Numerical categories such as parity, i.e., being odd or even, have frequently been shown to influence how particular numbers are processed. Mathematically, number parity is defined categorically. So far, cognitive, and psychological accounts have followed the mathematical definition and defined parity as a categorical psychological representation as well. In this manuscript, we wish to test the alternative account that cognitively, parity is represented in a more gradual manner such that some numbers are represented as “more odd” or “more even” than (...) other odd or even numbers, respectively. Specifically, parity processing might be influenced by more specific properties such as whether a number is a prime, a square number, a power of 2, part of a multiplication table, divisible by 4 or by 5, and many others. We suggest that these properties can influence the psychologically represented parity of a number, making it more or less prototypical for odd- or evenness. In the present study, we tested the influence of these numerical properties in a bimanual parity judgment task with auditorily presented two-digit numbers. Additionally, we further investigated the interaction of these numerical properties with linguistic factors in three language groups (English, German, and Polish). Results show significant effects on reaction times of the congruity of parity status between decade and unit digits, even if numerical magnitude and word frequency are controlled. We also observed other effects of the above specific numerical properties, such as multiplication attributes, which facilitated or interfered with the speed of parity judgment. Based on these effects of specific numerical properties we proposed and elaborated a parity continuum account. However, our cross-lingual study also suggests that parity representation and/or access seem to depend on the linguistic properties of the respective language or education and culture. Overall, the results suggest that the “perceived” parity is not the same as objective parity, and some numbers are more prototypical exemplars of their categories. (shrink)

This article engages new histories of the black frontline communities of the Underground Railroad to rethink both fugitive democracy and the transformative possibilities of sanctuary as its constitutive twin. We analyze the ways that communities of free blacks and fugitives in the border zones between the Antebellum US North and South crafted themselves as magnetic spaces of creative refuge that suggest we reconceive sanctuary as the generative twin of fugitivity. This insight enables us to theorize new ethical and political dimensions (...) of Sheldon Wolin’s concept fugitive democracy by illuminating how fugitivity as flight away from danger can be interwoven with sanctuary as flight into and toward alternatives. Specifically, we theorize three dimensions of fugitive democracy/transformative sanctuary—sanctuary tending, dramatic sanctuary, and disruptive hospitality. While some theorists have considered key motifs in Wolin’s fugitive democracy to be opposed to vital themes disclosed in contemporary theories of black fugitivity, we argue that the power of black frontline communities stemmed precisely from their capacities to dynamically entangle political approaches (mis)taken to be at odds. For example, we suggest a theory and practice of tending involving both nurturing care and militantly defensive action, dramatic sanctuary performances that amplify public power by oscillating between tricky concealment and flagrant publicity, and disruptive hospitality that interweaves law-breaking harbor with strategies for juridical and institutional change. These insights open onto an alternative imaginary that can also provide a toolbox for building grassroots democratic power today, particularly in the face of emergent neofascism and escalating displacement worldwide. (shrink)

This article explores the relationship between truth commissions and gendered citizenship through a case study of Timor-Leste. It examines how, 10 years after the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation has completed its work, women’s citizenship remains constrained by, and negotiated within, deeply gendered narratives of nation-building that are informed by historical experiences of the resistance struggle. The power of these narratives—which foreground heroism rather than victimisation—underscores the need to situate truth commissions as part of an ongoing politics of memory. (...) Despite the power of political elites to shape this politics, the continued marginalisation of sections of society within official narratives is also providing an impetus for alternative truth-telling efforts that seek to broaden public perspectives on the past. By promoting new narratives of women’s experiences of the conflict, these projects might be understood as attempts to negotiate and transform gendered conceptions of citizenship in the present and for the future. (shrink)

