The research subject in the present article is A. Comte’s and H. Spencer’s beliefs, who are considered the representatives of early positivism. The particular emphasis is made on the ethnicity issues. A. Comte distinguished three stages of the human consciousness elevating: theological or fictitious, metaphysic or abstract, positive or real. The scientist claimed the quality of a society as a whole is directly related to the level of the individual development. Moreover, moral ideas, which have to be free from theology (...) and metaphysics and based on the new philosophy of positive thinking, have a powerful influence on the society development. As a result, moral principles have to be guided by social solidarity and be a society’s logical controller. However, the societal progress rejected the scientist’s notion. According to H. Spencer, social morality arises from natural one whereby altruism and social equity are built on the concern of the kind preservation. The higher the society is organized, the greater the level of the equity is. The researcher provides the example illustrating an ideal society in which a well-functioning organ evolves better than others which in turn means “social equity” principle is implemented. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the first comparative analysis of A. Comte’s and H. Spencer’s moral-ethnical concepts as well as defining the most controversial theses in their theories. There has been found out that the key difference in the philosophers’ ideas is their seeing into the real nature of morality, having its ground either in the human mind (Comte) or natural environment (Spencer). The definition of the society as an entity with its characteristics resembling a biological organism is considered to be significantly similar in their views. Secondly discovered similarity is the definition of the human history as a progressive process in which individual human mind, morality and a society as an entity are evolving simultaneously. The present paper also puts forward the conclusion that the ideas about the history as a progressive process resulted at a “positive” stage turned out to be the most debatable issues. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to determine the prospects for the export of Russian information technologies and cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity with the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The article discusses the request of the ASEAN countries in the field of AI and cybersecurity, the level of development of the digital economy in this region and its impact on the prospects for Russian IT-exports; in addition, the structure and dynamics of Russian (...) IT-exports to the world market are presented. The scientific novelty lies in the reassessment of the prospects for cooperation between Russia and the ASEAN countries in the field of IT, AI and cybersecurity. As a result, the factors influencing the competitiveness of Russia in the field of IT were identified and the leading Russian IT-companies and their experience in the global market were analyzed. Based on this, a conclusion was made about the prospects for the export of Russian IT and cooperation in the field of AI and cybersecurity with the ASEAN countries. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze the manifestation of the universal axiological cultural category of sinfulness in the media space. The study's subject was this category's properties and functions, which are actualized when represented in digital media. In accordance with this goal, we used such methods as continuous sampling and observation of the facts of the representation of cultural categories, which allowed us to determine the linguistic material for analysis and a statistical method for quantitative analysis. The content analysis of the (...) units selected for the study was used to identify the role, properties, and main functions of the universal axiological category of sinfulness. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that, for the first time, the universal nature of the category of sinfulness, its functions and properties, represented in media publications, were considered. Main conclusions: the study of the facts of actualization of the category of sinfulness in the media space allowed us to assert that the phenomenon under study is associated with topics such as politics, crime (in news media), and the assessment of citizens' behavior and morality (in religious media). These facts indicate that the primary function of the category of sinfulness is regulatory, aimed at evaluating and correcting the actions of members of society, as well as creating public opinion. In addition, the article proves that the category of sinfulness has transcultural properties, penetrating and being realized in all cultural layers, from local to global. In these cultural layers, the nature of the category acquires a different shade. In particular, at the global level, the category of sinfulness acquires the meaning of guilt, which is a consequence of the significant influence of Western culture on the global culture. It seems that the revealed properties of the category indicate its high importance for modern Russian society. The established regulatory function will make it possible to apply this category, including within the framework of regulating and managing public opinion and promoting basic values. (shrink)

The historical factors as well as the units of the cultural knowledge which are considered to have provided Chateaubriand’s books, and “The Genius of Christianity” in particular, with the success and the content are the subject of the present article. The following historical reasons which attracted the readers’ attention to the book have been defined: the disappointment of the society with the atheistic ideals of the revolution, the need for religious cult restoring, the authorities’ desire to stop strife in the (...) country and build relationships with Catholic Europe. The semantic content of the work also contributed to its popularity because it responded to the request of finding logic in the religion, had an emotional impact and dealt with the relevant issues of the morality by means of the cultural category of sinfulness. Scientific novelty of the research implies the following: the cultural category of sinfulness objectified in F.R. Chateaubriand’s book “The Genius of Christianity” having been analyzed for the first time as well as the author’s approach to the understanding and cultural information streamlining having been identified. More over cultural-historical factors promoting the book’s prominence among Chateaubriand’s contemporaries have been studied. The author’s using rational way while explaining the basis of the sin, resorting to the strict argumentation and the evidence-based methods, denying religious irrationality have been set. The conducted research has shown the key factors leading to the book’s relevance: the society’s necessity of the religion revival, the authorities’ support of this tendency specified by the political environment. (shrink)

