The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation is an ideal model for investigating how the neurosteroid 17 beta-estradiol (E2) contributes to the modification of behavior by regulating synaptic activities. We hypothesized that E2 impacts VOR adaptation by affecting cerebellar synaptic plasticity at the parallel fiber–Purkinje cell (PF) synapse. To verify this hypothesis, we investigated the acute effect of blocking E2 synthesis on gain increases and decreases in adaptation of the VOR in male rats using an oral dose (2.5 mg/kg) of the aromatase (...) inhibitor letrozole. We also assessed the effect of letrozole on synaptic plasticity at the PF synapse in vitro, using cerebellar slices from male rats. We found that letrozole acutely impaired both gain increases and decreases adaptation of the VOR without altering basal ocular-motor performance. Moreover, letrozole prevented long-term potentiation at the PF synapse (PF-LTP) without affecting long-term depression (PF-LTD). Thus, in male rats neurosteroid E2 has a relevant impact on VOR adaptation and affects exclusively PF-LTP. These findings suggest that E2 might regulate changes in VOR adaptation by acting locally on cerebellar and extra-cerebellar synaptic plasticity sites. (shrink)

Neurosteroid 17 beta-estradiol (E2) is a steroid synthesized de novo in the nervous system that might influence neuronal activity and behavior. Nevertheless, the impact of E2 on the functioning of those neural systems in which it is slightly synthesized is less questioned. The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) adaptation, may provide an ideal arena for investigating this issue. Indeed, E2 modulates cerebellar parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synaptic plasticity that underlies encoding of VOR adaptation. Moreover, aromatase expression in the cerebellum of adult rodents is (...) maintained at very low levels and localized to Purkinje cells. The significance of age-related maintenance of low levels of aromatase expression in the cerebellum on behavior, however, has yet to be explored. Our aim in this study was to determine whether E2 synthesis exerts an effective and persistent modulation of VOR adaptation in adult male rats. To answer this question, we investigated the acute effect of blocking E2 synthesis on gain increases and decreases in VOR adaptation using an oral dose (2.5 mg/kg) of the aromatase inhibitor Letrozole in peri-pubertal and post-pubertal male rats. We found that Letrozole acutely impaired gain increases and decreases in VOR adaptation without altering basal ocular-motor performance and that these effects were similar in peri-pubertal and post-pubertal rats. Thus, in adult male rats neurosteroid E2 effectively modulates VOR adaptation in both of the periods studied. These findings imply that the adult cerebellum uses E2 synthesis for modulating motor memory formation and suggest that low and extremely localized E2 production may play a role in adaptive phenomena. (shrink)

A critical survey of the main philosophical theories about events and event talk, organized in three main sections: (i) Events and Other Categories (Events vs. Objects; Events vs. Facts; Events vs. Properties; Events vs. Times); (ii) Types of Events (Activities, Accomplishments, Achievements, and States; Static and Dynamic Events; Actions and Bodily Movements; Mental and Physical Events; Negative Events); (iii) Existence, Identity, and Indeterminacy.

The volume describes a virtual tour of the cities in which Franz Brentano and his pupils worked and lived, with a reconstruction of the intellectual climate of their time. After the Introduction, the intellectual life of Wurzburg, Munich, Vienna, Prag, Lvov, Warsaw, Cambridge, Florence and Milan is presented and analyzed. The papers collected in this volume propose several answers to the following question: to what do we refer when we speak of Central European philosophy?. Interpretations of Central European philosophy have (...) developed in at least two broad directions. An interpretation fashionable during the 1970s lumps specific philosophical achievements, especially those of Mach and Wittgenstein, characterized by research into and development of new languages, of new philosophical, scientific and artistic grammars. In this situation, literature was seen as the exploration of meanings moving towards frontiers in which reality and possibility, science and metaphor, meet and merge. On the other hands, the theme of a Central European philosophy, connected with but independent of literature, has recently been given more thorough development. The two outstanding figures to have emerged from this inquiry are those of Bernard Bolzano and Franz Brentano. With reference to Brentano in particular, it is almost as if the collapse of the Empire also erased awareness of the common origin of many diverse components of Central European philosophical and scientific thought. The Polish logical school, logical neopositivism, phenomenology, the Prague school of linguistics, analytic philosophy, Gestalt psychology, the Vienna economics school - as well as a number of individual thinkers - are all movements and groups connected in some manner with Brentano's work and teaching. Although in some respects these are movements still at the centre of interest, the overall effect, the pattern of their common and unifying aspects have been neglected if they have not entirely disappeared. It seems that the unity of this philosophical tradition was lost with the end of the geographical and political unity of the Danubian empire and with the events that accompanied its downfall. After 1918 the centres of that tradition - Vienna, Prague, Lvov, Graz - belonged to different states, and its rich network of exchanges, contacts and relationships was dismantled forever. However, there still remained something of its philosophical style in each individual school; traits which enable us to speak, as the Authors have done in this volume, of Central European philosophy.". (shrink)

A brief introduction to the main philosophical problems and theories about the nature of holes and such-like nothingnesses.

