The Periodic Table of Elements is one of the greatest achievements of the human intellect but is far from a finished work. Generations of chemists and physicists have improved on it, in light of the discovery of new elements and advancements in the domain of Quantum Mechanics. Specially, the role of the four quantum numbers that dictates the distribution of the elements throughout the Table has been clarified. However, as the Table grew older and venerable, a tradition developed that froze (...) its overall shape, obfuscating somewhat the comprehension of its underlying principles. Proposals of reforming it has been made but face the opposition of scientists, professionals and educators who are comfortable with the Table as it has been for several decades. Here, the author advocates for possible alternatives, discuss potential advantages and answer to some criticisms on them. (shrink)

A contraposição entre as concepções cosmológicas de Parmênides e de Heráclito pauta a abordagem deste ensaio no âmbito da filosofia do design, e com principais interlocutores os filósofos Hans Jonas, Ernst Cassirer, Bruno Latour e Vilém Flusser e os teóricos do design Per Galle e Richard Buchanan. O pano de fundo se estabelece com os recorrentes debates sobre o “contexto da indeterminação” dos problemas em design. Ao buscar compreender idiossincrasias desse campo em bases metafísicas, nos afastamos da rigidez de ontologias (...) substancialistas e de éticas dualistas e nos concentramos na ontologia do devir, na ética monista e no conceito de “Homo Pictor” de Jonas, pensador influenciado pela teoria evolucionista darwiniana. O objetivo é explorar conexões entre esses conceitos filosóficos e características projetivas, em benefício de atuações menos antagônicas dos designers, em suas relações com projetos, com o mundo construído e com a natureza. (shrink)