This publication aims to analyze the economic, social, and cultural phenomena that first appeared in the "era of revolutions" that occurred in the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The modern European trend toward tolerance, which is the basis of current social and cultural changes, including in our country, has specific intellectual grounds. The subject of the study was the ideosphere of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including philosophical, economic, and psychological concepts that gave rise to modern trends in these (...) areas. The result of this study was the determination of the reasons that caused the change of the ideological paradigm in Europe. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that, for the first time, the intellectual foundations of the formation of tolerance as an actual socio-cultural phenomenon are analyzed. This article consistently proves that among the first such grounds, it is possible to determine the emergence of machine production and, as a result, the appearance of a mass person with a culture corresponding to them, performing a compensatory and entertaining function. The most important cultural foundation is mainly the intellectual "background" created by the teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. The ideas of Anglo-American pragmatism played a significant role in forming a new morality, which included the denial of religion and its values, giving it a utilitarian character. During the subsequent historical period and at present, these views have become the basis for the creation of the so-called "individual faith," in which religion ceases to be the guide of human life but only serves the needs of the individual. The desacralization of religion leads to the study of different aspects of sexuality, which opens up the possibility for modern thinking about gender. The concept of "natural law" should also be attributed to the intellectual factors of the formation of modern European tolerance. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to reveal the essence of digital technologies in the municipal government system, to identify the main problems of their transformation in the territory of the subjects, and to develop directions for the mechanism of adaptation of the relationship between different management structures in the conditions of digitalization of processes. The article considers the author's vision of the development of digital technologies in the territorial aspect. In particular, the problems of technical equipment of remote territories (...) are considered, in particular, the problems of training personnel and territorial access to Internet resources are touched upon. When evaluating the legislative and regulatory acts of the Russian Federation, it is clear that digital technologies require a separate approach to solving problems of both legal and economic nature, while we focus on their relationship. It is obvious that when developing the strategic direction of digital technologies, the adapted elements require some adjustments and additions, which is currently being carried out. Such changes and additions are promoted not only through legislative and regulatory activities, but also on the basis of scientific research, which in turn develop new directions that contribute to solving problems in the development of digital technologies, not only in the management system, but also in the areas of business, professional education, training and retraining of personnel, etc. As a result, the identified problems in the resource provision of digital technologies allowed us to develop measures that specify the strategic direction. (shrink)

A draft version of Chapter 11 of the edited volume 'Interpreting Bodies. Classical and Quantum Objects in Modern Physics',. The Chapter is devoted to illustrating the group-theoretic approach to the issue of physical objects. In particular, the Chapter discusses the group-theoretic constitution of classical and quantum particles in the nonrelativistic case.

Cognitive Science, Volume 45, Issue 11, November 2021.

This essay argues that according to feminist existential phenomenology, feminist pragmatism, and feminist genealogy, our embodied condition is an important starting place for ethical living due to the inevitable role that habits play in our conduct. In bodies, the phenomenon of habit uniquely holds together the ambiguities of freedom and determinism, transcendence and immanence, and stability and plasticity. Seeing habit formation as a matter of self-growth and social justice gives fresh opportunity for thinking of “assuming ambiguity” as a lifelong endeavor (...) made up of many small projects and practices of situated resistance to stagnation. Transcendence, understood as ameliorative transformation, is found in cultivating habits of learning from our bodily living. I articulate this argument via a reading of Simone de Beauvoir's The Coming of Age, John Dewey's Human Nature and Conduct, and Ladelle McWhorter's Bodies and Pleasures. I discuss two domains wherein the ethical significance of habit formation appears: cognitive psychological research on neural plasticity, and certain projects of self-cultivation that risk turning into overdetermining “cult of the self ” practices that close off possibilities for personal and collective transformation. (shrink)

