How veridical is perception? Rather than representing objects as they actually exist in the world, might perception instead represent objects only in terms of the utility they offer to an observer? Previous work employed evolutionary modeling to show that under certain assumptions, natural selection favors such “strict‐interface” perceptual systems. This view has fueled considerable debate, but we think that discussions so far have failed to consider the implications of two critical aspects of perception. First, while existing models have explored single (...) utility functions, perception will often serve multiple largely independent goals. (Sometimes when looking at a stick you want to know how appropriate it would be as kindling for a campfire, and other times you want to know how appropriate it would be as a weapon for self‐defense.) Second, perception often operates in an inflexible, automatic manner—proving “impenetrable” to shifting higher‐level goals. (When your goal shifts from “burning” to “fighting,” your visual experience does not dramatically transform.) These two points have important implications for the veridicality of perception. In particular, as the need for flexible goals increases, inflexible perceptual systems must become more veridical. We support this position by providing evidence from evolutionary simulations that as the number of independent utility functions increases, the distinction between “interface” and “veridical” perceptual systems dissolves. Although natural selection evaluates perceptual systems only on their fitness, the most fit perceptual systems may nevertheless represent the world as it is. (shrink)

Résumé Cinquante ans après sa publication, l’essai de Beauvoir La Vieillesse offre une étude du vieillissement toujours actuelle, qui dénonce l’âgisme de manière originale. Le présent article montre comment l’analyse croisée de Beauvoir nous aide à penser différemment l’âgisme contemporain, notamment en expliquant comment il est exacerbé par le classisme et le sexisme.

The application of multiple regression and path analysis is discussed in regard to the exclusive use of the beta coefficients. Beta is one of the possible ways of controlling for the effects of the remaining predictors, others are part and partial correlation, part and partial covariance. A typology is developed for the difference between total and controlled effect. With this instrument (for controlled effect = beta) it can be shown under which conditions the sum of the total explaining power (r2y,xi) (...) and the sum of the additional explaining power (Part correlation2) do exceed or not Multiple R2. By the criteria of sign rule and of the relative advantages of the decomposition of total effect in controlled effect and rest effect it is argued that beta is still the best way (of those considered) of control. Next some problems of the otherwise recommended LISREL approach are discussed: Estimation, data-fitting versus model test, model-fitting, standardization. Finally some parallels between models for metric and models for non-metric data are specified. (shrink)

Traditionally, ontology, or at least western ontology, bas been an anthropocentric enterprise, that takes only human experiences into account. In this paper I argue that a prolific biocentric ontology can be based on UexkülI's Umwelt theory. UexkülI offers the basis of an ontology according to which the study of experiences is a much wider field than it is as depicted by classical ontology and contemporary philosophy of consciousness. Based on the thoughts of the contemporary philosopher Thomas Nagel I claim that (...) there might very well be Iifeforms that are totally unimaginable to us. I argue that this view is compatible with the Umwelt theory, and that it should be adopted by biosemioticians. Furthermore, I argue that a biosemiotic possibilism should be implemented. Followingly, one should not claim to know which characteristics of living beings are universally and necessarily valid, but restrict oneself to statements about life as we know it. (shrink)

After years of near total neglect, the problem of childhood obesity is now in the limelight. Terms like “epidemic,” “crisis,” and “emergency” are used frequently when describing the trend. Progress is defined with strong language and fueled by statistics such as the observation that this generation of children will be the first to live shorter lives than their parents. Multi-disciplinary journals such as the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics have dedicated symposiums to the issue, and conferences have been convened (...) not only by health professionals but by government agencies, the food industry, and even professionals who market to children. The seriousness of childhood obesity is no longer in doubt, and finally attention has turned to the more complex question – what must be done? (shrink)

‘Culturology’ is an integral, often compulsory, part of Russian university courses; the discipline has largely replaced chairs in Marxist-Leninism and dialectical materialism, and bookshops are full of texts on the subject. This article is based on analysis of more than ten university textbooks recommended to first-year students. Marlène Laruelle examines why culturology has become so important, the place claimed for it within the human sciences, and what it means for changing Russian ideas of identity and nation.

