The aim of this paper is to analyze, from a philosophical perspective, the scientific robustness of the construct of psychopathy as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist Revised that was developed by Robert Hare (1991; 2003). The scientific robustness and validity of classifications are topics of many debates in philosophy of science and philosophy of psychiatry more specifically. The main problem consists in establishing whether scientific classifications reflect natural kinds where the concept of a natural kind refers to the existence of (...) some objective divisions in nature that do not depend exclusively on subjective judgments of the classifier. The construct of psychopathy is especially interesting since the diagnosis of psychopathy has substantial social consequences. In the light of the recent debates regarding the problem of natural kinds in philosophy of psychiatry, we advocate the following distinction between two types of scientific classifications: natural and practical kinds. Natural kinds refer to those categories that are united by common causal mechanisms or properties. Practical kinds refer to categories that fulfill some practical classificatory goals such as prediction. We argue that the construct of psychopathy can fulfill the role of a practical kind. In addition, we contend that our current scientific knowledge about psychopathy does not allow us to conclude that this category is a natural kind. (shrink)

This study examines how the match between personal and firm-level values regarding environmental responsibility affects employee job satisfaction and creativity and contributes to three literature streams [i.e., social corporate responsibility, creativity, and person–environment fit]. Building on the P–E fit literature, we propose and test environmental orientation fit versus nonfit effects on creativity, identifying job satisfaction as a mediating mechanism and regulatory pressure as a moderator. An empirical investigation indicates that the various environmental orientation fit conditions affect job satisfaction and creativity (...) differently. More specifically, environmental orientation fit produces greater job satisfaction and creativity when the employee and organization both demonstrate high concern for the environment than when both display congruent low concern for the environmental. Furthermore, for employees working in organizations that fit their personal environmental orientation, strong regulatory pressure to comply with environmental standards diminishes the positive fit effect on job satisfaction and creativity, while regulatory pressure does not affect the job satisfaction and creativity of employees whose personal environmental orientation is incongruent with that of the organization. (shrink)

In this paper, we reconsider the notion of epistemic trespassing and attempt to explore possible scenarios in which it could lead to positive outcomes in scientific research and information dissemination. As we will point out, some of the significant discoveries in the history of science would not have been possible were it not for the epistemic trespassers, whose shift in paradigm changed the approach to specific issues for the better. Furthermore, we will present instances where individuals, often labeled as ‘trespassers’ (...) – those who venture into fields outside their expertise – can be considered trustworthy and reliable sources of testimony. Consequently, epistemic trespassing turned out to be essential for the advancement of science. Epistemic trespassing in our age is virtually inevitable – whether it be from a political perspective (to preserve democratic values) or due to purely practical reasons (i.e. searching for information online). There are interdisciplinary fields where a strictly negative characterization of epistemic trespassing would question their methodology since these disciplines rely on experts from various fields. For these reasons, we advocate for a more charitable approach to epistemic trespassing and greater public education to help them distinguish between correct and false information. (shrink)

Jelena Ćeriman, Rebellious Parents: Parental Movements in Central-Eastern Europe and Russia, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2017).

Rankings have dramatically proliferated over the past several decades. An often-overlooked impact of this proliferation is that it has facilitated the institutionalization of an imaginary of the modern world as a stratified order, whose actors are imagined as continuously striving to perform better than others. To better understand this impact, we need to take a closer look at rankings’ premises and the way these resonate with the broader institutional environment of which rankings are a part.

