It is common practice in formal semantics to assume that the context specifies an assignment of values to variables and that the same variables that receive contextually salient values when they occur free may also be bound by quantifiers and λs. These assumptions are at work to provide a unified account of free and bound uses of third person pronouns, namely one by which the same lexical item is involved in both uses. One way to pursue this account is to (...) treat quantifiers and λs as monsters in Kaplan’s sense. We argue that this move should be avoided and explore an alternative route based on the idea that there is a variable assignment coordinate in the context and a variable assignment coordinate in the circumstance of evaluation, with the definition of truth in context identifying them. One fundamental challenge that arises in pursuing a unified account is to explain the difference in the way the gender presuppositions of bound and free pronouns project. The proposal that emerges from the attempt to meet this challenge is a non-indexical account of free third person pronouns and a new conception of the role and structure of assignment functions. (shrink)

SAGGI DI VITTORIO MARCHIS, UMBERTO BOTTAZZINI, FABIO TOSCANO, MASSIMO NEGROTTI, GIUSEPPE O. LONGO, STEFANO A. E. LEONI, ALBERTO CASADEI, SILVANO TAGLIAGAMBE.

In language learning, learners engage with their environment, incorporating cues from different sources. However, in lab‐based experiments, using artificial languages, many of the cues and features that are part of real‐world language learning are stripped away. In three experiments, we investigated the role of positive, negative, and mixed feedback on the gradual learning of language‐like statistical regularities within an active guessing game paradigm. In Experiment 1, participants received deterministic feedback (100%), whereas probabilistic feedback (i.e., 75% or 50%) was introduced in (...) Experiment 2. Finally, Experiment 3 explored the impact of mixed probabilistic feedback (33% positive, 33% negative, 33% no feedback). The results showed that cross‐situational learning of words was observed without feedback, but participants were able to learn structural regularities of the miniature language only when feedback was provided. Interestingly, the presence of positive feedback was particularly helpful for the learner, promoting more in‐depth learning of the artificial language. (shrink)

No presente artigo busco apresentar o caráter moderno da filosofia de Gaston Bachelard. Tal modernidade se funda numa compreensão da ideia de homem que se pode depreender da obra do filósofo. A hipótese que se pretende defender é a de que, para além de suas reflexões epistemológicas e literárias, é o modo como sua filosofia se insere em seu tempo, estabelecendo uma relação com o presente que converge com as reflexões sobre a modernidade que encontramos em pensadores como Michel Foucault (...) e Charles Baudelaire, que permite identificá-lo como moderno. Constituída essa chave de leitura sugerimos, ao final, a ideia de que se pode reconhecer certa aura rimbaudiana no pensamento de Bachelard com um todo. (shrink)

In Brazil, the normative landscape around advertising is complex, not the least because of limitations inherent to dispute resolution mechanisms. Focusing on unhealthy food and beverages, this case study identifies some challenges and opportunities around advertising restrictions, including in relation to freedom of speech.

It characterizes studies in Brazilian Information Science that connect gender and/or women and the Knowledge Organization (KO). The study is characterized as exploratory, descriptive, presenting bibliographical research as a data collection procedure. The bibliographic research was carried out in the Information Science Database (BRAPCI) and in the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD). 42 scientific works were analyzed, including articles, dissertations, and theses. The first publication on the subject in the literature analyzed is from 2010, highlighting its incipience, (...) considering that 58% of publications are from 2017 to the present. Considering their objectives, the research was categorized into the three dimensions of ISKO-Brazil: epistemological, applied, political, and social. 22% of the research was categorized into the epistemological dimension, 39% into the applied dimension, and 39% into the political and social dimension. The epistemological dimension of KO concerning gender presents significant challenges, but also opportunities for theoretical and methodological advances that can contribute to a fairer and more inclusive representation of knowledge. Critical analysis of the work shows that, although there is progress, it is still incipient to ensure that KO is truly inclusive and representative of diverse gender identities. (shrink)

