By combining a flanker task and a cuing task into a single paradigm, the authors assessed the effects of orienting and alerting on conflict resolution and explored how normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) modulate these attentional functions. Orienting failed to enhance conflict resolution; alerting was most beneficial for trials without conflict, as if acting on response criterion rather than on information processing. Alerting cues were most effective in the older groups— healthy aging and AD. Conflict resolution was impaired only (...) in AD. Orienting remained unchanged across groups. These findings provide evidence of different life span developmental and clinical trajectories for each attentional network. (shrink)

This manuscript identifies several important issues for philosophy of science at this moment in history raised in Fellows’ and Richardson’s generous comments. It also notes a couple of their assumptions that are problematic for this author, and tries to restate more clearly relevant arguments developed in Objectivity and Diversity.

Recent reports suggest that the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae caspase‐related metacaspase, Mca1, is required for cell‐autonomous cytoprotective functions that slow cellular aging. Because the Mca1 protease has previously been suggested to be responsible for programmed cell death (PCD) upon stress and aging, these reports raise the question of how the opposing roles of Mca1 as a protector and executioner are regulated. One reconciling perspective could be that executioner activation may be restricted to situations where the death of part of the population (...) would be beneficial, for example during colony growth or adaptation into specialized survival forms. Another possibility is that metacaspases primarily harbor beneficial functions and that the increased survival observed upon metacaspase removal is due to compensatory responses. Herein, we summarize data on the role of Mca1 in cell death and survival and approach the question of how a metacaspase involved in protein quality control may act as killer protein. -/- . (shrink)

We prove the following result which is due to the third author. Let [Formula: see text]. If [Formula: see text] determinacy and [Formula: see text] determinacy both hold true and there is no [Formula: see text]-definable [Formula: see text]-sequence of pairwise distinct reals, then [Formula: see text] exists and is [Formula: see text]-iterable. The proof yields that [Formula: see text] determinacy implies that [Formula: see text] exists and is [Formula: see text]-iterable for all reals [Formula: see text]. A consequence is (...) the Determinacy Transfer Theorem for arbitrary [Formula: see text], namely the statement that [Formula: see text] determinacy implies [Formula: see text] determinacy. (shrink)

Cutting edge feminist investigations of rationality.

In this article I consider the challenges for exporting causal knowledge raised by complex biological systems. In particular, James Woodward’s interventionist approach to causality identified three types of stability in causal explanation: invariance, modularity, and insensitivity. I consider an example of robust degeneracy in genetic regulatory networks and knockout experimental practice to pose methodological and conceptual questions for our understanding of causal explanation in biology. †To contact the author, please write to: Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of (...) Pittsburgh, 1017 Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA 15260; e‐mail: [email protected]. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss recent debates concerning etiological theories of functions. I defend an etiological theory against two criticisms, namely the ability to account for malfunction, and the problem of structural doubles. I then consider the arguments provided by Bigelow and Pargetter (1987) for a more forward looking account of functions as propensities or dispositions. I argue that their approach fails to address the explanatory problematic for which etiological theories were developed.

Peirce’s pragmatic stress on meaning in terms of habits of response is, of course, well known. However, the language in which it is usually expressed tends too often to conflate its epistemic and ontological dimensions, thereby hiding from view its full systematic significance. The following discussion will focus on the emergence of such meanings as epistemic relational structures which embody the characteristics of the dynamics of organism-environment interaction in their very internal structure and which lead outward toward the universe, providing (...) an experienced content which is at once epistemic and ontological. (shrink)

A philosophical exploration of the meaning and significance of friendship.This book explains the persistence of friendship today in the light of the history of philosophical approaches to the subject. It considers ideals of intimacy and fusion in the context of claims that such ideals are unrealistic and even dangerous. Cicero's scepticism about friendship in the public realm is compared with the Aristotelian view of friendship as a genuine political bond, and with Derrida's development of that view via an exploration of (...) Aristotle's alleged and provocative announcement 'O my friends, there is no friend'. Tensions between love and respect, identity and difference, a focus on the self and a focus on the other are closely examined.From Aristotle to contemporary theorists, the book explores the conditions that enable the development of self-understanding in friendship, the delicate and unstable pairing of concepts like inclination and duty and distinctions between self-love, self esteem and self-concern in relations between friends.Key Features* Recognition of the variety of the term 'friend' in the history of philosophy* The treatment of the tension between identity and difference in relations between friends* Discussion of the contribution of friendship to self-understanding. (shrink)

