What does it mean to devote yourself wholly to helping others? In Strangers Drowning, Larissa MacFarquhar seeks out people living lives of extreme ethical commitment and tells their deeply intimate stories; their stubborn integrity and their compromises; their bravery and their recklessness; their joys and defeats and wrenching dilemmas. A couple adopts two children in distress. But then they think: If they can change two lives, why not four? Or ten? They adopt twenty. But how do they weigh (...) the needs of unknown children in distress against the needs of the children they already have? Another couple founds a leprosy colony in the wilderness in India, living in huts with no walls, knowing that their two small children may contract leprosy or be eaten by panthers. The children survive. But what if they hadn't? How would their parents' risk have been judged? A woman believes that if she spends money on herself, rather than donate it to buy life-saving medicine, then she's responsible for the deaths that result. She lives on a fraction of her income, but wonders: when is compromise self-indulgence and when is it essential? We honor such generosity and high ideals; but when we call people do-gooders there is skepticism in it, even hostility. Why do moral people make us uneasy? Between her stories, MacFarquhar threads a lively history of the literature, philosophy, social science, and self-help that have contributed to a deep suspicion of do-gooders in Western culture. Through its sympathetic and beautifully vivid storytelling, Strangers Drowning confronts us with fundamental questions about what it means to be human. In a world of strangers drowning in need, how much should we help, and how much can we help? Is it right to care for strangers even at the expense of those we are closest to? Moving and provocative, Strangers Drowning challenges us to think about what we value most, and why. From the Hardcover edition. (shrink)

This piece is a side-by-side review of two books: Strangers Drowning, by Larissa MacFarquhar, and Doing Good Better, by William MacAskill. Both books are concerned with the question of whether we should try to live as morally good a life as possible. MacAskill thinks the answer is 'yes', and his book is an overview of how the Effective Altruist movement approaches the problem of how to achieve a morally optimal life. MacFarquhar's book is a more descriptive account (...) of the lives of people who aim to live in a morally optimal way. Her discussion is nuanced, and somewhat ambivalent about the merits of this aim. My review brings out some commonalities and differences between the two books, and critically digests the arguments on offer. (shrink)

The article is concerned with the everyday activities of sociology, focusing on ethnography. It argues that empirical study of the ethnomethods of ethnography allows for a deeper insight into the dynamics and procedures of this research practice. Based on empirical data from two ethnographic studies, I suggest to observe how such an investigation is conducted in various situations: in the field, on the ethnographer’s desk, in data sessions, in conferences and in written papers. This serves to gather and produce empirical (...) traces from the field. These are de- and re-contextualized while they are taken into the sociological field. This process can be analyzed drawing on Goffman’s notion of Frame Analysis, particularly drawing on his notion of keyings. Ethnography can thus be described as a trans-situational practice that systematically couples situations and communications in order to understand and reconstruct other social practices for sociological reasons. (shrink)

Theories of cognitive development must address both the issue of how children bring their knowledge to bear on behavior in-the-moment, and how knowledge changes over time. We argue that seeking answers to these questions requires an appreciation of the dynamic nature of the developing system in its full, reciprocal complexity. We illustrate this dynamic complexity with results from two lines of research on early word learning. The first demonstrates how the child's active engagement with objects and people supports referent selection (...) via memories for what objects were previously seen in a cued location. The second set of results highlights changes in the role of novelty and attentional processes in referent selection and retention as children's knowledge of words and objects grows. Together this work suggests that understanding systems for perception, action, attention, and memory, and their complex interaction, is critical to understand word learning. We review recent literature that highlights the complex interactions between these processes in cognitive development and point to critical issues for future work. (shrink)

Der Ansatz der Prozessethik impliziert ein praxisorientiertes Beratungsmodell, das praktisch bereits erprobt ist und in den vielfaltigsten Kontexten eingesetzt werden kann.

