This paper presents a series of 4 single subject experiments aimed to investigate whether children with autism show more social engagement when interacting with the Nao robot, compared to a human partner in a motor imitation task. The Nao robot imitates gross arm movements of the child in real-time. Different behavioral criteria were analyzed based on the video data of the interaction. The results are mixed and suggest a high variability in reactions to the Nao robot. The results are as (...) follows: For Child2 and Child3, the results indicate no effect of the Nao robot in any of the target variables. Child1 and Child4 showed more eye gaze and smile/laughter in the interaction with the Nao robot compared to the human partner and Child1 showed a higher frequency of motor initiations in the interaction with the Nao robot compared to the baselines, but not with respect to the human-interaction. The robot proved to be a better facilitator of shared attention only for Child1. Keywords: human-robot interaction; assistive robotics; autism. (shrink)

In this article, Adriana Cavarero and Nidesh Lawtoo resume a dialogue on mimetic inclinations in view of furthering a relational, embodied and affective conception of subjectivity that challenges homo erectus from the immanent perspective of homo mimeticus. If a dominant philosophical tradition tends to restrict mimesis to an illusory representation of reality, Plato was the first to know that mimesis also operates as an affective force, or pathos, that dispossesses the subject. While Plato tended to emphasize the pathological implications (...) of mimesis, Cavarero and Lawtoo agree that both mimesis and inclinations go beyond good and evil and can be put to both pathological and democratic use. Picking up a dialogue started during a walk in New York City, Cavarero and Lawtoo, take their shared interests in Joseph Conrad's relating narratives as an occasion to discuss good and bad mimetic inclinations in contemporary politics and ethics. Joined in conclusion by the Gendered Mimesis team (Willow Verkerk, Isabelle Dahms and Giulia Rignano), topics addressed include new fascism, surging democracy, ethical responsibility for vulnerable others, hypermaternity and public happiness in a precarious world. (shrink)

Adriana Novoa and Alex Levine offer here a history and interpretation of the reception of Darwinism in Argentina, illuminating the ways culture shapes ...

In this chapter we will try to show how the introduction of Darwinian evolutionary theory transformed metaphysics, and in particular, the philosophical understanding of the temporality of being. In the interests of brevity, we will focus on two particularly significant aspects of the impact of Darwinism on Latin America. We will consider, first, how the new evolutionary thought transformed past notions of temporality. Second, we will discuss the ways in which the ideas of regression and extinction, viewed as essential components (...) of the evolutionary process, problematized the nature of progress and civilization. We trace these developments in the work of three central figures of Latin American thought: José Martí, José Rodó, and Euclides da Cunha. All three of these men were extraordinarily versatile thinkers, and each has been the subject of voluminous secondary literature. But the first two, unlike some other influential figures—such as, famously, Domingo Sarmiento of Argentina—were hardly self-professed Darwinians. Still, we have chosen to discuss them because of this last fact, and not despite it. As for da Cunha, though he accepted the basic canons of the new evolutionary theory, he remained ambivalent about its application. All three struggled, each in his own way, to come to terms with the Darwinian legacy, and each found his thinking profoundly shaped by this struggle; they offer us three different, unique perspectives on the impact of Darwinism. The magnitude of the new evolutionism can only be understood if we consider the wide range of discussion it triggered in consequence of its profound philosophical impact. (shrink)

In 1942, American Nobel Prize-winning physicist Arthur Compton pointed out that, “Because in this field of cosmic ray studies certain unique advantages are given by their geographical position, this field of physics has been especially emphasized in South America.” This paper seeks to interrogate the making of Latin America's uniqueness with respect to cosmic-ray research through an analysis that considers Compton's geographical argument, but also goes beyond it, referring to the interactions of nature, knowledge, practices, scientific communities, and diplomacy. To (...) begin with, it highlights the place-based strategies and practices associated with cosmic-ray research. Once research in the field at different altitudes demonstrated that cosmic rays traveled from outer space to the Earth surface, their nature was scrutinized by expeditions that covered broad vertical and horizontal expanses. The study of cosmic rays in Latin America displayed the mobilization of that strategy, which reinforced the reliability of certain sites located at high altitudes and close to the geomagnetic equator in projected investigations. Moreover, such analysis of cosmic rays involved research practices in the field, the emergence of (local, regional, or international) research traditions, and the creation of spaces of knowledge at different scales. By centering on the interaction of knowledge and place, this paper shows that an exploration of the “up-and-down journeys” of cosmic-ray research in Latin America expands our understanding of the geographies and practices of 20th-century physics. (shrink)

