Most everyday tasks involve multiple modalities, which raises the question of how the processing of these modalities is coordinated by the cognitive system. In this paper, we focus on the coordination of visual attention and linguistic processing during speaking. Previous research has shown that objects in a visual scene are fixated before they are mentioned, leading us to hypothesize that the scan pattern of a participant can be used to predict what he or she will say. We test this hypothesis (...) using a data set of cued scene descriptions of photo-realistic scenes. We demonstrate that similar scan patterns are correlated with similar sentences, within and between visual scenes; and that this correlation holds for three phases of the language production process (target identification, sentence planning, and speaking). We also present a simple algorithm that uses scan patterns to accurately predict associated sentences by utilizing similarity-based retrieval. (shrink)

When people communicate, they coordinate a wide range of linguistic and non-linguistic behaviors. This process of coordination is called alignment, and it is assumed to be fundamental to successful communication. In this paper, we question this assumption and investigate whether disalignment is a more successful strategy in some cases. More specifically, we hypothesize that alignment correlates with task success only when communication is interactive. We present results from a spot-the-difference task in which dyads of interlocutors have to decide whether they (...) are viewing the same scene or not. Interactivity was manipulated in three conditions by increasing the amount of information shared between interlocutors. We use recurrence quantification analysis to measure the alignment between the scan-patterns of the interlocutors. We found that interlocutors who could not exchange feedback aligned their gaze more, and that increased gaze alignment correlated with decreased task success in this case. When feedback was possible, in contrast, interlocutors utilized it to better organize their joint search strategy by diversifying visual attention. This is evidenced by reduced overall alignment in the minimal feedback and full dialogue conditions. However, only the dyads engaged in a full dialogue increased their gaze alignment over time to achieve successful performances. These results suggest that alignment per se does not imply communicative success, as most models of dialogue assume. Rather, the effect of alignment depends on the type of alignment, on the goals of the task, and on the presence of feedback. (shrink)

The human sentence processor is able to make rapid predictions about upcoming linguistic input. For example, upon hearing the verb eat, anticipatory eye-movements are launched toward edible objects in a visual scene. However, the cognitive mechanisms that underlie anticipation remain to be elucidated in ecologically valid contexts. Previous research has, in fact, mainly used clip-art scenes and object arrays, raising the possibility that anticipatory eye-movements are limited to displays containing a small number of objects in a visually impoverished context. In (...) Experiment 1, we confirm that anticipation effects occur in real-world scenes and investigate the mechanisms that underlie such anticipation. In particular, we demonstrate that real-world scenes provide contextual information that anticipation can draw on: When the target object is not present in the scene, participants infer and fixate regions that are contextually appropriate. Experiment 2 investigates whether such contextual inference requires the co-presence of the scene, or whether memory representations can be utilized instead. The same real-world scenes as in Experiment 1 are presented to participants, but the scene disappears before the sentence is heard. We find that anticipation occurs even when the screen is blank, including when contextual inference is required. We conclude that anticipatory language processing is able to draw upon global scene representations to make contextual inferences. These findings are compatible with theories assuming contextual guidance, but posit a challenge for theories assuming object-based visual indices. (shrink)

The need for European citizens to be more involved in scientific research has emerged from the conclusions of the studies commissioned by the EC and by independent bodies. In the first part of this contribution, I will discuss the question of whether a dialogue between society and science is desirable. I will attempt to claim that at least one of the reasons why the dialogue between science and society should be defended has been underestimated in the course of most of (...) the studies carried out: the fact the scientific knowledge helps to a create a better, more rounded, more aware human being which can only benefit society. Subsequently, I will deal with the various genres of scientific literature. While in modern times, communication of scientific discoveries has been reduced to the article, in the nineteenth century scientists made use of more varied literary forms such as journals, letters and narrative essays which were more accessible to those who were not specialists but nevertheless curious about scientific matters. I believe that these more popular forms of writing helped to close the gap between the public and science. (shrink)

In 1975, the English evolutionist William Donald Hamilton held in Brazil a series of lectures entitled “Population genetics and social behaviour”. The unpublished notes of these conferences—written by Hamilton and recently discovered at the British Library—offer an opportunity to reflect on some of the author’s ideas about evolution. The year of the conference is particularly significant, as it took place shortly after the applications of the Price equation with which Hamilton was able to build a model that included several levels (...) of selection. In this paper I mainly analyse the inaugural lecture in which Hamilton proposes a simple model to disprove the hypothesis supported by the British zoologist C. Vero Wynne-Edwards regarding mechanisms to prevent “over-exploitation of the food supply” in “the interests of the survival of the group”. The document presented here is of great historical interest. Not only because manuscript offers a model that—since it was intended for teaching purposes—had never before appeared in the published version, but also because of the general index of the lectures that accompanies it. The latter allows us to make some hypothetical considerations on the relationship and differences between kin-selection, group-selection and inclusive fitness that Hamilton wanted to present to the attentive, well-prepared audience of the foreign university that had invited him. (shrink)

In his essay From Logos to Mythos, I republished on the twentieth anniversary of its first publication, Most saw in the release of Creuzer’s Symbolik und Mythologie the moment when philology distanced itself from philosophy “refraining strictly from any discussion of what the Greek myths could mean for us, and instead concentrating […] into what the Greek myths could have meant for the Greeks”. This essay analyses the case study offered by the mythological dyad Kronos (Κρόνος) and Chronos (Χρόνος). It (...) highlights some elements that place these two figures at a distance on the philological level but closer on the philosophical one. The essay encourages a dialogue between philological rigour and philosophical use of myth: myth, in its prolificity, is eloquent in every age and a careful understanding of what it meant to the Greeks in its time does not necessarily imply giving up understanding what it may mean to us today. (shrink)

