The paper is a critical comment on D. Hoffman. The Scrambling Theorem: A simple proof of the logical possibility of spectrum inversion. Consciousness and Cognition, 2006, 15, 31–45.

Over the last decade the modeling and the storage of biological data has been a topic of wide interest for scientists dealing with biological and biomedical research. Currently most data is still stored in text files which leads to data redundancies and file chaos.In this paper we show how to use relational modeling techniques and relational database technology for modeling and storing biological sequence data, i.e. for data maintained in collections like EMBL or SWISS-PROT to better serve the needs for (...) these application domains.For this reason we propose a two step approach. First, we model the structure (and therefore the meaning of the) data using an Entity-Relationship approach. The ER model leads to a clean design of a relational database schema for storing and retrieving the DNA and protein data extracted from various sources. Our approach provides the clean basis for building complex biological applications that are more amenable to changes and software ports than their file-base counterparts. (shrink)

In 2016, following pandemic influenza threats and the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreaks, the WHO developed a guidance document for managing ethical issues in infectious disease outbreaks. In this article, we analyse some ethical issues that have had a predominant role in decision making in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic but were absent or not addressed in the same ways in the 2016 guidance document. A pandemic results in a health crisis and social and political crises both nationally and (...) globally. The ethical implications of these global effects should be properly identified so that appropriate actions can be taken globally and not just in national isolation. Our analysis, which is a starting point to test the broader relevance of the 2016 WHO document that remains the only available guidance document applicable globally, concludes that the WHO guidance should be updated to provide reasoned and thoughtful comprehensive ethics advice for the sound management of the current and future pandemics. (shrink)

We conducted a rapid review and quantitative summary of meta-analyses that have examined interventions which can be used by individuals during quarantine and social distancing to manage anxiety, depression, stress and subjective well-being. A literature search yielded 34 meta-analyses (total number of studies k = 1,390, n = 145,744) that were summarized. Overall, self-guided interventions showed small to medium effects in comparison to control groups. In particular, self-guided therapeutic approaches (including cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness, and acceptance-based interventions), selected positive psychology interventions, and (...) multi-component and activity-based interventions (music, physical exercise) showed promising evidence for effectiveness. Overall, self-guided interventions on average did not show the same degree of effectiveness as traditional guided individual or group therapies. There was no consistent evidence of dose effects, baseline differences and differential effectiveness of eHealth interventions. More research on the effectiveness of interventions in diverse cultural settings is needed. (shrink)

Planning the first school transition for children with special needs focuses on several objectives: To ensure continuity amongst different children’s life settings; to ease the child’s adaptation and integration in their new environment; to support the school’s preparations in order to better welcome each child with their particularities; to adapt activities according to the child’s needs; and lastly, to encourage full participation of the parents and professionals who know the child. Qualitative-interpretative research allows us to examine the way stakeholders from (...) different sectors, including the parents, planned the transition to kindergarten of children with special needs. Three networks were studied over a period of one year. The results permit us to deepen our understanding of how stakeholders function together, as a network, in order to prepare a quality transition for the targeted children. The article presents a model of the structural and interactional processes involved during these planned transitions; these processes derive from the dynamic created by knowledge-sharing and networking between the stakeholders. The structural processes in turn benefit the stakeholders; specifically by providing opportunities for collective interactions and knowledge-sharing beyond their individual interests. In particular, the stakeholders accepted some shifts in changing roles as they moved from individualistic to collective action. Finally, the time dedicated by the stakeholders, along with the duration of the process, are determined to be key elements contributing to the quality of the entire experience. (shrink)

As systems based on opaque Artificial Intelligence (AI) continue to flourish in diverse real-world applications, understanding these black box models has become paramount. In response, Explainable AI (XAI) has emerged as a field of research with practical and ethical benefits across various domains. This paper not only highlights the advancements in XAI and its application in real-world scenarios but also addresses the ongoing challenges within XAI, emphasizing the need for broader perspectives and collaborative efforts. We bring together experts from diverse (...) fields to identify open problems, striving to synchronize research agendas and accelerate XAI in practical applications. By fostering collaborative discussion and interdisciplinary cooperation, we aim to propel XAI forward, contributing to its continued success. Our goal is to put forward a comprehensive proposal for advancing XAI. To achieve this goal, we present a manifesto of 27 open problems categorized into nine categories. These challenges encapsulate the complexities and nuances of XAI and offer a road map for future research. For each problem, we provide promising research directions in the hope of harnessing the collective intelligence of interested stakeholders. (shrink)