This article presents an attempt to approach the dispute over Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians from a non-territorial perspective, with particular focus on the preservation of the Serbian cultural and religious heritage. First, we argue that the Kosovo issue is at present commonly understood as an either-or territorial dispute over sovereignty and recognition between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian politicians. However, we claim that a lasting resolution to the Kosovo issue actually needs to account for at least three separate aspects: 1) (...) status of Northern Kosovo which is ethnically Serbian and still maintains various ties with the Serbian state, 2) status of Serbian cultural and religious heritage, chiefly UNESCO world heritage Serbian medieval monasteries and churches and 3) the fact that the Serbian population in central Kosovo, i.e. south of the river Ibar, where most of the mentioned monasteries and churches are located, are located in small municipalities or enclaves of Serbs surrounded by vast Albanian populations. We examine the applicability of the non– territorial approach to the Kosovo issue by analyzing the normative framework directly regulating the Serbian cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo, its preservation and protection, particularly of Serbian Orthodox monasteries, churches and other historical and cultural sites, while comparing these regulations to the existing normative NTAs in Croatia and Montenegro. Arguably, since most Serbian monasteries and churches are not included in any sovereignty negotiations, we point to the potential to combine territorial and non–territorial approaches, regardless of the continued obstacles in implementation arising from continued contestation of Kosovo’s sovereign status. This article presents an attempt to approach the dispute over Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians from a non-territorial perspective, with particular focus on the preservation of the Serbian cultural and religious heritage. First, we argue that the Kosovo issue is at present commonly understood as an either-or territorial dispute over sovereignty and recognition between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian politicians. However, we claim that a lasting resolution to the Kosovo issue actually needs to account for at least three separate aspects: 1) status of Northern Kosovo which is ethnically Serbian and still maintains various ties with the Serbian state, 2) status of Serbian cultural and religious heritage, chiefly UNESCO world heritage Serbian medieval monasteries and churches and 3) the fact that the Serbian population in central Kosovo, i.e. south of the river Ibar, where most of the mentioned monasteries and churches are located, are located in small municipalities or enclaves of Serbs surrounded by vast Albanian populations. We examine the applicability of the non– territorial approach to the Kosovo issue by analyzing the normative framework directly regulating the Serbian cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo, its preservation and protection, particularly of Serbian Orthodox monasteries, churches and other historical and cultural sites, while comparing these regulations to the existing normative NTAs in Croatia and Montenegro. Arguably, since most Serbian monasteries and churches are not included in any sovereignty negotiations, we point to the potential to combine territorial and non–territorial approaches, regardless of the continued obstacles in implementation arising from continued contestation of Kosovo’s sovereign status. (shrink)

Εἰς τὴν παρούσαν ἐργασίαν ἐκτίθενται ἐνδεικτικὰ χωρία τοῦ ὅρου μύστης, ἔτσι ὅπως εἶχε διαμορφωθεῖ ἡ χρήση του καὶ oἱ σημασιολογικὲς ἀποχρώσεις ποὺ λαμβάνει σὲ χωρία ἀρχαίων συγγραφέων. Παρουσιάζονται ἕξι χωρία, τὰ ὁποῖα ἀποδεικνύουν ὅτι ὁ μύστης ἦταν μέτοχος καὶ πλῆρες μέλος τῶν μυστηριακῶν λατρειῶν, ὄχι μόνο τῶν Μυστηρίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ὀργίων. Κάθε χωρίο ἀκολουθείται ἀπὸ μετάφραση σὲ μία ἀπὸ τὶς σύγχρονες γλῶσσες. Ἀπὸ τὸ χωρίο τοῦ Ἀριστοφάνη προκύπτει ὅτι ὁ ὅρος ἀρχικὰ εἶχε διατυπωθεῖ ὡς ἐπίθετο καὶ ὄχι ὡς οὐσιαστικό. (...) Ὡς τέτοιο μέρος τοῦ λόγου, λειτουργεῖ καὶ ὡς προσωνυμία (ἐπωνυμία) τῶν ἀρχαίων θεοτήτων. Παρ΄ὅλο ποὺ ἡ σημασιολογία του δείχνει νοηματικὴ διαφάνεια, ἡ ἐτυμολογία τοῦ ὅρου παραμένει ἀνεπαρκῶς προσδιορισμένη. Στὰ ἐτυμολογικὰ λεξικὰ δὲν ἀποτελεῖ ξεχωριστὸ λῆμμα, ἀλλὰ συγκαταλέγεται στὰ ὀνοματικὰ παράγωγα τοῦ ῥήματος μύω.This paper presents indicative quotations of the term mystes. They are taken from the texts of ancient writers, focusing on the way its use and its semasiological aspects were formed. Six excerpts are selected to assess the fact that mystes was an active participant and a full member of the ancient Mystery cults, not only of the Mysteries, but of the Orgies, too. Most quotations are followed by their interpretation in English or French. Aristophanes’ fragment leads to conclusion that initially the term was introduced and formulated rather as an adjective, than as a noun. As such, it serves as a name, title, or cognomen, referring to ancient deities. Although its semasiology indicates rather intelligible transparency, its etymology remains insufficiently determined. In etymological dictionaries it is not presented as a separate lemma, but is assumed to be a noun derivative of a verb, thus presented s.v. μύω [mýō]. (shrink)

