La psychologie phénoménologique sartrienne, qui s?attèle à repenser la mé­thode psychologique classique, inopérante et cernée de préjugés et d? a priori chargés, fait de l?émotion un de ses sujets de prédilection. Elle constitue un thème continu du projet philosophique sartrien, de son premier essai à sa dernière somme biographique, traversant divers types d?approches de la réalité-humaine, s?inscrivant toutes dans un projet global d?investigation et de compréhension de l?homme en situation, de l?individu concret dans son époque, dans ses rapports au monde, (...) indissociable d?une pensée de la liberté en construction. La conception de l?émotion élaborée par Sartre est assez constante malgré de nets bouleversements contextuels. Elle sera ballottée de cadres en cadres, passant du statut d?acte de conscience dont la psychologie phénoménologique s?évertue à saisir l?essence, à celui d?une conduite indivi­dualisante du pour-soi au c?ur d?une ontologie phénoménologique à la fonc­tion d?anthropologie fondatrice qui vise à balayer l?entièreté des caractéris­tiques de la conscience. L?émotion deviendra finalement, dans la psychana­lyse existentielle appliquée, le lieu même de la construction de soi dans l?enfance en ce que le choix originel se crée sur base d?un affect en situation qui orientera toute la destinée sociale et affective de l?individu considéré. Au sein du déploiement de ce. (shrink)

Using an analysis of two of Sartre's biographies, and , I will show how freedom can be inverted into captivity in order to constitute an affective destiny. If every choice, act and affect of an individual is, through its “original project,” confined to a specific framework, the schema of freedom positing its choice of existence seems to resemble a circle of captivity: total freedom at the outset, and then a trapped freedom, limited by itself. At the basis of this alienating (...) circle lie original emotions: consciousness reacts affectively to its initial situation, before even constituting itself as a , and adopts these emotions as integral parts of its project, as the structure of its relationship to the world. But the empirical affects which follow are then captured in the vortex of captivity, in accordance with a two-fold criterion: participating in the ultimate end of the individual while at the same time being inscribed in the affective structure which follows from it. Originally the very source of the original project, emotion then becomes its slave. French À travers l'analyse de deux biographies sartriennes, Baudelaire et Mallarmé , nous mettons en évidence la manière dont la liberté s'inverse en captivité pour se constituer un destin affectif. Si tout choix, acte et affect de l'individu est, par son projet originel , circonscrit à un cadre d'action précis, le schéma de la liberté posant son choix d'existence paraît assimilable au cercle de la captivité : une liberté totale à l'origine, une liberté piégée, limitée par elle-même, ensuite. Au fondement même de ce cercle aliénant, des émotions originelles : la conscience réagit affectivement à sa situation initiale, avant même de se constituer en personne , et assume ces émotions comme partie intégrante de son projet, comme structure de son rapport au monde. Mais les affects empiriques qui s'ensuivent sont alors pris dans le tourbillon de la captivité, devant répondre à un double critère : participer à la fin ultime de l'individu tout en s'inscrivant dans la structure affective qui en découle. Source même du projet originel, l'émotion en devient l'esclave. (shrink)

Usury ceilings seem indefensible. Their opponents insist these caps harm the consumers they are intended to help. Low ceilings are said to prevent the least advantaged agents from accessing legal credit and drive them into the black market, where prices are higher and collection methods are harsher. But in this paper, I challenge these arguments and show that the benefits of interest-rate limitations in the most expensive credit markets clearly outweigh the costs. The test case is payday lending. Deregulated pricing (...) in this market produces negative externalities that justify usury restrictions. Unless prices are capped, the more solvent majority of borrowers is compelled to cross-subsidize the least solvent debtors, who have a high rate of default. Rationing the riskiest debtors out of this market by means of a moderate usury cap puts an end to this unfairness and produces fewer bad consequences than the advocates of deregulated pricing recognize. I argue that only an extreme principle like maximizing the minimum could justify a free market in payday credit. (shrink)

