The main focus of acquaintance theorists has been the nature and mechanism of perceptual acquaintance with particulars. Generally, one’s view of perceptual acquaintance with general features has taken its bearings from one’s view of perceptual acquaintance with particulars. This has led to the glossing over of significant differences in the mechanisms of perceptual acquaintance with particulars and with general features. The difference in mechanisms suggests a difference in the sort of epistemic state at play in the two kinds of cases. (...) While the existence of such a difference might initially seem to spell trouble for acquaintance theorists, it can be made palatable by being traced back to the distinct basic functions concepts of particulars and of general features serve in thought. (shrink)

The Earth is facing pressing societal grand challenges that require urgent managerial action. Responsible management learning has emerged as a discipline to prepare managers to act as responsible leaders that can effectively address such pressing challenges. This article aims to extend current knowledge on RML in the domain of corporate sustainability through the application of threshold concepts, novel ideas which provide a doorway to new knowledge and transform a learner’s mindset. Specifically, after conducting a systematic review of the management literature, (...) we identify 33 CS threshold concepts that are useful for mainstream managers and practitioners in their RML process. We group them into six CS threshold concept themes that can help managers understand the complexities and interconnectedness that characterize CS. Finally, we map CS threshold concepts with key competences for effective RML. Therefore, our contribution relies on translating existing CS theoretical frameworks into transformative, specific, understandable and applicable pieces of knowledge that might help mainstream managers to embed CS principles in their daily management practices. (shrink)

Voluntary sustainability standards that establish global rules for firms’ environmental and/or social conduct and allow for verification of firm compliance via third-party certification hold the promise to govern firms’ sustainability conduct in a globalizing world economy. However, the recent proliferation of competing and overlapping global sustainability standards that have been developed by various stakeholders with different agendas, creates uncertainties for firms that likely reduce their propensity to adopt any standard. Without widespread adoption these standards cannot effectively govern firm conduct and (...) in contrast create barriers for firms’ access to export markets. We suggest that the uncertainties associated with competing standards and the effect of these uncertainties on standard certification decisions are especially large for firms in emerging economies because these firms lack access to information about current and future standards and the resources to obtain certifications to multiple standards. We theoretically propose and empirically identify three distinct sources of sustainability standard uncertainty: diversity of customer requirements, dynamism of customer requirements, and the unpredictability of the future evolution of standard and propose that each of these sources reduces firms’ propensity to obtain certification to any standard. Our empirical results based on certifications to food safety standards by a sample of 97 Mexican food exporting firms confirm that three distinct sources of sustainability standard uncertainty exist and that all of them negatively impact certification. We discuss ethical implications and offer recommendations for both suppliers as well as standard setting organizations. (shrink)

In this short piece I am not undertaking to give a full discussion of the whole of Patočka’s “heretical” work. I wish only make clear its most essential core. What, in Patočka’s view, made Europe Europe and what is Europe’s bequest to the world after what Patočka describes as its fall, completed by the two world wars? What should Europe look to conserve in itself if- as seems likely - it would like to once again play a respected role in (...) world events? Is there something which the globalised world should take over from old Europe, or something which it should eschew, if it does not wish history to end and utter decadence to ensue? (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Schopenhauer on the Inevitability of Suffering Criticisms of Schopenhauer's Thesis that to Desire Is to Suffer The Unattainability of True Satisfaction The Inevitability of Boredom The Negative Nature of Pleasure and Satisfaction Happiness and Well‐Being Degrees of Unhappiness: The Possibility of Amelioration The Paradox of the Suspension or Negation of the Will The Inevitability of Unhappiness References Further Reading.

En una de sus formulaciones más simples, la tesis quineana de la equivalencia empírica entre teorías sostiene que dada una teoría T que dé cuenta del conjunto de observaciones O, es posible que haya otra teoría T* lógicamente incompatible con T, pero empíricamente equivalente, i. e. da cuenta del mismo conjunto O de observaciones. El propósito de este ensayo será el de examinar el impacto de esta tesis frente a la del realismo científico ingenuo, reformulándola en términos más precisos y (...) examinando su plausibilidad. La conclusión será que la tesis de la equivalencia empírica no es una tesis lógico-filosófica como aquellas sobre las que se basa (subdeterminación de las teorías por la experiencia, holismo epistemológico), sino que su carácter es práctico y condiciona sobre las actuales capacidades para observar y testar; también se explotará esta consecuencia para mostrar cómo podría darse cabida a un tipo de realismo a pesar de las tesis quineanas. Se tendrá como referente el artículo de W. V. O. Quine “On Empirically Equivalent Systems of the World” (1975). (shrink)

