We frequently hear that we live in an age of anxiety, from 'therapy culture', the Atkins diet and child anti-depressants to gun culture and weapons of mass destruction. While Hollywood regularly cashes in on teenage anxiety through its Scream franchise, pharmaceutical companies churn out new drugs such as Paxil to combat newly diagnosed anxieties. On Anxiety takes a fascinating, psychological plunge behind the scenes of our panic stricken culture and into anxious minds, asking who and what is responsible. Putting anxiety (...) on the couch, Renata Salecl asks some much-needed questions: Is anxiety about the absence of authority or too much of it? Do the media report anxiety or create it? Are drugs a cure for anxiety or its cause? Is anxiety about being yourself or someone else, and is anxiety really the ultimate obstacle to happiness? Drawing on vivid examples from films such as the X Files and Cyrano de Bergerac , drugs used on soldiers to combat anxiety, the anxieties of love and motherhood, and fake Holocaust memoirs, Renata Salecl argues that what really produces anxiety is the attempt to get rid of it. Erudite and compelling, On Anxiety is essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy, psychology and the cultural phenomenon of anxiety today. (shrink)

It has been argued that belief in free will is socially consequential and psychologically universal. In this paper we look at the folk concept of free will and its critical assessment in the context of recent psychological research. Is there a widespread consensus about the conceptual content of free will? We compared English “free will” with its lexical equivalents in Lithuanian, Hindi, Chinese and Mongolian languages and found that unlike Lithuanian, Chinese, Hindi and Mongolian lexical expressions of “free will” do (...) not refer to the same concept free will. What kind people have been studied so far? A review of papers indicate that, overall, 91% of participants in studies on belief in free will were WEIRD. Thus, given that free will has no cross-culturally universal conceptual content and that most of the reviewed studies were based on WEIRD samples, belief in free will is not a psychological universal. (shrink)

Nichols and Bruno claim that the folk judge that psychological continuity is necessary for personal identity. In this article, we evaluate this claim. First, we argue that it is likely that in thinking about hypothetical cases of transformations, the folk do not use a unitary concept of personal identity, but instead rely on different concepts of ‘person’, ‘identity’, and ‘individual’. Identity can be ascribed even when post-transformation individuals are no longer categorized as persons. Second, we provide new empirical evidence suggesting (...) that the folk do not consider psychological continuity to be necessary for an individual to be categorized as a person or for ascribing identity over time and through transformations. In this, we assume, along with Nichols and Bruno, that folk judgments about identity can be read off the use of proper names. Furthermore, we raise some doubts about the ability of current experimental designs to adequately distinguish between qualitative and numerical identity jud.. (shrink)

A análise epistemológica das práticas das ciências da saúde vem se tornando mais presente no debate filosófico nas últimas décadas, e se torna premente diante do contexto dramático da pandemia em que atualmente vivemos. Para contribuir com a essa análise, o presente artigo apresenta uma introdução às temáticas da filosofia da medicina e da filosofia da epidemiologia, especialmente o exame do papel da causalidade, conceito fundamental para a compreensão da relação entre saúde e doença. A noção de causa INUS, formulada (...) pelo filósofo J. L. Mackie e adaptada para a epidemiologia por Kenneth Rothman, permite retratar com precisão as interações multicausais que cooperam para a alteração de um estado de saúde. Contudo, o modelo visual de Rothman não contempla conceitos importantes da epidemiologia, imprecisão que busco sanar com uma proposta de representação temporal do conjunto multicausal que, dentre outras coisas, facilita o planejamento de intervenções pontuais que visem a impedir a instalação de uma doença. A delimitação do conjunto causal também é posta em questão, uma vez que a perspectiva multicausal não delimita intrinsecamente qualquer critério acerca de onde finalizar a seleção de fatores causais. Aponto para a manipulabilidade como a abordagem própria das ciências da saúde para a seleção dos fatores nos quais intervir, e que o reconhecimento dessa perspectiva é importante para a própria compreensão filosófica da causalidade. (shrink)

