En este artículo se presenta una propuesta formativa utilizando el cine como material cultural y fuente de conocimiento. Una película como Babel permite trabajar la globalización y la educación de la ciudadanía, con planteamientos que exigen un nuevo humanismo, una nueva relación interpersonal, conscientes de los problemas de comunicación, prejuicios y choques culturales derivados del desarrollo tecnológico. La película cuestiona esta existencia en un mundo global interrelacionado, evocando el viejo mito bíblico de la Torre de Babel haciendo énfasis en identificaciones (...) erróneas, malentendidos y oportunidades fallidas, como manos invisibles que nos guían; o el fin cuyo destino se nos escapa.Babel hace comprender la realidad de la globalización. Nos permite observar cuatro lugares tan distantes como Estados Unidos, Méjico, Marruecos y Japón, no sólo distanciados físicamente. Los cuatro países representan estilos culturales diferentes, tres formas de realización humana. Asistimos al choque, a la incomunicación personal, al aislamiento por la diferencia de cultura y la ficticia proximidad tecnológica. Vivimos juntos, pero aislados los unos de los otros. (shrink)

From a perspective focused on Law, but open to other fields, an evaluation of the influence of Cicero’s thought the analysis of his main works is attempted. No doubt, Cicero’s ideas have been crucial in the development of Western Culture, and two thousand years later his theories still remain alive.

A current issue in psycholinguistic research is whether the language difficulties exhibited by children with developmental language disorder [DLD, previously labeled specific language impairment ] are due to deficits in their abilities to pick up patterns in the sensory environment, an ability known as statistical learning, and the extent to which explicit learning mechanisms can be used to compensate for those deficits. Studies designed to test the compensatory role of explicit learning mechanisms in children with DLD are, however, scarce, and (...) the few conducted so far have led to inconsistent results. This work aimed to provide new insights into the role that explicit learning mechanisms might play on implicit learning deficits in children with DLD by resorting to a new approach. This approach involved not only the collection of event-related potentials, while preschool children with DLD [relative to typical language developmental controls] were exposed to a continuous auditory stream made of the repetition of three-syllable nonsense words but, importantly, the collection of ERPs when the same children performed analogous versions of the same auditory SL task first under incidental and afterward under intentional conditions. In each of these tasks, the level of predictability of the three-syllable nonsense words embedded in the speech streams was also manipulated to mimic natural languages closely. At the end of both tasks’ exposure phase, children performed a two-alternative forced-choice task from which behavioral evidence of SL was obtained. Results from the 2-AFC tasks failed to show reliable signs of SL in both groups of children. The ERPs data showed, however, significant modulations in the N100 and N400 components, taken as neural signatures of word segmentation in the brain, even though a detailed analysis of the neural responses revealed that only children from the TLD group seem to have taken advantage of the previous knowledge to enhance SL functioning. These results suggest that children with DLD showed deficits both in implicit and explicit learning mechanisms, casting doubts on the efficiency of the interventions relying on explicit instructions to help children with DLD to overcome their language difficulties. (shrink)

Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future envisioned knowledge systems might need to look like and how we might get there. Findings suggest that envisioned future systems will need (...) to be much more collaborative, open, diverse, egalitarian, and able to work with values and systemic issues. They will also need to go beyond producing knowledge about our world to generating wisdom about how to act within it. To get to envisioned systems we will need to rapidly scale methodological innovations, connect innovators, and creatively accelerate learning about working with intractable challenges. We will also need to create new funding schemes, a global knowledge commons, and challenge deeply held assumptions. To genuinely be a creative force in supporting longevity of human and non-human life on our planet, the shift in knowledge systems will probably need to be at the scale of the enlightenment and speed of the scientific and technological revolution accompanying the second World War. This will require bold and strategic action from governments, scientists, civic society and sustained transformational intent. (shrink)

Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future envisioned knowledge systems might need to look like and how we might get there. Findings suggest that envisioned future systems will need (...) to be much more collaborative, open, diverse, egalitarian, and able to work with values and systemic issues. They will also need to go beyond producing knowledge about our world to generating wisdom about how to act within it. To get to envisioned systems we will need to rapidly scale methodological innovations, connect innovators, and creatively accelerate learning about working with intractable challenges. We will also need to create new funding schemes, a global knowledge commons, and challenge deeply held assumptions. To genuinely be a creative force in supporting longevity of human and non-human life on our planet, the shift in knowledge systems will probably need to be at the scale of the enlightenment and speed of the scientific and technological revolution accompanying the second World War. This will require bold and strategic action from governments, scientists, civic society and sustained transformational intent. (shrink)

A mística é um fenômeno presente em quase todas as grandes religiõesdo mundo. No cristianismo, esta manifestação pode ser notada já nos textosSagrados do Novo Testamento: desde os relatos que envolveram os eventos da vidade Jesus às visões escatológicas de João no livro do Apocalipse. Posteriormente,podemos en contrar registros de misticidade no grande movimento dos Pais da Igrejaconhecido como Patrística, se estendendo por toda Idade Média, até alcançar osdias de hoje. Todavia, alguns pesquisadores da antiguidade tardia, procuraramenquadrar o grande nome (...) da Patrística, Santo Agostinho, como o pai da místicacatólica. Outrossim, Agostinho é sumamente conhecido como um grande teólogo,filósofo ou mesmo como um gênio intelectual platônico cristão investigador daVerdade; sendo, porém, bastante diminuto, o número de pesquisadores que sepropõe a verificar se, de fato, há ou não razões, para que ele seja contado entre osgrandes místicos da Igreja. O presente ensaio traz à tona esta polêmica discussão,com o intuito de elucidar o problema que ora se levanta: podemo s considerar SantoAgostinho um místico ou apenas um grande nome da filosofia/teologia cristã? Istoposto, para responder a referida questão problema, nos propomos investigar osprincipais acontecimentos da vida de Agostinho, bem como, os principais textos desua obra, a fim de comprovar algum resquício de misticidade, seja em sua vida oumesmo em suas investigações acerca da Verdade. (shrink)

Durante el reinado de Felipe III la sociedad española vivió unos intensos procesos de elitización y marginalización procedentes en su mayoría de una particular recepción y asimilación del modelo antropológico y cultural presentado por Castiglione –lo que ha pasado a definirse con el nombre de cortegiana filosofia– que, en último término, se sirvieron del antiguo ideal de la teoría neoplatónica del amor para presentar un nuevo paradigma común de virtud y honestidad públicas destinado a preservar y sustentar instituciones sociorreligiosas como (...) el matrimonio. La novela cortesana, haciéndose eco de todo ello a través de la tradición de las novelle italianas, se sirvió del universo picaresco para servir de canal moralizante de esta ejemplaridad amorosa. Esto se traducirá en la defensa de la máxima de que el bien vivir es un sinónimo del bien amar. El presente artículo tiene por objeto el análisis de todo lo antedicho a partir de una pieza concreta del género cortesano: La hija de Celestina, o la ingeniosa Elena de Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo. (shrink)

Since the end of the 19th century, Brazilian researchers have speculated about the phenomenon of ethnic coexistence they have witnessed in their country. How may the mixed culture that is its obvious result be explained? Should it be attributed to some sociocultural syncretism, to an interpenetration of civilizations or, quite simply, to a synthesis? Whatever the case, it is certain that cultural elements of very different origins became united in Brazil and that they have remained closely associated there in spite (...) of their disparity. The best example of this “cultural conglomerate,” if we may call it that, is without a doubt that of the Afro-Brazilian religious cults and, although numerous studies have already been devoted to them, they have a richness of content and meaning, plus a capacity for renewal, that is far from being exhaustively investigated. (shrink)

