As novas modalidades de operações financeiras realizadas por bancos tradicionais versus suas contrapartes no ambiente virtual, as quais utilizam dados bancários e informações pessoais e sensíveis dos usuários naquilo que se chama de open banking é o tema central do trabalho. Assim, partiu-se de uma definição geral desse termo, declinando sua tentativa de regulação para analisar seu acoplamento com LGPD, concluindo-se da necessidade de uma intervenção do órgão regulador (BACEN) balanceando proteção de dados e aumento da concorrência gerado pelo instituto (...) estudado. A pesquisa bibliográfica foi utilizada e o método dialético foram utilizados pelo prisma da Análise Econômica do Direito. (shrink)

Este artigo aborda as questões de regulação de mercados com foco em dois países: China e Estados Unidos da América, ambos influentes na condução de cenários políticos, econômicos, tecnológicos e sociais. O objetivo da pesquisa é demonstrar, por meio da revisão dos dois maiores sistemas econômicos – capitalismo e socialismo – como os aplicativos chineses WeChat e TikTok suscitaram conflitos em prol da regulação de mercados que utilizam inovações tecnológicas. A pesquisa adotou o método dedutivo e bibliográfico, por meio de (...) documentação indireta. Conclui-se que os conflitos eram mais ideológicos-políticos do que jurídicos-normativos. (shrink)

This essay situates Mary Astell’s understanding of women’s moral freedom in the context of her under-studied vocabulary of “Epicurism.” It foregrounds Astell’s engagement with two contemporaneous accounts of the will, both of which can be broadly characterized as hedonistic. On the first, developed by John Norris (1688, 1693), God ensures conformity between his will and the human will by endowing agents with a love of pleasure that moves them in his direction. On the second, delineated by John Locke (1690), human (...) wills are motivated by a morally neutral desire for pleasure, which acquires moral significance only when agents exercise their power of freedom or bring their reason to evaluate the goods that give them pleasure. In her writings of the 1690s, Astell develops a feminist ethics that is far closer to Locke’s than has been recognized. Like Locke, and unlike Norris, she suggests that agents are themselves responsible for aligning their wills with God’s, and they must do so by cultivating reason and a taste for virtuous pleasures. In a distinctively feminist move, she maps how patriarchal society corrupts women’s wills by directing their desires to sense-based goods only, preventing them from achieving the happiness due to them as rational beings. While Astell is routinely characterized as a rationalist philosopher, she is a rationalist who, like Locke, is highly aware of the limits of reason, and deeply interested in the potential of agents to transform their likes and dislikes so that they find pleasure in the exercise of virtue. (shrink)

In this article, I examine Slavoj Žižek’s Freudian-Hegelian interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus (1818), and argue that Žižek’s critique of Shelley’s ambiguous and contradictory attitude toward the French Revolution and its regime of terror remains central to the debates about the revolutionary and Enlightenment ideals today. For Žižek, Shelley employs the family myth not only to obfuscate the social reality of the French Revolution, but also to subvert the bourgeois family from within, through its transgressive sexual (...) politics. Although Shelley manages not simply to dismantle modernity, she expresses a radical commitment to a “pure Enlightenment subjectivity”. Nonetheless, Shelley fails to articulate the speculative identity of the Enlightenment and revolutionary terror. Žižek’s analysis of Shelley’s ambiguous position on emancipatory politics has major implications for his critique of Leftist debates about Muslim refugees in Europe and transgender sexuality. It is still urgent, Žižek correctly insists, to interrogate the ways in which identity politics and the human rights regime can be readily appropriated and commodified in late capitalism. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta uma tradução da hermenêutica sobre a unicidade de Deus de um capítulo (sura) do Alcorão, de acordo com o pensamento de Avicena (Ibn Sῑnā). É o capítulo denominado capítulo do Monoteísmo, cujo número é 112 no Alcorão. Antes, porém, há uma introdução sobre o que representou o Alcorão nos primórdios do Islã e a sua influência no desenvolvimento da filosofia e da teologia em terras do Islã. Nesse texto, pode ser constatado que, na doutrina islâmica, o primeiro (...) fundamento e o mais rigoroso é a unicidade de Deus. É sobre isso que este artigo discorre. This paper presents a translation of the hermeneutics of the oneness of God from chapter (sura) 112 of the Qur'an (the Chapter on Monotheism), according to the thought of Avicenna (Ibn Sῑnā). First, however, there is an introduction which presents the Qur'an in the early days of Islam, as well as its influence on the development of philosophy and theology in Islamic lands. It may be noted in this text that the first and most rigorous foundation is Islamic doctrine is the oneness of God. (shrink)