Relating Narratives is a major new work by the philosopher and feminist thinker Adriana Cavarero. First published in Italian to widespread acclaim, Relating Narratives is a fascinating and challenging new account of the relationship between selfhood and narration. Drawing a diverse array of thinkers from both the philosophical and the literary tradition, from Sophocles and Homer to Hannah Arendt, Karen Blixen, Walter Benjamin and Borges, Adriana Cadarero's theory of the `narratable self' shows how narrative models in philosophy and (...) literature can open new ways of thinking about formation of human identities. By showing how each human being has a unique story that can be told about them, Adriana Cavarero inaugurates an important shift in thinking about subjectivity and identity which relies not upon categorical or discursive norms, but rather seeks to account for `who' each one of us uniquely is. (shrink)

La infamia constituye el modelo ideal de castigo actual, ya que marca el cuerpo real y simbólico de ciertos sujetos, sin ninguna mediación institucional: los individuos y los grupos sociales se arrogan el derecho a imputar, juzgar y castigar. De manera que existen instituciones formales y, además, ciertos colectivos informales que neutralizan, excluyen, matan y encierran real y simbólicamente, ejerciendo un poder para-judicial y para-penal. En palabras más precisas, hay una penalidad que no pasa necesariamente por el poder judicial ni (...) el proceso legal, sino por el tribunal social y psicológico efectuado por algunos agentes de control social informal. La realidad evidencia la absorción progresiva del proceso judicial en el juicio colectivo, sin ninguna garantía ni código distinto a la mirada, el murmullo social y el juicio instantáneo. La sociedad se transforma así en un tribunal permanente que odia, etiqueta y castiga, y cuya inmediatez, espontaneidad y anonimato reaviva la infamia de los viejos sistemas de la penalidad medieval, así como la devastadora marcación totalitaria. (shrink)

The main purpose of this study is the scientific practice of Edgard Roquette-Pinto at the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro during the 1910’s and 1920’s in the XXth Century. The article examines the relationship between laboratory science and nation building. Driven by Physicians-Anthropologists like Edgard Roquette-Pinto among others, the investigations performed at the Anthropology Laboratory there reveal the dynamic of the borders between Laboratory and Field Sciences, and the new biological parameters adopted at that time. The investigative agenda involved (...) plants, animals and human bodies, and it was related to the current Anthropology concept aligned with the debate of Nation construction. The physiological studies amplified the scientific exchange with different institutions, emphasizing cultural exchange between Brazil and Paraguay, and the role played by Edgard Roquette-Pinto there as he inaugurated the Physiological course at Faculty of Medicine at University of Asunción. (shrink)

La paz y la seguridad internacionales no sólo son el resultado de la ausencia de guerras, es decir, no son únicamente el fundamento de la preservación del orden o ausencia de violencia, sino que incluyen también, para ser alcanzadas, aspectos diversos, tales como la seguridad alimentaria. Dentro del abanico de los nuevos riesgos y amenazas a la paz y seguridad internacionales, cada vez más se está teniendo en consideración las repercusiones negativas que tienen las crisis alimentarias y el hambre que (...) sufren en torno a 800 millones de personas en todo el mundo. La preocupación y abordaje de estos temas hizo que por primera vez, el 30 de marzo de 2016, la FAO se dirigiese al Consejo de Seguridad con el objetivo de reafirmar la necesidad de mejorar la seguridad alimentaria como aspecto fundamental para la consolidación de una paz y seguridad internacional sostenibles. (shrink)