A macroscope is proposed and tested here for the discovery of the unique argumentative footprint that characterizes how a collective manages differences and pursues disagreement through argument in a polylogue. The macroscope addresses broader analytic problems posed by various conceptualizations of large-scale argument, such as fields, spheres, communities, and institutions. The design incorporates a two-tier methodology for detecting argument patterns of the arguments performed in arguing by an interactive collective that produces views, or topographies, of the ways that issues are (...) generated in the making and defending of standpoints. The design premises for the macroscope build on insights about argument patterns from pragma-dialectical theory by incorporating research and theory on disagreement management and the Argumentum Model of Topics. The design reconceptualizes prototypical and stereotypical argument patterns for characterizing large-scale argumentation. A prototype of the macroscope is tested on data drawn from six threads about oil-drilling and fracking from the subreddit Changemyview. The implementation suggests the efficacy of the macroscope’s design and potential for identifying what communities make controversial and how the disagreement space in a polylogue is managed through stereotypical argument patterns in terms of claims/premises, inferential relations, and presentational devices. (shrink)

Fictions feature prominently in several of Hume’s important arguments about the external world. For example, Hume is clear that there would be no belief in the continued existence of objects, were it not for the fictions that are causally responsible for effecting this belief. Interpreters of Hume on the topic of fiction generally argue that the formation of fiction requires the possession of general ideas and the use of language. Drawing upon recent attempts in the literature to advance this claim, (...) I offer reasons for why this general approach is undesirable. By examining Hume’s comments on the capabilities of children, this paper advances a novel approach to the topic of fictions in Hume’s philosophy that separates the matter of fiction formation from the use of language, arguing instead that it is not the use of language that establishes fictions; fictions exert their influence upon the mind before the use of language becomes available to us. (shrink)

This open access book features essays written by philosophers, biologists, ecologists and conservation scientists facing the current biodiversity crisis. Despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so?The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation (...) actions imply. But this is not the whole story. This book develops a different perspective on the problem by exploring the conceptual challenges and practical defiance posed by conserving biodiversity, namely: on the one hand, the difficulties in defining what biodiversity is and characterizing that “thing” to which the word ‘biodiversity’ refers to; on the other hand, the reasons why assessing biodiversity and putting in place effective conservation actions is arduous. (shrink)

With the growing use of the Social Web, an increasing number of applications for exchanging opinions with other people are becoming available online. These applications are widely adopted with the consequence that the number of opinions about the debated issues increases. In order to cut in on a debate, the participants need first to evaluate the opinions of the other users to detect whether they are in favour or against the debated issue. Bipolar argumentation proposes algorithms and semantics to evaluate (...) the set of accepted arguments, given the support and the attack relations among them. Two main problems arise. First, an automated framework to detect the relations among the arguments represented by the natural language (NL) formulation of the users’ opinions is needed. Our paper addresses this open issue by proposing and evaluating the use of NL techniques to identify the arguments and their relations. In particular, we adopt the textual entailment (TE) approach, a generic framework for applied semantics, where linguistic objects are mapped by means of semantic inferences at a textual level. TE is then coupled together with an abstract bipolar argumentation system which allows to identify the arguments that are accepted in the considered online debate. Second, we address the problem of studying and comparing the different proposals put forward for modelling the support relation. The emerging scenario shows that there is not a unique interpretation of the support relation. In particular, different combinations of additional attacks among the arguments involved in a support relation are proposed. We provide an NL account of the notion of support based on online debates, by discussing and evaluating the support relation among arguments with respect to the more specific notion of TE in the NL processing field. Finally, we carry out a comparative evaluation of four proposals of additional attacks on a sample of NL arguments extracted from Debatepedia. The originality of the proposed framework lies in the following point: NL debates are analysed and the relations among the arguments are automatically extracted. (shrink)

Coordination is a widely employed term across recent quantitative and qualitative approaches to intersubjectivity, particularly approaches that give embodiment and enaction central explanatory roles. With a focus on linguistic and bodily coordination in conversational contexts, I review the operational meaning of coordination in recent empirical research and related theorizing of embodied intersubjectivity. This discussion articulates what must be involved in treating linguistic meaning as dynamic processes of coordination. The coordination approach presents languaging as a set of dynamic self-organizing processes and (...) actions on multiple timescales and across multiple modalities that come about and work in certain domains (those jointly constructed in social, interactive, high-order sense-making). These processes go beyond meaning at the level that is available to first-person experience. I take one crucial consequence of this to be the ubiquitously moral nature of languaging with others. Languaging coordinates experience, among other levels of behavior and event. Ethical effort is called for by the automatic autonomy-influencing forces of languaging as coordination. (shrink)

