O presente artigo insere-se no contexto do Programa de Mestrado Profissional (PROF-FILO UFABC) e articula parte da discussão feita na dissertação. Seu objetivo é correlacionar o avanço das Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação e o enfraquecimento das Democracias Liberais do Ocidente, tendo como pano de fundo a governamentalidade algorítmica. Em um primeiro momento, a partir do conceito de governamentalidade do filósofo francês Michel Foucault faremos um diálogo com os pensadores alemães Ulrich Beck e Jürgen Habermas, discutindo de que forma (...) foram criados atalhos decisórios fora dos processos políticos no âmbito do conhecimento tecnocientífico alinhado aos interesses do Capital. Em um segundo momento, enquanto consequência desses atalhos, será abordado o risco que a hegemonia oligopolista das Big Techs traz para a vida social através de uma nova governamentalidade, agora algorítmica, em diálogo com as pensadoras Shoshana Zuboff e Antoinette Rouvroy. Essa nova governamentalidade, cujo foco deixa de ser a produção de corpos dóceis e úteis e passa a ter como alvo a construção de subjetividades via psicopolítica – conceito do filósofo sul-coreano Byung-Chul Han – tem como subprodutos não apenas as Fakenews, ou a possibilidade de disseminação ideológica extremista que tem ameaçado a democracia, mas uma franca queda no caráter deliberativo na formação da opinião pública, afetando também a qualidade da democracia. Por fim, refletimos sobre possíveis alternativas e antídotos para a situação atual em que nos encontramos, recorrendo ao conceito de cosmotécnica do filósofo chinês Yuk Hui. (shrink)

O objetivo deste texto é examinar aspectos da filosofia de Merleau-Ponty considerando-a distante tanto de um subjetivismo fenomenológico, quanto de um objetivismo estruturalista, posições descritas por Michel Foucault como determinantes do debate filosófico francês dos anos 1950. Um caminho possível para descrever sua posição é investigar a maneira como trabalha o tema da linguagem, tanto a partir de sua apropriação da linguística de Saussure, quanto em interlocução com as reflexões de Bergson - ponto pouco explorado entre os intérpretes. Também em (...) relação a Bergson, discutirei a concepção de temporalidade presente em Merleau-Ponty, distanciando-a, ao mesmo tempo, da maneira como Sartre a compreende. Ao final desse trajeto, penso que se tornará mais clara a proposta merleau-pontyana de uma fenomenologia alargada e dialógica. (shrink)

Situados en un progresivo traspaso de responsabilidades en la ejecución de los servicios sociales desde el Estado hacia actores no gubernamentales, aparece una demanda hacia el mismo Estado, el cual en lugar de simplemente declinar su labor, debiera de hecho expandir su regulación de modo de asegurar que la oferta social sea eficiente en satisfacer al ciudadano usuario en aquellos servicios prometidos por las políticas y programas sociales. Así mismo, la institucionalidad pública debiera reconocer las demandas del mundo privado para (...) actuar articuladamente hacia fines comunes, que finalmente conduzcan a un horizonte de desarrollo de una sociedad más igualitaria. Este estudio da cuenta de las tensiones, reveladas por autoridades de servicios públicos que atienden personas vulnerables, en su relación de colaboración con OSFL (Organizaciones Sin Fines de Lucro), para alcanzar tal horizonte. (shrink)

La irrupción de la Inteligencia artificial (IA) causa esperanzas e incertidumbres, por las amplias posibilidades que tiene, pero también por los riesgos que representa. Luego de explicar sucintamente en qué consiste la IA, se exponen ejemplos de la presencia de sistemas y aplicaciones en distintos y dispares campos: en la industria, la biotecnología, el cambio climático, la medicina, los negocios, el entretenimiento y las finanzas. Los efectos que la IA puede causar en el planeta, en la cultura y en la (...) vida de los seres humanos hace necesaria una reflexión sobre la eticidad de esas aplicaciones, pues su omnipresencia puede derivar en una algor-cracia (la era digital gobernada por algoritmos) por lo que es necesario pensar y desarrollar una algor-ética, que oriente la utilización de la IA y sus aplicaciones. Se ofrece un decálogo de pautas éticas que permitirán que aquello es técnicamente posible, esté a favor de los seres humanos y nunca les haga daño, ni propicie condiciones adversas o lesivas para ellos. Además de la regulación ética y bioética, las aplicaciones de la IA necesitan un marco jurídico. Se comenta brevemente la Ley de Inteligencia artificial, aprobada por el Parlamento Europeo en marzo del 2024 y redactada con un enfoque basado en el riesgo. Se concluye que son imprescindibles unos parámetros éticos y bioéticos que humanicen la IA, sobre la base de una antropología verdadera, que garantice su utilización al servicio de lo humano, poniendo en el centro la primacía de la dignidad humana. (shrink)

