In spite of being ubiquitous in life sciences, the concept of information is harshly criticized. Uses of the concept other than those derived from Shannon's theory are denounced as pernicious metaphors. We perform a computational experiment to explore whether Shannon's information is adequate to describe the uses of said concept in commonplace scientific practice. Our results show that semantic sequences do not have unique complexity values different from the value of meaningless sequences. This result suggests that quantitative theoretical frameworks do (...) not account fully for the complex phenomenon that the term “information” refers to. We propose a restructuring of the concept into two related, but independent notions, and conclude that a complete theory of biological information must account completely not only for both notions, but also for the relationship between them. (shrink)

The Socratic method has been frequently characterized as a method of refutation. In this paper I intend to demonstrate that the elenchus is more than that: dialogical examination leads to final conclusions on the question addressed; it sheds reasons that generate trust in the thesis defended; itexhibits the ignorance on the matter in hand and, in consequence, awakes encourages awakens astonishment and curiosity, which are key elements to philosophize. Moreover, elenchus contains an ethical mission: to know oneself is an arduous (...) task that can only happen if one's life is daily examined and, starting from self-knowledge, it is possible to determine what is necessary in order to improve as human beings. (shrink)

How are causal judgements such as 'The ice on the road caused the traffic accident' connected with counterfactual judgements such as 'If there had not been any ice on the road, the traffic accident would not have happened'? This volume throws new light on this question by uniting, for the first time, psychological and philosophical approaches to causation and counterfactuals. Traditionally, philosophers have primarily been interested in connections between causal and counterfactual claims on the level of meaning or truth-conditions. More (...) recently, however, they have also increasingly turned their attention to psychological connections between causal and counterfactual understanding or reasoning. At the same time, there has been a surge in interest in empirical work on causal and counterfactual cognition amongst developmental, cognitive, and social psychologists--much of it inspired by work in philosophy. In this volume, twelve original contributions from leading philosophers and psychologists explore in detail what bearing empirical findings might have on philosophical concerns about counterfactuals and causation, and how, in turn, work in philosophy might help clarify the issues at stake in empirical work on the cognitive underpinnings of, and relationships between, causal and counterfactual thought. (shrink)

Recent studies have shown that deductive reasoning skills are related to mathematical abilities. Nevertheless, so far the links between mathematical abilities and these two forms of deductive inference have not been investigated in a single study. It is also unclear whether these inference forms are related to both basic maths skills and mathematical reasoning, and whether these relationships still hold if the effects of fluid intelligence are controlled. We conducted a study with 87 adult participants. The results showed that transitive (...) reasoning skills were related to performance on a number line task, and conditional inferences were related to arithmetic skills. Additionally, both types of deductive inference were related to mathematical reasoning skills, although transitive and conditional reasoning ability were unrelated. Our results also highlighted the important role that ordering abilities play in mathematical reasoning, extending findings regarding the role of ordering abilities in basic maths skills. These results have implications for the theories of mathematical and deductive reasoning, and they could inspire the development of novel educational interventions. (shrink)

As a result of the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic, health professionals are faced with situations they have not previously encountered and are being forced to make difficult ethical decisions. As the first group to experience challenges of caring for patients with coronavirus, Chinese nurses endure heartbreak and face stressful moral dilemmas. In this opinion piece, we examine three related critical questions: Whether society has the right to require health professionals to risk their lives caring for patients; whether health professionals have the (...) right to refuse to care for patients during the coronavirus pandemic; and what obligations there are to protect health professionals? Value of care, community expectations, legal obligations, professional and codes of practice may compel health professionals to put themselves at risks in emergency situations. The bioethical principles of autonomy, justice, beneficence and non‐maleficence, as well as public health ethics, guide nurses to justify their decisions as to whether they are entitled to refuse to treat COVID‐19 patients during the pandemic. We hope that the open discussion would support the international society in addressing similar ethical challenges in their respective situations during this public health crisis. (shrink)