Taken as a philosophical issue, the idea of representation implies the prior assumption of a difference between reality and its “doubles.” Things are paired with images, concepts, or symbols, acts with rules and norms, events with structures. Traditionally, the problem with representations has been their “accuracy,” the degree of fit between reality and its reproductions in the mind. When philosophers lost the hope of ever determining accuracy , they found consolation in the test of usefulness: a good representation is one (...) that works. The proof of its working is that it enables us to act on the world together.1 In such a frame, science, including anthropology, is conceived as the pursuit of privileged representations, privileged in that, by their nature of by their combination, they establish knowledge of a special kind. In the case of anthropology, “culture” has served as a sort of umbrella concept for representations. The strcuturalists have been most explicit about the need to think of representation in the plural, but their position is shared, in varying degrees, by all those who conceive of knowledge as the selection and combination of signs in systems, patterns, or structures, in short, as some kind of conceptual order ruling perceptual chaos. 1. Remember the connection between the Kantian quest for synthetic forms and Émile Durkheim’s idea of collective representations sustained by the moral authority of a society. Durkheim certainly was one to look for the “ethic” in the “ethnic” primitive, and it makes me wonder whether Stephen A. Tyler’s characterization of postmodern ethnography as a return to “an earlier and more powerful notion of the ethical character of all discourse, as captured in the ancient significance of the family of terms ‘ethos,’ ‘ethnos,’ ‘ethics’” might not signal a return to the Durkheimian fold . Johannes Fabian is professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. His publications include Jamaa: A Charismatic Movement in Katanga , Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object , and Language and Colonial Power: The Appropriation of Swahili in the Former Belgian Congo, 1880-1938 . Two books will appear in 1990: History from Below: The Vocabulary of Elisabethville by André Yav, a commented edition-translation of a colonial history written in Swahili by the colonized for the colonized, and Power and Performance, a study of conceptions of power through popular wisdom and theater in Shaba/Zaire. (shrink)

lniciado como un movimiento crítico de la modernidad, el Sturm und Drang alemán propuso una concepción distinta del humano, que exigía una renovación de la razón en armonía con la totalidad de las facultades humanas en favor del desarrollo de la individualidad. De esta manera se centralizaba la cualidad creadora del ser humano, sin subordinar el desarrollo de las demás facultades humanas. En este trabajo se analiza la reinterpretación del mito de Prometeo en el trabajo de tres personalidades: el filósofo (...) Johann G. Herder, el literato Johann W. von Goethe y el compositor Ludwig van Beethoven. Del primero, se examina su teoría del genio, explicada por medio de la figura de Shakespeare; del segundo se aborda el lugar de Prometeo en la obra del poeta; mientras que del tercero se analiza su tercera sinfonía, Heroica. Al final, se concluye que, en lostres pensadores, la figura del titán Prometeo representa ese espíritu rebelde que, rechazando a los dioses, encamina todos sus actos hacia el engrandecimiento del ser humano y de la humanidad. (shrink)

For several years now, early cinema historians have developed certain notions that can help us define, in a much broader context, the axes of research in intermedial studies. Even though I’ll be giving it a slightly different importance, the notion I will be borrowing from these historians here is that of the “parameter.” Work by André Gaudreault and Philippe Marion on the emergence of the cinematographic medium relies on the idea that the medium appears as the result of a choice (...) made by the historian. To write the history of any given medium and separate it into periods, one must also select the components “that gathered together as a way of giving ‘birth’ to that medium at.. (shrink)