A humorous bedtime story for budding philosophers "There's a rhinoceros in my room!" Ludwig claims. His father doesn't think so. He looks for the huge pachyderm in every corner, but he just can't find it. There CANNOT be a rhinoceros in Ludwig's room. It's way too small for a rhinoceros. But Ludwig shows his father that something can be there, even if you can't see it. Ludwig Wittgenstein discussed this philosophical problem with his professor Bertrand Russel, and is the basis (...) for Noemi Schneider's hilarious and thoughtful story. The Berlin duo GOLDEN COSMOS, who work with their characteristic screen printing style for international magazines, are now illustrating a picture book for the first time. (shrink)

Ahora que la digitalización está ampliamente extendida en las aulas y la educación se enfrenta a un cambio de paradigma, la Realidad Aumentada aparece como la herramienta ideal para el desarrollo de una educación híbrida. Esta tecnología, a caballo entre el mundo real y el virtual, facilita experiencias en entornos de aprendizaje altamente significativosPara reflejar el estado de la realidad aumentada en el ámbito educativo y conocer las principales limitaciones de los docentes para usarla, se analizó la relación de los (...) docentes de educación primaria con las tecnologías en general y la realidad aumentada en particular. (shrink)

Cet article présente le projet de recherche international « Le monde atlantique comme laboratoire conceptuel . Fondations pour un Dictionnaire historique de la langue politique et sociale dans l'espace ibéro-américain» , qui réunit plus de 60 chercheurs en Europe et en Amérique latine. Son objectif est d'effectuer une étude comparée des concepts politiques de base tels que América/ americanos, constitución, etc. Il analyse les modes de conceptualisation et de traduction/adaptation des vocables d'une même langue d'un pays à l'autre, et les (...) différences qui apparaissent entre les deux grands blocs politico-linguistiques que sont l'Espagne et l'Amérique hispanique d'un côté et le Portugal et le Brésil, de l'autre. L'article s'achève par l'examen du terme d'opinion publique et de ses liens avec les autres concepts du projet.This paper presents the international research project "The Atlantic world as a laboratory concept . Foundations for a Historical Dictionary of language and social policy in the Ibero-American ", which brings together more than 60 researchers in Europe and Latin America. Its objective is to make a comparative study of political concepts such as basic América / americanos, constitución, etc.. It analyzes the modes of conceptualization and translation / adaptation of the words of the same language from one country to another, and differences appear between the two major political blocs that are language-Spain and Hispanic America one side and Portugal and Brazil on the other. The article concludes by examining the terms of public opinion and its relationship with other concepts of the project. (shrink)

After the coup d’état in 2012, the Malian state experienced progressive decomposition in terms of loss of territorial integrity as well as in the functioning of its institutions. Against this backdrop, this article examines life histories of a former student generation whose members were actively involved in the protest movement of 1980. At the time they fought for student rights and democratization under a military junta, but were not able to induce the desired change. Today they portray themselves as committed (...) patriots for whom the state serves as an ongoing point of reference in their identity constructions. Bringing together higher education, protest movement and state decline, I argue that their narratives not only reveal how damaged identities and political visions are narratively repaired, but also, on a symbolic level, their damaged country as well. (shrink)

Despite being considered the proverbial backbone of our healthcare systems, nursing still seems to struggle to scientifically demonstrate its contribution to care experiences and patient outcomes. This leads to erosive tendencies that threaten the development of the profession and its progress as an academic discipline. With this paper, we want to contribute to the theoretical discourse concerning the nature of nursing and the research into its effectiveness. We begin by outlining a set of prevailing paradoxes and their consequences relating to (...) nursing and nursing research: the issue of demonstrating its unique contribution despite a clear societal mandate; a discrepancy between subjectively experienced effectiveness and objectively ascertainable effectiveness; and a mismatch between theoretical premises of nursing and task‐oriented cultures in practice environments. Using an example of a seemingly simple nursing intervention, we intend to demonstrate the qualities and complexities of nursing. We further illustrate this by drawing on several of our research projects using theory‐based evaluation methodologies. From these illustrative examples, we distil two insights relating to nursing interventions that we consider fundamental: the nurse, as a person, is central to its unique effectiveness; and there is always an interplay between context, intervention and its intended effect. We summarise our considerations and argue the case for conceiving research designs in alignment with theoretical premises of nursing. (shrink)