Este artículo propone una lectura de la crítica de Gilles Deleuze a la dialéctica hegeliana, con especial foco en los problemas de la negatividad y las “pasiones tristes”. A partir de allí, se evaluará si acaso existe en el pensamiento deleuziano una cierta tendencia felicista que resulta en una reducción de la diferencia, de signo inverso pero en lo demás simétrica a la que Deleuze critica en Hegel. El artículo busca mostrar que hay, en estas cuestiones, una tensión interna en (...) el pensamiento deleuziano que no puede resolverse sino por medio de una elección en la lectura. (shrink)

Two concepts of the internal should be distinguished in the current epistemic internalism/externalism debate: (1) the internal in an introspective sense as what is accessible by introspection and (2) the internal in a biological sense as what is inside the organism's nervous system. When "internal" is meant in the introspective sense, Goldman's process reliabilism is externalist, but when "internal" is taken in the biological sense, Goldman's process reliabilism is internalist. Goldman as a naturalist prefers "internal" in the biological sense, but (...) the concept is unsuitable for presenting the current epistemic internalism/externalism controversy. If one understands "internal" in the introspective sense, Goldman's reliabilism is strongly externalist. (shrink)

The AGM theory of belief revision provides a formal framework to represent the dynamics of epistemic states. In this framework, the beliefs of the agent are usually represented as logical formulas while the change operations are constrained by rationality postulates. In the original proposal, the logic underlying the reasoning was supposed to be supraclassical, among other properties. In this paper, we present some of the existing work in adapting the AGM theory for non-classical logics and discuss their interconnections and what (...) is still missing for each approach. (shrink)

The rise of nationalist, racist and anti-feminist ideologies is one of the most frightening repercussions of the collapse of socialism. Using psychoanalytic theories of fantasy to investigate why such extremist ideologies have taken hold, Renata Salecl argues that the major social and political changes in post-communist Eastern Europe require a radical re-evaluation of notions of liberal theories of democracy. In doing so she offers a new approach to human rights and feminism grounded in her own active partipation in the (...) struggles, first against communism and now against nationalism and anti-feminism. (shrink)

Drawing on philosophy, social and psychoanalytic theory, popular culture, and her own experience, Salecl explores how the passion for ignorance plays out in many different aspects of life today, from love, illness, trauma, and the fear of failure to genetics, forensic science, big data, and the Incel movement-and she concludes that ignorance is a complex phenomenon that can, on occasion, benefit individuals and society as a whole.

I argue against the exclusive female/male divide, referring to the phenomenon of epistemic injustice in the cases of people with nonbinary gender identities and people with intersex traits. Such people have traits that are counterexamples to the binary female/male model. I have separated female and male traits into nine basic layers, five of which belong to sex and four to gender. In every layer, I have found traits that are neither female nor male, and the application of the model to (...) individuals provides examples of clusters of traits for which one layer is male and another female. Such traits and clusters of traits create the category of the nonbinary. Table 1 provides a sketch of a nonbinary model. The nonbinary category takes its name from the existing category of nonbinary gender identity; however, in the current model, it is a third category of traits, not of people. Under the nonbinary model, the basic gender concepts do not disappear. S is a woman if S is a human being with enough female traits, and the trait of having self-determined female gender identity is sufficient but not necessary. (shrink)

The standard theory of belief revision was developed to describe how a rational agent should change his beliefs in the presence of new information. Many interesting tools were created, but the concept of rationality was usually assumed to be related to classical logics. In this paper, we explore the fact that the logical tools used can be extended to other sorts of logics, as proved in (Hansson and Wassermann, 2002), to describe models that are closer to the rationality of a (...) real agent. (shrink)

Demographic transition faced by modern economies, including China, are among the most important long-term socio-economic challenges. In 2022, China observed its population decline for the first time since the early 1960s. The low fertility rate was of critical importance. The unprecedented one-child policy is quite commonly indicated as the main reason for the low fertility rate. However, the departure from this restrictive policy and the actions introduced under the two-child policy implemented from 2016, and then the three-child policy from mid-2021, (...) have not brought an improvement in fertility rates. The aim of the paper is to answer the following research questions: Should the decline and persistent low fertility rate in China be attributed solely or mainly to the unprecedented one-child policy, which was in force for over three decades? Fertility transition in China is the effect of several factors and depends largely on the studied period. In the 1970s and 1980s, the government’s family policy was a key determinant of the decline in fertility. However, contrary to the prevailing belief about the determining influence of the one-child policy, the first stage of the implementation of the birth control policy, the Wan, Xi, Shao program, had a greater impact. Since the 1990s, the low fertility rate has been mainly explained by the extraordinary socio-economic changes and rapidly increasing prosperity of the Chinese people. Since the beginning of the 21st century, cultural changes resulting mainly from the integration of the Chinese economy with the global system have been crucial. Cultural changes have affected reproductive behaviour, marriage patterns, marriage postponement, birth postponement, fertility, and family size in Chinese society, which is observed below-replacement fertility. China’s demographic future depends on the fertility trajectory. However, due to the size of the population, but also the position of the Chinese economy in the global economic system, Chinese demographic transition may also bring significant consequences for the global economy. (shrink)

