Les Romains écrivaient sur les murs de leurs cités sous bien des prétextes : pour tenir leurs comptes, annoncer les prix pratiqués dans les boutiques, exprimer leurs amours et leurs haines ou laisser un souvenir de leur passage. L’alphabétisation de la population romaine, et par conséquent des femmes, fait débat depuis plusieurs années. De nombreux éléments relevés dans les villes de Campanie, graffiti, fresques, notices électorales témoignent d’une diffusion certaine des pratiques de l’écriture et de la lecture, même dans les (...) classes modestes de la société féminine. De cette pratique familière est née une activité artistique et poétique assez intense chez les femmes des classes aisées et revendiquée par celles-ci. (shrink)

Este es un libro sobre la libertad y sobre la verdad. Y ahora ya podéis reír. Pero no os protejáis en la risa sarcástica, permitíos una risa impertinente. La libertad y la verdad son dos formas de impertinencia necesaria, cuando hemos comprendido que no somos realmente libres ni escaparemos nunca del error ni del engaño. De esto hablan estos textos, y lo hacen de la mano de diversos autores y personajes que han hecho de su impertinencia una forma de (...) pensamiento. Georg Büchner nos presenta a Danton y a Robespierre conversando ante la guillotina. Diderot y Sophie Volland escriben su amor en una eternidad sin Cielo. Joaquim Jordà filma a sus amigos mientras colectivizan la fábrica Numax y Teresa de Ávila corta cebollas en la cocina mientras charla con su inquisidor... El 'Torete' de Perros callejeros, Christa Leem, Ixiar Rozas o Santiago López Petit desafían la noche. Se añaden a ellos Albert Camus, conjurando la mentira, y los muertos de las comedias de Eduardo de Filippo, porque todo está lleno de muertos. Entre ellos y muchos más que recorren estas páginas, destaca la voz de mi abuela, Concepció Rubiés i Trias, quien vuelve directamente a nosotros a través de las cartas que escribió cuando tenía dieciocho años y se marchó al exilio. Todas estas voces organizan una cacofonía que es, para mí, una fiesta de la inteligencia, en un tiempo en el que se ha hecho muy difícil sentir la alegría de pensar. Las malas compañías no se escogen, pero se puede decidir seguirlas o no. A mí, siempre me han llevado por buen camino. (shrink)

Analytic metaphysics has recently discovered biology as a means of grounding metaphysical theories. This has resulted in long-standing metaphysical puzzles, such as the problems of personal identity and material constitution, being increasingly addressed by appeal to a biological understanding of identity. This development within metaphysics is in significant tension with the growing tendency amongst philosophers of biology to regard biological identity as a deep puzzle in its own right, especially following recent advances in our understanding of symbiosis, the evolution of (...) multi-cellular organisms and the inherently dynamical character of living systems. Moreover, and building on these biological insights, the broadly substance ontological framework of metaphysical theories of biological identity appears problematic to a growing number of philosophers of biology who invoke process ontology instead. This volume addresses this tension, exploring to what extent it can be dissolved. For this purpose, the volume presents the first selection of essays exclusively focused on biological identity and written by experts in metaphysics, the philosophy of biology and biology. The resulting cross-disciplinary dialogue paves the way for a convincing account of biological identity that is both metaphysically constructive and scientifically informed, and will be of interest to metaphysicians, philosophers of biology and theoretical biologists. (shrink)