In his paper “Wellbeing and Changing Attitudes Across Time”, Krister Bykvist investigates the challenge that changing attitudes pose for attitude-sensitive theories of well-being in determining temporal wellbeing. He offers both a useful tool to investigate the conceptual space of possible answers, namely an attitudinal matrix, as well as a seemingly plausible constraint on such an answer, which he terms ‘diagonalism’. This paper draws on his matrix to provide an argument against diagonalism and offer an error theory regarding its intuitive force. (...) Using his matrix, I sketch my own view of temporal well-being according to which it is not a single unified concept, but can rather be understood in two different ways (‘better for’ vs. ‘better off’), both of which are interesting in their own right. (shrink)

The transition from chemistry to biology is an extremely complex issue because of the huge phenomenological differences between the two domains and because this transition has many different aspects and dimensions. In this paper, I will try to analyze how chemical systems have developed a cohesive, self-maintaining and functionally differentiated system that recruits its organization to stay far from equilibrium. This organization cannot exist but in an individualized form, and yet, it unfolds both a diachronic-historical and a synchronic collective dimension. (...) I will argue that, far from being a problem, these different dimensions of the phenomenon of life, appear as a consequence of the nature of this individualized organization. (shrink)

The aim of this commentary article is to discuss several problems in the distribution map for conscious organisms and suggest a different strategy to address their evolutionary development. I propose to complement the model of Unlimited Associative Learning (UAL) that Jablonka and Ginsburg present in their Target Article with the additional consideration of how body plans constrain the possibilities of evolution of the brain— in some cases blocking, in some others enabling its complexification and corporal integration. In my view, the (...) specific body plan of vertebrates has played a key role in the complexification and diversification of consciousness because it has favored an increasing integration between brain and body. (shrink)

In her foreword to Science Next, Elizabeth Edwards wrote of science as a tool for social progress: "Innovation is not simply the abstract victory of knowledge [or] the research that gave me years to live; the next science can advance human flourishing and serve the common good. That's the kind of world I want to leave for my children, and for yours." With these words, she joined a tradition that goes back to America's founders, who saw America itself as a (...) "great experiment." Yet while no one can deny that science undergirds the American Dream, it has long been fertile terrain for the "culture wars." Along with arguing the pros and cons of abortion and healthcare, policymakers must now grapple with advancements that raise questions about what it means to be human: we've decoded the genome, but should we modify it to enhance certain "desirable" traits? If we can, should we prolong life at any cost? Will we soon be counting robots, cyborgs, and chimeras among our friends and family?The first book to unpack our love/hate relationship with science from our country's origins to today, The Body Politic is essential reading for science buffs and concerned citizens alike.Jonathan D. Moreno is editor of the Center for American Progress' online magazine Science Progress and professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Author and editor of many seminal books and articles on science and science policy, he divides his time between Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:IRBs Under the MicroscopeJonathan D. Moreno (bio)The spring and summer of 1998 were seasons in the sun for institutional review board (IRB) aficionados. Rarely have the arcana of the local human subjects review panels been treated to so much attention in both the executive and the legislative branches of government, not only at the federal but also at the state level. And it looks as if the attention (...) will continue for some time. The spate of interest is due to a series of coincidences: a powerful House of Representatives subcommittee held hearings after its chairman learned about the IRB system during a previous session on research in underdeveloped communities; the Department of Health and Human Services’s Inspector General (DHHS-IG) released a report on IRBs; the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research completed a report on clinical trial monitoring; the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) readied a report on research involving persons with mental disorders; the states of Maryland and New York completed studies of research with subjects who lack decision-making capacity; and advocacy groups protested a psychiatric research project involving inner city children.Underlying these proximate causes for the IRB blitz is a growing realization that the already considerable clinical trial enterprise will expand significantly over the next few years. Congress is talking about giving the politically popular NIH half again the budget it currently receives, which in turn will stimulate more commercially supported research. The director of the National Cancer Institute is considering a five-fold increase in the number of subjects enrolled in oncology studies over the next several years. Phase I cancer studies are among the most ethically sensitive, so IRBs will have more work cut out for them if this goal is reached. Adding to the rush of interest in IRBs are the government’s recent apology to the survivors of the syphilis study in Tuskegee, continuing congressional dissatisfaction with the way the Pentagon handled its vaccine distribution during the Gulf War, and the controversy about AZT trials in developing countries.On the HillCongressman Christopher Shays, the moderate Connecticut Republican who has developed an interest in human research issues, convened hearings on human [End Page 329] subjects research and the IRB system on 11 June 1998. Shays chairs the House Government Reform/Human Resources Subcommittee. The committee’s ranking minority member is Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn, NY, who shares Shays’s interest in this area.The immediate rationale for the hearings was the release that day of the DHHS-IG report, Institutional Review Boards: A Time for Reform. The subtitle was changed from A System in Jeopardy apparently after some people in DHHS expressed reservations about its seemingly alarmist tone, but the IG staffers who testified before Shays’s subcommittee insisted that they stood behind the message that the IRB system is in trouble if considerable reforms are not undertaken. Among the factors in the research environment cited as support for the bleak forecast: managed care, commercialization, multi-site trials, high IRB workloads, minimal IRB oversight of approved studies, conflicts of interest, insufficient training of IRB members and investigators, and lack of IRB self-studies (DHHS-IG 1998).As is normally the case for congressional oversight hearings, the first panel of witnesses consisted of executive branch officials, including Eric Meslin, Executive Director of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, and Gary Ellis, Director of the Office for Protection from Research Risks (OPRR). Shays pressed Ellis on the extent to which OPRR conducts on-site investigations of complaints about abuse of human subjects. Admitting that on-site investigations are rare, Ellis suggested that the agency is inadequately staffed to follow up on complaints as quickly as it might wish. The members of Congress who were present at the hearings generally expressed concern about the DHHS-IG’s findings.The second panel that day, which Shays was unable to attend, set a different tone. Four of the panelists—Paul Appelbaum of the University of Massachusetts at Worcester, Robert Levine of Yale University, Angela Bowen of the Western IRB (a private clinical trials review firm), and I—were invited as authorities on the current condition of the IRB system. Bert Spilker... (shrink)

