In this target article we question the assumption that perception is divided into separate domains of vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. We review implications of this assumption for theories of perception and for our understanding of ambient energy arrays (e.g., the optic and acoustic arrays) that are available to perceptual systems. We analyze three hypotheses about relations between ambient arrays and physical reality: (1) that there is an ambiguous relation between ambient energy arrays and physical reality, (2) that there (...) is a unique relation between individual energy arrays and physical reality, and (3) that there is a redundant but unambiguous relation, within or across arrays, between energy arrays and physical reality. This is followed by a review of the physics of motion, focusing on the existence and status of referents for physical motion. Our review indicates that it is not possible, in principle, for there to be a unique relation between physical motion and the structure of individual energy arrays. We argue that physical motion relative to different referents is specified only in the global array, which consists of higher-order relations across different forms of energy. The existence of specificity in the global array is consistent with the idea of direct perception, and so poses a challenge to traditional, inference-based theories of perception and cognition. However, it also presents a challenge to much of the ecological approach to perception and action, which has accepted the assumption of separate senses. (shrink)

U.S. multinational enterprises must now follow the policies of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in their overseas operations, at least with respect to U.S. expatriate employees. Doing so in a culture which discourages gender equality in the workplace raises difficult issues, both practically and ethically. Vigorously importing U.S. attitudes toward gender-equality into a social culture such as Japan or Saudi Arabia may seem ethnocentric, a version of ethical imperialism. Yet adapting to host country norms risks a (...) kind of moral relativism. This article supports the view that MNEs which promote workplace equality in a host country such as Japan, which is actively involved in the international economic and political community, is not ethical imperialism in any pejorative sense and is preferable to a moral relativism or social contract approach.We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain rights — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. (shrink)

In Imagining Europe, Chiara Bottici and Benoît Challand explore the formation of modern European identity. Europe has not always been there, although we have been imagining it for quite some time. Even after the birth of a polity called the European Union, the meaning of Europe remained a very much contested topic. What is Europe? What are its boundaries? Is there a specific European identity or is the EU just the name for a group of institutions? This book answers these (...) questions, showing that in Europe's formation, myth and memory, although distinct, are often merged in a common attempt to construct an identity for its present and its future. In a time when Europe is facing an existential crisis, when its meaning is being questioned, Imagining Europe explores a vital and often unacknowledged aspect of the European project. (shrink)

Various studies have shown a decrease in well-being and an increase in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, only a few studies have explored fear, depression, and well-being cross-culturally during this time. Accordingly, we present the results of a cross-cultural study that compares these mental health scores for German and South African students, compares the correlations among them, and identifies COVID-19 fear, well-being, and depression predictors. German and South African societies differ from each other socio-culturally, politically, and economically. (...) Their university systems also differ to a large extent. University students in both countries completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Welch’s t-test, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were performed. German students were found to have statistically lower levels of COVID-19 fear and depression, but lower levels of general well-being than South African students. In both samples, fear of COVID-19 was negatively correlated with well-being and positively associated with female gender and depression. Additionally, female gender, depression, and lower well-being were identified as predictors of COVID-19 fear in both samples. The findings indicate that the fear of COVID-19 is associated with and varies according to gender, depression, and well-being across cultures, and that the difference in the intensity of fear between German and South African students may be partly explained by cultural and contextual differences. These findings can create a deeper understanding of the pandemic’s impact on student communities and may be used by mental health practitioners and researchers to develop and apply culture-specific interventions. (shrink)

Participatory Technology Assessment initiatives have usually been analyzed as if they existed in a social and political vacuum. This article analyzes the linkages that occur, in both directions, between the microcosm set up by a pTA exercise and the real world outside. This dual-dynamics perspective leads to a new way of understanding the function and significance of pTA initiatives. Rather than viewing them as a means to create the ideal conditions for real public debate, they are viewed here as an (...) additional public arena in which sociotechnical controversies are played out. This perspective is developed from the analysis of an interactive technology assessment exercise conducted by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, on the topic of genetically modified vines. (shrink)

The new commentaries raise important issues about the target article (Stoffregen & Bardy 2001). The commentaries also highlight some assumptions, often implicit, that underlie traditional interpretations of perception. We argue that evaluation of the global array and its implications for perception requires both analytical research on specification in the global array and new empirical research on the use of information in the global array for the control of action.

