Ante ciertos modelos causales del agente libre inspirados en Tomás de Aquino, resulta interesante atender al modelo causal presentado por Tomás mismo, especialmente en un texto a partir del cual se puede rastrear la exposición de la acción libre como el efecto de los cuatro sentidos causales aristotélicos. Se trata de la cuestión sobre los actos imperados (ST I–II, q. 17); en cuyos primeros cuatro artículos –y en sus textos paralelos– determina que la voluntad es causa agente; la razón práctica, (...) causa ordenadora; y el imperium de ambas (razón y voluntad) se relaciona con el acto imperado como lo formal con lo material. (shrink)

We identify a particular type of causal reasoning ability that we believe is required for the possession of episodic memories, as it is needed to give substance to the distinction between the past and the present. We also argue that the same causal reasoning ability is required for grasping the point that another person's appeal to particular past events can have in conversation. We connect this to claims in developmental psychology that participation in joint reminiscing plays a key role in (...) memory development. (shrink)

As a result of the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic, health professionals are faced with situations they have not previously encountered and are being forced to make difficult ethical decisions. As the first group to experience challenges of caring for patients with coronavirus, Chinese nurses endure heartbreak and face stressful moral dilemmas. In this opinion piece, we examine three related critical questions: Whether society has the right to require health professionals to risk their lives caring for patients; whether health professionals have the (...) right to refuse to care for patients during the coronavirus pandemic; and what obligations there are to protect health professionals? Value of care, community expectations, legal obligations, professional and codes of practice may compel health professionals to put themselves at risks in emergency situations. The bioethical principles of autonomy, justice, beneficence and non‐maleficence, as well as public health ethics, guide nurses to justify their decisions as to whether they are entitled to refuse to treat COVID‐19 patients during the pandemic. We hope that the open discussion would support the international society in addressing similar ethical challenges in their respective situations during this public health crisis. (shrink)

Reduced forms such as the pronoun he provide little information about their intended meaning compared to more elaborate descriptions such as the lead singer of Coldplay. Listeners must therefore use contextual information to recover their meaning. Across languages, there appears to be a trade‐off between the informativity of a form and the prominence of its referent. For example, Italian adults generally interpret informationally empty null pronouns as in the sentence Corre (meaning “He/She/It runs”) as referring to the most prominent referent (...) in the discourse, and more informative overt pronouns (e.g., lui in Lui corre, “He runs”) as referring to less prominent referents. Although children acquiring Italian are known to experience difficulties interpreting pronouns, it is unclear how they acquire this division of pragmatic labor between null and overt subject pronouns, and how this relates to the development of their cognitive capacities. Here we show that cognitive development can account for the general interpretation patterns displayed by Italian‐speaking children and adults. Using experimental studies and computational simulations in a framework modeling bounded‐rational behavior, we argue that null pronoun interpretation is influenced by working memory capacity and thus appears to depend on discourse context, whereas overt pronoun interpretation is influenced by processing speed, suggesting that listeners must reason about the speaker's choices. Our results demonstrate that cognitive capacities may constrain the acquisition of linguistic forms and their meanings in various ways. The novel predictions generated by the computational simulations point out several directions for future research. (shrink)

RESUMENEn un texto presentado por Richard Rorty como homenaje a Gadamer en la celebración de su centenario, el filósofo norteamericano califica la postura gadameriana como nominalista. A partir de esta interpretación del vínculo entre ser y lenguaje, en la obra de Gadamer, nos vamos a ocupar de las objeciones acerca de su contextualismo, relativismo y conservadurismo que podrían plantearse a dicha propuesta y de las posibles respuestas. Este acercamiento reivindica la ontología lingüística apuntada en Verdad y Método y desarrollada en (...) obras posteriores.PALABRAS CLAVENOMINALISMO, GADAMER, SER, LENGUAJEABSTRACTIn a text presented by Richard Rorty as a tribute to Gadamer in the celebration of his centenary, the North American philosopher describes Gadamer´s position as nominalist. Starting from that interpretation of the bond between being and language in Gadamer´s work, we focus on the objections concerning its contextualism, relativism and conservadurism, as well as of the possible answers. This approach vindicates the linguistic ontology pointed in Truth and Method and developed in later works. KEY WORDSNOMINALIM, GADAMER, BEING, LANGUAGE. (shrink)

