The experience of owning a body is built upon the integration of exteroceptive, interoceptive, and proprioceptive signals. Recently, it has been suggested that motor signals could be particularly important in producing the feeling of body part ownership. One thus may hypothesize that the strength of this feeling may not be spatially uniform; rather, it could vary as a function of the degree by which different body parts are involved in motor behavior. Given that our dominant hand plays a leading role (...) in our motor behavior, we hypothesized that it could be more strongly associated with one’s self compared to its non-dominant counterpart. To explore whether this possible asymmetry manifests as a stronger implicit association of the right hand (vs left hand) with the self, we administered the Implicit Association Test to a group of 70 healthy individuals. To control whether this asymmetric association is human-body specific, we further tested whether a similar asymmetry characterizes the association between a right (vs left) animal body part with the concept of self, in an independent sample of subjects (N= 70, 140 subjects total). Our results revealed a linear relationship between the magnitude of the implicit association between the right hand with the self and the subject’s handedness. In detail, the strength of this association increased as a function of hand preference. Critically, the handedness score did not predict the association of the right-animal body part with the self. These findings suggest that, in healthy individuals, the dominant and non-dominant hands are differently perceived at an implicit level as belonging to the self. We argue that such asymmetry may stem from the different roles that the two hands play in our adaptive motor behavior. (shrink)

The topic of asymmetry between the semantic and the phono-morphological levels of language emerges very early in Indian technical and speculative reflections as it also does in pre-socratic Greek thought. A well established relation between words and the objects they denote seems to have been presupposed for each analysis of the signification long before its earliest statement. The present paper aims at shedding light on two different patterns of tackling the mentioned problem. The first approach sees asymmetry as an exception (...) to the regular correspondence between language and reality, whereas the second approach considers language in itself as a conceptualisation which does not faithfully represent reality. In the latter case, asymmetry is no longer an exception, but the rule. (shrink)

A partire dagli anni '60, György Lukács intraprende una ricerca volta a recuperare e sviluppare l'ontologia sociale racchiusa negli scritti di Marx nel tentativo di rinnovare la riflessione marxista dopo l'effetto inibitorio provocato dallo Stalinismo. Lo scopo di questo articolo è di indagare la concezione lukácsiana dell'ideologia come funzione sociale, mettendola in relazione con il regime di complessità descritto da Lukács nella sua ultima opera, Ontologia dell'essere sociale. Recuperando il riferimento goethiano implicito nell'idea di lavoro come “fenomeno originario” dell'azione sociale, (...) tenteremo di riconcettualizzare la teoria del rispecchiamento adottata nell'Ontologia al fine di mostrare il ruolo che viene ad assumere l'ideologia all'interno di una società volta alla produzione del futuro. (shrink)

AimUnderstanding interrelations between the factors predicting students’ aggressive behavior is a priority for bullying-prevention programs. Our study explores two possible mechanisms linking school disciplinary structure and students’ aggression. We test students’ moral disengagement and bullying by teachers as mediational pathways from school authoritative discipline to students’ aggressive behavior.MethodsWe used a regionally representative sample of 213 schools that participated in a school climate survey in Kaluga Oblast (a federal subject of Russia) in 2019. The analytical sample contained the anonymous responses of (...) 16,809 students from grades 6–9 (12–15 years old); 51% of the respondents were girls. The analytical procedure consisted of structural equation modeling (SEM), which was implemented in Mplus 8.7.ResultsThe mediation model fit the data well, suggesting that the clarity and fairness of school rules negatively predicted peer aggression, while student moral disengagement and bullying by teachers independently and partially mediated this association.ConclusionWe confirm that authoritative school climate, characterized by a clear and fair disciplinary structure, is associated with a decrease in bullying. Novel result is the evidence for mediating mechanisms and the influence of teachers’ aggression on students’ behavior. Prevention programs designed to increase the fairness and consistency of school rules, eliminate bullying and humiliation from teachers, and decrease students’ moral disengagement may reduce violence and victimization at school. (shrink)

Diotima’s speech in the Symposium, which defines the erotic function as an act of procreation in the beautiful, is generally regarded as the most faithful account of the philosopher’s views on the nature of love. While this definition has received much attention from commentators, few studies pay attention to the literal aspect that is veiled behind the rhetorical effect Plato seeks to install. This neglect is even more striking given that the theory of reproduction that underlies the metaphor contains several (...) ambiguities that are unfamiliar to contemporary biology. In the present paper I propose to read Diotima’s argumentation by focusing on the biological conception of procreation that gives structure to the metaphor. I will focus my analysis on the statement that “the sexual union (synousía) between man and woman is a childbirth (tókos).” I will argue that this sentence not only condenses the general sense of the metaphor of intellectual procreation, but also hints at the embryological conception that underlies the metaphor, and that explains to some extent the ambiguity of the Platonic lexicon considering what the philosopher states in Timaeus 91c. I will also argue that the Symposium’s discourse on conception and childbirth, by effacing the female experience, contributes to the tradition of obliteration of the political transcendence of motherhood that prevails in the civic discourses of the time, and therefore to the reinforcement of the exclusion of women from citizenship and from the political sphere in general. (shrink)

