The purpose of this paper is to present a possible theoretical articulation between Terrence Deacon’s concept of ententionality and the concept of pertinence as posed by semio-linguist Luis J. Prieto. The advantage of such articulation is that it brings together two seemingly incompatible approaches within semiotics, namely the Peircean and the Saussurean ones. We start by subscribing to the definition of semiotics as the study of forms of knowledge in order to highlight the importance of analyzing intentional phenomena as semiosic (...) phenomena. Afterwards, we present the concept of ententionality and the levels of organization that ultimately set the conditions for entention to emerge. Then, we present an analysis of this concept aided by Prieto’s notion of pertinence. Our main conclusion is that ententionality and teleodynamic organization presupposes the existence of a pertinence principle that enables the recognition of differences in the extrinsic conditions of a system, and that such recognition of differences is at the basis of proper intentional phenomena. (shrink)

Background: The field of voice and speech analysis has become increasingly popular over the last 10 years, and articles on its use in detecting neurodegenerative diseases have proliferated. Many studies have identified characteristic speech features that can be used to draw an accurate distinction between healthy aging among older people and those with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Speech analysis has been singled out as a cost-effective and reliable method for detecting the presence of both conditions. In this research, (...) a systematic review was conducted to determine these features and their diagnostic accuracy.Methods: Peer-reviewed literature was located across multiple databases, involving studies that apply new procedures of automatic speech analysis to collect behavioral evidence of linguistic impairments along with their diagnostic accuracy on Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. The risk of bias was assessed by using JBI and QUADAS-2 checklists.Results: Thirty-five papers met the inclusion criteria; of these, 11 were descriptive studies that either identified voice features or explored their cognitive correlates, and the rest were diagnostic studies. Overall, the studies were of good quality and presented solid evidence of the usefulness of this technique. The distinctive acoustic and rhythmic features found are gathered. Most studies record a diagnostic accuracy over 88% for Alzheimer's and 80% for mild cognitive impairment.Conclusion: Automatic speech analysis is a promising tool for diagnosing mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. The reported features seem to be indicators of the cognitive changes in older people. The specific features and the cognitive changes involved could be the subject of further research. (shrink)

O presente artigo situa a ociosidade como tema de filosofia política junto à análise da noção de instituições ociosas, a partir das Considerações sobre o Governo da Polônia, de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Nesse contexto, em que a ociosidade aparece numa reflexão acerca da natureza da constituição política, o foco da questão é um problema inerente à atividade legislativa: "como incutir a lei nos corações dos cidadãos?". Na abordagem desse problema, destaca-se a reflexão acerca do problema do mal da elusão da lei (...) e, em especial, da proposta de remédio, que avança em relação à superficialidade e à cegueira da visão na qual o tempo do ócio se afigura apenas como intervalo inútil. Na perspectiva rousseauniana aqui desenvolvida, a questão do ócio prende-se à da manipulação dos sentimentos de sociabilidade civil por meio de cerimoniais ociosos que o legislador deve considerar em face do extraordinário poder das instituições ociosas como recursos de fortalecimento da lei. (shrink)