Nowadays, that part of Amazonia which is situated on Brazilian territory is more and more the focus of attention for communication methods and the international agenda. This enormous expanse of land covered by tropical forest of unequalled beauty, extending over several Brazilian states, possesses an extremely rich biodiversity, with a vast potential reserve of natural resources of all sorts, and inspires admiration as well as inevitable greed. The intensification of human activity in the region has given rise to problems such (...) as deforestation and a resulting loss of organic matter whose importance has yet to be properly evaluated; it has also led to conflict between the different local groups, such as the indigenous population, gold prospectors and the big landowners, and to the degradation of quite extensive areas, thus provoking questions on how best to promote sustained development in the region. (shrink)

This study examines how second-language English learners' grammar issues differ in rural and urban Pakistani schools. This study is quasi-experimental. The study uses a quantitative approach and SPSS-analyzed writing test samples. The key findings reveal that pupils struggle to understand complicated syntactic structures like qualifiers, adjectives, adverbs, and adjunct and complement categories, even though they understand subject-verb agreement. Lack of resources and poor language education exacerbate these issues in rural areas. Teachers emphasize the need for the government to improve English (...) grammar education and the necessity for custom learning aids to help rural students with their particular issues in grammar and syntax. Teachers also want enhanced professional development to master advanced grammar teaching methods. Students expressed mixed confidence in their grammatical skills since they were unsure how well they comprehended complex grammar principles. To assist students in comprehending and using grammar rules, the study recommends adding more interactive and relevant grammar assignments to courses and using the process-genre technique. The results also demonstrate the need for teachers to continue to study and have support networks to ensure good language sessions. Policy suggestions include equipping schools, especially rural ones, modifying the curriculum, and funding teacher training. This study enhances Pakistani second language learners' academic and employment prospects by identifying grammar issues and providing writing tips. Thus, it expands ESL instruction. (shrink)

In this article, I examine the axiology of techniques in the environmentalist discourses of degrowth through the lens of French philosopher Gilbert Simondon. This fertile articulation shows, first, that degrowth discourses evaluate techniques only based on their uses; second, it explains why such an axiology, praxeological rather than technological, is unable to influence technical progress. Beginning with Simondon, I show in particular that degrowth thinking ignores the distinction between information and energy within technical realities. Yet, this distinction is necessary if (...) we wish to link the study of techniques and ecology in a constructive way. (shrink)

El objetivo de este texto es mostrar la tensión que existe entre dos proyectos: el humanista y el transhumanista. Aquí se expondrá la tesis de que el proyecto transhumanista puede proponer una vida que vale la pena ser vivida desde la mejora tecnológica. Para lograr defender esta tesis se propondrá como itinerario examinar la tesis de la excepcionalidad humana y la propuesta transhumanista; las posturas bioconservadoras y bioliberales y la postulación del cyborg en el contexto del antropoceno como proyecto de (...) un transhumanismo moderado. (shrink)

