Today’s New APPS interview is with Alessandra Tanesini, Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University. This is Part I; Part II will run next week. Thanks very much for doing this interview with us, Alessandra. Let’s start with your personal practice of philosophy. What are the pleasures and pains of philosophy...

In this new book, Alessandra Tanesini demonstrates that feminist thought has a lot to offer to the study of Wittgenstein's philosophical work, and that -at the same time-that work can inspire feminist reflection in new directions. In Wittgenstein, Tanesini offers a highly original interpretation of several themes in Wittgenstein's philosophy. She argues that when we look at his work through feminist eyes we discover that he is not primarily concerned with providing solutions to technical problems in the philosophy of (...) mind, mathematics, and language. Instead, his remarks on these topics are intended to offer insights about human finitude, the loneliness of the modern autonomous self, and our relations to other human beings. Thus, the modern conception of the individual emerges as the critical target of Wittgenstein's philosophical work, both early and late. This conception has also been one of the dominant concerns of contemporary feminist philosophy. In this book, Wittgenstein's insights are deployed to further feminist debates on issues such as identity, difference, the masculine character of the modern self. (shrink)

After more than three centuries, Molyneux's question continues to challenge our understanding of cognition and perceptual systems. Locke, the original recipient of the question, approached it as a theoretical exercise relevant to long-standing philosophical issues, such as nativism, the possibility of common sensibles, and the empiricism-rationalism debate. However, philosophers were quick to adopt the experimentalist's stance as soon as they became aware of recoveries from congenital blindness through ophtalmic surgery. Such recoveries were widely reported to support empiricist positions, suggesting that (...) the question had found its empirical answer. Contrary to this common view, we argue that studies of patients recovering from early blindness through surgery cannot provide an answer. In fact, because of the very nature of such ophtalmological interventions it is impossible to test the question in the empirical conditions outlined by Molyneux. Thus we propose that Molyneux's question be treated as an early thought experiment of a specific kind. Although thought experiments of this kind cannot be turned into actual experimental conditions, they provide a conceptual restructuring of theories. Such restructuring in turn leads to new predictions that can then be tested by normal experiments. In accord with this interpretation, we show that Molyneux's question can be analyzed into a hierarchy of specific questions about vision in its phenomenal and sensory-motor components. Some of these questions do lead to actual experimental conditions that could be studied empirically. (shrink)

Intellectual humility, I argue in this paper, is a cluster of strong attitudes directed toward one's cognitive make-up and its components, together with the cognitive and affective states that constitute their contents or bases, which serve knowledge and value-expressive functions. In order to defend this new account of humility I first examine two simpler traits: intellectual self-acceptance of epistemic limitations and intellectual modesty about epistemic successes. The position defended here addresses the shortcomings of both ignorance and accuracy based accounts of (...) humility. (shrink)

This paper distinguishes between two arguments based on measurement robustness and defends the epistemic value of robustness for the assessment of measurement reliability. I argue that the appeal to measurement robustness in the assessment of measurement is based on a different inferential pattern and is not exposed to the same objections as the no-coincidence argument which is commonly associated with the use of robustness to corroborate individual results. This investigation sheds light on the precise meaning of reliability that emerges from (...) measurement assessment practice. In addition, by arguing that the measurement assessment robustness argument has similar characteristics across the physical, social and behavioural sciences, I defend the idea that there is continuity in the notion of measurement reliability across sciences. (shrink)

In this paper the author focuses on some of the topics in the debate on multiculturalism, applying them to the issue of immigration, particularly female immigration, in Europe. She then illustrates how the individual/group relationship is a particularly complex one where women are concerned. In this framework she considers the various roles of a multicultural law and the thorny relation between women immigrants and their official representatives. She concludes by asserting the need to place individual rights before group rights and (...) to ensure that women obtain autonomous access to both sets of rights. (shrink)

Na contemporaneidade, o nada aparece na obra de alguns pensadores, numa tentativa de articulá-la com a questão do ser. Heidegger e Sartre se configuram como os principais expoentes deste tempo, nesta vertente do pensamento humano, por concentrarem seus estudos no campo ontológico, entretanto sem se desgarrem das relações humanas no que tange ao conhecimento. Ambos articulam a questão do ser na medida em que é colocada como uma questão do homem, ou, em certos momentos, do ser-aí humano, por isso, ela (...) tem que ser colocada no âmbito de suas relações cotidiana. (shrink)