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a noção de vontade de verdade sob o prisma de exercício do poder, a partir das considerações desenvolvidas por Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) e Michel Foucault (1926-1984). Neste contexto, a problemática diz respeito aos modos como a verdade se relaciona com o humano, tanto para compreender a existência, como denuncia Nietzsche, quanto para produções de discurso, como indica Foucault. Assim, buscar-se-á responder: “A vontade de verdade restringe a capacidade humana de interpretar a existência? E, ainda: (...) quais os limites estabelecidos entre a verdade e o humano, para que este continue atuando sob a perspectiva da superação nietzschiana e da subjetivação foucaultiana?”. Com isso em vista, serão utilizadas as obras A Gaia Ciência (1882) e Para a Genealogia da Moral (1887), de Nietzsche, em que o autor aborda a vontade de verdade a partir do modo como esta se desenvolve em paralelo à filosofia socrático-platônica, além dos reflexos desta no cristianismo, que se configura em vontade de domínio no ideal ascético. Não obstante, será analisado o posicionamento de Foucault em A Ordem do Discurso (1971), interpretando a vontade de verdade enquanto regra do discurso que promove uma forma de exercício do poder dentro da sociedade e impede, por sua vez, a subjetivação do sujeito através do dizer-verdadeiro. Desse modo, será possível entrever, ainda, uma relação teórica que tange os modos como Nietzsche e Foucault avaliam a noção de vontade de verdade e os seus desdobramentos quando associados à figura humana em sociedade. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Ideas 67.3 (2006) 523-545 [Access article in PDF] Enlightenment! Which Enlightenment? Jonathan Israel Institute for Advanced Study Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, 4 vols., editor in chief Alan Charles Kors; eds. Roger L.Emerson, Lynn Hunt, Anthony J. La Vopa, Jacques Le Brun, Jeremy D. Popkin, C. Bradley Thomson, Ruth Whelan, and Gordon S. Wood (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003). On the surface it (...) might well seem that during the last fifteen or twenty years the Enlightenment understood as a new way of thinking about reality and society has receded more and more from its former privileged status as a pivotal turning-point in the making of the modern world, and especially as any kind of leap forward in the making of a freer, more rational, and better humanity. Under the combined assaults of Post-Structuralism, Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, the rise of the new social history (and not least Robert Darnton's critique of the old intellectual history), the Enlightenment conceived as a movement of ideas appears to be not just firmly in retreat and increasingly under siege but also fragmenting into disparate remnants with no coherent overall profile.Yet, paradoxically, there are grounds for conjecturing that the Enlightenment despite all this, has actually been becoming, under the surface, an even more crucial and robust force than it was before, much like a powerfully compressed spring being pushed back but ready to rebound with greater impetus than ever. One reason for thinking this is the extensive new material unearthed in the last few years, mostly by colleagues in continental Europe, about the origins of "radical," in the sense of egalitarian, secularist, Spinozist, and anti-colonial, thought. A second and possibly more important [End Page 523] reason is that the terrible events of the last several years have provided thoughtful readers with more than just a glimpse of the nightmare world apt to result from enshrining as a new set of privileged and prevailing values "difference," a thoroughgoing relativism, and the doctrine that all sets of values, even the most questionable kinds of theology, are ultimately equivalent.The inevitable recoil from Postmodernist "relativism" will presumably strengthen the appeal, at least in some quarters, of the Radical Enlightenment's claim that the improvement of human life inescapably involves emancipating men from the collective force of autocracy, intolerance, and prejudiced thinking, and establishing a predominantly secular morality, no less than it involves promoting the ideals of equality (sexual and racial), democracy, individual liberty, and a comprehensive toleration. Indeed, recent developments on all continents seem likely to lend new weight to the radical philosophes' argument that the moral basis of their theorized egalitarianism, democracy, toleration, and individual freedom, despite the arguments of the Postmodernists (which by no means lack weight in certain contexts), is after all concretely superior in terms of reason and moral equity not just to what one faith or traditional system or another contends, in opposition to its claims, but absolutely—that is in ethical and political as well as social terms. One may confidently predict that such a development will render the Enlightenment both more compelling and much harder to disparage than it has appeared to be in the wake of the Postmodernist upsurge in recent years.The prestige and status of the Enlightenment Western and Eastern, still conspicuously low for the present, may powerfully rebound, then, and in all parts of the world; and this for the simple reason that "Enlightenment thinking," as one scholar recently expressed it, "remains the best foundation for any genuinely progressive politics not simply in the West but in those states that suffered most at its [i.e. the West's] hands."1 To anyone authentically committed to democracy, toleration, and personal liberty this seems undeniable and, what is more, as we see in Bayle, Diderot, the Abbé Raynal, Lahontan, Van den Enden, and other radical writers of the Enlightenment, the roots of anti-colonialism itself, as well as the modern idea of racial, ethnic, and sexual equality, are undoubtedly to be found precisely in the "philosophical" thought-world of the Enlightenment—and especially the... (shrink)

Neste artigo, no intuito de nos inscrevermos em uma reflexão mais abrangente acerca dos negacionismos contemporâneos, com foco no “negacionismo histórico”, que se sustenta por processos de falseamento e homogeneização da história e das memórias, buscamos seguir o seguinte roteiro de reflexão analítica: i) tratar da escrita da história, abordando a produção de memórias, as políticas de esquecimento e o falseamento discursivo da história; ii) traçar um panorama acerca da escrita da história e da produção de memórias da ditadura civil-militar (...) brasileira, observando, de um lado, a produção discursiva nos campos escolar, jornalístico e “de história”, como formas de manifestação e promoção da memória oficial do regime, e, de outro, a construção das políticas institucionais de memória, com foco nas comissões de verdade, como mecanismos de instituição de regimes de dizibilidade sustentados por memórias-outras; iii) como eixo analítico-conclusivo, traçar uma reflexão que vai da negação da história à formação do autoritarismo contemporâneo, tomando como exemplo a violência contra os povos originários. Inscrevemo-nos, para dar cabo a esta discussão, na perspectiva arqueogenealógica dos Estudos Discursivos Foucaultianos, a partir da mobilização de um arcabouço teórico-metodológico que permite a análise dos processos de formação dos enunciados e dos discursos e, fundamentalmente, uma crítica reflexiva do presente. (shrink)