Conventionally, multilevel analysis of covariance (ML-ANCOVA) has been the recommended approach for analyzing treatment effects in quasi-experimental multilevel designs with treatment application at the cluster-level. In this paper, we introduce the generalized ML-ANCOVA with linear effect functions that identifies average and conditional treatment effects in the presence of treatment-covariate interactions. We show how the generalized ML-ANCOVA model can be estimated with multigroup multilevel structural equation models that offer considerable advantages compared to traditional ML-ANCOVA. The proposed model takes into account measurement (...) error in the covariates, sampling error in contextual covariates, treatment-covariate interactions, and stochastic predictors. We illustrate the implementation of ML-ANCOVA with an example from educational effectiveness research where we estimate average and conditional effects of early transition to secondary schooling on reading comprehension. (shrink)

The interactions among the components of a biological system can be given a logical representation that is useful for reasoning about them. One of the relevant problems that may be raised in this context is finding what would explain a given behaviour of some component; in other terms, generating hypotheses that, when added to the logical theory modelling the system, imply that behaviour. Temporal aspects have to be taken into account, in order to model the causality relationship that may link (...) the behaviour of a given component to that of another one. This paper presents a hypothesis generation method for linear temporal logic theories whose formulae have a restricted syntactic form, which is however sufficient to model cellular and molecular interactions, as they are often represented by biologists. The method exploits the duality between hypothesis generation and consequence finding, and can therefore be also used to infer the consequences of a given fact. It is based on a resolution system proposed by Cavalli and Fariñas del Cerro in 1984. (shrink)

The author applies the definitions of surrogacy offered by Donum vitae to the question of embryo adoption and shows that embryo adoption does not in fact constitute an act of surrogacy. The author shows that neither Donum vitae nor Dignitas personae condemns heterologous embryo transfer or embryo adoption per se but only when these acts also involve illicit forms of artificial fertilization or surrogacy. The author suggests that the apparent reason for a lack of endorsement of embryo adoption by Donum (...) vitae and Dignitas personae is pastoral caution, concern for scandal, and the connection between embryo adoption and IVF; it is not because embryo adoption is intrinsically illicit. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 249–256. (shrink)

This history is designed to present a dynamic approach to the study of ancient and medieval philosophy. It correlates ancient, medieval, and modern ideas and shows the perennial significance of the contributions of ancient thinkers.

Hamburg: Junius 2013. 216 S., br., € 14,90. ISBN 978‐3‐88506‐680‐4.

Although Jacques Rancière and Jürgen Habermas share several important commitments, they interpret various core concepts differently, viewing politics, democracy, communication, and disagreement in conflicting ways. Rancière articulates his democratic vision in opposition to important elements of Habermas’s approach. Critics contend that Habermas cannot account for the dynamics of command, exclusion, resistance, and aesthetic transformation involved in Rancière’s understanding of politics. In particular, the prominent roles Habermas affords to communicative rationality and consensus have led people to think that he cannot grasp (...) the radical forms of political disagreement Rancière describes. While some have viewed Rancière as offering a trenchant challenge to Habermas, I will contend that Rancière’s critique is less compelling than some have thought. Habermasian understandings of third personal speech and aesthetic expression are nuanced and adaptable enough to evade Rancière’s criticisms. I conclude by suggesting that Habermasian theorists have also developed crucial forms of social and political critique that Rancière’s theory systematically excludes. (shrink)

