Introduction: Parkinson's Disease is characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms, among which deficits in social cognition might affect ~20% of patients. This study aims to evaluate the role of social cognitive abilities in the perceived impact of COVID-19 emergency, and the effects of lockdown measures on patients' social network and caregivers' burden.Methods: Fourteen PD patients performed a neuropsychological battery including sociocognitive tasks before the introduction of COVID-19 restrictive measures. A structured interview through an online platform was performed in the last (...) 2 weeks of the first lockdown phase to assess patients' health status, perception of COVID-19 emergency, changes in caregivers' burden, and patients' social isolation. Non-parametric analyses were performed to evaluate the association between social skills and patients' COVID-19 perception, as well as the effects of restrictive measures.Results: At baseline evaluation, half of the PD patients showed sociocognitive dysfunctions, mainly on mentalizing abilities. Patients with impaired social cognition skills showed a significantly lower concern on the possible effects of COVID-19 on their health. Caregiver burden and patients' social network remained stable during the lockdown.Conclusion: These preliminary results underline that PD sociocognitive dysfunctions might affect patients' abilities to estimate the effects of COVID-19 infection. However, the lack of a significant increase in caregivers' burden and social isolation suggests, in our sample, a good coping to COVID-19 emergency. Since COVID-19 pandemic can have direct and indirect severe consequences in patients with PD, the development of educational and preventive programs is recommended. (shrink)

Failing -- Ontology and desire in Dionysius the Areopagite -- Apophatic theology and its vicissitudes -- The death drive: from Freud to Žižek -- The gift and violence -- Divine violence as trauma -- Mystical theology and the four discourses -- Theology as failure.

It feels like the world is ending. In the midst of apocalyptic times it’s tempting to cling on tightly to what we still have. But what if our desire to save the world is part of the problem? -/- Theology for the End of the World suggests that in responding to the deeply entwined systems of capitalism, racism and patriarchy we should stop trying to unearth a ‘good version’ of Christianity which stands opposed to these forms of violence and seek (...) instead to reckon with the role that Christianity has played in making the world we now inhabit. How has Christianity shaped the histories of marriage and the family? How did Christianity invent race and give birth to capitalism? Grappling with the ambivalent inheritance of Christianity, a tradition passed down by enslaved people and enslavers; by violent husbands, resourceful wives and courageous sex workers; by rich people and the dispossessed, the book suggests Christians should give up on trying to redeem the world – a social order founded on violence and exploitation – and seek instead to end it. (shrink)

Este ensayo no es una interpretación metafísica del universo, sino de una interpretación científica, en donde la física contemporánea aparece como un sistema evolutivo y el universo como un sistema en expansión. Se pretende simplemente �averiguar si la imagen del universo físico que se forma la ciencia actual reclama o conduce a admitir la existencia de una realidad propia en y por sí misma, distinta realmente del universo y sin la cuál éste no podría existir ni ser lo que es�(A. (...) González). (shrink)

Dialogue between the Greeks and the contemporary way of thought.

RESUMEN La modificación de la dialéctica que propone el planteamiento de Adorno despliega una crítica inmanente del principio identificatorio que emerge del conflicto entre componente somático y concepto, entre lo idéntico y lo no idéntico. Ello resulta fundamental para comprender la dominación como segunda naturaleza en las formaciones económico-sociales modernas/coloniales. En este trabajo proponemos, en primer lugar, examinar críticamente las relaciones de alteridad que estructuran la experiencia de lo político al interior de la modernidad/colonialidad, y la configuración de la subjetividad (...) en términos sociohistóricos. En segundo lugar, se explora, desde un abordaje decolonial del horizonte analítico de Adorno, la constelación de mecanismos ideológicos vinculados al principio identitario que se condensa en la alteridad colonial, y que, como exponemos en este análisis, convergen finalmente en una metafísica del exterminio, en donde lo particular resulta subsumido por lo universal, y, que se efectualiza como una matriz de dominación en la que se articulan la experiencia de lo abyecto y los procesos de estereotipia que vertebran la construcción simbólica y racial de América. ABSTRACT The modification of dialectics proposed by Adorno's approach displays an immanent critique of the identifying principle that emerges from the conflict between the somatic component and the concept, between identity and non-identity. This is essential to understand domination as second nature in modern/colonial social economic formations. In this paper, we propose, first of all, to critically examine the relationships of alterity that structure the experience of the political within modernity/ coloniality, and the sociohistorical configuration of subjectivity. Secondly, from a decolonial approach to Adorno's analytical horizon, we explore the constellation of ideological mechanisms linked to the identity principle that are condensed in colonial alterity, and, that, as we expose in this analysis, finally converge in a metaphysics of extermination, where the particular is subsumed by the universal, which is carried out as a matrix of domination in which the experience of the abject and the stereotyping processes that structure the symbolic and racial construction of America are articulated. (shrink)