Ci sono domande che rimangono tali per secoli e anche se non trovano risposta riescono a mantenere vivo il nostro interesse, diventando col tempo dei veri e propri rompicapi. Una di queste è quella formulata da William Molyneux nel 1688, conosciuta come il Quesito di Molyneux. In questo caso l’interesse non riguarda solo la domanda in sé ma anche la sua infinita storia. 1. La storia del Quesito di Molyneux Il Quesito di cui parleremo in queste pagine fa la sua (...) comparsa, per la prima volta, in... (shrink)

O texto de Hans-Georg Gadamer que apresentamos traduzido para o português compõe um esforço mais amplo que investiga uma Hermenêutica da Música no contexto das Obras Completas do hermeneuta. Segue de um ponto de vista fundamental, as questões levantadas a respeito dos fenômenos da compreensão e da interpretação apresentados em Verdade e Método, principalmente no que diz respeito à experiência da arte na primeira parte da Obra. Busca-se apresentar a experiência da música a partir dos diversos textos sobre música que (...) podem ser encontrados no todo da Obra e que ainda não se encontram traduzidos para o português. Dessa forma, ao considerarmos o êxito contemporâneo da Hermenêutica no contexto do debate das ciências, contra as pretensões metodológicas objetificadoras e, a consequente crítica à epistemologia, o recurso gadameriano à música desdobra-se nas trilhas da crítica ontológica sobre o modo de ser do estético. O escrito “Goethe e Mozart – o problema Ópera ” compõe o nono Tomo das Obras Completas com o título Ästhetik und Poetik II: Hermeneutik im Vollzug. (shrink)

In this paper I offer an original account of intellectual modesty and some of its surrounding vices: intellectual haughtiness, arrogance, servility and self-abasement. I argue that these vices are attitudes as social psychologists understand the notion. I also draw some of the educational implications of the account. In particular, I urge caution about the efficacy of direct instruction about virtue and of stimulating emulation through exposure to positive exemplars.

El propósito fundamental de este artículo es analizar la posibilidad de introducir consideraciones éticas en la economía como base para proporcionar un modelo de desarrollo humano más justo y fructífero que el que proponen las teorías utilitaristas y las concepciones liberales de la justicia. En este punto el Enfoque de las Capacidades de Sen y Nussbaum se dibuja como una potente opción teórica capaz de articular más adecuadamente el igualitarismo, la libertad y la fundamentación de los derechos de las personas.

A Amazônia é detentora de inúmeras grandezas. Vastos territórios, variedades de espécies animais e vegetais, e complexidades culturais. A Igreja tem se envolvido e assumido a reflexão sobre a Amazônia propondo uma consciência abrangente entre a criação natural e cultural, portanto, que inclua a pessoa humana e suas expressões sócio culturais. Essa breve pesquisa é apresentada a partir do olhar sobre três diversidades presentes na região: naturais, culturais, eclesiais. Contempla dois aspectos das ações eclesiais locais e aponta três elementos relevantes (...) na articulação da teologia amazônica. Nesse vasto e complexo mundo de possibilidade conclui que a presença divina nesse paraíso humano é plural. Por isso a reflexão teológica exige considerar o ardor eclesial peculiar que harmonize os aspectos teórico e prático, religioso e social, oficial e alternativo, eterno e temporal. (shrink)

In this response I address criticisms raised by Ashton, Battaly, McGlynn and Simion that my account of intellectual humility (hereafter, IH), and of the vices opposed to it, is too internalistic, is insufficiently social and structural, and finally that my proposal for ameliorating vice might be not efficacious.

Alva Noë understands what he calls “perceptual presence” as the experience of whole, voluminous objects being ‘right there’, present for us in their entirety, even though not each and every part of them impinges directly on our senses at any given time. How is it possible that we perceptually experience voluminous objects as voluminous directly and apparently effortlessly, with no need of inferring their three-dimensionality from experience of the part of them that is directly stimulating our sense organs? For Noë, (...) this is the ‘problem of perceptual presence’. In this paper, I integrate Noë’s view by articulating a different view of what perceptual presence at a more basic level amounts to. This new account of perceptual presence which, I believe, can clarify and make an enactive account of presence richer. The view I suggest revolves around the idea, developed especially by Merleau-Ponty and Kelly, that perceptual experience is in an important sense indeterminate. Indeterminacy, I argue, is key if we want to understand perceptual presence and the ‘problem’ Noë solves. (shrink)

Bioethics and Human Rights Content Type Journal Article Pages 38-42 Authors Alessandra Prudente, Sicily, Italy Journal Human Reproduction & Genetic Ethics Online ISSN 2043-0469 Print ISSN 1028-7825 Journal Volume Volume 8 Journal Issue Volume 8, Number 2 / 2002.