This paper aims to propose a version of the description theory of reference –for short, descriptivism– on natural kind terms. This version is grounded on some proposals of descriptivists, such as Searle and Strawson, about proper names, which will be extended to natural kind terms. According to Searle and Strawson the reference of a proper name is determined by a sufficient number of the descriptions that speakers associate with the name, but among the sorts of descriptions admitted by these authors (...) are those in which the average speaker defers the reference of a term to other speakers. In this regard, descriptivism can accept Putnam’s thesis of the division of linguistic labour and claim that some of the descriptions associated by non-experts have the function of deferring the reference of natural kind terms to their reference in the use by experts. Thus, descriptivism can maintain that the reference of a natural kind term is determined by a sufficient number of the descriptions that experts concerning a natural kind associate with the term. I will argue that this version of descriptivism, which grants more weight to social links than to historical links, can explain better than Kripke’s theory the reference of the use of natural kind terms by the average speaker. (shrink)

This paper develops a largely neglected parallel between prudence and population ethics. Prudence is generally understood to be concerned with the balancing of well-being over time. How, precisely, well-being ought to be balanced over time, however, is a fervently debated question. I argue that developing a standard guiding such evaluations is exceedingly challenging. This is due to an often overlooked fact about prudence, namely that it shares a structural similarity with population ethics: In both contexts, we assess the comparative value (...) of populations of personstages/people, which may vary in number and level of well-being. Based on this analogy, I show that the development of an adequate theory of prudence runs into very similar impossibility results as obtain in population ethics. In particular, I prove that Arrhenius’ fifth impossibility theorem can be applied to prudence. I develop and compare four possible answers to this challenge. First, I discuss the possibility of accepting the very repugnant conclusion intrapersonally. Second, I present and further develop Donald Bruckner’s Minimax Regret approach, which gives up Transitivity. Third, I apply Jacob Nebel’s Lexical Threshold View to prudence and critically evaluate it. Lastly, I introduce what I call the Negative Lexicality View, which is based on Lexical Threshold View but overcomes some of its problems. (shrink)