This contribution aims at providing an argumentative method to account for epistemic modality and evidentiality. I claim that these two linguistic categories can work as semantic components of defeasible argumentative schemes based on classification processes. This kind of approximate reasoning is, in fact, frequently indicated by appearance verbs which signal that the inferred standpoint is conceived by the speaker as uncertain due to the deceiving nature of perceptual data. Drawing from an analysis at the semantic-argumentative interface, the way in which (...) prototype theory sheds light on the processes of meaning construction underlying defeasible arguments from definition is also shown. (shrink)

This paper proposes a lifespan developmental model of critical moral consciousness and examines its implications for education in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Mature moral consciousness, central to negotiating the challenges of the 21st century, is characterized by a deepening lifelong integration of moral motivation, agency and critical discernment. The paper describes the evolution of moral consciousness through three levels; pre‐critical consciousness (pCC), transitional critical consciousness (tCC) and critical consciousness (CC) and eight chronologically ascending psychosocial themes. It focuses on the first (...) two periods and operationalizes the role of education in cultivating the four dimensions of moral motivation: a moral sense of identity, a sense of responsibility and agency, a deep sense of relatedness on all levels of living and a sense of meaning and life purpose. The paper proposes a re‐envisioning of education in the direction of integrating mind and heart, developing both moral motivation and critical discernment and integrating these into optimal consciousness. (shrink)

While separate pieces of research found parents offer toddlers cues to express that they are joking and pretending, and that toddlers and preschoolers understand intentions to joke and pretend, it is not yet clear whether parents and toddlers consider joking and pretending to be distinct concepts. This is important as distinguishing these two forms of non-literal acts could open a gateway to understanding the complexities of the non-literal world, as well as the complexities of intentions in general. Two studies found (...) parents offer explicit cues to help 16- to 24-month-olds distinguish pretending and joking. Across an action play study and a verbal play study parents showed more disbelief and less belief through their actions and language when joking versus pretending. Similarly, toddlers showed less belief through their actions, and older toddlers showed less belief through their language. Toddlers' disbelief could be accounted for by their response to parents' language and actions. Thus, these studies reveal a mechanism by which toddlers learn to distinguish joking and pretending. Parents offer explicit cues to distinguish these intentions, and toddlers use these cues to guide their own behaviors, which in turn allows toddlers to distinguish these intentional contexts. (shrink)

The article discusses the challenges, benefits, and risks that, from a bioethical perspective, arise because of the the development of eHealth projects. The conceptual framework of the research is based on H. Jonas’ principles of the ethics of responsibility and B.G. Yudin’s anthropological ideas on human beings as agents who constantly change their own boundaries in the “zone of phase transitions.” The article focuses on the events taking place in the zone of phase transitions between humans and machines in eHealth. (...) It is shown that for innovative practices related to digitalization and datafication in medicine, it is needed to rethink central bioethical concepts of personal autonomy and informed consent. In particular, the concept of broad or open informed consent is discussed, which allows the idea of moral responsibility in the field of biomedical technologies to be extended to events of uncertain future. The authors draw attention to the problems associated with the emergence of new autonomous subjects/agents in relationship between doctors and patients. The humanization of machines occurring in eHealth is accompanied by a counter trend – the formation of conceptions and practices of the quantified self. There emerges the practices of self-care and bio-power caused by the datafication and digitization of personality. The authors conclude that bioethics should proactively develop norms for the evolving interaction between doctor and patients. (shrink)

This is the final draft of Chapter 4 of the Volume 'The Birth of String Theory' edited by A. Cappelli, E. Castellani, F. Colomo, and P. Di Vecchia, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

800x600 Normal 0 21 false false false RO X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Review of Mihaela Frunză, Expertiza etică și bioetica. Studii de caz (Ethical Expertise and Bioethics. Case Studies). Cluj-Napoca, Limes Publishing House, 2010.