Las prioridades estratégicas que definió la Organización Mundial de la Salud para su labor en la década 2020-2030 son el sustrato de este trabajo. El mismo grupo interdisciplinario de profesionales de la salud que reflexionó en la primera entrega sobre las prioridades relacionadas con lograr poblaciones más sanas, continúa con otras prioridades orientadas a lograr una cobertura sanitaria universal y un mejor manejo de las emergencias sanitarias. En las conclusiones de la segunda entrega se destaca la importancia de desarrollar cada (...) una de las prioridades involucrando a la sociedad civil, la familia y los medios de comunicación. La manera de hacerlo será haciendo girar todas las iniciativas de ejecución alrededor de estrategias educativas adecuadamente planteadas en todos los niveles, sin que se admitan injerencias ni presiones, para recuperar así la confianza necesaria para conseguir las soluciones que son buenas para el ser humano, el ecosistema y las futuras generaciones. -/- . (shrink)

Este artigo reflete sobre a desmaterialização de um tipo documental e seus arranjos no contexto digital, observando que a desmaterialização do álbum sonoro é marcada por um fenômeno nomeado de vácuo informacional no contexto do serviço de música digital Spotify. A desmaterialização de tipos documentais mostra-se uma realidade consolidada em tempos de informação digital. Com as inovações tecnológicas, mudanças culturais, comportamentais e todo um arcabouço conceitual e epistémico atrelado a essas inovações floresce e se desenvolve num curto espaço de tempo. (...) Revisita a noção de documento e neodocumentação, adotando-se a premissa Neodocumentalista a respeito do valor contextual que a materialidade do documento oferece. A pesquisa caracteriza-se como exploratória, bibliográfica, documental e telematizada e utiliza como corpus de pesquisa 112 álbuns sonoros da extinta gravadora pernambucana Rozenblit. Constata-se que a desmaterialização dos álbuns sonoros tem como característica principal o comprometimento da natureza ontológica do documento, da marca distintiva deste enquanto documento: a sua natureza informativa. (shrink)

