Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.

Background: Moral distress is considered to be the negative feelings that arise when one knows the morally correct response to a situation but cannot act because of institutional or hierarchal constraints. Objectives: To analyze moral distress and its relation with sociodemographic and academic variables in undergraduate students from different universities in Brazil. Method: Quantitative study with a cross-sectional design. Data were collected through the Moral Distress Scale for Nursing Students, with 499 nursing students from three universities in the extreme south (...) of Brazil answering the scale. The data were analyzed in the statistical software SPSS version 22.0, through descriptive statistical analysis, association tests (t-test and analysis of variance), and linear regression models. Ethical considerations: Approval for the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande. Findings: The mean intensity of moral distress in the constructs ranged from 1.60 to 2.55. As to the occurrence of situations leading to moral distress in the constructs, the frequencies ranged from 1.21 to 2.43. The intensity level of moral distress showed higher averages in the more advanced grades of the undergraduate nursing course, when compared to the early grades of this course (between 5 and 10 grade, average = 2.60–3.14, p = 0.000). Conclusion: The demographic and academic characteristics of the undergraduate nursing students who referred higher levels of moral distress were being enrolled in the final course semesters, were at a federal university, and had no prior degree as an auxiliary nurse/nursing technician. (shrink)

Employing a social justice framework, this book examines the effects of innovation incentives and policies in agriculture. It addresses access to the objects of innovation, the direction of science and the type of innovations that are available, opportunities to participate in research and development, as well as effects on future generations. The book examines the potential value of preventive and reconciliatory measures, drawing on concepts from procedural and restorative justice. As such it offers a comprehensive analysis of the main social (...) justice dimensions affected by agricultural innovation. It gives academics and policy analysts an extensive overview of the deep impact of innovation on society and the environment, and the expectations the general public has from the scientific community. (shrink)

The paper focuses on the current conditions of the Shoah’s memory transmission. The purpose is to point out the frames where a contemporary theory and praxis of the collective memory can be formulated. The first section, reffering to most recent studies, shows both components caracterizing today’s process of memorizing the Shoah: the passagge from memory to post-memory (Hirsh) and the whirling increase of the chance to record and reproduce the past (Derrida, Ferraris). In the second secion, referring to this theoretical (...) frame, I analyse the radical trasformations of the monument as the traditional media of the european public memory. The reference to the empirical case of the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, the Shoah’s Memorial designed by Peter Eisenman, underlines the shift from monument to counter-monument (Young, J. E.) by materializing both the troubles and an inventive strategy to exit the saturation of the current memorial speech. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the question of whether divine passibility is metaphysically possible using the work of Hartshorne, Creel, Shields, Taliaferro and Sarot. Passibilism is seen to be difficult to assert because of the problem of radical particularity, which is the problem of how God might feel in exactitude the experience of many diverse creatures which are radically particular while also feeling different experiences of other equally radically particular beings. I conclude that the question of passibility is an unresolved problem (...) and should be addressed from the perspective of specific attributes of God such as omniscience and omnipresence. (shrink)

Although recent empirical research suggests that there is a gender gap in Anglophone philosophy, no research has been done on the representation of women in non‐Anglophone philosophy. The present study constitutes a first step toward filling this void in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the representation of female students and female faculty members in Greek universities' departments of philosophy. Our findings indicate that the underrepresentation of female students in philosophy is not a universal phenomenon, since female students constitute (...) the majority of philosophy students in Greece at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. However, our findings also suggest that the low number of women in philosophy at the faculty level is not a problem unique to Anglophone philosophy, since female faculty members comprise, on average, only 29% of philosophy faculty members in Greece. In order to explain these findings, we argue, first, that the teaching of philosophy at the secondary level may motivate female students in Greece to enter and persist in philosophy, and, second, that since the gender gap at the faculty level in Greece cannot be attributed to the low number of female students in the philosophy pipeline, the causes of women's poor participation in philosophy at the faculty level should be looked for elsewhere. (shrink)