This paper is about rewilding and the tensions it involves. Rewilding is a relatively novel approach to nature conservation, which seeks to be proactive and ambitious in the face of continuing environmental decline. Whilst definitions of rewilding place a strong emphasis on non-human agency, it is an inescapably human aspiration resulting in a range of social conflicts. The paper focuses on the case study of the Cambrian Wildwood project in Mid Wales (UK), evaluating the ways in which debate and strategic (...) action to advance rewilding is proceeding, assessing the extent to which compromise and learning has occurred amongst advocates. As such, we provide an important addition to the field, by detailing how conflicts play out over time and how actors’ positioning and approach shifts, and why. In this case, tempers have flared around the threat that rewilding is seen to pose to resident farming communities. Tensions discussed include the differing social constructions of landscape and nature involved; the distribution of impacts on different stakeholders; and the relative power of different actors to make decisions and gain representation. Responding to these, the paper outlines how rewilding advocates have sought to advance a more peopled and culturally responsive vision, which seeks to champion sustainable livelihood strategies. The changes in approach detailed demonstrate a reflexive stance from rewilders, which suggests that learning and adaptation can occur. Nonetheless, caution is expressed regarding the extent to which rewilding can truly advance inclusive opportunities for rural change, given a continued return amongst stakeholders to exclusionary narratives of belonging and authenticity, suggesting substantive difficulty in moving beyond longstanding concerns over identity and the re-imagination of place. Rewilding, it would seem, is about who we think we are and how we co-constitute our sense of self. We, therefore, close by arguing that tactics and politicking can only have so much bearing, tensions over rewilding are unavoidably emotional. (shrink)

Does the sense of smell involve the perception of odor objects? General discussion of perceptual objecthood centers on three criteria: stimulus representation; perceptual constancy; and figure-ground segregation. These criteria, derived from theories of vision, have been applied to olfaction in recent philosophical debates about psychology. An inherent problem with such framing of olfactory objecthood is that philosophers explicitly ignore the constitutive factors of the sensory systems that underpin the implementation of these criteria. The biological basis of odor coding is fundamentally (...) different from the coding principles of the visual system. This article analyzes the three measures of perceptual objecthood against the biological background of the olfactory system. It contrasts the coding principles in olfaction with the visual system to show why these criteria of objecthood fail to be instantiated in odor perception. The argument demonstrates that olfaction affords perceptual categorization without the need to form odor objects. (shrink)

Theories of perception have traditionally dismissed the sense of smell as a notoriously variable and highly subjective sense, mainly because it does not easily fit into accounts of perception based on visual experience. So far, philosophical questions about the objects of olfactory perception have started by considering the nature of olfactory experience. However, there is no philosophically neutral or agreed conception of olfactory experience: it all depends on what one thinks odors are. We examine the existing philosophical methodology for addressing (...) our sense of smell: on the one hand appeals to phenomenology that focus on the experiential dimensions of odor perception and on the other approaches that look at odor sources and their material dimensions. We show that neither strategy provides enough information to account for the human sense of smell and argue that the inclusion of the missing dimension of biology, with its concern for the function (or functions) of olfaction, provides the means to develop a satisfactory and empirically informed philosophy of smell. (shrink)

What does it take for a scientific model to represent? Scientific models have received a great deal of attention in recent philosophical literature. Following Morgan and Morrison’s account of “Models as Mediators”, analysis of how models represent has changed from questioning what properties of models can be said to correlate with the world to asking how models are used to relate to an intended target-system. This turn to a practice-oriented approach of understanding models was a response to a general philosophical (...) problem that attends the empirical application of scientific representations such as models. This problem is twofold. Models, on the one hand, are often said to make false claims about the world.. (shrink)

Perfumes embody a chemical record of style and technology. Blurring the boundary between what counts as natural and artificial in both a material and a perceptual sense, perfumery presents us with a domain of multiple disciplinary identities relevant to social studies: art, craft, and techno‐science. Despite its profound impact as a cultural practice, perfume has seldom featured in historical scholarship. The reason for this neglect is its inherently qualitative dimension: perfume cannot be understood via codified representation but requires direct acquaintance (...) with its sensory and material basis. The historical study of perfumery thus necessitates an experimental approach that comes not without challenge. This article looks at contemporary recreations of old perfumes to identify the difficulties involved in the experimental recreation of fragrances as sensory and performative artifacts. We highlight the need for a reconceptualization of methodology for inconcrete objects of study as part of the broader interest in experimental approaches to the humanities. (shrink)

