Purpose As part of an international study of knowledge of and attitudes to Snowden’s revelations about the activities of the National Security Agency/Government Communications Headquarters, this paper aims to deal with Mexico, taking its socio-cultural and political environment surrounding privacy and state surveillance into account. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was answered by 160 Mexican University students. The quantitative responses to the survey were statistically analysed as well as qualitative considerations of free text answers. Findings Snowden’s revelations have had a limited influence (...) over Mexican youngsters’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance, although there is a great awareness by Mexican young people of individual rights issues. Practical implications The study results imply a need to build a collective awareness of the importance of the right to privacy and its responsibilities, the available technological options for individuals to exert their own privacy and security and the democratic means to agree and enforce appropriate legal restrictions on state surveillance. Social implications The results of this study based indicate an urgent necessity for providing Mexican youngsters with opportunities to learn more about privacy, liberty, individual autonomy and national security. Originality/value This study is the first attempt to investigate the social impact of Snowden’s revelations on Mexican students’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance as part of cross-cultural analyses between eight countries. (shrink)

A mais recente biografia do imperador D. Pedro I do Brasil e rei D. Pedro IV de Por­tugal começa por ser uma obra de divulgação, destinada a um público alargado de leitores inte­ressados e informados, mas não especialistas – é esse o espírito da colecção Perfis Brasileiros, da editora Companhia das Letras, em que se integra. Contudo, é, mais do que isso, um trabalho que abre as portas a uma nova maneira de ver, pelo menos do ponto de (...) vista da historiografia deste lado do Atlântico, a figura d... (shrink)

«Així doncs, qualsevol activitat que emprenem, la nostra acció més quotidiana, ens demana un esforç de la voluntat. En la consagració de les nostres forces a véncer totes les dificultats que se’ns presenten a diari ens determinen a nosaltres mateixos. Solament hem de vigilar de no cedir en el nostre afany de superació. Perquè si el treball que tenim per davant al llarg d’una existència el deixàvem de colp algun dia per algun motiu sobtat, això seria com una mort en (...) vida, com una rendició. Però no podem renunciar a ser nosaltres mateixos, sinó que ens hem de guanyar pas a pas, dia a dia». (shrink)

This essay explores human collective intelligence as the creative force shaping our lives. By collective I mean that intelligence lies in its interaction, in relationship. Intelligence is beyond the individual or the collective. I focus on one of its two levels: the intelligence of need, which centres on fulfilling humanity’s needs and interests and is crucial to economic processes. Business are central to the current way of living, hence, from its good working depends human wellbeing With the rapid growth of (...) human populations and nature’s limited resources, we must cultivate a frugal intelligence of need that moves away from viewing economic growth as synonymous with prosperity. As Socrates said: “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” My goal is to show that the effective operation of the intelligence of need for everyone’s benefit requires it to work in harmony with a foundational yet often overlooked intelligence, which I call the intelligence of freedom, or liberating intelligence. The reforms of the intelligence of need, in particular of the economy, usually proposed are insufficient to ensure wellbeing for all. We need the awakening of the liberating intelligence, the intelligence of freedom, beauty and love, on which I will insist along this essay. (shrink)

Berkeley’s general tenet about immaterialism is presented and discussed. I examined apart the several theses that concur to the immaterialist theory. After that, the general argument is presented and discussed. In particular, I stress Berkeley’s assumption that a world without matter and a world with matter would be indistinguishable from the point of view of the content of perceptions, natural science. I stress that this assumption depends on a relative account of circular motion, generating the centrifugal forces, as Newton shows (...) in his bucket experiment. In spite of the efforts by Leibniz and Huygens, such a relative account of rotational motion was never presented. So the thesis about the scientific and perceptual identity between worlds with and without matter remains a simple case of wishful thinking in need for a justification. (shrink)