A proposta pedagógica de António Ribeiro Sanches: a educação pública da Mocidade Portuguesa Resumo: Com as Cartas à Mocidade Portuguesa António Ribeiro Sanches define o seu lugar entre os filósofos que dedicaram os seus pensamentos à educação dos mais novos. Mas ao contrário de Locke, Rousseau ou Martinho de Mendonça, Sanches reorienta a sua atenção para a educação pública abrindo um caminho diferente de reflexão no âmbito da pedagogia e tornando mais clara a ligação entre educação e a preservação da (...) sociedade enquanto fim. Este artigo pretende analisar a proposta pedagógica de Sanches tendo presente que, para o autor, ainda que todos devam ter acesso à educação pública, esta deve ser pensada de acordo com a condição social de cada um. Sanches assume, assim, a ideia de uma educação entendida como instrumento que garante eficácia na determinação, e perpetuação, do lugar que cada um ocupa na sociedade pela transmissão de conhecimentos e promoção de aptidões específicas para cada classe social. Palavras-chave: António Ribeiro Sanches. Educação pública. Aristocracia. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. John Locke. The pedagogical proposal of António Ribeiro Sanches: the public education of the Portuguese Youth: With Cartas à Mocidade Portuguesa António Ribeiro Sanches defines his place among the philosophers who have devoted their thoughts to the education of the youngest. But unlike Locke, Rousseau or Martinho de Mendonça, Sanches reorients his attention to the public education by opening a different path of reflection in the field of pedagogy and making clearer the link between education and the preservation of society. This article intends to analyze the pedagogical proposal of Sanches, bearing in mind that, for the author, although all should have access to public education, this should be considered according to the social condition of each one. Sanches assumes, thus, the idea of an education understood as an instrument that guarantees effectiveness in determining, and perpetuating, the place that each occupies in society by transmitting knowledge and promoting specific skills for each social class. Keywords: António Ribeiro Sanches. Public education. Aristocracy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. John Locke. La propuesta pegagógica de António Ribeiro Sanches: la educación pública de la Juventud Portuguesa Resumen: Con las Cartas à Mocidade Portuguesa António Ribeiro Sanches define su lugar entre los filósofos que han dedicado sus pensamientos a la educación de los más jóvenes. A diferencia de Locke, Rousseau o Martinho de Mendoná, Sanches reorienta su atención a la educación pública abriendo un camino de reflexión diferente en el campo de la pedagogía y haciendo más claro el vínculo entre la educación y la preservación de la sociedad. Este artículo pretende analizar la propuesta pedagógica de Sanches, teniendo en cuenta que, para el autor, aunque todos deben tener acceso a la educación pública, esto debe ser considerado de acuerdo con la condición social de cada uno. Sanches asume la idea de una educación entendida como un instrumento que garantiza la eficacia en la determinación y perpetuación del lugar que cada uno ocupa en la sociedad mediante la transmisión de conocimientos específicos para cada clase social. Palabras-clave: António Ribeiro Sanches. Educación pública. Aristocracia. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. John Locke. Data de registro: 10/10/2019 Data de aceite: 20/04/2020. (shrink)

A translation of the Third and Fourth Disputations of Francisco Suárez.

In the course of Azerbaijan's multi-regional foreign policy based on national interests, strengthening relations with countries in the vast Islamic geography with closer ties occupies a special place. Following the political will of President Ilham Aliyev, our republic continuously contributes to the strengthening of Islamic solidarity in the world, based on its historical traditions and national and moral values. Several countries in the world have not established diplomatic relations with Armenia due to its policy of aggression. Pakistan is among such (...) countries, reflecting the stance of a brotherly nation. Expressing his satisfaction with this, President Ilham Aliyev characterized the bilateral relations as follows: "Our relations are the relations between two brotherly countries." Prime Minister Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif compared Pakistan and Azerbaijan to two hearts in one body, saying: "There are brotherly and friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan." Our relations are based on mutual support, sincerity, and respect. The shared faith, similarity of national and moral values, and several historical factors have always connected the societies of Azerbaijan and Pakistan. Throughout history, Azerbaijan has shown goodwill towards Pakistan, and Pakistan towards Azerbaijan. (shrink)