Inhaltsverzeichnis/Table of Contents Themenschwerpunkt/Special Topic: Bolzano & Kant Gastherausgeber/Guest Editor: Sandra Lapointe Sandra Lapointe: Introduction Sandra Lapointe: Is Logic Formal? Bolzano, Kant and the Kantian Logicians Nicholas F. Stang: A Kantian Reply to Bolzano¿s Critique of Kant¿s Analytic-Synthetic Distinction Clinton Tolley: Bolzano and Kant on the Place of Subjectivity in a Wissenschaftslehre Timothy Rosenkoetter: Kant and Bolzano on the Singularity of Intuitions Waldemar Rohloff: From Ordinary Language to Definition in Kant and Bolzano Weitere Artikel/Further Articles Christian Damböck: Wilhelm Diltheys empirische (...) Philosophie und der rezente Methodenstreit in der analytischen Philosophie Bernd Prien: Socially Constituted Actions and Objects Daniel Enrique Kalpokas: Two Dogmas of Coherentism Jon Cogburn & Jeff W. Roland: Strong, therefore Sensitive. Misgivings about DeRose¿s Contextualism Andre Abath: Brewer¿s Switching Argument Essay-Wettbewerb/Essay Competition Amadeus Magrabi: The Value of Feelings for Decision-Making Stefan Reining: Do Pain-Accompanying Emotions Mislead Us?¿Considerations in the Light of Reactive Dissociation Phenomena Peter Königs: Patriotism. A Case Study in the Philosophy of Emotions Besprechungsaufsatz/Review Essay Christopher Gauker: What Do Your Senses Say? On Burge¿s Theory of Perception Diskussion/Discussion Georg Brun: Adequate Formalization and De Morgan¿s Argument Buchnotizen/Critical Notes. (shrink)

During the 1980's and the early 1990's South Africa experienced disturbing political violence of an unprecedented scope, intensity and nature. It was disturbing because it entailed acts of horrifying brutality, notably the ‘necklace' and the massacre, all of this against the background of ‘civilized' and measured com promise and negotiation. It stubbornly continued despite the unbanning of the liberation political organisations, and the holding of ‘free and fair' elections in April 1994. And it was unprecedented in a whole range of (...) ways, but mainly because of the fact that it was intracommunal, or black- on- black, violence. It was the first time that Black political organisations had turned on each other rather than their white oppressors. For our purposes, what is interesting is the range of responses emanating from South African social scientists in explaining this new phenomenon. Historically, explaining Black political violence in South Africa has had a difficult time of it. Starting with Pierre van den Berghe in 1962, predictions of imminent revolution against the apartheid regime have been so regularly and frequently proved wrong, that a whole industry has arisen in explaining quiescence rather than violence. The first cluster of theories spawned by the 1976 schools uprising, as Frank Molteno noted in his 1979 review, were analytically disappointing, if not crudely racist. Subsequent overviews by Manganyi & du Toit in 1990, and Beinart in 1992 have born evidence of considerably greater sophistication.; Manganyi, N & A du Toit, ; Beinart, W ). Nevertheless, as I shall show, most have remained within quite conventional theoretical and structuralist parameters. Many have their roots in the earlier dominant Marxism of the 1970's. In this sense they tend towards structural and class determinism, towards absolutist notions of power, and absolutist moral judgement of both apartheid and the individuals associated, however indirectly, with it. In consequence, Black incumbents of apartheid structures were inevitably depicted as willess and powerless puppets dancing to the tune of omnipotent White masters. In this context, it was wrong to talk of black- on- black violence, since one side of this equation, in reality, represented white interests. Much of this analysis also started from quite easy notions of the origins of violence. In this view it was sufficient to show conflicts of interest, or contra diction, in order to conclude that violence had been adequately explained. Against this background the more hermeneutic contribution by André du Toit to the debate stands out as theoretically innovative, nuanced and bold. This is not to say that it is with out problems. But I do wish to present a picture of a social theorist of considerable imagination and subtletly. Looking back over these theories, it would be tempting to say that the first category of structuralist accounts, should be supplemented with the second category of hermeneutic, accounts. But simply adding theoretically discrepant accounts together is too easy. It is only when the whole notion of structure, employed in the first category, is rethought in post-structuralist form, that an integration of the two elements becomes feasible. This paper follows a Giddensian line in pursuing this reconceptualization. (shrink)

This article shows the contribution of German philosophy to the birth of psychiatry at the beginning of the 19th century. The physician and father of the term psychiatry (Psychiatrie), Johann Christian Reil, will evolve in his thinking. This evolution is due to the transition from a first stage, as a chemical reductionist, to a second stage, close to the philosophy of nature. The transition in his thinking occurs with Reil's change of philosophical orientation: from Kantian critical philosophy to Schelling's philosophy, (...) with the consequence that Reil proposes psychiatry as a discipline. (shrink)