Recent studies have proposed that the executive advantages associated with bilingualism may stem from language-switching frequency rather than from bilingualism per se (see for example, Prior & Gollan, 2011). Barbu, Gillet, Orban and Poncelet (2018) showed that high-frequency language switchers outperformed low-frequency switchers on a mental flexibility task but not on alertness or response inhibition tasks. The aim of the present study was to replicate these results as well as to compare proficient high and low-frequency bilingual language switchers to a (...) control group of monolingual participants. Two groups of proficient bilingual adults (30 high-frequency language switchers and 21 low-frequency language switchers) and a group of 28 monolinguals participated in the study. The results showed superior mental flexibility skills in high-frequency language switchers compared to low-frequency switchers and monolinguals; furthermore, the two latter groups showed no difference in mental flexibility skills. These results provide novel support for the hypothesis that the so-called bilingual advantage is, in fact, a result of language-switching habits. (shrink)

In July 2019, Stella Creasy MP and her team succeeded in attaching an amendment to a largely administrative bill which would require the UK government to liberalise abortion laws in Northern Ireland by 21 October 2019, provided the Northern Ireland government does not resume before that date.1 The amendment succeeded in the Commons, 332 votes to 99 and later, with some adjustments, in the Lords, 182 votes to 37. The Bill received Royal Assent on 24 July 2019. In Northern Ireland, (...) abortion remains a criminal offence punishable by up to life imprisonment in all except exceptional circumstances, that is, where it is ‘necessary to preserve the life of the woman’ or where there is a ‘risk of serious adverse effect which is either long term or permanent’.2 The law makes no provision for women who are pregnant as a result of rape, incest or in the case of fatal fetal abnormality. Because there is a lack of clarity around which circumstances or conditions would have a sufficiently ‘serious and long-term adverse effect’, it has been argued that the law has had a ‘chilling effect’ on service provision.3 As a result, only 13 abortions were performed in Northern Ireland in 2018/2019.4 Instead, more than 1000 women travelled from Northern Ireland to England to access legal abortion services.5 A recent review of the law in Northern Ireland concluded that this situation disadvantages women who cannot afford to or are unable to travel.3 Women are also reportedly purchasing abortifacients unlawfully online, exposing them to the risk of prosecution as well as to risks where the pills are unsafe or lead to complications. Creasey’s amendment requires the Secretary of State for …. (shrink)

This volume explores the relationship between physics and metaphysics in Descartes' philosophy. According to the standard account, Descartes modified the objects of metaphysics and physics and inverted the order in which these two disciplines were traditionally studied. This book challenges the standard account in which Descartes prioritizes metaphysics over physics. It does so by taking into consideration the historical reception of Descartes and the ways in which Descartes himself reacted to these receptions in his own lifetime. The book stresses the (...) diversity of these receptions by taking into account not only Cartesianisms but also anti-Cartesianisms, and by showing how they retroactively highlighted different aspects of Descartes' works and theoretical choices. The historical aspect of the volume is unique in that it not only analyzes different constructions of Descartes that emerged in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, but also reflects on how his work was first read by philosophers across Europe. Taken together, the essays in this volume offer a fresh and up-to-date contribution to this important debate in early modern philosophy. (shrink)

Empirical success is a central criterion for scientific decision-making. Yet its understanding in philosophical studies of science deserves renewed attention: Should philosophers think differently about the advancement of science when they deal with the uncertainty of outcome in ongoing research in comparison with historical episodes? This paper argues that normative appeals to empirical success in the evaluation of competing scientific explanations can result in unreliable conclusions, especially when we are looking at the changeability of direction in ongoing investigations. The challenges (...) we encounter arise from the inherent dynamics of disciplinary and experimental objectives in research practice. In this paper we discuss how these dynamics inform the evaluation of empirical success by analyzing three of its requirements: data accommodation, instrumental reliability, and predictive power. We conclude that the assessment of empirical success in developing inquiry is set against the background of a model’s interactive success and prospective value in an experimental context. Our argument is exemplified by the analysis of an apparent controversy surrounding the model of a quantum nose in research on olfaction. Notably the public narrative of this controversy rests on a distorted perspective on measures of empirical success. (shrink)