Resumo: Era Nietzsche um inimigo da ciência? A pergunta-problema deste artigo é justamente o título de uma conferência proferida pelo Dr. Helmut Heit (Kolleg Friedrich Nietzsche - Klassik Stiftung Weimar) no Seminário de Filosofia da Ciência do Instituto Federal do Espírito Santo, campus Linhares, em 9 de dezembro de 2014. Uma famosa versão do senso comum acadêmico apresenta Nietzsche como inimigo mortal das ciências. Sabe-se, contudo, que o filósofo manteve uma relação intensa, duradoura e necessária com o campo científico. A (...) partir de fontes primárias e de posicionamentos adotados por pesquisadores especializados, no presente estudo conclui-se que Nietzsche foi concomitantemente um entusiasta do método científico – em função da possibilidade de naturalização e de historicização da produção de conhecimento – e um crítico da fundamentação dogmática das ciências de seu tempo. A caracterização de Nietzsche como pensador crítico-perspectivista (não relativista) está desenvolvida em um artigo inédito de nossa autoria. Palavras-chave: Nietzsche; Ciência; Nietzsche e as ciências. On Nietzsche's necessary critical-perspectivist adherence to the sciences Abstract: Was Nietzsche an enemy of science? The problem question of this article is precisely the title of a lecture given by Dr. Helmut Heit (Kolleg Friedrich Nietzsche - Klassik Stiftung Weimar), presented at the Philosophy of Science Seminar of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo, Linhares campus, on December 9, 2014. A famous version of academic common sense presents Nietzsche as the mortal enemy of science. It is known, however, that the philosopher maintained an intense, lasting and necessary relationship with the scientific field. From the use of primary sources and the positions adopted by specialized researchers, in the present study, it is concluded that Nietzsche was concomitantly an enthusiast of the scientific method - due to the possibility of naturalization and historicization of the production of knowledge – and a critic of the scientific method. dogmatic foundation of the sciences of his time. The characterization of Nietzsche as a critical-perspectivist (non-relativist) thinker is developed in an unpublished article of our authorship. Key-words: Nietzsche; Science; Nietzsche and the Sciences. Sobre la necesaria adhesión crítico-perspectivista de Nietzsche a las ciencias Resumen: ¿Nietzsche era enemigo de la ciencia? La pregunta problema de este artículo es precisamente el título de una conferencia del Prof. Dr. Helmut Heit (Universidad de Berlín), presentado en el Seminario de Filosofía de la Ciencia del Instituto Federal de Espírito Santo, campus Linhares, el 9 de diciembre de 2014. Si bien Nietzsche llegó a ser catalogado como positivista (MIGNONI, 2017), una famosa versión académica lo presenta como el enemigo mortal de las ciencias. Se sabe, sin embargo, que el filósofo mantuvo una relación intensa, duradera y necesaria con el campo científico. A partir del uso de fuentes primarias y de las posiciones adoptadas por investigadores especializados, en el presente estudio se concluye que Nietzsche fue concomitantemente un entusiasta del método científico – por la posibilidad de naturalización e historización de la producción del conocimiento – y un crítico del fundamento dogmatico de las ciencias de su tiempo. La caracterización de Nietzsche como pensador crítico-perspectivista (no relativista) se desarrolla en un artículo inédito de nuestra autoria. Palabras clave: Nietzsche. Ciencia. Nietzsche y las Ciencias. Nietzsche en la Investigación en Educación. (shrink)

Objetiva-se fazer uma análise do atual cenário de avanço das ferramentas digitais no campo da Comunicação tomando como referência analítica as mudanças nos processos informativos em nível local em contraste com a predominância de uma editorialização global-metropolitana. A partir dos novos paradigmas sociais, econômicos e tecnológicos consequentes da reconfiguração das plataformas, conteúdos e linguagens midiáticas, busca-se fazer uma discussão sobre as possibilidades e eventuais empecilhos para o desenvolvimento de um jornalismo radiofônico plural, independente e cidadão em âmbito local.

In this work we want tosustain two intimately related thesis. The first one sustains that the theory ofthe relativity of Einstein doesn’t refute Newton’s notion of absolute time. Thesecond one sustain that the Newtonian mechanics and the theory of the rela-tivity are not rival theories, but rather e..

Theories of embodied cognition hypothesize interdependencies between psychological well-being and physical posture. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of objectively measuring posture, and to explore the relationship between posture and affect and other patient centered outcomes in breast cancer survivors with persistent postsurgical pain over a 12-week course of therapeutic Qigong mind-body training. Twenty-one BCS with PPSP attended group Qigong training. Clinical outcomes were pain, fatigue, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, stress and exercise self-efficacy. Posture outcomes were vertical (...) spine and vertical head angles in the sagittal plane, measured with a 3D motion capture system in three conditions: eyes open, eyes open relaxed and eyes closed. Assessments were made before and after the Qigong training. The association between categorical variables was measured by Cramer’s V. In the EO condition, most participants who improved in fatigue and anxiety scales also had better vertical head values. For the EOR condition, a moderate correlation was observed between changes in vertical head angle and changes in fatigue scale. In the EC condition, most of the participants who improved in measures of fatigue also improved vertical head angle. Additionally, pain severity decreased while vertical spine angle improved. These preliminary findings support that emotion and other patient centered outcomes should be considered within an embodied framework, and that Qigong may be a promising intervention for addressing biopsychosocially complex interventions such as PPSP in BCSs. (shrink)