In this article I analyze the connection between the concepts of “actuality”, “upcoming” and “origin” found in the early reflections of Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno to expose some of the defining borders of the transposition of criticisms made by both philosophers. Through the identification of “actuality” as a reflection on the conditions in which philosophy is legitimate, “upcoming” as a requisite for self-justification of philosophical knowledge, and “origin” as the claim of the historically unfinished, I show in what (...) sense a critical horizon is recovered by Benjamin and Adorno as an inexorable exercise of philosophical praxis. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:FINALITY AND INTELLIGIBILITY IN BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION ANTONIO MORENO, O.P. Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, California I N SCIENCE AND philosophy the final cause has always..,been controversial. To biologists the problem is complicated, but many believe that it is impossible fo give a complete description of the phenomenon of life without taking into oonsideration the teleological aspect of it. Thus Rensch: A special feature of all living organisms is the (...) fact that biological processes in general appear to be: 'meaningful.' They are not only appropriate to the immediate conditions, but also seem to be directed to some purpose which in individual development is only achievE:d at a relatively late stage and after many modications of form.1 Simpson's approach to this problem is shaped by the conviction that biology should attempt to answer all the questions, one of whioh is the reason for a living being's activity: "Here, ' What for '-the dreadful teleological question-not only is legitimate but also must eventually be asked about every vital phenomenon." 2 To understand how finality is realized in biology, let us first turn briefly to the nature of the final cause. The Nature of the Final CaU8e Aristotle deals with causes in the seeond book of his Physics: It is through the causes that scientific conclusions about mobile heings are demonstrated. Movement is intelligible when we discover the causes that produce it. Among the 1B. Rensch, Biophilosophy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971), p. 107. 2 G. Simpson, Th,is Vi.ew of Life (New York: Ifarcourt, 1964),.pp. 104-108. l ANTONIO MORENO, O.P. causes, the first and most important is the final cause, which is defined as "that for the sake of which a thing is done." 3 The final cause is the motive or reason which impels the agent to operate. Motion is the vehicle by whioh the goal is attained and, consequently, the other causes exercise their causality in dependence on the final cause. Hence, Aquinas says: " The final cause is called the cause of causes, because it is the cause of the causality of all the causes. For it is the cause of the efficient ca:usality; and the efficient cause is the cause of the causality of both the matter and the form.".j, The final cause directs, inclines, and attracts; impelled by this attraction, the efficient pushes and exercises its action. Aquinas asserts that those who reject the final cause destroy the intelligibility of science, inasmuch as they suppress the motive or first reason which justifies motion. The final cause is not the cause that executes the adion, for this is the agent's function, the efficient cause. The final cause is the reason why the agent acts. Therefore, the efficient cause presupposes the final: "The end is not the cause unless it moves the agent to act. If there is no action the final cause does not exist." 5 It is interesting to note that many biologists believe that the existence of finality destroys causality, when actually the opposite is true. For example, Simpson says: " The finalist was often the man who made a liberal use of ignaV'a ratio,... when you failed to explain a, thing by the ordinary process of causality, you could ' explain ' it 1by reference to some purpose of nature." 6 A simple desirn or attraction is not a cause unless it is fol3 Aristotle, Ph&sias (Trans. W. D. Ross) Book II, 3, 194b34. (Oxford, 1962). 4 Thomas Aquinas, In V Metaph., Iect. 3, n. 782. Of. Summa Theol., I, q. 105, a.5. 5 Thomas Aquinas, On the Power of God, trans. English Dominican Fathers (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1952), q.5, a. l. 6 G. Simpson, The Meaning of Evolution (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), p. 274. FINALITY IN BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION 3 lowed by the activity of the agent. The desire to attain the goal is called the " intention " of the action, even when the goal is not achieved, as happens in many of our actions. Failure does not destroy finality; inactivity does. For that which is first in the intention is the last to be achieved as the effect. The intention does not... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Notes on Psychodramatic Treatment of a Person with SchizophreniaJonathan D. Moreno, PhD (bio)I have enjoyed reflecting on Mr. Chapy’s account of work in psychodrama with a patient with schizophrenia.Although at one time many years ago I was interested in phenomenological psychiatry, and especially the writings of Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss, I am not an authority on dasein-analysis, so I have nothing to add to the discussion. I (...) should say, however, that my father had little interest in this approach, which was far too abstract for his taste. He proceeded from the standpoint of the theater, of action and enactment. He believed that the drama itself provided the insight.For the purposes of this response, I take it as a given that the patient in question has been accurately diagnosed, although in the description of the scene with his father he does not exhibit the usual symptoms, such as auditory hallucinations. People with schizophrenia often find it difficult to manage the voices they are hearing without substantial preparation for a psychodrama. According to psychodramatic method, one way to prepare them is to externalize the voices, allowing a different therapist to take the role of each one as the protagonist instructs them how to play that role. Chair may be set up so that each “voice,” personified by an auxiliary ego, can sit in each chair in an array. This preparation may require a number of sessions. If the scene is to be enacted with a significant other, like the father in this instance, the patient may not be able to warm up to a direct encounter, especially with all the different voices competing for his internal attention. So he may be directed to observe each voice in the encounter with his father, preferably played by a therapist of his choosing and trained for the role, usually by giving the father-player certain lines so that they can learn something about the father and the way he addresses his son.Or consider the patient whose illness manifests itself as delusions, often of a megalomaniac character. They may be a messiah, for example, or the rightful heir of a royal line whose identity is being suppressed by governmental forces. The patient might be invited to choose key therapists to play the roles of key members of their circle, [End Page 225] enacting critical scenes like the sermon on the mount or speeches to their oppressed followers. In this way the patient’s “act hunger” may be to some degree satiated and have a calming effect on their anxiety and irritation with the frustrating world around them that refuses to accept their “authentic” identity and belief system.In these ways, psychodrama therapy can take advantage of one of the remarkable advantages of this method for such patients, who are generally recalcitrant to talk therapy alone and for whom medication is at best modestly effective. Still, these disorders are among the most challenging for psychotherapists. Although the process of treating them may open up insights into the nature of the human mind, as Chapy has pursued in this paper, we await the neuroscience that can affect the kind of long-term remission they and their families so desperately wish. [End Page 226]Jonathan D. MorenoUniversity of Pennsylvania morenojd@pennmedicine.upenn.eduJonathan D. Moreno Jonathan D. Moreno is a philosopher and historian who specializes in the intersection of bioethics, culture, science, and national security, and has published seminal works on the history, sociology and politics of biology and medicine. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.submitted on January 27, 2023Accepted on January 30, 2023Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press... (shrink)

The implementation of online technologies to promote wellbeing is increasingly becoming a worldwide priority. This study includes secondary analyses of data and examined drop-out rates in an online guided self-help intervention for patients with anorexia nervosa. Specifically, rates of drop-out at end of treatment (i.e. six-week assessment), as well as intervention adherence (minimum of four of six online guided sessions) and differences between completers and drop-outs were examined. Motivation to change and associated patient variables were assessed as predictors of drop-out (...) using structural equation modelling. Ninety-nine patients were randomised to the intervention arm of the trial. Data were available for 82 individuals, 67 of whom completed the six-week assessment and attended a minimum of four online sessions. No significant differences were found between completers and drop-outs at baseline. At the end of the first week of participation, drop-outs from the six-week assessment or the intervention reported less satisfaction with their work with the mentor delivering online guidance. Greater confidence in own ability to change and higher controlled motivation (willingness to change due to pressure from others) predicted lower drop-out rates from the six-week assessment. Stronger alliance with the therapist at the treatment centre and lower psychological distress were associated with greater autonomous motivation (self-directed motivation) and importance and ability to change. Data demonstrate that a novel online guided self-help intervention for patients with anorexia nervosa is feasible. Early satisfaction with the program and external pressure to change have a protective role against drop-out rates. (shrink)

Following a brief account of the puzzle that ethics committees present for the Western Philosophical tradition, I will examine the possibility that social contract theory can contribute to a philosophical account of these committees. Passing through classical as well as contemporary theories, particularly Rawls' recent constructivist approach, I will argue that social contract theory places severe constraints on the authority that may legitimately be granted to ethics committees. This, I conclude, speaks more about the suitability of the theory to this (...) level of analysis than about the ethics committee phenomenon itself. Keywords: ethics committees, moral consensus, social contract theory CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