This commentary focuses on evidence from autism concerning the relation between metacognition and mindreading. We support Carruthers' rejection of models 1 (independent systems) and 3 (metacognition before mindreading), and provide evidence to strengthen his critique. However, we also present evidence from autism that we believe supports model 2 (one mechanism, two modes of access) over model 4 (mindreading is prior).

La 4e de couv. mentionne "Nous admirons la plupart du temps les peintures vénitiennes du Tintoret dans des conditions défavorables : il en est de même pour les textes de Sartre sur la peinture, disséminés au gré des Situations, parfois inédits. On croit alors y trouver une théorie de l'imaginaire focalisée sur l'irréalité du monde des images. La définition des "arts non-signifiants" dans Qu'est-ce que la Littérature, tout comme les articles sur la peinture, rédigés entre 1954 et 1970 corrigent certaines (...) idées reçues, traçant au sein de la philosophie sartrienne une nouvelle approche, plus "matiériste" de l'art. Ces "essais d'esthétique picturale" sauveraient ainsi Sartre d'une théorie iconoclaste de l'imaginaire, faisant apparaitre une possible redéfinition de l'analogon pictural. Mais ils permettent aussi d'inventer une toute nouvelle catégorie, celle des "peintres sartriens", où dialoguent ensemble Le Tintoret, Giacometti, Masson, Wols, Lapoujade et Rebeyrolle.". (shrink)

"Spinoza", à quoi ça sert? Et comment s'en servir? En particulier, comment penser la mise à l'épreuve du rationalisme spécifique dont il est le nom? L'objectif de ce travail est de contribuer à une réévaluation non seulement du rôle de la pratique dans la pensée de Spinoza, mais encore du système lui-même, de sa capacité à s'adapter et à communiquer avec des domaines tels que les sciences expérimentales, l'histoire, la politique ou la médecine. A travers les concepts et problèmes, tels (...) qu'ils sont formulés dans ses textes, mais également leur utilisation contemporaine, il s'agit ici d'analyser l'articulation de la philosophie de Spinoza au champ de l'action humaine, dans ses dimensions éthique, sociale, cognitive et affective - et d'apprécier la puissance de la rationalité qui en est le fondement. Les auteurs viennent d'horizons différents : professeurs, docteurs, doctorants, étudiants ou érudits originaires de divers pays, ils proposent dans les articles ici présentés des approches variées et originales des problèmes qu'ils traitent, offrant ainsi au lecteur un aperçu de la vitalité des réflexions que suscite aujourd'hui l'oeuvre de Spinoza. (shrink)

"L’œuvre de Marc Richir, riche et polyphonique, nous lègue un ensemble complexe d’analyses, de propositions et de concepts qui puisent tant dans la tradition philosophique que dans les sciences exactes, l’anthropologie, l’esthétique et la pensée politique, créant entre ces discours autant d’intersections inédites opérées en régime phénoménologique. En chacun de ces croisements, l’œuvre de Richir appelle à être examinée, déchiffrée et éclairée à partir de perspectives inédites que lui-même a rendu possible. L’immensité du corpus richirien invite à travailler autant aux (...) marges de la phénoménologie husserlienne qu’aux marges de sa phénoménologie, à travers ses dialogues, ses obsessions et ses ambitions, afin de mieux ressaisir en elles la vivacité et l’originalité des phénomènes."--. (shrink)

Katherine Wilson-Chevalier propose avec Patronnes et mécènes en France à la Renaissance une somme qui marquera l’histoire du mécénat féminin. Les Anglo-Saxons ont un joli nom pour définir ce patronage au féminin, ils parlent de matronage, et c’est précisément à cette pratique qu’est consacré cet ouvrage fondamental. Il nous propose une galerie de fortes femmes destinées à jouer un rôle politique dans la France du XVIe siècle, mais aussi protectrices des arts. Certaines sont fort connues et se...