This paper uses the example of payday loans to identify two standards of exploitation that better accord with intuitions about taking unfair advantage than neoclassical or neo-Marxian exploitation theory. These two standards are derived from ongoing policy debates about the regulation of payday loans. The sufficiency standard is more restrictive than relative-advantage theory, but the latter indicates when exceptions to the prohibition on exploitation should be made for the sake of the disadvantaged party.

Across contexts and time, subjects marked by racial difference have expressed public accounts of the multiple injuries of race. From the vantage point of critical race and black theory, this paper sheds light on both the heuristic and critical political values of such accounts. The first part critically reassesses conceptualizations of vulnerability as an ambivalent ontological condition within critical approaches to liberalism. A close reading of Fanon's account of injury in Black Skin, White Masks specifies how race exploits bodily and (...) enunciative vulnerability and materializes subjects into a state of suspension and suspicion. The second part addresses the political promise of accounts of racialized injury. Departing from sceptical readings of “wounded attachment,” critical race and black analyses associate accounts of injury with citational practices that pertain to historically entrenched conventions of resistance to racial and colonial abusive power. Such accounts can be read as misappropriations of race which expand the horizon of the human. (shrink)

Recently, there is increased attention to the integration of moral values into the conception, design, and development of emerging IT. The most reviewed approach for this purpose in ethics and technology so far is Value-Sensitive Design (VSD). This article considers VSD as the prime candidate for implementing normative considerations into design. Its methodology is considered from a conceptual, analytical, normative perspective. The focus here is on the suitability of VSD for integrating moral values into the design of technologies in a (...) way that joins in with an analytical perspective on ethics of technology. Despite its promising character, it turns out that VSD falls short in several respects: (1) VSD does not have a clear methodology for identifying stakeholders, (2) the integration of empirical methods with conceptual research within the methodology of VSD is obscure, (3) VSD runs the risk of committing the naturalistic fallacy when using empirical knowledge for implementing values in design, (4) the concept of values, as well as their realization, is left undetermined and (5) VSD lacks a complimentary or explicit ethical theory for dealing with value trade-offs. For the normative evaluation of a technology, I claim that an explicit and justified ethical starting point or principle is required. Moreover, explicit attention should be given to the value aims and assumptions of a particular design. The criteria of adequacy for such an approach or methodology follow from the evaluation of VSD as the prime candidate for implementing moral values in design. (shrink)

Measurement error is omnipresent in psychological data. However, the vast majority of applications of autoregressive time series analyses in psychology do not take measurement error into account. Disregarding measurement error when it is present in the data results in a bias of the autoregressive parameters. We discuss two models that take measurement error into account: An autoregressive model with a white noise term (AR+WN), and an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model. In a simulation study we compare the parameter recovery performance (...) of these models, and compare this performance for both a Bayesian and frequentist approach. We find that overall, the AR+WN model performs better. Furthermore, we find that for realistic (i.e., small) sample sizes, psychological research would benefit from a Bayesian approach in fitting these models. Finally, we illustrate the effect of disregarding measurement error in an AR(1) model by means of an empirical application on mood data in women. We find that, depending on the person, approximately 30–50% of the total variance was due to measurement error, and that disregarding this measurement error results in a substantial underestimation of the autoregressive parameters. (shrink)