El trabajo que presentamos tiene dos objetivos principales: primeramente, conocer las principales características estructurales y funcionales del funduq; en segundo lugar, observar la evolución tanto estructural como funcional que estos espacios sufrieron dentro y fuera del territorio islámico. Para ello utilizaremos la información arqueológica disponible que se complementará con algunos datos provenientes de la documentación escrita. Así conoceremos el funduq clásico, un edificio de planta cuadrada o rectangular, con patio central y uno o varios pisos, dedicados el inferior a cuadras (...) y almacenes y los superiores a alojamiento de los viajeros/mercaderes. De este edificio encontraremos dos variaciones. Por una parte, el fondaco, un espacio arrendado o donado por las autoridades musulmanas a las comunidades cristianas de mercaderes que cumplía con todas las necesidades de estos últimos (religiosas, sociales y económicas). Y por otra, la alhóndiga, una institución con unas funciones específicas de almacenamiento y recogida de impuestos de determinadas mercancías. (shrink)

O fator religioso foi uma componente fundamental da educação tradicional. Nas sociedades tradicionais, a mulher assumiu a delicada função de preservar as memórias e as práticas tradicionais de educação das gerações jovens. Assim, a vigilância do comportamento religioso da mulher foi muito rigorosa. As congregações religiosas, designadamente a Congregação das Ursulinas, assumiram a partir do Concilio de Trento a principal função de ensinar e educar as mulheres. Com efeito, quando se instalaram em Portugal no século XVIII, as Ursulinas tinham já (...) uma longa experiência noutros países europeus. Esta Congregação foi criada em França, no contexto histórico da Reforma Católica. A sua principal estratégia para educar e converter as populações ao Cristianismo foi ensinar as mulheres a ler e escrever. A alfabetização feminina foi uma via para combater a Reforma Protestante e para consolidar um texto religioso no interior da sociedade, uma vez que as mulheres eram o suporte principal da tradição oral religiosa. A Congregação das Ursulinas desenvolveu um importante método para ensinar as mulheres a ler e escrever. Na sua Constituição, a alfabetização e as demais dimensões educacionais eram fundamentais. Este texto é um contributo para a história da educação tradicional das mulheres em Portugal, através do estudo da ação das Ursulinas. (shrink)

Este artigo trata da possibilidade de utilização do instituto da requisição administrativa pelos Gestores do SUS no atual cenário de crise sanitária, causado pela epidemia de Covid-19, demonstrando a necessidade da motivação dos atos administrativos se pautar nos princípios da razoabilidade e da proporcionalidade. Demonstra a necessidade da atuação da Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar como órgão regulador que promove o equilíbrio do mercado de saúde privada junto aos usuários e operadoras de planos de saúde privados e enfatiza a importância (...) da análise econômica do direito para tomada de decisões nas políticas públicas. (shrink)

Resumo : O presente artigo objetiva discutir o mal-estar docente a partir da perspectiva niilista de Friedrich Nietzsche. Atualmente, o debate sobre o mal-estar docente tem privilegiado perspectivas ou enfoques políticos, econômicos e psicológicos. Neste texto, os autores analisam inferências e evidências possíveis que relacionem o fenômeno cultural do niilismo ao mal-estar docente, tão em evidência nas instituições públicas de ensino, no Brasil. São tecidas discussões e argumentos sobre a decadência dos valores do entorno e dos fundamentos da ação educativa, (...) mais precisamente o valor da educação, do conhecimento, da ciência, da cultura elaborada, da autoridade docente, da didática etc. Em outras palavras, a originalidade desse texto é, sobretudo, situar o mal-estar docente, em um espaço e tempo de derrocada de valores culturais, dentre outros, e o apresentar como resultado de um mal-estar maior compartilhado pela cultura ocidental em parte do século XX até os dias atuais. Espera-se que os debates presentes no texto possam ampliar as perspectivas para a compreensão do mal-estar entre os professores. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is twofold: to consider in detail the objections against the existentialist view of the content of visual experience and to develop and defend a version of it that avoids these objections, solving, specifically, the so-called "particularity problem." The main thesis is that the existential content of visual experience must be understood as relativized, incomplete content (rather than a classical, complete proposition), modeled as a function of the sextuple of object, agent, time, location, causal relation, and (...) world to truth-values. (shrink)

