Toujours déjà expressif, habité par la dimension du langage au moment même de l'expérience, le "visuel" est un champ à part entière où se croisent réel et imaginaire, et donc une nouvelle forme de compréhension de notre rapport au monde. En ce sens, les derniers travaux de Merleau-Ponty, par leur réflexion sur la question du visuel, remettent en cause la plupart des catégories par lesquelles nous avons coutume de "nommer" notre rapport au monde. Cette problématique se révèle particulièrement importante aujourd'hui. (...) Le développement continu des technologies optiques et médiatiques ne cesse d'ouvrir nos existences à des formes inédites de visualisation et d'expérience, et impose une compréhension renouvelée du statut contemporain des images. Convaincus que la pensée du dernier Merleau-Ponty peut contribuer de manière décisive à saisir ces enjeux, les dix auteurs des interventions recueillies dans ce volume des philosophes ainsi que des spécialistes internationaux des médias provenant de cinq pays différents proposent une réflexion collective particulièrement homogène et novatrice autour des croisements entre les notions de "visible" et de "visuel"."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Ce volume est consacré aux biographies de philosophes rédigées pendant l’Antiquité, depuis l’époque des élèves de Platon et d’Aristote jusqu’aux dernières écoles de philosophie de l’Antiquité. Le volume commence par deux études consacrées aux travaux biographiques réalisés dans les écoles de Platon et d’Aristote, travaux dont nous n’avons plus que des extraits et des comptes rendus auxquels manque le contexte original nous permettant de mieux en évaluer la portée. Nous sommes ainsi réduits à...

In the remainder of this article, we will disarm an important motivation for epistemic contextualism and interest-relative invariantism. We will accomplish this by presenting a stringent test of whether there is a stakes effect on ordinary knowledge ascription. Having shown that, even on a stringent way of testing, stakes fail to impact ordinary knowledge ascription, we will conclude that we should take another look at classical invariantism. Here is how we will proceed. Section 1 lays out some limitations of previous (...) research on stakes. Section 2 presents our study and concludes that there is little evidence for a substantial stakes effect. Section 3 responds to objections. The conclusion clears the way for classical invariantism. (shrink)

Does the Ship of Theseus present a genuine puzzle about persistence due to conflicting intuitions based on “continuity of form” and “continuity of matter” pulling in opposite directions? Philosophers are divided. Some claim that it presents a genuine puzzle but disagree over whether there is a solution. Others claim that there is no puzzle at all since the case has an obvious solution. To assess these proposals, we conducted a cross-cultural study involving nearly 3,000 people across twenty-two countries, speaking eighteen (...) different languages. Our results speak against the proposal that there is no puzzle at all and against the proposal that there is a puzzle but one that has no solution. Our results suggest that there are two criteria—“continuity of form” and “continuity of matter”— that constitute our concept of persistence and these two criteria receive different weightings in settling matters concerning persistence. (shrink)

RESUMO Este texto delineia, a partir de Foucault, Fassin, Rancière e Butler, a existência de um enquadramento biopolítico de cidadãs e mulheres empobrecidas no contexto da implementação de políticas sociais. A reflexão aqui desenvolvida apresenta resultados parciais de projeto de pesquisa desenvolvido com apoio do CNPq, no qual são analisadas 150 imagens relacionadas ao Programa Bolsa Família, reunidas entre os anos de 2003 a 2015, publicadas nos veículos Folha de S. Paulo, Estado de S. Paulo, O Globo, Veja e IstoÉ. (...) O argumento central é que esse enquadramento envolve a produção de narrativas que traçam distinções entre modos de vida considerados “dignos” e outros não, ressaltando situações de vulnerabilidade da vida e da governamentalidade que formata cenas de aparência, preparando-as para definir cidadãos e grupos exemplares a partir de determinados parâmetros de consideração e apreciação. ABSTRACT From the perspectives of Foucault, Fassin, Rancière and Butler, this paper outlines the existence of a biopolitical framing in press pictures of impoverished women included in the Bolsa Familia social project. The present reflection is based on the partial results of a research project developed with the financial support of CNPq in which we analyze a total of 150 pictures related to the Bolsa Família Program. They were collected from the newspapers Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, O Globo, and the magazines Veja and IstoÉ from 2003 to 2015. We argue that the biopolitical framing involves the production of narratives that distinguish ways of life that are “dignified” from those that are not. It also highlights situations of vulnerability and governmentality that shape appearances and prepare them to define citizens and exemplary groups, using certain parameters for consideration and appreciation. (shrink)