Since its origin, the city of Puebla has had representative elements in its public spaces that have survived for a long time, they are ornamental and utilitarian objects which are landmarks of the city. Street furniture is a benchmark of identity too. All elements have legends, they are references that have given identity to streets and avenues. Natural elements also refer to a city’s identity, like trees. But the natural element that defined origin, trace and growth of the city is (...) one of the least visible. In the sixties, the San Francisco River was piped, as a sign of the new modernity, and today it is a boulevard where thousands of cars pass. Thus, bridges and other types of elements that the population still remember, mainly the elderly, have been forgotten. In recent years, some initiatives have emerged to rescue the historical memory of daily life and the revaluation of repre­sentative objects of the city center, such as the Casa Analco Community Museum project, coordinated by the Faculty of Architecture of BUAP in collaboration with residents of the Analco neighborhood. This article discusses both the monuments, their relics, elements of nature that shape the city's identity, as well as the gradual loss of these symbols. (shrink)

What does a truly democratic experience of political action look like today? In this provocative new work, Adriana Cavarero weighs in on contemporary debates about the relationship between democracy, happiness, and dissent. Drawing upon Arendt's understanding of politics as a participatory experience, but also discussing texts by Émile Zola, Elias Canetti, Boris Pasternak, and Roland Barthes, along with engaging Judith Butler, Cavarero proposes a new view of democracy, based not on violence, but rather on the spontaneous experience of a (...) plurality of bodies coming together in public. Expanding upon the themes explored in previous works, Cavarero offers a timely intervention into current thinking about the nature of democracy, suggesting that its emergence thrives on the nonviolent creativity of a widespread, participatory, and relational power that is shared horizontally rather than vertically. From digital democracy to selfies to contemporary protest movements, Cavarero argues that we need to rethink our focus on individual happiness and turn toward rediscovering the joyful emotions of birth through plural interaction. Yes, let us be happy, she urges, but let us do so publicly, politically, together. (shrink)

Words like "terrorism" and "war" no longer encompass the scope of contemporary violence. With this explosive book, Adriana Cavarero, one of the world's most provocative feminist theorists and political philosophers, effectively renders such terms obsolete. She introduces a new word—"horrorism"—to capture the experience of violence. Unlike terror, horrorism is a form of violation grounded in the offense of disfiguration and massacre. Numerous outbursts of violence fall within Cavarero's category of horrorism, especially when the phenomenology of violence is considered from (...) the perspective of the victim rather than that of the warrior. Cavarero locates horrorism in the philosophical, political, literary, and artistic representations of defenseless and vulnerable victims. She considers both terror and horror on the battlefields of the _Iliad_, in the decapitation of Medusa, and in the murder of Medea's children. In the modern arena, she forges a link between horror, extermination, and massacre, especially the Nazi death camps, and revisits the work of Primo Levi, Hannah Arendt's thesis on totalitarianism, and Arendt's debate with Georges Bataille on the estheticization of violence and cruelty. In applying the horroristic paradigm to the current phenomena of suicide bombers, torturers, and hypertechnological warfare, Cavarero integrates Susan Sontag's views on photography and the eroticization of horror, as well as ideas on violence and the state advanced by Thomas Hobbes and Carl Schmitt. Through her searing analysis, Caverero proves that violence against the helpless claims a specific vocabulary, one that has been known for millennia, and not just to the Western tradition. Where common language fails to form a picture of atrocity, horrorism paints a brilliant portrait of its vivid reality. (shrink)

Adriana Ayers studies the evolution of kotex advertising, focusing specifically on the way in which African American women were figured into changing advertisers’ conceptions of womanhood. The article analyzes images featured in various women’s magazines to examine how ideas surrounding menstruation were packaged and sold to women.

For Porphyry, the human being is a compound of soul, its divine and immortal part, which represents the essence of man, and body, its perishable part, that is only the image of the soul, its headquarters and sensitive instrument. Man can achieve happiness only by a spiritual life, according to its nature, a life free of physical needs as much as it is possible. The methods used in this sense imply the weakening of the link between mind and body. In (...) this way the soul of man returns to the sky, meaning the sphere of God, which is its native country. (shrink)