Este trabalho apresenta uma tradução, do grego, do capítulo primeiro da carta de Paulo, aos romanos, a partir do texto crítico de Westcott e Hort, de 1885, com uma significativa divergência, em relação às versões, em inglês, King James e NIV1, em português, ACRF2, ARIB3, Católica, NVI4 e Bíblia de Estudo de Genebra, e, em alemão, Luther. As razões dessa tradução estão comentadas em diversos temas, agrupados em quatro partes: Romanos 1:1-7, Romanos 1:8-14, Romanos 1:15-23 e Romanos 1:24-32. Esse comentário (...) é baseado numa breve contribuição do pensamento grego, do contexto de Habacuque, e numa interpretação tematicamente mais coesa que a apresentada pelo comentário de William Hendriksen. Esses temas, por sua vez, envolvem desde questões tradicionais, já bem conhecidas, como o serviço apostólico de Paulo, o nascimento de Jesus, bem como seu senhorio e filiação divina “em poder”, após a ressurreição, assim como a ideia do justo que vive pela fé, a justiça, a ira e a glória de Deus, assim como “novos” temas envolvendo a etnia cristã, o “batismo” final de Jesus, o conhecimento comum, a capacidade eterna, a atividade divina e a concessão de Deus, entre outros. (shrink)

Hunting ducks with a firearm has become increasingly contested in industrialized and urbanized contemporary societies. In southern New Zealand, an area that maintains strong connections to rural life ways, duck shooting is still a very popular activity. However, even duck shooters living in this region are increasingly finding that they must justify an activity their grandparents practiced without compunction. This paper considers ethical discourses associated with the killing of ducks, particularly the ways in which people who shoot ducks construct the (...) act of killing as an activity that can be ethically justified. As this paper will show, duck hunters assert that they have a more realistic and appropriate view of nature and animal life cycles than the average antihunter who might criticize them. New Zealand duck hunters also embed their hunting activities within a discourse of wetland conservation, arguing that they do far more to preserve and develop wetlands than do non-hunters. This paper concludes that duck hunters' understandings of nature are intrinsic to the ethical discourses that underpin duck hunting activities in New Zealand. (shrink)

Sustainable labels are considered the best way for consumers to identify brands with environmental or social attributes on the shelves, and therefore promoted as a means to develop the so-called “ethical markets”. However, little is known about how consumers use these brands. This paper tries to offer complementary theoretical insights on the determinants of sustainable label use by drawing on the economic model of information search; in particular, it examines the influence of two factors on the purchase of such labels: (...) motivation and knowledge. Information was gathered through a structured questionnaire in personal interviews with 289 primary buyers. The study found that education influences directly knowledge, while Motivation influences Label use both directly and indirectly, via Label knowledge. This study concludes that Motivation is the most powerful factor to explain Label use; knowledge is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Even more, consumers may not have a good understanding of sustainable labels and still use them in their purchasing decisions. This suggests that there is a dual processing mode of sustainable labels, both systematic and heuristic. (shrink)

Recent research exposing environmental and social externalities of biofuels has undermined the earlier national consensus that they would provide climate mitigation and rural development benefits, but support for ethanol remains strong in Iowa. The objective of this paper is to understand how stakeholder groups in Iowa have framed the benefits and risks associated with ethanol’s impact on the local economy and environment. Our case study draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants from agricultural organizations, environmental organizations, and government (...) departments in the state. We find that in Iowa, widespread support for ethanol production exists among government, energy, and farm groups, and that they frame ethanol production as economically beneficial to rural communities and agriculture, while minimizing the possibility of associated environmental risks. Although participants from environmental organizations in Iowa express apprehension about the environmental impacts of expanded corn ethanol production, their unease is muted in relation to economic benefits and in relation to other environmental issues, and few have publicly voiced their concerns. To understand these findings, we draw from the environmental sociology literature that examines the role of powerful natural resource interests in framing the importance of resource extraction and commodity production to community identity and economy and in delegitimizing and naturalizing associated environmental issues and problems. We argue that powerful natural resource interests in Iowa both naturalize environmental problems related to ethanol production and engage in diversionary reframing to emphasize the economic benefits while minimizing or rejecting the potential environmental risks. (shrink)