Nonhuman animals are the most prominent alterity with which humans have engaged in interaction and in comparative self-definition. The reference point of nonhuman alterity is central both to the development of humanism and of posthumanism. In the complex and nonlinear interfaces with nonhumans, humans are extensively hybridized in a process that defines their very humanity. Understanding humans as open and interactive animals rather than as closed and autarchic entities is indispensable to the dismantling of humanism and the development of posthuman (...) thought. Nonhuman and human animals host and are hosted by one another in dynamic and emergent relations. (shrink)

An invaluable introduction to the breadth and rigor of Esposito's thought, the book will also welcome readers already familiar with Esposito's characteristic skill in overturning and breaking open the language of politics.

Se intentan poner de manifiesto isomorfismos estructurales en las teorías de Heidegger y Husserl sobre tiempo e historia. En relación con Ser y tiempo, la atención está puesta en la tesis compartida de que la historiografía está arraigada en la historicidad y esta en la temporeidad. Con referencia al curso de 1934 se pone de relieve la convergencia heideggeriana de misión, encargo y trabajo, que remiten al futuro, al pasado y al presente. Se muestran nociones equivalentes en los niveles que (...) Husserl distingue en la historia: protohistoria, historia efectiva e historia racional. Finalmente, en lo que atañe al viraje, se trazan paralelos entre el Ereignis y el presente viviente como instancias últimas de una indagación restrospectiva, entre la temporeidad del Dasein y al tiempo inmanente como resonancias de una dimensión profunda, y en torno de una conexión mutua en el análisis de la historia en términos de desviación, reposición, incorporación y superación, esto es, los momentos que componen la noción de Gewind. (shrink)

Ordinary reasoning about space—we argue—is first and foremost reasoning about things or events located in space. Accordingly, any theory concerned with the construction of a general model of our spatial competence must be grounded on a general account of the sort of entities that may enter into the scope of the theory. Moreover, on the methodological side the emphasis on spatial entities (as opposed to purely geometrical items such as points or regions) calls for a reexamination of the conceptual categories (...) required for this task. Building on material presented in an earlier paper, in this work we offer some examples of what this amounts to, of the difficulties involved, and of the main directions along which spatial theories should be developed so as to combine formal sophistication with some affinity with common sense. (shrink)

Con su filosofía de las formas simbólicas Cassirer reflexiona sobre una infinitud inmanente que ya fue anunciada por el pensamiento kantiano. Los textos kantianos pueden ser leídos en clave simbólica, como sucede sin ir más lejos con su teoría de los postulados relativos a una existencia divina y un alma inmortal. El faktum de la razón, la libertad humana que reconocemos gracias a nuestra conciencia moral, nos permite franquear cualquier límite bajo la convicción de que podemos hacer cuanto nos dicte (...) autónomamente nuestro deber. Somos un animal simbólico cuyo universo ético y cultural nos permite transformar la realidad persiguiendo asintóticamente renovados horizontes utópicos. Como bien dice Cassirer en Hacia una metafísica de las formar simbólicas, es el futuro simbólico del ser humano lo que desborda los límites de su existencia finita. Esa es la razón de que Kant culmine toda su obra con una Metafísica de las costumbres. (shrink)

Over the last decade, neuroeconomic research has attracted increasing attention by economic modellers and methodologists. In this paper, I examine five issues about neuroeconomic modelling and methodology that have recently been subject to considerable controversy. For each issue, I explicate and appraise prominent neuroeconomists' findings, focusing on those that are claimed to directly inform economic theorizing. Moreover, I assess often-made assertions concerning how neuroeconomic research putatively advances the economic modelling of choice. In doing so, I combine review and critical arguments (...) to provide a methodological evaluation of neuroeconomists' contributions. (shrink)