Dans cet article, je plaide en faveur d’une idée de l’humanité comme communauté d’adhésion enracinée dans la condition ontologique de la pluralité humaine et dans le sentiment d’amour du monde, ou amor mundi. Pour atteindre cet objectif, je m’appuie sur les catégories d’action politique et de monde-en-commun et revendique la proposition arendtienne de construction du monde pour penser notre identité en tant que membres d’une humanité respectant la pluralité. Dans un second temps, je présente la conception kantienne du jugement réfléchissant (...) qui me permet de définir l’humanité comme une communauté d’adhésion liée par le sentiment d’amour pour le monde. (shrink)

Elaboração uma proposta de projeto de tese. Notas destinadas aos doutorandos de Filosofia da Educação Resumo: Neste texto procurarei indicar possibilidades de elaboração de uma proposta configurável como Projeto de Tese, de modo a ser submetida a apreciação de um júri académico e, se aprovada, dar início à investigação. Refuta-se a ideia comum de que uma proposta curta não é suficientemente esclarecedora e representativa do Projeto de Tese, referindo o investimento exigido para alcançar uma versão depurada, clara e cientificamente correta. (...) Não se trata, em contrapartida, de apresentar uma fórmula mágica ou de padronizar exemplos, o que anularia o valor pedagógico e epistemológico do texto. Trata-se, sim, de procurar uma forma razoável capaz de estruturar um plano de estudo em Filosofia da Educação. Neste sentido serão considerados todos os campos constitutivos da Proposta de Projeto de Tese, concluindo-se que a sua elaboração, antecipatória da Tese, corresponde já ao exercício filosófico dotado de valor racional. Seguindo uma linha explicativa-interpretativa, tomam-se para referência textos que contribuem para aproximar o exercício filosófico de uma metodologia académica que sem ignorar a especificidade funciona como regulador comum. Palavras-chave: Pesquisar; Doutoramento; Exercício filosófico. Guide for a thesis project proposal. Some notes aimed at PhD students of Philosophy of Education Abstract: In this text I will try to indicate possibilities of writting a thesis project proposal, in order to be submitted and appreciated by an academic jury. If it passes, the investigation can begin. The common idea that a short proposal is not quite enlightening and representative of the Thesis Project is refuted. It is argued that a short, clear and scientifically correct version is based on an enormous amount of research. There is no magic formula or standard example here. If so, it would nullify the pedagogical and epistemological value of the text. A reasonable way of structuring a study plan in Philosophy of Education is presented here. In this sense, it will be considered topics such as summary, detailed description, objectives, state of art, bibliography and schedule. The conclusion has two points: one, the proposal anticipates the PhD thesis itself; another one, the proposal is a philosophical exercise with a rational value. An explanatory-interpretative line follows as a methodological approach. Although the text does not ignore the specificity of the philosophical exercise, the considerations are common to other areas of knowledge. Keywords: Research; Phd Course; Philosophical exercise. Elaboración de una propuesta de proyecto de tesis. Algunas notas para los estudiantes de doctorado en Filosofía de la Educación Resumen: En este texto intentaré indicar las posibilidades de elaborar una propuesta configurable como Proyecto de Tesis, para ser sometido a la apreciación de un jurado académico y, si se aprueba, comenzar la investigación. La idea común de que una propuesta corta no es lo suficientemente esclarecedora y representativa del Proyecto de Tesis es refutada, refiriéndose a la inversión requerida para lograr una versión purificada, clara y científicamente correcta. Por otro lado, no se trata de presentar una fórmula mágica o estandarizar ejemplos, lo que anularía el valor pedagógico y epistemológico del texto. Se trata de buscar una forma razonable capaz de estructurar un plan de estudios en Filosofía de la Educación. En este sentido, se considerarán todos los campos constitutivos de la Propuesta de Proyecto de Tesis, concluyendo que su preparación, anticipadora de la Tesis, ya corresponde al ejercicio filosófico dotado de valor racional. Siguiendo una línea explicativa-interpretativa, los textos que contribuyen a acercar el ejercicio filosófico a una metodología académica que sin ignorar la especificidad funciona como un regulador común se toman como referencia. Palabras clave: Investigación; Doctorado; Ejercicio filosófico. Data de registro: 11/09/2020 Data de aceite: 29/09/2021. (shrink)

