialética assume em seu pensamento. Nesse sentido, pretendemos expor alguns pontos fundamentais da filosofia hegeliana, em relação aos quais Adorno se coloca claramente como herdeiro. Pretendemos mostrar que o (...) filósofo de Frankfurt pensa não somente sobre estes pontos, mas também a partir deles, i.e., superando-os. (shrink)

When tackling with the issue of globalization in the context of philosophy, this article takes somewhat different route than expected: it doesn’t ponder upon the meaning and the consequences of the processes we call ‘global’, but instead tries to find out how philosophy, theoretical and literary production themselves have been affected by globalization. Instead of an attempt to immediately “think the globalization” it tries to show what “globalization has done to thinking”. In order to illustrate this point three main areas (...) to be explored are taken into account: Africa, Latin America and India. They are chosen on the basis of being representative regions of the so-called “Third-World” or “Global South”. Main idea, taken from the arguments of P. Hountondji is that philosophical and theoretical productions mimic economic one; a fortiori: they are actually the same process. This point is illustrated in a number of cases. Further, the paper tries to show that, in spite of huge differences in hermeneutical outlooks, geographical distance and successive traditions, all “Third-World” philosophical/literary production faces similar fate, what could be a consequence of its structural positioning in a contemporary “World-System”. However, the authors who come from “peripheral” areas of theoretical production don’t only face similar problems but, as shown, also share similar ideas of what could be done in order to minimize and level out the imbalance and asymmetrical position of their cultures. (shrink)

Razmatrajući pitanje globalizacije u kontekstu filozofije, tekst kreće u pomalo neočekivanom pravcu: ne promišlja o značenju i posljedicama procesa kojeg nazivamo ‘globalnim’ nego umjesto toga nastoji istražiti kakav je utjecaj globalizacije na filozofiju te teorijsku i literarnu produkciju. Umjesto pokušaja da odmah »misli globalizaciju«, tekst nastoji pokazati »što je globalizacija učinila mišljenju«. Za ilustraciju toga nastojanja uzet će se u obzir tri glavna područja koja treba istražiti: Afrika, Latinska Amerika i Indija. Ta su područja izabrana jer predstavljaju reprezentativne regije tzv. (...) »Trećeg svijeta« ili »Globalnog Juga«. Osnovna ideja, preuzeta od P. Hountondijija, jest da filozofska i teorijska produkcija oponašaju onu ekonomsku, a fortiori, zapravo predstavljaju isti proces, što je prikazano na mnoštvu primjera. Nadalje, tekst nastoji pokazati da se usprkos velikim razlikama u hermeneutičkim gledištima, geografskoj udaljenosti i sukcesivnoj tradiciji, cijela filozofska/literarna produkcija »Trećeg svijeta« suočava sa sličnom sudbinom, što može biti posljedicom njena strukturalnog pozicioniranja u suvremenom »sustavu svijeta«. Autori koji dolaze iz »perifernih« područja teorijske produkcije ne suočavaju se samo sa sličnim problemima, nego, kako je u tekstu pokazano, također dijele slične ideje o tome što se može učiniti kako bi se minimalizirala i izjednačila neravnoteža i asimetrična pozicija njihovih kultura. (shrink)

Hobbes's _Behemoth_ has always been overshadowed by his more famous _Leviathan_, which is arguably his masterpiece and is one of the greatest works of political philosophy. _Behemoth_, Hobbes's "booke of the Civill Warr," on the other hand, is most often seen as little more than a history of the English Civil War and Interregnum. This volume contains analyses and interpretations of the _Behemoth_: the structure of its argument, its relation to Hobbes's other writings, and its place in its philosophical, theological, (...) political, and religious historical context. It also explores the implications of Hobbes's analysis of the "causes of the civil-wars of England and of the councels and artifices by which they were carried on". The contributions show Hobbes's relevance for today's debates about the decline of sovereignty and the state, and the rise of religious and democratic fundamentalisms. (shrink)

The question of whether Spinoza's political philosophy is radical is explored in the paper by focusing on the question of how successfully Spinoza solved the troubling relation between religion and public authority in his work Tractatus theologico-politicus (TTP). This is a burning political issue today and was a pressing political concern in Spinoza's time as well as for Spinoza himself. After the examination of this problematic in TTP it is clear that Spinoza does not provide a coherent and compelling argument (...) against revealed religion having a role in the founding of the state and in statecraft. A minimalist conclusion would be that Spinoza allows for a role of revealed religion in democracy. A more daring conclusion would point at the affinity between republican democracy and theocracy. In either case, with the TTP's help, we cannot avoid either theological politics or political theology. (shrink)