Stories of firms that exceed local compliance requirements in their environmental performance appear routinely. However, we have limited theoretical explanations of what propels these firms to exceed compliance. Our theory suggests that global competitive and institutional pressures lead multinational firms to develop highlevel, environmental management systems (EMS) that make them more competitive. For economic and other reasons, select firms make the choice to rationalize their collective environmental performance to the highest common denominator rather than the lowest. Regulations around the world (...) differ widely and are a moving target in many settings. The need to comply with such myriad, shifting rules leads to firms creating EMS to help stay ahead of regulations worldwide. Using institutional and internationalization theories as our basis, we offer a propositional model concerning global competitive/institutional pressures and their effects on corporate environmental performance. We conclude the paper with a discussion of the implications of the model. (shrink)

En este artículo se argumenta que el poder de juzgar es una capacidad fundamental para pensar la política. La relevancia de tal capacidad radica en que la estructura y función de los juicios reflexionantes, tal como son leídos por hannah Arendt a partir de la Crítica del Juicio kantiana, nos permiten explicar el difícil equilibrio entre los juicios compartidos en las comunidades y la posibilidad de la crítica.

The importance of patients taking an active role in their healthcare is recognized internationally, to improve safety and effectiveness in practice. There is still, however, some ambiguity about the conceptualization of that patient role; it is referred to interchangeably in the literature as engagement, involvement, and participation. The aim of this discussion paper is to examine and conceptualize the concepts of patient engagement, involvement, and participation within healthcare, particularly nursing. The concepts were found to have semantic differences and similarities, although, (...) from a nursing perspective, they can be summoned to illustrate the establishment of a mutual partnership between a patient and a nurse. The individualization of such processes requires the joint effort of engagement, involvement, or participation, represented by interactive actions of both the patient (asking questions, telling/speaking up, knowledge acquisition, learning, and decision‐making) and the nurse (recognizing, responding, information sharing, teaching, and collaborating). Suggesting that the concepts can be used interchangeably comes with some caution, requiring that nurses embrace patients playing a role in their health and healthcare. Further research and practice development should focus on how patients and nurses receive and respond to each other to establish patient engagement, involvement, and participation. (shrink)

Esta publicación tiene por objeto situar las coordenadas de ciencia, tecnología, naturaleza y cultura en el estado del mundo a las puertas del tercer milenio y discutir las perspectivas y los retos con los que previsiblemente se va a encontrar nuestro futuro, así como analizar posibilidades de intervenir adecuadamente en el mismo.

Se plantea la bifurcación de los planes de estudio de Filosofía en profesorado o licenciatura, la que responde a la vez a otra división: enseñanza o investigación. Se formulan las siguientes preguntas: ¿enseñar implicar investigar? ¿una investigación debería estar expresada de manera comprensible siguiendo criterios didácticos? ¿habría una metodología de la investigación escindida de una metodología de la enseñanza y viceversa? ¿es posible enseñar Filosofía o sólo es dable enseñar a filosofar? Se da cuenta de la etimología de las palabras (...) "enseñanza" e "investigación", observando los rasgos comunes de ambas y se aboga por una enseñanza que implique investigación y una investigación que se exprese en forma clara e inteligible. Respecto a los métodos de investigación y de enseñanza, se estima que la metodología de la investigación y la metodología de la enseñanza en Filosofía, no son cosas extrañas ni distantes. Ante la dicotomía: "Enseñar filosofía" o "enseñar a filosofar" se considera que si la entendemos en función de contenido y método, ambas se compatibilizan, pero como dos posturas ante la verdad filosófica, son incompatibles. Por último se propone la unificación de los planes de estudio. (shrink)

This volume presents a many-faceted view of the great Oxford philosopher R. G. Collingwood. At its centre is his Autobiography of 1939, a cult classic for its compelling 'story of his thought'. That work is accompanied here by previously unpublished writings by Collingwood and eleven specially written essays on aspects of his life and work.

We investigate some logics which use the concept of minimal models in their definition. Minimal objects are widely used in Logic and Computer Science. They are applied in the context of Inductive Definitions, Logic Programming and Artificial Intelligence. An example of logic which uses this concept is the MIN logic due to van Benthem [20]. He shows that MIN is equivalent to the Least Fixed Point logic in expressive power. In [6], we extended MIN to the MIN Logic and proved (...) it is equivalent to second-order logic in expressive power. Here, we exhibit a fragment of MIN, the MINΔ logic, which is more expressive than LFP, less expressive than MIN and closed under boolean connectives and first-order quantification. In order to do this, in the Section 2, we prove that the Downward Löwenheim-Skolem Theorem holds for arbitrary countable sets of LFP-formulas by showing that every infinite structure has a countable LFP-substructure. The method may be used to generalize this theorem to any set of LFP-formulas. We also analyse the expressive power of the Nested Abnormality Theories of Lifschitz, another formalism based on minimal models used in Artificial Intelligence, and we demonstrate that for each second-order theory Γ there is a NAT which is a conservative extension of Γ. We give a translation from second-order sentences into such NATs which is linear in the size of the sentence in prenex normal form. Finally, we establish a hierarchy of expressiveness of these logics that deal with the concept of minimal models. (shrink)