Human nature is something of a taboo on the left wing of contemporary political theory and scarcely more than a commonsense assumption on its right wing. This article aims to expose the taboo and to challenge the assumption. There is no way, we argue, to defeat conservative political theory without delving into political anthropology. With this purpose in mind, our article analyses the writings of Marx and Engels, and Simondon’s concepts of the transindividual and technics. It shows that Simondon’s theory (...) of technics allows new interpretations of many of the themes scattered in Marx’s and Engels’s works and helps to formulate a materialist political anthropology which entails a political project of liberating ‘human nature’ _from_ labour. (shrink)

Lógica, formação escolar e filosofia entre os jesuítas Resumo: O interesse mais direto deste artigo é a relação entre a Lógica e a formação filosófica na educação jesuíta. Para compor uma imagem da importância e da concreção da Lógica na formação proposta pelos inacianos, nós nos concentraremos na Ratio Studiorum e na obra do jesuíta português Pedro da Fonseca (1526-1599). A razão do recorte proposto é que as reflexões de Fonseca sobre o tema parecem, por um lado, orientar outros jesuítas, (...) como é o caso de Sebastião do Couto, que é o autor da dialética do Curso Conimbricense; por outro, elas são mais completas, sobretudo pela atenção dada por Fonseca ao método e às disputationes. De posse do conceito de Lógica de Fonseca, concluímos com a indicação de caminhos contemporâneos de revisitação de lógicas do passado. Palavras-chave: lógica; método; educação; jesuítas. Logic, school education and philosophy among the Jesuits Abstract: The most direct interest of this article is the relationship between Logic and philosophical formation in Jesuit education. In order to produce an image of the importance and concretion of Logic in the formation proposed by the Ignatians, we will focus on the Ratio Studiorum and on the work of the Portuguese Jesuit Pedro da Fonseca (1526-1599). The reason for the proposed approach is that Fonseca's reflections on the subject seem, on the one hand, to guide other Jesuits, such as Sebastião do Couto, who is the author of the dialectic of Curso Conimbricense; on the other hand, Fonseca’s conception of logic is more complete regarding the other Jesuits, especially due to the attention given by our author to the method and the disputationes. In possession of Fonseca's Logic concept, we conclude with an indication of contemporary paths for revisiting the logics of the past. Key-words: logic; method; education; Jesuits. Logica, educazione scolastica e filosofia tra i gesuiti Abstract: L’interesse più diretto di questo articolo è il rapporto tra Logica e la formazione filosofica nell’educazione dei gesuiti. Per produrre un’immagine dell’importanza e della concretezza della Logica nella formazione proposta dagli inaziani, ci concentreremo nella Ratio Studiorum e nell’opera del gesuita portoghese Pedro da Fonseca (1526-1599). Il motivo di questa scelta è che le riflessioni di Fonseca sull’argomento sembrano, da un lato, guidare gli altri gesuiti, come Sebastião do Couto, cioè, l’autore della dialettica del Curso Conimbricense; da l’altro, la concezione di logica di Fonseca è più completa riguardo ad’altri gesuiti, soprattutto per l’attenzione data dall’autore al metodo e alle disputationes. Possedendo il concetto di logica di Fonseca, concludiamo con l’indicazione di modi contemporanei di rivisitare le logiche del passato. Parole chiave: logica ; metodo ; educazione ; gesuiti. Data de registro: 16/09/2021 Data de aceite: 01/12/2021. (shrink)