Studying cartoons about the economic crisis and focusing on a pair of scissors as a symbol, I prove how they first turn into unambiguous metaphor for the economic crisis and then experience an evolution in order to adapt to new communication contexts. Along these processes, they undergo more complex changes such as coadaptation and speciation. This has allowed for the scissors meme as a symbol of economic cutbacks to permeate society, and for its metaphorical use to occupy many disparate communication (...) scenarios, unlike other symbolic elements that were also used, but turned out to be less cognitively efficient and therefore offered fewer evolutionary possibilities. (shrink)

Este artigo é sobre a folksonomia como uma ferramenta que contribui para as atividades colaborativas de grupos de usuários na rede social acadêmica Passei Direto, com o objetivo de analisar a folksonomia como ferramenta de apoio em grupos colaborativos nessa rede social, por meio de estudo de caso holístico e exploratório, sendo realizada observação direta intensiva. A justificativa baseou-se na necessidade de compreender a potencialidade das atividades cooperativas e a solução das necessidades informacionais. Concluiu-se que a folksonomia é uma ferramenta (...) de apoio em grupos colaborativos no Passei Direto, onde os usuários, no uso de tags em práticas de indexação, visam a enriquecer e ampliar as possibilidades de acesso às informações. No entanto, apesar de representar uma ferramenta de forte cunho colaborativo, a folksonomia também deixa lacunas no tocante à recuperação da informação, dada a falta de padronização e controle dessa ferramenta, embora essas características façam parte da sua essência. (shrink)

La autonomía del arte ha sido un concepto siempre discutido. En el caso de la concepción moderna del arte, la autonomía se confundió en algunos casos con la soberanía de un concepto determinado del arte, excluyente de otros. Esta concepción se radicalizó a tal punto, que su crisis en los años ochenta dio origen a consignas como "La muerte del arte", paradójicamente, cuando el arte en sus diferentes formas mostraba una gran vitalidad. Estas contradicciones han servido para elaborar la distinción (...) entre arte moderno y arte contemporáneo, y redefinir la autonomía en términos de pluralismo artístico. (shrink)

RESUMEN A pesar de que la reducción de R. Descartes de los animales a meras máquinas puede explicarse como una consecuencia lógica de su punto de partida metafísico y gnoseológico, se puede argüir que esta reducción parece muy difícil de defender, puesto que se nos antoja contradictoria con nuestra experiencia cotidiana. Por otra parte, uno de los propósitos de la filosofía de Descartes es la “conservación de la salud”, que puede conseguirse mediante el establecimiento de una medicina “fundada en demostraciones (...) infalibles”. De cara a conseguir tal medicina el primer paso es alcanzar el conocimiento más preciso posible del cuerpo humano a fin de tener éxito en la práctica de la cirugía. De ahí que sea bastante plausible afirmar que la metafísica y la teoría del conocimiento de Descartes no serían sus principales intereses teóricos, sino solamente una explicación y justificación ingeniosas de lo que la ciencia de su tiempo llevaba haciendo no menos de cien años antes de él, así como una inteligente manera de obviar los escrúpulos cuando se anatomizaban cadáveres humanos y animales. En consecuencia, en este artículo mantendremos que el mecanicismo y dualismo cartesianos son una verdadera filosofía de la ciencia, desde el momento en que ambos estaban dedicados a explicar y justificar lo que la ciencia estaba haciendo en la práctica. ABSTRACT Despite of the fact that R. Descartes’s reduction of animals to mere machines can be explained as a logical consequence of his metaphysical and gnoseological starting point, one can argue that this reduction seems to be very difficult to defend, since it appears to be contradictory to our everyday experience. On the other hand, one of the explicitly confessed purposes of Descartes’s philosophy is the “conservation of health”, which can be achieved by establishing a medicine “founded in infallible demonstrations”. The first step in order to get such medicine is to acquire the most accurate as possible knowledge of the human body in order to be successful in practicing surgery. That is why it is fairly plausible to state that Descartes’s metaphysics and theory of knowledge were not his main theoretical concerns, but only a witty explanation and justification of what the science of his time was doing for no less than one century before him, as well as a clever manner to avoid scruples when anatomising both human corpses and animals. Consequently, in this paper we will claim that Cartesian mechanicism and dualism are actual philosophies of science, given the fact that both were devoted to explain and justify what science was in practice doing. (shrink)