It is well-known that intuitionistic logics can be formalized by means of Heyting algebras, i.e. relatively pseudocomplemented semilattices. Within such algebras the logical connectives implication and conjunction are formalized as the relative pseudocomplement and the semilattice operation meet, respectively. If the Heyting algebra has a bottom element |$0$|⁠, then the relative pseudocomplement with respect to |$0$| is called the pseudocomplement and it is considered as the connective negation in this logic. Our idea is to consider an arbitrary meet-semilattice with |$0$| (...) satisfying only the Ascending Chain Condition (these assumptions are trivially satisfied in finite meet-semilattices) and introduce the operators formalizing the connectives negation |$x^{0}$| and implication |$x\rightarrow y$| as the set of all maximal elements |$z$| satisfying |$x\wedge z=0$| and as the set of all maximal elements |$z$| satisfying |$x\wedge z\leq y$|⁠, respectively. Such a negation and implication is ‘unsharp’ since it assigns to one entry |$x$| or to two entries |$x$| and |$y$| belonging to the semilattice, respectively, a subset instead of an element of the semilattice. Surprisingly, this kind of negation and implication still shares a number of properties of these connectives in intuitionistic logic, in particular the derivation rule Modus Ponens. Moreover, unsharp negation and unsharp implication can be characterized by means of five, respectively seven simple axioms. We present several examples. The concepts of a deductive system and of a filter are introduced as well as the congruence determined by such a filter. We finally describe certain relationships between these concepts. (shrink)

Through a study of the history of the concepts of wealth and poverty, this paper investigates the onset of a transition in the conceptual architecture of epidemiological research concerning social differences in mortality rates from 1858 to 1914. It raises the question as to what the concepts of wealth and poverty meant to those who used them and what objects of interventions the conceptual architecture surrounding the concepts enabled the researchers to create. It argues that a transition began in the (...) late 19th century in which an important framework for the understanding of causal relations behind the mortality patterns changed and that this change in turn influenced the scope of what was conceived as relevant objects of intervention. (shrink)

We consider the complexity of the integration operator on real functions with respect to the subrecursive class M^2 . We prove that the definite integral of a uniformly M^2-computable analytic real function with M^2-computable limits is itself M^2-computable real number. We generalise this result to integrals with parameters and with varying limits. As an application, we show that the Euler-Mascheroni constant is M^2-computable.

The religious crisis experienced by the present mankind is neither the first nor the last in its history. But it looks more sharp, more general, and above all - deeper, because it reaches the very roots of religion, God. This crisis is present in the West, where freedom is predominantly dominated and dominated, and where man can develop as it is profitable, as well as in the East, where for decades the communist regime led a persistent and fierce ideological war, (...) trying to eliminate everything that concerned God. It seemed that the fall of the Marxist-Communist system would lead to a violent manifestation of a religious sensation here, responding to the demands of the human spirit. Unfortunately, such hopes were not fulfilled. The atmosphere of a certain freedom soon changed the first signs of enthusiastic religious interest in religious chaos, and finally, as could be foreseen, left a free space for the crazy pursuit of well-being and all the benefits that the Western civilization was embracing. This was the result of a pathetic, even tragic financial situation, which was the consequence of the management of the communist regime and the inevitable legacy of Marxist despotism, which required the complete rejection of religion and its absence in human life. (shrink)

This article has four main objectives. First, it introduces the ideal types of domination of Weber. Contrary to the received wisdom, which knows only “three ideal types” (traditional, charismatic and legal rational) I present the “fourth” type of domination, Weber called “Wille der Beherrschten” as an important correction of his ideal type of legal-rational authority. Next I make a novel, critical distinction between patrimonial and prebendal types of traditional authority. Third, I discuss various ways that communist regimes tried to legitimate (...) themselves and how they entered eventually a legitimation crisis, leading to the collapse of communism. In the next section, I explore the different ways post-communist capitalisms seek legitimacy (with various combinations of legal rational authority and patrimonialism), and finally I conclude with a trend of re-convergence of some post-communist systems (especially Russia and Hungary, but with signs for similar trends elsewhere) into an illiberal, prebendal quasi-democratic system. (shrink)

The phenomenon of self-love elicits conflicting reactions. Some believe it is the key to happiness, while others are skeptical. This essay defines self-love as wholehearted concern for one's well-being, argues that it does not imply selfishness, arrogance, or vanity, discusses reasons to value self-love, and describes ways Logic-Based Therapy can be used to help people love themselves.

In this paper I will discuss a recent attempt of justifying democracy and its authority. It pertains to recently published papers by Niko Kolodny, which complement each other and taken together practically assume a form of a monograph. It could be said that Kolodny's approach is a non-standard one given that he avoids typical ways of justifying democracy. Namely, when a justification of democracy is concerned, Kolodny maintains that it is necessary to offer a kind of an independent justification. It (...) is not so much that he insists that the usual approaches are wrong as much as that an independent justification is necessary in order to discern what it is that gives them their significance. Kolodny's independent justification of democracy is based on the idea of social equality. In this paper I will try to reconstruct and critically assess Kolodny's approach by paying special attention to the question of democratic authority. (shrink)