Este artigo intenta apresentar uma visão panorâmica da complexidade histórica das relações entre sociedade, estado e meio ambiente no Brasil. Argumenta que a genealogia dessas relações evidencia uma trajetória não linear, multifacetada e conflituosa. Há diversas tradições no palco dos confrontos políticos atuais: o Brasil se destaca por uma longa história de destruição, que remonta ao início da colonização do território, mas também por uma fértil tradição de pensamento conservacionista, significativas lutas socioambientais, e pelo pioneirismo nas pautas globais em prol (...) do ambiente. Recuperar e valorizar a complexidade das relações entre sociedade e ambiente pode ser um ato decisivo na construção de caminhos futuros diversos para a questão socioambiental no Brasil, projetando e demonstrando a riqueza e o vigor de diferentes atores e práticas dissonantes. (shrink)

On ethics and conduct of life in Islam; collected articles.

Gottlob Frege may be considered as the first intellectual giant in thePhilosophy of Language. He was the first to raise the issue ofmeaning by formulating an organized theory of meaning for a part ofnatural language as the theory of meaning is at the core of philosophy of language. He emphasizes that the meaning of a sentence directly depends on the meaning of its constituent parts. That is why he has to dissect the internal structure of a sentence or complex expressions (...) provided by a logical syntax, while the truth value of such sentences may be revealed by logical semantics which can be put forward by treating these sentences as a whole. (shrink)

Philosophy of history; the idea of the not-being and the history, by K. M. Jamil.--Philosophy of history, by Khwaja Ashkar Husain.--Philosophy of history, by A. H. Kamali.--Philosophy of history, by B. H. Siddiqi.--Philosophy of history: explanation in history, by Kazi A. Kadir.

This article revisits the controversy over the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek’s sympathetic, yet critical and provocative, views on Islam and fundamentalist terrorism as developed in his ‘A Glance on the Archives of Islam.’ Žižek, I argue, offers an original reading of the universality of Islam and its political potentiality, by reactualizing the originary impulse in Hegel’s dialectical analysis of Islam as endogenous to the series of monotheistic religions, without falling into the trap of either Hegel’s racist Orientalist, Eurocentric, and Islamophobic (...) views about Islam or their antithetical Islamocentric views. First, I show that Žižek rejects Hegel’s emphasis on both Islam’s temporal incongruity and the Islamic unique conception of an abstract and transcendent God. Instead, Žižek reloads Hegel’s dialectical views and manages to resolve the deadlock in Hegel’s approach to Islam that could not account for the universality of Islam. Second, I draw out the political aspect of Žižek’s philosophical analysis of Islam, by examining his claim that Islam is the most politicized religion today. Grounding the emergence of political Islam in the encroachment of modernization project on the Islamicate world, he notes the ambiguity about sacrifice (martyrdom and terrorism) in Islam and attributes the rise of Islamic extremism (violence) to the contradictions and impasses of the global capitalist system. (shrink)

Arguably the most prolific and most widely read philosopher of our time, Slavoj Zizek has made indelible interventions into many disciplines of the so-called human sciences that have transformed the terms of discussion in these fields. Although his work has been the subject of many volumes of searching criticism and commentary, there is no assessment to date of the value of his work for the development of these disciplines. _Zizek Now_ brings together distinguished critics to explore the utility and far-ranging (...) implications of Zizek's thought and provide an evaluation of the difference his work makes or promises to make in their chosen fields. As such, the volume offers chapters on quantum physics and Zizek's transcendentalist materialist theory of the subject, Hegel's absolute, materialist Christianity, postcolonial violence, eco-politics, ceremonial acts, and the postcolonial revolutionary subject. Contributors to the volume include Adrian Johnston, Ian Parker, Todd McGowan, Bruno Bosteels, Erik Vogt, Verena Conley, Joshua Ramey, Jamil Khader, and Zizek himself. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Malaysia’s 13th general election in 2013 was the final election where the longest-serving elected government in the world, Barisan Nasional, regained power, before it was ousted after over six decades of authoritarian rule in 2018. In a country that practises parliamentary democracy but simultaneously observed close cooperation between the then ruling coalition and the mainstream press, this paper shows the micro-politics of the driving force of the coalition, United Malays National Organisation – specifically, how anxiety regarding the maintenance of (...) their privileged and empowered Malay position dominated the national narrative during the GE13 campaign. Focusing on editorial journalistic genres in four paid-for Malay-language newspapers, I illustrate the typical politics of fear that characterises much of Malaysian right-wing rhetoric – the ways in which racial and religion issues are provoked. The in-depth representational analysis, via the Discourse-historical Approach’s nomination and predication strategies, also suggests the normalisation of nationalistic and racist rhetoric, which primarily works with ‘fear’: fear of change, of loss of privilege, of the future, of other races; in principle, almost anything can be constructed as a threat to ‘Us’, an imagined homogenous people inside a well-protected territory through the discursive construction of such in-groups and out-groups. (shrink)