Within the Caribbean literature, the imaginary—a very often defined notion—is presented in a new light by the fictional and theoretic thought of Patrick Chamoiseau. The imaginary dimension can’t remain something abstract and essential full of invariants. Chamoiseau is mistrustful of the mythical imaginary, however he doesn’t put an end to it but he opens a literary space where everything has to be created. In Chamoiseau’s works, the imaginary dimension is of the highest importance in an ideological battle-field where the main (...) character is the Warrior of the imaginary. His ambition is to switch from monolingualism to multilingualism, therefore the French and the Creole languages—we can read in his writing—crystallize the new and always changing definitions of the imaginary. (shrink)

Feminist Interpretations of Action and the Public in Hannah Arendt’s Theory. Arendt’s typology of human activity and her arguments on the precondition of politics allow for a variety in interpretations for contemporary political thought. The feminist reception of Arendt’s work ranges from critical to conciliatory readings that attempt to find the points in which Arendt’s theory might inspire a feminist political project. In this paper I explore the ways in which feminist thought has responded to Arendt’s definition of action, freedom (...) and politics, and whether her theoretical framework can be useful in a feminist rethinking of politics, power and the public realm. (shrink)

In the Preface to the Discourses Machiavelli laments that the greatness of the ancients is “rather admired than imitated” by his contemporaries and expresses the belief that recurring to past examples would be most beneficial to those interested in “ordering republics, maintaining states, governing kingdoms, ordering the military and administering war, judging subjects, and increasing empire” (D I 2.2). Machiavelli is indeed persuaded that the laws governing human nature are unchangeable, and that the ancients can be imitated, since the causes (...) for their actions and the reasons for their choices are the same that determine the conduct of the contemporaries. Thus, an analysis of Titus Livy’s work on the Roman republic might shed light on the weaknesses and strengths of existing governments and encourage men to the emulation of past greatness. More specifically, such an analysis would make clear that the greatness of Rome lied in that both the city and its citizens enjoyed a high level of freedom. In fact, the city had sovereign power over itself and other cities, rather than being ruled by others. Besides, no social group had enough power to overcome the others: people were able to foster their interests by participating in the civic life of the city and by protesting against those public decisions which they found contrary to their interests. But what did this freedom exactly consist in? In other words, does Machiavelli conceive freedom as non-interference, or rather as non-domination, by others? Moreover, does he consider participation and contestation as constitutive of liberty, or rather instrumental to it? In this paper, I will first present Philip Pettit’s account of three alternative conceptions of liberty and indicate which of them might have been endorsed by Machiavelli. I will then consider the issue of contestations and tumults and of their role within the polity. I will argue not only that Machiavelli endorses a republican view of freedom but also that, in contrast to Pettit, he maintains contestations and tumults to be instrumental to freedom, rather than constitutive of it. I will conclude by claiming that Machiavelli’s and Pettit’s different stance on the value of tumults and contestations reflects the kind of freedom as non-domination in which they are interested in. Pettit supports a more democratic form of republicanism, in which not only groups but also individuals must be able to contest given decisions. By contrast, Machiavelli endorses a republicanism in which power must be distributed among different political figures within a polity. Dissensions are seen as a means for one of these figures, i.e. the multitude, to raise its voice when its interests are damaged by public decisions. In Machiavelli’s view, the end to which a state should aim is to be great, for which it needs to be free only at the collective level. Different means might be employed in order to realise this aim. Tumults are just one of them: the one that made Rome a great city, worthy of being imitated. (shrink)