Este artículo explora algunas de las relaciones entre dialéctica y filosofía dentro del programa de una dialéctica modificada de Theodor W. Adorno ¿Cómo pensar la tensión entre las categorías dialécticas y la filosofía desde el prisma de una dialéctica negativa? ¿Qué significa desde el pensamiento de Adorno a liberar a la filosofía y a la dialéctica de su carácter afirmativo? Elaborar estas preguntas es el objetivo de este trabajo.

This paper will argue that the work of Slavoj Žižek can be fruitfully understood as a response to mystical theology as it has been received in two strands of 20th century French thought—psychoanalysis and phenomenology—and that Žižek's work in turn offers intriguing possibilities for the re-figuring of mystical theology by feminist philosophy of religion. Twentieth century French psychoanalysis is dominated by the work of Jacques Lacan and by his students Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray. All three of these figures engage (...) in significant ways with mystical theology—particularly with the works and figures of female mystics—as a crucial resource for theorising gender and subjectivity. A second strand of the 20th century French reception of mystical theology is the phenomenological tradition, specifically the work of Jacques Derrida. This paper will argue that, drawing on and challenging both of these elements of recent French engagement with mystical theology, Žižek's work offers a materialist ontology which seeks to locate transcendence within immanence and materiality, offering to feminist philosophy of religion the resources for re-thinking the relationship of the mystical to the material. (shrink)

Perhaps the most-read philosopher in the world at the time of this publication, Slavoj Žižek has written voluminously on an extraordinary number of topics—and has, along the way, engaged many different fields of inquiry and earned many critics. At bottom, however, is a post-structural philosophy which is provided as an alternative to the proposals of Jacques Derrida, with an emphatic deployment of the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan. This critical chapter parses his work as it is relevant to radical theology.

Review of John Milbank and Slavoj Žižek, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009), in International Journal of Žižek Studies 4.4 (2010).

La modificación de la dialéctica que propone el planteamiento de Adorno despliega una crítica inmanente del principio identificatorio que emerge del conflicto entre componente somático y concepto, entre lo idéntico y lo no idéntico. Ello resulta fundamental para comprender la dominación como segunda naturaleza en las formaciones económico-sociales modernas/coloniales. En este trabajo proponemos, en primer lugar, examinar críticamente las relaciones de alteridad que estructuran la experiencia de lo político al interior de la modernidad/colonialidad, y la configuración de la subjetividad en (...) términos sociohistóricos. En segundo lugar, se explora, desde un abordaje decolonial del horizonte analítico de Adorno, la constelación de mecanismos ideológicos vinculados al principio identitario que se condensa en la alteridad colonial, y que, como exponemos en este análisis, convergen finalmente en una metafísica del exterminio, en donde lo particular resulta subsumido por lo universal, y, que se efectualiza como una matriz de dominación en la que se articulan la experiencia de lo abyecto y los procesos de estereotipia que vertebran la construcción simbólica y racial de América. (shrink)

This article addresses the relationships between dialectic and learning within the constellations of the conceptual universes of Adorno and Vygotsky. In that order, we proceed to analyze the set of links between the main dialectical categories that structure the dialectical approach that characterizes both representatives of the Marxist thought tradition (process, totality, mediation, fields of force, antagonism, praxis) and the communicating vessels that go from epistemology to aesthetics and that demonstrate the relevance of the tasks of thought in the face (...) of social transformation. Finally, the article addresses the question of an (im)possible analytical horizon that arises, from both thinkers, to emphatically think about social emancipation and its challenges today. (shrink)

Se describe, desde una perspectiva histórica, el proceso institucional y legal de los estudios generales en Perú en el último siglo, tomado en cuenta sus contextos políticos e intelectuales. También se reflexiona sobre la dimensión humanista de los estudios generales y la razón de ser de la educación universitaria.