In the rapidly evolving global economy, aligning labor market demands withskills needs development among adults is critical for sustainable economic growth andindividual career success. This alignment ensures that the workforce remains competitive,adaptable and capable of meeting industry requirements. A significant mismatchbetween labor market demands and available skills can lead to increased unemployment,underemployment, and diminished economic productivity. Addressing this gap necessitatesa comprehensive understanding of current and future labor market trends, coupledwith targeted educational and training programs.Adult education and continuous professional development play (...) pivotal rolesin this context, enabling workers to acquire new skills and upgrade existing ones inresponse to technological advancements and changing job roles. Collaboration amongpolicymakers, educational institutions and industry stakeholders is essential to createresponsive training programs that reflect the dynamic nature of the labor market. Moreover,effective skills development strategies can enhance job satisfaction, increase earningpotential and reduce socio-economic inequalities. By fostering a culture of lifelonglearning and adaptability, societies can better prepare their workforces for the challengesof the future, ensuring economic resilience and improved quality of life for individuals.This strategic approach ultimately benefits for both employers and employees, promotinga more inclusive and robust labor market. (shrink)

Motivation crucially influences the willingness to play online games. Game motivation can affect players’ flow experience and player’s companionship with their game roles or avatars. However, the relationship among game motivation, flow experience, and companionship is unclear; therefore, designing online games that improving the playing experience is difficult. This study chose online pet games as study samples, and this study used a game motivation scale, flow experience scale, and the Companionship Scale of Artificial Pets to identify the relationship among game (...) motivation, flow experience, and companionship. According to 216 valid questionnaire responses, this study demonstrated that game motivation for online pet game players was primarily immersion and achievement, compared with achievement motivation, immersion motivation had a greater influence on flow experience and the development of player companionship with online pets, and players with immersion and achievement motivation had a substantially enhanced flow experience and companionship with their online pets. (shrink)

The paper deals with the problem of ontological status of unobservable entities of modern physics. Author considers the question whether they are real objects or social constructs? The first point is being supported by constructive realists; the second one is backed by those who stand by a very influential strategy of the so-called social constructionism. Realists assume that intermediate vector bosons (as well as Higgs boson recently discovered by the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider) do exist in reality before (...) being predicted by the theory of electroweak interaction. They are discovered, not created. In the discourse of social constructionism, the mentioned micro-objects, on the contrary, are being created in the process of a specially set up experiments. The author confirms truthfulness of the realistic approach by analyzing the well-known in modern history of physics experiment on discovering the intermediate vector bosons. (shrink)

El artículo se propone valorar la capacidad feminista del pensamiento de Descartes en un triple sentido. En primer lugar, se centrará la cuestión en la propia filosofía de este autor en busca de sus claves éticas. En un segundo paso, se expondrá como éstas fueron interpretadas y activadas por mujeres intelectuales de la época conocidas como las cartesianas. Finalmente, se analizará la recepción crítica de la concepción cartesiana de la subjetividad por parte de Isabel de Bohemia, quien insiste en las (...) circunstancias que condicionan el ejercicio de la autonomía, propiciando una lectura en clave de género. (shrink)

The red pill or the blue pill? Obviously the red. But are we sure it will work the way it is supposed to? Are we sure it will take us out of the Matrix? We are proud to announce that we have found a document that will throw some new light (and a renewed cloud of suspicion) on this matter: the product packaging of RedPill®, complete with all directions for use and warnings against side-effects.

The inflexion of pronouns varies in different Indo-European languages and so far, as it can be reconstructed, in the Proto-Indo-European it was different in several aspects from the inflexion of nouns and adjectives. In the course of time pronominal and nominal inflexions went through a process of mutual levelling. The analysis and comparison of the thematic and athematic nominal inflexions has shown that gendered pronouns played important role in the development of the thematic o-stem and eH2-stem substantives. The evidence of (...) the Greek language for the relationship of pronouns and other nomina is significant and complex at the same time, bearing in mind the individual development of Greek dialects and the archaic features of the earliest Greek records found in Mycenaean archives. The aim of this paper is to re-examine the evidence for the influence of pronominal on nominal inflexion found in Mycenaean Greek documents in the light of more recent studies and discuss its relevance for the earliest history of pronouns and nouns in the Greek language and the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European. (shrink)

(1995). In the shadow of giants: The work of mario pieri in the foundations of mathematics. History and Philosophy of Logic: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 107-119.