This article is an introduction to the Synthese Special Issue, Natural Kinds: Language, Science, and Metaphysics. The issue includes new contributions to some of the main questions involved in the present philosophical debates on natural kinds and on natural kind terms. Those debates are relevant to philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and metaphysics. In philosophy of language it is highly debated what the meaning of natural kind terms is, how their reference is determined, as well as whether there are (...) differences and similarities between the semantics of natural kind terms and that of other sorts of kind terms. In philosophy of science, natural kinds are relevant because they are the basis for scientific classifications and play an explanatory role in scientific theories; thus one aim of science is to discover natural kinds and theorize about them. Natural kinds are also relevant in metaphysics, where many questions involving natural kinds are debated and especially those concerning the sort of entities we refer to when using natural kind terms, i.e., the ontological status of natural kinds; in this regard there are different views, such as conventionalism, realism and essentialism. Another metaphysical question is what it is that characterizes the naturalness of kind divisions. The introduction sketches the antecedents of some of the present views on natural kinds and natural kind terms, and indicates some of the topics dealt with in the articles that make up the issue, which can be classified in the following groups: the metaphysics and epistemology of natural kinds the semantics of natural kind terms and other kind terms questions on species and other related issues on natural kinds. However, many of the articles cover more than just one of these topics. (shrink)

Accustomed as many of us have become in the era of clinical bioethics to the idea of a “hospital philosopher”, on reflection the historical novelty of the role is astonishing, as are its ambiguities. As a result of considering my own experience I found myself writing this miniature intellectual autobiography. In the course of this essay I raise two specific questions: what can the Western philosophical tradition contribute to the clinical setting; and (a question that is rarely asked), what are (...) the implications of this experience for that tradition? (shrink)

El Fórum 2004 acogió la XX edición del Congreso Público Communication of Science and Technology (PCST), que contó con la participación de destacados miembros de la comunidad científica i de instituciones públicas y privadas relevantes en el ámbito de la ciencia a nivel internacional. La reflexión propia del congreso PCST, que se centró en cómo hacer llegar, comunicar a la ciudadanía los objetivos, tendencias y resultados de la investigación científica actual, se incorporó a un diálogo más amplio, que tenía por (...) objetivo encontrar puntos de acuerdo entre los ponentes sobre la difícil articulación entre el conocimiento científico i la diversidad cultural en el mundo actual: el Diálogo denominado Conocimiento científico y diversidad cultural, en el seno del Fórum 2004. (shrink)

https://revistes.uab.cat/enrahonar/article/view/v25-fernandez.

Jehuda ben Isaak Abrabanel, znany jako Leone Ebreo, XVI-wieczny sefardyjski intelektualista, definiuje tytułowe pojęcie w swoim dziele _Dialogi o miłości_ (_Dialoghi d’amore)_. Ten traktat filozoficzny z neoplatońskimi podtekstami, łączący wszystko, co wcześniejsi myśliciele napisali o tym szlachetnym uczuciu, był niezwykle popularny i stał się wzorem dla współczesnych mu pisarzy. Został przetłumaczony na język hiszpański m.in. przez Inkę Garcilaso de la Vega, a Miguel de Cervantes wspomina o nim w prologu do pierwszej części _Don Kichota_, sugerując, że opisana w nim miłość (...) daleka jest od rzeczywistości. Wizja wyidealizowanej miłości, którą kochanek Filon czuje do czystej Zofii, znajduje swoje odbicie w stworzonym przez Sefardyjczyka Eliasa Canettiego portrecie doktora Sonne, jednego z bohaterów _Gry oczu._ Przejawem mistycznej miłości jest miłość do boskiego intelektu, a tę osiągnąć można jedynie przez intelektualny wysiłek włożony w dialog filozoficzny. Leone Ebreo urodził się na Półwyspie Iberyjskim, wyemigrował do Włoch po 1492 r. i najprawdopodobniej (nie ma co do tego pewności) wybrał język nowej ojczyzny dla swojej ekspresji. Elias Canetti, Sefardyjczyk urodzony w Bułgarii (podówczas okupowanej przez Imperium Osmańskie), przed I wojną światową pisał po niemiecku. Postaci te, odległe od siebie w czasie i przestrzeni, łączy pochodzenie judeohiszpańskie i związany z nim bagaż hebrajskiej tradycji egzegetycznej, który prowadzi obu do bardzo podobnej pochwały intelektualnej miłości. Artykuł przedstawia pokrewieństwo myśli obu pisarzy ‒ których można uznać za Hiszpanów ze względu na ich sefardyjskie pochodzenie ‒ w odniesieniu do intelektualnego mistycyzmu wyrażonego poprzez miłość do Intelektu pisanego wielką literą. (shrink)