A covid-19 tem gerado grande mobilização por parte das sociedades contemporâneas. Como forma de prevenção e controle da doença, o isolamento social tem sido uma medida eficaz, recomendada por diversos órgãos da saúde. Por isso, pensar o isolamento social como prática solidária tem sido fundamental. Nesta perspectiva, o presente artigo busca problematizar o isolamento social enquanto isolamento solidário. Para isso, partimos da tematização da enfermidade, até agora conhecida, seus modos de prevenção e controle e, por conseguinte, o diálogo entre a (...) Saúde Coletiva e a Hermenêutica Filosófica, na tentativa de repensar o isolamento criticamente, para além de uma questão biomédica. Assim, discutir o isolamento solidário como noção essencial ao enfrentamento da pandemia da COVID-19 significa contribuir para uma visão mais ampla de saúde, ao passo que se encontra em jogo o restabelecimento da vida comunitária para além de sua concepção biomédica. (shrink)

Illusionism is a prominent hypothesis about action control, according to which acts that we consider voluntary are nevertheless caused by unconscious brain events, and thus our subjective experience of consciously willing them is ultimately illusory. Illusionism can be understood as either an ontological thesis or a phenomenological claim, but both versions are vulnerable to a line of attack based on the role of long-term planning in action control. According to this objection, the evidence upon which illusionism rests is confined to (...) short-term intentions, so it is not sufficient to justify broader conclusions on the causal inefficacy of conscious will. In this essay we reconstruct the logic of this objection against illusionism, clarify why surveying folk intuitions on conscious distal intentions is essential to the debate, and present a study in which the role of conscious planning in intentionality judgment is clearly revealed. We also present other relevant findi... (shrink)

BackgroundDefinition and concept of the ‘beginning of human life’ are weakened by co-existing contrasting hypotheses based on humanistic or religious beliefs rather than scientific foundations. This plethora of conceptually distant views have important common concerns in different fields of science and shape, in turn, several societal aspects including laws related, for instance, to inheritance eligibility or abortion, end-of-life care and euthanasia, and reproductive technology. Also, they are fundamental to evaluate opportunity for resuscitation vs. palliative care in extremely preterm infants. In (...) this article, we address one of the most common tenets in medicine: the acceptance that human life starts with first breath, even though several events are well-documented to take place before its occurrence.Main textSeveral studies show how pivotal physiological events take place before first breath. Evidence of a number of neurological events occurring before first breath opens the way to the primacy of the Central Nervous System, given its immediate extra-uterine activation at birth. This activation eventually sets specific physiological conditions that allow the complex sequence of events determining the muscle activity associated with the influx of air in the lung and the settling of a continuous and successful extra-uterine respiration. We would like to invite the scientific community to endorse a clear-cut position against the paradigm of ‘first breath’ as the beginning of life. Herein, we also assume how, a still undefined, yet possibly specific quid in the external environment triggers further physiological response in newborns. Better understanding of the critical events that occur at the beginning of human life is likely to cause great concern and expectations in scientists, researchers and physicians working in the domain of brain, and its physiology, and mental health.ConclusionsThe comparison between beliefs and evidence-based observations generates confusion, misperceptions and false expectations in society, hence, in the scientific and medical community. Different and more solid alternatives about the carachterization of the ‘beginning of human life’ are indeed available and require to be explored and defined. (shrink)

Epistemic diversity is the ability or possibility of producing diverse and rich epistemic apparati to make sense of the world around us. In this paper we discuss whether, and to what extent, different conceptions of knowledge—notably as ‘justified true belief’ and as ‘distributed and embodied cognition’—hinder or foster epistemic diversity. We then link this discussion to the widespread move in science and philosophy towards monolingual disciplinary environments. We argue that English, despite all appearance, is no Lingua Franca, and we give (...) reasons why epistemic diversity is also deeply hindered is monolingual contexts. Finally, we sketch a proposal for multilingual academia where epistemic diversity is thereby fostered. (shrink)

Gobbo, James This is an edited record of the address given by Sir James Gobbo to the Centre's Annual General Meeting on 13 October 2010.