It is a familiar experience to perceive a material object as maintaining a stable shape even though it projects differently shaped images on our retina as we move with respect to it, or as maintaining a stable color throughout changes in the way the object is illuminated. We also perceive sounds as maintaining constant timbre and loudness when the context and the spatial relations between us and the sound source change over time. But where does this perceptual invariance ‘come from’? (...) What is it about our perceptual systems that makes them able to ‘transform’ incoming unstable and fluctuating sensory inputs into generally stable and coherent conscious experiences? And what exactly do we experience as invariant in cases like those described above? There are two main approaches to the Problem of Perceptual Invariance: the Local-Inferential approach and the Global-Structural approach. Although both approaches include an account of the sub-personal perceptual mechanisms ‘stabilizing’ variant and invariant components in incoming sensory stimulation and a proposal regarding the phenomenology of perceptual invariance, in this paper I argue that the latter provides a better solution to the problem overall. (shrink)

In this paper I provide an account of two forms of intellectual arrogance which cause the epistemic practices of conversational turn-taking and assertion to malfunction. I detail some of the ethical and epistemic harms generated by intellectual arrogance, and explain its role in fostering the intellectual vices of timidity and servility in other agents. Finally, I show that arrogance produces ignorance by silencing others (both preventing them from speaking and causing their assertions to misfire) and by fostering self-delusion in the (...) arrogant themselves. (shrink)

Alessandra Tanesini is a Professor of Philosophy at Cardiff University working on epistemology and philosophy of language. In this post she summarises some of her recent work on collective amnesia and epistemic injustice.

Cuando Walter Benjamin desarrolla en el “Prólogo epistemocrítico” de _El origen del Trauerspiel_ alemán la más extensa de las presentaciones de su teoría del conocimiento (así como la única publicada en vida), lo hace a partir de una explícita reinterpretación de la filosofía platónica, en particular de su “doctrina de las ideas”. Este artículo se propone investigar las afinidades entre el prólogo de Benjamin y la filosofía platónica, poniendo especial énfasis en las relaciones entre los desarrollos metodológicos de ambos autores, (...) es decir entre la “forma de la exposición” de Benjamin y la dialéctica de Platón. A partir de explorar estas relaciones, se busca poner de relieve una visión de la filosofía que ambos autores comparten, y de la que se quiere señalar la originalidad, potencia y actualidad. (shrink)

O artigo analisa a recente política de formação de professores no Brasil, via o Programa Nacional de Formação de Professores, tendo por base o conceito de semiformação (particularmente empregado por Theodor Adorno) e é fruto de uma pesquisa realizada junto a docentes de diferentes regiões do Estado do Pará que participaram enquanto discentes do referido Programa pelo curso de Pedagogia (UEPA).

In this article I argue that often propositional knowledge is acquired and retained by extensive reliance on physical and social scaffolds that create an environment or niche conducive to knowledge. It is incumbent on epistemologists to subject these aids to epistemic assessments. I show that several of the activities involved in the creation of niches within which inquiry can thrive are carried out by whole cultures. New generations benefit from inheriting these niches whilst being able to improve upon them to (...) the advantage of their descendants. Finally, I highlight that the growth of human epistemic achievements is often due to increased outsourcing of cognitive effort and epistemic powers onto impersonal physical and social structures so that human beings can succeed more by contributing less to the solution of problems. (shrink)

Fundamental questions in value sensitive design include whether and how high-tech products/artefacts could embody values and ethical ideals, and how plural and incommensurable values of ethical and social importance could be chosen rationally and objectively at a collective level. By using a humanitarian cargo drone study as a starting point, this paper tackles the challenges that VSD’s lack of commitment to a specific ethical theory generates in practical applications. Besides, it highlights how mainstream ethical approaches usually related to VSD are (...) incapable of solving main ethical dilemmas raised by technological design for well-being in democratic settings. Accordingly, it is argued that VSD’s ethical-democratic import would substantially be enhanced by the espousal of a procedural ethics stance and the deliberative approach to value and welfare entailed by Amartya Sen’s capability approach. Differently from rival ethical–political theories, its normative and meta-ethical foundations better handle human diversity, value-goal pluralism, conflicting vested interests as well as the epistemic-moral disagreements typical of contemporary complex democracies. Particularly, Sen’s capability approach procedural-deliberative tenets result in an “objective-impartial” choice procedure selecting a “hierarchy” of plural incommensurable values and rational goals thus, suitable to validate an applied science such as welfare-oriented technological design in concrete social environments. Conclusions suggest that refining VSD with a capability-based procedural approach to ethics fosters the concern for democracy and social justice while preserving vital scientific-technical standards. Major advantages are at an applied level to delivering ethically and socially justified, but yet highly functional technologies and high-tech products/artefacts. (shrink)

There is an exponential speed-up in the number of lines of the quantified propositional sequent calculus over Substitution Frege Systems, if one considers proofs as trees. Whether this is true also for the number of symbols, is still an open problem.