Extreme loss of skeletal muscle mass (atrophy) occurs in human muscles that are not used. In striking contrast, skeletal muscles do not rapidly waste away in hibernating mammals such as bears, or aestivating frogs, subjected to many months of inactivity and starvation. What factors regulate skeletal muscle mass and what mechanisms protect against muscle atrophy in some species? Severe atrophy also occurs with ageing and there is much clinical interest in reducing such loss of muscle mass and strength (sarcopenia). In (...) the meat industry, a key aim is optimizing the control of skeletal muscle growth and meat quality. The impaired response of muscle to insulin resulting in diabetes, that is a consequence of the metabolic impact of increasing obesity and fat deposition in humans, is also of increasing clinical concern. Intensive research in these fields, combined with mouse models, is reviewed with respect to the molecular control of muscle growth (myogenesis) and atrophy/hypertrophy and fat deposition (adipogenesis) in skeletal muscle, with a focus on IGF‐1/insulin signaling. BioEssays 28: 994–1009, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Este artigo é um trabalho de enquadramento conceitual, que suporta pesquisas etnográficas que enfocam a presença e a dinâmica religiosa do protestantismo-pentecostalismo na Amazônia. A hipótese que estofa epistemologicamente este texto - e os projetos antropológicos já em andamento e futuros - formula a ideia de que o aspecto étnico-cultural “caboclo”, como ‘tipo ideal’, é um factor crucial nas dinâmicas evangélicas nesta região. Esta construção conceptual está presente, entre outros, em teóricos como Eduardo Galvão, Heraldo Maués, Angélica Mota Maués e (...) João de Paes Loureiro – estudiosos da cultura amazônica. O objetivo é estudar as dinâmicas históricas e registrar, etnograficamente, as manifestações de movimentos missionários, de igrejas pentecostais e também de grupos menos institucionalizados, materializadas no forte processo de conversão e evangelização de comunidades tradicionais. O foco é analisar o impacto destas expressões religiosas em diversos tipos de grupos socioculturais amazónicos e de que forma estas comunidades, agora convertidas, ressignificam, criam e desenvolvem novas expressões do sagrado, formando o que estamos a denominar de ‘pentecostalismo caboclo’. (shrink)

La noticia de la conclusión del primer pangenoma humano ocurre veinte años después de que se haya podido contar con una versión de referencia, de la información genética completa, de la especie humana. Las limitaciones técnicas de ese tiempo permitieron que esa versión tuviera errores y varias lagunas de la información genética. Ahora, es posible contar con un nuevo atlas gigante con información que permite evidenciar la gran diversidad genética de la especie humana. Este trabajo está siendo realizado por el (...) Consorcio Internacional de Referencia del Pangenoma Humano, del que hacen parte cerca de cien investigadores y está financiado por el Instituto Nacional de Investigación del Genoma Humano y por los Institutos Nacionales de Salud de Estados Unidos. Este escrito describe a grandes rasgos en qué consiste el proyecto, cuáles son sus aplicaciones posibles y las dificultades técnicas que tiene actualmente. Se repasan también algunos aspectos éticos y jurídicos y se dan pautas para su culminación: profundizar en la reflexión ética de los problemas que se generan; cuidar la formación en ética de la investigación, bioética e integridad científica en todos los actores del proceso; no perder de vista la Declaración Universal sobre el genoma humano y los Derechos Humanos de la UNESCO; orientar los desarrollos de la bioinformática, para que los datos obtenidos se manejen de una mejor manera; extremar la prudencia en el manejo de esos datos; revisar y reajustar las prioridades que se tienen en la investigación de estas temáticas, entre otros. (shrink)

This communication sought to redress the loss of the skill of making marks while reading by reporting a consolidated and reflective summation that drew on over four decades' worth of experience with approximately 500 undergraduate and 200 graduate students of Production Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. It identified the fundamentals and rationale of making marginalia while reading, with particular attention to their role in the preservation of insights and in furthering discovery, pointing to the need to (...) develop emotional as well as intellectual signifiers to allow readers to capture and recall their understanding of the texts they read and the significance of their marks. This supported the framing of relevant issues in the passage from reading and marking on paper to digital books, pointing towards approaches that would allow better understanding of the shortcomings of this medium for making marks while reading. (shrink)