In the article the features of the state policy on repatriation of the Crimean Tatars to their historical homeland in 1956-2014. The process of repatriation and attempt to create conditions for life in their historic homeland of the Crimean Tatars - a long and complicated process, the result of a long struggle of the Crimean Tatar people for their rights in the face of fierce discrimination on the part of the party and the Soviet leadership. Economic problems and inconsistent government (...) policies have a negative impact on many aspects of resolving the repatriation after the Soviet collapse in independent Ukraine. Repatriation of deported peoples of Crimea was made possible by the liberalization of political life in the Soviet Union after Stalin's death and condemnation in 1956 deportations policy at the Twentieth Congress of the Soviet Communist Party. However, the legal framework that was established in 1956, included the release of Crimean Tatars from special settlements residence without the right to return to Crimea, without the return of seized property. Active political actions in 1967 Crimean Tatars have provided them political rehabilitation. However, the discriminatory restrictions on returning to their historic homeland were not removed. The contents of the official of government policy towards Crimean Tatars changing only in the late 1980s. It was considered illegal and criminal repression of the peoples affected by forced deportation. To compensate for their loss of property during deportation have developed special state programs. However, spontaneous and massive return of Crimean Tatars in the early 1990s created serious social and economic difficulties. The failed coup in August 1991 and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union led to the denunciation of state and inter-republican agreements on implementation of joint programs of repatriation. Ukraine and Crimea were left alone with this problem. In the 1991-2014 years authorities of Ukraine are trying to solve problems of socio-economic, ethnic and humanitarian plan for the improvement and integration into Ukrainian society of the Crimean Tatars. Official conceptual approach regarding the status of the Crimean Tatars as to the object of national policy in Ukraine in 1991-2013 years was based on the recognition of ethnic group that has the same rights as other ethnic groups of Ukraine, but because of the "special reason" require additional support of the government as a guarantee of preservation and development of ethnic group. Ukraine had changed its position on this issue after the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014: Crimean Tatars received the status of "indigenous people" who have the right to political self-determination in their ethnic territory as part of Ukraine. (shrink)

L'Etat est généralement considéré, à tort comme une création des société occidentale. L'œuvre de Ibn Khaldoun, dans sa contribution innovante à la théorie de l'Etat montre au contraire combien essentiel est la nouveauté du rôle qu'il accorde au contrat social. C'est dans l'Etat que l'individu connaît son plus entier développement, le rôle du souverain n'étant pas de créer ou de promouvoir en l'homme une vie vertueuse, mais de le protéger de son propre égoïsme. Une telle mutation a eu aussitôt d'incalculables (...) répercussions dans le domaine du droit, comme celui du pouvoir. " L'Etat est à lui seul l'origine du Droit et de l'Autorité ". Cette conclusion a amené Ibn Khaldoun à envisager autrement le rapport du spirituel et du temporel. On mesure aujourd'hui l'importance de cette affirmation, qui malgré les événements qui défrayent les fragiles équilibres politiques à travers le monde, a grandement influencé le courant rationaliste arabe. L'auteur, s'appuyant sur l'œuvre d'Ibn Khaldoun, pose la question dans cet ouvrage, de l'évolution de la crise de l'Etat dans le monde arabo-musulman. (shrink)

Resenha de Chaisemartin, N.; Theodorescu, D. Le théâtre d’Aphrodisias : les structures scéniques. Aphrodisias 8.