This article argues that curriculum work can benefit from signifiers of Bildung to promote democracy in public education. The argument is built on the premise that cultural and intellectual traditions that value Bildung presume a link between the inner cultivation of the individual and the development of better societies (Horlacher 2017). I start by presenting Mouffe’s (2000) democratic paradox and how pluralism is the defining feature of liberal democracies. Based on how curriculum work is a standard of public education (Hopmann (...) 1999), I state that the curriculum must formalise pluralism in education and convey the democratic paradox in educational terms. With reference to Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory, I then argue that such a laborious task can be achieved in the curriculum with the aid of signifiers of Bildung. Signifiers of Bildung are discursively empty and cannot acquire a definite meaning. Because of this, they make it possible to speak of the student and the society of liberal democracies while impeding a too narrow comprehension of what they are and ought to be. Therefore, to implement signifiers of Bildung in the curriculum can help establish both a standard of public education and limits to popular sovereignty. However, their use must undergo careful scrutiny, and teachers must remain free to interpret them. (shrink)

I refer to the social embodiment of creative intelligence as creative democracies. Today’s world pose great challenges and serious threats to human life and cannot be faced by just having new ideas or more knowledge and thoughts. Today’s world requires the power to face the unknown, a key feature of intelligence. Hence the urgent need of societies to mutate into creative democracies. We need to begin with a strong base. We need an understanding and development of human life from its (...) foundations and the simplicity of its origin in the creative freedom of reality and its intra-active intelligence, the power of all humans in our global world to meet and share meaning and interests. This essaysuccinctly highlights their foundations, prefaced by three cautionary reflections. (shrink)

I argue that the opening line of the _Phaedrus_ proleptically encapsulates the major themes of the dialogue and that paying attention to the opening line enables us to strengthen the identification of psychagogy as the key unifying thread of the whole dialogue. In particular, I argue that the opening line foreshadows the quarrel between Lysias and Socrates over the practical guidance of Phaedrus’ soul; the prominence of friendship in the philosophical form of life; the pertinence of Socrates’ one-on-one, custom-built speeches, (...) vis-à-vis the later conceptualization of rhetoric; the definition of the soul as a source of never-ending movement; as well as the origin (_arché_) and destiny (_télos_) of human souls, following the lines of the Palinode. (shrink)

What is health? What is it to be healthy? Our first answer must inevitably be the answer of St. Augustine, when confronted with the theoretical problem of time: “If no one asks me, I know the answer; if I want to explain it to the one who asks me, I do not know it.” In both cases the first sensation of one who aspires to theorizing is that of perplexity. I think, therefore, that this initial perplexity has its source in (...) two principal reasons, capable of reduction to these two assertions: first, the idea of health has a complex structure, and, second, the idea of health has a variable structure. Without a thorough study of this complexity and this variability, the construction of the medical anthropology that our historical level requires would not be possible. We will try to point out the fundamental lines of both. (shrink)

In this paper I assess the adequacy of no-conspiracy conditions employed in the usual derivations of the Bell inequality in the context of EPR correlations. First, I look at the EPR correlations from a purely phenomenological point of view and claim that common cause explanations of these cannot be ruled out. I argue that an appropriate common cause explanation requires that no-conspiracy conditions are re-interpreted as mere common cause-measurement independence conditions. In the right circumstances then, violations of measurement independence need (...) not entail any kind of conspiracy (nor backwards in time causation). To the contrary, if measurement operations in the EPR context are taken to be causally relevant in a specific way to the experiment outcomes, their explicit causal role provides the grounds for a common cause explanation of the corresponding correlations. (shrink)