O artigo trata de uma revisão sistemática de literatura, com o objetivo de analisar os estudos existentes sobre o cuidado institucional ao professor universitário e o cuidado praticado pelo professor nas suas ações educativas. Foi feito um levantamento de artigos e teses no portal de periódicos da CAPES, publicados no período de 2010 a 2023, com os seguintes termos de busca: cuidado, educação, ensino superior, professor universitário, qualidade de vida, trabalho, saúde mental, saúde docente, bem-estar docente, acolhimento e promoção de (...) saúde. Foram incluídos estudos sobre o cuidado ao docente no ensino superior e as suas ações do cuidar nas práticas da área de Humanas. A análise embasou-se na Psicologia Histórico-Cultural articulada por Vygotsky, realizando a leitura na íntegra dos nove estudos incluídos, sendo sete artigos e duas teses, organizados em duas categorias: cuidado institucional ao professor universitário e o cuidado exercido pelo docente universitário na sua prática profissional. Os resultados mostram que o cuidado ao docente universitário tem sido vivenciado por ações pontuais sobre qualidade de vida no trabalho. Foi percebida a carência de estudos que identifiquem questões implicadas no cuidado ao docente de caráter institucional e que apresentam as práticas educativas no ensino superior como ato de cuidado. (shrink)

La 26ª Cumbre del Cambio Climático se realizó en el Escocia a finales del 2021. La COP 26 concluyó con el “Pacto climático de Glasgow” donde, por primera vez en la historia de estas cumbres, se menciona explícitamente la responsabilidad de los combustibles fósiles en la crisis climática. En este escrito se reflexiona sobre lo que pasó en la Cumbre, las reacciones que se produjeron y se hace una apreciación bioética prospectiva de los acuerdos. Se concluye que la ciencia climática, (...) de por sí incierta y cambiante, sigue yendo detrás de los intereses económicos y políticos, pues los acuerdos en estas materias están permeados por ideologías que, desde diversos frentes, se pretenden difundir por todo el planeta. (shrink)

La situación actual del hombre frente a la ciencia ya la biotecnología hace necesario el repaso de una serie de conceptos que son básicos para que esta relación no rebase los límites humanos, y sea respetuosa con la dignidad de la que es titular todo ser humano. En este sentido, la Bioética, como “ciencia puente”, ayuda a regular las actuaciones de la persona con la vida en general, pero particularmente con la vida humana, que no admite contemplaciones por su particular (...) proyección a la trascendencia. Esos aportes que la Bioética nos brinda, los podemos encontrar en cuatro grandes campos que son: los problemas éticos que se presentan en el ejercicio de las profesiones sanitarias; los problemas éticos que pueden surgir en la investigación con seres humanos; los problemas sociales inherentes a las políticas sanitarias y los problemas relacionados con la intervención sobre la vida de los demás seres vivos, plantas, microorganismos, animales y, en general, lo que se refiere al equilibrio del ecosistema. Esta es la visión que se plantea en El ser humano y su dimensión bioética, donde la reflexión central convoca al lector a replantear la verdadera dimensión del hombre frente a los desarrollos de la ciencia y la biotecnología. (shrink)

The different versions of bioethics are founded on very specific underlying philosophical and ethical elements. Every philosophical doctrine or current of thought is the source of a particular set of ethics and every set of ethics supports a distinct version of bioethics that is dependent on the wisdom or shortsightedness of both the philosophy and the ethics on which it is based. This paper is an attempt to explain how the relationship between philosophy, ethics and bioethics comes about and to (...) identify the main consequences of the “kinship” determined by that affinity. A hypothetical situation is used to show the various solutions that are possible with five different triads that can be established, at present, as part of that relationship. The bioethical consequences of the “kinship” between philosophy, ethics and bioethics are illustrated on the basis of the foregoing explanation. The limited scope of opinions and their contrast with rational discourse founded on reality leads to several conclusions: solving bioethical problems implies that we start with thinking that is properly supported by a philosophical anthropology that offers the best guarantee of accuracy, rationality, internal consistency and possibility for practice, which subsequently provides the basis for objective ethical thinking that is capable of unmasking any relativism, reductionism or ideologizing. In this way, it will be possible to provide answers to the problems associated with life in general and human life in particular. (shrink)