In the recent literature at the interface between economics, biology and neuroscience, several authors argue that by adopting an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of decision making, economists will be able to construct predictively and explanatorily superior models. However, most economists remain quite reluctant to import biological or neural insights into their account of choice behaviour. In this paper, I reconstruct and critique one of the main arguments by means of which economists attempt to vindicate their conservative position. Furthermore, I (...) develop an alternative defense of the thesis that economists justifiably rely on a methodologically distinctive approach to the modelling of choice behaviour. (shrink)

Este artigo constitui-se num exercício de refiguração de uma noção filosófica e literária clássica no âmbito da estética contemporânea, cuja referência é a tragédia Persas, de Ésquilo, a saber, o conceito de hýbris. Este, na figura de Xerxes, manifesta-se em sua soberba ao tentar derrotar os gregos, comandando numeroso exército na batalha de Salamina. Punido pelos deuses por tal desmedida, no êxodo da obra, surge como um imperador derrotado, trajando esfarrapadas vestes reais. Num diálogo com a arte na contemporaneidade, a (...) discussão empreendida pelo artigo é a de refigurar o mencionado conceito como presença potente na manifestação performática criada por Hélio Oiticica: os parangolés. Com esse intuito, este texto está dividido em três movimentos fundamentais: a) a apresentação dos fundamentos clássicos da hýbris, b) a problematização da presença deste conceito na tragédia Persas, de Ésquilo e, finalmente, c) a transmutação por que passa o conceito de hýbris, da perspectiva negativa clássica, presente na tragédia grega, para a estética positiva contemporânea, ostentada nos parangolés de Oiticica. (shrink)

In the present paper I aim to discuss the philosophical foundations of the early correspondence principle, by comparing the conceptual structure underlying the first correspondence principle with the procedure of analogy that Immanuel Kant introduced in the Critique of Judgment from 1790. On such a comparison, I will seek to demonstrate the consistency of the conceptual ratio according to which the correspondence principle is to the classical "concepts" of space and time, as these a priori forms of intuition, in Kant, (...) are related to the separate faculty of pure intuition. As a result, it will turn out that the conceptual structure of the correspondence principle suits to the Kantian doctrine of a separate faculty of pure intuition, which is divided from the faculty of understanding. The aim is to shed new light on the line of reasoning underlying Niels Bohr's analogical thinking in quantum physics. (shrink)

This article tries to point out a source of potential conflict in Charles Taylor’s theoretical perspective. There is an unsolved tension between the historical reconstruction of the genealogy of the modern identity and the theoretical claim that our moral reactions are the basis of an objective assessment of practices. My intention is to analyse this tension at three different levels of discourse: first, Taylor’s position as a liberal non-atomist thinker hinges upon his idea that our moral identity depends on our (...) free determination of our relation to good, which can be pursued only within the experience of a community. Second, this Hegelian trait of his perspective is also present in his meta-ethical theory, in which our moral reactions are said to be both instinctive and culturally mediate. In this case, it is not clear how an individual or a group can transcend this limited perspective, if any appeal to reason is inextricably tied to historical delimitations. Third, the principle that any culture in itself is to be considered equally valuable appears to be disputable in front of the objection that some cultures do violate what seem to be fundamental rights and therefore do not deserve equal consideration and are not to be preserved. (shrink)

Este artículo trata sobre los horizontes de la eficacia histórica y la comprensión en la fenomenología de Husserl. El autor comienza considerando el marco que ofrece el análisis de Gadamer de los tres modos de llegar a un acuerdo con las tradiciones, es decir, la metodología generalizadora, la conciencia histórica singularizadora, y la exposición de la conciencia efectiva de la historia. A continuación pasa a describir cómo Husserl se basa en las ideas de Dilthey, y argumenta que el punto principal (...) de partida se encuentra en el concepto de nexo de eficacia. Por último, se realiza un intento por mostrar el punto de vista de Husserl sobre los tres niveles en el camino hacia la experiencia hermenéutica. Se recuerda que Gadamer se refiere a una línea clara que va desde los conceptos de la síntesis pasiva y la intencionalidad anónima hasta la experiencia hermenéutica. Al examinar lo que está involucrado en los horizontes de la eficacia, los horizontes de comprensión, las tipicidades de acceso, las fusiones de mundos familiares y extraños, y los movimientos en zigzag a lo largo de las tradiciones, el trabajo concluye que Husserl se ha preocupado mucho por la noción de una conciencia expuesta ante la eficacia de la historia. This paper deals with the horizons of historical effectiveness and understanding in Husserl’s phenomenology. The author begins by considering the framework afforded by Gadamer’s analyses of the three modes of coming to terms with traditions, i.e., generalizing methodology, singularizing historical consciousness, and exposure of consciousness to effective-history. He then goes on to outline how Husserl draws on Dilthey’s ideas, and argues that a main point of departure is to be found in the notion of nexus of effectiveness. Finally, an attempt is made to show Husserl’s views on the three levels in the way to hermeneutic experience. It is recalled that Gadamer refers to a clear line that leads from the concepts of pasive synthesis and anonymous intentionality to hermeneutic experience. By examining what is involved in horizons of effectiveness, horizons of understanding, access-typicalities, fusions of homeworlds and alienworlds, and zigzag movements throughout traditions, the paper concludes that Husserl has concerned himself a great deal with the notion of a consciousness exposed to the effectiveness of history. (shrink)