U ovom će radu biti objašnjena važna sintagma Anthony Giddensa koja se nadovezuje na refleksivnu projekciju osobnosti, a to je transformacija intimnosti. Uz taj pojam povezane su i teorija i praksa čiste veze, dakle način na koji se ljudi ponašaju u bliskim odnosima, što traže u njima, te kako se ti odnosi mijenjaju. Prije, tumači Giddens, odnosi su se ostvarivali preko određenog skupa pravila, slijedeći određene norme i vrijednosti u društvu, tj. u lokalnoj zajednici. Danas, intimnost postaje projekt na kojemu (...) treba raditi. Ona zahtijeva otvaranje individuuma prema drugima, pri čemu se stvara međusobni proces otkrivanja i povjerenja, budući da je upravo i prvi čovjekov odnos, tj. odnos prema sebi, postao proces promatranja i otkrivanja sebe. Zadanih formi više nema. Vidjet ćemo kako transformacija intimnosti u sebi obuhvaća i pojam refleksivne projekcije osobnosti, prema tome je pojam refleksivne projekcije osobnosti konstitutivni dio transformacije intimnosti i bitno na nju utječe, budući da ju izgrađuje.In this paper we shall look at an important syntagm of Anthony Giddens – transformation of intimacy – which is linked with reflexive project of the self. It also closely observes the theory and practice of a pure relationship, that is how people behave in close relationships, what they want from them and how they change. Before, explains Giddens, relationships followed an established set of rules, norms and values in the society, i.e. a particular local community. Today, intimacy is a project one has to work on. Intimacy demands opening up of an individual to the others with mutual revelation and trust because the very first relationship, with oneself, has become reflexive in a new way and self-discovering. Nothing is taken for granted any more. We shall see that transformation of intimacy is largely constituted and greatly influenced by the term reflexive project of the self. (shrink)

This study analyzes the questions on aspects of child custody, visitation rights, or child endangerment that judges pose to forensic psychologists in family law proceedings. Before conducting a psychological evaluation, the legal question in the referral has to be translated into case-specific, forensically relevant issues. The only overarching principle guiding this process is the “best interests of the child” criterion. Literature indicates that judges often struggle to define what variables should be specified for a psychological evaluation in their referral questions. (...) This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the information judges would like to ascertain from psychological evaluators in child custody and child protection proceedings—an understanding allowing a clearer determination of whether forensic psychologists as experts can deliver this information. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is used to analyze the referral questions that these judges pose to forensic evaluators in terms of (a) underlying topics (latent dimensions) that can be identified within the referral questions and (b) the probability distributions of legal terms and forensic issues contained in the referral questions. This analysis is based on unclassified text data extracted from German court files. Five topics (latent dimensions) were identified within referral questions resembling cases when the issue was as follows: (a) potential child endangerment in the context of visitation contacts, (b) a possibly limited parenting capacity and its potential effects on child well-being, (c) an impairment of the child has already occurred or could occur, (d) a better option concerning custody and residence, and (e) an unclear topic addressing questions on custody, residence, and visitation in which no specific psychological constructs are involved. In four of the five topics, judges utilize their referral questions to ask for case-group-specific psychological information. In one topic addressing questions on custody, residence, and visitation, judges seem to struggle to define criteria that forensic evaluators should assess. Overall, results help to identify and define more clearly the relevant constructs that forensic experts should examine from the perspective of the courts with the goal of making clearer and more accurate recommendations. (shrink)

This paper argues that grieving a profound loss is a transformative experience, specifically an unchosen transformative experience, understood as an event‐based transformation not chosen by the agent. Grief transforms the self (i) cognitively, by forcing the agent to alter a large set of beliefs and desires, (ii) phenomenologically, by altering their experience in a diffuse or global manner, (iii) normatively, by requiring the agent to revise their practical identity, and (iv) existentially, by confronting the agent with a structuring condition of (...) their life. Grief is a disruption to one's identity that an agent addresses by making sense of the world after the loss, remaking the practical significance of various situations in their lives through their activity. Transformative grief is both an “activity” and a “revelation” (Callard, 2020): Some parts of the grieving process are active (the agent must actively work to become a new kind of person), while others are irreducibly passive (the agent passively undergoes them). (shrink)