: This article aims to show that although the apostle Paul did not call himself a prophet, still makes his presentation in his letters in the same way that the Old Testament prophets. The article points out the many similarities between Paul and the prophets. It seeks to analyze and interact with Scripture and literature concerning the matter.We conclude that the Apostle founded the authority of his call, highlighting the prophetic aspect of his apostolate. It is evident that the Apostle (...) had a awareness of the prophetic character of his person, mission and message. It is called and sent directly by God, records the Scripture inspired by the Spirit and has a fruitful ministry of preaching and teaching. Este artigo tem como objetivo mostrar que embora o apóstolo Paulo não chame a si mesmo de profeta, ainda assim faz sua apresentação em suas cartas nos mesmos moldes que os profetas do Antigo Testamento. O artigo aponta as várias semelhanças entre Paulo e os profetas. Procura-se fazer uma análise e interação com a Escritura bem como literatura pertinente ao tema. Conclui-se que o Apóstolo fundamenta a autoridade de seu chamado, destacando o aspecto profético de seu apostolado. Evidencia-se que o Apóstolo possuía uma consciência do caráter profético de sua pessoa, missão e mensagem. É chamado e enviado diretamente por Deus, registra a Escritura de maneira inspirada pelo Espírito e tem um profícuo ministério de pregação e ensino. (shrink)

In this paper, we clarify what proponents of the Growing Block Theory (GBT) should and what they should not say, and what they consistently can say. Once all the central tenets of the view are on the table, we address both David Braddon-Mitchell’s and Trenton Merricks’ recent eulogies for GBT, based on what is representative of a certain type of argument meant to show that GBT is internally incoherent. We argue that this type of argument proceeds from a mistaken assumption (...) about GBT’s core, viz. that GBT works with an untensed notion of what, in the metaphysically most fundamental sense, there is. We conclude that this type of argument accordingly misfires and that for all we know, we might be living on the brink of reality. (shrink)

Say that two sentences are factually equivalent when they describe the same facts or situations, understood as worldly items, i.e. as bits of reality rather than as representations of reality. The notion of factual equivalence is certainly of central interest to philosophical semantics, but it plays a role in a much wider range of philosophical areas. What is the logic of factual equivalence? This paper attempts to give a partial answer to this question, by providing an answer the following, more (...) specific question: Given a standard propositional language with negation, conjunction and disjunction as primitive operators, which sentences of the language should be taken to be factually equivalent by virtue of their logical form? The system for factual equivalence advocated in this paper is a proper fragment of the first-degree system for the logic of analytic equivalence put forward in the late seventies by R. B. Angell. I provide the system with two semantics, both formulated in terms of the notion of a situation’s being fittingly described by a linguistic item. In the final part of the paper I argue, contra a view I defended in my “Grounding and Truth-Functions”, that the logic for factual equivalence I advocate here should be preferred to Angell’s logic if one wishes to follow the general conception of the relationships between factual equivalence and the notion of grounding put forward in the 2010 paper. (shrink)

Der Verfasser betrachtet die Frage der Globalisierung im Kontext der Philosophie und schwenkt in etwas unerwarteter Richtung ab: Gegenstand seiner Untersuchungen sind nicht Bedeutung und Folgen des als „global“ bezeichneten Prozesses, sondern die Art und Weise, in der die Globalisierung die philosophisch-theoretische und literarische Produktion beeinflusst. Anstatt also umgehend „die Globalisierung zu reflektieren“, möchte der Verfasser zeigen, „was die Globalisierung dem Denken angetan hat“. Um sein Bestreben zu veranschaulichen, verweist er auf Afrika, Lateinamerika und Indien, drei Hauptbereiche, die es zu (...) untersuchen gelte, da es sich um repräsentative Regionen der sog. „Dritten Welt“ oder des „globalen Südens“ handle. Der von P. Hountondji übernommene Grundgedanke lautet, dass die philosophische und übrige fachliterarische Produktion der Wirtschaftsproduktion nacheifere; a fortiori stellten sie ein und denselben Prozess dar, was anhand zahlreicher Beispiele veranschaulicht wird. Des Weiteren soll gezeigt werden, dass trotz großer Unterschiede in den hermeneutischen Positionen, trotz der großen geografischen Entfernungen und sukzessiven Traditionen die gesamte philosophische und literarische Produktion der „Dritten Welt“ ein ähnliches Schicksal erlebt. Dies kann nach Ansicht des Autors eine Folge ihrer strukturalen Positionierung innerhalb des zeitgenössischen „Weltsystems“ sein. Autoren aus „peripheren“ Bereichen der philosophisch-theoretischen Produktion sehen sich nicht nur ähnlichen Problemen gegenübergestellt, sondern teilen, wie im Text nachzulesen ist, ähnliche Gedanken darüber, was getan werden kann, um das Ungleichgewicht zwischen den Kulturen und die asymmetrische Position ihrer eigenen Kulturen zu minimieren und abzuschaffen. (shrink)

