The somatic mutation theory (SMT) of cancer has been and remains the prevalent theory attempting to explain how neoplasms arise and progress. This theory proposes that cancer is a clonal, cell‐based disease, and implicitly assumes that quiescence is the default state of cells in multicellular organisms. The SMT has not been rigorously tested, and several lines of evidence raise questions that are not addressed by this theory. Herein, we propose experimental strategies that may validate the SMT. We also call attention (...) to an alternative theory of carcinogenesis, the tissue organization field theory (TOFT), which posits that cancer is a tissue‐based disease and that proliferation is the default state of all cells. Based on epistemological and experimental evidence, we argue that the TOFT compellingly explains carcinogenesis, while placing it within an evolutionarily relevant context.magnified imagemagnified imageAna Soto and Carlos Sonnenschein are at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. (shrink)

This paper investigates the interpretation of counterfactual conditionals. The main goal of the paper is to provide an account of the semantic role of similarity in the evaluation of counterfactuals. The paper proposes an analysis according to which counterfactuals are treated as predications “ de re ” over past situations in the actual world. The relevant situations enter semantic composition via the interpretation of tense. Counterfactuals are treated as law-like conditionals with de re predication over particular facts. Similarity with respect (...) to particular facts is ensured by the semantics of tense in interaction with the modal, while the modal itself is responsible for invoking laws. In the paper, various arguments are provided to support a local view of similarity over the global approach found in semantics along the line of Lewis’s and Stalnaker’s. Arguments are also provided tying the evaluation of similarity to the interpretation of tense. Finally, arguments are provided to show that in key cases, the approaches make comparable predictions. (shrink)

The somatic mutation theory has been the prevailing paradigm in cancer research for the last 50 years. Its premises are: (1) cancer is derived from a single somatic cell that has accumulated multiple DNA mutations, (2) the default state of cell proliferation in metazoa is quiescence, and (3) cancer is a disease of cell proliferation caused by mutations in genes that control proliferation and the cell cycle. From this compelling simplicity, an increasingly complicated picture has emerged as more than 100 (...) oncogenes and 30 tumor suppressor genes have been identified. To accommodate this complexity, additional ad hoc explanations have been postulated. After a critical review of the data gathered from this perspective, an alternative research program has been proposed. It is based on the tissue organization field theory, the premises of which are that carcinogenesis represents a problem of tissue organization, comparable to organogenesis, and that proliferation is the default state of all cells. The merits of these competing theories are evaluated herein. BioEssays 26:1097–1107, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Ana‐Carolina Gutiérrez‐Xivillé präsentiert eine neue Lesart zu Kants Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten. Während ältere Studien die kantische Ethik als bloße Ausarbeitung von bereits in den 1760er Jahren vorliegenden Begriffen lesen, zeigt diese Studie eine Neubestimmung des Freiheitsbegriffs und bietet eine gewandelte Sicht auf das Verhältnis zwischen „Moralvermögen“, „moralischem Gefühl“ und „Moralprinzip“. Gutiérrez‐Xivillé betrachtet die Texte weder isoliert noch monolithisch. Ihre aus einem analytischen und einem exegetischen Moment bestehende Methode erfasst Kants bekannte Schriften ebenso wie in jüngerer Zeit neu edierte, (...) wenig erforschte Materialien. Dabei offenbaren sich strukturelle Brüche, die wegweisend von einer frühen Moralkonzeption in eine spätere überleiten. Die Ethik Kants erweist sich als Ergebnis eines allmählichen Heranreifens über mehrere Stationen hinweg. (shrink)