In the current study, we examine the changes in disclosure practices on compliance and the fight against corruption at Siemens AG, a large German multinational corporation, over the period 2000–2011 during which a major corruption scandal was revealed. More specifically, we conduct a content analysis of the company’s annual reports and sustainability reports during that period to investigate the changes of Siemens’ corruption and compliance disclosure using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Through the lens of legitimacy theory, stakeholder analysis, and (...) organizational façades, we find evidence that Siemens changed its compliance and corruption disclosure practices to repair its legitimacy in the wake of the 2006 corruption scandal. We analyze these strategies more closely by using the rational, progressive, and reputation façades framework. Our primary findings suggest that the annual reports show peaks of disclosure amounts on corruption and compliance disclosures earlier than sustainability reports, which can be partly explained by analyzing the disclosures made about—and to—the different stakeholder groups. We find that the annual report focuses more on internal stakeholders such as employees, while the sustainability report focuses more on external stakeholders such as suppliers. We also find that the company uses the façades differently depending on which report is being analyzed. (shrink)

Musical idioms may appear side by side in a wide variety of historical, group-based or individual compositional styles used in the postmodern compositions. The reception interpretation of musical works is based on the idioms of musical speech as meaningful and expressive constants. Not only do the reveal the positive or negative ties of current musical language to the musical poetics from previous periods, they also update their meanings. The idiomatic musical structures naturally grow into the social system of music and (...) thus become part of the deeper levels of European compositional tradition. Musical meanings are becoming typical for the particular sectors of European musical culture, and may even become their emblem. It is even likely that the idioms cease to be seen as a complex musical structure in the process of reception and they become a plain composition material, singular units of musical language. Using the postmodern composition Apolloopera by Marek Piaček, we illustrate the in-depth reference platform of musical idioms and examine the role of idiomatic units in the structure of a postmodern piece. (shrink)

Les réseaux personnels sont des ensembles de relations interpersonnelles dans lesquelles les personnes sont engagées. Toutes les études sur ces réseaux montrent l’existence de variations dans leur taille et leur composition selon les indicateurs de hiérarchie sociale, le niveau d’études, la profession ou le revenu. Ces variations peuvent être interprétées comme des « inégalités relationnelles » dans la mesure où les relations sont des ressources essentielles pour de nombreux aspects de la vie sociale. Ces ressources jouent un rôle particulièrement important (...) pour les personnes âgées lorsqu’elles sont confrontées aux diverses difficultés liées au vieillissement. À partir d’une étude sur les parcours et les réseaux de 342 personnes de soixante ans et plus, cet article évalue l’évolution de ces inégalités relationnelles selon différents types de contenus relationnels associés aux questions sur les relations. Au-delà de ces variations, les inégalités tendent à s’accroître avec l’âge, notamment entre les personnes les moins diplômées et les autres, ce qui fait apparaître des temporalités différentes du « vieillissement relationnel ». (shrink)

Apesar de terem estado entre os primeiros imigrantes europeus que chegaram, há pouco mais de 150 anos, à Serra dos Tapes, devido a sua origem étnica e condição camponesa os pomeranos foram, por muito tempo, estigmatizados. Contudo, processo de sentido contrário tem sido observado nos últimos anos, com a criação de políticas locais de valorização do patrimônio cultural pomerano. O estudo evidencia que várias dessas iniciativas são pautadasna tentativa de resgate de formas tradicionais do “ser pomerano”, processo em que o (...) modo de vida do grupo —e em particular seus saberes e práticas alimentares— tem sido convertido em atrativo turístico, oferecido ao consumo. Palavras chave:patrimônio cultural pomerano, turismo rural, alimentação, imigração, campesinato, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil Despite being among the first European immigrants who arrived, a little over 150 years ago, at Serra dos Tapes, because of their ethnic origin and peasant condition, Pomeranians have been stigmatized for a long time. However, a reverse process has been observed in the last few years, with the establishment of local policies to safeguard and enhance the Pomeranian cultural heritage. The survey shows that many of these initiatives are grounded in the attempt to rescue traditional ways of “being Pomeranian”, a process in which the group’s way of life —and particularly their cookery knowledge and practices— has been converted into a tourism attraction focused on consumption. Key words: cultural heritage, Pomerians, rural tourism, eating, immigration, peasantry, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. (shrink)

