In light of the recent debate over post-truth or post-fact politics, Arendt’s work provides important insights on the relationship between truth and politics. While some scholars argue that Arendt regards truth as antagonistic to politics, others focus on her notion of truth of facts in politics. We assert that, for Arendt, truthfulness is essential for politics, but the truthfulness of political actors involves more than the willingness to acknowledge and recognise facts. We read Arendt’s essay “Socrates” and elicit three expectations (...) regarding the truthfulness of political actors: the willingness to constitute one’s own doxa, the willingness to actively engage in dialogue with others and relate one’s doxa to theirs, and the willingness to develop an ongoing practice of “enlarged thought” by sustaining a mental conversation with a variety of doxai in one’s imagination. We find that this threefold notion of truthfulness is of ultimate political importance since it plays an essential role in the human ability to bring to life relationships of plurality and to constitute a “common world.” Our analysis allows us to articulate the challenges associated with practicing truthfulness in the contemporary political realm and the conditions that could enable political actors to take on this practice. (shrink)

RESUMEN El tema principal de este trabajo es la posición que suele atribuirse a Antístenes de que es imposible contradecir o decir falsedades y su vinculación con el problema metafísico central del Sofista, el del No Ser. La imposibilidad de contradecir es presentada como la posición opuesta a la de la sofística entendida como contradictor en Sof., 232b y ss., cuyo relativismo es asociado con la figura de Protágoras, más específicamente con su tesis de que sobre cualquier cuestión hay dos (...) argumentos opuestos entre sí. Nos proponemos argumentar a favor de la hipótesis de que esta posición que en el diálogo es atribuida a Parménides es la de Antístenes, discípulo de Sócrates y rival teórico de Platón. ABSTRACT The main subject of this article is the philosophical view often attributed to An-tisthenes that it is impossible to contradict and to speak falsely and it's link to the Sophist's nodal metaphysical problem, that ofNot Being. The impossibility of contradiction is presented as the opposite position to sophistry as contradiction, thus defined in So/, 232b ff., which is attributed to Protagoras, specifically to his statement that about any subject there are two opposite lógoi. We will argue that this position that is attributed to Parmenides in this dialogue belongs to Antisthenes, who was Socrates' disciple and Plato's theoretic rival. (shrink)

O advento da sociedade em rede promoveu mudanças significativas na experiência-com-o-mundo. Observa-se nos últimos anos a crescente toxidade no ambiente informacional, marcado tanto pela vivência tóxica da informação que circula legalmente nas redes sociais como por informações que intoxicam os indivíduos e grupos. O objetivo é discutir, em tempos de pós-verdade e da sociedade non-stop, o aspecto tóxico da informação, que ao tornar o ambiente informacional tóxico, adoece indivíduos e também as sociedades democráticas, ao esmaecer a empatia para com os (...) demais e de pôr em risco a própria ideia de democracia e de vida partilhada de modo democrático. A proposta é discutir a intoxicação pela informação não pelo excesso (infoxicação), mas pelo que nomeio informação tóxica, i.e., o aspecto tóxico da informação e de ambiente informacional tóxico tendo como referência os discursos de ódio. Para tanto serão consideradas a desconstrução de experiências de estados democráticos mediante o crescimento da circulação de discursos de ódio e de discursos de ódio fascistas; o crescimento da desinformação; o crescimento da circulação de notícias fraudulentas (Fake news) e de notícias falsas (por exemplo, as não endossadas pelos saberes científicos, como o terraplanismo, a ideia da supremacia branca); os robots e os algoritmos. (shrink)

In Aristotle and Menander on the Ethics of Understanding , Valeria Cinaglia offers a parallel study of Menander’s New Comedy and Aristotle’s philosophy and she explores the depth and implications of their analogies in subjects ranging from epistemology and psychology to ethics.

The early work of Mikhail Bakhtin is notable for its emphasis on questions in ethics and philosophy. Focusing on these early writings, though also informed by Bakhtin's later works of the early 1970s, the authors in this volume explore the human and prosaic dimensions of ethical and moral dilemmas, whether in the philosophical concerns of the Young Hegelians, the iconography and implicit doctrine of Christian redemption in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, in testimonial accounts of political martyrs in Latin America, or (...) in the nationalist features of Russian Village Prose. Incorporating a variety of disciplinary backgrounds into their essays, including theater arts, philosophy, history, women's studies, Latin American literature, and Russian literature, the authors take Bakhtin's ethics, as articulated in his writings of 1919-1929, and extend them into areas of thought that themselves enter into fruitful dialogue with his theoretical positions, endeavoring at all times to remain cognizant of both Russian and Western views of Bakhtin. The essayists' interactions attest to the productivity of any thoughtful encounter with Bakhtin's work and to the transformational nature of his work's impact on the myriad disciplines that it affects. Bakhtin's thought exerted a profound, systemic influence on many areas of knowledge as they have been configured in the twentieth century and, as this volume amply demonstrates, promises to do the same for the twenty-first. (shrink)