How do we acquire a mental representation of our own face? Recently, synchronous, but not asynchronous, interpersonal multisensory stimulation between one’s own and another person’s face has been used to evoke changes in self-identification . We investigated the conscious experience of these changes with principal component analyses that revealed that while the conscious experience during synchronous IMS focused on resemblance and similarity with the other’s face, during asynchronous IMS it focused on multisensory stimulation. Analyses of the identified common factor structure (...) revealed significant quantitative differences between synchronous and asynchronous IMS on self-identification and perceived similarity with the other’s face. Experiment 2 revealed that participants with lower interoceptive sensitivity experienced stronger enfacement illusion. Overall, self-identification and body-ownership rely on similar basic mechanisms of multisensory integration, but the effects of multisensory input on their experience are qualitatively different, possibly underlying the face’s unique role as a marker of selfhood. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to view Kant's approach to education in the broader context of Kant's philosophy of culture and history as a process whose direction should be reflectively assumed by human freedom, in the light of man's moral vocation. In this context, some characteristic tensions of his enlightened approach to education appear. Thus, while Kant takes the educational process to be a radically moral enterprise all the way through—and hence, placed in a relational context—he also aspires to (...) constitute education as a science, to be improved through experiments, thereby paving the way for a systemic approach to education; in spite of its moral inspiration, his systemic approach not only could enter into conflict with the moral demand of taking each individual subject as an end, but is also marked by an intrinsic paradox, already involved in the ambiguity of the term ‘humanity’, which might mean a) humanity as a moral disposition present in each individual human being or b) humanity as a whole, as the ‘human species’. (shrink)

In her recent book Gillian Brock argues that states’ legitimacy depends on their being part of a just state system that protects human rights. Here I discuss some practical limitations raised by Brock’s legitimacy framework: mainly, (1) the problematic real-world implications of such an account, and (2) the epistemic challenges that judgements inspired by this account would have to face, were we to proceed solely on the basis of it.

Vardanyan’s Theorems [36, 37] state that $\mathsf {QPL}(\mathsf {PA})$ —the quantified provability logic of Peano Arithmetic—is $\Pi ^0_2$ complete, and in particular that this already holds when the language is restricted to a single unary predicate. Moreover, Visser and de Jonge [38] generalized this result to conclude that it is impossible to computably axiomatize the quantified provability logic of a wide class of theories. However, the proof of this fact cannot be performed in a strictly positive signature. The system $\mathsf (...) {QRC_1}$ was previously introduced by the authors [1] as a candidate first-order provability logic. Here we generalize the previously available Kripke soundness and completeness proofs, obtaining constant domain completeness. Then we show that $\mathsf {QRC_1}$ is indeed complete with respect to arithmetical semantics. This is achieved via a Solovay-type construction applied to constant domain Kripke models. As corollaries, we see that $\mathsf {QRC_1}$ is the strictly positive fragment of $\mathsf {QGL}$ and a fragment of $\mathsf {QPL}(\mathsf {PA})$. (shrink)

A patent is a property granted to any new shape, configuration or arrangement of elements, of any device, tool, instrument, mechanism or other object or part thereof, that allows for a better or different operation, use or manufacture of the object that incorporates it or that provides it with some utility, advantage or technical effect that it did not have before. As a document, a patent really is a title that recognizes the right to exploit the patented invention exclusively, preventing (...) others from making, selling or using it without the consent of the owner. The fact of making a patent is motivated by the fact of promoting creativity, hindering competition in the market as only one person holds the patent, thus protecting the initial investment and fighting against plagiarism. Patents are available to the public for dissemination and general knowledge. It is generally recognized in the specialized literature that patents can be used as an indicator to calculate the results generated by research and development activities, being a very useful indicator to measure various social, economic or technological aspects. For this reason, it is of relevant interest to have tools or systems that allow us to obtain the patents developed in a specific period of time and to carry out analyses of various economic and social factors. These analyses can serve to obtain a social perspective of society’s progress in the technological field, and this is why an analysis of patents is of our interest. This paper proposes a platform specifically designed to obtain knowledge about patents as an indicator of Spanish social, economic or technological aspects. For this purpose, the platform retrieves, analyses and visualizes functionalities that represent data on the landscape of patents obtained from the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office as a particular case of study. (shrink)