Philosophy courses help students develop logical reasoning and argument skills or so it is widely assumed. To test if this is actually the case, we examined university students’ familiarity with the basic tools for argument. Our findings, based on a sample of 651 students enrolled in philosophy courses at six Greek universities, indicate that students who have prior experience with philosophy are more familiar with the basic tools for argument, and that students who have taken philosophy courses at the university (...) have stronger argument-recognition and argument-evaluation skills compared to university students with no prior experience with philosophy. Moreover, our findings suggest that students get more familiar with the basic tools for argument as their level of engagement with philosophy increases, and that they get significantly better at evaluating arguments when they become graduate students in philosophy. However, our findings also suggest that the majority of students in philosophy classrooms haven’t developed fluency in basic argument-related concepts and skills. To remedy this, we argue that philosophy instructors need to re-think the place that the teaching of argument has in philosophy courses, and the way that they teach students about argument. (shrink)

En este trabajo se defiende la tesis de que el liberalismo de corte individualista ha sido insuficiente como modelo teórico político para realizar el ideal liberal de libertad individual y, sobre esa base, se argumenta que lo determinante a la hora de realizar el ideal de libertad individual es la relación entre cultura y libertad. El liberalismo, sin que por ello ignore que hay culturas, se enfoca decididamente en el individuo y en su libertad. En ese desconocimiento relativo de la (...) diversidad cultural, concretamente del papel que la cultura juega frente al ideal de libertad individual, el liberalismo se ha conducido a un callejón sin salida: uno en el que esa relativa ignorancia afecta su propio ideal de libertad individual. (shrink)

Metaphysical realism about mental disorder is the thesis that mental disorder exists mind-independently. There are two ways to challenge metaphysical realism about mental disorder. The first is by denying that mental disorder exists. The second is by denying that mental disorder exists mind-independently. Or, differently put, by arguing that mental disorder is mind-dependent. The aim of this paper is three-fold: (a) to examine three ways in which mental disorder can be said to be mind-dependent (namely, by being causally dependent on (...) the human mind, by being weakly dependent on human attitudes, and by being strongly dependent on human attitudes), (b) to clarify their differences, and (c) to discuss their implications regarding metaphysical realism about mental disorder. I argue that mental disorder being mind-dependent in the first two senses is compatible with metaphysical realism about mental disorder, whereas mental disorder being mind-dependent in the third sense is not. (shrink)

In this article, I will discuss the Husserlian phenomenology of animality, by focusing on several texts of the 1920s in which the animal is determined as an abnormal variation of the human being. My aim is to address the question of the abnormality of the animal by reintegrating it in its original context, which is Husserl’s theory of normality. I will sketch the general framework of this theory, its articulations and strata, in order to eventually raise some paradoxical issues, specifically (...) in relation to how the question of animality is interpreted through the couple normality/abnormality. (shrink)

The Anthropocene is seen by many scholars across the sciences and the humanities as a tool for political action. Yet the validation process for this term appears to be extremely conservative. According to geologists’ leading efforts to formalize the term, signals need to petrify in stratigraphic sequences in order to become candidates to mark the start of the Anthropocene. I argue that this emphasis results from a fossilized view of becoming, where time is seen as a punctuated accumulation of solid (...) surfaces that are accessible only in retrospect. I show that this petrified view of change relates to a tendency to divorce earth and sky, which currently divides the practices of humanities scholars and geologists, as well as those of earth system scientists and stratigraphers collaborating on the formalization of the Anthropocene. Challenging this tendency, I conclude, requires opening up earth’s history to the more-than-solid flows of environmental change. (shrink)

Apuleius’ generation was caught in the passage from philosophic monotheism to that form of imperial henotheism whose aim was to counteract the tension between philosophy and popular religiosity. It can be affirmed that terminology, vocabulary and especially the motive of discreetness and the prudence in the use of defining syntagmatic expressions are a common fact of Medioplatonism. Author’s attitude is that of a philosopher resorting to the mystic cults, plainly aware of their value and, not the last of the things, (...) of the worship responsibilities devolving on a deliberate attachment. The prudence characterizing the discourse on the ineffable nature of the divinity dwells rather on the meaning and requirement of Platonic mysteries, as they were translated and interpreted by Medioplatonism, in its semi-literal manner, current that Apuleius joined on a base of a certain familiarity from a stylistic and thematic point of view. (shrink)