Based on the most recent metanalysis on the efficacy and safety of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, thevicissitudes in the gynecological, ethical, and bioethical fields are explored. A review of the bibliography on thesubject is made. As one of the justifications for the vaccine is the prevention of endocervical cancer, viable alter-natives for its early detection and treatment are shown and discussed. Some ethical limitations that this vaccinehas shown are analyzed. It is concluded that there is a need to (...) rethink the management of certain diseases withvaccines, achieve greater transparency in the pharmaceutical industry, resizing evidence-based medicine, anddesign educational strategies that promote behaviors that are in accordance with the nature of human sexuality -/- . (shrink)

This paper examines migrant women’s labour and the location of poor and racialised working women in the context of the contemporary care crisis. In the first part, I briefly reconstruct, the feminist critiques of the Marxist capitalist social (re)production theory and, the Decolonial and Postcolonial feminist criticisms of the Marxist universal model of the capitalist mode of (re)production and its conceptualisation of marginalised and excluded subjects. This analysis sets the ground for understanding the debts and innovations of Marx’s political economy (...) operated by the contemporary theory of care. In the second part, I focus on the embodied and affective experiences of poor, black, brown, and indigenous women to identify concrete mechanisms and relations of exploitation, oppression, and violence produced in the migration process to maintain global care chains. I base my analysis on a review of case studies of Mexican, Indian, and Filipina migrant women. Finally, I highlight the inherent ambivalences of global care chains as a process of both neo-colonial feminisation of migration and reproduction of neoliberal capitalism and as a shared context of struggle and resistance grounded in embodied and affective experiences. Keywords: feminisation of migration, reproductive labour, global care chains, racialized working women. (shrink)

In this article, the right to health is discussed as a social right and an essential requisite in the construction and guarantee of human rights, more precisely human dignity, considering this right as a complex but effective process in the transformation of the social reality. In the first place, the activities of the public power and its difficulties to guarantee universal access to health are highlighted. This scenario ends up inhibiting the practice of the right to health and prevents users (...) from enjoying and using it. In that sense, this article challenges and explores some alternatives to solidify and put in practice the right to health in Brazil. Departing from the analysis of the Unified Health System (SUS) and social participation in Brazil, this article discusses the judicialization of health in the country, highlighting the difficulties the State faces to equitably offer universal healthcare to society. This context offers an opportunity for reflection and a paradigm change, from the “judicialization of health” to the “judicialization of health policies.” Finally, the public health policies adopted by other countries are emphasized, in the attempt to construct the empowerment of human beings in the practice of their rights, particularly social participation and the discussion about the States’ responsibility to put their citizens’ right to health in practice. In conclusion, the political and collective construction of the right to health needs to be encouraged, distinguishing the legitimate interests of the different interlocutors involved. (shrink)

Bernard Williams is a sceptic about the objectivity of moral value, embracing instead a qualified moral relativism—the ‘relativism of distance’. His attitude to blame too is in part sceptical. I will argue that the relativism of distance is unconvincing, even incoherent; but also that it is detachable from the rest of Williams's moral philosophy. I will then go on to propose an entirely localized thesis I call the relativism of blame, which says that when an agent's moral shortcomings by our (...) lights are a matter of their living according to the moral thinking of their day, judgements of blame are out of order. Finally, I will propose a form of moral judgement we may sometimes quite properly direct towards historically distant agents when blame is inappropriate—moral-epistemic disappointment. Together these two proposals may help release us from the grip of the idea that moral appraisal always involves the potential applicability of blame, and so from a key source of the relativist idea that moral appraisal is inappropriate over distance. (shrink)

My overarching purpose is to illustrate the philosophical fruitfulness of expanding epistemology not only laterally across the social space of other epistemic subjects, but at the same time vertically in the temporal dimension. I set about this by first presenting central strands of Michael Williams' diagnostic engagement with scepticism, in which he crucially employs a Default and Challenge model of justification. I then develop three key aspects of Edward Craig's ‘practical explication' of the concept of knowledge so that they may (...) be seen to resonate positively with Williams's epistemological picture: the admixture of internalist and externalist features; the proto-contextualism; and, finally, the distinctively genealogical antisceptical impetus. In this way I aim to support and augment the socialized anti-sceptical case mounted by Williams, and so to show that expanding epistemology in the temporal dimension can be a productive move in central debates in epistemology. Philosophical Papers Vol. 37 (1) 2008: pp. 27-50. (shrink)