This paper aims to elucidate factors that contributed to the temporary loss of the European tradition of Taphonomy, developed during the first half of the twentieth century, and its rediscovery and reinvention in North America during the Post-War. Such factors are not restricted to the intellectual content of papers and books produced by researchers but have to do also with linguistic, cultural, historical, and institutional matters, which have shaped and conditioned the reception of ideas and concepts within Paleontology during the (...) twentieth century. These factors include the transition from a multilingual scientific culture to a monolingual one, the shift of palaeontology’s centre from Europe to the United States, and the ideology of researchers, among other factors. (shrink)

The book contains the proceedings of the conference 'A Clearing of the German Forest: Mysticism, Idealism and Romanticism' ("Eine Lichtung des deutschen Waldes: Mystik, Idealismus und Romantik") (May, 19-21, 2016, Dominican Convent, Erfurt), including contributions by some of the most important representatives in this field (Jens Halfwassen, Theo Kobusch, Johann Kreuzer, José, Sánchez de Murillo, Glenn A. Magee, Markus Vinzent, Rudolf K. Weigand, Christian Danz, Markus Enders, et al.). The volume presents articles concerning the relationship of Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin and (...) Schelling with the most characteristic German mystics. The conference was organized in the context of the research project "A Historical, Philological and Systematic Study on Mystical Reason and its Reception in Schelling's Works," funded by the German Research Foundation. Der Band enthält die Akten der vom 19. bis 21. Mai im Kapitelsaal des Predigerklosters in Erfurt organisierten internationalen interdisziplinären Tagung "Eine Lichtung des deutschen Waldes: Mystik, Idealismus und Romantik", mit Beiträgen von einigen der wichtigsten Forscher in diesem Gebiet (Jens Halfwassen, Theo Kobusch, Johann Kreuzer, José Sánchez de Murillo, Glenn A. Magee, Markus Vinzent, Rudolf K. Weigand, Christian Danz, Markus Enders, usw.). Gesammelt werden in diesem Band die das Verhältnis von Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin und Schelling zu den zentralen Autoren der deutschen Mystik betreffenden Aufsätze. Die Tagung fand im Kontext des von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft finanzierten Projekts 'Der ewige Begriff des Individuums': Eine historisch-philologische-systematische Untersuchung der mystischen Vernunft und deren Rezeption im Werk Schellings " statt. (shrink)

Proceedings of the conference 'A Clearing _of_ the German Forest: Mysticism, Idealism and Romanticism', with contributions by Jens Halfwassen, Johann Kreuzer, Glenn A. Magee, Christian Danz, et al., concerning the relationship of Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin and Schelling with the most important German mystics. Akten der Tagung 'Eine Lichtung _des_ deutschen Waldes: Mystik, Idealismus und Romantik', mit Beiträgen von Jens Halfwassen, Johann Kreuzer, Glenn A. Magee, Christian Danz, usw., das Verhältnis von Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin und Schelling zu den zentralen Autoren der (...) deutschen Mystik betreffend. (shrink)

The book contains the proceedings of the conference 'A Clearing of the German Forest: Mysticism, Idealism and Romanticism' ("Eine Lichtung des deutschen Waldes: Mystik, Idealismus und Romantik") (May, 19-21, 2016, Dominican Convent, Erfurt), including contributions by some of the most important representatives in this field (Jens Halfwassen, Theo Kobusch, Johann Kreuzer, José, Sánchez de Murillo, Glenn A. Magee, Markus Vinzent, Rudolf K. Weigand, Christian Danz, Markus Enders, et al.). The volume presents articles concerning the relationship of Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin and (...) Schelling with the most characteristic German mystics. The conference was organized in the context of the research project "A Historical, Philological and Systematic Study on Mystical Reason and its Reception in Schelling's Works," funded by the German Research Foundation. Der Band enthält die Akten der vom 19. bis 21. Mai im Kapitelsaal des Predigerklosters in Erfurt organisierten internationalen interdisziplinären Tagung "Eine Lichtung des deutschen Waldes: Mystik, Idealismus und Romantik", mit Beiträgen von einigen der wichtigsten Forscher in diesem Gebiet (Jens Halfwassen, Theo Kobusch, Johann Kreuzer, José Sánchez de Murillo, Glenn A. Magee, Markus Vinzent, Rudolf K. Weigand, Christian Danz, Markus Enders, usw.). Gesammelt werden in diesem Band die das Verhältnis von Fichte, Hegel, Hölderlin und Schelling zu den zentralen Autoren der deutschen Mystik betreffenden Aufsätze. Die Tagung fand im Kontext des von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft finanzierten Projekts 'Der ewige Begriff des Individuums': Eine historisch-philologische-systematische Untersuchung der mystischen Vernunft und deren Rezeption im Werk Schellings " statt. (shrink)

