The goal of this paper is to assess biological naturalism in light of the adaptationist debate. Searle is famous for explicity pursuing a biological foundation for his theory of consciousness. However, evolutionary biology receives little attention in his work, which results in crucial theoretical confusions over adaptationism. In this paper, we will propose two theses concerning Searle's approach to consciousness in the context of the adaptationist debate. First, Searle's attack on adaptationism only applies to its naive version, failing to touch (...) any of the more sophisticated versions of adaptationism, especially the empirical one. Second, despite his attack, in the end Searle embraces empirical adaptationism about consciousness. Howsoever, Searle's empirical foundation for his thesis that the evolutionary advantage of consciousness lies in a greater power of discrimination faces a serious problem of generalization regarding non-human animals. (shrink)

In this essay we will argue for the following theses: 1- know-how is not a form of practical knowledge devoid of propositional sense; 2- the relationship between each perception and the body itself is metaphysically contingent. 3- it is up to the brain to configure or to shape a physical body (Körper) into a living body (Leib) and not the other way around; 4- phenomenal externalism of enactivist nature, even in its mild form, is empirically implausible: the correlation between the (...) conscious character of sensory experience with spatiotemporal neuronal patterns is much more systematic and regular than with anything outside the brain. But in its radical form is entirely implausible and contra-intuitive: phenomenal duplicates are not necessarily duplicates of agency; in short, 5-we are our own brain that has a body, avatars, and artifacts, properly configured and molded by the brain, and not a body that has a brain among other essential organs. (shrink)

In this essay we will argue for the following theses: 1- know-how is not a form of practical knowledge devoid of propositional sense; 2- the relationship between each perception and the body itself is metaphysically contingent (organisms and bodies can vary, as can even the spaces they occupy in the same experience vary), 3- it is up to the brain to configure or to shape a physical body (Körper) into a living body (Leib) and not the other way around; 4- (...) phenomenal externalism of enactivist nature, even in its mild form, is empirically implausible: the correlation between the conscious character of sensory experience with spatiotemporal neuronal patterns is much more systematic and regular than with anything outside the brain. But in its radical form is entirely implausible and contra-intuitive: phenomenal duplicates are not necessarily duplicates of agency; in short, 5-we are our own brain that has a body, avatars, and artifacts, properly configured, and molded by the brain, and not a body that has a brain among other essential organs. (shrink)

This essay aims to expose the metaphysical underpinnings of enactivism. While enactivism relies heavily on rejecting the traditional mind-body problem by excluding the familiar thought experiments that favor phenomenal dualism, the crucial point that is overlooked is instead the brain-body problem, specifically the crucial interaction between the brain and the bodily limbs in their embodied activities of perception and cognition. If enactivism is correct, differences in sensory experience necessarily entail differences in embodied activity—this is the metaphysical core of enactivism, which (...) we think is entirely wrong. We will argue that a physical or biological body ("Körper") is configured or shaped into a perceptually living body ("Leib") by brain patterns and not by embodied activity or by the so-called sensorimotor contingencies. Undoubtedly, embodied actions influence sensory perception. However, since variations in embodied actions do not necessarily lead to variations in sensory experience, they are not metaphysically constitutive of these experiences (supervenience claim). (shrink)

In this work, originally published in 1986, Victor Seidler explores the different notions of respect, equality and dependency in Kant’s moral writings. He illuminates central tensions and contradictions not only within Kant’s moral philosophy, but within the thinking and feeling about human dignity and social inequality which we take very much for granted within a liberal moral culture. In challenging our assumption of the autonomy of morality, Seidler also questions our understanding of what it means for someone to live (...) as a person in his or her own right. The autonomy of individuals cannot be assumed but has to be reasserted against relationships of subordination. This involves a break with a rationalist morality, so that respect for others involves respect for emotions, feelings, desires and needs, and establishes a fuller autonomy as a basis for freedom and justice. (shrink)