A Igreja Católica, ao propagar a fé cristã e a conversão das populações indígenas e ribeirinhas da região amazônica, produziu suas ideologias na forma de escritos, as quais também estão presentes nas narrativas orais. Neste artigo, cujo aporte teórico está vinculado aos estudos Pós-coloniais e ao pensamento Decolonial, a partir da articulação das diferenças entre o real e o imaginário, salvação e pecado, deseja-se responder a seguinte questão: a que formação ideológica e formas de educar estaria ligado o “Mito da (...) Capela de Ouro”, na região do médio amazonas paraense? Para tanto, nesta pesquisa baseada em fontes bibliográficas e documentais, foram investigados diários de viagens de missionários à região Amazônica, especialmente à região do rio Trombetas, impressos e manuscritos publicados por igrejas e pelo Conselho Nacional de Proteção ao índio, no século XX. Os dados apontam que o “Mito da Capela de Ouro” decorre de uma tentativa de colonização do imaginário das populações nativas da região, tendo em vista que o mundo sobrenatural cristão era inteiramente oposto ao mundo sobrenatural indígena e ribeirinho, relacionado naquele contexto à demonização. (shrink)

Resumen: los trabajos de perspectiva sociológica que sobre los seminarios diocesanos se han llevado a cabo son muy escasos. Sin embargo el estudio de estas instituciones puede proporcionar al científico social datos de gran utilidad que, por una parte, completan los análisis de la religiosidad española hechos hasta el momento y, por otra, ayudan a comprender mejor el futuro de una Iglesia Católica inmersa en un profundo proceso secularizador. Para desarrollar esta propuesta haremos una reflexión sobre la “misión organizativa” que (...) los seminarios han tenido a lo largo de la historia.*****: The works of sociological perspective that have been carried out about diocesan seminaries are short. However the study of these institutions can provide the social scientific very useful information that, on the one hand, completes the analysis of Spanish religiousness made until the present day and, on the other hand, helps for a better understanding of the future of a Catholic Church immersed in a deep secularising process. In order to develop this proposal we will make a reflection on the “organisational mission” that seminaries have had throughout History. (shrink)

The feast is a constitutive element of the human dimensions referring mainly to its symbolic level. It involves all the dimensions, harmonizing the cyclical and linear understanding of time. All people and cultures live the dimension of the feasty as a permanent and new fact repeated every time, but always as a new achievement. It changes and renews the daily rhythm overcoming the danger of routine. In the Christian tradition, the party has as central event the Paschal Mystery of Christ, (...) focused on all liturgical celebrations updating the historical event of life, death, resurrection of Jesus and inserting the believer in thet same Mystery. The communities along the tiny rivers of the Diocese of Coari, in the Amazonas state, to which this text talks about, are inserted in this dynamic process, performing every year the feast of their patron saints as the greatest expression of his evangelising vitality in its three dimensions: religious, social and cultural. These festivals reveal the presence and experience of the Gospel accepted in this culture environment while pointing to risks and opportunities in the renewal of the process of evangelization, through expressions of faith, hosting, communion and community prayers. The communities feast update the Paschal Mystery of Christ and renew its vitality. (shrink)

Modem scholarship has fairly succeeded in rescuing the term ‘scholasticism’ from its pejorative connotations. But it has not yet attempted, it seems to me, to situate the phenomenon of scholasticism in an overall anthropological setting. A comparative study of eastern and western scholasticisms may help us to acquire a better understanding of the nature of scholasticism and ultimately of the nature of man himself.

O presente trabalho procurará apontar elementos no caráter de cada um dos heróis-guerreiros na Ilíada de Homero – Aquiles e Pátroclo – e analisar sucintamente como a hýbris do primeiro e a sofrosýne do último são utilizadas de modo significativo na epopeia, a fim de demonstrar a complementaridade entre os dois personagens e garantir o equilíbrio da narrativa naquilo que podemos denominar uma “antropologia homérica”. Ainda, buscará fazer alguns apontamentos sobre as características desta philía que transpassa elementos antagônicos e mostrar (...) o paradoxo em Aquiles – um herói em crise, o qual beira o anti-herói – e a emergência em Pátroclo – um herói necessário, sem o qual a continuidade narrativa da Ilíada não ocorreria. (shrink)