Johann Christoph Gottsched gehört unbestritten zu den zentralen Figuren der deutschen Frühaufklärung. Wie wohl kein anderer vor und nach ihm hat er die Entwicklung der deutschsprachigen Sprach-, Rede-, Dicht- und Bühnenkunst geprägt, geleitet von der festen Absicht, diesen Künsten wo möglich eine wissenschaftliche Begründung, eine überschaubare kritische Historie sowie eine klare und elegante Darstellung zu verleihen. Über diese Bemühungen hinaus, hat sich insbesondere die neuere Forschung weiteren Facetten seines riesigen Werkes zugewendet. So erscheint Gottsched als Vorbild zahlreicher Zeitschriftenprojekte, als wichtiger (...) Popularisator der Leibnizschen und Wolffschen Philosophie, als zentraler Reformer der zeitgenössischen Homiletik, als Drehscheibe bei der Vermittlung europäischer Dichtung und Gelehrsamkeit. Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes tragen der gesamten Breite der Gottsched-Forschung Rechnung, prüfen alte Erkenntnisse und stellen neue Einschätzungen zur Diskussion. Darüber wird die Aufmerksamkeit auch auf weniger bekannte Aspekte des Gottschedschen Oeuvres gelenkt, so etwa auf Beiträge zu den Naturwissenschaften und der Staatslehre, auf die akademische Lehrtätigkeit und auf das zunehmende Interesse an anthropologischen und ästhetischen Fragen. MIT BEITRÄGEN VON: Erich Achermann, Thomas Althaus, Detlef Döring, Frank Grunert, Gerda Hassler, Peter Hesselmann, Hanspeter Marti, Christian Meierhofer, Dagmar Mirbach, Merio Scattola, Oliver Scholz, Tomas Sommadossi, Holger Steinmann, Gideon Stiening, Andres Strassberger, Dietmar Till, Klaus Weimar und Jan-Henrik Witthaus. (shrink)

RESUMEN Existe una línea temática moderna que vincula el trabajo sobre las fuentes clásicas del 3er conde de Shaftesbury con el mosaico filosófico que más tarde desarrollará Johann Georg Hamann: se trata del "proyecto socrático", que aparece en el primero bajo la idea de unas Chartae socraticae y será motivación para que Hamann recoja el testigo en sus Memorabilia socratica. Se rastrea las raíces shaftesburianas del Sócrates de Hamann -surgidas de su lectura y traducción de juventud: Sensus communis y Carta (...) sobre el entusiasmo- para delimitar. ABSTRACT There is a modern thematic line that links the work on classical sources of the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury with the philosophical mosaic that Johann Georg Hamann would develop later: it is the "Socratic project", that appears under the idea of Chartae socraticae in the former and will be the motivation for Hamann to take up the witness in his Memorabilia socratica. It traces the Shaftesburian roots of Hamann's Socrates that emerged from his youthful reading and translation of Sensus communis and A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm to delineate in both the role of humour and style for a good philosophical life. (shrink)

This article examines the widespread diagnosis of a »crisis of rhetoric« around 1800 from the hitherto largely neglected perspective of the sermon. Four exemplary cases are used to show how rhetoric continues and transforms itself. Franz Theremin reaffirms the function of rhetoric and represents the largely unbroken continuity of rhetorical knowledge in 19th century homiletics and preaching practice. Johann G. Fichte develops the format of a philosophical sermon supposed to serve precisely as a propaedeutic of critical philosophy, which is in (...) itself anti-rhetorical. Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher develops a new conception of the sermon and also a highly influential conception of religion from the problem of the communicability of religious knowledge. Karl P. Moritz proclaims a religion of art in the form of a sermon and narrates the comical failure of this proclamation, thus exposing the very limits of a sacralization of art. Through these four case studies we can gain a more precise understanding of the »crisis of rhetoric« and envision an interdisciplinary research on the sermon in which literary studies and theology would cooperate closely. (shrink)