La psychologie historique d’Ignace Meyerson est habituellement présentée comme opposée à l’épistémologie de son oncle Emile Meyerson , fondée sur le « principe d’identité ». Toutefois, dans les écrits d’Ignace conservés dans ses archives personnelles, un certain nombre de notes le révèlent proche du système de son oncle. L’objet de ce texte est d’éclaircir le rapport intellectuel entre l’oncle et le neveu. A la lecture de leur correspondance, entre 1922 et 1933, apparaissent quatre points de discussion. L’interprétation de Lévy-Bruhl, la (...) relation d’Ignace avec le positivisme, les rapports entre la perspective épistémologique d’Emile et le regard psychologique d’Ignace sur le rôle des images dans la pensée, la notion de « transcendance » du réel qui, d’après Emile englobe l’ensemble de leurs discussions antérieures.It has been frequently said that Ignace Meyerson’s historical psychology was opposed to his uncle Emile Meyerson’s « principle of identification » based epistemology. However, when reviewing Ignace’s writings at his personal archives, a number of notes evincing his agreement with his uncle’s system calls the reader’s attention. The aim of this paper is to clarify the complex intellectual relationship between uncle and nephew. For this purpose, we will analyze their « philosophical » correspondence from 1922 to 1933. We can clearly identify four main points of discussion : Lévy-Bruhl’s interpretation, Ignace’s relation to positivism, the relations between Emile’s epistemological perspective and Ignace’s psychological outlook as to the role of images in thought, the notion of « transcendent reality », and according to Emile it encompassed all their previous disputes. (shrink)

Several studies have shown that physical exercise improves behavior and cognitive functioning, reducing the risk of various neurological diseases, protecting the brain from the detrimental effects of aging, facilitating body recovery after injuries, and enhancing self-efficacy and self-esteem. Emotion processing and regulation abilities are also widely acknowledged to be key to success in sports. In this study, we aim to prove that regular participation in sports enhances cognitive and emotional functioning in healthy individuals. A sample of 60 students, divided into (...) sportive and sedentary, were subjected to a neuropsychological tests battery to assess their overall cognitive abilities, verbal and graphic fluency, as well as their emotional awareness skills. Our results showed that sportive students performed better than sedentary ones in all cognitive tasks. Regarding emotional processing abilities, significant differences were found in the TAS-20 total score as well as in the Difficulty Describing Feelings subscale and the Difficulty Identifying Feeling subscale. Lastly, gender differences were found in the External-Oriented Thinking subscale. Overall, our findings evidence that PE has positive effects on cognitive functioning and emotion regulation, suggesting how sports practice can promote mental health and wellbeing. (shrink)

The concept of noncombatant immunity prohibits the intentional targeting of noncombatants. The availability of nonlethal weapons (NLW) may weaken this prohibition, especially since using NLWs against noncombatants may, in some cases, actually save the noncombatants' lives. Given the advancement of NLWs, I argue that their probable appearance on the battlefield demands close scrutiny due to the moral problems associated with their use. In this paper, I examine four distinct cases and determine whether the use of NLWs is morally permissible. While (...) it seems that the reduced harm caused by NLWs makes their use more acceptable, adhering to noncombatant immunity requires more than not killing noncombatants. It also requires that military forces treat noncombatants a certain way. In the cases I present, to use NLWs against noncombatants treats them as combatants and coerces them to do something against their will. While a consequentialist foundation for noncombatant immunity may permit this action, a rights-based concept of noncombatant immunity does not. I contend that only a rights-based concept of noncombatant immunity is viable, and that the availability of NLWs should not significantly alter the prohibitions prescribed by noncombatant immunity. (shrink)

The introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods into Europe has generated considerable controversy. Despite a risk assessment system that is intended to beprecautionary in nature, the decisions thathave been taken have not gathered publicconfidence. Key attributes of a precautionaryappraisal system include humility,completeness, assessing benefits andjustifications, making comparisons, allowingfor public participation, transparency,diversity, and the ``mapping'' of alternativeviews rather than the prescription of singlesolutions. A comparison of the European GMregulatory system with a different (moreprecautionary) approach using a ``multi-criteriamapping'' technique reveals (...) a number ofproblems. These include the narrow framing ofthe established risk assessment system (therebyexcluding many issues of public concern), alack of public involvement in the process, anda failure to include appropriate comparisons ora diversity of options. Recent changes to theEuropean regulatory system only go part of theway to addressing these issues. Furthercontroversy may therefore be expected. However,practical ways of undertaking a morebroad-based precautionary approach are nowavailable (including the multi-criteria mappingmethod). These new approaches to technologyassessment offer a means for decision making toearn greater public confidence in this complexand difficult area. (shrink)