Las generaciones que hemos vivido los últimos años del siglo XX y los comienzos de esta nueva centuria solemos pensar que cuando este mundo sea realmente perfecto, entonces nadie tendrá que trabajar, pues es común creer que el trabajo es una de las múltiples imperfecciones de esta existencia. Ahora bien, como se sabe el hombre se encuentra arrojado al trabajo, y al ser éste un quehacer de desdicha y cansancio para él, se toman entonces dos posturas ante su “reivindicación”: la (...) primera apunta a la obtención en mayor grado de beneficios externos y riquezas y, la segunda se encamina por la trasmutación del hombre a la máquina. De manera que, la búsqueda de la retribución y la abolición del esfuerzo marcan las pautas del entendimiento sobre el trabajo en este principio del siglo XXI. La retribución es el fin del trabajo y para generar la mayor posible, no se ve como necesario el sudor de la frente. (shrink)

Se analiza la apertura del hombre a partir de su naturaleza legalizada. Ante el conflicto entre ley, physis y libertad, nos preguntamos: ¿por qué se considera la naturaleza incompatible con la libertad?, ¿por qué la legalidad parece contradecir a la apertura?, ¿ser libre significa estar lejos de cualquier atadura a la ley y a la naturaleza? El texto inicia con una exposición de las nociones de naturaleza y legalidad y de su relación con la libertad, ofrece una definición de la (...) persona basada en su comprensión yoica y su dignidad y una explicación del sentido de la apertura en la dimensión social del ser humano. (shrink)

As social, locative, and mobile media render the intimate public and the public intimate, this volume interrogates how this phenomenon impacts art practice and politics. Contributors bring together the worlds of art and media culture to rethink their intersections in light of participatory social media. By focusing upon the Asia-Pacific region, they seek to examine how regionalism and locality affect global circuits of culture. The book also offers a set of theoretical frameworks and methodological paradigms for thinking about contemporary art (...) practice more generally. (shrink)

Deleuzian criticisms of representational thinking converge on the understanding of thought as a recognitive process. To recognize is to think. Among all the problems concerning such a model of thought, there is a fundamental obstacle to recognition: it does not recognize what does not fit into its previously established premises and which delimit the linearity of correct thinking. Thus, as Deleuze warns us, the difference has never been thought for itself. In such a notion, the difference is just an opposition (...) to the equal. In one of his dialogues with the philosophical tradition, the French thinker found a punctual gap in the thinking of the Greek philosopher Aristotle where difference is brought up. A moment when the difference emerged and was almost considered by itself, and which was called "the happy Greek moment" by Deleuze. It is about Aristotelian thought of difference, that Greek moment and the conceptual criticism that Deleuze conducts to compose his theory that the article will deal with. (shrink)

Journal Name: Semiotica - Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies / Revue de l'Association Internationale de Sémiotique Volume: 2013 Issue: 195 Pages: 169-196.

Im Zuge des Unterfangens, die Bedingungen der Möglichkeit von Erfahrung aufzudecken, entwickeln Immanuel Kant und Edmund Husserl je eine facettenreiche, dynamische Philosophie der Zeit. Für beide Denker entspringt die Zeitvorstellung einem Spannungsfeld von passiven und aktiven Strukturen des Erkenntnissubjekts. -/- Die Zentralgestalt der Aufklärung, Immanuel Kant, und den Begründer der Phänomenologie, Edmund Husserl, eint das Motiv, die Bedingungen der Möglichkeit von Erkenntnis zu ergründen, um Wissen zu legitimieren. Sie entwickeln dabei eine Philosophie der Zeit, die den Ursprung der Zeitvorstellung und (...) die Genese ihrer vielfältigen Aspekte auf das Zusammenwirken unterschiedlicher subjektiver Verhaltensformen und Strukturen zurückführt. Diese lassen sich mit den Begriffspaaren Rezeptivität und Spontaneität bei Kant und Passivität und Aktivität bei Husserl beschreiben. Beide Denker geben nicht nur eine Antwort darauf, wie Erfahrung von Zeitlichem möglich ist, sondern sind auch der Frage nach dem Wesen und dem Ursprung der Zeit selbst auf der Spur. (shrink)

This article explores an overlooked motif in the Critique of Pure Reason: the Damsel in Distress. Kant uses the trope to motivate his first Critique on a narrative level. Reason is depicted as a high-born female subject in a hopeless predicament, unable to free herself. A hero rescues her, not by liberation, but by discipline, mirroring the myth where the rescued female is appropriated through marriage. The paper examines the parallels between this popular trope and the narrative of the first (...) Critique, arguing that Kant’s choice of this motif is due to cultural and political biases. While this narrative aligns with Kant’s goal of establishing philosophy as a strict science, it marginalizes the also present, progressive potential of Kant’s concept of the highest faculty as a hermeneutical, world-making, and orienting capacity as means for universal cum critical thinking. The discussion proceeds from (1) argumentatively relevant methodological considerations, to showing that Kant (2) does use the damsel in distress in the Critique of Pure Reason. Subsequently, (3) with regard to the reasons for the choice of the narrative, it is argued that it is based on the convictions about the nature of women that Kant advocates in the Observations on the Beautiful and the Sublime and in his Anthropology. (4) Insofar as narratives and metaphors shape convictions and delineate the realm of the conceivable, Kant’s narrative choice undermines his own conception of reason, according to which the highest faculty is to be understood positively as an active, hermeneutic and orienting ability as well as a selfreflective basis for critical thinking. The discussion ends (5) with a conclusion. (shrink)

