ABSTRACTHow accurate are insights compared to analytical solutions? In four experiments, we investigated how participants' solving strategies influenced their solution accuracies across different types of problems, including one that was linguistic, one that was visual and two that were mixed visual-linguistic. In each experiment, participants' self-judged insight solutions were, on average, more accurate than their analytic ones. We hypothesised that insight solutions have superior accuracy because they emerge into consciousness in an all-or-nothing fashion when the unconscious solving process is complete, (...) whereas analytic solutions can be guesses based on conscious, prematurely terminated, processing. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that participants' analytic solutions included relatively more incorrect responses than timeouts compared to their insight responses. (shrink)

We examine whether a taxpayer’s decision to choose a taxpayer-favorable characterization of income is associated with contextual and individual dimensions of that decision. Using a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design, we manipulate the prevailing social norm on whether there is a general belief that a specific form of income should be characterized as a capital gain or as ordinary income, and the group affiliation on whether the individual is making a tax characterization decision as a sole proprietor or as (...) a member of a group practice. Moreover, we measure participants’ fairness perception of characterizing the income as capital gains versus ordinary. We study the decisions of 180 graduate business and accounting students from two US business schools to explore these dimensions using a tax-ambiguous income situation. Results indicate that both contextual and individual dimensions impact taxpayer decisions. Specifically, the social norm and fairness perception of characterizing income as capital gains affects the likelihood of choosing such a characterization. Being a sole proprietor or a member of a group practice does not have any significant main effect. However, relative to all other conditions, taxpayers are most likely to characterize income as capital gains when both the social norms are for capital gains characterization and when the taxpayer is a member of a group practice. Results remain largely robust to a variety of alternative explanations. We conclude the paper with a discussion of our findings and their implications for tax policy, enforcement, and research. (shrink)

In this paper I address the conflict of interest (CoI) issue from a legal point of view at a European level. We will see that the regulatory framework that exists in Europe does state the need for the independence of ethics committee involved in authorisation of research and clinical trials. We will see that CoI is an element that has to be closely monitored at National and International level. Therefore, Member States and Newly Associated States do have to address CoI (...) in the authorisation process of research and clinical protocols of biomedicine. (shrink)

En 1820, en plena reacción conservadora, Hegel publica sus Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts y los amigos de Fichte editan póstumamente su Staatslehre. Atendiendo al contexto político, se analiza la concepción del Estado en relación al principio monárquico en ambos textos. El estudio evidencia las tensiones en la doctrina hegeliana del poder del príncipe y su carácter hereditario, así como la posición opuesta de Fichte al sostener la necesaria abolición de la institución monárquica en un Estado de derecho. A la (...) vez, se muestran dos funciones también opuestas de la teología política subyacente a ambos. (shrink)

v. 1. Commentaria in Aristotelem Armeniaca-Davidis Opera.

In this paper I explore the heuristic limits ofhuman genetics, in particular the claim that itis possible to manipulate human germcells in a pre-ordinate way (Gordon, 1999). I arguethat this claim is unrealistic based ongenetic reductionism and a wrong concept ofgenetic diseases.

In recent literature there is unanimous agreement about children's pragmatic competence in drawing scalar implicatures about some , if the task is made easy enough. However, children accept infelicitous some sentences more often than adults do. In general their acceptance is assumed to be synonymous with a logical interpretation of some as a quantifier. But in our view an overlap with some as a determiner in under-informative sentences cannot be ruled out, given the ambiguity of the experimental instructions and the (...) attitude of trust by children in adults. Our study investigated this hypothesis with different experimental manipulations. We found that when the experimenter's intentions are clear (Experiment 1, all / some order effect; Experiments 2 and 4, conditions 2 and 3), under-informative sentences are usually rejected; otherwise (Experiment 1, some / all order effect; Experiments 3 and 4, control condition) they are accepted. However, analysis of verbal protocols indicated that pragmatically infelicitous sentences are accepted, with some interpreted mostly as a determiner, irrespective of the function of some as a quantifier. Acceptance is not in itself synonymous with a logical interpretation of some as a quantifier. (shrink)

In this paper I deal with ethical implications arising from animal biotechnology. I analyse some general questions surrounding the production of transgenic animals through a specific case study: the oncomouse. In particular, I explore ethical factors involved in the production of oncomice. This is because biologists genetically modify animals’ germ cells and refuse to modify human germ cells. I will underline how the international community has thus far justified this ‘ethical difference’.

The purpose of this article is to identify how modern Russia can build good relationships between multiple Russian religions and the state. At present there are many obstacles standing in the way of achieving this goal. The article includes a great many statistics, and discusses political, social, and religious views of the issue.The working Russian Constitution provides major legal provisions for democratic relationships between religions and the state. The law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” (1997) clarified constitutional provisions. (...) It should not forgotten that Russia is a secular state claiming to respect all religions. No doubt the supremacy of Orthodoxy in Russia after 1721 and the extreme atheism that arose in the Soviet Union after 1917 influenced people’s minds greatly. While the countries in Western Europe were moving from religiosity to secularism, Russia was developing the other way around. But while respecting all religions, Russia should not forget to be mindful of extremism. Religious associations themselves are likewise uneasy about the danger presented by certain mystic, neo-pagan, and destructive sects. The author argues that the best compromise between religions and the modern Russian state canonly be achieved on the basis of equality and freedom. (shrink)

La idea de Europa en Fichte constituye el término medio para la adecuada comprensión de sus tesis cosmopolitas y nacionalistas. El artículo, por un lado, determina el lugar sistemático (disciplinas aplicadas) que ocupa el tema europeo en la obra de Fichte, así como las estructuras teóricas de la Doctrina de la Ciencia (intersubjetividad, interacción cultural) que son aplicadas en sus análisis históricos. Por otro lado, se reconstruye su génesis de la idea de Europa y el papel del pueblo-nación en la (...) construcción de la �república europea de los estados�, destacando el horizonte federalista como núcleo central de su concepción. (shrink)