This paper aims at elucidating the present strength of the social and political ideas one can draw from Wittgenstein’ later work, rooting in it his conception of the subjectivity of language and of the speakers’ authority and voice; of the I and the us. The article uses the concept of forms of life – understood, following Stanley Cavell and Veena Das, not only in the social sense but also in the natural sense, as life forms. – in order to rearticulate (...) the natural and conventional and to perceive, as Cavell puts it, “the mutual implication of the natural and the social” in the constitution of us – and in a renewed, ordinary conception of democracy. (shrink)

Should journalists resist business constraints they perceive as a threat to their professional integrity? This article suggests that the answer, at least sometimes, is yes. But in choosing a resistance strategy, journalists should not consider the "take this job and shove it" stance as the only option with moral integrity-or even as the best ethical option. This article develops a model of resistance strategies using the experiences of journalists at one newspaper to illustrate the range of options available for resisting (...) business constraints within a news organization. The types of strategies identified vary along the ethical dimensions of (a) consideration of organizational, as well as professional, goals; and (b) openness with regard to journalists' preference for professional goals. (shrink)

In January 2018, the Trump administration established the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights with the explicit goal of intensifying legal protection of religious and conscience objections in health care. The establishment of OCR’s new division illustrates the significant powers of administrative agencies to mold the substance of law without seeking legislative action. The mere formation of a division dedicated to protecting conscience rights is already having a significant impact; (...) it is causing health care entities, including hospitals, research organizations, and clinics, to change policies and practices to comply with the declared enforcement strategy. Administrative agencies also shape the law in what they decide not to pursue. For example, OCR has suspended enforcement of the Affordable Care Act prohibition against gender‐identity discrimination. (shrink)

Phenomenology has proved to be a popular methodology for nursing research. I argue, however, that phenomenological nursing research could be strengthened by greater attention to its philosophical underpinnings. Many research reports devote more page space to procedure than to the philosophy that purportedly guided it. The philosophy of Maurice Merleau‐Ponty is an excellent fit for nursing, although his work has received less attention than that of Husserl and Heidegger. In this paper, I examine the life and thought of Merleau‐Ponty, with (...) emphasis on concepts, such as perception, intentionality and embodiment, which have particular relevance to the discipline of nursing. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe main objective of the New Philosophy was to ‘improve the lives of people and nations in part by improving medical practice’. To this end, Oliva Sabuco sought to improve humankind's know...

Por ser Schopenhauer un pensador que aboga expresar sensu stricto la misma conclusión racional que se hallaría sensu allegorico en algunas sabidurías de oriente que acaban en la mística, nos valdremos de su cosmovisión para luego de reflexionar sobre el camino de la negación de la voluntad de vivir, no abandonarlo, sino señalar desde éste una vía aplicada a la problemática socioambiental global mediante un vuelco crítico, impulsado por una conciencia que reintegra pacífica y activamente al renunciante de la voluntad (...) en el acontecer mundial, buscando tender hacia un horizonte socioambiental que afirme el no daño holístico sin terminar en la nada concebida como nihil privativum. (shrink)

There is an analogy between a scientific approach to medicine in which the patient ultimately becomes an object of study rather than a whole person, and a post/modern aesthetic in literature in which the subject has little or no agency in a chaotic linguistic universe. Raymond Carver died of cancer in 1988, and in both his pre- and post-diagnostic poetry there is humanistic lyricism that contributes to re-establishing empathic bonds between readers and characters, and to re-humanizing the patient as a (...) whole person in the context of contemporary health institutions. Close readings of poems with descriptions of the autopsy room and of patient-doctor relations bring out the medical humanism in Carver's verse. (shrink)

L’éthique et la politique ne sont pas, à première vue, des thématiques wittgensteiniennes « standard ». Le philosophe viennois – britannique à partir de 1938 – est surtout réputé philosophe du langage et de l’esprit, si l’on désigne par là un philosophe qui considère, à la suite de Frege, que les problèmes de philosophie sont issus des incertitudes et malentendus...

Mais qui donc voudrait introduire un principe nouveau de toute moralité et être pour ainsi dire le premier à la découvrir, comme si tout le monde avant lui avait été dans l’ignorance de ce qu’était le devoir ou s’était trouvé dans une erreur générale ?Il est dur d’avoir un contremaître sudiste ; c’est pis d’en avoir un nordiste ; mais le pire de tout, c’est..

Suele atacarse el planteamiento teleológico de la naturaleza una y otra vez. Si bien nuestro propósito principal no será ensayar una defensa de la teleología, intentaremos mostrar que desentenderse de la explicación por causas finales no resulta tan fácil como a simple vista puede parecer. En pocas palabras, sostendremos que la teleología no es un concepto permitido o anticuado, sino más bien una forma de pensamiento válida para la ciencia y para la filosofía.