The DNA in human cells is continuously undergoing damage as consequences of both endogenous processes and exposure to exogenous agents. The resulting structural changes can be repaired by a number of systems that function to preserve genome integrity. Most pathways are multicomponent, involving incision in the damaged DNA strand and resynthesis using the undamaged strand as a template. In contrast, O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase is able to act as a single protein that reverses specific types of alkylation damage simply by removing the (...) offending alkyl group, which becomes covalently attached to the protein and inactivates it. The types of damage that ATase repairs are potentially toxic, mutagenic, recombinogenic and clastogenic. They are generated by certain classes of carcinogenic and chemotherapeutic alkylating agents. There is consequently a great deal of interest in this repair system in relation to both carcinogenesis and cancer chemotherapy. BioEssays 24:255–266, 2002. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.; DOI 10.1002/bies.10063. (shrink)

O artigo analisa a atuação de Alberto Antoniazzi na Igreja do Brasil. Demarca seu pensamento e sua contribuição em diversas áreas do conhecimento. Situa, no contexto da cultura contemporânea, os desafios que enfrentou. Mostra que as mudanças pelas quais passa o pensamento religioso não se devem apenas a seu movimento interno, mas são ditadas pela própria história. Com uma fundamentação multidisciplinar, as análises, as pesquisas e os projetos desse pensador descortinaram novos horizontes para a experiência religiosa. Palabras clave: Memória; Catolicismo; (...) Conhecimento; Cultura; História. ABSTRACT This article analyses Alberto Antoniazzi work in the Church of Brazil. It outlines his thought and his contribution in many fields of knowledge, identifying the challenges he faced within the context of contemporary culture. It demonstrates that current changes in religious thought do not result merely from its inner movement, but from history itself. With beasis on a multidisciplinary foundation, that scholar’s analyses, research and projects have disclosed new horizons for the religious experience. Key words: Memory; Catholicism; Knweledge; Culture; History. (shrink)

The 'Enciclopedia Filosofica' is an encyclopaedia of philosophical topics promoted by the Centre for Philosophical Studies of Gallarate and published, in its third and last edition in 2006, by the Bompiani publishing house in Milan. The first edition of the 'Enciclopedia Filosofica' was promoted by the Centre for Philosophical Studies of Gallarate in the 1950s, seeing the light in 1957-58. A second edition, published by the Sansoni publishing house in Florence, was published in 1968-69 and reprinted in 1979. The third (...) and last edition, published by Bompiani in 2006, is intended to cover the whole of philosophical knowledge and related disciplines with over ten thousand entries edited by about a thousand academics, both Italian and non-Italian, and distributed in twelve volumes for a total of 12,496 pages. (shrink)

My first and main claim is that physics cannot provide empirical evidence for the objectivity of absolute becoming, for the simple reason that it must presuppose it, at least to the extent that classical spacetime theories presuppose an ontology of events. However, the fact that a theory of absolute becoming must be situated in the a priori realm of metaphysics does not make becoming completely irrelevant for physics, since my second claim will consist in showing that relational becoming, once appropriately (...) defined and understood, properly belongs to the tangled set of issues usually referred to with the label “the arrow of time”. In this respect it is argued that the arrow of becoming is more fundamental both than the causal arrow and of other well-known physical processes that are temporally asymmetric. (shrink)