En este trabajo se analiza la cuestión de la ontología y metafísica de las normas jurídicas, i.e., qué tipo de entidades son las normas jurídicas y cómo estas entidades adquieren existencia. Con respecto a la primera pregunta, se rechazan las posiciones que sostienen que las normas jurídicas sean: (i) entidades abstractas e independientes de otras entidades, o (ii) entidades concretas y dependientes de otras entidades. En cambio, se defiende que las normas jurídicas son entidades abstractas y dependientes de otras entidades. (...) En cuanto a la segunda pregunta, se rechazan las posiciones que sostienen que dicha relación de dependencia sea correctamente explicada por (i) la noción de causalidad o (ii) por la noción de superveniencia. En cambio, se defiende que esta relación de dependencia es correctamente explicada por una noción liberal de fundamentación (grounding). (shrink)

v. 1. Estética, fenomenología y hermenéutica -- v. 2. Filosofía de la ciencia, filosofía del lenguaje y filosofía de la psiquiatría -- v. 3. Ética y filosofía política, filosofía de la religión e historia de la filosofía.

Abstract:In one of his last interviews before his passing, Jean-Luc Nancy talks about his own engagement with and eventual departure from Heidegger's work.

In this work I analyze the phenomenon of political polarization on the internet. I argue that the approach centered on the filter bubble and echo chambers has shortcomings. To solve them, I propose the concept of artificial polarization. This concept refers to the process by which the expressive uses of communication, such as flaming or moral grandstanding, provoke fictitious forms of polarization. Recognizing the artificial polarization will allow a better understanding of the polarization processes in the network and their effects (...) on the democratic debate. (shrink)

This paper argues that satire constitutes a particularly effective strategy for feminist philosophy through an analysis of Simone de Beauvoir’s account of motherhood. Feminists have grappled at length with how to interpret Beauvoir’s focus on the unpleasantness of pregnancy and challenges of motherhood. In this paper, I suggest a new interpretive strategy. My view is that Beauvoir’s disparaging depiction of motherhood cannot be read by the letter; rather, it is an exercise in satire. By overemphasizing its strangeness and difficulty, Beauvoir (...) dethrones motherhood as the pinnacle of feminine existence, transforming it from women’s only possible destiny into a contingent feature of existence. My underlying contention here is that such feminist satirizing speaks to the aims of feminist philosophy more generally: the satirical subversion of our buried assumptions opens the possibility of imagining the world anew. (shrink)

In Older Adults (OAs), Electroencephalogram (EEG) slowing in frontal lobes and a diminished muscle atonia during Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM) have each been effective tracers of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), but this relationship remains to be explored by non-linear analysis. Likewise, data provided by EEG, EMG (Electromyogram) and EOG (Electrooculogram)—the three required sleep indicators—during the transition from REM to Non-REM (NREM) sleep have not been related jointly to MCI. Therefore, the main aim of the study was to explore, with (...) results for Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) and multichannel DFA (mDFA), the Color of Noise (CN) at the NREM to REM transition in OAs with MCI vs. subjects with good performances. The comparisons for the transition from NREM to REM were made for each group at each cerebral area, taking bilateral derivations to evaluate interhemispheric coupling and anteroposterior and posterior networks. In addition, stationarity analysis was carried out to explore if the three markers distinguished between the groups. Neuropsi and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were administered, as well as other geriatric tests. One night polysomnography was applied to 6 OAs with MCI (68.1 ± 3) and to 7 subjects without it (CTRL) (64.5 ± 9), and pre-REM and REM epochs were analyzed for each subject. Lower scores for attention, memory and executive funcions and a greater index of arousals during sleep were found for the MCI group. Results confirmed that EOGs constituted significant markers of MCI, increasing the CN for the MCI group in REM sleep. The CN of the EEG from the pre-REM to REM was higher for the MCI group vs. the opposite for the CTRL group at frontotemporal areas. Frontopolar interhemispheric scaling values also followed this trend as well as right anteroposterior networks. EMG Hurst values for both groups were lower than those for EEG and EOG. Stationarity analyses showed differences between stages in frontal areas and right and left EOGs for both groups. These results may demonstrate the breakdown of fractality of areas especially involved in executive functioning and the way weak stationarity analyses may help to distinguish between sleep stages in OAs. (shrink)