Psychologists have demonstrated the value of diversity – particularly diversity of viewpoints – for enhancing creativity, discovery, and problem solving. But one key type of viewpoint diversity is lacking in academic psychology in general and social psychology in particular: political diversity. This article reviews the available evidence and finds support for four claims: (1) Academic psychology once had considerable political diversity, but has lost nearly all of it in the last 50 years. (2) This lack of political diversity can undermine (...) the validity of social psychological science via mechanisms such as the embedding of liberal values into research questions and methods, steering researchers away from important but politically unpalatable research topics, and producing conclusions that mischaracterize liberals and conservatives alike. (3) Increased political diversity would improve social psychological science by reducing the impact of bias mechanisms such as confirmation bias, and by empowering dissenting minorities to improve the quality of the majority's thinking. (4) The underrepresentation of non-liberals in social psychology is most likely due to a combination of self-selection, hostile climate, and discrimination. We close with recommendations for increasing political diversity in social psychology. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to explore social media marketing activities and their impact on consumer intentions. This study also analyzes the mediating roles of social identification and satisfaction. The participants in this study were experienced users of two social media platforms Facebook and Instagram in Pakistan. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. We used an online community to invite Facebook and Instagram users to complete the questionnaire in the designated online questionnaire system. Data were (...) collected from 353 respondents, and structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Results show that SMMAs have a significant impact on the intentions of users. Furthermore, social identification mediates the relationship between social media activities and satisfaction, and satisfaction mediates the relationship between social media activities and the intentions of users. This will help marketers how to attract customers to develop their intentions. This is the first novel study that used SMMAs to address the user intentions with the role of social identification and satisfaction in the context of Pakistan. (shrink)

An important, but relatively neglected, aspect of human theory of mind is emotion inference: understanding how and why a person feels a certain why is central to reasoning about their beliefs, desires and plans. The authors review recent work that has begun to unveil the structure and determinants of emotion inference, organizing them within a unified probabilistic framework.

In this paper we propose that the term skill acquisition, as commonly used in traditional psychology, and the philosophy, education, movement science and performance development literatures, has been biased by an organismic asymmetry. In cognitive and experimental psychology, for example, it refers to the establishment of an internal state or representation of an act which is believed to be acquired as a result of learning and task experience. Here we elucidate an ecological perspective which suggests that the term skill acquisition (...) may not refer to an entity but rather to the emergence of an adaptive, functional relationship between an organism and its environment, thus avoiding an inherent organismic asymmetry in theorizing. In this respect, the terms 'skill adaptation' or 'skill attunement' might be more suitable to describe this process. (shrink)

The paper proposes a novel understanding of how Aristotle’s theoretical works complement each other in such a way as to form a genuine system, and this with the immediate (and ostensibly central) aim of addressing a longstanding question regarding Aristotle’s ‘first philosophy’—namely, is Aristotle’s first philosophy a contribution to theology, or to the science of being in general? Aristotle himself seems to suggest that it is in some ways both, but how this can be is a very difficult question. My (...) answer is in some respects a version of one that goes back at least to the middle ages—i.e., that first philosophy is concerned with the gods (and to that extent offers a theology) because the gods are causes and principles of beings precisely insofar as they are beings. The more original aspect of my position lies in my claim that the sort of tension found in the Metaphysics is likewise to be found in many of Aristotle’s physical works. Thus, for example, the De caelo is (I argue) concerned generally with natural beings (= beings susceptible of change), but its discussions are focused largely on the heavenly bodies and the Aristotelian elements insofar as they admit of change with respect to place. Here I claim that the particular objects of discussion are dealt with precisely because they are causes and principles of natural beings as such. Something similar goes, I claim, for the De generatione et corruptione, the general concern of which is a particular species of natural being—i.e., natural beings susceptible of generation and corruption. In this way, I argue, Aristotle successively deals in his theoretical works with those causes and principles of (say) a horse which attach to it insofar as it is a being, those causes and principles of a horse which attach to it insofar as it is a natural being, those causes and principles of a horse which attach to it insofar as it is a perishable natural being, and so on for the lower genera under which the species horse is subsumed. (shrink)