This paper offers a new answer to an old question. Others have argued that exploitation is wrong because it is coercive, or degrading, or fails to protect the vulnerable. But these answers only work for certain cases; counterexamples are easily found. In this paper I identify a different answer to the question by placing exploitation within the larger family of wrongs to which it belongs. Exploitation is one species of wrongful gain, and exploiters always gain at the expense of others (...) by inflicting relative losses on disadvantaged parties. They do harm to their victims, even when their interactions are mutually advantageous, by failing to benefit the disadvantaged party as fairness requires. This failure is the essential wrong in every case of wrongful exploitation. At the end of the paper I assess how wrong this failure is as a way to gain at another's expense. (shrink)

The aim of this work is to contribute to elucidate Wittgenstein’s conception of Judaism. It is generally acknowledged that Otto Weininger’s work influenced the thought of Wittgenstein, but there is no agreement on the content of that influence. Here we argue that it is perceptible not only in the wittgensteinian conception of ethics, geniality, talent, etc., but also in his characterization of Judaism and the way the philosopher uses this idea.

El artículo recorre la obra de Rodolfo Kusch posicionando sus principales propuestas en la construcción de tres enfoques convergentes en su filosofía. El primer enfoque está relacionado con la fenomenología y la cultura. El segundo enfoque se refiere a la influencia de la antropología y el cuestionamiento por el símbolo. El tercer enfoque despliega una aproximación filosófico-política. Estos enfoques permiten introducir tres “horizontes de pregunta” principalmente relacionados con el método, con lo popular y con lo indígena, que son expuestos como (...) asuntos centrales en toda su obra. Estos “horizontes de pregunta” buscan comprender los alcances de la filosofía de Kusch y su contribución al pensamiento filosófico americano. This paper analyses the work of Rodolfo Kusch remarking his main philosophical proposals through three correlated perspectives. The first perspective refers to phenomenology and culture. The second focuses on the influence of anthropology and the problem of symbols. The third posits a political-philosophical approximation. These perspectives operate interdependently as the background for Kusch’s philosophy and allow us to introduce three “questioning horizons” related to the method, the popular and the indigenous as the central issues of his philosophical work. Thus, these “questioning horizons” build a platform to understand Kusch’s philosophy and his contribution to the Latin American philosophy. (shrink)

Con una indagación cualitativa se intenta averiguar si el método de palabras generatrices de Paulo Freire presenta ventajas para la enseñanza-aprendizaje de la lengua escrita castellana en la edad infantil. Se extraen los datos de la experiencia práctica acumulada por profesorado que lo ha aplicado en el segundo ciclo. Cinco maestras aportan informes escritos individuales y dos equipos docentes se constituyen en grupos de discusión. Tras la categorización y análisis de los datos, se concluye que el método tiene muchas ventajas. (...) Entre las ventajas de tipo didáctico cabe resaltar el respeto al protagonismo del alumnado y a su pensamiento sincrético, ser muy motivador, conseguir la comprensión lectora desde el principio, desarrollar simultáneamente las conciencias léxica, silábica y fonológica; enriquecer el vocabulario, fijar una ortografía correcta, integrar todos los ámbitos de conocimiento, y desarrollar la capacidad simbólica y la creatividad. Como ventajas de tipo pedagógico: considerar los efectos de tipo actitudinal que actúan sobre los procesos cognoscitivos, adaptarse a los contextos, permitir al profesorado conocer mejor a su alumnado, propiciar el desarrollo de la dimensión afectivo-emocional, favorecer la socialización por trabajarse siempre en grupo y la ayuda entre iguales, el buen clima de aprendizaje y la colaboración familiar. (shrink)

LA CASA VOLADORA: SOBRE EL HACER POÉTICO EN LA EDUCACIÓN.

The aim of this paper is to show the importance of intercultural competence for identity construction in a globalized world. Pedagogical, as well as methodological approaches are given to show how intercultural competence is implemented by Ethnologie in Schule und Erwachsenenbildung, a Germany-based NGO.