Al centro dell'attenzione degli studiosi nell'ultimo ventennio per l'importanza della testimonianza storica, per il carattere peculiare delle strutture compositive, per varie sfaccettature dell'impostazione ideologica, l'opera di Michele Attaliata non disponeva di un'analisi complessiva né tantomeno di un'edizione critica condotta sulla base degli attuali criteri ecdotici e di una traduzione in una lingua moderna. Lacuna avvertita dai bizantinisti con maggiore evidenza, dal momento che per gli altri storici di primo piano dell'XI secolo, da Michele Psello a Giovanni Scilitza, ci si avvale (...) di strumenti critici agguerriti. Lacuna colmata dal poderoso lavoro di I. Pérez Martín che si presenta come un'edizione dell' Ἱστοϱία di Attaliata, corredata da traduzione in spagnolo, commento, bibliografia, indici, tavole e preceduta da un'ampia introduzione. (shrink)

Theory of language is an important factor in the plans of political and educational reform drawn by Italian philosophers of the eighteenth century. Analysis of language is a technique they often resort to when discussing the foundations of political philosophy and the ways and means of social communication. Interesting suggestions concerning philosophy of language can be found in the works of writers on political economy and philosophy of jurisprudence (Antonio Genovesi, Gaetano Filangieri, Cesare Beccaria, Melchiorre Gioia, Gian Domenico Romagnosi, among (...) others), where subjects such as abuse of words and linguistic arbitrarism are connected to theoretical and practical problems of the transition from feudal to bourgeois régime. (shrink)

This paper explores the dynamic interaction between contemporary Irish women poets and the notion of tradition in Irish poetry. Looking at the work of Eavan Boland, Susan Connolly, Paula Donlon, Mary Dorcey, Paula Meehan and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, the paper suggests that women poets today are subverting tradition and destabilizing a conventionally accepted fusion of the feminine with the national. This is achieved through direct challenge, through dislocation and through establishing a dialogue between the mythical and the real in the (...) context of the lived experience of women in Ireland. Finally, the paper suggests the potential for civil and social effect of the work of women who engage consciously in the process of giving women an active voice. (shrink)

This article aims at offering a broad perspective on the evolution and changes of the national Sakha kumys , a beverage made up of raw mare's milk that is quite popular in the Middle Asia area, above all among Turkic-speaking nomadic cattle breeders such as Kazaks, Bashkirs, Tatars, Tuvans, Altaians, and Sakha. I argue that, in spite of its use as an everyday commodity of the Sakha's diet until the beginning of the twentieth century, today it appears to be the (...) marker of the “degree” of cultural authenticity of the Sakha people. (shrink)

Continued failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are causing global climate change has brought increased attention to climate engineering technologies, which actively modify the global environment to counteract heating and climate disruptions caused by elevated greenhouse gases. Some proposed forms of CE, particularly spraying reflective particles in the upper atmosphere to reduce incoming sunlight, can cool the average temperature of the Earth rapidly and cheaply, thereby substantially reducing climate-related risks. Yet CE interventions provide only (...) imperfect corrections for the climatic and other environmental effects of elevated greenhouse gases, and carry their own environmental risks. Moreover, they may also increase other risks, by weakening political support for essential emissions reductions or providing new triggers for international conflict. These technologies thus require international governance, but also pose novel and severe challenges to current international laws and institutions. Effective governance of CE will require a capacity to make decisions regarding the conditions, if any, under which specific interventions are authorized, plus realtime operational oversight of any interventions that are conducted. Decision processes must be effectively linked with scientific research and assessment, and with institutions to manage and respond to threats of CE-related conflict. We advance preliminary suggestions to address two priority areas for early investigation: how international cooperation on early CE research can help develop shared norms that can grow robust enough to support future decision needs; and how early research and development on CE can be made to complement and encourage, rather than undermine, parallel efforts to reduce climate risks by cutting emissions. (shrink)

We claim that much of the confusion associated with the "tautology problem" about survival of the fittest is due to the mistake of attributing fitness to individuals instead of to types. We argue further that the problem itself cannot be solved merely by taking fitness as the aggregate cause of reproductive success. We suggest that a satisfying explanation must center not on logical analysis of the concept of general adaptedness but on the empirical analysis of single adapted traits and their (...) causal relationship to changes in allele frequencies. (shrink)