This paper analyses how the Cold War influenced the discourses on basic research and on Science and Technology Policies of some leaders of the Argentine research community. It explores two key intersections to study the Cold War: the first between politics and policies; the second between the global and the regional/national. The basic assumption is that, just as there was no one Cold War, specific regional and national traits lent specific meanings to basic research. In dialogue with the literature on (...) Latin American history of STPs, on Cold War and on the conceptual history of science, the paper identifies three discursive configurations around S&T: the first refers to the semi-peripheral scientific context; the second is associated with the ‘democracy-totalitarianism’ dichotomy, and the third is linked to the ‘development-dependence’ dichotomy. Finally, the paper also traces some connections between these discourses and the institutional models proposed by different key actors of the research community to implement STPs. (shrink)

This essay focuses on anthropomorphism as both a form of hype and fallacy. As a form of hype, anthropomorphism is shown to exaggerate AI capabilities and performance by attributing human-like traits to systems that do not possess them. As a fallacy, anthropomorphism is shown to distort moral judgments about AI, such as those concerning its moral character and status, as well as judgments of responsibility and trust. By focusing on these two dimensions of anthropomorphism in AI, the essay highlights negative (...) ethical consequences of the phenomenon in this field. (shrink)

This essay answers two questions that continue to drive debate in moral and legal philosophy; namely, ‘Is a risk of harm a wrong?’ and ‘Is a risk of harm a harm?’. The essay’s central claim is that to risk harm can be both to wrong and to harm. This stands in contrast to the respective positions of Heidi Hurd and Stephen Perry, whose views represent prominent extremes in this debate about risks. The essay shows that there is at least one (...) category of risks – intentional impositions of risk on unconsenting agents – which can be both wrongful and harmful. The wrongfulness of these risks can be established when, on the balance of reasons, one ought not to impose them. The harmfulness of these risks can be established when the risks are shown to set back legitimate interests. In those cases where risks constitute a denial of the moral status of agents, risks set back agents’ interest in dignity. In these ways, the essay shows that there are instances when a risk can constitute both a wrong and a harm. (shrink)

This essay addresses moral aspects of using carbon offsets for counteracting individuals’ luxury emissions. After introducing and outlining the main topics and terms related to carbon offsetting, this essay answers three objections that have been levied against carbon offsetting: objections from the indulgences analogy, objections from the directness of the duty not to harm, and separateness objections. The essay argues that advocates for offsetting have resources to defend against these criticisms by pointing to particularities of individual emissions’ harmfulness, as well (...) as the preemptive nature of offsetting. The essay then shows that in spite of these defenses there is reason to regard not emitting as a better option because of a host of problems that plague offsetting in its current forms. The essay concludes that offsetting enhances individuals’ options for discharging their duty not to harm, but that standards of justice and efficacy need to be adopted. (shrink)

In her response, Alfaro fleshes out two main questions that come out from her book The Belief in Intuition. First, what is the relation between Henri Bergson and Max Scheler's personalist anthropology, on the one hand, and politics, on the other? What kinds of political order and civic education would sustain dense moral psychology, such as the one she claims follows from their writings? Second, and more specifically, what theory of authority corresponds to the philosophical anthropology that we learn from (...) these authors? How can the “small-scale exemplarity” that Alfaro argues is articulated in their writings be an alternative to how we think today about charisma and emulation in the public sphere? In articulating these responses, Alfaro reflects on phenomena like uncertainty, education, and social media in the contemporary public sphere. (shrink)

A corpus of 60 articles published in Spanish, English, and Portuguese was analyzed to account for the integrative literature review on the concept of vulnerability from bioethics, identifying the following thematic trends: risk, susceptibility, autonomy, and culture in people and communities. The methodological approach has been mainly qualitative. We found that the disciplines that most addressed the concept belong to the human and social sciences. The authors recommend conducting studies of the concept from people’s perspectives and that ethics committees review (...) the informed consent and information guides according to these results. The categories give way to the concept of vulnerability, which must be analyzed beyond principlism in bioethics. (shrink)

La memoria es el principio de la justicia que permite destruir el vínculo entre el poder y la violencia que funda y mantiene el orden del derecho. La justicia de la memoria es, en efecto, una fuerza revolucionaria que anuncia el sufrimiento de los oprimidos, de los vencidos, de los sojuzgados de la historia; es una especie de antihistoria que se rebela ante el poder que somete la vida natural a un estado de excepción permanente; es una justa apelación a (...) la justicia más allá del derecho que permite instaurar un nuevo orden fundado en la vida como potencia y como vida justa. (shrink)