This article reflects on the relationships between hegemonic masculinity, technologies and masturbation. It is established that this sexual practice has been determined by a series of powers and "myth loops" that, especially affecting cis-hetero men, have limited the emancipatory possibilities of self-pleasure. The text provides a general historical overview to review relevant gender differences regarding to masturbation, and focuses specifically on the Chilean case, their traditions, norms, evaluations and stereotypes to review the emergence of hegemonic male masturbatory practices. These and (...) their performativities will reveal a series of incongruities that take the body back to mandates associated with a control paradigm, which hinder an optimal development of both autoerotics and shared sexuality. (shrink)

Las tesis de Lévinas sobre la violencia han sido frecuentemente vinculadas con su noción de totalidad. Postulamos que si bien la violencia está en relación con la crítica a la filosofía de la totalización, no puede reducirse a ella. Mientras el concepto de totalidad refiere al ejercicio del poder y la dominación, la cuestión de la violencia remite a una situación extrema, que Lévinas vincula con el asesinato en cuanto solución final. Esto supone sostener la impotencia de la totalización frente (...) a la absoluta alteridad del otro hombre, lo que permite pensar la relación mismo-otro bajo una nueva y paradójica lógica jurídica. Ella tiene como principio el mandato “no matarás”, y demuestra que la violencia es el verdadero problema de la ética. Sin embargo, la de Lévinas no es una ética ingenua que postularía una pura no-violencia en el origen. Siguiendo a J. Derrida y respondiendo a sus demandas, mostraremos como la ética de Lévinas puede entenderse como una violencia crítica de la violencia del asesinato. (shrink)

Este artigo propõe uma discussão sobre jornalismo e subjetividade a partir de uma argumentação que considera que, embora o discurso hegemônico sobre a instituição se construa a partir do ideal da objetividade, de um texto constituído apenas pelos fatos e cujo autor deixa de ser sujeito para assumir a identidade de jornalista, a subjetividade foi sempre constituidora do texto jornalístico. Assim, pensando a partir dos estudos culturais o jornalismo como uma instituição social com formas, valores e funções conformados historicamente, e (...) os sujeitos como indivíduos que se reconhecem a partir de uma ampla rede de relações de poder, de tradições culturais, de representações de identidades, argumentamos que, em um contexto cada vez maior de centralidade dos sujeitos na cultura contemporânea, os discursos sobre si tem sido uma forte tendência também no jornalismo. (shrink)

Authentic human life is the open-ended dialogue. Life by its very nature is dialogic. To live means to participate in dialogue: to ask questions, to head, to respond, to agree, and so forth. In this dialogue a person participates wholly and throughout his whole life: with his eyes, lips, hands, soul, spirit, with his whole body and deeds. He invests his entire self in discourse, and this discourse enters into the dialogic fabric of human life, into the world symposium. (Bahktin, (...) 1984, p. 283)... (shrink)

This essay aims to vindicate the importance of a theory of ordinary citizens' political prudence in a democratic society. It follows a reconstructive method, by looking at the full range of powers and decisions that are enabled by democratic rights in order to show that in contemporary democracies there is room for the exercise of political prudence by ordinary citizens. By the same method, it also reconstructs the main traits and manifestations of citizens' political prudence in the everyday politics of (...) our democracies. Theorizing citizens' political prudence is important for detecting and correcting the ways in which the citizens of a democratic society, as well as its institutions, may fail to fulfil the mandates of such an essential political virtue. (shrink)

It is often argued that in order to prevent migration from having social dumping effects, a strict enforcement of equal labour and welfare rights for both migrants and local workers is required. However, we claim that the specific circumstances of those migrants who engage in temporary migration may require a regime of special rights and labour standards that protect and further their distinctive interests and needs. We defend this claim by appealing to the principle that labour and welfare rights should (...) accommodate the life plans of workers and we show that not only these special arrangements are fairer to the migrants involved, but they could also help to prevent social dumping. (shrink)

