I claim that the increase in complexity in the trace of Paleolithic stone tools can be parsimoniously explained by postulating the emergence of effective mechanisms for the social transmission of representations. I propose that Paleolithic tools, similar to more contemporary tools, were subject to a process of evolution by artificial selection based on functionality.

The idea that natural selection acts on many levels—and not only at the level of organisms or individual genes—is increasingly accepted among biologists. However, it is not easy to reconcile this idea with the strictly “individualistic” conception of the evolutionary process that has always characterized Darwinian thought. Moreover, the individuality of some forms of life is a vague concept and therefore controversial. This is the case of Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis, whose discovery immediately inspired the following question: Does the concept of (...) individuality have degrees? Alternatively, how far is this structure of prokaryotic cells from deserving to be called an organism? In this article, we propose a new conceptual scheme based on an idea of individuality that is not limited to organisms and that makes sense in terms of Darwinian evolution. In this conceptual scheme, selection at levels above that of the individual organism is interpreted as the evolutionary emergence of higher-level individuality. This proposal may serve as a basis on which to construct a promising hierarchical evolutionary theory. (shrink)

Implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in supply chains is not a trivial task. In fact, many firms in recent years have publicly proclaimed that in order to keep their CSR commitments, they had to reduce reliance on external suppliers by vertically integrating their operations. Our aim in this article is to examine whether there is truly a relationship between a firm’s CSR performance and its level of vertical integration. Drawing on a multi-industry sample of 2,715 firm-year observations, and after addressing (...) endogeneity concerns, we demonstrate that firms with higher CSR performance tend to vertically integrate more (or, outsource less). We also demonstrate that this tendency is weaker for firms that have higher degrees of asset specificity or international diversification. Our core conclusion is that CSR performance and outsourcing are at odds, but firms can reconcile this tension by deepening their collaborations with suppliers. (shrink)

Rescue workers have a stressful and risky occupation where being engaged is crucial to face physical and emotional risks in order to help other persons. This study aims to estimate work engagement levels of rescue workers (namely comparing nurses, firefighters, and police officers) and to assess the validity evidence related to the internal structure of the Portuguese versions of the UWES-17 and UWES-9, namely, dimensionality, measurement invariance between occupational groups, and reliability of the scores. To evaluate the dimensionality, we compared (...) the fit of the three-factor model with the fit of a second-order model. A Portuguese version of the instrument was applied to a convenience sample of 3,887 rescue workers (50% nurses, 39% firefighters, and 11% police officers). Work engagement levels were moderate to high, with firefighters being the highest and nurses being the lowest engaged. Psychometric properties were evaluated in the three-factor original structure revealing acceptable fit to the data in the UWES-17, although the UWES-9 had better psychometric properties. Given the observed statistically significant correlations between the three original factors, we proposed a 2nd hierarchal structure that we named work engagement. The UWES-9 first-order model obtained full uniqueness measurement invariance, and the second-order model obtained partial (metric) second-order invariance. (shrink)

This article examines Aristotle's views concerning the possibility of friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. The suggestion that he denies this possibility is rejected. I reassess the textual evidence adduced by scholars in support of this reading, while adding new material for discussion. Central to the traditional reading is the assumption that animals, in Aristotle's view, cannot be friends in virtue of their cognitive limitations. I argue that Aristotle's account of animal cognition is perfectly consistent with the possibility of (...) friendship between human beings and nonhuman animals. (shrink)

Este artículo busca demostrar que, a partir de los lineamientos presentes en el capítulo II del reciente _Reprise du donné_ es posible proponer cuatro niveles de hermenéutica que nos permiten resolver algunos de los problemas de la fenomenología marioniana lúcidamente planteados por Christina Gschwandtner.

Latin America - its people, its politics, its economy - has burst upon the world scene with powerful images that have captured the curiosity of many English-speaking North Americans. The strategic importance of this vast region to the stability of the Wes.

La llamada _nouvelle phénoménologie_ ¿practica efectivamente una fenomenología? Este artículo se propone demostrar, a partir de un análisis de las propuestas de sus dos autores más representativos: Jean-Luc Marion y Claude Romano, que las obras de estos filósofos constituyen una auténtica fenomenología si se tiene en cuenta el particular estatuto que le otorgan a la instancia antepredicativa.