Marr's seminal work laid out a program of research by specifying key questions for cognitive science at different levels of analysis. Because dynamic systems theory focuses on time and interdependence of components, DST research programs come to very different conclusions regarding the nature of cognitive change. We review a specific DST approach to cognitive-level processes: dynamic field theory. We review research applying DFT to several cognitive-level processes: object permanence, naming hierarchical categories, and inferring intent, that demonstrate the difference in understanding (...) of behavior and cognition that results from a DST perspective. These point to a central challenge for cognitive science research as defined by Marr—emergence. We argue that appreciating emergence raises questions about the utility of computational-level analyses and opens the door to insights concerning the origin of novel forms of behavior and thought. We contend this is one of the most fundamental questions about cognition and behavior. (shrink)

Morin envisions the adaptive landscape of graphic codes as an unfertile valley where writing rises as an isolated peak that humans managed to reach only on four occasions throughout all of history. By exploring the different paths to cultural convergence, we suggest an alternative landscape occupied by a mountain range of visual art systems. We conclude that graphic communication through visual art worked well enough to render writing contingent but not necessary in most cases.

Para comprender la visión peirceana acerca de la subjetividad semiótica es necesario establecer antes tres referentes. Cada uno de estos referentes tiene un constructo teórico efectuado por otra serie de nociones, que en este momento no me detendré a explicar, sin embargo, será necesario más adelante acudir a varias de estas nociones para intentar exponer mi tema de investigación. La filosofía peirceana es un sistema amplio y complejo, va madurando en el tiempo. Peirce va definiendo y redefiniendo sus conceptos, hasta (...) cierto punto lo realiza de una manera imbricada, este es su método. Se presenta la dificultad de que la construcción teórica peirceana depende de conceptos que se explican entre sí, lo que hace la labor de investigación y exposición difícil, pues para fin de exponer una idea se requiere acceder a diferentes referentes conceptuales simultáneamente hasta llegar a una noción central. (shrink)

Este texto é uma expectativa de ensaio que suscitou dos incômodos gerados durante a trajetória da autora como ser mulher no mundo, incentivadas pelas experiências vividas nos tempos e espaços que esteve presente, inclusive no Grupo de Estudos de Gênero e Fenomenologia em que participa. O texto faz uma breve reflexão sobre o conceito de direitos sexuais e reprodutivos, associados à condição de falta de liberdade das mulheres e o controle institucional de seus corpos. A Declaração da Conferência do Ano (...) Internacional da Mulher de 1975 entende que o respeito ao corpo humano é um requisito para a dignidade e a liberdade. O corpo, sendo integralmente compreendido, inclui as expressões de sexualidade, se essas são historicamente desrespeitadas, anuladas, e marginalizadas, como nós, mulheres, poderemos ser livres? (shrink)

Ein Einstiegs- und Nachschlagwerk für das Philosophiestudium: Die Einträge liefern Definitionen und Kurzanalysen zu Kants Schriften, Grundbegriffen und Positionen. Sie können unabhängig voneinander gelesen werden, ergeben zusammengenommen aber auch eine vollständige Einführung. Das Kleine Kant-Lexikon beginnt mit einem Überblick zu Kants Leben und Werk sowie den zentralen Positionen seiner Philosophie. Auf diese Einführung folgen als erster Hauptteil detailliertere Analysen der wichtigsten Werke und Schriften Kants, als zweiter Hauptteil die Grundbegriffe seiner Philosophie zum Nachschlagen. Die Beiträge wurden von renommierten Expertinnen und (...) Experten der Kantforschung verfasst, sind dabei aber knapp und leicht verständlich. Das Lexikon erleichtert so die Lektüre von Kants Werken, Literaturhinweise helfen bei Referaten und Hausarbeiten. (shrink)