In this article, I will discuss the relationship between mathematical intuition and mathematical visualization. I will argue that in order to investigate this relationship, it is necessary to consider mathematical activity as a complex phenomenon, which involves many different cognitive resources. I will focus on two kinds of danger in recurring to visualization and I will show that they are not a good reason to conclude that visualization is not reliable, if we consider its use in mathematical practice. Then, I (...) will give an example of mathematical reasoning with a figure, and show that both visualization and intuition are involved. I claim that mathematical intuition depends on background knowledge and expertise, and that it allows to see the generality of the conclusions obtained by means of visualization. (shrink)

A key question in the theory of migration and in public debates on immigration policies is when migration can be said to be voluntary and when, conversely, it should be seen as nonvoluntary. In a previous article, we tried to answer this crucial question by providing a list of conditions we view as sufficient for migration to be considered nonvoluntary. According to our account, one condition that makes migration nonvoluntary is when people migrate because they lack acceptable alternatives to doing (...) so. In this article, we take the opportunity to further explore and clarify this crucial condition. More specifically, we focus on two main sets of questions. First, we ask whether migration is always voluntary when it serves goals that are voluntarily chosen, and whether those who decide to migrate voluntarily but only have the option of choosing among a limited set of dangerous, harmful, or illegal means for doing so, can be said to be forced to choose those means. Second, we ask whether what counts as “nonacceptable” alternatives should also include cases in which people could have their needs and fundamental rights met, but at the cost of betraying their moral principles or conceptions of the good. (shrink)

In this paper we aim to show that motor intentionality, as the underlying ground for social cognition, can be explained through the predictive engagement model. Sensorimotor processes seem to play central roles in social interaction, cognition and language. We question the phenomenological role of the body in social cognition and further investigate a causal neural explanation. We will adopt a different perspective by linking the role of the body and intercorporeality with recent findings in philosophy of neuroscience under the predictive (...) brain hypothesis. In fact, the living body seems to entertain a dialogical and enactive relationship with the surrounding context, as well as with neural circuits actively responding to external stimuli. The body is thus configured as a living organism, and not as a mere biological substratum, offering to phenomenology and empirical sciences further confirmations of the possibility-and need-for a cooperation. (shrink)

This introduction aims to familiarize readers with basic dimensions of variation among pictorial and diagrammatic representations, as we understand them, in order to serve as a backdrop to the articles in this volume. Instead of trying to canvas the vast range of representational kinds, we focus on a few important axes of difference, and a small handful of illustrative examples. We begin in Section 1 with background: the distinction between pictures and diagrams, the concept of systems of representation, and that (...) of the properties of usage associated with signs. In Section 2 we illustrate these ideas with a case study of diagrammatic representation: the evolution from Euler diagrams to Venn diagrams. Section 3 is correspondingly devoted to pictorial representation, illustrated by the comparison between parallel and linear perspective drawing. We conclude with open questions, and then briefly summarize the articles to follow. (shrink)

There have been recurrent reports of fragilities in the Brazilian health system, especially in public institutions. In this commentary, I argue that moral distress in nursing in Brazil can still be considered an innovative and important subject of study. I also highlight the relevance of engaging educational institutions in the development of policies about environmental sustainability. It is relevant to continue studying moral distress in nursing and in health care generally in order to contribute to the transformation of reality by (...) confronting the multiple common situations in the work environment that are recognized by many as morally problematic because they infringe upon the rights of people, patients, and health care professionals and are an affront to environmental health. (shrink)

Before 1250, even with a statutorily restricted field of research, the Arts masters of Paris included in their teaching a certain number of philosophical disciplines. Courses imposed on Arts masters included ethics, using Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Commenting on this text, Arts masters would interpret it and teach their own doctrine of “happiness”, involving concepts not always in agreement with those of the theologians. Taking into account the controversial context of the University of Paris, we focus in this paper on the (...) opinions of Arts masters in both their differences and their agreements with the theologians, regarding the concept of happiness. Résumé Avant 1250, même avec un champ d’études statutairement restreint, les maîtres ès arts de Paris abordaient un certain nombre de disciplines philosophiques. Parmi les enseignements prescrits à ces maîtres se trouvait l’éthique, étudiée dans l’Éthique à Nicomaque d’Aristote. En interprétant ce texte, les maîtres ès arts enseignaient ce qu’ils comprenaient comme « bonheur » en utilisant un réseau de concepts pas toujours en accord avec celui des théologiens. Autour du concept de bonheur, nous tentons ici d’observer les différences et les ressemblances dont témoignent — dans le contexte controversé de l’Université de Paris — les ouvrages pertinents des maîtres ès arts par rapport à l’opinion des théologiens. (shrink)

