Designers’ intentions are important for determining an artifact’s proper function (i.e., its perceived real function). However, there are disagreements regarding why. In one view, people reason causally about artifacts’ functional outcomes, and designers’ intended functions become important to the extent that they allow inferring outcomes. In another view, people use knowledge of designers’ intentions to determine proper functions, but this is unrelated to causal reasoning, having perhaps to do with intentional or social forms of reasoning (e.g., authority). Regarding these latter (...) social factors, researchers have proposed that designers’ intentions operate through a mechanism akin to social conventions, and that therefore both are determinants of proper function. In the current work, participants learned about an object’s creation, about social conventions for its use and about a specific episode where the artifact was used. The function implemented by the user could be aligned with the designer’s intended function, the social convention, both, or neither (i.e., an opportunistic use). Importantly, the use episode always resulted in an accident. Data show that the accident negatively affected proper function judgments and perceived efficiency for conventional and opportunistic functions, but not for designers’ intended functions. This is inconsistent with the view that designers’ intentions are conceptualized as causes of functional outcomes and with the idea that designers’ intentions and social conventions operate through a common mechanism. (shrink)

The causal view of categories assumes that categories are represented by features and their causal relations. To study the effect of causal knowledge on categorization, researchers have used Bayesian causal models. Within that framework, categorization may be viewed as dependent on a likelihood computation (i.e., the likelihood of an exemplar with a certain combination of features, given the category's causal model) or as a posterior computation (i.e., the probability that the exemplar belongs to the category, given its features). Across three (...) experiments, in combination with computational modeling, we offer evidence that categorization is better accounted for by assuming that people compute posteriors and not likelihoods, though both probabilities are closely related. This result contrasts with existing analyses of causal-based categorization, which assume that likelihood computations give a good approximation of human judgments. We also find that people are able to compute likelihoods in a closely related task that elicits judgments of consistency rather than category membership judgments. Our analyses show that people do use causal probabilistic information as prescribed by a Bayesian model but that they flexibly compute likelihoods or posteriors depending on the task. We discuss our results in relation to the relevant literature on the topic. (shrink)

In the property listing task (PLT), participants are asked to list properties for a concept (e.g., for the concept dog, “barks,” and “is a pet” may be produced). In conceptual property norming (CPNs) studies, participants are asked to list properties for large sets of concepts. Here, we use a mathematical model of the property listing process to explore two longstanding issues: characterizing the difference between concrete and abstract concepts, and characterizing semantic knowledge in the blind versus sighted population. When we (...) apply our mathematical model to a large CPN reporting properties listed by sighted and blind participants, the model uncovers significant differences between concrete and abstract concepts. Though we also find that blind individuals show many of the same processing differences between abstract and concrete concepts found in sighted individuals, our model shows that those differences are noticeably less pronounced than in sighted individuals. We discuss our results vis‐a‐vis theories attempting to characterize abstract concepts. (shrink)

La soledad condensa tanto una esperanza de vivir según su propio criterio, como el miedo de no poder defenderse. Se trata de una condición que está en los márgenes de la constitución de una sociedad. Este modo de aislamiento del individuo permite pensar el conflicto y la polarización en la democracia. El texto analiza las concepciones de soledad en la filosofía de Spinoza para alcanzar un análisis de la utilidad. La fortaleza de ánimo, virtud y condición del ánimo que corresponde (...) a cierto entendimiento de la mente, es el modo para buscar sobreponerse al conflicto. (shrink)

This paper studies the concept of memory as understood in Spinoza’s body of work, focusing mainly on E 2P18. The main features of memory’s functioning are explained across three conceptual axes: affectio, vestigium and concatenation. These shape Spinoza’s own argumentation in the cited proposition and also recall Aristotle’s theory on memory’s function and functioning. The link between both theories helps transversely to elucidate Spinoza’s position regarding the problem of the identity of the individual.

Presenta a grandes rasgos su tesis doctoral. Dentro del marco de la teoría de los afectos, Spinoza sostiene una tesis sobre la alienación a partir de la imaginación y del tiempo, para ello produce una teoría del tiempo y, fundamentalmente, una teoría de las intensidades que sirve para explicar la ilusión.

Historically, entities with a vested interest in a product that critics have suggested is harmful have consistently used research to back their claims that the product is safe. Prominent examples are: tobacco, lead, bisphenol A, and atrazine. Research literature indicates that about 80–90% of studies with industry affiliation found no harm from the product, while only about 10–20% of studies without industry affiliation found no harm. In parallel to other historical debates, recent studies examining a possible relationship between mercury exposure (...) and autism spectrum disorder show a similar dichotomy. Studies sponsored and supported by industry or entities with an apparent conflict of interest have most often shown no evidence of harm or no “consistent” evidence of harm, while studies without such affiliations report positive evidence of a Hg/autism association. The potentially causal relationship between Hg exposure and ASD differs from other toxic products since there is a broad coalition of entities for whom a conflict of interest arises. These include influential governmental public health entities, the pharmaceutical industry, and even the coal burning industry. This review includes a systematic literature search of original studies on the potential relationship between Hg and ASD from 1999 to August 2015, finding that of the studies with public health and/or industry affiliation, 86% reported no relationship between Hg and ASD. However, among studies without public health and/or industry affiliation, only 21% find no relationship between Hg and ASD. The discrepancy in these results suggests a bias indicative of a conflict of interest. (shrink)