A pergunta pelo ser do homem é a origem da antropologia tanto filosófica quanto pedagógica. Neste horizonte, pode-se resumir a resposta à pergunta dizendo: o ser humano não só é efeito do diálogo, mas humaniza e se humaniza por meio do diálogo. Quando se planeja ambientes orientados a desenvolver as potências anímicas do diálogo em todos, e em cada um dos participantes da cena pedagógica, igualmente se está tanto em meio a uma antropologia pedagógica quanto a uma didática antropológica. Esta (...) foi a tradição que Christoph Wulf, na segunda metade do século XX e no começo do século XXI, sistematizou. Dentro desta corrente de pensamento se enquadra a investigação intitulada Diálogo: condição de formação. Assim, pode-se afirmar que este projeto se baseia na tradição alemã que põe a Bildung no centro, como uma categoria que, ao mesmo tempo, tem uma fundamentação filosófica e alguns efeitos tanto na concepção quanto na ação pedagógica. Palavras-chave: Diálogo. Antropologia pedagógica. Christoph Wulf. Gadamer. (shrink)

Die Arbeit untersucht die Bedeutung der Analogie an der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Ästhetik um 1800. Hierfür analysiert sie ihre mathematischen und rhetorischen Ursprüngen in der Antike und zeichnet davon ausgehend ihre Rückkehr in der M.

Natural deduction systems for classical, intuitionistic and modal logics were deeply investigated by Prawitz [D. Prawitz, Natural Deduction: A Proof-theoretical Study, in: Stockholm Studies in Philosophy, vol. 3, Almqvist and Wiksell, Stockholm, 1965. Reprinted at: Dover Publications, Dover Books on Mathematics, 2006] from a proof-theoretical perspective. Prawitz proved weak normalization for classical logic only for a language without logical or, there exists and with a restricted application of reduction ad absurdum. Reduction steps related to logical or, there exists and classical (...) negation bring about many problems solved only rather recently. For classical S5 modal logic, Prawitz defined a normalizable system, but for a language without logical or, there exists, ◊ and, for a propositional language without ◊, Medeiros [M.da P.N. Medeiros, A new S4 classical modal logic in natural deduction, Journal of Symbolic Logic 71 799–809] presented a normalizable system for classical S4. We can mention many cut-free Gentzen systems for S4, S5 and K45/K45D, some normalizable natural deduction systems for intuitionistic modal logics and one more for full classical S4, but not for full classical S5. Here our focus is on the definition of a classical and normalizable natural deduction system for S5, taking not only □ and ◊ as primitive symbols, but also all connectives and quantifiers, including classical negation, disjunction and the existential quantifier. The normalization procedure is based on the strategy proposed by Massi [C.D.B. Massi, Provas de normalizaçaõ para a lógica clássica, Ph.D. Thesis, Departamento de Filosofia, UNICAMP, Campinas, 1990] and Pereira and Massi [L.C. Pereira, C.D.B. Massi, Normalização para a lógica clássica, in: O que nos faz pensar, Cadernos de Filosofia da PUC-RJ, vol. 2, 1990, pp. 49–53] for first-order classical logic to cope with the combined use of classical negation, disjunction and the existential quantifier. Here we extend such results to deal with □ and ◊ too. The elimination rule for ◊ uses the notions of connection and of essentially modal formulas already proposed by Prawitz for the introduction of □. Beyond weak normalization, we also prove the subformula property for full S5. (shrink)

This volume represents the first which interfaces with astronomy as the fulcrum of the sciences. It gives full expression to the human passion for the skies. Advancing human civilization has unfolded and matured this passion into the comprehensive science of astronomy. Advancing science’s quest for the first principles of existence meets the ontopoietic generative logos of life, the focal point of the New Enlightenment. It presents numerous perspectives illustrating how the interplay between human beings and the celestial realm has informed (...) civilizational trends. Scholars and philosophers debate in physics and biology, the findings of which are opening a more inclusive, wider picture of the universe. The different models of the universal order and of life here presented, all aiming at the first principles of existence—accord with the phenomenology/ontopoiesis of life within the logos-prompted primogenital stream of becoming and action, which points to a future of progressing culture. (shrink)