This paper is addressing Husserl’s critique of psychologism in order to gain a better understanding of an up to date phenomenological research. Staring with Maurice Merleau-Ponty, phenomenology became more and more interested in how psychoanalytic theory can contribute to its findings. The latest phenomenological research reflects this growing interest in psychoanalysis. I will demonstrate in this paper that Husserl’s critique of psychologism enables this interest and that the psychoanalytic theory offers the same critique in response. Thus, the ego problem leading (...) to the deadlock of intersubjectivity, represent one of the common grounds phenomenology and psychoanalysis can meet. In this respect I will use the works of Marc Richir and Jacques Lacan. Emphasizing Marc Richir’s conception of language as phenomenon and the twist he gives to the concept of perceptive phantasia introduced by Husserl in 1918, I will consider the concept of unconscious as a way to solve the intersubjectivity dilemma. (shrink)

La investigación sobre leyes de la naturaleza constituye una de las aventuras del intelecto humano en su esfuerzo primigenio por entender la realidad y nuestro lugar en ella. En la primera parte del libro expondremos la aproximación biográfica que motiva nuestra investigación (capítulo 1). La segunda parte examina los orígenes históricos del imaginario de leyes de la naturaleza que se remontan a la filosofía natural de la época de Descartes y Newton (capítulos 2 y 3). La tercera parte sistematiza el (...) debate estándar en filosofía de las leyes de la naturaleza, que se ha consagrado en las concepciones humeanas y anti-humeanas, en donde las primeras sostienen que las leyes son meros enunciados de regularidades (capítulo 4), mientras que las segundas afirman que ellas corresponden a alguna clase especial de necesidades naturales (capítulos 5 y 6). En la cuarta parte propondremos nuevas perspectivas sobre las leyes de la naturaleza que escapan al debate estándar. Examinaremos el problema de Wigner acerca de la efectividad de las matemáticas en la formulación de leyes físicas (capítulo 7), elaborando la concepción inferencial de las leyes que ofrece una respuesta al problema wigneriano (capítulo 8). Asimismo, indagaremos el carácter modal de las leyes de la naturaleza (capítulo 9) y el supuesto metafísico que afirma que la realidad tiene una estructura, que ha sido asociada a las leyes (capítulo 10). Finalmente, en la quinta parte del libro cerraremos nuestra investigación elaborando el eliminativismo nómico, que nos insta a abandonar el imaginario de leyes de la naturaleza tanto en ciencias como en nuestra interpretación filosófica de las mismas (capítulos 11 y 12). (shrink)

This literature review provides an overview of ethical approaches used at the intersection of climate change, the environment and health. Six ethical approaches are discussed: (i) rights- based approaches, concentrating on human rights, animal rights and environmental rights; (ii) justice approaches, discussing issues of distribution, relations, climate health justice, future generations, and interspecies justice; (iii) integrated concepts of health, such as One Health and Planetary Health; (iv) Indigenous and non-Western perspectives, introducing the significance of biocultural heritage, harmonious relationships, and decolonisation (...) movements; (v) professional responsibilities towards the environment among health workers and other professions; and (vi) ethical principles in relation to climate change and the environment. A concise assessment is provided on how each of these ethical approaches may inform policy and practice addressing climate change, environmental degradation and health. (shrink)

A tension between solidity and fluidity tends to divide the sciences and the humanities along lines that define what is hard and soft in knowledge. This divide relates to similar dichotomies, between exteriority and interiority, material and spiritual, homogeneity and heterogeneity, matter and form, all of which have been partially mapped in Western thinking onto a traditional separation between earth and sky. Yet particular forms of knowledge sit uneasily within these tensions, a paradigmatic example of which is an understanding of (...) solids as ‘viscous fluids’. This article explores the concept of viscosity, attending to how it has impacted on understandings of matter, as well as broader social and cultural issues. It does so, particularly, by looking into the scientific study of ice, a material that has historically been regarded as solidfluid, to argue that life and sociality remain possible only in so far as matter that is viscid allows solid and fluid states to mingle. (shrink)