This article deals with the conscious and unconscious dimensions of mental life. I distinguish the transitive sense of consciousness, being conscious of something, intentionality, from the adjectival or adverbial sense, being conscious or consciously directed towards something. I show that an intentional act can be conscious or unconscious in the second sense and argue that, from this position, we can ask good questions about what consciousness is and its function in mental life. To achieve this result, I begin by framing (...) the topic in the tradition of psychology before Husserl, namely Lipps, and Brentano, and then describe the unconscious dimension from the conceptual apparatus of phenomenology. (shrink)

In this paper, I argue that the transcendental idealism of Husserl’s phenomenology is compatible with a metaphysical realism. I not only develop an argument regarding the consistency between both philosophical stances, but I argue that this was Husserl’s own thesis. As a consequence, I support my interpretation on a hermeneutic of some of the most important texts by Husserl himself, where he deals directly with the issue.

In this paper I address some philosophical questions regarding the impact quantum mechanics has in the classical conceptions about reality and knowledge. I stress that onto-gnosiological realism still is an option to the issues regarding the relationship between knowledge and reality. Rejecting some radical aspects of Copenhagen interpretation of quantum formalism, I emphasize the advantages of de Broglie’s realistic and causal model. To finish with, I discuss the limits of the Cartesian concept of matter and the split between matter and (...) mind. (shrink)

This paper takes a phenomenological perspective regarding the difficulties encountered in daily life by man in prehistory. I argue that the economics of beingnecessarily establishes man as a being that must make choices. Of these, man must eventually arrive at the realization that higher, rather than lower choices will safeguard human survival, well being and allow for prosperity. The economics of being is a form of identifying economic choice-making as a natural disposition of man’s. It is the latter condition that (...) makes man act in the world. However, even though man must act, action cannot be blind. Instead, human action is motivated and guided by man’s sense of interiority. That is, man’s existential capacity for self-reflection is also what can deliver us to autonomous rule. This form of reflective choice-making is a creative act. The paper attempts to trace this aspect of the human condition back to prehistory, in order to demonstrate that societies, institutions, invention, technology, artistic creation and economic responsibility come about as the result of human industriousness. None of the aforementioned are creations of modern man. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this paper, I intend to offer an evolutionary interpretation of the concept of sympathy in Hume’s ethical theory based on the general tenets of contemporary evolutionary ethical theory. By presenting the conceptual frameworks that make up these theories, my argument involves specifying that, for both of them, the psychological mechanism of sympathy seems to figure as an essential evolutionary trait of moral and altruistic behavior in the human species. In the context of evolutionary biology, two evolutionary models have (...) been developed to explain the logic of human altruistic behavior: i) kin selection and ii) multilevel selection. I argue, based on textual evidence in Hume’s work, that the psychological mechanism of sympathy seems to be best explained by the multilevel selection model. I conclude, then, by highlighting some important contributions that this evolutionary interpretation can make to the general plausibility of Hume’s ethical theory. (shrink)

Resumo: O ensaio a seguir tematiza o livro Viagem à Itália, no qual J. W. Goethe relata o período passado em território italiano, nos anos de 1786 e 1787. Procuro contextualizar essa viagem na vida e na carreira do escritor, servindo-me, para isso, especialmente de um texto sobre ele escrito por Walter Benjamin. Comento as observações de Goethe sobre a natureza, ligadas a suas pesquisas científicas, mas meu principal interesse são as observações sobre a arte e sobre a Antiguidade. Nestas, (...) identifico não só a importante influência do historiador da arte J. J. Winckelmann, como também a orientação para o classicismo, algo que marcaria a produção artística de Goethe a partir daquele período passado em território italiano.: The following paper discusses the book Italian Journey, in which J. W. Goethe described his travels in Italian territory in the years 1786 and 1787. I try to contextualize this journey within the writer’s life and career, referring especially to a text by Walter Benjamin. I comment on Goethe’s remarks on nature, which are linked to his scientific researches, but my main interest is in his remarks on art and classical antiquity. In these remarks, I recognize the important influence of the art historian J. J. Winckelmann and also a tendency toward classicism, something which defined Goethe’s artistic production from the time of his Italian travels onward. (shrink)