This paper explores the problem of knowledge in computational informational organisms, i.e. organisms that include a computing machinery at the artifact side. Although information can be understood in many ways, from the second half of the past century information is getting more and more digitised, von Neumann machines becoming dominant. Computational information is a challenge for the act of measuring, as neither purely quantitative nor totally qualitative approaches satisfy the need to explain the interplay among the agents producing and managing (...) computational information. In this paper, Floridi’s method of levels of abstraction is applied to the analysis of computational information, with a chief interest in the concepts of information measure, quantification and quality. (shrink)

En el vórtice del tiempo -- La digestión del conocimiento -- De la noble virtud -- Retrodicción del futuro -- Taki Onqoy -- Guernica -- Máximas e interludios -- De retorno al crepúsculo -- Bitácora.

Everyday life practices are one of the focuses of interest for so-called ‘sustainable transitions’. Efforts in making daily life more ecological have ranged from awareness-raising and behaviour change strategies to socio-technical innovations, but have produced limited results so far. In a present characterised by a prolonged and multifaceted crisis it is imperative that, as social scientists, we interrogate the (un)sustainability of everyday practices from a more critical angle, linking them to reflections about capitalism's ecological destructiveness. One fruitful way of doing (...) so is to interrogate the dimension of subjectivity as a space where collective discourses, practices and desires are embodied in concrete experience and actions. Drawing on ethnographic material on everyday energy use, I suggest that contemporary ways of living certainly contribute to the overall reproduction of capitalism and yet, in the (dis)juncture of the crisis, more sustainable livelihoods can be experimented with and prefigured. Subjectivity is one crucial dimension in which this process unravels. (shrink)

Focused on city-scale automation, and using self-driving cars (SDCs) as a case study, this article reflects on the role of AI—and in particular, computer vision systems used for mapping and navigation—as a catalyst for urban transformation. Urban research commonly presents AI and cities as having a one-way cause-and-effect relationship, giving undue weight to AI’s impact on cities and overlooking the role of cities in shaping AI. Working at the intersection of data science and social research, this paper aims to counter (...) this trend by exploring the reverse perspective: how do cities affect the development, and expose the present limits, of SDCs? The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, by comparing urban and nonurban environments and thoroughly examining the relationship between computer vision and city-specific sociality and form, it defines machine autonomy/automation as a function of the sociotechnical milieu in which an AI system operates. Second, and related, the paper problematizes the notion of SDCs as autonomous technologies and the role it plays in envisioning contending policy arrangements and technical solutions for achieving full driving automation. Finally, the article offers insight into a materialist and spatialized understanding of AI—namely, not as an abstract quality susceptible to replication within discrete machines, but rather as a distributed property emerging through embodied interactions among a multiplicity of agents (human, non-human, and technological) within/with their environments. (shrink)

We present a sound and complete Fitch-style natural deduction system for an S5 modal logic containing an actuality operator, a diagonal necessity operator, and a diagonal possibility operator. The logic is two-dimensional, where we evaluate sentences with respect to both an actual world (first dimension) and a world of evaluation (second dimension). The diagonal necessity operator behaves as a quantifier over every point on the diagonal between actual worlds and worlds of evaluation, while the diagonal possibility quantifies over some point (...) on the diagonal. Thus, they are just like the epistemic operators for apriority and its dual. We take this extension of Fitch’s familiar derivation system to be a very natural one, since the new rules and labeled lines hereby introduced preserve the structure of Fitch’s own rules for the modal case. (shrink)