Human beings as imperfect rational beings face continuous challenges, one of them has to do with the lack of recognizing and respecting our inner dignity in present times. In this collective paper, we address the overall theme—Philosophy of Education in a New Key from various perspectives related to dignity. We address in particular some of the constraints and possibilities with regard to this issue in various settings such as education and society at large. Klas Roth discusses, for example, that it (...) is not uncommon that the value of human beings has to do with their price in, inter alia, their social, cultural, political and economic settings throughout the world. He argues that such a focus does not necessarily draw attention to the inner dignity of human beings, but that human beings ought to do so in education and society at large. Lia Mollvik discusses views of inner and outer dignity, and argues that there needs to be a balance in between them, and that the balance ought to be acknowledged in education. Rama Alshoufani discusses the classification of human beings in terms of various diagnoses related to the asserted dysfunction of the brain, and she argues that such classification does paradoxically not necessarily respect people with such diagnoses as ends in themselves. On the contrary, she argues that their inner dignity is not respected, but that it should be. Other such failures are due to the lack of inner dignity when it comes to Children’s rights as discussed by Rebecca Adami, and to the lack of recognition of human beings’ vulnerability as discussed by Katy Dineen. Fariba Majlesi criticizes a too strong emphasis on substantive notions of humanist education, which seem to hinder new ways of thinking; she argues that it is necessary to acknowledge the latter in and through education in order to preserve the dignity of human beings. Dignity, it is argued throughout the paper, has an inner moral worth, and is beyond price. (shrink)

Ce texte propose une justification de la critique que Spinoza adresse à Descartes, par l’intermédiaire de Louis Meyer, dans la Préface des Principes de la Philosophie de Descartes ; plus particulièrement, il s’agit de reconstruire ses raisons pour affirmer qu’il n’a pas été prouvé, dans la Seconde Méditation, que la chose qui est désignée par le terme ‘je’ puisse être une substance. L’argument qui doit soutenir cette affirma- tion peut être schématisé de la façon suivante : Descartes ne peut introduire (...) un indice temporel dans la certitude de la proposition Je suis, j’existe que s’il accepte que la compréhension de cette proposition enveloppe la possibilité de l’existence d’autres choses pensantes finies, ce qui contredit l’unes des conditions de la conception d’une chose comme substance, telles que lui-même les a définies dans l’article 60 de la première partie des Principes de la Philosophie. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta a maneira pela qual atualmente compreendo um dos pontos mais controverso: da doutrina cartesiana, a saber, sua concepção de liberdade. Meu interesse nas concepções cartesianas de vontade e de liberdade é exclusivamente epistêmico, e não prático; ou melhor, trata-se de pensar esses conceitos, bem como sua relação a partir do ponto de vista estrito do problema do conhecimento, embora - aparentemente - o próprio Descartes não acreditasse que tal separação fosse possível. Através da análise das relações entre (...) entendimento, vontade e liberdade, procuro mostrar que a razão que leva Descartes a enfatizar a distinção entre antes e durante o momento da decisão da vontade na carta de 9 de fevereiro de 1645 ao Padre Mesland reside precisamente na consideração de que a concepção da liberdade humana deve associar às condições de aplicação do conceito formal de liberdade as condições específicas de seu exercício no caso do espírito humano, enquanto substância finita criada inserida na temporalidade. A análise das condições do exercício da liberdade humana, por sua vez, pode explicar a introdução de um tipo peculiar de necessidade epistêmica associada à percepção de conteúdos fictícios e que gera o problema do qual trata a Quinta Meditação, e cujo exame conduziu-me a investigar concepção cartesiana de liberdade. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta uma concepção do fluxo de consciência a partir de um modelo de naturalização da consciência de base metafísica não-materialista, inspirado na filosofia de Espinosa. Procura-se responder à questão colocada por Arthur Prior, em seu artigo ?Thank Goodness That?s Over? , acerca do caráter problemático do significado de um certo tipo de proposições indexadas temporalmente no quadro de teorias que recusam a realidade do tempo. Para tanto, defende-se a hipótese de que essas proposições são irredutíveis a proposições não (...) temporalizadas, seu sentido sendo determinado pelo caráter adverbial dos indexadores temporais e pela função de expressar estados subjetivos referencialmente opacos . Essa função, por sua vez, seria determinante para a constituição do mental enquanto tal e para a realidade do domínio prático. // The article proposes a conception of the flow of consciousness based on a non-materialistic metaphysical model of naturalization of consciousness, inspired in Spinoza's philosophy. I will try to answer Arthur Prior’s question (Thank Goodness That's Over, 1959) concerning the problematic character of the meaning of a certain type of propositions containing temporal indexes for the theories that refuse the reality of time. My hypothesis is that those propositions cannot be reduced to tenseless ones since their meaning is determined by the adverbial character of the temporal indexes and since they express subjective referentially opaque states (that are taken to be close to the Spinozistic concept of affection). I will also show that their function is crucial for the constitution of the mental and for the reality of the practical domain. (shrink)