Ecological developmental biology considers the phenotype as actively produced through an environmentally informed process of individual development, rather than predetermined by the genotype. Accordingly, the genotype is viewed as one among many interactants that contribute formative elements; it is understood to do so no differently from the way other organism-internal and environmental resources do. Although the EcoDevo approach is evidently particularly apt to inform approaches to human development, which mostly takes shape in rich cultural environments, it is remarkable that, at (...) least within some highly influential circles of the linguistic sciences, the study of many distinctive human cognitive traits including language remains strongly anchored to a preformationist stance. This article brings an EcoDevo approach to the biologically focused study of language to argue that an aspect of language design commonly assumed to be “blueprinted,” namely, the lexicon-syntax interface, may instead be explained as a plastic effect of ongoing developmental processes in the mind of the child, in which designated aspects of the environment fulfill a key constructive role. (shrink)

A analogia, enquanto procedimento metodológico da dialética platônica, estabelece uma relação entre paidéia e dialética ascendente. O presente estudo limita-se ao diálogo Ménon e visa, ainda, articular a relação entre este diálogo e o conjunto de obra de Platão no que concerne à relação entre analogia e dialética.

In recent years numerous attempts have been made by analytic philosophers to _naturalize _various different domains of philosophical inquiry. All of these attempts have had the common goal of rendering these areas of philosophy amenable to empirical methods, with the intention of securing for them the supposedly objective status and broad intellectual appeal currently associated with such approaches. This volume brings together internationally recognised analytic philosophers, including Alvin Plantinga, Peter van Inwagen and Robert Audi, to question the project of naturalism. (...) The articles investigate what it means to _naturalize_ a domain of philosophical inquiry and look at how this applies to the various sub-disciplines of philosophy including epistemology, metaphysics and the philosophy of the mind. The issue of whether naturalism is desirable is raised and the contributors take seriously the possibility that excellent analytic philosophy can be undertaken without naturalization. Controversial and thought-provoking, _Analytic Philosophy Without Naturalism_ examines interesting and contentious methodological issues in analytic philosophy and explores the connections between philosophy and science. (shrink)

O texto visa contribuir, por um lado, à investigação acerca dos processos psicológicos, aos níveis subjetivo, lógico e intersubjetivo, inerentes a uma postura filosofante, remetendo a considerações metodológicas com relação ao ensino de Filosofia. Por outro, visa questionar a relação entre o filosofar e a História da Filosofia, visando à conexão entre o diálogo filosófico e o diálogo com a História da Filosofia.

Historically, entities with a vested interest in a product that critics have suggested is harmful have consistently used research to back their claims that the product is safe. Prominent examples are: tobacco, lead, bisphenol A, and atrazine. Research literature indicates that about 80–90 % of studies with industry affiliation found no harm from the product, while only about 10–20 % of studies without industry affiliation found no harm. In parallel to other historical debates, recent studies examining a possible relationship between (...) mercury exposure and autism spectrum disorder show a similar dichotomy. Studies sponsored and supported by industry or entities with an apparent conflict of interest have most often shown no evidence of harm or no “consistent” evidence of harm, while studies without such affiliations report positive evidence of a Hg/autism association. The potentially causal relationship between Hg exposure and ASD differs from other toxic products since there is a broad coalition of entities for whom a conflict of interest arises. These include influential governmental public health entities, the pharmaceutical industry, and even the coal burning industry. This review includes a systematic literature search of original studies on the potential relationship between Hg and ASD from 1999 to date, finding that of the studies with public health and/or industry affiliation, 86 % reported no relationship between Hg and ASD. However, among studies without public health and/or industry affiliation, only 19 % find no relationship between Hg and ASD. The discrepancy in these results suggests a bias indicative of a conflict of interest. (shrink)

Nosso objetivo neste artigo é o de lançar luz sobre alguns aspectos das concepções de Gödel acerca da percepção de conceitos. Começamos investigando a natureza e o papel da analogia entre percepção sensível e percepção de conceitos. A seguir, examinamos as conexões entre percepção de conceitos, razão e compreensão, tentando mostrar que a percepção de conceitos é compreensão de conceitos. Por fim, examinamos aqueles aspectos da concepção de Gödel em que a percepção de conceitos de fato se aproxima perigosamente da (...) ideia de um "olho da mente". Contudo, argumentamos que esses aspectos problemáticos não são intrínsecos à noção de percepção de conceitos, mas sim resultam de uma má compreensão da distinção entre conceito e objeto. Our goal in this article is to illuminate some aspects of Gödel's conception of the perception of concepts. We begin by investigating the nature and function of Gödel's analogy between sense perception and perception of concepts. After that, we examine the connections between perception of concepts, reason, and understanding, trying to show that the perception of concepts consists in the understanding of concepts. Finally, we examine those aspects of Gödel's conception where the perception of concepts actually comes dangerously close to the idea of a "mind's eye". However, we argue that these problematic aspects are not intrinsic to the notion of perception of concepts, but result from a misunderstanding of the distinction between concept and object. (shrink)