According to usage-based theories, children initially acquire surface-level constructions and then abstract representations. If so, bilingual children might show lags relative to monolingual children early in acquisition, but not later on, once they rely on abstract representations. We tested this prediction with comprehension of passives in 3- to 6-year-old children: French–English bilinguals and English monolinguals. As predicted, younger bilingual children tended to be less accurate than monolingual children. In contrast, the older bilingual children scored equivalently to monolinguals, despite less exposure (...) to English. When the children made errors, the bilingual children were more likely to interpret the subject as the agent of the action than the monolingual children. These results are consistent with the argument that children develop increasingly abstract representations of linguistic constructions with usage. They further suggest that bilingual children might catch up with monolingual through use of selective attention and/or a semantic bias. (shrink)

In recent decades, affective scientists have begun using concepts and tools from dynamical systems theory (DST) to characterise emotional processes. This article considers how the concept of emergence might be used to develop this approach. Emotions are explicated as ‘emergent products’ that diachronically constrain the operations of their parts in virtue of feedback loops (a classical feature of nonlinear dynamical systems). The explication is shown to be broadly consistent with what is sometimes called ‘pattern’ emergence. Casting emotions as emergent patterns (...) is shown to shed light on a major conceptual and empirical challenge emotion theorists have faced over the past century: identifying and measuring the presence of emotional episodes (Lindquist et al., 2012; Hollenstein & Lanteigne, 2014), dubbed here the ‘boundary problem’ (following Colombetti, 2014). In particular, the explication suggests seeing the emotional ‘signatures’ thought to accompany emotional episodes as fragile and context-bound: likely to hold under a relevant class of interventions (Woodward, 2005), but not without exception beyond that class. This in turn may suggest a need to significantly revise the statistical methods currently used to measure the presence of emotional ‘signatures’. The casting of emotions as emergent patterns also functions as a further case study supporting the value of ‘pattern emergence’ (Winning & Bechtel, 2019) as a powerful vehicle for characterising the objects of investigation — compound and context-sensitive — ubiquitous in the biological sciences. (shrink)

In this paper two poetological passages from Prudentius’ Cathemerinon liber are analysed from the perspective of the idea of “presence in the distance”; in other words, Prudentius’ lyrical forebears, who belong to both the Biblical and the classical tradition, harmonise in those poetical claims of the Christian hymnodist; Prudentius speaks with their voice and even proclaims to fulfil them. In Cath. 5 he recalls the Song of Moses from Exodus 15 by almost paraphrasing it and, at the same time, he (...) reuses fragments from Horace’s ode 4,5, while alluding to its main themes. In the opening stanzas of Cath. 9, Prudentius reveals his models by referring first to Horace’s Odes, then by openly mentioning David the psalmist, and he portrays himself as the heir and at the same time as the fulfilment of both literary forerunners. Further examples from Cath. 6 and from the Contra Symmachum illustrate how Prudentius does not present the act of reusing ancient fragments as contradictory, although they originally conveyed a pagan message. Thanks to the Christian poet, the past finds a new vitality. (shrink)

By embracing the ontological view of vulnerability and stressing its social basis, the paper aims to clarify the role of vulnerability within human rights paradigm.Vulnerability is conceived of by the author as a heuristic notion, which works as a pillar for a general approach to some crucial challenges to human dignity. Both this heuristic notion and these challenges are regarded in the paper as hallmarks for the human rights paradigm.In order to ground this view, the coherence between “vulnerability turn” and (...) the rationale of human rights relies on a four-steps argument dealing with: (i) the denial of a necessary mismatch between the notion of vulnerability and the principle of autonomy; (ii) the appreciation of relation in human rights conceptualization; (iii) the complementarity between vulnerability, as a heuristic notion, and the principle of equality; (iv) the understanding of vulnerability as a “vehicle of empathy” not necessarily involving paternalist trends and therefore not in conflict with the empowerment purposes of human rights.The relevance of “vulnerability turn” in human rights paradigm is defended in the paper within a view of human rights as basic rights, i.e. as means to prevent or fight against those threats that seriously affect basic human needs. (shrink)

This article encourages a rethinking of how rats are regarded within the laboratory research environment. The rat’s remarkable intellect and cognitive capacities are well known yet conveniently ignored. An understanding of the five domains of animal welfare and the telos of the rat necessitate that the rat’s circumstances, namely habitat accommodations, in the research arena be reassessed. The rat-ness of being a rat must be considered, celebrated, and elevated to significantly higher standards. We advocate for a new research paradigm if (...) one continues to “use” the extraordinary Rattus species. (shrink)