Jehuda ben Isaak Abrabanel, znany jako Leone Ebreo, XVI-wieczny sefardyjski intelektualista, definiuje tytułowe pojęcie w swoim dziele _Dialogi o miłości_ (_Dialoghi d’amore)_. Ten traktat filozoficzny z neoplatońskimi podtekstami, łączący wszystko, co wcześniejsi myśliciele napisali o tym szlachetnym uczuciu, był niezwykle popularny i stał się wzorem dla współczesnych mu pisarzy. Został przetłumaczony na język hiszpański m.in. przez Inkę Garcilaso de la Vega, a Miguel de Cervantes wspomina o nim w prologu do pierwszej części _Don Kichota_, sugerując, że opisana w nim miłość (...) daleka jest od rzeczywistości. Wizja wyidealizowanej miłości, którą kochanek Filon czuje do czystej Zofii, znajduje swoje odbicie w stworzonym przez Sefardyjczyka Eliasa Canettiego portrecie doktora Sonne, jednego z bohaterów _Gry oczu._ Przejawem mistycznej miłości jest miłość do boskiego intelektu, a tę osiągnąć można jedynie przez intelektualny wysiłek włożony w dialog filozoficzny. Leone Ebreo urodził się na Półwyspie Iberyjskim, wyemigrował do Włoch po 1492 r. i najprawdopodobniej (nie ma co do tego pewności) wybrał język nowej ojczyzny dla swojej ekspresji. Elias Canetti, Sefardyjczyk urodzony w Bułgarii (podówczas okupowanej przez Imperium Osmańskie), przed I wojną światową pisał po niemiecku. Postaci te, odległe od siebie w czasie i przestrzeni, łączy pochodzenie judeohiszpańskie i związany z nim bagaż hebrajskiej tradycji egzegetycznej, który prowadzi obu do bardzo podobnej pochwały intelektualnej miłości. Artykuł przedstawia pokrewieństwo myśli obu pisarzy ‒ których można uznać za Hiszpanów ze względu na ich sefardyjskie pochodzenie ‒ w odniesieniu do intelektualnego mistycyzmu wyrażonego poprzez miłość do Intelektu pisanego wielką literą. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:To Engage or Not to Engage:An Interpreter and a Mother's Need for Connection in the Cardiothoracic UnitRosa C. MorenoFive minutes into my shift, I arrived at my assigned area for the day, the cardiothoracic intensive care unit. Soon after, I received a phone call from the charge nurse that my interpreting services were being requested—words that set the tone for what would be a busy day. I took my (...) notepad, clipped my pen onto my lanyard, and off I went. As I turned the corner of the long hospital corridor, I saw a group of providers standing outside a room, and I knew it was going to be one of those "tough" conversations. I was escorted inside the hospital room. As is customary, I scanned the room and noticed the patient was a female in her teens and her mama of a humble demeanor.Interpreters serve as vital conduits in bridging the linguistic and cultural gaps between individuals who speak different languages. Interpreters convey spoken messages faithfully and impartially, striving to maintain the integrity and tone of the original communication.I interpreted for the cardiologist and for Mama, whose look of worry was evident. Her daughter had gone into cardiac arrest during the night on the oncology unit and was unconscious, initially admitted for recently diagnosed leukemia. Between every piece of information, Mama invoked her faith and, with it, the hope of her daughter pulling through. The patient would get an MRI to find a plausible explanation. We all left the room except Mama. I waited outside in case other providers needed me. Mama walked out to the hallway and asked me to please not leave her side the rest of the day. "Of course," I replied.To patients: Understand that interpreters are bound by professional ethics, including confidentiality and impartiality. Avoid engaging in side-conversations with interpreters, as their primary focus should be on facilitating communication between you and healthcare providers.Mama and I waited outside the MRI room. Wait time was filled with the telling of stories and [End Page E7] anecdotes of Mama and her two daughters. They arrived in the US three years prior, leaving their home and family to escape inevitable violence. They journeyed on foot and ride-hopped through the country of Mexico and then endured the detention center experience. A woman they encountered was kind enough to rent the family of three a room in her home. Mama shared with me anecdotes about the rebellious nature of the patient as a 15-year-old determined to figure out her identity and the quiet and observant nature of the younger sister. I listened to Mama's own story of hope and despair. Sprinkled between every story, Mama invoked her faith and, with it, the hope of her daughter pulling through. I listened, nodded, validated, encouraged, and smiled when Mama smiled.To healthcare providers: Recognize and respect cultural differences that may impact communication and healthcare decision-making. Be open to learning about your patient's cultural background and preferences and adapt your approach accordingly.My shift was ending. I told Mama I would see her tomorrow morning and let her know her daughter was in my prayers.To healthcare providers: While their primary role is to bridge the communication gap between healthcare providers and patients who speak different languages, interpreters also understand the emotional weight that accompanies medical situations.The following morning, I went straight to the patient's room. From afar, I saw Mama outside in the hallway. As I got closer, she spread her arms and hugged me whilst letting me know her daughter had passed away during the night. No tears were showing—only sad and somber eyes. I gave her my most sincere condolences. We stood in the middle of the hospital corridor as she recounted the events of the night. Mama asked me if I could accompany her inside the room, which I did. She asked if I could hold her daughter's hand, and so I held it. She then asked me if I could tell her daughter what a beautiful and wonderful young lady she was. I struggled with this last request, for... (shrink)

It has been a pleasure to read these papers and to contemplate their importance for what I believe to be a useful and provocative prism though which to view the field of bioethics: the nature of moral consensus. In my own most extended contribution to this literature, DecidingTogether, I did not attempt to prescribe so much as to understand the role of moral consensus in the practice of bioethics. At the end of the book, I expressed the hope that it (...) might help trigger an examination of bioethics and moral consensus. Though a few others shared my interest at that time (in particular Tris Engelhardt, for whose early encouragement I remain deeply grateful), with this set of stimulating papers the conversation has finally begun in earnest. (shrink)