Outrem como desafio à diferença. Por uma nova ética dos afetos no mundo contemporâneo. Resumo: O artigo apresenta o conceito de Outrem através das perspectivas histórica e filosófica em conexão com o plano estético. O foco do trabalho consiste em apresentar as dinâmicas de Outrem a partir da obra Sexta-feira ou os limbos do pacífico, de Michel Tournier, precisamente por meio das novas versões dos personagens Robinson Crusoé e Sexta-feira em comparação com a proposta inicial de Daniel Defoe. Para tanto, (...) pensamos com Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari a apreensão de uma ética a partir de Outrem capaz de contribuir com a criação de outros mundos possíveis na passagem da literatura colonial para a literatura decolonial. Na relação entre os personagens observamos uma experiência de mundo mediada por uma troca horizontal. Sexta-feira e Robinson compõem outra existência ética a ser experienciada. O que desnaturaliza todo o ethos cultural europeu (de matriz colonizadora) responsável por estabelecer aquilo que é, ou não, civilizado. Palavras-chave: Outrem; Ética: diferença; Colonial; Decolonial. Others as a challenge to difference. For a new ethics of affections in the contemporary world. Abstract: The article presents the concept of Others through the historical and philosophical perspectives in connection with the aesthetic plane. The focus of this article is to present the dynamics of Others from Friday or the other Island, by Michel Tournier, precisely through the new versions of the characters Robinson Crusoé and Friday in comparison with the initial proposal of Daniel Defoe. For that, we examine Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s apprehension of the ethics from Others, capable of contributing to the creation of other possible worlds in the passage from colonial literature to decolonial literature. In the relationship between the characters, we observe an experience of the world mediated by a horizontal exchange. Friday and Robinson make up another ethical existence that would be experienced, which denaturalizes the whole European cultural ethos (of a colonizing matrix) responsible for establishing what is, or not, civilized. Keywords: Others; Ethics: Difference; Colonial; Decolonial. Outrem como un desafío a la diferencia. Por una nueva ética de los afectos en el mundo contemporâneo. Resumen: El artículo presenta el concepto de Outrem a través de las perspectivas históricas y filosóficas en conexión con el plan estético. El foco del trabajo es presentar la dinámica de Outrem desde la obra Sexta-feira ou os limbos do pacífico, de Michel Tournier, precisamente a través de las nuevas versiones de los personajes Robinson Crusoé y Sexta-feira en comparación con la propuesta inicial de Daniel Defoe. Para ello, pensamos con Gilles Deleuze y Félix Guattari la aprehensión de una ética de Outrem capaz de contribuir a la creación de otros mundos posibles en la transición de la literatura colonial a la decolonial. En la relación entre los personajes, observamos una experiencia del mundo mediada por un intercambio horizontal. Sexta-feira e Robinson conforman otra existencia ética aún por vivir. Lo que desnaturaliza todo el ethos cultural europeo (de matriz colonizadora) responsable de establecer lo que es, o no, civilizado. Palabras llave: Otro; Ética: diferencia; Colonial; Decolonial. Data de registro: 23/03/2021 Data de aceite: 15/03/2022. (shrink)

O objetivo central deste artigo é desenvolver a ideia sobre a utilidade ética da pecuária industrial com ênfase nas doenças zoonóticas a partir do referencial teórico de Peter Singer. Com o aumento da demanda em âmbito global por proteína animal, foram empreendidos novos métodos de manejo que submetem os animais a situações opostas ao bem-estar. Além do mais, essas mudanças são responsáveis pela ascensão das doenças zoonóticas. Desse modo, o presente trabalho trata-se da revisão bibliográfica dos livros Ética Prática e (...) Libertação Animal do Peter Singer e artigos buscados nas plataformas: Scielo, Elsevier e Google Acadêmico. Assim, conclui-se que a pecuária industrial possui uma utilidade duvidosa dentro dos limites da pesquisa porque gera maior desprazer do que prazer. (shrink)