Istinski realistička teorija prava – čija se mogućnost ispituje u ovome radu – trebala bi imati sljedeća obilježja. U svakom slučaju, trebala bi biti općenitija od postojećih teorija, to jest vrijediti kako za common law tako i za kontinentalnoeuropsko pravo; posljedično tome, trebala bi obrnuti odnos između zakonodavstva i pravosuđenja kakav obično uspostavljaju pozitivističke teorije. I u historiografiji i u poredbenom pravu, pri čemu je teorija prava njihov produžetak na višoj razini apstrakcije, središnji trenutak legal processa je pravosuđenje, dok se (...) zakonodavstvo može shvatiti kao jedan od mnogih pokušaja, možebitno ne i najuspješniji, ograničavanja i nadziranja pravosuđenja. Primjer objašnjavalačke sposobnosti istinski realističke teorije prava jest tzv. kriza izvora: zakonodavstvo uspostavlja suce, no oni su ti koji potom, u konačnici, određuju hijerarhiju izvora prava i sam položaj zakonodavstva u hijerarhiji. (shrink)

The paper is a review of Talal Debs and Michael Redhead's 2007 book, Objectivity, Invariance, and Convention, Harvard, Harvard University Press.

The goal of this paper is to offer a new theory of moods, according to which moods are perceptual experiences that represent undetermined objects as possessing specific evaluative properties. I start by listing a series of features that moods are typically taken to possess and claim that a satisfactory theory of moods must be able either to explain why moods genuinely possess these features or to explain these appearances away in a non-ad hoc way. I show that my account provides (...) a plausible explanation of all the main features of moods. I conclude by addressing some objections against my account. (shrink)

Der Triestiner Vittorio Benussi (1878-1927), Mitglied der Grazer gegenstandstheoretischen und psychologischen Schule um Alexius Meinong, war einer der bedeutendsten Experimentalpsychologen seiner Zeit. Seine Pionierleistungen auf dem Gebiet der experimentellen Gestaltpsychologie gerieten jedoch bald durch die fortschreitende Durchsetzung der Berliner Schule der Gestalttheorie in Vergessenheit, so daß sein Werk bis heute weitgehend unbekannt geblieben ist. Benussis wissenschaftliche Tätigkeit, die sich durch eine streng experimentelle Vorgangsweise auszeichnet, erweist sich rückblickend als fruchtbarer Anknüpfungspunkt für die zeitgenössische Kognitionswissenschaft. Dies ermöglicht eine Neubewertung seiner wissenschaftlichen (...) Arbeit und jener aktpsychologischen Tradition, der er angehörte. Benussis Untersuchungen nehmen ihren Ausgangspunkt in der Voraussetzung der Intentionalität des Psychischen. Seine Arbeiten thematisieren das Problem des subjektiven Eingriffs in die Konstitution der Erfahrungsgegebenheiten, indem sie die Vorherrschaft des Subjektes über die elementaren Sinnesbedingungen betonen. In Benussis Gesamtwerk läßt sich ein einheitliches Programm erkennen: Ausgehend von der Gegenstands- und Produktionstheorie der Grazer Schule, entwickelt Benussi seinen eigenen theoretischen Standpunkt, der ihn - bewußt - der Phänomenologie Husserls nähebringt. Benussi verlagert schrittweise den Schwerpunkt seiner Forschungen von der gegenstandstheoretischen Perspektive zur Hervorhebung der latenten Subjektivität, die im Konstitutionsprozeß des Gegebenen wirksam ist. Leben und Werk Vittorio Benussis rückblickend zu betrachten, heißt sich mit einem Klassiker der Psychologie zu beschäftigen, dessen Modernität erst in der heutigen Zeit erkannt werden kann. (shrink)