The main aim of this study is to explore the breadth of the inference field and the type of etiopathogenetic contents of symptom explanations provided by the client and therapist in the first two psychotherapy sessions conducted using a systemic approach. Does the therapist use triadic explanations of psychopathology as suggested by her approach? And do clients resort almost exclusively to monadic and dyadic explanations as did the university students in our previous study? What kind of explanations do they propose? (...) The coding system “1 to 3: from the monad to the triad” was applied to the transcripts of 25 individual systemic therapies conducted by the same therapist. This manual allows to code the inference field of symptom explanations according to three categories: monadic, dyadic and triadic. These three broad categories are also used to analyse the etiopathogenetic content of each explanation: traumatic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. Our findings showed that clients and their therapist actually used different inference fields: clients resorted almost exclusively to monadic and dyadic explanations, whereas their therapist included the triadic explanatory level. Moreover, the therapist provided more interpersonal explanations than her clients. Hence, the dissonance between client and therapist about the inference fields¬–a crucial premise of one of the most accepted ideas of therapeutic change according to systemic therapies–is proved, at least among our participants. Thanks to this dissonance, clients and therapists can create a new story, potentially able to change clients’ feelings, without disconfirming their emotions. (shrink)

In pluralistic deliberative settings, where people come from different cultural and social backgrounds, sharing personal experiences and narratives in the first person is often advocated as a preferential means to bridge the informational and motivational gap between members of different social groups. Whatever the epistemic merits of personal storytelling in democratic deliberation may be, the request for transparency and disclosure of people’s private experiences that this practice entails may be objectionable on moral grounds, because it disrespects people as agents who (...) have practical authority over their own lives. Having people disclose their personal stories in public can humiliate them, reify them and abridge their personal liberties. What is worse, these harms are especially likely to be inflicted upon members of marginalised or disadvantaged minorities. For deliberativists, this should be a matter of concern because respect for people as agents is arguably one of the founding principles of democratic deliberation. (shrink)

In chronic schizophrenic patients with both positive and negative symptoms (see Table 1), interhemispheric connections at the high frequency beta2-rhythm are absent during cognitive tasks, in contrast to normal controls, who have many interhemispheric connections at this frequency in the same situation. Connectivity is a fundamental brain feature, evidently greatly promoted by the NMDA system. It is a more reliable measure of brain function than the spectral power of this rhythm.

The objective of this article is to take into account the functioning of representational cognitive tools, and in particular of notations and visualizations in mathematics. In order to explain their functioning, formulas in algebra and logic and diagrams in topology will be presented as case studies and the notion of manipulative imagination as proposed in previous work will be discussed. To better characterize the analysis, the notions of material anchor and representational affordance will be introduced.

Although counterproductive work behaviors can be extremely damaging to organizations and society as a whole, we do not yet fully understand the link between employees’ organizational attachment and their intention to engage in such behaviors. Based on social identity theory, we predicted a negative relationship between organizational identification and counterproductive work behaviors. We also predicted that this relationship would be moderated by ambivalent identification. We explored counterproductive work behaviors toward the organization and other individuals. Study 1, a survey of 198 (...) employees, revealed that employees who identified strongly with their organization reported lower levels of CWB-O, but as predicted, only when ambivalent identification was low. Study 2 involved a manipulation in the form of a scenario presented to 228 U.S. employees, generally replicated the findings of Study 1: the link between organizational identification and CWB-O was stronger for participants in the low ambivalence condition than for those in the high ambivalence condition. The interaction effect of ambivalent and organizational identification on CWB-I was only marginally significant in the second study. These findings provide new evidence for the positive influence of organizational identification under conditions of low ambivalence on counterproductive behaviors toward an organization. (shrink)