Una idea casi universalmente aceptada es que es que la filosofía y la ciencia por naturaleza buscan la verdad. No obstante, para que alcancen la Verdad requieren a fortiori de la fe. A partir de estas ideas, nuestra reflexión está organizada en tres apartados: en el primero abordamos la necesidad de la metafísica como disciplina que encuentra los principios en la naturaleza. Así como, la ciencia gracias a la metafísica encuentra las leyes de esta, pero sólo con ayuda de la (...) fe; en la segunda idea nos centramos en explicar el método de la ciencia y nos preguntamos sí sus formas y metodologías van de acuerdo con la fe. La última idea, trata la dimensión de las ciencias sociales cara al Desarrollo Humano (DH). El argumento que se desarrolla en este apartado sostiene que, el motivo por el cual el hombre, con su razón, busca la verdad; es para dar sentido a su existencia. No obstante, hay que reflexionar sobre el devenir de las Ciencias Sociales puesto que ante el establecimiento de linderos, la inflexión de métodos y metodologías se ha desdibujado e incomprendido de los hechos presentes en la realidad y no se ha tendido a la búsqueda de la verdad. Finalmente, se presentan nuestras conclusiones que ahondan en la propuesta del DH y la bibliografía utilizada para elaborar este trabajo. (shrink)

This paper reads Antigone from the perspective of the Chorus. Whereas most interpreters read Antigone from the perspective of Creon and Antigone’s respective laws, I maintain that the protagonists represent laws that are distinctly apolitical. Alternatively, I argue that the Chorus make the polis—past, present, and future—the center of their thought and action and are therefore uniquely political. Through close attention to the Chorus’s composition as a body that is both one and many at the same time, and by tracing (...) their evolving position throughout the action of the drama and in their choral odes, I argue that they model a reflective and political orientation to judgment rooted in plurality, tradition, and innovation. (shrink)

Vinícius de Moraes, no Soneto de Fidelidade, elabora a fidedigna atuação do eu-lírico sobre a dedicação ao amor. A propulsão da fidelidade está na forma de anular-se para o outro, distanciando-se do raciocínio ao pensá-lo, pois pensar no que ama deslumbra o encanto para além da visão. Argumenta-se sobre as angústias, os relacionamentos e o amor que influenciavam nas tomadas de decisões e na aceitação dos fatos e das desilusões. Inserido na ótica histórica da Segunda Grande Guerra, sob a condição (...) de reler sobre o uso do amor enquanto cura (ou loucura), identifica-se a vivência do poema com a fidelização eufórica, passional, irracional até o ponto de tornar-se banal. Recorre-se, então, à Banalidade, categoria sublinhada por Arendt como a ocorrência que interfere no raciocínio, na capacidade de pensar e na relação humana, por intermédio da ausência de reflexão e adesão irrestrita ao cumprimento da lei, mesmo em acordo com o usufruto do mal. Neste ensaio, encontra-se a aproximação da lírica ao contexto da guerra, o adorno do sentimento ao extremo do amor à pátria, a expressão de Eichmann, de cujo relato se extrai o magnetismo de governança do III Reich que conduziu a massificação de seus súditos a um ideário manipulador no conceito de fidelidade. (shrink)

The identification of facial expressions is critical for social interaction. The ability to recognize facial emotional expressions declines with age. These age effects have been associated with differential age-related looking patterns. The present research project set out to systematically test the role of specific facial areas for emotion recognition across the adult lifespan. Study 1 investigated the impact of displaying only separate facial areas versus the full face on emotion recognition in 62 younger and 65 middle-aged adults. Study 2 examined (...) if wearing face masks differentially compromises younger versus middle-aged to older adults’ ability to identify different emotional expressions. Results of Study 1 suggested no general decrease in emotion recognition across the lifespan; instead, age-related performance seems to depend on the specific emotion and presented face area. Similarly, Study 2 observed only deficits in the identification of angry, fearful, and neutral expressions in older adults, but no age-related differences with regards to happy, sad, and disgusted expressions. Overall, face masks reduced participants’ emotion recognition; however, there were no differential age effects. Results are discussed in light of current models of age-related changes in emotion recognition. (shrink)

Paul Ricoeur, em “O si-mesmo como outro” define sua perspectiva ética como “o desejo de viver bem com e para os outros em instituições justas”. Tal concepção possui uma tríplice estrutura, a saber: a ipseidade, a alteridade e a igualdade. Sendo apresentadas como a “estima de si”, a “solicitude” e a “justiça”, momentos determinantes para que se possa responder à pergunta sobre a identidade ética, norteadora de sua filosofia moral – “ quem é o sujeito capaz de imputação moral?”. Por (...) isso, cumpre ao presente artigo analisar cada um de seus elementos constitutivos a fim de compreender sua lógica interna, bem como ressaltar o viés aristotélico-teleológico da filosofia ricoeuriana. (shrink)