Based on the concept of intentionality, I argue for an integrative view of mental life as a higher function of the living organism, beyond the classical oppositions and dualisms between mind and body. Next, I claim in thesis that Phenomenology has never truly isolated and addressed the problem of consciousness, given the persistent confusion between it and intentionality. Similarly, I also isolate attention from consciousness and argue, based on experience, for the existence of both conscious and unconscious mental processes. In (...) the third section, I attempt a phenomenological description of consciousness as such, showing its high impact on mental life. Finally, some remarks are made about the difference between the concept of consciousness I propose and the classical analyses on qualia and sentience. (shrink)

RESUMO No Livro I, parte IV, do "Tratado da natureza humana", Hume desenvolve aquilo que vamos chamar de lógica da ficção. Não se trata de um simples erro da imaginação enquanto fantasia, mas de uma propensão a criar ideias, entidades e objetos a partir das percepções presentes na mente. O que resulta daí é um sentido rico e novo de ficção que permite a Hume desenvolver uma história natural da filosofia, descrevendo a gênese inevitável de conceitos metafísicos. Partindo de uma (...) inspiração kantiana, iremos abordar esse tema ressaltando as semelhanças e diferenças entre as ficções naturais e a ilusão transcendental. ABSTRACT In Book I, part IV, of the "Treatise of Human Nature", Hume develops what we will call logic of fiction. It is not the case of a mere error of imagination as fancy, but a tendency to feign ideas, entities and objects from the perceptions in the mind. The result is a rich and new sense of fiction that allows Hume to establish a natural history of Philosophy, describing the unavoidable genesis of metaphysical concepts. From a Kantian point of view, we will approach this subject by highlighting the similarities as well as the differences between the natural fictions and the transcendental illusion. (shrink)

The issue of method is an area of disagreement and contention between two different perspectives of contemporary pragmatism: linguistic neopragmatism and pragmatism of classical tendency focused on experience. Though the debate within contemporary pragmatism is wider and the context should be considered, I think that the issue of method can be addressed separately. First, the article introduces John Dewey’s idea of “experience as method” and considers Richard Rorty’s argument in favor of “pragmatism without method”. I argue that the “experimental” pragmatist (...) perspective of inquiry can successfully answer to the criticism of the latter. Secondly, the article presents the proposal of pragmatist methodology in line with Dewey’s perspective -though I suggest that it is compatible with Rorty’s neopragmatism. I argue that this proposal might be better understood as a metaphilosophical one, that is, about what is the purpose of and how to undertake philosophical inquiry. (shrink)

Este estudo discute a questão do fim da arte com base nas reflexões críticas de Clement Greenberg e na posterior apropriação dessas reflexões por Arthur Danto. Em primeiro lugar, pretendo mostrar como a visão negativa de Greenberg acerca da arte produzida a partir dos anos 1960 implica o tema do fim da arte. Em segundo, pretendo expor a tarefa assumida por Danto a partir de sua avaliação dos diagnósticos e da teoria de Greenberg. This paper addresses the question of the (...) end of art based on the critical reflections of Clement Greenberg and the subsequent appropriation of these reflections by Arthur Danto. Firstly, I intend to show how the negative view of Greenberg about art produced from the 60's implies the issue of the end of art. Secondly, I intend to expose the task taken up by Danto based on his debate with Greenberg's theory. (shrink)