Algunas de las objeciones más importantes contra la tesis de la incommensurabilidad, especialmente en su versión referencial se basan en la teoría causal de la referencia y, en particular, en la teoría de la referencia de Putnam acerca de los términos de género natural: de estl teoría se sigue que la referencia de los términos de género natural no se ve modificada por cambios en nuestras teorías. En este articulo examino la teoria de la referencia de Putnam y arguyo que (...) esta no permite rebatir la tesis de la incommensurabilidad referencial. Mi examen se centra en la referencia de un tipo de términos de genera natural los terminos de sustancia y, en concreto, en la referencia deI término “agua”.Some of the most imporant objections against the incommensurability thesis, especially in its referential version, are based on tbe causal theory of reference and, in particular, on Putnam’s reference theory about natural kind terms; from this theory it follows that the reference of natural kind terms is not modified by changes in our theories. In this paper I examine Putnam’s theory of reference and argue that it does not countenance a refutation of the thesis of referential incommensurability. My examination concentrates on the reference of one sort of natural kind terms, substance terms, and specifically on tbe reference of the term “water”. (shrink)

In this paper, I intend to show the right concern of phenomenology (specially of husserlian type) in the exploration of the textures of consciousness that explain themselves in the noetic-noematic structure of the phenomenological-transcendentally reduced world (within inverted commas). Therefore, the undoubtfulness of “immanent perception” takes, for instance, great importance in the virtual realm, as long as, in that realm, consciousness opens itself more radically to the intentional “otherness” than to what natural attitude calls “reality”. Nevertheless, although phenomenology is able (...) to justify the emergence of virtual reality (or of “real virtuality”), phenomenology has strategies ruling out the possibility that virtualization becomes simulation (deception). In this paper, this situation is presented as the ideal of the technical-virtual manipulation of what is given to consciousness. For this very reason, virtual attitude must keep an indispensable distance (strangeness effect), so that the sense of “reality” can continue to be a valid one. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to analyze the production of the subject Woman by reviewing some practices, discourses, and technologies promoted by the state, the church, and elites. It is important to emphasize that in most research about women or femininity, female subjectivity appears tightly linked to sexual difference. However, in this work I want to show that the notion of Woman is co-determined by race and class. The experience characteristic of such representation was possible only for a small (...) group of white and bourgeois women. Others—Indian, black, and mestiza “women”—could hardly account for a social experience comparable to the Western narrative about woman. Nevertheless, processes of homogenization allow these others to be classified and disciplined according to the gender norm, yet without altering the prejudices and inequalities produced by the prevailing racist and classist system, which implies the production of other female subjectivities, of other “women.”. (shrink)

El Contextualismo ofrece una novedosa forma de acercamiento a la obra arquitectónica, dado que la pone en relación íntima con el "habitar" humano. Ello le exige al intérprete poner de presente no sólo la contingencia e historicidad de la obra, sino también las relaciones que ésta establece con el entorno. Para mostrar la peculiaridad de esta propuesta -que se vale de tipologías visuales y táctiles-, la autora la compara, en primer lugar, con aquellos métodos que se valen solamente de parámetros (...) formales o preestablecidos. En segundo lugar, reconoce como punto de partida de su trabajo el aporte de Henri Bergson, quien al ser un exponente del pensamiento contextual, ofrece, no sólo un análisis de la imagen como elemento que posibilita nuevas aperturas y modificaciones de sentido, sino además, múltiples caminos para la interpretación. Por último, la autora analiza dos obras del arquitecto Osear Niemeyer, en las cuales se percibe de manera más concreta el sentido de esta propuesta. (shrink)

Pinhas Sadeh was considered as an unorthodox writer as regards his environment, the “State Culture” in Israel. In the first part of this paper I present the biography of the author and his most representative work, Life as a parable, published in 1958, as well as his romantic and frankist roots and his leaning towards Christianity according to the Gospel. In the second part a mythical analysis of this work is made according to the inner journey of hero, through which (...) the main character is looking for his life meaning. In this second part I present my methodology, based on works of the Eranos Society (Mircea Eliade, C.G. Jung, Gilbert Durand). Afterwards, I analyse the mithems that I have found in Life as a parable. Finally, I make a mythical comparison between this novel and Siddharta, of Hermann Hesse. (shrink)

Scientific misconduct obstructs the advance of knowledge in science. Its impact in some disciplines is still poorly known, as is the frequency in which it is detected. Here, I examine how frequently editors of ecology and evolution journals detect scientist misconduct. On average, editors managed 0.114 allegations of misconduct per year. Editors considered 6 of 14 allegations (42.9%) to be true, but only in 2 cases were the authors declared guilty, the remaining being dropped for lack of proof. The annual (...) rate of allegations that were probably warranted was 0.053, although the rate of demonstrated misconduct was 0.018, while the rate of false or erroneous allegations was 0.024. Considering that several cases of misconduct are probably not reported, these findings suggest that editors detect less than one-third of all fraudulent papers. (shrink)

When asked why he turned from philosophy to the history of ideas, Isaiah Berlin said that he was worried that if he stayed in philosophy he wouldn't know any more at the end of his life than he had at the beginning. Mark Lilla makes the point in a somewhat more constructive way: "His [Berlin's] instinct told him that you learn more about an idea as an idea when you know something about its genesis and understand why certain people found (...) it compelling and were spurred to action by it".It took me decades longer than the brilliant Oxford don to appreciate the point, but when I did it came as a lightning strike of recognition. My brain seems to have been keyed from the beginning in the syntax of... (shrink)