Western scholarship on religion and gender has devoted considerable attention to women’s entry into leadership roles across various religious traditions and denominations. However, very little is known about the dynamics of women’s religious authority and leadership in developing settings, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of powerful and diverse religious expressions. This study employs a combination of uniquely rich and diverse data to examine women’s formal religious authority in a predominantly Christian setting in Mozambique. I first use survey data to (...) test hypotheses regarding the prevalence and patterns of women’s formal leadership across different denominational groups. I then support and extend the quantitative results with insights on pathways and consequences of women’s ascent to formal congregation authority drawn from qualitative data. The analysis illustrates how women’s religious authority both defies and reasserts the gendered constraints of the religious marketplace and the broader gender ideology in this developing context. (shrink)

In this paper, we define the family FiCn:={FiCn}n∈ω of logics by means of semantics of bivaluations. This family is a variant of the family of paraconsistent bivaluated Ciun-logics, defined and studied by J. Ciuciura. We will show that every logic in FiCn can be alternatively defined by means of finite matrices. This result arises from the characterisation of the truth-values of the involved matrices (relative to each FiCn-logic) as being specific finite sequences of elements of the set 2 := {0,1}. (...) Moreover, we will show in this paper that such characterisation is related to the well-known standard Fibonacci Sequence, which is presented here by means of its binary expansion. (shrink)

This paper proposes a transversal lecture of the Phenomenology of Mind from Hegel by following in the text the idea of death. To show the different figures of the death in the book, the author uses three lecture`s key: a) the death as natural end of the life, b) the fear of the death as regulative idea by the constitution the society, c) overcoming death through one kind of rational way of survival.

The Demon Women and Their Masquerades – a Few Symptoms of Japanese Cinema. The demon woman is a frequent theme in Japanese cinema, pertaining to more than an imaginary hypostasis of femininity. Jacques Lacan, in his brief and rare references to Japanese Cinema and particularly to Nagisa Oshima’s Realm of the Senses, points out the specific power of feminine eroticism which goes beyond the masquerade. This unanalysible power of japanese women is stated by Lacan within the context of what he (...) calls the sinthome in his analysis of James Joyce’s oeuvre. This paper is a psychoanalytical approach of Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu Monogatari based on the aforementioned concepts and elaborations. Wakasa, the main feminine character, is thus connected to Lacan’s views on Woman (femme), on the relation between the Phallus and the feminine masquerade and, ultimately, to the Real dimension of the phantom. (shrink)

Experimental high-energy and nuclear physics was created in Spain thanks to Joaquín Catalá de Alemany, who founded the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) at the University of Valencia in 1950. The physics of photographic emulsions, cheap and easy to manipulate, were well adapted to the depressed situation in Spain following the Civil War. This essay describes how, using these techniques, Catalá de Alemany created a group, established links with international laboratories, and fostered a tradition that continues today.

A FISCALIZAÇÃO DO EXECUTIVO ESTADUAL À LUZ DO ORÇAMENTO PÚBLICO E SEUS REFLEXOS NA CONJUNTURA POLÍTICA E PEDAGÓGICA DA REDE PÚBLICA DE ENSINO BÁSICO DO RIO GRANDE DO NORTE.

Este artículo, partiendo de un proceso metalingüístico estandarizado, pretende mostrar algunas alternativas psicolingüísticas al aprendizaje conversacional. El desarrollo del estudio corresponde al siguiente esquema: (1) Importancia de la comprensión metalingüística en el perfeccionamiento de una le..

In this wide-ranging and multidisciplinary volume, leading scholars, activists, journalists, and public figures deliberate about the creative and critical potential of public imagination in an era paradoxically marked by intensifying globalization and resurgent nationalism. Divided into five sections, these essays explore the social, political, and cultural role of imagination and civic engagement, offering cogent, ingenious reflections that stand in stark contrast to the often grim rhetoric of our era. Short and succinct, the essays engage with an interconnected ensemble of themes (...) and issues while also providing insights into the specific geographical and social dynamics of each author's national or regional context. Part 1 introduces the reader to theoretical reflections on imagination and the public sphere; Part 2 illustrates dynamics of public imagination in a diverse set of cultural contexts; Part 3 reflects in various ways on the urgent need for a radically transformed public and civic imagination in the face of worldwide ecological crisis; Part 4 suggests new societal possibilities that are related to spiritual as well as politically revolutionary sources of inspiration; Part 5 explores characteristics of present and potentially emerging global society and the existing transnational framework that could provide resources for a more humane global order. Erudite and thought-provoking, On Public Imagination makes a vital contribution to political thought, and is accessible to activists, students, and scholars alike. (shrink)