While agreeing with Bernard Reginster that Nietzsche's advocacy of the will to power as a psychological thesis is much more fundamental than his extension of it as a cosmological or metaphysical thesis, I criticize him for failing to support this interpretation, and I attempt to supply an analysis that does support it. Then, I take issue with the common tendency to sanitize Nietzsche's theory of the will to power, to make it more palatable—and with Reginster's treatment of this issue. This (...) leads me to an examination of Nietzsche's conception of power—and a critique of Reginster's account of it. (shrink)

En este artículo examinamos a grandes rasgos la alternativa a la idea de lucha en el proceso de reconocimiento mutuo. Analizamos los conceptos que en nuestras sociedades modernas han dado lugar a estados de paz concretos, y que habiendo emergido de la tradición cristiana, tienen una sedimentación semántica que nos invita a desentrañarla. La philia, el eros y el ágape son aquí nuestros conceptos clave. Descubrimos cómo el ágape se distancia del eros platónico y de la philia aristotélica en la (...) forma de la infinitud y de la incondicionalidad, cómo se dona a sí mismo sin esperar la reciprocidad y sin resistirse a llevar la iniciativa en el establecimiento de las relaciones pacíficas, pudiendo llegar a tener suma importancia en el orden democrático. (shrink)

In 1987 the Martens center-right cabinet had to resign over the perennial Fourons issue. The many painstakingly reached compromises each time met strong opposition from the Francophone Social Christian Party and its ministers on the government benches. Once the government resignation accepted by the King, Parliament was dissolved and elections were held. They resulted in a Socialist victory, and a personaldefeat for Prime Minister Martens. In the election aftermath, a cabinet of Christian Democrats and Socialists became more likely.Because of the (...) Fourons issue, the Cabinet found hardly time to address their other issues, and many of the decisions it reached were never implemented because of the government crisis ; e.g. the tax reform plan.The most important decision in the international field was the sending of minesweepers to the Gulf. (shrink)

This paper proposes an initial epistemological course related to the notions of life, cognition, and culture from the fundamental elements of the complexity theory and, specifically, related to the notion of self-eco-organization. With these, we pretend to search isomorphic or transverse properties to all these notions; emphasizing the ideas of complexity, autonomy and dependence. El presente trabajo propone un derrotero epistemológico preliminar en torno a las nociones de vida, cognición y cultura, desde la base de algunos elementos de la teoría (...) de la complejidad y en específico, en torno a la noción de auto-eco-organización. Con ellos, se pretende la búsqueda de isomorfismos o propiedades transversales a todas estas nociones, centrándose en la ideas de complejidad, autonomía y dependencia. (shrink)

This text stresses that the arts are cognitive and effective essentials in human development. It includes research from psychology, philosophy, medicine, music, linguistics and visual arts to bring together theories designed to nourish the search for understanding the human mind.

У статті за допомогою лінгвокультурологічного методу простежено релігійно-культурну внутрішню форму деяких християнських символів та понять. Доведено, що в культурних чи релігійних текстах зближення об'єктів може відбуватися за другорядними ознаками; їхня символічна взаємозамінність, неоднакова асоціативна палітра, референційна віддаленість, співвіднесеність із різними референційними системами чи просторово-часова неоднорідність нерідко суперечать однозначному осягненню тексту, спричинюють поліфонічність, а отже, і множинність його інтерпретацій. Констатовано вагомий потенціал лінгвокультурологічного методу аналізу релігійно-культурних текстів у релігієзнавчо-богословських дослідженнях.

We extend Savage et al.'s music and social bonding hypothesis by examining it in the context of Chinese music. First, top-down functions such as music as political instrument should receive more attention. Second, solo performance can serve as important cues for social identity. Third, a right match between the tones in lyrics and music contributes also to social bonding.

In this paper we seek to take notice of the evolution and continuity of Jan Patočka’s phenomenology on the topic of the world and human existence’s relationship with it. We believe that this problem underlies and stimulates Patočka’s whole phenomenological research and we think that it is a key element to understand the ensemble of his thought.

El artículo presenta una crítica teórica a las principales interpretaciones de la identidad cultural latinoamericana. A partir del debate teórico sobre el concepto de identidad cultural, se describen los principales argumentos de cada tesis y luego se plantea un análisis crítico de sus fundamentos c..

The repeated celebrations of the jubilees of the Union of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the Roman Apostolic See encourage us to stop once more and deeper comprehend its genesis, that is, to find out the motives of its creators, historical and other reasons that led to the implementation of this crucial and influential act in the history of our people.. This rethinking is all the more necessary that in our history, in particular in the minds and publications of many (...) Ukrainians, the notion that the mentioned Unification of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with Rome, proclaimed in Brest in 1596, is still a Polish-Jesuit intrigue carried out in the interests of the Polish, not the Ukrainian people. (shrink)

In this essay I critically examine Jean-Paul Sartre's theory, that all consciousness not only must have an object but also must always be self-aware, that a self-conscious "pre-reflective cogito" accompanies all consciousness. I attempt to show how this doctrine is meant to support Sarte's general rejection of the possibility of unconscious mental processes and that Sartre's arguments for the presence of such a self-conscious "pre-reflective cogito" in all consciousnesses are unsound.