Este artículo se presenta desde la perspectiva interdisciplinar del estudio de las relaciones entre dos artes, la Literatura y la Pintura, centrándose en el análisis estructural de la novela de Max Aub, Jusep Torres Campanals, tras el que observaremos cómo esta obra supone la traslación de la estética de la pintura cubista al discurso literario. A lo largo del análisis podremos comprobar, pues, cómo la técnica de descomposición del discurso narrativo, a la manera de un cuadro cubista, convierte a Jusep (...) Torres Campanals, en un fascinante espacio de diálogo entre la verdad y la mentira, la pintura y la escritura, situándonos de nuevo ante la reflexión del antiguo diálogo entre la Literatura y la Pintura. (shrink)

“Democratic Ethical Life and the Struggle for Recognition: AReconstruction of Hegel’s Inluence on Deliberative Democracy”. Hegel’s politicalphilosophy represents a signiicant contribution to the understanding of moderndemocracy and social dynamics. As regards modern democracy, the concept ofdemocratic ethical life presented by Wellmer allows for the integration of equalsubjective rights and citizen participation in a deliberative culture that illsdemocracy with citizen vitality without going against individual liberties. As forsocial dynamics, they can be explained by the need for reciprocal recognition asthe key to (...) the constitution of subjectivity, which explains the moral motivation inthe struggles of social groups. Both concepts are closely interwoven because thestruggle for recognition allows for an explanation of the dynamics of democraticethical life. Thus, democratic ethical life and the struggle for recognition, asinterwoven concepts, offer two key notions for the solution of some of the obstacleswith which contemporary political philosophy must deal. (shrink)

É bem conhecida a divergência entre as posições de Gottlob Frege e Bertrand Russell com relação ao tratamento semântico dado a sentenças contendo termos singulares indefinidos, ou seja, termos singulares sem referência ou com referência ambígua, tais como ‘Papai Noel’ ou ‘o atual rei da França’ ou ‘1/0 ’ ou ‘√4’ ou ‘o autor de Principia Mathematica’. Para Frege, as sentenças da linguagem natural que contêm termos indefinidos não formam declarações e portanto não são nem verdadeiras nem falsas. Já para (...) as sentenças da matemática, Frege defende que elas precisam ser corrigidas através da convenção forçada de uma referência não ambígua. Russell, por outro lado, aceita os termos indefinidos e propõe, através de sua teoria das descrições definidas, uma maneira de avaliar as sentenças em que eles ocorrem; e Quine amplia a teoria de Russell para abranger também os nomes com problemas de referência. Na prática da matemática são comuns os termos singulares indefinidos, sem referência, tais como ‘1/0 ’, ou com referência ambígua, tais como ‘√4’. Apesar de não haver uma sistematização rigorosa desta situação entre os matemáticos, há, no entanto, um conjunto de regras convencionais que tradicionalmente costumam ser aplicadas no tratamento matemático dos termos indefinidos. Nossa proposta é tomar a convenção matemática como inspiração e modelo para apresentar uma interpretação semântica formal para as descrições definidas e os nomes e utilizá-la como um argumento que favorece a abordagem de Russell relativamente à de Frege. (shrink)

Much of the ontology made in the analytic tradition of philosophy nowadays is founded on some of Quine’s proposals. His naturalism and the binding between existence and quantification are respectively two of his very influential metaphilosophical and methodological theses. Nevertheless, many of his specific claims are quite controversial and contemporaneously have few followers. Some of them are: (a) his rejection of higher-order logic; (b) his resistance in accepting the intensionality of ontological commitments; (c) his rejection of first-order modal logic; and (...) (d) his rejection of the distinction between analytic and synthetic statements. I intend to argue that these controversial negative claims are just interconnected consequences of those much more accepted and apparently less harmful metaphilosophical and methodological theses, and that the glue linking all these consequences to its causes is the notion of extensionality. (shrink)