Trolley cases are widely considered central to the ethics of autonomous vehicles. We caution against this by identifying four problems. Trolley cases, given technical limitations, rest on assumptions that are in tension with one another. Furthermore, trolley cases illuminate only a limited range of ethical issues insofar as they cohere with a certain design framework. Furthermore, trolley cases seem to demand a moral answer when a political answer is called for. Finally, trolley cases might be epistemically problematic in several ways. (...) To put forward a positive proposal, we illustrate how ethical challenges arise from mundane driving situations. We argue that mundane situations are relevant because of the specificity they require and the scale they exhibit. We then illustrate some of the ethical challenges arising from optimizing for safety, balancing safety with other values such as mobility, and adjusting to incentives of legal frameworks. (shrink)

Psychology and philosophy have long reflected on the role of perspective in vision. Since the dawn of modern vision science—roughly, since Helmholtz in the late 1800s—scientific explanations in vision have focused on understanding the computations that transform the sensed retinal image into percepts of the three-dimensional environment. The standard view in the science is that distal properties—viewpoint-independent properties of the environment (object shape) and viewpoint-dependent relational properties (3D orientation relative to the viewer)–are perceptually represented and that properties of the proximal (...) stimulus (in vision, the retinal image) are not. This view is woven into the nature of scientific explanation in perceptual psychology, and has guided impressive advances over the past 150 years. A recently published article suggests that in shape-perception, the standard view must be revised. It argues, on the basis of new empirical data, that a new entity—perspectival shape—should be introduced into scientific explanations of shape perception. Specifically, the article’s centrally advertised claim is that, in addition to distal shape, perspectival shape is perceived. We argue that this claim rests on a series of mistakes. Problems in experimental design entail that the article provides no empirical support for any claims regarding either perspective or the perception of shape. There are further problems in scientific reasoning and conceptual development. Detailing these criticisms and explaining how science treats these issues is meant to clarify method and theory, and to improve exchanges between the science and philosophy of perception. (shrink)

Epistemic impairment has been the decisive yardstick when excluding infants from political agency. One of the suggestions to bypass the epistemic requirement of political agency and to encourage the inclusion of infants in representative democracies is to resort to proxies or surrogates who share or advocate interests which may be coincidental with their interests. However, this solution is far from desirable, given that it privileges the political agency of parents, guardians and trustees over other adult citizens. This article offers an (...) alternative to this conceptual frame of reference by making a case for the political agency of infants. Firstly, it maintains that political agency can be understood in terms of the several facets involved in political representation. Secondly, it claims that the all-affected principle can be reformulated as an ‘infant-affected-interests principle’ in light of which infants are members of the class of the represented. Thirdly, it explores the ways through which this political agency can occur without having to resort to alternative conceptions of representation. The conclusion ascertains that infant enfranchisement is highly undesirable and that there are more viable forms to promote infant political agency, such as virtual representation, infant-beneficial principles of political action and ombudspersons for infants. (shrink)

Simulation modeling, the core thesis of Calculated Surprises, is transforming the established conception of mathematical modeling in fundamental ways. These transformations feed back into philosophy of science, opening up new perspectives on longstanding oppositions. The book integrates historical features with both practical case studies and broad reflections on science and technology.

We usually think about language and pain as opposites, the one being about expression and connection, the other destructive, "beyond words" so to speak, and isolating. Language Pangs challenges these familiar conceptions and offers a radical reconsideration of the relationship between pain and language in terms of an essential interconnectedness. Ilit Ferber's premise is that we cannot probe the experience of pain without taking account its inherent relation to language; and vice versa, that our understanding of the nature of language (...) essentially depends on how we take account of its correspondence with pain. Language Pangs brings together discussions of philosophical as well as literary texts, an intersection that is especially productive in considering the phenomenology of pain and its bearing on language. Ferber explores a phenomenology of pain and its relation to language, before providing a unique close reading of Johann Gottfried Herder's Treatise on the Origin of Language, the first modern philosophical text to consider language and pain, establishing the cry of pain as the origin of language. Herder also raises important claims regarding the relationship between human and animal, questions of sympathy and the role of hearing in the expression of pain. Beyond Herder, the book grapples with the work of other profound thinkers, including Martin Heidegger, Stanley Cavell, and André Gide, and finally, Sophocles, from them weaving new insights on the experience of pain, expression, sympathy, and hearing. (shrink)