It is frequently argued that to address structural injustice, individuals should participate in collective actions organized by civil society organizations (CSOs), but the role and the normative status of CSOs are rarely discussed. In this paper, we argue that CSOs semi-perfect our shared obligation to address structural injustice by defining shared goals as well as taking actions to further them. This assigns a special moral status to CSOs, which in turn gives rise to our duty to support them. Thus, we (...) do not have full discretion when deciding whether to join collective actions or not. Under certain conditions, we can even be forced by others to do our share. (shrink)

Emotionally arousing events reach awareness more easily and evoke greater visual cortex activation than more mundane events. Recent studies have shown that they are also perceived more vividly and that emotionally enhanced perceptual vividness predicts memory vividness. We propose that affect-biased attention (ABA) – selective attention to emotionally salient events – is an endogenous attentional system tuned by an individual's history of reward and punishment. We present the Biased Attention via Norepinephrine (BANE) model, which unifies genetic, neuromodulatory, neural and behavioural (...) evidence to account for ABA. We review evidence supporting BANE's proposal that a key mechanism of ABA is locus coeruleus–norepinephrine (LC–NE) activity, which interacts with activity in hubs of affective salience networks to modulate visual cortex activation and heighten the subjective vividness of emotionally salient stimuli. We further review literature on biased competition and look at initial evidence for its potential as a neural mechanism behind ABA. We also review evidence supporting the role of the LC–NE system as a driving force of ABA. Finally, we review individual differences in ABA and memory including differences in sensitivity to stimulus category and valence. We focus on differences arising from a variant of the ADRA2b gene, which codes for the alpha2b adrenoreceptor as a way of investigating influences of NE availability on ABA in humans. (shrink)

Unchosen transformative experiences—transformative experiences that are imposed upon an agent by external circumstances—present a fundamental problem for agency: how does one act intentionally in circumstances that transform oneself as an agent, and that disrupt one’s core projects, cares, or goals? Drawing from William James’s analysis of conversion and Matthew Ratcliffe’s account of grief, I give a phenomenological analysis of transformative experiences as involving the restructuring of systems of practical meaning. On this analysis, an agent’s experience of the world is structured (...) by practically significant possibilities that form organized systems on the basis of the agent’s projects and relationships. Transformative experiences involve shifts to systems of possibility, that is, changes to habitual meanings and to how an agent’s projects are situated in relation to one another. I employ the enactivist notion of sense-making to analyze how an agent rebuilds the meaning structures disrupted by a transformative experience. In an unchosen transformative experience, an agent adjusts to a significant disruption through a process of sense-making in precarious conditions. By establishing new patterns of bodily and social interaction with the world, one alters the practical meanings of one’s surroundings, and thereby reconstitutes oneself as an intentional agent. (shrink)

Feministicka epistemologija je pristup u teoriji saznanja koji u srediste postavlja feministicke probleme. U radu se razmatra savremeni poduhvat u oblasti feministicke epistemologije: feministicki empirizam. Za razliku od drugih feministkinja koje se bave epistemologijom, njihov cilj je da zadrze osnovne pojmove analiticke tradicije, koje posmatraju u svetlu feministickih interesa. Polazeci od Kvajnove naturalisticke epistemologije, feministicke empiristkinje iznose razlicite koncepcije znanja i prirode saznajnog subjekta, stvarajuci nove poglede na odnos sociopolitickih vrednosti i naucnog istrazivanja. Svoje preimucstvo u odnosu na pristupe feministickoj (...) epistemologiji izvan analitickog okvira, empiristkinje pronalaze upravo u prihvatanju naturalistickog i empiristickog pristupa rodnim pristrasnostima. Cilj rada je da proceni koliko su one uspesne u ostvarivanju svojih zamisli i da li je jedan takav pristup prihvatljiv. (shrink)