This paper argues for a revised concept of authenticity entailing two demands that must be balanced. The first demand moves authenticity from the position of a strictly self-regarding virtue towards the position of a fully social virtue, acknowledging the crucial feature of steadiness, i.e. self-consistency, as being precisely what we ‘naturally’ lack. Nevertheless, the value of personal authenticity in a modern, open society comes from the fact that it brings about not only steadiness, but also the public development of a (...) variety of existential options that can be understood as Millian ‘original experiments in living’. Thus the second demand of authenticity is a demand for ‘experimental’ authenticity which covers the whole spectrum of technologies of the self, from Nietzschean ‘brief habits’, to the use of enhancement technologies. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to analyze the significance of the absence of the problem of living body in Heidegger's analytic of Dasein. In order to evaluate the occurrences of the problem of the body in Being and Time, I also refer to the context of some of Heidegger's later work where there is to be found a sketch of an ontological investigation of the living body. I analyze then in detail the scarce occurrences of body in the fundamental (...) ontology, showing finally that the lack of a proper phenomenological examination of living body generates a series of conceptual difficulties for the problem of Dasein's death, precisely when the issue of dead body is at stake. (shrink)

The debate about how neurotechnologies impact authenticity has focused on two inter-related dimensions: self-discovery and self-creation. In this paper, we develop a broader framework that includes the experimental and relational dimensions of authenticity, both understood as decisive for shaping one’s narrative identity. In our view, neurointerventions that alter someone’s personality traits will also impact her very own self-understanding across time. We argue that experimental authenticity only needs a minimum conception of narrative coherence of the self and that reversibility should remain (...) a key feature in the ethical assessment of neurotechnologies. The relational dimension of authenticity derives from the fact that a process of self-constitution is never a solitary business. The significant others act not just as subsequent judges of one’s life decisions, but as real co-authors of one’s self. We discuss relevant cases in which others are actively contributing to the meaning-making process, as to the direction one’s life is taking. We also claim that the experimental and the relational dimensions of authenticity should aim to correct each other. The relational dimension introduces socially approved standards as well as limitations to the array of available possibilities of self-fashioning or human enhancement. The experimental side enables us to avoid confusing one’s personal identity with a social and narrative construct that only bears the mark of social pressure and conformism. (shrink)

We reply to Artiga and Martinez’s claim according to which the organizational account of cross-generation functions implies a backward looking interpretation of etiology, just as standard etiological theories of function do. We argue that Artiga and Martinez’s claim stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about the notion of “closure”, on which the organizational account relies. In particular, they incorrectly assume that the system, which is relevant for ascribing cross-generation organizational function, is the lineage. In contrast, we recall that organizational closure refers (...) to a relational description of a network of mutual dependencies, abstracted from time, in which production relations are irrelevant. From an organizational perspective, ascribing a function to an entity means locating it in the abstract system that realizes closure. In particular, the position of each entity within the relational system conveys an etiological explanation of its existence, because of its dependence on the effects exerted by other entities subject to closure. Because of the abstract relational nature of closure, we maintain that the organizational account of functions does not endorse a backward looking interpretation of etiology. As a consequence, it does not fall prey of epiphenomenalism. (shrink)

Archaeology, like most sciences that rely on stratigraphic excavation for studying the past, tends to conceptualize this past as lying deep underneath the ground. Accordingly, chronologies tend to be depicted as a movement from bottom to top, which contrast with sciences that illustrate the passage of time horizontally. By paying attention to the development of the visual language of disciplines that follow stratigraphy, I show how chronologies get entangled with other temporalities, particularly those of writing. Relying on recent ethnographic work (...) with archaeologists, the analysis reveals that excavation emerges as a double vertical movement of downward destruction and upward reconstruction that coincides with a systematic dissociation of time and space that has important effects for the understanding of the formation of sites. I conclude by looking at some of the implications of this dissociation for contemporary theoretical discussions, particularly those that emerged after the phenomenological push to horizontalize the discipline. Challenging this dissociation, I argue that the conceptualization of time in science should be understood as a process that depends on the body and unfolds in movement. (shrink)