A model is computable if its domain is a computable set and its relations and functions are uniformly computable. Let be a computable model and let R be an extra relation on the domain of . That is, R is not named in the language of . We define to be the set of Turing degrees of the images f under all isomorphisms f from to computable models. We investigate conditions on and R which are sufficient and necessary for to (...) contain every Turing degree. These conditions imply that if every Turing degree 0″ can be realized in via an isomorphism of the same Turing degree as its image of R, then contains every Turing degree. We also discuss an example of and R whose coincides with the Turing degrees which are 0′. (shrink)

In this contribution we focus on one phenomenon that has a special role in pragmatic theorizing, namely metaphor, and select two issues deriving from theoretical models and prone to be tested experimentally. The first issue concerns the comprehension procedure, that is whether access to metaphorical meaning goes through a mandatory literal stage and thus is indirect, as predicted by a Gricean inspired account, or rather is retrieved directly. The question will be discussed by referring to behavioral and neurophysiological studies, which (...) advanced our understanding of the time course of metaphorical interpretation but proved not fully suitable to answer the question. The second issue revolves around the cognitive architecture of the pragmatic system as it operates in the case of metaphor comprehension. We will illustrate the contribution that functional neuroimaging, coupled with clinical investigations can provide to fine-tune the architecture of the system responsible for metaphor processing. Some outstanding questions are highlighted in the final part, aiming at sketching our interpretation of the experimental pragmatic enterprise. (shrink)

In this paper I deal with ethical factors surrounding germline gene therapy. Such implications include intergenerational responsibility, human dignity, moral status of embryos and so on. I will explore the relevance of the above mentioned issues to discuss the ethical implication of human germline gene therapy (HGLT). We will see that most of arguments claimed by bioethicists do not provide valid reason to oppose HGLT. I will propose an alternative view, based on personal identity issues, to discuss the ethics of (...) human inheritable gene modification. (shrink)

En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar los efectos que tienen en la genética y la microbiología la aplicación de las leyes de propiedad intelectual, en su forma de derechos de patentes. A través del estudio de la historia de estas áreas de la biología, argumentamos porque nos parece errónea, desde el punto de vista jurídico y filosófico, la patentabilidad de los genes y genomas que provienen total o parcialmente de la naturaleza. Demostraremos cómo esta práctica legal acarrea una gran cantidad (...) de valores no-epistémicos y concepciones ético-políticas que afectan de lleno a las investigaciones biológicas que forman parte del negocio biotecnológico y generan un desmesurado choque de cosmovisiones con culturas ajenas al sistema liberal-capitalista. (shrink)

Poverty and inequality are not the sole sources of (global) injustices. And the latter are not only a matter of fair distribution. Identity and cultural asymmetries, often articulated along political and economic lines, relocate and reshape the struggle against subordination to include new areas of contestation, such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, culture, religion and nationality.

The question of liberty has given rise to so many reflections over the millennia that it would be like counting leaves in Vallombrosa to try to give an account of it. We have therefore proposed to consider a specific declination of it, interwoven with that constellation which includes concepts such as autonomy, agency, self-determination, will, and desire. We speak of so-called ‘positive’ liberty. All the essays proposed here elaborate on this theme with different tones, producing a surprising polyphony of texts (...) that seem to evoke each other. (shrink)

A partir de una breve reconstrucción de la teoría de la justicia como imparcialidad desarrollada por John Rawls, elaboramos un recorrido por algunas de las más importantes críticas a la teoría rawlsiana desde la óptica del feminismo, reconociendo y destacando sus distintos matices y soluciones propuestas para hacer frente a las deficiencias del universalismo moral. Luego, nos proponemos analizar si las críticas que se disparan desde distintos posicionamientos teóricos dentro del feminismo pueden tener efectos extensibles hacia otros sujetos desaventajados estructuralmente, (...) subrepresentados e invisibilizados por la propuesta epistemológica del universalismo. Por último, intentaremos brindar una conclusión en torno a la incompatibilidad de la propuesta teórica rawlsiana con la complejidad y pluralidad de las sociedades actuales. (shrink)

Parkinson's disease patients receiving dopaminergic treatment may experience bursts of creativity. Although this phenomenon is sometimes recognized among patients and their clinicians, the association between dopamine replacement therapy in PD patients and creativity remains underexplored. It is unclear, for instance, whether DRT affects creativity through convergent or divergent thinking, idea generation, or a general lack of inhibition. It is also unclear whether DRT only augments pre-existing creative attributes or generates creativity de novo. Here, we tested a group of PD patients (...) when “on” and “off” dopaminergic treatment on a series of tests of creative problem-solving, and related their performance to a group of matched healthy controls as well as to their pre-PD creative skills and measures of inhibition/impulsivity. Results did not provide strong evidence that DRT improved creative thinking in PD patients. Rather, PD patients “on” medication showed less flexibility in divergent thinking, generated fewer ideas via insight, and showed worse performance in convergent thinking overall than healthy controls. Pre-PD creative skills predicted enhanced flexibility and fluency in divergent thinking when PD patients were “on” medication. However, results on convergent thinking were mixed. Finally, PD patients who exhibited deficits in a measure of inhibitory control showed weaker convergent thinking while “on” medication, supporting previous evidence on the importance of inhibitory control in creative problem-solving. Altogether, results do not support the hypothesis that DRT promotes creative thinking in PD. We speculate that bursts of artistic production in PD are perhaps conflated with creativity due to lay conceptions of creativity. (shrink)