We discuss the three dominant models of the phenomenological literature pertaining to temporal consciousness, namely the cinematic, the retentional, and the extensional model. This is first done by presenting the distinction between acts and contents of consciousness and the assumptions underlying the different models concerning both the extendedness and duration of these two components. Secondly, we elaborate on the consequences related to whether a perspective of direct or indirect realism about temporal perceptions is assumed. Finally, we review some relevant findings (...) from the psychology and neuroscience of temporality in order to decide which of the three models of time consciousness is better confirmed from an empirical viewpoint. Depending on the time scale, all three models of temporal consciousness might apply. We specifically argue in favor of an extensional model of time consciousness for the experienced present where the acts and contents of consciousness are both extended. The retentional model might apply to longer time intervals covered by working memory. In addition, a predictive component is highlighted as decisive for an understanding of temporality. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that the debate between the so-called “presentists” – according to whom only the present is real – and the “eternalists”, according to whom past present and future are equally real, has no ontological significance. In particular, once we carefully distinguish between a tensed and a tenseless sense of existence, it is difficult to find a single ontological claim on which the two parties could disagree. Since the choice of using a tense or a tenseless language (...) is dictated by purely pragmatic reasons, we should abstain from bringing to bear pseudo-debates generated by the “tensed” or the “tenseless theories” of time on the question of understanding the philosophical implications of contemporary spacetime theories, or notions like becoming, change and persistence in time. (shrink)

This paper offers a critical assessment of the current state of the debate about the identity and individuality of material objects. Its main aim, in particular, is to show that, in a sense to be carefully specified, the opposition between the Leibnizian ‘reductionist’ tradition, based on discernibility, and the sort of ‘primitivism’ that denies that facts of identity and individuality must be analysable has become outdated. In particular, it is argued that—contrary to a widespread consensus—‘naturalised’ metaphysics supports both the acceptability (...) of non-qualitatively grounded (both ‘contextual’ and intrinsic) identity and a pluralistic approach to individuality and individuation. A case study is offered that focuses on non-relativistic quantum mechanics, in the context of which primitivism about identity and individuality, rather than being regarded as unscientific, is on the contrary suggested to be preferable to the complicated forms of reductionism that have recently been proposed. More generally, by assuming a plausible form of anti-reductionism about scientific theories and domains, it is claimed that science can be regarded as compatible with, or even as suggesting, the existence of a series of equally plausible grades of individuality. The kind of individuality that prevails in a certain context and at a given level can be ascertained only on the basis of the specific scientific theory at hand. (shrink)

The literature on the compatibility between the time of our experience--characterized by passage or becoming--and time as is represented within spacetime theories has been affected by a persistent failure to get a clear grasp of the notion of becoming, both in its relation to an ontology of events tt"spreadtt" in a four-dimensional manifold, and in relation to temporally asymmetric physical processes.In the first part of my paper I try to remedy this situation by offering what I consider a clear and (...) faithful explication of becoming, valid independently of the particular spacetime setting in which we operate. Along the way, I will show why the metaphysical debate between the so-called tt"presentiststt" and tt"eternaliststt" is completely irrelevant to the question of becoming, as the debate itself is generated by a failure to distinguish between a tensed and a tenseless sense of tt"existencett". After a much needed distinction between absolute and relational becoming, I then show in what sense classical spacetime physics presupposes both types of becoming, for the simple reason that spacetime physics presupposes an ontology of events. As a consequence, not only does it turn out that using physics to try to provide empirical evidence for the existence of becoming amounts to putting the cart before the horses, but also that the order imposed by tt"the arrow of becomingtt" is more fundamental than any other physical arrow of time, despite the fact that becoming cannot be used to explain why entropy grows, or retarded electromagnetic radiation prevails versus advanced radiation. (shrink)

The main claim that I want to defend in this paper is that the there are logical equivalences between eternalism and perdurantism on the one hand and presentism and endurantism on the other. By “logical equivalence” I mean that one position is entailed and entails the other. As a consequence of this equivalence, it becomes important to inquire into the question whether the dispute between endurantists and perdurantists is authentic, given that Savitt (2006) Dolev (2006) and Dorato (2006) have cast (...) doubts on the fact that the debate between presentism and eternalism is about “what there is”. In this respect, I will conclude that also the debate about persistence in time has no ontological consequences, in the sense that there is no real ontological disagreement between the two allegedly opposite positions: as in the case of the presentism/eternalism debate, one can be both a perdurantist and an endurantist, depending on which linguistic framework is preferred. (shrink)

The paper defends two claims; Viewed from the perspective of the substantivalism/relationism debate, structural spacetime realism is a form of relationism; However, if we managed to reinforce Rynasiewicz’s point that the general theory of relativity makes the substantivalism/relationism dispute “outdated”, the re-elaboration of Stein ’s 1967 version of structural spacetime realism to be proposed here proves to be a good, antimetaphysical solution to the problem of the ontological status of spacetime.