Paediatric cancer care poses ethically difficult situations that can lead to value conflicts about what is best for the child, possibly resulting in moral distress. Research on moral distress is lacking in paediatric cancer care in Sweden and most questionnaires are developed in English. The Moral Distress Scale-Revised is a questionnaire that measures moral distress in specific situations; respondents are asked to indicate both the frequency and the level of disturbance when the situation arises. The aims of this study were (...) to translate and culturally adapt the questionnaire to the context of Swedish paediatric cancer care. In doing so we endeavoured to keep the content in the Swedish version as equivalent to the original as possible but to introduce modifications that improve the functional level and increase respondent satisfaction. The procedure included linguistic translation and cultural adaptation of MDS-R’s paediatric versions for Physicians, Nurses and Other Healthcare Providers to the context of Swedish paediatric cancer care. The process of adjustment included: preparation, translation procedure and respondent validation. The latter included focus group and cognitive interviews with healthcare professionals in paediatric cancer care. To achieve a Swedish version with a good functional level and high trustworthiness, some adjustments were made concerning design, language, cultural matters and content. Cognitive interviews revealed problems with stating the level of disturbance hypothetically and items with negations caused even more problems, after having stated that the situation never happens. Translation and cultural adaptation require the involvement of various types of specialist. It is difficult to combine the intention to keep the content as equivalent to the original as possible with the need for modifications that improve the functional level and increase respondent satisfaction. The translated and culturally adapted Swedish MDS-R seems to have equivalent content as well as improved functional level and respondent satisfaction. The adjustments were made to fit paediatric cancer care but it could be argued that the changes are relevant for most areas of paediatric care of seriously ill patients. (shrink)

Innovation is a high-risk endeavor and success is dependent upon a firm's understanding of customer needs. A company's initial resistance to adopting innovation is mitigated with a solid foundation of customer trust in the firm. This book uniquely combines the work of scholars and practitioners to examine how trust and customer-centricity impacts every phase of the innovation journey.Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the contributions in this collection consider different aspects of innovating for trust. Beginning with the notion of trust itself, authors (...) examine the importance of trust in futures thinking, business model innovation, service design, co-creation, the innovative organization and self-service technologies. The book also contains a valuable collection of case studies based upon innovation with major service providers, which supports the final emphasis on the importance of trust in commercializing innovations.Practical and engaging, Innovating for Trust will appeal to enlightened business managers aiming to build and maintain customer trust, as well as students and researchers of innovation, trust and strategy. (shrink)

It has been shown that when participants are asked to make sensibility judgments on sentences that describe a transfer of an object toward or away from their body, they are faster to respond when the response requires a movement in the same direction as the transfer described in the sentence. This phenomenon is known as the action compatibility effect. This study investigates whether the ACE exists for volunteers with Alzheimer's disease, whether the ACE can facilitate language comprehension, and also whether (...) the ACE can still be produced if the order of the two events is inverted, that is, whether overt movement can prime comprehension of transfer sentences. In Study 1, participants with AD, younger, and older adults were tested on an adaptation of the ACE Paradigm. In Study 2, the same paradigm was modified to include an arm movement that participants had to perform prior to sentence exposure on screen. In Study 1, young, older adults, and individuals with AD were faster to respond when the direction of the response movement matched the directionality implied by the sentence. In Study 2, no traditional ACE was found; participants were faster when the direction of the movement immediately preceding the sentence matched the directionality of the sentence. It was found that compatibility effects generated a relative advantage, that transfer schemata are easier to process, and that an ACE-like effect can be the result of mutual priming between language and movement. Results suggested preservation in AD of the neural systems for action engaged during language comprehension, and conditions under which comprehension in AD can be facilitated in real life may be identified. (shrink)