Resumo: O Ensino de Filosofia no Brasil atravessou um longo período de interdição na Educação Básica brasileira para, a partir da LDB de 1996 e dos PCN-EM 1999, ressurgir como necessidade de presença difusa na escola, em abordagem temática e transdisciplinar. Uma década adiante, a Filosofia alcança uma presença ainda mais importante, constituindo-se como disciplina obrigatória do currículo escolar da educação básica a partir de 2008. Em um contexto mais recente, com a BNCC a partir de 2015, a Filosofia segue (...) um caminho difícil entre a transversalidade e a especificidade, ora entendida como disciplina, ora como detentora de um repertório de temas e problemas incontornáveis à educação de crianças e jovens. Este artigo pretende identificar, analisar e problematizar a situação que envolve o Ensino de Filosofia no que tange às abordagens, ora transversais, ora específicas e disciplinares relativamente às últimas três décadas. Decorre desta situação a identificação de três inflexões importantes na trajetória da Filosofia na escola no período aqui destacado. Pretende-se, portanto, conjecturar sobre hipóteses da existência de possíveis avanços ou retrocessos em distintos cenários. Palavras-chave: Ensino de Filosofia; BNCC; PCNs; Filosofia como Disciplina Escolar; Filosofia do Ensino de Filosofia The specificity and transversality of Philosophy Teaching in Brazilian high schools: challenges facing the contemporary scenario and the BNCC Abstract: Philosophy in Brazil went through an extended period of interdiction in High School to, from the LDB 1996 and the PCN-EM 1999 onwards, reappear as a need for a diffused presence in school, in a thematic and transdisciplinary approach. A decade later, Philosophy gains an even more important presence, becoming a mandatory subject in the high school curriculum from 2008 onwards. In an even more recent context, with the BNCC from 2015 on, Philosophy follows a path of difficulty between transversality and specificity, sometimes understood as a discipline, sometimes as having a repertoire of themes and unavoidable problems for the education of children and young people. This article intends to identify, analyze, and problematize the situation involving Philosophy in terms of sometimes transversal, sometimes specific, and disciplinary approaches in relation to the last three decades. Throughout the highlighted period, three inflections can be noted in the trajectory of Philosophy at school. Therefore, it is intended to conjecture about hypotheses of advances or setbacks in different scenarios. Key-words: Philosophy Teaching; BNCC; PCNs; Philosophy as a School Subject; Philosophy of Teaching Philosophy La spécificité et la transversalité de l'enseignement de la philosophie dans les lycées brésiliens: défis face au scénario contemporain, et au BNCC Résumé: La philosophie au Brésil a traversé une longue période d'interdit au lycée pour, à partir des LDB 1996 and PCN-EM 1999, réapparaître comme un besoin de présence diffuse à l'école, dans une approche thématique et transdisciplinaire. Une décennie plus tard, la Philosophie prend une place encore plus importante, devenant une matière obligatoire dans le cursus du lycée à partir de 2008. Dans un contexte encore plus récent, avec le BNCC à partir de 2015, la Philosophie suit un parcours difficile entre transversalité et spécificité, tantôt comprise comme une discipline, tantôt comme ayant un répertoire de thèmes et de problèmes incontournables pour l'éducation des enfants et des jeunes. Cet article se propose d'identifier, d'analyser et de problématiser la situation de la Philosophie en termes d'approches tantôt transversales, tantôt spécifiques et disciplinaires par rapport aux trois dernières décennies. Tout au long de la période mise en évidence, trois inflexions peuvent être notées dans la trajectoire de la Philosophie à l'école. Par conséquent, il est prévu de conjecturer sur des hypothèses d'avancées ou de reculs possibles dans différents scénarios. Mots-clés: Enseignement de la Philosophie; BNCC; PCN; La Philosophie Comme Matière Scolaire; Philosophie de L'enseignement de la Philosophie Data de registro: 23/01/2023 Data de aceite: 20/03/2024. (shrink)

Este artigo tem por objetivo, a partir da retomada da crítica neorrepublicana à ideia de liberdade política de Hannah Arendt, esclarecer o significado da liberdade para a autora e sua contribuição para a retomada do republicanismo, a saber, por uma teoria da liberdade ampla, fundamentada no cultivo das atividades espirituais.