The links which connect the nature of the medium to the methods of access and to the objects of knowledge, relationships between form and content, are a broad continuum whose interlinked facts require a transdisciplinary study.Nowadays, attempts to discern these links seem to concern two central groups of correlations, which have been analysed from the perspective of different disciplines.In the foreground of correlations we find the relationship between the material characteristics of the mediums and the methods of access to their (...) contents; in this field of cultural technologies, the history of verbal language is punctuated first by the ‘invention’ of writing and its different systems, then by a series of transformations of manuscripts and the printed word, and finally by electronic communication. In the study of this first relationship, the history, psychology and physiology of reading establish a relationship between several parameters: on the one hand, the system of signs and spaces in the organization of the written code, and on the other hand, the methods of appropriation of this code by the reader (both reading aloud and silent reading), linear progression or freedom of selection of the contents, degree of speed, amount of information” habits of memorization, etc. (shrink)

This essay discusses Claudio Magris’s concept of Mitteleuropa—which is central to his view of Europe—by situating it within the context of Triestine cultural history. It first presents the reflections on Europe formulated by the early generations of journalists in La Favilla, the newspaper founded in Trieste in 1836. This is followed by a discussion of the cultural and political writings of Scipio Slataper (1888–1915) and Giani Stuparich (1891–1961). Like Magris these journalists and writers assumed the role of public intellectuals and (...) reflected on three pivotal periods in the history of Trieste by focusing on the question of cosmopolitanism (La Favilla), political and national identity (Slataper), and the feasibility of a European project after World War II (Stuparich). Against the prevailing totalizing nationalist vision, these writers explored the possibility of a non-national political identity based on a cultural notion of Europeanism. The different views of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Triestine journalists and writers of the idea of Europe, of Trieste as a border city, and of European identity, are illuminated by Magris’s own theoretical elaborations on borders, on Europe, and on Mitteleuropa, which further highlight their historical and conceptual intricacies. (shrink)

Previous research shows that females use more exclamation marks than males, often to establish rapport. The purpose of the present studies was to test whether people associate texters’ use of exclamation marks with friendliness and femaleness. If this association is due to normative expectations, we hypothesized that females would appear less friendly if they did not use an exclamation mark in texting. In Study 1, participants rated a texter using an exclamation mark to be highly female and highly friendly. The (...) gender results disappeared when friendliness was controlled for. In Study 2, we tested whether friendliness ratings decreased if texters violated gender-associated punctuation. Participants rated a texter with a gendered name on friendliness. Regardless of gender, participants inferred greater friendliness to texters using an exclamation mark. That is, there was no evidence of a cost for violating this gender expectation. We conclude that people predict that a texter using an exclamation mark is likely to be female, but do not penalize females for not using an exclamation mark. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza el papel que tiene la atención hacia el ēthos de los ciudadanos en la creación y la conservación de los regímenes políticos por parte de una actividad legislativa virtuosa, haciendo especial hincapié en las formas de gobierno democráticas. Para desarrollar esta idea, me centraré en la idea de la “amistad política”, que Aristóteles examina en sus obras éticas en relación con la facultad de la actividad legislativa virtuosa de moldear los hábitos de los ciudadanos. El análisis de (...) los diferentes tipos de regímenes democráticos mostrará que ellos carecen de una auténtica amistad política. Demostaré también que, aunque las medidas democráticas puedan mejorar y conservar los regímenes imperfectos, Aristóteles sigue manteniendo una opinión negativa hacia esas politeiai. Palabras-clave: régimen, democracia, amistad, ēthos, igualdad. (shrink)

In the Western classical tradition music criticism represents one of the most complex and influential forms of performance assessment and evaluation. However, in the age of peer opinion sharing and quick communication channels it is not clear what place music critics’ judgments still hold in the classical music market. This article presents expert music critics’ view on their role, function, and influence. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 14 native English- and German-speaking critics who had an average of 32 (...) years professional activity in classical music review. We present the first visual model to summarize music critics’ descriptions of their role and responsibilities, writing processes, and their influences. The model distinguishes six roles : consumer adviser, teacher, judge, writer, stakeholder, and artist advocate. It identifies core principles governing critical writing for music as well as challenges that arise from balancing the above six responsibilities whilst remaining true to an implicit code of conduct. Finally, it highlights the factors that inform critics’ writing in terms of the topics they discuss and the discursive tools they employ. We show that music critics self-identify as highly skilled mediators between artists, producers and consumers, and justify their roles as judge and teacher based on a wealth of experience as against the influx of pervasive amateur reviews. Our research approach also offers occupation-based insights into professional music review standards, including the challenges of maintaining objectivity and resisting commercial pressures. This article offers a new viewpoint on music critics’ judgments and recommendations that helps to explain their expectations and reflections. (shrink)