Abstract.The United States today is faced with a crisis of the liberal system stemming from a shortage of resources and ideas. Liberalism assumes that there will always be enough resources to meet all needs and that politics consists of the struggle of interest groups for resources to meet their particular needs. Liberalism is wrong on both counts: there are not enough resources and there is a common good which includes all particular needs properly understood. We must now revise our ideas (...) and institutions in order to make the common good attainable. Various changes in ideas and institutions toward that end are suggested. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como finalidade apresentar um panorama geral acerca da realidade pastoral da região metropolitana de Campinas. Como todos os grandes centros urbanos, Campinas exibe uma condição bastante complexa, repleta de contradições, belezas e desafios. Jesus, como homem histórico, sensível e inserido nas realidades de seu tempo, respondeu também às situações de sua época e nos dá pistas para respondermos de modo satisfatório aos fiéis de nosso tempo. Neste artigo, para a atividade eclesial diante de tais realidades metropolitanas, (...) são enumeradas sugestões, assumidas em nosso sétimo Plano de Pastoral Orgânica da Arquidiocese, no que diz respeito às atuações de pastorais, movimentos e outros organismos. Dessa forma, visamos, na práxis de Jesus de Nazaré, tornar os pobres protagonistas de suas vidas no exercício da evangelização, na realidade pastoral em que vivemos. (shrink)

The deployment of the Albanian admirative as well as the evidential particles kinse ‘allegedly’ and gjoja ‘supposedly’ in Kosovar electronic news sources to render either dubitative or neutral reports — depending on both the source and the timing — contributed to the project of an independent Kosovo. The usages can be divided into three periods: 1994–1997, 1998–1999, and post-1999. During the first period, usage was exclusively dubitative and deployed for Serbian news sources. During the second period, which corresponded to the (...) intensification of the armed uprising, usage shifted to neutrality, and during the third period, after the NATO bombing campaign, it returned somewhat to dubitativity, this time aimed at UN and NATO sources. The discussion demonstrates how pragmatics and grammatical categories contribute to the construction of political narratives and argues that a socially informed linguistic analysis is crucial to understanding how politics is performed in the world. (shrink)

Dans ce travail, je me propose d'examiner, en réfléchissant sur l'apophatisme, les modalités par lesquelles la philosophie entre ou peut entrer en dialogue avec la théologie. L'ouverture vers la pensée théologique est fondée sur le fait que l'apophatisme philosophique peut être compris comme une étape préparatoire à l'apophatisme théologique: le dernier niveau auquel le philosophe peut arriver dans sa méditation peut correspondre à la première étape de la pensée apophatique à un niveau theologique.

Un certain nombre de critiques ont affirmé que dans la doctrine de Descartes il n’y a aucune possibilité d’une esthétique. La plupart des autres ont pensé qu’il y avait, dans cette doctrine, tout au moins une esthétique implicite et que cette esthétique, dont ils empruntaient les traits, non à Descartes lui-même, mais à des critiques comme Boileau, d’Aubignae, Bosse, de Chambray, etc., était rigoureusement rationaliste, Descartes ayant « confondu le Beau dans le Vrai ».J’ai essayé de montrer qu’il y a (...) une esthétique cartésienne explicite : que 1° cette esthétique est moins pauvre qu’on ne Ta dit, si Ton tient compte de tout ce qui dans les Lettres du philosophe est relatif à l’art ; que 2° le Compendium musicæ est plus riche en théorie qu’on ne l’a cru et que les vues qu’y développe Descartes ne valent pas seulement pour la musique ; que 3° ces vues ne sont pas rigoureusement intellectualistes, mais que la part qui y est faite à la sensation et à l’association est au moins égale à celle revendiquée pour la raison ; que 4° s’étant posé la question de savoir ce qu’est le Beau en général, Descartes a conclu qu’il est impossible de le déterminer, qu’il n’y a pas d’évidence esthétique et que, en dernière analyse, « ce qui plaira à plus de gens pourra être nommé simplement le plus beau ». (shrink)