El presente texto tiene como propósito analizar teórico-conceptualmente las prácticas pedagógicas de la ética implementadas por los docentes en la universidad tradicional y la universidad popular en los años 2010 – 2020. Teniendo en cuenta, primero, las características inherentes de la universidad tradicional tanto en sus orígenes y principios fundamentales; segundo, las practicas pedagógicas de la ética en el rol docente; y tercero, el advenimiento, desarrollo y propuesta de la Universidad popular. Mediante este análisis fue posible develar los paralelismos entre (...) sus divergencias y puntos de encuentro con base en la ética-práctica del rol docente, para el mejoramiento continuo tanto de esta área del conocimiento como de los demás saberes en general. (shrink)

Agostinho de Hipona recebeu uma formação intelectual nos moldes da cultura clássica, tendo sido educado segundo o ciclo disciplinar varroniano. Provém dessa educação sua apreciação da dialética como arte que instrui argumentar corretamente e que permite discernir, nos discursos, os elementos que geram a falsidade da conclusão. É a dialética que permite conectar proposições verdadeiras para alcançar conclusões também verdadeiras e é elaa ciência que deflagra a falsidade e a dissimulação nos argumentos. Ora, na obra Contra Crescônio, gramático e donatista, (...) Agostinho defende-se da acusação descabida de ser ele um homo dialecticus que, por sua habilidade de argumentar, falsearia o verdadeiro e tornaria o verdadeiro falso. Crescônio, para acusar Agostinho, acusa a dialética. Em sua réplica, Agostinho defenderá a eminência e importância dessa ciência para, a partir desse fundamento, atacar o donatismo e, finalmente, liquidar Crescônio. É precisamente essa apreciação positiva da dialética que este artigo pretende destacar, ressaltando assim a importância do estudo de Contra Crescônio para o estudo da dialética agostiniana. Abstract:Augustine of Hippo received an intellectual formation in the molds of the classical culture, having been educated according to Varro’s disciplinary cycle. This educational background provided him an appreciation of Dialectics as the liberal art which instructs to reason correctly, and allows discerning, in discourses, the elements that generate false conclusions. It is Dialectics that allows connecting true propositions to reach true conclusions, and it is the science that deflagrates falsehood and dissimulation in arguments. In his work, Against Cresconius, grammarian and Donatist, Augustine defends himself against the unreasonable charge of being a homo dialecticus, who, by his ability to argue, would falsify the truth and turn it false. Cresconius, to accuse Augustine, charges dialectics. In his reply, Augustine will defend the eminence and importance of this science to, from this foundation, attack Donatism and, finally, liquidate Cresconius. It is precisely this positive appreciation of Dialectics that this article intends to highlight, thus highlighting the importance of studying Contra Cresconius for the study Augustinian Dialectics. (shrink)

En este trabajo sostenemos que el giro jonasiano experimentado por la teoría autopoiética de Varela, que tuvo como finalidad incluir un complemento teleológico para la autopoiesis, puede reemplazarse por la fenomenología de la biología del filósofo alemán Helmuth Plessner. Esta última, a diferencia de la propuesta jonasiana, no incluye presupuestos existenciales antropocentristas en la consideración de los seres vivos. Nuestro argumento se despliega en cuatro pasos: a) en primer lugar, desarrollaremos los elementos fundamentales de la versión clásica de la teoría (...) autopoiética, elaborada por Maturana y Varela en los años ’70, la que, entre otras cosas, es decididamente antiteleológica; b) luego, mostraremos que años más tarde, Varela se vuelca hacia la teleología en el llamado “giro jonasiano”, que incluye dentro de la teoría autopoiética elementos de la fenomenología existencial; c) posteriormente, desarrollaremos algunos de los elementos más relevantes de la fenomenología biológica plessneriana, especialmente los referidos al concepto de posicionalidad y que sirven para esta complementariedad entre la posición autopoiética y la plessneriana; d) para finalizar, concluiremos que la teoría autopoiética, debido a las acusaciones que recibe por haber girado hacia una filosofía existencialista, puede migrar hacia la fenomenología biológica plessneriana, la cual no adolece de los problemas antropocéntricos atribuidos a la fenomenología jonasiana. (shrink)