Fábio Alves dos Santos (1954-2013) cursou Pedagogia, Ciências Sociais e Teologia, era Especialista em Filosofia da Religião (PUC Minas), Advogado (PUC Minas) e Mestre em Direito Constitucional (UFMG). Lecionou na PUC Minas como professor de Cultura Religiosa e depois como professor no Curso de Direito, atuando principalmente no Serviço de Assistência Judiciária – SAJ, especialmente cuidado de causas populares como as da ASMARE (Associação dos Catadores de Papel, Papelão e Material Reaproveitável de Belo Horizonte), da Pastoral de Rua, da Pastoral (...) Carcerária, de movimentos de “Sem Casa”, de ocupações e tantos outros grupos. Fábio sofria de grave problema de visão há mais de 15 anos. Quase ficou cego depois de diversas cirurgias de miopia. Isso, porém, não o impedia de seguir seu constante compromisso com as lutas populares. Na última entrevista que concedeu, menos de um mês antes de sua morte (19 de outubro de 2013), depois de duro sofrimento de quase dois anos, no tratamento de um câncer no pâncreas, conta um pouco de sua vida, sua luta e sua percepção de várias realidades, especialmente da Igreja e da pastoral. Militante formado na Teologia da Libertação, de profunda espiritualidade, marcada por traços da religiosidade popular nordestina e comprometida com a libertação, Fábio Alves também buscou em sua vida abrir-se à teologia do pluralismo religioso, especialmente com o Santo Daime, em cuja tradição religiosa chegou a ser “fardado”, mantendo uma profunda atitude espiritual aberta ao diálogo inter-religioso. Sua primeira publicação foi “Começo de mundo novo: sofrimento, luta e vitória dos posseiros de Santana dos Frades”, Sergipe, numa versão popular em 1981 e outra pela Editora Vozes (1990). Fruto de sua dissertação de mestrado, publicou o livro “Direito Agrário: política fundiária no Brasil (1995). Em 2001 saiu seu último livro, uma coletânea de artigos publicados em diversos jornais: “Em defesa da vida”. Num artigo em Horizonte (2004), juntamente com o advogado, amigo e colega Prof. Cristiano de Melo Bastos, discutiu “A prática jurídica na missão da PUC Minas”. Palavras-chave : Teologia da Libertação. Militância. Igreja Católica. Pastoral. Lutas populares. (shrink)

Causal modelling provides a powerful set of tools for identifying causal structure from observed correlations. It is well known that such techniques fail for quantum systems, unless one introduces 'spooky' hidden mechanisms. Whether one can produce a genuinely quantum framework in order to discover causal structure remains an open question. Here we introduce a new framework for quantum causal modelling that allows for the discovery of causal structure. We define quantum analogues for core features of classical causal modelling techniques, including (...) the causal Markov condition and faithfulness. Based on the process matrix formalism, this framework naturally extends to generalised structures with indefinite causal order. (shrink)

People argue to reconcile differences of opinion, but reconciliation may fail to happen. In these cases, most theorists assume arguers are left with the same disagreement from which they started. This is too optimistic, since disagreement might instead escalate, and this may happen because of the argumentative practice, not in spite of it. These dangers depend on epistemological, pragmatic, and cultural factors, and show why arguers should be careful in picking their dialogical fights.

Why are enthymemes so frequent? Are we dumb arguers, smart rhetoricians, or parsimonious reasoners? This paper investigates systematic use of enthymemes, criticizing the application of the principle of charity to their interpretation. In contrast, I propose to analyze enthymematic argumentation in terms of parsimony, i.e. as a manifestation of the rational tendency to economize over scant resources. Consequences of this view on the current debate on enthymemes and on their rational reconstruction are discussed.

Modes of action readiness Acceptance accepting presence or interaction Non- acceptance not accepting presence or interaction Attending acquiring information Disinterest not acquiring information Affiliate achieving or accepting close ...

The aim of this paper is to clarify the extent to which relationships between Human Agents (HAs) and Artificial Agents (AAs) can be adequately defined in terms of trust. Since such relationships consist mostly in the allocation of tasks to technological products, particular attention is paid to the notion of delegation. In short, I argue that it would be more accurate to describe direct relationships between HAs and AAs in terms of reliance, rather than in terms of trust. However, as (...) mediums of human actions to which tasks are delegated, AAs indirectly mediate trust between users and other social actors involved in their design, manufacture, commercialisation and deployment. In this sense, AAs mediate social trust. My conclusion is that relationships between HAs and AAs are thus to be understood directly in terms of reliance and indirectly in terms of social trust mediation. (shrink)