Decades of feminist research has revealed the dismal labor conditions for women in global supply chains. Given this reality, why does Walmart use women in its supply chain as icons of female empowerment? Combining the Marxist notion of a “spatial fix” with a feminist analysis of symbolic resources, we develop the concept of a “gender fix” to understand a growing field of corporate programs that use women as symbolic resources to restore the image of firms as ethical actors. The gender (...) fix encompasses a wide range of corporate empowerment strategies to capture a broad pattern of action. A second term is necessary to situate Walmart’s particular empowerment strategy within its corporate positioning as leader of a vast supply chain network. We identify Walmart’s particular empowerment strategy as “outsourcing feminism.” Walmart’s use of the outsourcing feminism strategy stems from its commanding position in supply chains, which allows it to extract a symbolic surplus from women business owners from whom it sources products. When Walmart argues that it uplifts these women, its strategy targets the consumer end of the supply chain, emphasizing sourcing practices that promote a racially diverse, selfless, and middle-class femininity. In so doing, Walmart deflects attention from the treatment of women in other segments of its supply chain (e.g., its stores and factories). (shrink)

The material interrelations between bodies and objects are a wide, worthwhile and absorbing field, which has not been sufficiently examined yet. Focusing on such interrelations within air travel, this article contributes to the exploration of this field. It delineates that such interrelations do not simply happen, but that they have to be accomplished continuously by different participants with a certain risk to fail at many points. Within mobilities, such processes of interrelating occur under the specific circumstances of a moving vehicle. (...) Based on empirical data from an ethnographic study on air travel, the paper is concerned with the ongoing dynamics of body-object-interrelations. Based on this analysis, it suggests emphasizing the continuous modification that material assemblages built of people and objects undergo even when “only” staying immobile during a flight. Passengers do not simply enter and exit a vehicle staying identical with themselves. Rather, they are continuously adapting to a material infrastructure that shapes and adjusts their corporeal needs and capacities, including their senses. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Paragrana Jahrgang: 25 Heft: 1 Seiten: 361-372.

Post-Soviet Belarus: The Transformation of National Identity The paper deals with the formation of a new national identity in Belarus under conditions of post-Soviet transformation. Under the term of "national identity" the author means the identity of the population of the Republic of Belarus that will be adequate to its status of a newly independent state acquired after 1991. Special attention is paid to the existing major research approaches to the problem of constructing this national identity. According to the author's (...) view, both major approaches are inadequate; the author puts forward a new approach that goes beyond discussions on language and national culture, and corresponds to the concept of plurality of identities. The author describes some paradoxes of national identity based on the opposition of "nation" and "people". These correspond to the Western model of the "creation of modern nations", which is not fully applicable to post-Soviet Belarus. All attempts to apply this model to contemporary Belarus lead scholars to several "cultural paradoxes" that can, however, be explained within a new approach. (shrink)

When animals share decisions with others, they pool personal information, offset individual errors and, thereby, increase decision accuracy. This is termed ‘swarm intelligence.’ But what if those decisions involve conflicts of interest between individual decision-makers? Should animals share decisions with individuals whose goals are different from, and partially in conflict with, their own? A group decision model developed by Larissa Conradt and colleagues finds that, contrary to intuition, conflicting goals often increase both decision accuracy and the individual gains derived (...) from shared decisions. Thus, conflicts of interest, far from hampering effective decision making, can actually improve decision outcomes for all stakeholders, as long as they also have some goals in common. By contrast, conflict-free decisions shared by animals which all have the same goals are often surprisingly poor. (shrink)

This paper presents Integrated Information Theory (IIT) 4.0. IIT aims to account for the properties of experience in physical (operational) terms. It identifies the essential properties of experience (axioms), infers the necessary and sufficient properties that its substrate must satisfy (postulates), and expresses them in mathematical terms. In principle, the postulates can be applied to any system of units in a state to determine whether it is conscious, to what degree, and in what way. IIT offers a parsimonious explanation of (...) empirical evidence, makes testable predictions, and permits inferences and extrapolations. IIT 4.0 incorporates several developments of the past ten years, including a more accurate translation of axioms into postulates and mathematical expressions, the introduction of a unique measure of intrinsic information that is consistent with the postulates, and an explicit assessment of causal relations. By fully unfolding a system's irreducible cause-effect power, the distinctions and relations specified by a substrate can account for the quality of experience. (shrink)