Mauro Dorato charts pressing debates within the philosophy of science that centre around scientific expertise, access to knowledge, consensus, debate, and decision-making. This English-language translation of Disinformazione Scientifica e Democrazia argues that the advancement of science depends on an exponential process of specialization, accompanied by the creation of technical languages that are less and less accessible to the general public. Dorato reveals how such a process must align with representative forms of democracies, in which knowledge and decision-making ought to (...) aim at the society's general interest. Given the importance of the principle of competence, however, the role of experts as mediators of knowledge threatens the citizens' autonomy of choice. Consequently, the risk of technocratic regimes calls for new ways to increase literacy about science and its philosophical and probabilistic foundations. Stressing the conceptual conflict between pluralism and conformism, Science and Representative Democracyreveals the obstacles to the functioning of both science and democracy. (shrink)

The empirical data do not unequivocally support a consistent fixed capacity of four chunks. We propose an alternative account whereby capacity is limited by the precision of specifying the temporal and spatial context in which items appear, that similar psychophysical constraints limit number estimation, and that short term memory (STM) is continuous with long term memory (LTM).

In this paper I will argue that if physics is to become a coherent metaphysics of nature it needs an “interpretation”. As I understand it, an interpretation of a physical theory amounts to offering a precise formulation of its ontological claims and a clear account of how such claims are related to the world of our experience. Notably, metaphysics enters importantly in both tasks: in, because interpreting our best physical theories requires going beyond a merely instrumentalist view of science and (...) therefore using our best metaphysical theories; in, because a philosophical elaboration of the theories of the world that are implicit in our experience is one of the tasks of analytic metaphysics, and bridging possible explanatory gaps or even conflicts between the physical image and the manifest image of the world is a typical philosophical task that involves science and metaphysics. (shrink)

The paper argues against the growing tendency to interpret Brentano’s conception of inner consciousness in self-representational terms. This trend has received support from the tendency to see Brentano as a forerunner of contemporary same-order theories of consciousness and from the view that Brentano models intransitive consciousness on transitive consciousness, such that a mental state is conscious insofar as it is aware of itself as an object. However, this reading fails to take into account the Brentanian concept of object, which is (...) ultimately derived from ancient and medieval philosophy, as well as the secondary, elusive character that Brentano attributes to inner perception. According to Brentano, we have an aspectual but transparent consciousness of transcendent objects, whereas our awareness of our own mental acts is always complete but incidental, and ultimately opaque. Reversing the relationship between intentionality and consciousness faces difficulties at the textual interpretative level, but also raises theoretical problems, for it risks treating Brentano’s theory of mind as a form of subjectivism and idealism. (shrink)

In this article the theoretic evolution and the empirical-experimental efforts that have led to the affirmation of the bounded/procedural rationality paradigm are discussed. Moreover, the debate on supporters of the "optimization" approach and supporters of the "bounded/procedural rationality" approach is traced, highlighting the irreconcilability of these two approaches and, in retort, a solid defense against a merely "reductionist" attempt of the innovative context of the Simonian theory. Critically going over the debate on decision dynamics, it becomes clear how, due to (...) the uncertain nature of rational processes, it is impossible to establish the decision-making best way. The imperfect character of individual choice is explained by how the decider identifies a solution that appears satisfying in that moment due to cognitive and temporal limits. (shrink)

The time of half-sleep : Merleau-Ponty between Husserl and Proust -- Ad limina philosophiae : Merleau-Ponty and the "introduction" to Hegel's Phenomenology of spirit -- Nature : variations on the theme -- The thinking of the sensible.