Este artículo se divide en tres partes. En la primera se procura situar la argumentación de Kant siguiendo todos los pasos dados en la Fundamentación III. Se optó por seguir la división interna comunmente aceptada, y no los conjuntos de parágrafos indicados por McCarthy. En la segunda, se desarrolla la crítica rea li za da por Allison. En la tercera, finalmente, se discuten, breve y sintéticamente, tres interrogantes: i) la relación entre la libertad transcendental y el imperativo categórico; ii) el (...) problema del círculo vicioso oculto y iii) las dos fallas de la deducción de la libertad en Fundamentación III, identificadas por Allison, comparando su argumentación con la de McCarthy.This article is divided into three parts. In the first part Kant´s argumentation following all the steps given in Fundamentación III is explained. The commonly accepted internal division was fol lowed, and not the sets of para graphs indicated by McCarthy. In the second part, the criticism developed by Allison is developed. In the third part, three questions are quickly and syntheti cally discussed; i) the relation be tween transcenden tal liberty and the categorical imperitive; ii) the problem of the hid denviscious circle, and iii) two errors in the deduction of liberty in Fundamentación III, identified by Allison, comparing his argumentation with that of McCarthy. (shrink)

CHAGAS, Wilson. O curso do Mundo - Livro com 188 páginas que "inicia com reflexões soltas e termina com fragmentos de um diário e notas de leitura", numa explicação do Autor. Wilson Chagas, escritor gaúcho, membro fundador da Academia Brasileira de Filosofia, nasceu em Jaguarão em 1921. Bacharel em Direito pela Universidade do seu estado natal, estudou filosofia na Universidade de Paris. É um dos fundadores da revista Quixote. Sua bibliografia inclui crítica e filosofia. Através de aforismos, diários, confidências, medita (...) filosoficamente com grande profundidade. Seu estilo é claro, incisivo, popular. A "orelha" vem assinada por Paulo Hecker Filho talvez o melhor escritor do Rio Grande do Sul; se não o mais importante, ao menos o mais ousado e criativo... E nos diz: "[... ] ele anda atrás da sua verdade. E a expõe com uma clareza que chega a ser didática, vantagem importante para quem lê crítica literária [... ]. Gosto que o livro saia [O Curso do Mundo] porque é bom no contexto de nossas letras. Desde muito, aprecio, por exemplo, Existência e Criação, o título que o abre. É uma visão existencial que, como essa filosofia quer, compromete a pessoa que a exerce, o que é raro no meio, exige pensar mais que reproduzir." Paulo Hecker Filho chama a atenção do leitor para os múltiplos assuntos enfocados pelo Autor que nos levam ao "raro e humanizante"[... ]. (shrink)

SÍNTESE - O Autor sugere a simplificação do problema filosófico sobre o ser. Pretende que os termos sejam bem definidos para uma clareza inicial dos conceitos. Faz um resumo do pensamento de Avicena. Seria o problema ontológico um pseudo-problema? Confronta o ser com o existir. O ser-coisa, o ser-essência evolui para o ser-existência, o ser-jogado-no-mundo. O homem, sem a sua consciência de valores, nada é. Conclui que o existir é apenas o do homem, ser capaz dos valores. O homem orienta-se (...) para Deus onde habita toda a plena Afirmação. (shrink)

Este artículo trata sobre dos temas: cómo se establece el canon filosófico y las razones por las cuales la filosofía latinoamericana es generalmente excluida tanto del canon de la filosofía occidental como del canon de la filosofía a nivel mundial. El segundo tema permite ilustrar los problemas que surgen en el contexto del primero y proporciona una respuesta a ellos. El artículo sostiene que varias teorías que se proponen explicar la formación del canon y la exclusión de ciertos filósofos del (...) canon occidental en particular, no hacen justicia a la situación porque ignoran el papel de la tradición en el proceso. Más específicamente, se ilustra cómo la tradición explica por qué la filosofía latinoamericana tiende a estar ausente tanto del canon filosófico occidental como del mundial. This article discusses two topics: how the philosophical canon is established and the reasons why Latin American philosophy is generally excluded both from the canon of western philosophy and the canon of world philosophy. The second topic illustrates the problems that come up in the context of the first and provides answers to them. The article argues that several theories that purport to explain the formation of the canon and the exclusion of certain philosophers from the western philosophical canon in particular, do not do justice to the situation because they ignore the role of tradition in the process. More specifically, the article shows how tradition explains why Latin American philosophy tends to be absent both from the canon of western philosophy and the world canon of philosophy. (shrink)

This paper provides a new interpretation of Plato’s account of justice as psychic health in Republic IV. It argues that what has traditionally been considered to be one single analogy is actually a more complex line of reasoning that contains various medical analogies. These medical analogies are not only different in number but also in kind. I discuss each of them separately, while providing a response to various objections.

This chapter contains sections titled: Identity Identity of Latin American Philosophy Four Approaches History of the Controversy Conclusion References Further Reading.