The primary objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive questionnaire survey on the practices of research ethics committees reviewing academic research projects in Czechia. The study aims to provide an unbiased and objective assessment of the current practices of research ethics committees, namely to obtain the missing data on their functioning in the context of academic research, to identify difficulties and shortages that threaten the responsible functioning of research ethics committees in the country and to investigate the implementation (...) of Additional Protocol on Biomedical Research CETS No. 195 in their practice. Such research has never been conducted in Czechia. This was a mixed-methods study, in which the online survey with closed and open-ended questions was chosen to explore the situation regarding ethics assessment of research involving human participants. We developed a questionnaire containing 18 questions concerning several aspects of the functioning of research ethics committees. The questionnaire was in Czech language and was administered through the Qualtrics platform anonymously. The target group of 61 research ethics committees at research institutions was approached by emails and we received 43 completely filled questionnaires, i.e., response rate of 67%. We obtained valuable data on the functioning of research ethics committees in Czechia in three main domains: the mandate and composition of the committee; the scope of its agenda; the process of evaluation including the voting procedure. In addition, the final set of open-ended questions provided an in-depth look at the problems faced by research ethics committees in Czechia. From the results is evident that the responsible assessment of the ethics of research involving human subjects is still not satisfactorily addressed and established for routine practice in the country. The outcomes of our study revealed that the main problem of research ethics in Czechia is the lack of national legislation on research ethics governance. To address this problem, the country requires a legislative framework accompanied by supportive measures aimed at educating, guiding and advising research ethics committees, especially in the Czech academic environment. Not applicable. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to review current debate about the moral domain in the moral psychological literature. There is some vagueness in respect to the usage of the very concept of ‘morality’. This conceptual problem recently has been re-addressed by several authors. So far, there is little agreement, nobody seems to agree about how to delineate the moral domain from other ‘non-moral’ normative domains. Currently, there are several positions that disagree about the scope of morality, ranging from complete (...) monists to complete pluralists. The paper will review these positions and will tentatively suggest further directions to test their claims. At this moment, there is no decisive evidence for either position. (shrink)

The core of this special issue of Arts and Humanities in Higher Education emerged from the Broken Narratives and the Lived Body conference held in 2016. The ‘Broken Narrative’ essays included in this issue open up a critical space for understanding and theorising illness narratives that defy a conventional cognitive ordering of the self as a bounded spatial and temporal entity. Here, we discuss how narratives might be ‘broken’ by discourse, trauma, ‘ill’ lived bodies and experiences that exceed linguistic representation. (...) We trouble distinctions between coherent and incoherent narratives, attending to what gaps, silences and ‘nonsenses’ can convey about embodied illness experiences. Ultimately, we suggest that ‘breaks’ are in fact a continuation of embodied narration. This is shown in the ‘Art and Trauma’ forum of essays, which reveal how narrative silences can ‘infect’ other embodied subjects and be transformed, achieving musical or visual representation that allow us to apprehend the ‘constitutive outside’ of narratives of illness or trauma. (shrink)

Understanding the contributions and the implications of law and emotion scholarship requires an acknowledgement of the different approaches within it. A significant part of law and emotion scholarship is focused on arguing for the relevance of emotion and on identifying emotion in legal processes and actors. Other parts of it venture further to ask how law can affect the expression and content of emotions themselves. This scholarship challenges legal positivist foundations (law as rational and objective), as well as some other (...) established divisions in thinking, both in law, and more generally in the history of ideas (reason vs. emotion, the private vs. the public). The other important factor, which this article explores, is the methodology employed by law and emotion scholarship. (shrink)