The execution of critical thinking depends on a set of skills and dispositions. It is unanimously accepted that skills represent the cognitive component, but consensus varies with regard to dispositions. Although most theoreticians admit that this is a complex construct integrated by motivations and mental habits, they don’t explain further. We have performed a study attempting to explore the internal structure of dispositions. We suggest a possible hypothesis of “Motivational Genesis of Dispositions,” according to which disposition would be formed by (...) motivation and by mental habits, although the contribution of each of these factors would change depending on the practice gained in critical thinking. Thus, when a person is not practised in critical thinking, motivation makes a greatercontribution than mental habits. Nevertheless, with practice and motivated exercise of the skills of critical thinking, the influence of these mental habits increases. The regression analyses carried out support such a hypothesis. (shrink)

This article explores one aspect of Kant's crucial contribution to the philosophy of culture. It does so by analysing two different approaches to the notion of culture, which are explicit in his work. The first, which may be called "genetical", presents culture almost as a result of a natural dialectic. The second, which I call "practical", regards culture as a task for the human being.

El discurso primordialista sobre el origen de las identidades sociales etno-nacionales sigue latiendo en algunos enfoques históricos, antropológicos, políticos y jurídicos de las sociedades modernas, camuflado en otras formas iusnaturalistas y biologicistas de concebir los atributos culturales, étnicos, religiosos, conductuales, e incluso económicos de los pueblos. Este artículo pretende presentar, por el contrario, la construcción de las identidades nacionales desde el punto de vista modernista y analizar su papel como discurso que pretende reforzar estructuras de poder, producidas porque tienen utilidad (...) estratégica para el logro de bienes materiales o políticos, formalmente en nombre del grupo, pero de hecho solamente con objeto de dar ventaja a los líderes o las élites. Cuando llevan aparejado un carácter político, las identidades nacionales, culturales y étnicas son susceptibles de provocar conflictos violentos, la naturalización de la violencia y la deshumanización de otros grupos tienen lugar a menudo cuando de conflictos etno-nacionalistas se trata. (shrink)

Cet article est un premier essai d’étude historique sur les relations de genre dans les sociétés indigènes du Chaco, en Amérique du Sud. Le traitement de cette question nécessitant de travailler à partir de contextes sociaux, temporels et spatiaux concrets, nous avons situé l’analyse dans un secteur de la « frontière » chaquéenne placé sous la juridiction argentine, à des moments immédiatement antérieurs et postérieurs à la campagne militaire engagée pour soumettre les populations indigènes entre 1884 et 1911. Nous travaillons (...) ainsi depuis un front de colonisation interne pour repérer les changements que cette situation a provoqués sur les relations, les rôles sociaux et les identités des hommes et des femmes autochtones. L’analyse repose sur des sources issues de deux moments différents du processus de colonisation : le moment initial, à partir des missions franciscaines établies sur les bords du fleuve Bermejo pour évangéliser les Matacos ; puis l’apogée du processus, lorsque les Matacos furent incorporés comme brassiers salariés dans les raffineries sucrières. (shrink)

This book focuses on the role of philosophy across disciples. It gives several examples of how philosophical theories or particular concepts or lines of arguments, can be used in other (non-philosophical) disciplines, such as politics, business, psychology, art, and film studies.

Este trabajo es el ganador de la III Olimpiada de Filosofía que organiza FICUM en la modalidad de secundaria. Ana Timonet presentó su particular respuesta a la pregunta por el camino de la felicidad.

University program dropout is a problem that has important consequences not only for the student that leaves but also for the institution in which the withdrawal occurs. Therefore, higher education institutions must study the problem in greater depth to establish appropriate prevention measures in the future. However, most research papers currently focus primarily on the characteristics of students who leave university, rather than on those who choose to pursue alternative courses of study and therefore fail to take into account the (...) different kinds of abandonment. The aim of this paper is to identify the different types of dropout to define their characteristics and propose some recommendations. Thus, an ex post facto study was carried out on a sample of 1,311 freshmen from a university in the north of Spain using data gathered using an ad-hoc designed questionnaire, applied by telephone or an online survey, and completed with data available in the university data warehouse. A descriptive analysis was performed to characterize the sample and identify five different groups, including 1. Students persisting in their initiated degree 2. Students who change of program (within the same university) 3. Students transferring to a different university 4. Students enrolling in non-higher-education studies 5. Students that quit studying. Also, data mining techniques (decision trees) were applied to classify the cases and generate predictive models to aid in the design of differentiated intervention strategies for each of the corresponding groups. (shrink)