ResumoAs práticas culturais fundem, a todo o momento, diferentes relações entre sistemas culturais (EVEN-ZOHAR, 1990) que antes eram separados. Tais manifestações híbridas reconfiguram e desterritorializam processos simbólicos. Nesse sentido, o presente artigo realiza uma análise comparatista das relações intertextuais presentes na configuração artística do álbum Esú, do rapper brasileiro Baco Exu do Blues, em especial na faixa “Capitães de Areia” em relação ao romance quase homônimo de Jorge Amado, às referências à mitologia dos Erês, e à série fotográfica Laróyè, de (...) Mario Cravo Neto. Para analisar as implicações dessas inter-relações na configuração cultural e identitária da obra, buscamos aporte teórico-crítico no campo dos Estudos Culturais pela perspectiva de conceitos que tentam dar conta desses processos, acerca do Hibridismo, em Néstor García Canclini, e das reflexões sobre sincretismo religioso em Sérgio Ferretti.Palavras-chave: Capitães da Areia; Hibridismo; sincretismo religioso; práticas culturais. AbstractCultural practices merge, at all times, different relationships with cultural systems (EVENN-ZOHAR, 1991) that were previously separated. Such hybrid manifestations reconfigure and deterritorialize symbolic processes. In this sense, this article performs a comparative analysis of the intertextual relations present in the artistic configuration of the album Esú, by rapper Baco Exu do Blues, especially the track “Capitães de Areia” and references to the mythology of the Erês, to the novel by Jorge Amado and Laróyè photographic series by Mario Cravo Neto. To analyze the implications of these interrelations in the cultural and identity configuration of the work, we seek theoretical-critical support in the field of Cultural Studies from the perspective of concepts that try to account for these processes, about Hybridism in Néstor García Canclini and reflections on religious syncretism in Sérgio Ferreti.Keywords: Capitães da Areia; Hybridity; religious syncretism; cultural practices. (shrink)

Spol povzroča številna nelagodja (v obliki neugodja, neprijetnosti, zadrege, nerodnosti, vznemirjenja) v družbi. S to preprosto tezo avtorica naslavlja problem spola—butlerjevsko “težavo s spolom”—kot obliko kulturnega nelagodja. Že v času prelomnih in pot utirajočih si ženskih, feminističnih, gejevskih in lezbičnih gibanj je spol, takrat prvenstveno ženski spol, povzročil kulturno vznemirjenost patriarhata tedanjih družb in jo povzroča še danes. Toda z nedavnim transspolnim gibanjem je to nelagodje v zvezi s spolom dobilo popolnoma nove razsežnosti, vključno s pretvorbo spola v nekakšno alarmantno (...) družbeno vprašanje, strah vzbujajočo globalno fantazmo in nadležno vseprisoten konflikt ne le v širši družbi, ampak tudi v akademskem svetu. Tovrstnega kulturnega nelagodja spola se tu lotevamo z dveh zornih kotov, skozi teorijo spola in prakso spola. Način, na katerega lahko subverzivna teorija spola sproži kolektivno nelagodje, tudi če je slednje lažno proizvedeno, umetno vsiljeno in manipulativno orkestrirano, je prikazan na primeru zlorabe teorije spola Judith Butler s strani antigenderistov, kar zgovorno izdaja njihov namen, tj. škodovati transspolni, interspolni in spolno nebinarni skupnosti ter zavreti njena prizadevanja za družbeno, politično in pravno priznanje ter temeljno emancipacijo na ravni človekovih pravic. Način, na katerega lahko transgresivna praksa spola sproži odnosno nelagodje v vsakdanjih medčloveških stikih, je ponazorjen z avtoričino lastno življenjsko ≫zgodbo spola≪ v obliki kratke avtoetnografije nelagodja spola, ki nakazuje na problem globokega spolnega binarizma, esencializma, primordializma, perenializma in naturalizma, ki povsem spontano in nerefleksivno prežema vse naše misli, besede, dejanja, odnose, institucije in kolektive. (shrink)