El decir que todos y todas hemos nacido de mujer parece una perogrullada. Esta es, como lo expresa Rich, la única experiencia unificadora, innegable, compartida por mujeres y hombres: aquellos meses que pasamos dentro del cuerpo de una mujer, desarrollándonos. Sin embargo, es usual encontrar en el discurso cívico de las ciudades griegas, la idea de que la mujer no tiene relación alguna con el origen de la especie. Las mujeres son con frecuencia representadas como un grupo separado y cerrado (...) sobre sí mismo, el genos gynaikon, que viene a agregarse al anthropos genos una vez que este ya existe. La hipótesis del presente escrito sostiene que hay dos aspectos conceptuales que acompañan la narrativa del genos gynaikon: (i) la ambigüedad en la clasificación del grupo de las mujeres y (ii) el lugar secundario que se les asigna respecto del origen de la humanidad. Como objetivo general propongo mostrar que el tópico del genos gynaikon está presente, a través de estos aspectos conceptuales, en la concepción platónica y aristotélica de la reproducción y la diferencia sexual. (shrink)

Resumen: El siguiente trabajo aborda la relación que tiene la violencia con el lenguaje y el discurso en la obra de Derrida, específicamente desde las nociones tempranas de violencia originaria, archi-violencia y violencia trascendental, con el fin de abrir la perspectiva de su análisis hacia una reflexión desde el problema del origen del sentido y su despliegue textual.La cuestión de la violencia será enfocada en torno a dos aspectos de la obra de Derrida: 1) la tesis general sobre la economía (...) en la que la violencia de origen está expuesta y se despliega, cuestión que desarrollaremos a partir de la relación teórica de Derrida con Lévi-Strauss; y 2) algunas notas más detalladas sobre la génesis del concepto de violencia, que es adoptado por Derrida en discusión directa con la tradición fenomenológica, especialmente con Husserl y Levinas. Todo, además, en el contexto de ciertas notas metodológicas sobre la herencia que no son periféricas, sino que permiten una aproximación más completa desde una idea de génesis de la violencia de la génesis.: In this paper, I approach the concept of violence in connection with deconstruction as a condition of possibility of meaning. I track the genesis and structure of different formulations of the concept presented in the early works of Derrida, such as ‘original violence’, ‘transcendental violence’, and ‘archi-violence’. I present some key points on this topic emphasizing two features: 1) the overall thesis about the economy in which violence is exposed and developed, in dialogue with the ideas of Lévi-Strauss; and 2) some more detailed notes about the genesis of the concept of violence, which is adopted by Derrida in direct discussion with the phenomenological tradition, especially with Husserl and Levinas. Both subjects are also involved with certain methodological elements that I think cannot be avoided in Derrida’s philosophy, because they are integral to deconstruction itself. This will give us a full view of the problem of the idea of a genesis of the violence of genesis. (shrink)

AimUnderstanding interrelations between the factors predicting students’ aggressive behavior is a priority for bullying-prevention programs. Our study explores two possible mechanisms linking school disciplinary structure and students’ aggression. We test students’ moral disengagement and bullying by teachers as mediational pathways from school authoritative discipline to students’ aggressive behavior.MethodsWe used a regionally representative sample of 213 schools that participated in a school climate survey in Kaluga Oblast (a federal subject of Russia) in 2019. The analytical sample contained the anonymous responses of (...) 16,809 students from grades 6–9 (12–15 years old); 51% of the respondents were girls. The analytical procedure consisted of structural equation modeling (SEM), which was implemented in Mplus 8.7.ResultsThe mediation model fit the data well, suggesting that the clarity and fairness of school rules negatively predicted peer aggression, while student moral disengagement and bullying by teachers independently and partially mediated this association.ConclusionWe confirm that authoritative school climate, characterized by a clear and fair disciplinary structure, is associated with a decrease in bullying. Novel result is the evidence for mediating mechanisms and the influence of teachers’ aggression on students’ behavior. Prevention programs designed to increase the fairness and consistency of school rules, eliminate bullying and humiliation from teachers, and decrease students’ moral disengagement may reduce violence and victimization at school. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine the explanatory power of the concept of “generational social group”. With this aim, we will analyze the three main meanings of “generation”, namely cohort, kinship, and social group. Among them, the social group meaning appears to be the most promising one, as it enables us to understand group behavior and its normative implications. However, some clarifications are necessary. Firstly, the conventional understanding of social groups within social ontology needs to be supplemented with (...) a sociological analysis that recognizes them as peer groups. This entails considering shared characteristics, social interaction, and the sharing of values, which contribute to the recognition of belonging within the group by both insiders and outsiders. Secondly, in literature, the concept of generation inherently implies the existence of generational conflicts. However, these conflicts can be mitigated and reconceptualized within the framework of the advantaged-disadvantaged dichotomy, which is, to some extent, independent of age. (shrink)