Estudos recentes vêm revisando a composição da literatura que, ao longo do século XVIII serviu como base às ciências em território britânico. Segundo esses estudos, os seiscentistas de fala inglesa dedicaram-se a duas linhagens de texto, originadas em concepções de ciência muito distintas. Uma dessas linhagens tinha como fonte principal a antiga “literatura do segredo” que incluía desde velhos e sigilosos manuais de ofício até os milenares e proibidos tratados de hermética, literatura antes reservada a poucos. Diferente dessa, a outra (...) ]inhagem de textos surgia como um direto da proposta baconiana para a nova ciência: um saber elaborado por muitos e ao alcance de todos. Exemplos conhecidos dessa linhagem são os livros de divulgação utilizados pelos comenianos ingleses ou mesmo os relatórios, atas e memórias das sociedades científicas, geradores dos primeiros embriões de periódicos dedicados às ciências. Todavia, sob essa aparente contraposição das duas linhagens, há indícios de um profícuo diálogo - expresso sobretudo na correspondência e diários pensadores da época. (shrink)

This article examines the NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) youth in Romania, employing the secondary analysis of quantitative data and focusing on the socio-economic, cultural and systemic factors contributing to this phenomenon. The analysis highlights how economic instability, poverty and limited access to education exacerbate the challenges faced by this demographic group. Gender disparities, driven by traditional roles and labour market discrimination, further limit opportunities for young women. Additionally, structural deficiencies in the labour market, such as job shortages (...) and mismatches between skills and demand, hinder employment prospects. Cultural expectations and societal norms also play a significant role in influencing youth participation in education and employment. Young citizens of Romania, particularly women and members of the Roma community, face significant barriers to employment, with low wages, poor working conditions and inadequate investment in education and vocational training contributing to high NEET youth rates. Patriarchal norms, especially within the Roma community, further exacerbate cycles of poverty and marginalisation by limiting educational and economic opportunities. (shrink)

En el actual contexto de un nihilismo que suele afirmarse como horizonte insuperable de nuestro tiempo, urge mostrar que no es así. Nada mejor que mirar la experiencia de hombres que han sabido recorrer hasta el fondo el camino del nihilismo y redescubrir su humanidad. Giuseppe Capograssi es uno de ellos. La vida y obra de este genial filósofo del Derecho del siglo XX están traspasadas por la conciencia de que la dependencia, la tristeza y la melancolía son la misma (...) estructura del yo, el terreno abonado en el que, gracias a un encuentro, puede florecer la esperanza. (shrink)

The article studies the evolution of countercultural rock during the sixties through the circulation of ideas, cultural goods and people between Buenos Aires and New York. A set of trips by artists and intellectuals, and the creation of an original slang are considered the starting point to discusss how a part of youth took as their own the counter-cultural aesthetics, practices and ideology. This youth interpreted counter-cultural rock as a new specific urban and musical culture that would replace tango. Moreover, (...) this article examines the expectations that the countercultural rock aroused among different social actors interested by the juvenile question. It is argued that in an ideological context hegemonized by a nationalist and revolutionary sensitivity, the expansion of rock towards placed in tension opposite images of the United States that helped to nationalize the interpretation of rock culture. (shrink)