Although involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) and déjà vu have important shared characteristics, in this commentary, we focus on potential differences that may question the argument that two phenomena lie on a continuum. We propose that differences in their frequency and autonoetic consciousness could be explained by different types of cues and memory representations involved in experiencing IAMs and déjà vu.

In contrast to its aims, Koriat & Goldsmith's article vividly demonstrates(1) the complementarity of ecological and traditional approaches and (2) the difficulty of characterising the growing diversity of memory research with a single set of distinctions. Moreover, the contrast between correspondence and storehouse metaphors is important enough to stand alone without reference to an everyday/laboratory controversy, which is neither acute nor necessary.

Approximately three decades ago the question was first answered whether parasitoids are able to assess the number or origin of eggs in a host for a solitary parasitoid, Leptopilina heterotoma, by fitting theoretically derived distributions to empirical ones. We extend the set of different theoretically postulated distributions of eggs among hosts by combining searching modes and abilities in assessing host quality. In the models, parasitoids search either randomly (Poisson) (1) or by vibrotaxis (Negative Binomial) (2). Parasitoids are: (a) assumed to (...) treat all hosts equally, (b) able to distinguish them in unparasitised and parasitised hosts only, (c) able to distinguish them by the number of eggs they contained, or (d) able to recognise their own eggs. Mathematically tractable combinations of searching mode (1 and 2) and abilities (a,b,c,d) result in seven different models (M1a, M1b, M1c, M1d, M2a, M2b and M2c). These models have been simulated for a varying number of searching parasitoids and various mean numbers of eggs per host. Each resulting distribution is fitted to all theoretical models. The model with the minimum Akaike's information criterion (AIC) is chosen as the best fitting for each simulated distribution. We thus investigate the power of the AIC and for each distribution with a specified mean number of eggs per host we derive a frequency distribution for classification.Firstly, we discuss the simulations of models including random search (M1a, M1b, M1c and M1d). For M1a, M1c and M1d the simulated distributions are correctly classified in at least 70% of all cases. However, in a few cases model M1b is only properly classified for intermediate mean values of eggs per host. The models including vibrotaxis as searching behaviour (M2a, M2b and M2c) cannot be distinguished from those with random search if the mean number of eggs per host is low. Among the models incorporating vibrotaxis the three abilities are detected analogously as in models with random search. (shrink)

L'article avance l'hypothèse selon laquelle la distinction entre les conceptions cartésienne et spinoziste des rapports esprit/corps se situe dans le niveau plus profond des différents diagnostiques que ces doctrines supposent concernant les conditions d'emergence du problème éthique por l'être humain.

This paper distinguishes four recognisably different geographical processes in principle causing species to die out. One of these processes, the one we dub “range eclipse”, holds that one range expands at the expense of another one, thereby usurping it. Channell and Lomolino (2000a, Journal of Biogeography 27: 169–179; 2000b, Nature 403: 84–87; see also Lomolino and Channell, 1995, Journal of Mammalogy 76: 335–347) measured the course of this process in terms of the proportion of the total range remaining in its (...) original centre, thereby essentially assuming a homogeneous distribution of animals over the range. However, part of their measure seems mistaken. By giving a general, analytical formulation of eclipsing ranges, we estimate the exact course of this process. Also, our formulation does not partition a range into two spatially equal parts, its core and its edge, but it assumes continuity. For applying this model to data on the time evolution of species, individual time series should be available for each of them. For practical purposes we give an alternative way of plotting and interpreting such time series. Our approach, being more sensitive than Channell and Lomolino’s, gives a less optimistic indication of range eclipses than theirs once these have started. (shrink)