This book presents engaging and informative analysis of three interrelated notions, namely: selfhood, the first person pronoun ‘I’ and the first person perspective. Philosophers have long debated about these notions on non-empirical grounds often focusing on the question of whether the first person pronoun ‘I’, beyond its role as a grammatical term, has an underlying implication for the ontology of selfhood. Philosophers continuously grapple with whether the first person pronoun ‘I’ is a referring expression and if it is, what its (...) referent is or could be. To give an adequate treatment of such questions, philosophers have begun working across the relevant disciplines. This book highlights some excellent examples of the complex nature of the first person thoughts as they figure in linguistics, autism, thought insertion in schizophrenia and the phenomenon of mental autonomy. In Selfhood, Autism and Thought Insertion, many of the leading philosophers working on this issue, as well as a few emerging scholars, have written 12 new essays addressing questions besetting the ontology of selfhood. The essays address topics as diverse as reflections on E. J. Lowe’s non-Cartesian substance dualism, physical determinism, the metaphysics and anti-metaphysics of the self, animalism, neo-Lockean persons, rationality and the first-person, whether the first person is essentially a linguistic concept, first-person and third-person perspectives and autism, consciousness, first person perspective and neuroimaging, thought insertion and mental autonomy. The contributors to this volume do not agree in all of the details associated with the notion of selfhood, yet they all have a common conviction that the central questions besetting it must be taken seriously. (shrink)

L’objet de cet article est de chercher à dissiper le flou dont souffre le concept d’afición dans le champ du flamenco. L’une des raisons de ce flou est que le concept d’afición s’avère porteur des mêmes ambiguïtés que celui d’amateurisme. On commence alors par rappeler les deux thèses dominantes au sujet de l’afición : une première l’assimile à la passion, une deuxième en fait un mélange de passion et de respect. On montre cependant les limites communes à ces deux thèses (...) : à savoir, un sensualisme qui réduit l’afición à un mode de relation exclusivement sensoriel, sensible et émotionnel au flamenco, et un purisme qui masque l’hybridité des pratiques. On en vient ensuite à recenser les quelques typologies qui ont pu être établies pour rendre compte de la réalité complexe et variée qu’est l’afición. Mais au constat relativiste auquel elles conduisent, on oppose finalement la construction d’une définition prototypique de l’afición. Celle-ci apparaît comme une tendance à éprouver la passion pour un art tendant à exprimer lui-même la passion, soit ce qu’on peut appeler une passion au carré. (shrink)

This event-related potential (ERP) study examined the impact of phonological variation resulting from a vowel merger on phoneme perception. The perception of the /e/–/ε/ contrast which does not exist in Southern French-speaking regions, and which is in the process of merging in Northern French-speaking regions, was compared to the /ø/–/y/ contrast, which is stable in all French-speaking regions. French-speaking participants from Switzerland for whom the /e/–/ε/ contrast is preserved, but who are exposed to different regional variants, had to perform a (...) same-different task. They first heard four phonemically identical but acoustically different syllables (e.g., /be/–/be/–/be/–/be/), and then heard the test syllable which was either phonemically identical to (/be/) or phonemically different from (/bε/) the preceding context stimuli. The results showed that the unstable /e/–/ε/ contrast only induced a mismatch negativity (MMN), whereas the /ø/–/y/ contrast elicited both a MMN and electrophysiological differences on the P200. These findings were in line with the behavioral results in which responses were slower and more error-prone in the /e/–/ε/ deviant condition than in the /ø/–/y/ deviant condition. Together these findings suggest that the regional variability in the speech input to which listeners are exposed affects the perception of speech sounds in their own accent. (shrink)