We analyse Irish managers' perceptions about the degree of wrongness of ten types of unethical conduct. In-person interviews with 348 managing directors of Irish-owned businesses who report their perceptions of the degree of wrongness of ten business ethics problems (the dependent variables) yield the data for our study. Predictors of managers' ratings include the existence of a business code of ethics, perceived frequency of occurrence of the given acts, company size and sector, union membership, Irish business ownership and independence (the (...) independent variables). Results indicate that approximately 75% of those sampled are independent Irish owned businesses but few (only 22% of this sample) have a formal business code. Regression analyses reveal that small firms with a code of ethics predict higher wrongness ratings for managers in regard to the practices of unfair pricing and delayed payments (unethical behavior involving firms) but managers also consider such acts the least wrong overall. Wrongness ratings on the eight remaining unethical acts are explained by the manufacturing sector. However, manufacturing firms in Ireland also have a high percentage of unionised workers indicating that unions influence managerial thinking about social and employee ethics (e.g., discrimination, insider trading). The traditional adversarial Industrial Relations model is useful in noting that unions are important in setting ethical standards for indigenous Irish-owned businesses. Given this reality, management in small, manufacturing firms should work with unions to create a more formal ethics code in order to guard against corruption and to remain competitive in the international marketplace. Those without strong unions might articulate their own organisational values. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine the case that has been made for origin essentialism and find it wanting. I focus on the arguments of Nathan Salmon and Graeme Forbes. Like most origin essentialists, Salmon and Forbes have been concerned to respect the intuition that slight variation in the origin of an artifact or organism is possible. But, I argue, both of their arguments fail to respect this intuition. Salmon's argument depends on a sufficiency principle for cross-world identity, which should be (...) rejected, if - as Salmon concedes - a given artifact might have been originally made from slightly different material. Similarly, Forbes's argument succeeds only if essentially the same argument can be used to establish a claim that - by his own admission - is too strong, namely that no variation, however slight, in an organism's origin is possible. (shrink)

The paper reconstructs Plantinga’s understanding of knowledge as an alternative to the standard conception of knowledge. In the first phase, Plantinga’s work about warrant was taken as a contribution to the discussion about the possibility of a priori knowledge. With his conception of knowledge as warranted belief he wanted to show that also a posteriori belief can have a degree of warrant, and may be considered to be knowledge. The paper concludes that Plantinga points at an alternative to the standard (...) conception of knowledge, but cannot show either that God exists or that the theistic belief is universally basic without lapsing again into one of those self-referential theories that he would in principle reject. (shrink)

The idea that one can 'soak up' someone else's mood or sense the tension in a room is familiar - as in 'negative energy'. This ability to borrow or share states of mind is now pathologized, as the author shows in relation to affective transfer in psychiatric clinics.

Four studies are reported that employed an object location task to assess temporal–causal reasoning. In Experiments 1–3, successfully locating the object required a retrospective consideration of the order in which two events had occurred. In Experiment 1, 5- but not 4-year-olds were successful; 4-year-olds also failed to perform at above-chance levels in modified versions of the task in Experiments 2 and 3. However, in Experiment 4, 3-year-olds were successful when they were able to see the object being placed first in (...) one location and then in the other, rather than having to consider retrospectively the sequence in which two events had happened. The results suggest that reasoning about the causal significance of the temporal order of events may not be fully developed before 5 years. (shrink)

At least in Europe, Plantinga is better known as a philosopher of religion than as an epistemologist. This reconstruction of his work places him in broader contemporary debates on various subjects, from reliabilism to Darwinism in contraposition to creationism. The image of Plantinga that emerges is the very striking one of a thinker who, despite the intention to elaborate an epistemological theory that was declaredly confessional, has produced contributions that are of considerable interest for epistemology as a whole.

A New Route to the Necessity of Origin’, Guy Rohrbaugh and Louis deRossett argue for the Necessity of Origin in a way that they believe avoids use of any kind of transworld constitutional sufficiency principle. In this discussion, we respond that either their arguments do imply a sufficiency principle, or else they entirely fail to establish the Necessity of Origin.

In this post, Teresa Marques discusses her recent article in Journal of Applied Philosophy on whether hate is an essential component of hate speech. [blog post].