We explore the notion that culture influences people’s values, and their subsequent ideologies and ethical behaviors. We present the idea that culture itself changes with time, and explore the influence of culture and generational markers on consumer ethics by examining differences in these ethical dimensions between Australians, Indonesians, and Indonesian Migrants in Australia, as well as differences between Generation X versus Generations Y and Z. The present study addresses the need to investigate the role that culture plays in consumer ethics, (...) and the interaction between culture and generational attitudes in determining consumer ethics. Results established a distinct multiculturality in our three cultural samples, including a generational cohort differences. This suggests that culture and generational markers influence ethical beliefs, ideologies, and consumer ethics. It further indicates that Indonesian Migrants have acculturated to Australian society both in terms of their values and consumer behaviors, illustrating a crossvergence effect; scores indicate that these Migrants have the highest cultural intelligence among our samples. Implications of the findings for consumer ethics theory and practice are considered and future directions identified. (shrink)

This book is the first to trace the origins and significance of positivism on a global scale. Taking their cues from Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill, positivists pioneered a universal, experience-based culture of scientific inquiry for studying nature and society—a new science that would enlighten all of humankind. Positivists envisaged one world united by science, but their efforts spawned many. Uncovering these worlds of positivism, the volume ranges from India, the Ottoman Empire, and the Iberian Peninsula to Central Europe, (...) Russia, and Brazil, examining positivism’s impact as one of the most far-reaching intellectual movements of the modern world. Positivists reinvented science, claiming it to be distinct from and superior to the humanities. They predicated political governance on their refashioned science of society, and as political activists, they sought and often failed to reconcile their universalism with the values of multiculturalism. Providing a genealogy of scientific governance that is sorely needed in an age of post-truth politics, this volume breaks new ground in the fields of intellectual and global history, the history of science, and philosophy. (shrink)

It is often assumed that deflationist accounts of truth are a product of philosophy of logic and language in the twentieth century. In this paper I show why this assumption is historically short-sighted. An early version of deflationism about truth can already be found in Brentano’s 1889 lecture “On the Concept of Truth.” That Brentano is a precursor of deflationism has gone largely unnoticed because of a different reception of his lecture: according to most scholars, Brentano proposes in it a (...) revision of the correspondence theory of truth that he later rejected in favour of an epistemic theory. Contrary to this received interpretation, I argue that Brentano actually tried to show how one can minimize an account of truth without thereby sacrificing a robust realist intuition about the objectivity of truth. Brentano held on to this deflationist view in his later years, when he assigned self-evident judgments a primary role in our understanding of truth. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

Jon Elster worries about the explanatory power of the social sciences. His main concern is that they have so few well-established laws. Elster develops an interesting substitute: a special kind of mechanism designed to fill the explanatory gap between laws and mere description. However, his mechanisms suffer from a characteristic problem that I will explore in this article. As our causal knowledge of a specific problem grows we might come to know too much to make use of an Elsterian mechanism (...) but still lack a law. We might then find ourselves in the paradoxical position of knowing more relevant causal truths about the phenomenon we are interested in than we did before, but being able to explain less. If this possibility is realized in social science settings, as I argue it might well be, Elster?s mechanistic account is threatened. Moreover, even if the possibility is rarely realized in that way, it raises, simply as a possibility, a conceptual problem with Elster?s mechanistic framework. (shrink)

Resumo: Reconstruiu-se a semiologia geral elaborada nos escritos inacabados e indiretos de Saussure, recolocando sua noção de sentido próxima à de Deleuze e explicando-a por meio deste. Defende-se que toda teoria baseada na noção de “diferença” precisa dar conta do processo de individuação e, junto disso, por meio da descrição de dois níveis de diferenciação. Demonstra-se que isto é realizado por ambos os autores, para além e mesmo junto de suas divergências. Assim, o artigo recoloca a teoria do valor de (...) Saussure na aurora de uma filosofia da diferença, mostrando que este inaugura e mesmo “repete” as teses que Deleuze explicitamente defende, nos anos 1960.: The paper reconstruct the general semiology elaborated in Saussure’s unfinished and indirect writings, replacing his notion of meaning next to that of Deleuze, and explaining it through the latter. We argue that any theory based on the notion of “difference” needs to account for the individuation process and, together, through the description of two levels of differentiation. We demonstrate that this is accomplished by both authors, beyond and even with their disagreements. Thus, the article puts Saussure’s theory of value on the dawn of a philosophy of difference, showing that it inaugurates and even repeats the theses that Deleuze explicitly defends in the 1960s. (shrink)