Free games that are monetized by selling virtual items, such as cosmetic microtransactions for one’s avatar, seem to offer a better gaming experience to paying players. To experimentally explore this phenomenon, the effects of character customization with cosmetic microtransactions on objective and self-estimated player performance, subjective identification with the avatar, fun and the players’ perceived competence were examined in the game League of Legends. This study introduces a new laboratory-based, experimental task to objectively measure within-game player performance. Each participant performed (...) this game-based task in two different conditions: With a character that was customized using a provided set of cosmetic microtransactions and with a default character. Results showed that customization increased subjective identification with the player character. However, objective performance measures were unaffected by this manipulation although the novel experimental approach provided reliable performance results. Additionally, identification was positively related to perceived competence, fun, and self-estimated performance. Implications for the design of cosmetic microtransactions and their influence on competitive gaming are discussed. (shrink)

"Traditionnellement, la philosophie a pensé la connaissance de soi sur le mode problématique d'un sujet faisant de lui-même son propre objet de connaissance. Constatant l'impasse où mène cette approche contemplative de la connaissance de soi, Richard Moran propose de la repenser à partir de la responsabilité de la personne vis-à-vis de ses propres attitudes et de l'autorité de l'agent sur ses propres actions. En abordant la connaissance de soi sous l'angle d'une psychologie morale, Autorité et aliénation la renouvelle en profondeur (...) en mettant en évidence non seulement l'autorité de la première personne, mais aussi ses défaillances et ses limites. Faisant dialoguer la philosophie analytique et la philosophie continentale, de Wittgenstein à Sartre, Richard Moran montre que l'aliénation, comprise comme une forme d'étrangeté à soi (à ce qui, de nous, nous échappe), délimite, autant que l'autorité, les contours de la connaissance de soi."--Page 4 de la couverture. (shrink)

A recent and growing discussion in philosophy addresses the construction of models and their use in scientific reasoning by comparison with fiction. This comparison helps to explore the problem of mediated observation and, hence, the lack of an unambiguous reference of representations. Examining the usefulness of the concept of fiction for a comparison with non-denoting elements in science, the aim of this paper is to present reasonable grounds for drawing a distinction between these two kinds of representation. In particular, my (...) account will suggest a demarcation between fictional and non-fictional discourse as involving two different ways of interpreting representations. This demarcation, leading me to distinguish between fictional and non-fictional forms of enquiry, will provide a useful tool to explore to what extent the descriptions given by a model can be justified as making claims about the world and to what degree they are a consequence of the model’s particular construction. (shrink)

In this article Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon and Megan Jane Laverty discuss Jean-Luc Nancy's conception of listening as presented in his seminal work, À l'écoute. The authors argue that Nancy uses the term “listening” to refer to the experience of coming to an idea of sound(s) initially encountered as puzzling. They illustrate Nancy's conception with teaching/learning situations involving a pianist and teacher, Deborah Sobol, and two aspiring players, Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon and Rosalie Romano. The article has four parts. In part 1, (...) the authors ask: Do we see Deborah trying to make meaning of Sophie's performance on October 2, 1998? In part 2, they ask: Do we see Sophie trying to make meaning of Deborah's words and demonstrations on the same occasion? In parts 3 and 4, they explore Sophie's and Rosalie's listening when they are coached by Deborah on January 15, 1999. In so doing, Haroutunian-Gordon and Laverty illustrate Nancy's conception of listening and demonstrate its usefulness for theorizing about and studying actual situations. (shrink)

Marie-Sophie Caruel Articulé autour de huit chapitres, l’ouvrage de L.E. Tacoma sur les migrations romaines aborde les questions liées au genre aux chapitres sur la famille (chap. 4) et sur le travail (chap. 6). La place faite aux femmes demeure donc relativement modeste et assez conventionnelle même si les apports sur la question ne sauraient être qualifiés de négligeables pour un sujet longtemps en marge des études sur la mobilité. Le cadre théorique proposé dans cet ouvrage est celui d’une...