Em seu escrito "A origem da geometria", Husserl trata do horizonte, da história cuja estrutura deve ser investigada metodicamente. "A explicitação do horizonte, que percorremos, não deve permanecer apenas num discurso vago e superficial, mas deve alcançar um tipo de cientificidade". Para captara indole peculiar do horizonte histórico deve-se levar em conta primeiramente o conceito de "pré-darse". Uma dupla interpretação deste conceito permite que Husserl examine a história como possibilidade e a históriacomo efetividade. Isto significa que, através das múltiplas realidades (...) que a história nos oferece sejam condições de possibilidade para que possamos ter um horizonte histórico. Além disso, uma relação com a possibilidade tanto quantocom a efetividade, é possivel traçar duas distinções ulteriores. Assim, pode-se distinguir quatro níveis diferentes da interpretação da história: 1) o nível das condições de possibilidade, isto é, da implicação dos outros, o tempo e o mundo; 2) o nível das condições prévias para a efetivação, isto é, da "protogeratividade", a tradicionalização e a terra; 3) o nível da efetividade da história, isto é, de uma forma de geração, uma tradição e um território e 4) o nível da generatividade espiritual racional, de "uma" tradição e da representação de "um" mundo. O caminho da investigaçãohusserliana segue este escalonamento e clareiacada rúvel segundo três dimensões. De acordo com este esquema tentaremos, nas considerações a seguir, desenvolver a explicitação husserliana do horizonte histórico. (shrink)

Nicolai Hartmann was one of the most prolific and original, yet sober, clear and rigorous, 20th century German philosophers. Hartmann was brought up as a Neo-Kantian, but soon turned his back on Kantianism to become one of the most important proponents of ontological realism. He developed what he calls the “new ontology”, on which relies a systematic opus dealing with all the main areas of philosophy. His work had major influences both in philosophy and in various scientific disciplines. The contributions (...) collected in this volume from an international group of Hartmann scholars and philosophers explore subjects such as Hartmann's philosophical development from Neo-Kantianism to ontological realism, the difference between the way he and Heidegger overcame Neo-Kantianism, his Platonism concerning eternal objects and his interpretation of Plato, his Aristotelianism, his theoretical relation to Wolff's ontology and Meinong's theory of objects, his treatment and use of the aporematic method, his metaphysics, his ethics and theory of values, his philosophy of mind, his philosophy of mathematics, as well as the influence he had on 20th century philosophical anthropology and biology. (shrink)

An enquiry into the notion of responsibility in XXth Century Continental philosophy. The aim is to provide also a theoretical framework for the practical enhancement of individual and social responsibility.

Packaging applied to people is not only a form of self-commodification, but it is a form of self-modification too. In this sense it is a post-human attitude.

Based on the notion of time translation, we develop a formalism to deal with the logic of quantum properties at different times. In our formalism it is possible to enlarge the usual notion of context to include composed properties involving properties at different times. We compare our results with the theory of consistent histories.

Tras situarse como ‘políticamente correcto’ al analizar la globalización, el autor de este ensayo sostiene que los defensores actuales de ésta asemejan la ferocidad y al dogmatismo de los cristianos globalizadores de principios de los años mil. Afirma que la globalización es una tierra de sombras que se posiciona tras un breve auto-engaño de la abundancia estamos despertando de la farra desarrollista. De allí la necesidad de incorporar un marco ecológico en nuestra toma de decisiones económicas y políticas, y una (...) estrategia de lo territorial y local. Esto lo lleva a revisar la agenda del desarrollo y sus desafíos estructurales. Concluye presentando un fundamento ético necesario para cimentar el paradigma de la sustentabilidad. (shrink)