V prvem delu razprave je precizirano, kdaj, kje in kako se je v francoski revoluciji uveljavila delitev na levico in desnico. Levica je definirana z delitvijo političnega prostora v nasprotni in izključujoči se entiteti, med katerima ni posredovanj. V drugem delu razprave je oblikovanje take delitve političnega prostora ponazorjeno z intervencijami Robespierra in Saint-Justa, Sieyé-sa ter Marxa in Engelsa. V sklepnem delu je delitev na levico in desnico interpretirana kot vzpostavitev nadzorovanja političnega prostora. Pozicija levice nima avtonomne identitete, predpostavlja fiksno (...) referenčno točko in implicira zunanjega opazovalca. Strukturno vsebuje pogoj možnosti za izrinjenje vesti z zavestjo in ločitev politike od morale. (shrink)

Este texto propõe uma crítica da tecnologia conforme abordada na narrativa pós-natureza do antropoceno. Para essa narrativa, também chamada de pós-ambientalismo, o antropoceno é o momento histórico em que fica clara a impossibilidade de uma noção idealizada da natureza, distinta da intervenção humana. Neste texto, argumenta-se que, embora tenha méritos no questionamento de aspectos cruciais do pensamento moderno, essa narrativa tem também problemas teórico-conceituais significativos derivados da centralidade atribuída à mediação técnica, que acaba convertendo-a em uma espécie de metafísica. A (...) exposição das teses da narrativa pós-natureza do antropoceno se dá a partir do diálogo com textos de ativistas do pós-ambientalismo, como Michael Shellenberger e Ted Nordhaus, e de pensadores que fornecem a essa corrente o fundamento teórico-conceitual, como Bruno Latour e Peter Sloterdijk. A crítica se ampara na argumentação dos filósofos contemporâneos Dieter Mersch e Andreas Luckner, que desdobram ideias já sinalizadas por Martin Heidegger e indicam caminhos para compreender os limites de perspectivas metafísicas sobre tecnologia. (shrink)

When thinking about the notion of essence or of an essential feature, philosophers typically focus on what I will call the notion of objectual essence. The main aim of this paper is to argue that beside this familiar notion stands another one, the notion of generic essence, which contrary to appearance cannot be understood in terms of the familiar notion, and which also fails to be correctly characterized by certain other accounts which naturally come to mind as well. Some of (...) my objections to these accounts are similar to some of Kit Fine’s compelling objections to the standard modal account of (objectual) essence (Fine 1994). In the light of these objections, Fine advances the view that it is metaphysical necessity which has to be understood in terms of essence, rather than the other way around, and takes essence to be unanalyzable. When formulatinghis view, Fine had only objectual essence in mind (or had both concepts in mind, but assumed that the generic is a special case of the objectual), and for that reason, I will argue, his account fails. I will suggest that Fineans should modify their view, and take it that metaphysical necessity is to be understood in terms of the two notions of essence—a view I myself find appealing. Finally, I will end by suggesting a further move which reduces the objectual to the generic, making metaphysical necessity reducible to generic essence alone—a move with which I myself have some sympathy. (shrink)

Some of the most eminent and enduring philosophical questions concern matters of priority: what is prior to what? What 'grounds' what? Is, for instance, matter prior to mind? Recently, a vivid debate has arisen about how such questions have to be understood. Can the relevant notion or notions of priority be spelled out? And how do they relate to other metaphysical notions, such as modality, truth-making or essence? This volume of new essays, by leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, is the (...) first to address and investigate the metaphysical idea that certain facts are grounded in other facts. An introduction introduces and surveys the debate, examining its history as well as its central systematic aspects. The volume will be of wide interest to students and scholars of metaphysics. (shrink)