The aim of the 2008 Roundtable was to focus on the progress to date in the many facets—methodological, epistemological and conceptual—of the field of legal semiotics, specifically the contribution of different schools and forms of semiotics as well as emerging and emergent semiotics approaches which can be used in researching and interpreting law and legal phenomena. The participants sought primarily to engage with the epistemological and methodological challenges which the field currently faces and to discuss the implications of these.

Le beau livre de Caroline Schuster-Cordone a fait le pari réussi d’aborder un sujet tout à la fois difficile et novateur, celui des représentations de la vieillesse féminine. L’auteure souligne qu’aucune étude d’ensemble ne lui a été consacrée jusqu’ici et bien peu de travaux ont abordé ce thème, pourtant au cœur des préoccupations de nos sociétés contemporaines. Sa démarche s’inscrit dans une perspective d’histoire du genre appliquée à un vaste corpus d’images, souvent inédites, analysées a...

Standard readings of Kant's ethical thought usually focus on the Groundwork, and, more particularly, in the application of the categorial imperative to any given maxim. In doing so, the standard readings do not take into account the necessary role of judgment in this process. After sketching the difference between determining and reflective judgment, and enlarging our view of Kant's ethics beyond the basic principles conveyed in Groundwork, the author discusses which may be the role of reflective judgment in Kant's moral (...) thought. As a result, an entirely different approach to the socalled applied ethics emerges. (shrink)

This article argues for a different outlook on the concept of extension, especially for the reference of general terms in scientific practice. Scientific realist interpretations of the two predominant theories of meaning, namely Descriptivism and Causal Theory, contend that a stable cluster of descriptions or an initial baptism fixes the extension of a general term such as a natural kind term. This view in which the meaning of general terms is presented as monosemantic and the referents as stable, homogeneous, and (...) unchangeable, however, does not reflect the various practices involved in the investigation of research materials and the related application of general terms in scientific practice. By drawing on the taxonomic diversity, particularly of structure-based classifications in chemical databases, this article illustrates the limited utility of such a concept of extension. Research materials often exhibit a plurality of material dimensions that, within different research contexts, allow for various and often equally significant taxonomic demarcations. In light of this, the extension of a general term cannot be uniquely determined by a supposedly independent nature of the referent but is relative to the model context under which the materials are investigated. This significance and plurality of the model context, I claim, needs to be mirrored in an account of meaning that is supposed to reflect scientific reality. On this account, the aim of this article is to present an alternative perspective on the concept of extension to accommodate the diverse material practices that determine the application of general terms in science. (shrink)

ABSTRACTWithin-person changes in mood, which are triggered by situational cues, for example someone’s location or company, are thought to affect contemporaneous cognitive function. To test this hypothesis, data were collected over 6 months with the smartphone application moo-Q that prompted users at random times to rate their mood and complete 3 short cognitive tests. Out of 24,313 people across 154 countries, who downloaded the app, 770 participants submitted 10 or more valid moo-Q responses. Confirming previous research, consistent patterns of association (...) emerged for 6 different situation cues with mood and cognitive function: For example, being alone rather than with others when completing the app resulted in worse mood but better cognitive task performance. Notwithstanding, changes in mood and cognitive function were not coupled. The advantages and challenges of using smartphone technology for studying mood and cognitive function are discussed. (shrink)