In the special section ‘Body Hacking: Self-Made Cyborgs and Visions of Transhuman Corporeality’, attention is drawn to cyborgism, a set of cultural and very personal practices of experimentation with the human body that often take place outside the confines of institutionalised technoscience. Known, for example, as ‘body hackers’, ‘grinders’ or ‘self-made cyborgs’ and engaging in unusual forms of body modification, the practitioners are enthusiasts who do not necessarily have any ‘disability’ in the conventional sense of the term. They consider the (...) body a highly malleable material, a transformable, improvable, augmentable entity. The collection of papers in this special section encompasses first-hand accounts of cyborg practices as well as intellectual reflections on their implications. (shrink)

According to Margaret Wilson, Leibniz is inconsistent when it comes to the question of whether one can have distinct ideas of sensible qualities, and this because he sometimes conceives of sensible qualities as sensations and sometimes conceives of them as complexes of primary qualities. When he conceives of them as sensations, he denies that we can have distinct ideas of sensible qualities; when he conceives of them as complexes of primary qualities, he asserts that we can. In this paper I (...) argue that Wilson is wrong to think that Leibnizian ideas admit of various degrees of confusion or distinctness. I also argue that although Wilson's problem admits of being reformulated in a manner consistent with a correct understanding of Leibnizian perceptions and ideas, this reformulated version of the problem admits of a satisfactory interpretive solution. (shrink)

This essay develops its idiosyncrasy by concentrating primarily on the trend of body hacking. The practitioners, self-defined as body hackers, self-made cyborgs or grinders, work in different ways to develop functional and physiological modifications through the contributions of technology. Their goal is to develop by themselves an empirically man-technique fusion. These dynamic “scientific” subcultures are producing astonishing innovations. From pocket-sized kits that sample human DNA, microchip implants that keep tabs on our internal organs, blood sugar levels or moods, and even (...) 3D printers that produce tailored hip replacements, the technical innovations of the body hacking trend are beginning to filter into mainstream use, and the repertoire increases every day. These physical transformations with intersecting techniques actively challenge long-held normative beliefs about what bodies do, what they should look like and how they should behave. They provide an alternative discourse on man’s correlation with the world and its biocenosis. Sculpting oneself has become an existential data. Medical technoscience crystallizes the effectiveness of new powers over the organism. Scientific temptation to recreate and enhance the human according to its normative principles has brought up experimental practices that have become the edge of a radical activism operating in the core of western societies, which will be the theme of this paper. (shrink)

Duhem has generally been understood to have maintained that the major Greek astronomers were instrumentalists. This view has emerged mainly from a reading of his 1908 publication To Save the Phenomena. In it he sharply contrasted a sophisticated Greek interpretation of astronomical models (for Duhem this was that they were mathematical contrivances) with a naive insistence of the Arabs on their concrete reality. But in Le Système du monde, which began to appear in 1913, Duhem modified his views on Greek (...) astronomy considerably; his more subtle understanding included the recognition that many Greeks subordinated mathematical astronomy to physical theory. But he could not completely repudiate his earlier views about Greek astronomy in part because his extreme nineteenth century prejudices led him to continue to insist on a clear-cut demarcation between Greek and Arabic astronomy. The inevitable result is a certain unevenness in the Système and some glaring inconsistencies. (shrink)