Kvokačka, A. – Migašová, J.: Súradnice estetiky, umenia a kultúry IV: Študovať estetiku: koncepcie, stratégie a súvislosti štúdia estetiky na Slovensku a v zahraničí. Prešov: Filozofická fakulta PU v Prešove 2019. ISBN 978-80-555-2310-1. 198 s.

Les récits de vie constituent un corpus apprécié tant par la sociologie que par la sociolinguistique. Cet article vise à distinguer les présupposés épistémologiques de ces deux approches disciplinaires des récits de vie, et à dégager la spécificité de ce type de corpus. A une approche sociologique qui utilise les entretiens biographiques pour en extraire des données factuelles, s’oppose une interprétation des récits à partir de leur matérialité discursive. Partant du présupposé que les récits sont une re-construction linguistique du monde, (...) il s’agit suivant l’approche sociolinguistique d’opérer une analyse à la fois discursive et interactionnelle des récits de vie, en prenant en compte le contexte interactionnel dont ils sont issus. Une telle approche suppose une conception « ouverte » de la notion de corpus. (shrink)

This chapter focuses on the role of temporal scarcity and language in reform. These are linked because language lies at the foundation of Smith’s account of a society in which the scarcity of time prevents us from being friends with more than a small number of people. When friendship-linked benevolence fails, we persuade and exchange. The scarcity of one’s life is, we argue, foundational for Smith. He brings this consideration to bear at the centre of his thoughts on reforming the (...) state when he argues that we have time to develop affection for our systems of thought but not for the people described by these systems. Smith’s account, in which habitual sympathy motivates, allows him to describe an affection for systems built in language. Affection gives motivational power to a system but it also presents a great danger. We may care about a system far more than the people described in the system. The central challenge for Smith is that of combining the motivational power of system without succumbing to the temptation to use a system to justify breaking our fellow humans. The exceptions he allows to his own system of natural liberal offer evidence that he did not exempt his own system of reform from the constraint of individual happiness. (shrink)

Sacred Games, Death, and Renewal in the Ancient Eastern Woodlands Content Type Journal Article Category Review Pages 507-509 DOI 10.1558/jcr.v11i4.507 Authors Sandra Wallace, Artefact Heritage, Po Box 772 Rose Bay, NSW 2029 Journal Journal of Critical Realism Online ISSN 1572-5138 Print ISSN 1476-7430 Journal Volume Volume 11 Journal Issue Volume 11, Number 4 / 2012.

Humans may be the only creatures conscious of having a future, but all too often we would rather not think about it. Likewise, our societies, unable to deal with radical uncertainty, do not make policies with a view to the long term. Instead, we suffer from a sense of powerlessness, collective irrationality, and perennial political discontent. In _The Future and Its Enemies_, Spanish philosopher Daniel Innerarity makes a plea for a new social contract that would commit us to moral and (...) political responsibility with respect to future generations. He urges us to become advocates for the future in the face of enemies who, oblivious to the costs of modernization, press for endless and unproductive acceleration. His accessible book proposes a new way of confronting the unknown—one grounded in the calculation of risk. Declaring the classical right-left divide to be redundant, Innerarity presents his hopes for a renewed democracy and a politics that would find convincing ways to mediate between the priorities of the present, the heritage of the past, and the challenges that lie ahead. (shrink)

We show that the Axiom of Dependent Choice,, holds in countably iterable, passive premice constructed over their reals which satisfy the Axiom of Determinacy,, in a background universe. This generalizes an argument of Kechris for using Steel's analysis of scales in mice. In particular, we show that for any and any countable set of reals A so that and, we have that.

The Second Sex is Simone de Beauvoir's most famous analytical work on women's oppression. It was published first in postwar France in 1949, only five years after French women received the right to vote and therewith full political rights. In her study, Beauvoir set out to explain why women – in France and elsewhere – continued to experience significant social and economic inequalities despite their right to vote. The theoretical insights contained in her study were influenced by the postwar existentialist (...) movement to which she belonged and would become key elements for the developing women's liberation movements of the 1970s and 1980s inside and outside France, which fought for women's equal citizenship rights, especially women's reproductive rights. (shrink)

A review of Tomáš Hlobil´s Geschmacksbildung im Nationalinteresse: Die Anfänge der Prager Universitätsästhetik im mitteleuropäischen Kulturraum 1763–1805 (Bochumer Quellen und Forschungen zum 18. Jahrhundert 2. Hanover: Wehrhahn, 2012, 462 pp. ISBN 978-3-86525-247-0).