Scholars have long asserted that public relations (PR) professionals should play the role of organizational conscience, but little research has focused on why and how they play this role effectively. We found that PR professionals who played the role of organizational conscience had broadened conceptions of their roles and responsibilities, including a fervent duty to the public interest. This often put them in the position of providing criticism to powerful organizational players. Rather than raising their ethical concerns as persuasive orators, (...) they used subtle, resourceful, and experiential approaches to persuasion. Playing the role of organizational conscience typically necessitated gaining access to informal coalitions since access to dominant power coalitions often was limited or late. Organizations with participative cultures supported the role of organizational conscience. (shrink)

El propósito de este ensayo es mostrar que el fenómeno globalizador impulsado desde Occidente, ha venido configurando un escenario, que amenaza reducir lo identitario a una lógica de guerra entre lo propio y lo ajeno. Además, se muestra a Occidente desde otras voces, cuyos argumentos de resistencia a toda visión reduccionista de la experiencia humana cuestionan la universalización monologizante de Occidente, y nos instan a revalorizar nuestros legados culturales e identitarios más próximos, y a redescubrir lo comunitario como un espacio (...) de encuentro y potenciación de aquellas necesidades y expresiones más constitutivas de lo humano. (shrink)

Deliberative democratic theorists often trace their idea that vigorous democracies rely on open deliberation to ancient Athenian democracy. Furthermore, deliberative theorists claim that equal, inclusive, rational, and government responsiveness can reverse trends of political apathy. Although the equal right to speak in the Assembly (isēgoria) was a defining trait of Athenian democracy, we have little evidence for actual ancient deliberative practices. By using the agōnes or formal debates in two of Euripides’ political plays—Suppliant Women and Children of Heracles—as a proxy (...) for such interactive citizen debate, this article explores two main questions: first, to what degree does ancient tragedy reflect expectations of deliberative democracy?; and second, what lessons can be drawn from these dramatized speeches for contemporary debates? Importantly, confirming many key expectations of deliberative democratic theory, Euripides’ agōnes provide additional support for the critique that successful deliberation is not solely rational but requires emotional saliency relevant to the context of the debate. Thus, Euripides’ dramatizations imply that positive deliberation is not simply a matter of increasing communicative opportunities but requires a more robust civic education that includes psychological and philosophical training. (shrink)

The 2017 Commission on Public Relations Education report found new professionals are not meeting employers’ expectations regarding ethics knowledge, skills and abilities. This mixed-method s...

Ce texte avance une hypothèse sur ce qui fait la spécificité de l’herméneutique, et sur la façon dont elle peut être située dans le paysage de pensée contemporain. Les deux auteurs convoqués sont Gadamer et Derrida. Partant d’une certaine position de Derrida relativement à la question de l’interprétation, on s’efforce d’en évaluer la pertinence à la lumière de Gadamer. Les perspectives de pensée ouvertes par Gadamer se laissent-elles ranger dans le cadre dessiné par Derrida, ou peuvent-elles servir d’instruments pour ébranler (...) ce cadre ?This text puts forward a hypothesis regarding what constitutes the specificity of hermeneutics, and on how it can be situated in the landscape of contemporary thought. The two authors dealt with are Gadamer and Derrida. We will start from a position held by Derrida concerning the question of interpretation, and examine this position in the light of Gadamer’s writings. Do the perspectives offered by Gadamer simply fall into the framework drawn out by Derrida, or can they serve as means to destabilize this very framework ? (shrink)

Nurse educators have the responsibility of assisting students and their colleagues with understanding and practicing ethical conduct. There is an inherent responsibility to keep codes current and relevant for existing nursing practice. The code presented here is a revision of the Code of ethics for nurse educators originally published in 1983 and includes changes that are intended to provide for that relevancy.

This brief paper explores the contradistinctions between conservatism and illiberalism. These concepts are fluid and need to be investigated in a specific time and space, as well as situationally in their interaction with other competing political concepts such as liberalism, itself plural and multifaceted. In today’s world, conservatism and illiberalism do not simply overlap: they may share some components in their ontological philosophy of mankind but they diverge in their relationship to the liberal democratic framework and in their strategies for (...) challenging and weakening the liberal hegemony. This implies that illiberalism should be read as an ideological family with internal contradictions and orientations that is yet united in its vision of a liberalism that failed and should be reversed. This opens avenues for scholarly explorations on illiberalism as a byproduct of liberalism and their intrinsic relationship. (shrink)

Dependeria a felicidade do gênero humano do progresso das ciências e das artes? Ou, ao contrário, de um retorno aos primeiros tempos nos quais o homem da natureza, bom e solitário, vivia na tranquilidade das paixões e na ignorância dos vícios? São estas questões que este texto pretende responder.