La mondialisation ne reste pas sans impact sur les religions. Mais elle n'efface pas leurs différences internes: l'appartenance religieuse est un facteur identitaire parmi d'autres. La mondialisation permet en revanche plus aisément une mobilisation autour de causes communes. Les modèles occidentaux restent forts, mais d'autres pôles et acteurs s'affirment. Un « marché » mondial des croyances se développe, même si ses implications varient selon les régions du globe. Dans ce contexte, diffusion des religions et prosélytisme peuvent être des facteurs de (...) tension. Dirigeants politiques et religieux se soucient donc d'examiner les contributions possibles des religions à la stabilité internationale. Mais ils se trouvent aussi confrontés à des réactions identitaires associées à certains courants religieux. Pour ceux-ci, la mondialisation présente à la fois des avantages et des risques.Globalization is not without impact on religion. But it does not erase their internal differences: the religious identity is a factor among others. Globalization can however more easily mobilize around common causes. Western models remain strong, but other players say and poles. A global "market" beliefs grows, even if its implications vary across the globe. In this context, dissemination of proselytizing religions and can be stressors. Political and religious leaders are concerned therefore to examine the possible contributions of religions to international stability. But they are also faced with identity reactions associated with certain religious movements. For them, globalization presents both opportunities and risks. (shrink)

Continuity and interaction in their active union with each other provide the measure of the educative significance and value of an experience. In Experience and Education, John Dewey seeks to portray the intellectual dynamic at the heart of his notion of educative experience and speaks to the challenges of nurturing this form of human vibrancy within schools. As the quotation above reveals, Dewey maintains that an active union between what he calls continuity and interaction “provide[s] the measure of the educative (...) value and significance of an experience”. How are we to make sense of this strikingly unconventional characterization of democratic educational purposes? In what practical.. (shrink)

Government policies and practices can exert significant influence on ethical behavior in a society. Many governments still rely ona long-standing prerogative of sovereigns, the defense of sovereign immunity, to avoid public inquiry about acts that are clearly immoral. However, the basic theory and frequent practice of invoking sovereign immunity cannot be ethically justified. Moreover, such practices model conduct based on power rather than reason, fairness, or justice, and invite both nations and individuals to view politics and business as a power (...) game to be played and won, rather than as a process of buiIding communities that emphasize reciprocity and commitment to moral principles. (shrink)

Le Front national, en se revendiquant du populisme, s'inscrit dans une mouvance très répandue en Europe, qui pourrait se caractériser par le refus de la médiation, l'appel au peuple contre les élites. Mais la méfiance envers un personnel politique considéré comme corrompu est, par exemple, aussi fréquente dans l'électorat d'extrême gauche. L'électeur du FN se distingue plutôt par son ethnocentrisme, son rejet des autres. Et populiste n'est pas nécessairement synonyme de « populaire ». La catégorie sociale la plus défavorisée, celle (...) des ouvriers, est plus représentée dans l'électorat du PC ou des Chasseurs que dans celui du FN, qui fait de meilleurs scores chez les artisans, les industriels et les professions libérales. Les milieux populaires se singularisent d'abord par leur abstentionnisme. L'extrême droite est donc à la fois moins «populiste» et moins «populaire» qu'il n'y paraît.The National Front's claim to be populist makes it part of very widespread movement in Europe, which could be characterized by the refusal of mediation, the call to the people against the elite. But mistrust towards a political personnel considered as corrupt is, for example, also widespread in the electorate of extreme left. The voter of the FN is characterized rather by his ethnocentrism, his rejection of the others. And populist is not necessarily synonymous with "popular". The most disadvantaged social category, that of the workmen, is more represented in the electorate of the PC or the Hunters that in the FN, which makes better scores by the craftsmen, the industrialists and the liberal professions. The popular classes are distinguished initially by their abstentionism. The extreme right is thus at the same time less "populist" and less "popular" than it does appear. (shrink)