Integrated Information Theory is one of the leading models of consciousness. It aims to describe both the quality and quantity of the conscious experience of a physical system, such as the brain, in a particular state. In this contribution, we propound the mathematical structure of the theory, separating the essentials from auxiliary formal tools. We provide a definition of a generalized IIT which has IIT 3.0 of Tononi et al., as well as the Quantum IIT introduced by Zanardi et al. (...) as special cases. This provides an axiomatic definition of the theory which may serve as the starting point for future formal investigations and as an introduction suitable for researchers with a formal background. (shrink)

The rapid expansion of research on Brain-Computer Interfaces is not only due to the promising solutions offered for persons with physical impairments. There is also a heightened need for understanding BCIs due to the challenges regarding ethics presented by new technology, especially in its impact on the relationship between man and machine. Here we endeavor to present a scoping review of current studies in the field to gain insight into the complexity of BCI use. By examining studies related to BCIs (...) that employ social research methods, we seek to demonstrate the multitude of approaches and concerns from various angles in considering the social and human impact of BCI technology. For this scoping review of research on BCIs’ social and ethical implications, we systematically analyzed six databases, encompassing the fields of medicine, psychology, and the social sciences, in order to identify empirical studies on BCIs. The search yielded 73 publications that employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Of the 73 publications, 71 studies address the user perspective. Some studies extend to consideration of other BCI stakeholders such as medical technology experts, caregivers, or health care professionals. The majority of the studies employ quantitative methods. Recurring themes across the studies examined were general user opinion towards BCI, central technical or social issues reported, requests/demands made by users of the technology, the potential/future of BCIs, and ethical aspects of BCIs. Our findings indicate that while technical aspects of BCIs such as usability or feasibility are being studied extensively, comparatively little in-depth research has been done on the self-image and self-experience of the BCI user. In general there is also a lack of focus or examination of the caregiver’s perspective. (shrink)

The thesis addresses the nature of causation. It is argued that causation exists and is as local as its causes and effects. As a consequence, the position advocated is contrary to the as yet prevailing view that no 'causal tie' between cause and effect exists. Moreover, it is suggested that this tie can be perceived. The essay attempts to elucidate the nature of causes, effects, and causal mechanisms. It is argued that they are facts rather than particulars or universals. Furthermore (...) it is suggested that these facts can be conceived of as tropes. Finally, in the light of this thesis a few traditional issues are discussed: what is the relation between causation and explanation? How should we conceive of causal laws? Does the idea of mechanisms with different degrees of reliability further our understanding of the determinism/indeterminism issue? (shrink)

Recent controversy about the use of the vertebrate fossil record for external calibration of molecular clocks centers on two issues, the number of dates used for calibration and the reliability of the fossil calibration date. Viewing matters from a palaeontological perspective, we propose three qualitative, phylogenetic criteria that can be used within a comparative framework for the selection of well-constrained calibration dates from the vertebrate fossil record. On the basis of these criteria, we identify three highly suitable new fossil calibration (...) dates for molecular clock estimates: the lungfish–tetrapod split (between 419 and 408 Ma), the bird–crocodile split (between 251 and 243 Ma), and the alligator–caiman split (between 71 and 66 Ma). Together with our previously suggested bird–lizard split (between 252 and 257 Ma), these four fossil dates span a range of very different ages. They are, in our opinion, more suitable for molecular clock calibration than the traditionally used mammal–bird split, which is less well constrained. We plea for closer interactions between paleontologists and molecular biologists in studying the timescale of vertebrate evolution. BioEssays 27:1069–1075, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

John McDowell and Bill Brewer famously defend the view that one can only have empirical beliefs if one’s perceptual experiences serve as reasons for such beliefs, where reasons are understood in terms of subject’s reasons. In this paper I show, first, that it is a consequence of the adoption of such a requirement for one to have empirical beliefs that children as old as 3 years of age have to considered as not having genuine empirical beliefs at all. But we (...) have strong reasons to think that 3-year-old children have empirical beliefs, or so I argue. If this is the case, McDowell and Brewer’s requirement for one to have empirical beliefs faces a strong challenge. After showing this, I propose an alternative requirement for one to have empirical beliefs, and argue that it should be favoured over McDowell and Brewer’s requirement. (shrink)