The present study analyses the relationship between human beings, society and nature from the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; European thinker inserted in a vast political-anthropological tradition that seeks to understand human existence, both in its essential and relational dimensions. In this sense, Rousseau highlights a contradiction: technical and cultural development, although necessary, can also lead to the degradation of nature and the human essence. Works such as Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, Discourse on the Origin and Foundation of Inequality (...) and Reveries of a Solitary Stroller were chosen, precisely because they allow us to examine the consequences of human alienation about its relationship with the world, also demonstrating the search for harmony as the ultimate horizon of satisfaction. A critical position in the face of social relations and the need for esteem and recognition from others. In Reveries, for example, Rousseau reflects on happiness and the relationship with nature, which, if preserved, enables a refuge from social pressures and an encounter with the true “I”. It is a criticism of itself-love (amour-propre) like the search for possessions and honours; aspects that distance humanity from self-love (amour de soi) and pity for others. (shrink)

AUTORES Agnaldo Cuoco Portugal | Aires Almeida | António Zilhão | Célia Teixeira | Desidério Murcho | Iñigo González Ricoy | João Cardoso Rosas | Manuel García-Carpintero | Mathias Thaler | Pedro Galvão | Ricardo Santos | Sara Bizarro | Sofia Miguens | Susana Cadilha | Teresa Marques Sobre os autores Os autores deste livro partilharam o objetivo de conceber um guia de estudo para a Filosofia estruturado tematicamente – i.e. em função de questões, perspectivas e argumentos, sem qualquer (...) preocupação primariamente histórica. Nos onze capítulos que compõem o presente volume, encontramos assim um mapa conceptual da Filosofia que cobre não só as suas disciplinas principais, mas também muitas das suas áreas mais especializadas. Cada capítulo é autónomo, pode ser compreendido sem se recorrer a outros capítulos. O desafio que todos os autores enfrentaram foi o de apresentar uma determinada disciplina filosófica com clareza, rigor e concisão – três características difíceis de conciliar, sobretudo quando se aspira ainda a uma grande abrangência temática. No final de cada capítulo, o leitor poderá encontrar informação bibliográfica actualizada e apropriada para aprofundar o seu estudo. (shrink)

The aim of this work is to contribute to the meta-theoretical and methodological discussions that are taking place in the context of the political turn of animal ethics. More precisely, it seeks to answer Robert Garner’s objection to the idea that Rawlsian constructivism is an interesting framework to develop animal political theory. I sustain, specifically, that his critiques are based on an inadequate understanding of constructivism and its relationship to contractual arguments. By elucidating the true nature of this position, the (...) objection loses all of its strength. (shrink)

In this paper I try to show how transcendental logic can be interpreted in light of the distinction between apophantics and formal ontology. Despite the non-Kantian origin of these concepts, my contention is that they can reveal the scope of Kant’s argument regarding the distinction between formal and transcendental logic and the thesis that transcendental logic has a pure a priori content. While common approaches interpret this a priori content of transcendental logic as the content pure forms of aesthetics give, (...) we stress that this content is the a priori concepts of object which are embedded in the logical form of judgments. (shrink)

In this article I analyze the academic reception of Jonathan Haidt’s seminal article _The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment_. My thesis is that in the spheres of philosophy and psychology, this article was initially studied within the neurocentric paradigm, which dominated the field of scientific reflection in the fifteen years following its publication. This neurocentric reading established a specific interpretation of the text with several limitations. However, more recently a digital paradigm has (...) emerged and come to prevail in academia, providing a new perspective from which to return to Haidt’s text. Indeed, this approach makes it possible to unravel elements of the famous article that in the neurocentric paradigm went unnoticed by researchers. Moreover, the digital paradigm manages to better integrate Haidt’s seminal article into his later work as a whole. (shrink)

Presentists typically assent to the view that only present things exist, but there is an argument that this standpoint is not compatible with so-called 'cross-time' relations. I firstly explain what the argument in question consists in and, after that, discuss some weaknesses of different variants of the presentist standard defence. To defend presentism, I want to argue, it is better to introduce genuine tensed relations. It turns out that this approach presupposes an idea of a present existence which requires a (...) two-dimensional, dynamic conception of time. (shrink)