The history of fallacy theory is long, distinguished and, admittedly, checkered. I offer a bird eye view on it, with the aim of contrasting the standard conception of fallacies as attractive and universal errors that are hard to eradicate with the contemporary preoccupation with “non-fallacious fallacies”, that is, arguments that fit the bill of one of the traditional fallacies but are actually respectable enough to be used in appropriate contexts. Godden and Zenker have recently argued that reinterpreting alleged fallacies as (...) non-fallacious arguments requires supplementing the textual material with something else, e.g. probability distributions, pragmatic considerations, dialogical context. Thus fallacies remain gappy on all accounts, and this is the hallmark of their failure. However, I argue that such gappiness is typically unproblematic, and thus no more flawed than enthymematic argumentation in general. This, in turn, calls into question the usefulness of the very notion of fallacy. (shrink)

Aristotle claims that the necessity of the syllogisms in the first figure is evident, and calls them ‘perfect’ on this basis. The perfection of such syllogisms, most notably barbara, appears to be correlated with the actual disposition of the middle term. G. Patzig strengthened the correlation to an explanation, claiming that in virtue of that disposition the transitivity of the relation ‘belongs to all’ between the terms becomes manifest. The present article shows that the modern scheme of transitivity, namely, with (...) contiguous middle term, is not the same as the one employed with remarkable consistency in the ancient mathematical texts. On these grounds, I argue that Patzig’s calling into play the notion of transitivity cannot count as an explanation of first figure syllogisms being perfect, not even of those in barbara. Keywords: Aristotle; logic; syllogism; perfect syllogism; first figure; barbara; proportion; transitivity. (shrink)

A teoria da Motricidade Humana criada na década de 1980 pelo português Manuel Sérgio é uma presunção que tenta dar bases epistemológicas para criar um novo paradigma a fim de pautar as práxis da Educação Física. As bases da teoria se assentam numa perspectiva de corpo centrada na filosofia e ciências humanas para contrapor e somar as bases históricas das práxis da Educação Física historicamente fundadas no corpo anatomo-biológico. Neste sentido, o presente artigo tem como objetivo discutir a centralidade do (...) corpo para a construção de uma base ética na teoria da Motricidade Humana. Para argumentar tal centralidade os autores estabelecem fundamentalmente um diálogo tensivo entre Nietzsche e Merleau-Ponty para fazer um paralelo de como Manuel Sérgio se apropria da filosofia de ambos para conceber o corpo enquanto dimensão ética na sua teoria. La teoría de la motricidad humana criada en la década de 1980 por el portugués Manuel Sérgio trata de elaborar las bases epistemológicas de la creación de un nuevo paradigma que tiene como objetivo fundamentar la praxis de la Educación Física. Las bases de esta teoría se apoyan, principalmente, en una perspectiva del cuerpo de la filosofía y ciencias humanas para se contraponer y sumar a las bases históricas de la praxis de la Educación Física históricamente fundamentada en el cuerpo anatómico-biológico. El artículo tiene como objetivo discutir el carácter central de cuerpo en la construcción de una base ética de la teoría de la Motricidad Humana. Pretendiendo argumentar ese carácter central en el artículo se realiza un diálogo entre Nietzsche y MerleauPonty buscando colocar que Manuel Sérgio se apropria de la filosofía de ambos con el objetivo de concebir el cuerpo como dimensión ética en su teoría. (shrink)

It is a widely held principle that no one is able to do something that would require the past to have been different from how it actually is. This principle of the fixity of the past has been presented in numerous ways, playing a crucial role in arguments for logical and theological fatalism, and for the incompatibility of causal determinism and the ability to do otherwise. I will argue that, assuming bivalence, this principle is in conflict with standard views about (...) knowledge and the semantics for ‘actually’. I also consider many possible responses to the argument. (shrink)