To find the neural substrates of consciousness, researchers compare subjects’ neural activity when they are aware of stimuli against neural activity when they are not aware. Ideally, to guarantee that the neural substrates of consciousness—and nothing but the neural substrates of consciousness—are isolated, the only difference between these two contrast conditions should be conscious awareness. Nevertheless, in practice, it is quite challenging to eliminate confounds and irrelevant differences between conscious and unconscious conditions. In particular, there is an often-neglected confound that (...) is crucial to eliminate from neuroimaging studies: task performance. Unless subjects’ task performance is matched (and hence perceptual signal processing is matched), researchers risk finding the neural correlates of perception, rather than conscious perception. Here, we discuss the theoretical motivations for the performance matching framework and review empirical demonstrations of, and theoretical inferences derived from, obtaining differences in consciousness while controlling for task performance. We summarize signal detection theoretic modeling frameworks that explain how it is that we can derive performance-matched differences in consciousness without the effect being trivially driven by differences in criterion setting, and also provide principles for designing experimental paradigms that yield performance-matched differences in awareness. Finally, we address potential technical and theoretical issues that stem from matching performance across conditions of awareness, and we introduce the notion of “triangulation” for designing comprehensive experimental sets that can better reveal the neural substrates of consciousness. (shrink)

Systematically analyzes the nature of metaphysics.

Plato’s ideas on the value of nature and humankind are reconsidered. The traditional suggestion that his thought is ethically anthropocentric is rejected. Instead “Ethical Ratiocentrism” (ER) is the environmental worldview found in the dialogues. According to ER, human life is not intrinsically valuable, but only rational life is. ER is consistent with Plato’s holistic axiological outlook but incompatible with ethical anthropocentrism.

This paper deals with a seeming contradiction that may seriously impair Aristotle’s definition of the soul in his De Anima. While this definiens has been widely regarded as providing a non-dualistic account of life-functions, grounded in a hylomorphic approach to living beings, Aristotle sticks to an instrumental language vis-à-vis the body, which he consistently refers to as a tool of the soul. It is argued that this philosophical way of talking should be taken at face value, without dismiss- ing it (...) as a stylistic feature or a theoretical hangover from Aristotle’s Platonic days. By paying close attention to the Peripatetic and Neoplatonic reception of the “soul – boatman analogy”, the paper concludes that organic bodies may be considered as instrumental in nature, without this entailing commitment to further individual souls conceived as “users”. (shrink)

O presente texto tem como objetivo discutir expressões das masculinidades negras a partir da poética do rap na produção do rapper paulista Criolo.

A systematic and comprehensive treatment of pertinent issues, the book defends two main theses.

A discussion of Suarez's views on continuous quantity in the context of his place in the history of philosophy. The paper raises issues about conceptual change in intellectual history. It advances original interpretations of Aristotle and Suarez on continuous quantity.

Although most predicates may be truthfully predicated of only some beings, there are others that seem to apply to every being. The latter, including being itself, were known as the transcendentals in the Middle Ages and gave rise to the much disputed doctrine of the transcendentals. This article explores the main tenets of the doctrine and the difficulties that they face, the reasons why scholastic authors were interested in these issues, and the origins of the doctrine.

La determinación de la identidad de los presbíteros en los documentos del Concilio Vaticano II no es clara. La recepción de la enseñanza conciliar, en consecuencia, ha sido compleja, en especial en la formación del clero. En términos generales, los aportes de Optatam totius y Presbyterorum ordinis deben interpretarse a la luz de Lumen gentium 10, 2, pues este texto constituiría el principio de armonización teológica de la enseñanza conciliar. En esta investigación se da cuenta de la doctrina de dichos (...) textos conciliares, de Pastores dabo vobis, de las normas vaticanas para la formación del clero (rationes) y de la recepción de estos documentos en el magisterio y las directrices correspondientes de la Iglesia en América Latina y el Caribe. El resultado, en pocas palabras, es preocupante. En las rationes nationales se reconoce una involución respecto de las innovaciones más importantes del Concilio. (shrink)

Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that in the science of mobiles, when descending to the living, each one of the species of the animals and plants are attended specifying what is proper to each of them, and here is where De Sensu et Sensato is found. Aquinas enumerates the diverse types of living beings according to the parts of soul and enlists the books that have a relation with them, deducing that De Sensu et Sensato corresponds to the exterior act that (...) occurs when feeling. (shrink)

Saint Thomas Aquinas distinguishes three operations of the intelect and explains that the one which treats about composition and divition, or the affirmative and negative sentence, belongs to the book Peri Hermeneias. Thus, Aquinas proceeds to comment why the verb, the name and the statement are interpretations or voices with meaning and why this book focuses on the enuntiative sentence for the truth and the false are found in it.