Prior to having its authenticity and transparency examined the openness of human existence may be said to need preservation as is, regardless of its receptivity and responsiveness to the truth of Being. Paradoxically, in self-sacrifice the fulfilment of Dasein’s ownmost potentiality-for-being is dependent upon a most radical disowning of itself. This investigation approaches self-sacrifice on the basis of its analogy with the creation of the work of art – as the peculiar fixation of the existing, already disclosed world of everydayness (...) within Dasein’s final absence. Finally, the suggestion is made that the incommensurable greatness of the heroic self-sacrifice needs to be itself preserved from the degradation brought about by massive and compulsive reproduction. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology , Volume 8, Edition 1 May 2008. (shrink)

Aunque el contenido del Eutifrón se revela en saber qué es la piedad, este diálogo, pese a una inevitable apariencia, no tiene como fin último proporcionar una definición proposicional de este fenómeno. La piedad se pone al descubierto a partir de la dialéctica de Sócrates, cuya insistencia en volver al principio del problema no proviene de una incapacidad del interlocutor de definir el asunto, sino de la debilidad misma del discurso. La necesidad de plantear otra vez desde el principio la (...) cuestión suscita en el intérprete advertir la importancia de la ejecución misma del diálogo como testimonio y acreditación de su propio contenido. De acuerdo a esta ejecución se podrá comprender en qué medida el sentido de la piedad se encuentra en relación al carácter principiante de Sócrates. (shrink)

En el debate sobre la equidad los impuestos indirectos han sido criticados por regresivos e inequitativos. Esta crítica, aplicada a los impuestos proporcionales sobre el consumo, supone que existe una distribución indebida de las cargas contributivas sobre los que menos tienen, y por lo tanto, se exige muy poco de quienes tienen mayor capacidad de pago. No obstante, existe una postura que rechaza la noción de capacidad de pago, y además afirma que cualquier evaluación en términos de equidad o inequidad (...) es sesgada si no tiene en cuenta los efectos globales del esquema institucional en su conjunto. Este trabajo defiende que los impuestos proporcionales sobre el consumo sí pueden ser criticados de manera aislada, mediante una objeción interna y una objeción externa. La objeción interna permite aclarar por qué razón los impuestos sobre el consumo no necesariamente deben ser proporcionales para tratar equitativamente a los ciudadanos, pero además implica rechazar la idea de que los tributos indirectos son injustos. La objeción externa discute que la evaluación de las instituciones tributarias deba tomar en cuenta los efectos generales de la estructura institucional en su totalidad. (shrink)

From a Wittgensteinian point of view, my goal is to argue against the idea that teaching critical thinking should have as one of its aims the possibility of changing or adapting our deeply held beliefs. As pointed out by the Austrian philosopher in On Certainty, we have a world-picture which is neither true nor false, but above all, ‘it is the substratum of all my enquiring and asserting’. Besides that, in his remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough, Wittgenstein insists on the (...) idea that different communities have their own rituals that express ways of acting, which become crystallized in their customs and institutions, similar to the magical rituals described by Frazer. The degree of similarity among them is greater than we suspect, and what interested Wittgenstein was to understand how we see things by looking for the links between the various ritualistic events. Based on these remarks, I argue that, if our deeply held beliefs are a source of necessity, instead of aiming to change/adapt them, teaching critical thinking should—by showing the links between diverse cultures—essentially avoid employing them in a dogmatic way, since our own deeply held beliefs could have been different ones. (shrink)

L’articolo esamina alcune delle condizioni che hanno favorite lo sviluppo di una estetica del quotidiano nella filosofia contemporanea. Esso spiega il motivo per cui certe posizioni dell'estetica del ventesimo dovevano essere contrastate in modo da tenere adeguatamente in considerazione l'arte contemporanea, e dimostra che due delle principali caratteristiche della estetica del ventesimo secolo che dovevano essere superate sono una specifica forma di estetismo e di antropocentrismo. Fornendo alcuni esempi (o modelli) di come quest'ultimo compito può essere realizzato, sostengo che l'attenzione (...) dell'estetica non deve più essere esclusivamente per l'arte nelle sue forme tradizionali, ma può anche indirizzarsi verso il regno di oggetti considerati come non artistici come la ambiente e, in alcuni casi estremi, anche tutto ciò che è percepibile. (shrink)