What is the significance of asserting that certain agents, be they individual or collective ones, have a duty to create just institutions at a global level? It might appear none. For many agree that there is no global authority to coordinate compliance with the duty. Hence, it is up to individual agents to decide how to comply. If this is the correct account of the duty to create just institutions, then one can say that significant global justice projects depend on (...) insignificant duty to realize them. The state’s duty is indeterminate, however, only on the supposition that authoritative institutions are necessary to secure coordination among different agents. The dissertation challenges this fundamental assumption in two steps. First, I investigate the practical relevance of conventions for solving coordination problems. By building on the works of Hume and Lewis, I show how individuals in the state of nature could have coordinated their actions by conventions up until a point when a government could have emerged. I argue that similar considerations apply to relations among states. I identify relevant similarities between conventions creating a government and international customary law. Moreover, I argue that international customary law is a global governing convention since it prescribes how rules that bind all states are to be made. The second step in my argument concerns the normative assessment of conventions. I argue that conventions are essential for the demands of justice as long as they enable compliance with the demands. Not all conventions, however, do so. I put forward the principle of salience to identify those practices that play such a role. The salient practices determine the state’s duty to create a just world order. Ceteris paribus, the duty is not indeterminate after all. Consequently, current coordination problems that arise among states should not be seen as a normal consequence of states’ rational and self-interested behavior in the absence of a global authority; instead, the coordination problems amount to the violation of the duty to create a just world order. The major implication of the argument is that we should replace the Hobbesian framework for thinking about the nature of states as well as how they relate to one another by the Humean one. Thus, instead of insisting on states’ consent and necessity of a centralized authority to coordinate actions, we should pay more attention to the habitual behavior of states as well as the role conventions play in solving coordination problems among them. Importantly, the relevance of conventions to compliance with moral demands does not make authoritative institutions obsolete. The argument of this dissertation is modest – it only asserts that conventions can coordinate actions in the process of transitioning toward more centralized forms of global authority. As opposed to the pessimistic outlook of the Hobbesian framework, the Humean one makes room for hope that the change of the present unjust conditions is possible. (shrink)

The paper’s focus is on an age-long philosophical issue: man and power. It is analyzed in the frame of the basic philosophical paradigms: ontological, epistemological, axiological, anthropological and linguistic. From the analysis and comparison of the particular traits of each of these paradigms three approaches to human beings arise: essential, existential and interpretative. The power dominating over people or possessing them has various forms: universal law, God’s will, political order, the nature inside and outside us, etc., the most dangerous of (...) them being those we are unaware of. (shrink)

This paper describes student‐level findings of the first large‐scale comprehensive school effectiveness study of the primary education in Serbia. Twenty‐five student‐level variables were examined in a three‐level HLM model using a study sample of almost 5000 students, over 250 classrooms and over 100 schools. Differences between the students were in large part responsible for differences in achievement scores in mathematics and Serbian language. Parental education, Roma minority status, developmental or family problems, gender, student motivation, parental involvement in student work and (...) homework were some of the factors associated with student achievement. Serbian policy‐makers are alerted to possible actions in order to improve mathematics and Serbian language achievement. (shrink)

Both in opera studies and in most operatic works, the singing body is taken for granted. Jelena Novak reintroduces an awareness of the physicality of the singing body to opera studies. Arguing that the body-voice relationship itself is a producer of meaning, she furthermore posits this relationship as one of the major driving forces in recent opera. She takes as her focus six contemporary operas - La Belle et la Bête, Writing to Vermeer, Three Tales, One, Homeland and La (...) Commedia and dissects the singing body as a set of rules, protocols, effects, strategies. (shrink)

Debates concerning digital automation are mostly focused on the question of the availability of jobs in the short and long term. To counteract the possible negative effects of automation, it is often suggested that those at risk of technological unemployment should have access to retraining and reskilling opportunities. What is often missing in these debates are implications that all of this may have for individual autonomy understood as the ability to make and develop long-term plans. In this paper, I argue (...) that if digital automation becomes rapid, it will significantly undermine the legitimate expectation of stability and consequently, the ability to make and pursue long-term plans in the sphere of work. I focus on what is often taken to be one of the main long-term plans, i.e. the choice of profession, and I argue that this choice may be undermined by the pressure to continuously acquire new skills while at the same time facing a diminishing range of professions that one can choose from. Given that the choice of profession is significant for not-work related spheres of life, its undermining can greatly affect individual autonomy in these other spheres too. I argue that such undermining of individual planning agency constitutes a distinctive form of harm that necessitates a proactive institutional response. (shrink)