This article discusses the results of an investigation on discourse representation in a corpus of 34 million words constituted by texts in Brazilian Portuguese from two different genres: the research article and the science popularization article. Drawing on a systemic functional grammar perspective of language and pursuing a probabilistic approach, it focuses on the realization of lexicogrammatical systems of direct discourse representation as enacting interpersonal and social relationships. It is argued that the citation practices employed by writers in the genres (...) studied negotiate discursive distance and are influenced by the status culturally and historically ascribed to scientific knowledge. (shrink)

The paper discusses the problem of naturalistic theories of mind-body relation. It displays knotting lines of arguments, which are presented by two influential philosophers: O. Flanagan and C. McGinn. The former author claims that the mind-body problem can easy be resolved by showing that mind and body are two somehow similar concepts. The latter is strongly convinced that because of human epistemic limitations we cant in principle to formulate solution of psychophysical problem. I go on to argue that we can (...) prepare good empirical hypotheses but I see no way to answer the philosophical question: how it is possible that subjective phenomenal states like pain, tickle etc. "are made" from physical staff? (shrink)

Artykuł dotyczy zagadnienia znanego pod nazwą „problemu prostych umysłów” tak, jak klaruje się ono w zestawieniu czterech doniosłych głosów w debacie na temat możliwości przypisywania zwierzętom życia mentalnego bez przypisywania im zdolności do posługiwania się językiem. Głosy te należą do: Donalda Davidsona, Johna McDowella, Petera Carruthersa oraz Jose L. Bermúdeza. Dwaj pierwsi autorzy bronią przekonaniowo-pragnieniowego modelu myślenia, w którym decydującą rolę pełni zdolność do posługiwania się językiem. Dwaj pozostali akceptację modelu przekonaniowo-pragnieniowego łączą z argumentem przeciwko wiązaniu myśli z językiem. Analizując (...) szczegółowo argumenty obu stanowisk przychylam się do rozwiązania proponowanego w ramach podejścia sformułowanego w oparciu o ustalenia Carruthersa i Bermúdeza. (shrink)

This article analyzes how scientific thinking evolved in Argentina during the 1820s and 1830s. I will focus on liberals’ association of science with the emergence of a new male sensibility that feminized the role of men in society. This gendered scientific culture explains how liberals clashed in the 1830s with the policies of the governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, whose hyper masculinist model based on the authority of the father was perceived not only as anti-civilization, but also (...) as anti-science. This association of gender and science helps us to explain how the introduction of Darwinian ideas that seemed to support a more masculinist representation of evolution, now ruled by laws of survival and competition, was perceived as a contradiction of past ideas by the 1870s. (shrink)

At the very beginning of the history of philosophy, with Plato, we are told the strange story of some men dwelling in a cave and looking at shadows. Immobilized by chains since childhood for all their lives, they are forced to sit on the cave's floor and are impeded from standing up. Hence, whoever they are and whatever they do, the label Homo erectus as a general category denoting the vertical posture of the human animal is decidedly unfit for their (...) position. The strange story, however, goes on and recounts how one of them, by managing to get rid of the chains, for the first time rises to his feet. The familiar feature of Homo erectus, intended not as an extinct hominid species but as the postural human standard .. (shrink)

The human voice does not deceive. The one who is speaking is inevitably revealed by the singular sound of her voice, no matter “what” she says. We take this fact for granted—for example, every time someone asks, over the telephone, “Who is speaking?” and receives as a reply the familiar utterance, “It’s me.” Starting from the given uniqueness of every voice, Cavarero rereads the history of philosophy through its peculiar evasion of this embodied uniqueness. She shows how this history—along with (...) the fields it comprehends, such as linguistics, musicology, political theory, and studies in orality—might be grasped as the “devocalization of Logos,” as the invariable privileging of semantike over phone, mind over body. Female figures—from the Sirens to the Muses, from Echo to opera singers—provide a crucial counterhistory, one in which the embodied voice triumphs over the immaterial semantic. Reconstructing this counterhistory, Cavarero proposes a “politics of the voice” wherein the ancient bond between Logos and politics is reconfigured, and wherein what matters is not the communicative content of a given discourse, but rather who is speaking. (shrink)