The recent distinction between sense of agency and sense of body-ownership has attracted considerable empirical and theoretical interest. The respective contributions of central motor signals and peripheral afferent signals to these two varieties of body experience remain unknown. In the present review, we consider the methodological problems encountered in the empirical study of agency and body-ownership, and we then present a series of experiments that study the interplay between motor and sensory information. In particular, we focus on how multisensory signals (...) interact with body representations to generate the sense of body-ownership, and how the sense of agency modulates the sense of body-ownership. Finally, we consider the respective roles of efferent and afferent signals for the experience of one’s own body and actions, in relation to self-recognition and the recognition of other people’s actions. We suggest that the coherent experience of the body depends on the integration of efferent information with afferent information in action contexts. Overall, whereas afferent signals provide the distinctive content of one’s own body experience, efferent signals seem to structure the experience of one’s own body in an integrative and coherent way. (shrink)

We investigated how motor agency in the voluntary control of body movement influences body awareness. In the Rubber Hand Illusion , synchronous tactile stimulation of a rubber hand and the participant’s hand leads to a feeling of the rubber hand being incorporated in the participant’s own body. One quantifiable behavioural correlate of the illusion is an induced shift in the perceived location of the participant’s hand towards the rubber hand. Previous studies showed that the induced changes in body awareness are (...) local and fragmented: the proprioceptive drift is largely restricted to the stimulated finger. In the present study, we investigated whether active and passive movements, rather than tactile stimulation, would lead to similarly fragmented body awareness. Participants watched a projected image of their hand under three conditions: active finger movement, passive finger movement, and tactile stimulation. Visual feedback was either synchronous or asynchronous with respect to stimulation of the hand. A significant overall RHI, defined as greater drifts following synchronous than asynchronous stimulation, was found in all cases. However, the distribution of the RHI across stimulated and non-stimulated fingers depended on the kind of stimulation. Localised proprioceptive drifts, specific to the stimulated finger, were found for tactile and passive stimulation. Conversely, during active movement of a single digit, the proprioceptive drifts were not localised to that digit, but were spread across the whole hand. Whereas a purely proprioceptive sense of body-ownership is local and fragmented, the motor sense of agency integrates distinct body-parts into a coherent, unified awareness of the body. (shrink)

Many views rely on the idea that it can never be rational to have high confidence in something like, “P, but my evidence doesn’t support P.” Call this idea the “Non-Akrasia Constraint”. Just as an akratic agent acts in a way she believes she ought not act, an epistemically akratic agent believes something that she believes is unsupported by her evidence. The Non-Akrasia Constraint says that ideally rational agents will never be epistemically akratic. In a number of recent papers, the (...) Non-Akrasia Constraint has been called into question. The goal of this paper is to defend it... for the most part. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage collectif porte sur la place qu’occupent les femmes dans différentes parties de l’Empire romain d’Orient hellénophone. Il résulte de trois rencontres scientifiques organisées dans le cadre du programme GRECS d’ANIHMA entre 2012 et 2014. Comme l’explique Sophie Lalanne dans son introduction, le volume ne reflète que partiellement le contenu de ces rencontres ; l’éditrice formule d’ailleurs des réflexions intéressantes sur la place de l’histoire des femmes et du genre dans le domain...

Epiphanies is a philosophical exploration of epiphanies, peak experiences, 'wow moments', or ecstasies as they are sometimes called. What are epiphanies, and why do so many people so frequently experience them? Are they just transient phenomena in our brains, or are they the revelations of objective value that they very often seem to be? What do they tell us about the world, and about ourselves? How, if at all, do epiphanies fit in with our moral systems and our theories of (...) how to live? And how do epiphanic experiences fit in with the rest of our lives? These are Sophie Grace Chappell's questions in this ground-breaking new study of an area of inquiry that has always been right under our noses, but remains surprisingly under-explored in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

Introduction -- Why understanding the nature of science is important -- Case study of the age of the earth -- Science and true knowledge -- The nature of scientific logic -- Resolving the great paradox.

Believing rationally is epistemically valuable, or so we tend to think. It’s something we strive for in our own beliefs, and we criticize others for falling short of it. We theorize about rationality, in part, because we want to be rational. But why? I argue that how we answer this question depends on how permissive our theory of rationality is. Impermissive and extremely permissive views can give good answers; moderately permissive views cannot.