I offer and defend an account of real definitions. I put forward two versions of the account, one formulated in terms of the notion of generalised identity and of a suitable notion of grounding, and the other one formulated in terms of the former notion and of a suitable notion of comparative joint-carvingness. Given a plausible assumption, and turn out to be equivalent. I give a sketch of a unified account of the three notions involved in and from which the (...) assumption can be derived. (shrink)

The COVID-19 outbreak has ravaged all societal domains, including education. Home confinement, school closures, and distance learning impacted students, teachers, and parents’ lives worldwide. In this study, we aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on Italian and Portuguese students’ academic motivation as well as investigate the possible buffering role of extracurricular activities. Following a retrospective pretest–posttest design, 567 parents reported on their children’s academic motivation and participation in extracurricular activities. We used a multi-group latent change score model to (...) compare Italian and Portuguese students’: pre-COVID mean motivation scores; rate of change in motivation; individual variation in the rate of change in motivation; and dependence of the rate of change on initial motivation scores. Estimates of latent change score models showed a decrease in students’ motivation both in Italy and in Portugal, although more pronounced in Italian students. Results also indicated that the decrease in students’ participation in extracurricular activities was associated with changes in academic motivation. Furthermore, students’ age was significantly associated with changes in motivation. No significant associations were found for students’ gender nor for parents’ education. This study provides an important contribution to the study of students’ academic motivation during home confinement, school closures, and distance learning as restrictive measures adopted to contain a worldwide health emergency. We contend that teachers need to adopt motivation-enhancing practices as means to prevent the decline in academic motivation during exceptional situations. (shrink)

In his influential paper ‘‘Essence and Modality’’, Kit Fine argues that no account of essence framed in terms of metaphysical necessity is possible, and that it is rather metaphysical necessity which is to be understood in terms of essence. On his account, the concept of essence is primitive, and for a proposition to be metaphysically necessary is for it to be true in virtue of the nature of all things. Fine also proposes a reduction of conceptual and logical necessity in (...) the same vein: a conceptual necessity is a proposition true in virtue of the nature of all concepts, and a logical necessity a proposition true in virtue of the nature of all logical concepts. I argue that the plausibility of Fine's view crucially requires that certain apparent explanatory links between essentialist facts be admitted and accounted for, and I make a suggestion about how this can be done. I then argue against the reductions of conceptual and logical necessity proposed by Fine and suggest alternative reductions, which remain nevertheless Finean in spirit. (shrink)

Social influence and persuasion are not synonyms. This paper traces back the different approaches and distinctions constituting the two concepts and argues that the two research traditions focused respectively on social influence in group processes and on individual attitude change through persuasive communication, could be re-examined from a different vantage point, casting a new light on the continuities between them.

I assume that truth-making is to be understood in terms of grounding, and I show how, on that assumption, various general properties of truth-making follow from certain features of grounding.

We argue that sensitivity to the distinction between the tensed notion of being something and the tensed notion of being located at the present time serves as a good antidote to confusions in debates about time and existence, in particular in the debate about how to characterise presentism, and saves us the trouble of going through unnecessary epicycles. Both notions are frequently expressed using the tensed verb ‘to exist’, making it systematically ambiguous. It is a commendable strategy to avoid using (...) that verb altogether in these contexts and to use quantification and a location predicate instead. (shrink)

The purpose of the book is to clarify the notion of existential dependence and cognate notions, such as supervenience and the notion of an internal relation. I defend the view that such notions are best understood in terms of the concept of metaphysical grounding, i.e. the concept of one fact obtaining in virtue of other facts, where ‘in virtue of’ has a distinctively metaphysical meaning.

Standard possible world semantics for propositional modal languages ignore truth-value gaps. However, simple considerations suggest that it should not be so. In Section 1, I identify what I take to be a correct truth-clause for necessity under the assumption that some possible worlds are incomplete (i.e., "at" which some propositions lack a truth-value). In Section 2, I build a world semantics, the semantics of TV-models, for standard modal propositional languages, which agrees with the truth-clause for necessity previously identified. Sections 3–5 (...) are devoted to systematic concerns. In particular, in Section 4, Prior’s system Q (propositional version) is given a TV-models semantics and proved adequate (i.e., sound and complete) with respect to it. (shrink)