As jornadas de junho de 2013 se constituíram espontaneamente nas ruas de todo o Brasil, iniciando uma era de intensa polarização política e gerando todo um legado social e cultural nos anos seguintes. O objetivo do presente artigo é compreender e analisar o cenário da poesia nacional desde então, buscando rastros daqueles acontecimentos nos poemas recentemente produzidos. Para tal, buscou-se aprofundar dois universos poéticos distintos e muito pouco relacionados: o slam e a chamada “poesia tradicional”, a partir da leitura de (...) autores como Luz Ribeiro, Paulo Ferraz e Pádua Fernandes. (shrink)

Starting from the analysis of the first book of De libero arbitrio, the Italian philosopher Sergio Cotta explores the relationship between law, morality and safety in Augustine’s thought. According to Cotta, Lib. arb. I contains implicitly a complete typology of the four normative judgments used in jurisprudence, philosophy of law and legal science: judgments of legality; judgments of validity; judgments of purpose; judgments of morality. The analysis of the relationship between these four types of normative judgments allows us to (...) interpret correctly Augustine’s most famous sentence: mihi lex esse non videtur quae iusta non fuerit. (shrink)

A New Italian translation of Principia Ethica coming almost 60 years after the 1964 translation by Gianni Vattimo with Nicola Abbagnano’s preface. The new edition makes room for the English text alongside the Italian translation; it includes the 1922 Preface, a bibliography of Moore’s ethical writings with critical literature, a chronology of Moore’s life and works, and an Index. The Introduction by Sergio Cremaschi reconstructs the background of ideas, concerns and intentions from which Moore’s Principia Ethica originated. It stresses (...) the role of religious concerns, as well as that of the Idealist legacy. I argue that PE is more a patchwork of incompatible lines of argument than a consistent work. It compares PE with Rashdall’s almost contemporary ethical work, suggesting that the latter defends the same general claims in a different and more plausible way, which manages to answer decisive objections. It ends with the suggestion that the emergence of Analytic Ethics was a more multi-faceted phenomenon than the received view would make us believe and the analytic tradition's wheat, that is, what logic can do for philosophy, has to be separated from the chaff, that is, the confused, and besides mutually incompatible, legacies of Utilitarianism and Idealism. (shrink)

No presente trabalho discutiremos a tese segundo a qual provas com diagramas são heterogêneas, i. e., envolvem casos de raciocínio visual. Em uma primeira seção, examinaremos o uso informal de diagramas de Venn em provas conjuntistas, procurando determinar em que sentido provas com diagramas seriam heterogêneas. Tais provas su-postamente envolveriam raciocínio visual no sentido em que a validade das inferências dependeria de características visualizáveis dos diagramas e não de regras de derivação. Em uma segunda seção, investigaremos quais seriam os aspectos (...) relevantes para a validade das inferências diagramáticas. A seguir, na terceira seção, argumentaremos que a concepção de provas diagramáticas como envolvendo essencialmente um elemento visual apresenta sérios problemas. (shrink)

O presente estudo visa esclarecer os pontos de convergência entre Paulo Freire e Anísio Teixeira referentes aos temas da produção da democracia no Brasil de fins da década de 1950. Para tanto, são tomados como fonte os textos de Freire Educação e atualidade brasileira e Educação como prática da liberdade. O cotejo das idéias de Anísio e Freire permite observar importantes convergências entre ambos, quanto ao papel da educação na formação dos hábitos democráticos e da construção da sociedade democrática, por (...) meio de grandes esforços educativos. Tal proximidade é bastante perceptível até a segunda obra freireana, Educação como prática da liberdade, ficando menos evidente nas obras posteriores. À medida que Freire produz novos textos e participa de novas experiências políticas e educativas, no Chile, junto aos camponeses, suas reflexões priorizam temas como a ruptura entre opressores e oprimidos e a revolução como ação cultural. (shrink)

A search of elements becomes necessary to facilitate the understanding of the origins of the Lacan´s significant, in the attempt to explain through structural linguistic, the limits of the Saussure´s influence. It is known that the Lacan´s significant, even though has the Saussure´s influence as a reference in epistemology, both “significant” must not be mistaken. It is usually attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure the invention of the theory of the linguistic sign. We will stand out, however, that this “invention” is (...) previous to the theories of the genevan linguist. We will observe the comments of Jean-Luc Nancy and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, to the point where these authors demonstrate that the displacement operated on the Saussure´s scheme will not depend on, as it is well known, the significant’s autonomy. It will be verified, therefore, how legitimate it is, the use of the significant´s term in the Lacan´s theory. (shrink)