When we hope to explain and perhaps vindicate a practice that is internally diverse, philosophy faces a methodological challenge. Such subject matters are likely to have explanatorily basic features that are not necessary conditions. This prompts a move away from analysis to some other kind of philosophical explanation. This paper proposes a paradigm based explanation of one such subject matter: blame. First, a paradigm form of blame is identified—‘Communicative Blame’—where this is understood as a candidate for an explanatorily basic form (...) of blame. Second, its point and purpose in our lives is investigated and found to reside in its power to increase the alignment of the blamer and the wrongdoer's moral understandings. Third, the hypothesis that Communicative Blame is an explanatorily basic form of blame is tested out by seeing how far other kinds of blame can reasonably be understood as derivative, especially in respect of blame's point and purpose. Finally, a new and quasi-political worry about blame is raised. (shrink)

This paper investigates whether 'even if A, B' is pragmatically polysemic, so that a nonconcessive conditional may have 'even if', and whether concessive conditionals, pragmatically defined, can fail to have 'even if' or a non-temporal 'still'. Different paraphrases are used to help elucidate pragmatic meanings. A theory of the pragmatic meanings of concessive and implicative conditionals is presented. The semantic meaning of 'even if' and the question of whether concessive conditionals imply the truth of their consequents are also discussed.

Grounded in ideas about sense-making and whole-person care with a long intellectual heritage, the movement for Philosophical Health—with its specific conceptions of philosophical care and counselling—is a relatively recent addition to the ongoing debate about understanding better the perspectives of patients to improve health practice. This article locates the development of this movement within the context of broader discussions of person-centred care (PCC), arguing that the approach advocated by defenders of philosophical health can provide a straightforward method for implementing PCC (...) in actual cases. This claim is explained and defended with reference to the SMILE_PH method created by Luis de Miranda (Sense-Making Interviews Looking at Elements of Philosophical Health), an approach recently trialled convincingly with people living with traumatic spinal cord injury. (shrink)

The thirteen specially-commissioned essays in this volume are written by philosophers at the forefront of feminist scholarship, and are designed to provide an accessible and stimulating guide to a philosophical literature that has seen massive expansion in recent years. Ranging from history of philosophy through metaphysics to philosophy of science, they encompass all the core subject areas commonly taught in anglophone undergraduate and graduate philosophy courses, offering both an overview of and a contribution to the relevant debates. Together they testify (...) to the intellectual value of feminism as a radicalizing energy internal to philosophical inquiry. This volume will be essential reading for any student or teacher of philosophy who is curious about the place of feminism in their subject. (shrink)

An extended examination of Libet's works led to a comprehensive reinterpretation of his results. According to this reinterpretation, the Minimum Train Duration of electrical brain stimulation should be considered as the time needed to create a brain stimulus efficient for producing conscious sensation and not as a basis for inferring the latency for conscious sensation of peripheral origin. Latency for conscious sensation with brain stimulation may occurafterthe Minimum Train Duration. Backward masking with cortical stimuli suggests a 125-300 ms minimum value (...) for the latency for conscious sensation of threshold skin stimuli. Backward enhancement is not suitable for inferring this latency. For determining temporal relations between stimuli that correspond to subjects' reports, theendof cerebral Minimum Train Duration should be used as reference, rather than its onset. Results of coupling peripheral and cortical stimuli are explained by a latency after the cortical Minimum Train Duration, having roughly the same duration as the latency for supraliminal skin stimuli. Results of coupling peripheral stimuli and stimuli to medial lemniscus (LM) are explained by a shorter LM latency and/or a longer peripheral latency. This interpretation suggests a 230 ms minimum value for the latency for conscious sensation of somatosensory near-threshold stimuli. The backward referral hypothesis, as formulated by Libet, should not be retained. Long readiness potentials preceding spontaneous conscious or nonconscious movements suggest that both kinds of movement are nonconsciously initiated. The validity of Libet's measures of W and M moments (Libet et al., 1983a) is questionable due to problems involving latencies, training, and introspective distinction of W and M. Veto of intended actions may be initially nonconscious but dependent on conscious awareness. (shrink)

Fricker shows that virtue epistemology provides a general epistemological idiom in which these issues can be forcefully discussed.