Monsters, argues Haraway, are sites of confusion and hybridity, entities that defy easy categorization and, as a consequence, hold promise, pleasure, and peril. Haraway adds that monsters are also not accidental or innocent: their creation requires sustained work, their existence has effects. Thus, to understand how Frankenstein came to be in Lilliput, the theme of this special edition, it is crucial to examine how monsters are constructed and how they do things in the world.In this article I propose to start, (...) if modestly, that examination. To do so I draw upon ethnographic data generated at two conferences held in 2005 to investigate some of the processes through which the monster of “nano”—this elusive and emergent entity—was brought to life by social scientists and humanities scholars. My initial goal is to explore how nano was defined, framed, and analyzed at these meetings—on the ethics and history of nano, respectively—and how these different ways of constituting and enacting nano have shaped subsequent understandings of, and interactions with, nano. The article next examines the stances and stakes of those who, through their involvement, became nano practitioners, and the ways in which nano was disciplined through their practices. (shrink)

Democratic alternation in power involves uncontrolled policy experiments. One party is elected on one policy platform that it then implements. Things may go well or badly. When another party is elected in its place, it implements a different policy. In imposing policies on the whole community, parties in effect conduct non-randomized trials without control groups. In this paper, we endorse the general idea of policy experimentation but we also argue that it can be done better by deploying in policymaking randomized (...) controlled trials. We focus primarily on the democratic benefits of using randomized trials in policymaking and on how they can enhance the democratic legitimacy of policy. We argue that randomized trials resonate well with three key democratic principles: non-arbitrariness, revisability and public justification. Randomized trials’ contribution to non-arbitrariness and revisability is not unique; other types of evidence can advance these democratic principles as well. But through their peculiar democratic scrutability, randomized trials are well-equipped to contribute to the public justifiability of policy. (shrink)

A Idade Média foi cenário de manifestações variadas do conhecimento produzidas por letrados judeus, especialmente no campo da filosofia. O intervalo temporal predominante, os séculos XI, XII, XIII e XIV, coincide com a consolidação de uma tradição filosófica aristotélica sobre a base da língua e da cultura árabe. Uma tal riqueza em termos de produção do saber é, também, atestada por reconhecidos estudiosos de língua, cultura, religião, filosofia e história judaicas. Há um importante processo de encontro e desencontro, interação e (...) sobreposição entre as culturas árabe, judaica e cristã na Idade Média – seu estudo ilumina nossa compreensão de indivíduos e de suas obras, para além de si mesmos. (shrink)

National membership in itself aggravates global inequality, and plural membership does all the more so. A key mechanism by which that occurs are double taxation agreements that have the effect of favoring the global rich at the expense of the global poor. One egalitarian solution is a levy on multiple citizenship; another is redesigning double taxation agreements along prioritarian lines. Revising the OECD Model Tax Convention could be a feasible strategy for implementing such reforms.

The World Bank estimates that over one billion people currently lack official identity documents. To tackle this crucial issue, the United Nations included the aim to provide legal identity for all by 2030 among the Sustainable Development Goals. Technology can be a powerful tool to reach this target. In the digital age, new technologies increasingly mediate identity verification and identification of individuals. Currently, State-led and public–private initiatives use technology to provide official identification, to control and secure external borders, and to (...) distribute humanitarian aid to populations in need. All of these initiatives have profound implications for the protection of human rights of those affected by them. Digital identity technologies may render individuals without legal documentation more visible and therefore less vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. However, they also present risks for the protection of individuals' human rights. As they build on personal data for identification and identity verification, data protection and privacy rights are most clearly affected. The prohibition of discrimination in the digital space is also of concern as these technological advances' societal impact is not yet fully understood. Accordingly, the article argues that emerging digital identity platforms will only contribute to the protection of human rights if the providers adequately mitigate any risks of potential discrimination and promote high standards of privacy and data protection. (shrink)

In 1877 Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland liquefied oxygen in the form of a mist. The liquefaction of the first of the so-called permanent gases heralded the birth of low-temperature research and is often described in the literature as having started a ‘race’ for attaining progressively lower temperatures. In fact, between 1877 and 1908, when helium, the last of the permanent gases, was liquefied, there were many priority disputes—something quite characteristic of the emergence of a (...) new research field. This paper examines Cailletet’s path to the liquefaction of oxygen, as well as a debate between him and the Polish physicist Zygmunt Wróblewski over the latter’s contribution to the liquefaction of gases. (shrink)