Trata-se de relato de experiência sobre a rede de atençao psicossocial com populaçoes vulneraveis, populaçoes de imigrantes africanos e estrangeiros em geral que vivem no contexto francês através do Centro de Acolhimento a Refugiados. A reflexao busca estabelecer um eixo de consideraçao sobre a realidade do nordeste brasileiro com as perspectivas da epistemologia da Terapia Comunitaria criada pelo professor e médico psiquiatra Adalberto Barreto, e consideraçoes da pedagogia de Paulo Freire a fim de exercer o cuidado em saude mental para (...) pessoas expostas a extremas violências de ordem étnica, cultural, psiquica, econômica, social e moral. O relato revela que os conhecimentos e experiência brasileira estao sendo aprofundados e desenvolvidos por profissionais da saude mental no contexto francês através da clinica da antropologia médica, junto ao Polo de Pesquisa Médica Psicologica Associaçao Minkoviska em Paris com apoio do Ministerio da Saude da França. (shrink)

The increasing presence of women, especially university women, in risky alcohol consumption such as Binge Drinking, which is associated with gender-specific biopsychosocial problems, makes it necessary to analyze the variables underlying BD in order to adjust possible interventions more in line with their reality. The motives and expectancies of this pattern of consumption, as well as the consequences derived from it, are some of the variables that are shown to have the greatest weight in the prediction of BD. In the (...) present study we analyze, on the one hand, the performance of these variables among college women with alcohol use, and on the other hand, which of these variables allow us to classify BD. A total of 501 female university consumers of alcohol were assessed. Specifically, they completed a self-report of alcohol consumption, the Expectancy Questionnaire, the Drinking Motives Questionnaire and the Alcohol Consumption Consequences Evaluation. BD female students scored significantly higher on these instruments, except for compliance motives. The logistic regression analysis carried out to estimate the probability of performing BD using the social and conformity motives, the ACCE and positive expectancies correctly estimated have a 3.55-fold increase in the probability of having BD, compared to women classified as low risk by the ACCE. On the other hand, women classified as moderate risk by the ACCE have a 4.77-fold increase in the probability of having BD. In the case of social motives and positive expectancies, their increase multiplies by 1.165 and 1.024, respectively, the probability of having BD. The results of this study highlight the importance of adapting preventive measures to the consequences experienced by BD university students, especially in relation to the social motives and positive expectancies that modulate decision-making when engaging in this pattern of consumption. (shrink)

La lectura de obras literarias constituye una herramienta para contribuir al desarrollo cognoscitivo, valorativo y empático del estudiante, así como a la aprehensión y transformación de la realidad. Por lo que el objetivo consistió en valorar la importancia de los talleres de apreciación literaria como contribución a la praxis humana en la Educación Médica mediante el criterio de especialistas. Reading literary works is a tool to contribute to students' cognitive, assessable and empathetic development as well as to capture and transform (...) reality. Therefore, the objective is to assess the importance of literary appreciation as a contribution to human praxis in the educational context of a medical university. (shrink)

En este artículo se parte del reconocimiento de la crisis del actual modelo de desarrollo y del paradigma cartesiano, que han promovido la conciencia entrampada del “guerrero”. Desde la incorporación del pensamiento complejo a través de ejercicios reflexivos, es posible difundir una mirada transdisciplinar que permita enfrentar los problemas de una “sociedad de riesgo”, incentivando la conformación dialógica de un “mundo de la vida saludable”. La difusión de este nuevo humanismo depende de la efectividad de la Reforma Educativa que aún (...) está pendiente. Para ello, se requiere educar sujetos reflexivos, que asuman la propia multidimensionalidad, dispuestos a incorporar los nuevos aprendizajes que ofrece la sociedad globalizada. (shrink)