In On Nature and Language Noam Chomsky develops his thinking on the relation between language, mind and brain, integrating current research in linguistics into the burgeoning field of neuroscience. This 2002 volume begins with a lucid introduction by the editors Adriana Belletti and Luigi Rizzi. This is followed by some of Chomsky's writings on these themes, together with a penetrating interview in which Chomsky provides the clearest and most elegant introduction to current theory available. It should make his Minimalist (...) Program accessible to all. The volume concludes with an essay on the role of intellectuals in society and government. Nature and Language is a significant landmark in the development of linguistic theory. It will be welcomed by students and researchers in theoretical linguistics, neurolinguistics, cognitive science and politics, as well as anyone interested in the development of Chomsky's thought. (shrink)

This paper presents a series of 4 single subject experiments aimed to investigate whether children with autism show more social engagement when interacting with the Nao robot, compared to a human partner in a motor imitation task. The Nao robot imitates gross arm movements of the child in real-time. Different behavioral criteria (i.e. eye gaze, gaze shifting, free initiations and prompted initiations of arm movements, and smile/laughter) were analyzed based on the video data of the interaction. The results are mixed (...) and suggest a high variability in reactions to the Nao robot. The results are as follows: For Child2 and Child3, the results indicate no effect of the Nao robot in any of the target variables. Child1 and Child4 showed more eye gaze and smile/laughter in the interaction with the Nao robot compared to the human partner and Child1 showed a higher frequency of motor initiations in the interaction with the Nao robot compared to the baselines, but not with respect to the human-interaction. The robot proved to be a better facilitator of shared attention only for Child1. Keywords: human-robot interaction; assistive robotics; autism. (shrink)

Reflexionamos acerca del ejercicio de la crítica filosófica llevada adelante por Arturo Andrés Roig, a través del análisis de escritos suyos producidos con posterioridad a 1984, a su regreso del exilio. Focalizamos la atención sobre dos textos en los que el ejercicio crítico se articula entre el análisis del presente y la Historia de las ideas, considerando a esta disciplina también como una forma de crítica filosófica de lo que acontece, en la medida que permite incorporar en la mirada sobre (...) el presente esquemas categoriales legados por la propia tradición de pensamiento. Trabajamos en especial –aunque no exclusivamente– a partir de “Consideraciones para «una filosofía popular de la democracia»” (2002) y “Neoliberalismo y nuestra filosofía” (2011). (shrink)

The coronavirus outbreak has led to abrupt changes in people’s daily lives as many state governments have restricted individuals’ movements in order to slow the spread of the virus. We conducted a natural experiment in the United States of America in April 2020, in which we compare responses from states with “stay-at-home orders” and no such orders. We surveyed 458 participants and examined the effects of these government-imposed restrictions on social, mental, physical, and financial well-being as well as the mediating (...) role of resilience. Structural equation modeling reveals that resilience buffers stay-at-home orders’ potential side-effects on well-being. Specifically, individuals living in states with stay-at-home orders report lower functional well-being than individuals living in states without such orders, which negatively relates to resilience. Resilience in turn is associated with higher social, mental, physical, and financial well-being. Thus, resilience can be seen as an effective means of buffering stay-at-home orders’ potential negative effects on the components of well-being. Our results indicate the central role of resilience, which is crucial in dampening the effects of stay-at-home orders on well-being. Following our results, governments and policymakers should focus their efforts on strengthening individuals’ resilience, which is a key predictor of social, mental, financial, and physical well-being. (shrink)

One of the fundamental properties of human language is movement, where a constituent moves from one position in a sentence to another position. Syntactic theory has long been concerned with properties of movement, including locality restrictions. This work investigates how different movement operations interact with one another, focussing on the special case of smuggling. The contributions in this volume each describe different areas where smuggling derivations play a role, including passives, causatives, adverb placement, the dative alternation, the placement of measure (...) phrases, wh-in-situ and word order in ergative languages. Other issues addressed in the volume include the freezing constraint on movement and the acquisition of smuggling derivations by children. (shrink)