Ferdinand Pöhlmann argues that a sense of one’s own basic abilities to move is a constitutive condition on the ability to perceive the world spatially. This constitutive relation explains why egocentric spatial representation is to be regarded as a kind of self-representation. In arguing for these claims, conceptual as well as empirical questions are discussed and an overview of accounts that take action as a constitutive condition on spatial representation is given. The picture that emerges is linked to the (...) phenomenological (Scheler) as well as to the analytic (Evans) tradition in the Philosophy of Mind.​. (shrink)

We obtain rich measures of the risk preferences of a sample of Vietnamese farmers, and revisit the link between risk preferences and economic well-being. Far from being particularly risk averse, our farmers are on average risk neutral and, thus, more risk tolerant than typical Western subject populations. This generalises recent findings indicating that students in poorer countries are more risk tolerant than students in richer countries to a general population sample. Risk aversion is, furthermore, negatively correlated with income within our (...) sample, but does not correlate with wealth. This also casts doubt on high levels of risk aversion causing failure to adopt new technologies, which we discuss. (shrink)

This study deals with the cognitive, affective, and practical aspects of perspective. Paul Ricœur's analysis of perspective in Fallible man assists the course of this study which will show that plurality in perspectives is inherent in nature and that the natural embeddedness of people in perspectives is characterized by tensions between the legitimacy and illegitimacy, closedness and openness, and fallibility and infallibility of perspectives. The idealized requirements of the expansive language of relations and dialogue will always face these tensions (...) that are naturally built into the ways of humans. (shrink)

This article aims to think about politics and religion as expressions of man-in-the-world and to understand that such expressions contain numerous ways of presenting themselves, which can be modified based on human experiences and the relationships that man establishes throughout your life. It is within this atmosphere of understanding about politics and religion, seen in a broader and more relational way, that we bring the Austrian philosopher, Martin Buber, to subsidize us on this path of reflection on other ways of (...) facing these themes. It is worth mentioning that we do not intend to present Buber as a model or a hero, but as a person who, despite having been educated within an orthodox religious perspective ; that, even though he had lived through three great wars, he did not succumb to the atrocities and did not close himself within the rituals and dogmas of the religion to which he was inserted since he was a child. On the contrary, he faced reality based on its authenticity, opposed the contents of faith transmitted by the religion in which he was raised and did not bow to the adversities imposed by those who thought differently from him. For Buber, human responsibility is linked to the concrete world that surrounds it. And it is here that the notion of religiosity of that philosopher bequeaths us an important learning: we live immersed in contexts that speak to us and that demand an answer; and we have the opportunity, all the time, to dedicate our attention to these contexts and respond to them in the most unique way possible, driven by an ethics of responsibility. From the reflections presented, we can also say that politics and religion, understood as an expression of man-in-the-world, must be seen as the responsibilities of this singular man. With this, we do not want to say that external conditioning does not influence man in the response he gives to the world, but we want to emphasize that the duality of human existence allows man to respond from all your being or just with fragments of it. Keywords: Religion. Politics. Ethic. Responsibility. Martin Buber. (shrink)

Paul Kurtz has been the dominant voice of secular humanism over the past thirty years. This compilation of his work reveals the scope of his thinking on the basic topics of our time and his many and varied contributions to the cause of free thought. It focuses on the central issues that have concerned Kurtz throughout his career: ethics, politics, education, religion, science, and pseudoscience. The chapters are linked by a common theme: the need for a new enlightenment, one (...) committed to the use of rationality and skepticism, but also devoted to realizing the highest values of humanist culture. Many writings included here were first published in magazines and journals long unavailable. Some of the essays have never before been published. They now appear as a coherent whole for the first time. Also included is an extensive bibliography of Kurtz's writings. Toward a New Enlightenment is essential for those who know and admire Paul Kurtz's work. It will also be an important resource for students of philosophy, political science, ethics, and religion. Among the chapters are: "Humanist Ethics: Eating the Forbidden Fruit"; "Relevance of Science to Ethics"; "Democracy without Theology"; "Misuses of Civil Disobedience"; "The Limits of Tolerance"; "Skepticism about the Paranormal: Legitimate and Illegitimate"; "Militant Atheism vs. Freedom of Conscience"; "Promethean Love: Unbound"; "The Case for Euthanasia"; and "The New Inquisition in the Schools.". (shrink)