Kripke holds the thesis that identity statements containing natural kind terms are if true, necessarily true; these statements can be denominated theoretical identities. Kripke alleges that the necessity of theoretical identities grounds on the linguistic feature that natural kind terms are rigid designators. Nevertheless, I argue that the conception of natural kind terms as rigid designators, in one of their most natural views, hinders the establishment of the truth of theoretical identities and thus of their necessity. However, in Kripke’s works (...) another proposal, not linguistic but metaphysical, is found to justify the presumed necessity of theoretical identities; it grounds on essentialism concerning natural kinds. In this regard, I question some of Kripke’s main claims, focusing on one of the main examples of theoretical identities put forward by Kripke, i.e., “Water is H2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$_2$$\end{document}O”. I challenge his a priori claims concerning what should be the essence of a natural kind like water. Furthermore, I adduce that the character of that theoretical identity is not that claimed by Kripke, since in the term flanking the right side of the identity sign it has to be resorted to the notion of similarity or it should have the form of a disjunction of a cluster of substances. (shrink)

Marsilius of Padua's political thought continues to be the subject of much debate and scholarship. Recent work has called into question the tendency of much Marsilian scholarship to over-rely on Discourse I of Defensor pacis as the primary source of the Paduan's political principles at the expense of the longer Discourse II. In spite of this observation, most Marsilian scholarship continues to demonstrate a propensity toward ignoring the final and third Discourse of Defensor pacis. Scholarship has largely forgotten the third (...) Discourse of Marsilius' main work, usually dismissing it as a mere conclusion of the entire tome or barely even considering it. Closer analysis suggests that the final Discourse is an important aspect of Marsilius' political thought and agenda, serving to illustrate and relate a number of the Paduan's political principles as well as demonstrating that Marsilius' works are theoretically consistent. (shrink)

Este trabajo tematiza el contraste entre la Novela Histórica Tradicional y la Nueva Novela Histórica en el contexto colombiano de la segunda mitad del siglo XX en cuanto a la representación del pasado nacional y, en particular, en cuanto al lugar del Otro en el tiempo/espacio de ese pasado. Se postula que los escritores colombianos de la Nueva Novela Histórica, al tematizar la presencia del Otro culturalmente diferente al sujeto de la élite republicana, son un antecedente cultural de la Constitución (...) política del 91, que reconoce la calidad pluricultural de la nación colombiana. This paper analyses the contrast between the Traditional Historical Novel and the New Historical Novel in the Colombian context of the second half of the XX century with reference to the representation of the national past and specifically referring to the estimation of the other as far as time and space in the past is concerned. i will argue that Colombian writers of the New Historical Novel mark the presence of the Other, who is culturally different from the republican elite, the main subject, and thus these works become the cultural background of the Political Constitution of 1991, that recognizes the multicultural situation of the Colombian nation. (shrink)

Mario Gómez-Torrente is a fundamental contribution to the issue of reference and especially of reference fixing. In this article I will focus on some questions addressed in it, especially on the relationships between some components of Kripke’s, Putnam’s and Gómez-Torrente’s theories of reference fixing as well as on the relevance of descriptions for those theories; I will then make some observations about Gómez-Torrente’s view of the reference-fixing conventions.

This paper shows a full description of Spanish inflectional morphology. We have chosen a paradigmatic approach instead of one based on phonological/spelling changes, i.e., the typical two-level model. Such morphological description has been written in the DATR formalism. The result is a network of nodes that makes use of the information inheritance mechanisms – orthogonal node inheritance and default path inheritance – that DATR allows. Some lexical coverage and corpus occurrence figures that support our approach are also given.

El artículo presenta una aproximación a la transición educativa, laboral, domiciliar y familiar de las personas jóvenes desde la perspectiva de género. El objetivo es analizar hasta qué punto la mejora del nivel educativo introduce transformaciones en el carácter tradicionalmente sexuado de las transiciones hacia la vida adulta. El análisis parte del conjunto de factores estructurales que pueden condicionar las transiciones juveniles, si bien atribuye una influencia central a la etapa del ciclo vital. A partir de los datos de la (...) Enquesta a la Juventud de Catalunya 2012, se concluye que el efecto ciclo vital limita el efecto generacional en la transformación de las relaciones de género entre la población joven.This paper focuses on educational, employment, housing and family transitions of young people from the gender perspective. The aim is to analyze how the educational system introduces changes in the traditional gendered transitions to adulthood. For this purpose, it takes into account structural factors with special attention to the life cycle. Based on data from the Enquesta a la joventud de Catalunya 2012, the results show that the effect of life cycle limits the effect of the generation in order to change the gender relations between young people. (shrink)

Las interpretaciones ascética y vitalista del eidos son incapaces de pensar a fondo su relevancia fenomenológica. Siempre parece que se valora más su perímetro y cerco, al servicio de la clausura y la consolidación de la unidad, que la diversidad intraeidética, infinita o empíricamente abierta. Más allá de lo típico, las rutinas y asentamientos mundanos, la diversidad intraeidética es críticamente eficaz sobre todo en la periferia, al tiempo que propicia la flexibilidad y dilatación interior de cada eidos. Esta problemática es (...) decisiva cuando se trata de pensar la dimensión proteica e hibrida de la cultura humana, así como la posibilidad de diversidad y cordura en un mundo complejo y en expansión.The ascetic and vitalistic interpretations of eidos are unable to think thoroughly its phenomenological relevancy. It always seems that the perimeter and boundary of eidos, at the service of the closure and consolidation of the unity, is more valued than intraeidetic diversity, infinitely or empirically opened. Beyond the typical, mundane routines and settlements, intraeidetic diversity is critically effective especially in the periphery, while enabling the flexibility and inner expansion of each eidos. This problem is crucial when it comes to thinking about the protean and hybrid dimensions of human culture, as well as the possibility of diversity and sanity in a complex and expanding world. (shrink)