Does the establishment of a permanent InternationalWar Crimes Tribunal (International Criminal Court - ICC) constitute a challenge to national sovereignty? According to previous US governments and several American observers, the answer is yes. Establishing a world court that acts independently of the states that gave birth to it renders the idea of sovereignty meaningless. This article analyzes the American objections to the ICC and the conception of sovereignty and international law underlying these objections. It first considers the structure and intent (...) behind the criminal court and attempts to unveil the logic hiding behind the idea of ‘America’s historical uniqueness.’ It touches on the diverging US and European conceptions of sovereignty and ends up arguing that governments that stick to traditional conceptions of sovereignty and international law in the employment of their foreign policy may lose the moral legitimacy that has proven increasingly important for winning the sympathy of allies and regaining world leadership. Keywords: The ICC; US opposition to the court; sovereignty; international law; exceptionalism (Published: 19 May 2009) Citation: Ethics & Global Politics, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2009, pp. 83-108. DOI: 10.3402/egp.v2i2.1973. (shrink)

The relationship between languages and philosophy is so strong that French philosopher Barbara Cassin speaks of 'philosophising in languages'. This paper aims to show how translation can be a means to help disseminate philosophical ideas. It might even be called a political tool, when circulating feminist philosophical thoughts is concerned. The article uses the latest English translation of Simone de Beauvoir's Le deuxième sexe to address the pitfalls philosophy presents translators with. It also aims to defend the Interpretive Theory of (...) Translation as a translation strategy particularly relevant to philosophy. The novelty of the paper lies in the fact that the translation of feminist philosophy is largely underanalysed in the field of Translation Studies. Therefore, the article intend to bridge the gap between those disciplines, in order to enhance the reception of feminist philosophy. (shrink)

This paper explores the relationship between people's mental imagery for their experiences of paths and roads and the metaphorical use of path and road in discourse. We report the results of two studies, one a survey examining people's mental imagery about their embodied experiences with paths and roads, with the second providing a corpus analysis of the ways path and road are metaphorically used in discourse. Our hypothesis is that both people's mental imagery for path and road, and speakers' use (...) of these words in metaphorical contexts are strongly guided by their embodied understandings of real-world events related to travel on paths and roads. The results of these studies demonstrate how bodily experiences with artifacts partly constrains not only how specific conceptual metaphors emerge, but how different metaphorical understandings are applied in talk about abstract entities and events. (shrink)

Crucible experiences are essential in the development of leaders. Crucibles refer to trials and challenges that test and mold the character, values and behavior of leaders. Through in-depth interviews with 32 public relations leaders, we examined how crucible experiences specifically shaped them to practice servant leadership. Through the narratives they constructed about these experiences, we were able to learn specific details about these experiences, the lessons they gleaned and how they shaped and transformed their character, virtues and leadership style. These (...) insights matter, because public relations leaders have the potential to serve as ethical role models for their employees and colleagues. (shrink)

Reflective thought, as sustained in writing, is attributed to two‐way communication between a content problem space and a rhetorical problem space. An instructional experiment involving sixth‐graders aimed at helping them sustain such a two‐way process independently, in place of the more typical one‐way process of generating content and writing it out. Instruction included modeling of thinking aloud, both by instructors and students, use of cues to stimulate self‐questioning during planning monologues, and direct strategy instruction emphasizing dialectical synthesis of conflicting ideas. (...) Increased numbers of reflective statements in thinking‐aloud protocols and rated reflectiveness of compositions indicate gains were made at the level of reflection on individual ideas. (shrink)

In recent years, calls for philosophy to interact more with the public have grown louder in the German-speaking world as well as elsewhere. Public philosophy, as it were, has a long-standing tradition, reaching back to Enlightenment-era German “Popularphilosophie” and of course to Socrates and the Sophists. This section presents four short articles on some current aspects of the public-philosophy debate: on the overall conditions for transferring content from academic philosophy to the public in Germany; on the relations between philosophers’ mediatic (...) presence and their disciplinary expertise; on 18th-century guidelines for accessible philosophical writing; and on public philosophy as a social practice that is more than mere unidirectional knowledge transfer. (shrink)