Various Value-Conscious Design frameworks have recently emerged to introduce moral and ethical intelligence into business and technical design contexts, with the goal of proactively influencing the design of technologies to account for moral and ethical values during the conception and design process. Two attempts to insert ethical intelligence into technical design communities to influence the design of technologies in ethical- and value-conscious ways are described, revealing discouraging results. Learning from these failed attempts, the article identifies three key challenges of pragmatic (...) engagement with technical design communities: confronting competing values; identifying the role of the values advocate; and the justification of a value framework. Addressing these challenges must become a priority if one is to be successful in pragmatically engaging with real-world business and design contexts to bring moral and ethical intelligence to bear in the design of emerging information and communication technologies. (shrink)

Next SectionWhilst there has been considerable debate about the fit between moral theory and moral reasoning in everyday life, the way in which moral problems are defined has rarely been questioned. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with 15 general practitioners (GPs) in South Australia to argue that the way in which the bioethics literature defines an ethical dilemma captures only some of the range of lay views about the nature of ethical problems. The bioethics literature has (...) defined ethical dilemmas in terms of conflict and choice between values, beliefs and options for action. While some of the views of some of the GPs in this study about the nature of their ethical dilemmas certainly accorded with this definition, other explanations of the ethical nature of their problems revolved around the publicity associated with the issues they were discussing, concern about their relationships with patients, and anxiety about threats to their integrity and reputation. The variety of views about what makes a problem a moral problem indicates that the moral domain is perhaps wider and richer than mainstream bioethics would generally allow. (shrink)

The critical node detection problem is a central task in computational graph theory due to its large applicability, consisting in deleting $k$ nodes to minimize a certain graph measure. In this article, we propose a new Extremal Optimization-based approach, the Pseudo-Deterministic Noisy Extremal Optimization (PDNEO) algorithm, to solve the Critical Node Detection variant in which the pairwise connectivity is minimized. PDNEO uses an adaptive pseudo-deterministic parameter to switch between random nodes and articulation points during the search, as well as other (...) features, such as noise induction to preserve diversity, greedy search to better exploit the search space and a greater search space exploration mechanism. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real-world networks show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm compared with existing methods. (shrink)

This paper takes a virtuist approach to medical ethics to explore, from an empirical angle, ideas about settled ways of living a good life. Qualitative research methods were used to analyse the ways in which a group of 15 general practitioners articulated notions of good doctoring and the virtues in their work. I argue that the GPs, whose talk is analysed here, defined good general practice in terms of the ideals of accessibility, comprehensiveness, and continuity. They regarded these ideals significant (...) both for the way they dealt with morally problematic situations and for how they conducted their professional lives more generally. In addition, I argue that the GPs who articulated these ideals most clearly were able to, in part, because they shared the experience of working in rural areas. This experience helped them to develop an understanding of the nature of general practice that their urban colleagues were less able to draw on. In that sense, the structural and organisational framework of general practice in rural areas provided the context for their understanding of ideals in general practice. (shrink)

This paper deals with Plato's use ofpoikilosand cognates to describe democracy. It does not argue that Plato'sRepubliccontains empirical analyses of some contemporary event, but supposes that an historical reading of the book is possible and legitimate. Post Peloponnesian War Athenian society experienced profound socio-economic changes. Echoing the aristocratic élite's circumspect anxiety when faced with thenouveaux riches, Plato clearly regards obsessive greediness as one of the root causes of the corruption of any political system. Referring to democracy, the philosopher invents thehimation (...) poikilonor ‘embroidered coat of many colours' metaphor. By materializing the multifaceted concept ofpoikilia, this metaphor gives a single and palpable form to the principaltopoiof anti-democratic rhetoric: thehimation poikilonevokes the motley constitution of the Athenian regime, the tyrant's ostentatious opulence, aped by thedemos turannos, the inconstancy of thedemos, the deceitful character of democracy and, last but not least, its penchant for spectacles. (shrink)