Los fenómenos urbanos son modos concretos de reproducción social y, como toda reproducción, tienen un carácter histórico. En este artículo se defenderá que es posible identificar tres grandes paradigmas históricos en el desarrollo urbano del Occidente moderno —la ciudad, la metrópolis y la postmetrópolis— y que su forma de gobernanza coincide con los tres tipos de poder identificados por Foucault: el soberano, el disciplinar y el biopolítico. Además, se analizará cómo cada una de estas tres dobles configuraciones de la reproducción (...) social genera unos puntos neurálgicos, cuya manipulación produce un impacto sobre el sistema mucho mayor que cualquier otra posible acción, tanto si está orientada al dominio institucional del poder constituido como a la resistencia frente al mismo. El presente trabajo aborda la lógica de funcionamiento de estos tres modelos urbanos, identificando sus respectivos centros neurálgicos como punto de partida desde el que es viable constituir el sujeto político antagónico más efectivo posible en cada uno de ellos. (shrink)

Esta revisión narrativa aborda la evolución histórica y legal de las voluntades anticipadas a nivel global y local desde su surgimiento. Parte del principio de autonomía en la bioética moderna y su relación con la vulnerabilidad del paciente, así como la consideración de la muerte por parte de los profesionales de la salud. Destaca el papel esencial del documento de voluntades anticipadas como una herramienta valiosa en la relación médico paciente-familia, siendo fundamental para comprender la perspectiva del paciente. Se define (...) el documento considerando la literatura médica y se discute su aplicación, subrayando la importancia de no esperar hasta un deterioro clínico avanzado para su implementación. La revisión también examina la legislación nacional e internacional, así como el conocimiento médico actual, con el objetivo de facilitar decisiones consensuadas entre todas las partes involucradas en el cuidado del paciente. (shrink)

This article proposes a guideline to develop an ontology of software. The first section gives a brief introduction to the importance of such ontology as a possible conceptual grounding for the philosophy of software, philosophy of computing and philosophy of information. The second section presents the background of the scope of this article in terms of both a symbolic and materialistic approach to software. The third section deploys the basic guidelines with the expositions of the two dimensions of software: the (...) serial dimension and the structural dimension. The first dimension consists of three series, while the second in the exposition of the structure of any program. The fourth and last section will deal with a better understanding of what we can call the digital universe. (shrink)

Surviving Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality is the first book of philosophy that explores race, ethnicity, and nationality together and attempts to present a systematic and unified theory about them with particular emphasis on the metaphysical and epistemological issues that these phenomena raise.

O bem-estar pessoal de adolescentes é um tema de crescente interesse na literatura científica, especialmente quando se considera a escassez de artigos que considerem o ponto de vista dos adolescentes. Este estudo busca analisar relações entre bem-estar pessoal de pais e filhos e seus valores aspirad..

During replication, the topology of DNA changes continuously in response to well‐known activities of DNA helicases, polymerases, and topoisomerases. However, replisomes do not always progress at a constant speed and can slow‐down and even stall at precise sites. The way these changes in the rate of replisome progression affect DNA topology is not yet well understood. The interplay of DNA topology and replication in several cases where progression of replication forks reacts differently to changes in DNA topology ahead is discussed (...) here. It is proposed, there are at least two types of replication fork barriers: those that behave also as topological barriers and those that do not. Two‐Dimensional (2D) agarose gel electrophoresis is the method of choice to distinguish between these two different types of replication fork barriers. (shrink)

This examination of the often-inaccessible work and semiotics of George Herbert Mead focuses first on his pivotal ideas of Sociality, Consciousness, and Communication. Mead’s insight of sociality as forced relatedness, or forced semiosis, appearing early in evolution, or appearing in simple systems, guarantees him a foundational place among biosemioticians. These ideas are Mead’s exemplar description of multiple referentiality afforded to social organisms (connected to his idea of the generalized other), thus enabling passing from one umwelt to another, with relative ease. (...) Although Mead’s comprehensive semiosis is basically sound, and in concordance with modern and contemporary semiotics (and biosemiotics), it nevertheless lacks a satisfactory explanation of how conscious organisms achieve passing into new frames of reference. Semiotic Matrix Theory (SMT), its pansemiosis, describes falsifiable existential and cognitive heuristics of recognizing Energy requirements, Safety concerns and Possibility or Opportunity as “passing” functions. Finally, another type of emergence, ecoethics, isan embedded constant in biosemiosis. Not all semiosis is good semiosis, not all text is good text. Because our species is moving away from ancient biosemiosisand interrelatedness, this historicity, even ductile enough to invent synthetic semiosis or capricious umwelten, is facing the ecological reality and consequences of an overly anthropocentric text. (shrink)