A necessary first step in collaboration between hypnosis research and meditation research is clarification of key concepts. The authors propose that such clarification is best advanced by neurophenomenological investigations that integrate neuroscience methods with phenomenological models based on first-person reports of hypnotic versus meditative experiences. Focusing on absorption, the authors argue that previous treatments of hypnosis and meditation as equivalent are incorrect, but that they can be fruitfully compared when characteristic features of the states described by these concepts are examined. (...) To this end, the authors use the “phenomenological and neurocognitive matrix of mindfulness” (PNM), a multidimensional model recently proposed by Lutz and colleagues. The authors compare focused attention meditation and open monitoring meditation with hypnosis across the dimensions of the PNM, using it to interpret empirical research on hypnosis, and to shed light on debates about the role of meta-awareness in hypnosis and the role of suggestion in meditation. (shrink)

Cosmopolitans typically argue that the realization of cosmopolitan ideals requires the creation of global political institutions of some kind. While the precise nature of the necessary institutions is widely discussed, the problem of the transition to such an order has received less attention. In this paper, we address what we take to be a crucial aspect of the problem of transition: we argue that it involves a moral coordination problem because there are several morally equivalent paths to reform the existing (...) order, but suitably placed and properly motivated political agents need to converge on a single route for the transition to be successful. It is, however, unclear how such a convergence can take place since the duty to create global institutions does not single out any coordination point. We draw on the so-called theory of hegemonic stability to address this problem and conceptualize what we call the hegemonic transition. From an explanatory point of view, we rely on the theory’s insights to explain how a hegemon may contribute to the creation of a rules-based international order by providing salient coordination points and accordingly, enabling coordination among states. From the normative point of view, we identify necessary conditions for the hegemonic transition to be morally permissible. To the extent that these conditions obtain, other states have pro tanto moral reasons to follow the salient coordination point provided by the leading state. (shrink)

The current coronavirus pandemic has presented many scientific disciplines, including philosophy, with various theoretical and practical challenges. In this paper, we deal with three philosophical issues related to the pandemic and specific approaches to them. The first part of the article is dedicated to the analysis of the term?expert,? whose significance was highlighted at the outbreak of the pandemic. By examining Plato?s ancient and Goldman?s modern understanding of this concept, we will try to emphasize the importance of expert opinion in (...) crisis circumstances. In the second part of the paper, we will deal with the issue of public mistrust of scientific authorities as well as the problem of the flourishing of so-called conspiracy theories. Goldenberg?s and Cassam?s approach to this topic will help us see where the source of these problems might lie and what potentially harmful consequences they can produce. In the third part of the text, we list some of the main moral dilemmas we have faced since the beginning of the pandemic. Special attention is paid to Kant?s moral philosophy in which we find advice on how an individual should act in times of crisis. (shrink)

How much should we sacrifice for the sake of others? While some argue in favour of significant sacrifices, others contend that morality cannot demand too much from individuals. Recently, the debate has taken a new turn by focusing on moral demands under non-ideal conditions in which the essential interests of many people are set back. Under such conditions, in some views, moral theories must require extreme moral demands as anything less is incompatible with equal consideration of everyone’s interests. The insistence (...) on the extremeness of moral demands, however, presupposes a simplistic account of non-ideal conditions as characterized mainly by the non-compliance of many individuals. Non-ideal conditions are also characterized by institutional non-compliance, whereby institutions often do not do what they ought to do. Institutional non-compliance is significant as it increases the size of moral demands significantly, thereby exacerbating the conflict between these demands and the self-interest of individuals subjected to these institutions. I argue that individuals have a meta-interest in not experiencing such internal conflicts as these can undermine their affirmation of self-respect. Meta-interest can be advanced by adopting the promotion of just institutions as an ultimate aim, as such institutions lessen the conflict and, accordingly, enable us to live more harmonious lives. Moreover, the promotion of just institutions allows us to affirm our sense of self-respect under non-ideal conditions too. Because the promotion of just institutions is in our self-interest, this is not an extreme but a moderate moral demand. (shrink)