Cuba's National Food Program aims to assure its population a minimum degree of food security during the current period of transition from dependency upon the ex-Socialist trading bloc. A number of important elements of the Food Program, however, were conceived before the demise of COMECON in an effort to deepen food import substitution. This paper reviews the degree of Cuba's food import dependence before the breakup of the Socialist bloc, the initial targets of the National Food Program, and how these (...) have been modified due to the severe reduction in Cuba's normal level of imports of petroleum and other agricultural inputs. It is argued that Cuba's reliance upon scientific advances combined with a return to traditional, ecologically-benign agricultural practices and large-scale labor mobilizations have allowed it to overcome a drastic shortfall in production as a result of the reduced level of imports of modern agricultural inputs. At the same time, it has been exceedingly difficult for the country to maintain production levels at the trend of the late 1980s or to continue to aspire to meet the ambitious targets of the initial Food Program plan. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to support the logical incompatibility of the opposing views as a criterion for characterizing disagreements as genuinely metaphysical. That is, I intend to argue that a specific dispute is a metaphysical disagreement only when the conflicting views are governed by different logics. If correct, this criterion would not only help to separate merely verbal from genuine metaphysical debates, but it also would ground an argument against deflationism, guaranteeing the substantiality and relevance of metaphysics. I (...) intend to clarify the criterion, to present its basic foundations and commitments, to give some logical and metaphysical motivations for its adoption and some examples of its application. (shrink)

This paper studies a distinction that was proposed in previous works between total and partial adjectives. In pairs of adjectives such as safe–dangerous, clean–dirty and healthy–sick, the first (“total”) adjective describes lack of danger, dirt, malady, etc., while the second (“partial”) adjective describes the existence of such properties. It is shown that the semantics of adjective phrases with modifiers such as almost, slightly, and completely is sensitive to whether the adjective is total or partial. The interpretation of such modified constructions (...) is accounted for using a novel scale structure for total and partial adjectives. It is proposed that the standard value of a total adjective is always fixed as the lower bound of the corresponding partial adjective. By contrast, the standard value of partial adjectives can take any point on the partial scale. The effects of this theoretical distinction on the behavior of modified constructions are studied in detail, and their ramifications for the semantic theory of adjectives are discussed. Some other phenomena are surveyed that show evidence for total and partial adjectival constructions with various comparatives and exceptive phrases. (shrink)

This paper examines the relationship of bonding with nonhuman animals during an interactive, animal-in-the-wild science program and the science attitudes of 358 young children between the ages of 8 and 14 Talking Talons utilizes typically wild animals such as raptors, reptiles, and bats in a school-based educational science curriculum. Qualitative data from interviews with students in the program indicated that "bonding with animals" and the educators within the program were related to increased positive attitudes toward science. The program used quantitative (...) methods to examine these dual relationships—with animals and with educators- on student attitude toward science. The program performed a step-wise multiple regression with "Attitude toward Science" as the dependent variable and "Gender," "Age," and "Bonding with Animals" as independent variables. Both "Bonding with Animals" and "Bonding with the Educator" contributed significantly to prediction of the participants' science attitudes. Altogether 28% of the variance in "Science Attitude" was predicted by both "Gender" and "Age" , "Bonding with Animals" and "Bonding with Educator" . Bonding with the animals had a large quantifiable relationship with student attitudes toward science. (shrink)

Parece um fato bastante trivial que quando uma teoria científica se torna obsoleta, por ter sido substituída por outra, isto não tem nenhuma consequência para os objetos técnicos compatíveis com a teoria antiga. Pretendo, neste ensaio, responder à questão bem menos óbvia de por que isto se dá. Como subproduto, apresento uma defesa da teoria da ciência de Thomas Kuhn. Para tanto, inicio mostrando como a teoria de Kuhn foi motivada por considerações sobre a história da ciência. Em seguida, defendo (...) um pressuposto sobre como se dá a relação entre ciência e tecnologia. Continuo, apresentando uma distinção entre conteúdo factual e conceitual na ciência. E. (shrink)