From a cognitive-psychological perspective, physical exercise (PE) and sports are an interesting tool for improving people’s cognitive abilities. One field of application for such a tool is decision making (DM) support in chronic patients, cancer patients, and survivors in particular. On the one hand, cancer patients and survivors have to continually take important decisions about their own care (e.g., treatment choice; changes in lifestyle), in collaboration with caregivers and health providers; on the other hand, side effects of treatment may be (...) detrimental to cognitive abilities, such as attention, which make the health DM tasks even more demanding, complex, and emotionally disruptive for patients. Since cancer patients have to engage in healthy activities both for improving their own quality of life and for sustaining the effects of medications, clinical advice to engage in sport and PE is becoming more and more widespread within interventions. However, while sports are usually seen as healthy physical activities, their impact on cognitive abilities is mostly overlooked in the literature. The hypothesis of the present work is that sports could be fully exploited in their potential as focused exercises for cognitive ability training, in the field of cognitive training for chronic patients specifically. Indeed, literature shows that different sports (e.g., individual or team-based) influence and possibly augment cognitive abilities such as focused and divided attention, working memory, and DM under time constraints. Moreover, besides providing training for cognitive abilities, the experience of sports may represent an opportunity to explore, train and sharpen DM abilities directly: we identify five ways in which sport experiences may influence DM processes, and provide indications for future research on the topic. (shrink)

Vivemos nos desdobramentos daquilo que Manuel Castells (2005) nomeou de Sociedade em Rede, em cujo cerne estão as Tecnologias de Informação (TIs). Ele indicou as características-chave do novo cenário que diagnosticou, a saber, são tecnologias que agem sobre a própria informação e que também introduziram a lógica das redes; que promovem a convergência tecnológica e, por conseguinte, um sistema altamente integrado de aparatos técnicos; e que acentuadamente penetram pelos diferentes processos e âmbitos sociais. De lá para cá testemunhamos grandes e (...) rápidos saltos tecnológicos bem como o adensamento das transformações na dinâmica econômico-política organizacional e institucional e na construção das vidas humanas e não-humanas no planeta. Essas mudanças alcançaram não apenas modos informais de aprendizagem, mas também a educação formal. O objetivo desse artigo é discutir aspectos atuais da plataformização educacional presentes na educação básica brasileira, tendo como referência o ensino de Filosofia no Ensino Médio. Para tanto será desenvolvida reflexão sobre a plataformização educacional, fenômeno que diz respeito ao modelo de negócios presente na atual fase do capitalismo e que utiliza as plataformas sustentadas pela IA e também a constante extração de dados de quem transita pelas infovias do ciberespaço; sobre o que nomeamos como Escola do Cansaço, em diálogo com o conceito de Sociedade do Cansaço desenvolvido por Byung Chul Han; e sobre algumas implicações decorrentes que já se fazem presentes na administração do trabalho docente, na realização do trabalho docente e nas relações de ensino-aprendizagem. (shrink)

A pesquisa expõe o instituto Democracia e o exercício da cidadania, nas formas de participação popular, como o observatório social, e a importância deste para a lisura dos procedimentos de licenciamentos urbanos-ambientais, fundado na sustentabilidade. Justifica-se pela necessidade acadêmica de reavivar a democracia e seus objetivos, enfatizando que os observatórios sociais podem ser efetivos na fiscalização da legislação ambiental para garantir direitos socioambientais nas políticas públicas. Elegeu-se o método dedutivo, a técnica bibliográfica. Conclui-se que o exercício da democracia pela cidadania (...) nos observatórios sociais, sob o princípio da sustentabilidade, faz valer a vontade popular na tomada de decisões. (shrink)

Brain activity data prove the existence of qualitatively different structures in the brain. However, the question is whether the human brain acts as linguists assume in their models. The modular architecture of grammar that has been claimed by many linguists raises some empirical questions. One of the main questions is whether the threefold abstract partition of language (into syntactic, phonological, and semantic domains) has distinct neural correlates.

En nuestro trabajo analizamos la propuesta de una norma del gusto por parte de David Hume en el marco de su filosofía escéptica. Nuestra investigación parte de la premisa de que el filósofo no logra consolidar los principios básicos de una Ciencia del Hombre tal como él mismo propone en la Introducción del Tratado de la naturaleza humana y que, por lo tanto, en varios ámbitos del saber no es posible distinguir cuáles son los principios últimos que rigen el entendimiento (...) y la conducta de los seres humanos. La experiencia estética no escapa a esta dificultad. En este sentido, en nuestro estudio indagamos cuál es el objetivo y la finalidad de Hume en los Ensayos morales políticos y literarios al proponer el dictamen de jueces idóneos como guía de las valoraciones estéticas. Nuestra atención está puesta en determinar por qué un pensador escéptico estaría interesado en regular los juicios de gusto. Al mismo tiempo, y a fin de desentrañar en toda su complejidad la propuesta humeana, nos detendremos a examinar los rasgos característicos de la esfera de la sensibilidad teniendo en cuenta sus semejanzas y diferencias con el pensamiento de Hutcheson. (shrink)