RESUMO:A réplica rousseauniana a d’Alembert, autor do verbete Genebra da Enciclopédia, foi batizada como Carta sobre os espetáculos, em respeito ao tema nela tratado após os dez primeiros parágrafos, os quais abordam explicitamente o tema da intolerância religiosa. Contudo, o presente artigo apresenta, sob a perspectiva de uma moral da tolerância que não se resume às questões religiosas, a defesa de que a Carta a d’Alembert é uma integral e avançada Carta sobre a Tolerância, por contemplar, além do discurso iluminista (...) de recusa à inquirição ou inspeção da fé alheia em matéria de religião, uma atualizada recusa multiculturalista ao etnocentrismo. ABSTRACT:Rousseau’s letter to d’Alembert, author of the Encyclopedia entry on Geneva, is known as the Letter on Spectacles. The title subject is dealt with after the letter’s first ten paragraphs, which explicitly address the issue of religious intolerance. The present article presents, from a perspective of a moral tolerance that is not limited to religious affairs, the argument that the letter to d’Alembert is a comprehensive and advanced Letter on Tolerance. In addition to its Enlightenment discourse of refusal of inquiry or inspection of the faith of others on religious matters, the letter contains an up-to-date multiculturalist rejection of ethnocentrism. (shrink)

La contracultura es una característica social en particular muy interesante, su significado, origen e historia siempre nos retorna a contextos de quiebre de una sociedad, de rebeldía del individuo, pero sobre todo, siempre se inclina al cambio; curiosamente en casi todos los casos optan por modificar de manera positiva tal que impacta todo lo conocido en esa sociedad.

Resumen. En México, la mercadotecnia promocional se ha erigido como la segunda más grande inversión demercadotecnia, principalmente debido a que las compañías tienden con más frecuencia a subcontratar laresponsabilidad de los aspectos operativos de la mercadotecnia. Las empresas contratantes exigen cada vezmás la garantía de seguridad y certidumbre en la prestación de los servicios, por lo que la calidad de éste seha convertido en un factor determinante en la elección de una agencia de promociones. El presentedocumento técnico busca compartir un (...) caso de estudio relacionado a una empresa de promoción de ventasque enfrenta una alta tasa de deserción de clientes con su consecuente contracción en las ventas, pero quecontradictoriamente está inmersa en un mercado que tiene un crecimiento sostenido del 15 por ciento en losúltimos años. El problema fue abordado desde la perspectiva de la calidad en el servicio y la satisfacción delcliente a través de la aplicación de encuestas Servqual a algunos clientes de la compañía. Dichas encuestaspermitieron: identificar las dimensiones de calidad relevantes en el servicio, detectar las áreas de oportunidadentre el servicio esperado y el servicio real, y la elaboración de un plan de acción que posteriormente fuesistematizado e implementado. Los resultados muestran que la implementación del sistema de calidad redujola deserción de los clientes; además, se descubrió que las dimensiones de calidad del Servqual afectan enproporciones diferentes a la satisfacción del cliente.Palabras Claves. Calidad en el servicio, deserción de clientes, mercadotecnia promocional, promoción deventas, QFD, satisfacción del cliente, Servqual, sistema de calidad.. In Mexico, the promotional marketing has emerged as the second largest marketing investment,mainly because companies tend to outsource most often the operational aspects of marketing. Thosecompanies are increasingly demanding security and certainty in the delivery of services. As a consequence,service quality has become a determining factor in the election of a sales promotion agency. This technicalpaperwork shares a case study related to a sales promotion company facing high customer defection rate withits consequent contraction in sales, but ironically immersed in a market that has a sustained growth of 15 per cent in recent years. Approach of the problem was from quality service and customer satisfaction perspectivethrough the use of Servqual surveys applied to some customers. These surveys allowed: to identify relevantdimensions of quality service, to identify opportunities between the expected service and the actual service,and the development of an action plan which was later systematized and implemented. Results show that theimplementation of the quality system reduced customer desertion. Also, found that the quality dimensions of SERVQUAL affect customer satisfaction in different ways.Keywords. Customer defection, customer satisfaction, quality service, quality system, QFD, sales promotion,Servqual. (shrink)

To replace the material conditional of the definiens by a subjunctive locution, i.e., "If x were placed on scale S at t, S's pointer would move to '5' at t" is indeed intuitively more adequate, but such a locution is itself not included in the repertoire of E as thus far described, while its reducibility to this repertoire has not been shown. Thus if dispositional terms cannot be directly defined in E, their subjunctive interpretation is simply irrelevant, at present, to (...) their reduction to E. (shrink)

Ben-Israel and Vaidman have raised objections to my arguments that there are cases where a quantum mechanical weak value can be said not to represent the system to which it pertains. They are correct in pointing out that some of my conclusions were too general. However, for weak values of projection operators my conclusions still stand.