The experience of breast cancer and related treatments has notable effects on women's mental health. Among them, the subjective perception of the body or body image is altered. Such alterations deserve to be properly treated because they augment the risk for depression and mood disorders, and impair intimate relationships. A number of studies revealed that focused psychological interventions are effective in reducing BI issues related to breast cancer. However, findings are inconsistent regarding the dimension of such effects. This meta-analysis synthesizes (...) and quantifies the efficacy of psychological interventions for BI in breast cancer patients and survivors. Additionally, since sexual functioning emerged as a relevant aspect in the BI distortions, we explored the efficacy of psychological interventions on sexual functioning related to BI in breast cancer patients and survivors. The literature search for relevant contributions was carried out in March 2020 through the following electronic databases: Scopus, PsycINFO, and ProQUEST. Only articles available in English and that featured psychological interventions for body image in breast cancer patients or survivors with controls were included. Seven articles with 17 dependent effect sizes were selected for this meta-analysis. Variables were grouped into: Body Image and Sexual Functioning Related to the Body Image in breast cancer patients and survivors. The three-level meta-analysis showed a statistically significant effect for Body Image [g = 0.50; 95% CI ; p < 0.05] but no significant results for Sexual Functioning Related to Body Image [g = 0.33; 95% CI ; p = 0.19]. These results suggest that psychological interventions are effective in reducing body image issues but not in reducing sexual functioning issues related to body image in breast cancer patients and survivors. Future review efforts may include gray literature and qualitative studies to better understand body image and sexual functioning issues in breast cancer patients. Also, high-quality studies are needed to inform future meta-analyses. (shrink)

Testemunhamos hoje diferentes consequências decorrentes do modelo de negócios das Big Techs e, por conseguinte, do modo como o trânsito informacional pelas infovias é realizado. Esse último fenômeno é basicamente marcado pelos algoritmos e pelo formato mercadológico, que abrem espaço para a disseminação de conteúdos desinformativos, ou com alto teor da toxicidade das informações circulantes, que têm, por um lado, impactado o campo do ensino de Filosofia e, por outro, provocado o questionamento e também o desenvolvimento de estratégias e recursos (...) que podem ser implementadas para promover o pensamento crítico e a prática responsável entre os e as estudantes. (shrink)

There have been recurrent reports of fragilities in the Brazilian health system, especially in public institutions. In this commentary, I argue that moral distress in nursing in Brazil can still be considered an innovative and important subject of study. I also highlight the relevance of engaging educational institutions in the development of policies about environmental sustainability. It is relevant to continue studying moral distress in nursing and in health care generally in order to contribute to the transformation of reality by (...) confronting the multiple common situations in the work environment that are recognized by many as morally problematic because they infringe upon the rights of people, patients, and health care professionals and are an affront to environmental health. (shrink)

Equal respect for persons is often appealed to as the grounding principle of democratic rule. I argue here that if it needs to account for the specific content of democratic political rights, it must be understood as respect for people as competent political decision-makers. However, the claim that respect is due to people as a response to their actual equal competence leads to a conflation of democratic legitimacy and substantive justice, resting on implausible factual assumptions and making it impossible to (...) advocate the effective equalization of political capabilities. Therefore, I suggest that the principle of equal respect should be decoupled from such a claim and be rephrased as simply prescribing that people be treated or publicly recognized as equally competent. I defend this interpretation against the publicity objection, according to which this take on the principle implies insincerity and therefore cannot serve as a public justification for democratic authority. (shrink)

O advento da sociedade em rede promoveu mudanças significativas na experiência-com-o-mundo. Observa-se nos últimos anos a crescente toxidade no ambiente informacional, marcado tanto pela vivência tóxica da informação que circula legalmente nas redes sociais como por informações que intoxicam os indivíduos e grupos. O objetivo é discutir, em tempos de pós-verdade e da sociedade non-stop, o aspecto tóxico da informação, que ao tornar o ambiente informacional tóxico, adoece indivíduos e também as sociedades democráticas, ao esmaecer a empatia para com os (...) demais e de pôr em risco a própria ideia de democracia e de vida partilhada de modo democrático. A proposta é discutir a intoxicação pela informação não pelo excesso (infoxicação), mas pelo que nomeio informação tóxica, i.e., o aspecto tóxico da informação e de ambiente informacional tóxico tendo como referência os discursos de ódio. Para tanto serão consideradas a desconstrução de experiências de estados democráticos mediante o crescimento da circulação de discursos de ódio e de discursos de ódio fascistas; o crescimento da desinformação; o crescimento da circulação de notícias fraudulentas (Fake news) e de notícias falsas (por exemplo, as não endossadas pelos saberes científicos, como o terraplanismo, a ideia da supremacia branca); os robots e os algoritmos. (shrink)