Como é possível a mente ser constituída por afetos contrários? Para entender em que circunstâncias acontece a “flutuação do ânimo”, sua ação no campo da imaginação, sua dependência do conatus e da consciência e seu peso ontológico, propusemo-nos à análise do conjunto de proposições que vai da P14 à P18 da parte III da Ética de Espinosa. A flutuação do ânimo ocorre por obra da variação do conatus, ou seja, do esforço do indivíduo de perseverar na existência em seu duplo (...) aspecto: mecânico e dinâmico, cujo desempenho leva à transitividade dos afetos-paixão e da consciência, o que é evidenciado na leitura deleuzeana. (shrink)

Music in dreams is rarely reported in scientific literature, while the presence of musical themes in dreams of famous musicians is anecdotally reported. We did a systematic investigation to evaluate whether the occurrence of musical dreams could be related to musical competence and practice, and to explore specific features of dreamt pieces. Thirty-five professional musicians and thirty non-musicians filled out a questionnaire about the characteristics of their musical activity and a structured dream log on the awakening for 30 consecutive days. (...) Musicians dream of music more than twice with respect to non-musicians; musical dreams frequency is related to the age of commencement of musical instruction, but not to the daily load of musical activity. Nearly half of the recalled music was non-standard, suggesting that original music can be created in dreams. (shrink)

Discutir a potencialidade imagem em movimento no ensino de Filosofia e a compreensão do filme como discurso significante, conjugando as experiências desenvolvidas em pesquisas e sala de aula. Apresentar também recortes de disciplina ministrada que utilizou textos filosóficos e episódio de StarTrek Deep Space Nine. O filme é entendido como texto fílmico, um objeto em cuja materialidade estão inscritos diferentes códigos da linguagem cinematográfica, e como documento informacional, que comporta diferentes níveis de informações que necessitam ser reconhecidas e trabalhadas, a (...) fim de que o uso pedagógico seja satisfatório. Assim, para além do entretenimento, o texto fílmico tem a possibilidade de ser usado como recurso pedagógico e de análise social. Observa-se como constitutivos do universo Trek os filmes realizados para o cinema e as séries televisivas. (shrink)

Guided by a phenomenological perspective, this paper aims to account for the existence of a corporeal consciousness—something that clinicians should take into account, not merely in the case of physical pathologies but especially in the case of mental disorders. Firstly, I will highlight three cases: schizophrenia, depression, and autism spectrum disorder. Then, I will show how these cases correspond to three different kinds of bodily existence: disembodiment (in the case of schizophrenia), chrematization (in melancholic depression), and dyssynchrony (in the autism (...) spectrum disorder). Finally, I will argue for the importance of an “expressive common environment” between the patient and the clinician, who are two distinct, embodied conscious subjects resonating with one another. In this view, the primary goal of the therapeutic process seems to develop a shared understanding of the patient’s life-world, which finds its main expression through the disrupted body. (shrink)

Within the broader scope of joint actions, there is a particular kind, i.e. transgenerational actions, the realization of which requires a long time span and, consequently, a complex and peculiar subject. This paper starts from the detailed definition of transgenerational actions, such as complex, long-term, and asymmetrical actions and aims at outlining a theory of their subject. Such a theory, without embracing the principles of holism, is able to give account of subjects’ specificities. In particular, this is possible if we (...) focus on the notion of end, as defined by Seumas Miller. The paper will then examine an example of transgenerational action to highlight how a theory which is both non-reductionist and non-holistic allows us to address the question of responsibility – and therefore of normativity, so pressing when it comes to social issues – from another point of view: the phenomenological one. Not implying a notion of collective responsibility, like the one held by traditional plural subject theories, this point of view focuses on the possibility of stimulating the sense of responsibility in the individuals who constitute the collective subject. (shrink)

Poiché i miei interessi di ricerca si concentrano sul rapporto tra spazio e rappresentazione, nel presente articolo commenterò un lavoro di Achille C. Varzi pubblicato nel 2008 e intitolato, nella sua versione italiana, «Configurazioni, regole e inferenze». Accennerò anche a un secondo articolo scritto da Varzi e Massimo Warglien e pubblicato nel 2003, intitolato «The Geometry of Negation». Mi rivolgerò poi alla psicologia sperimentale, collegando alcuni aspetti delle osservazioni di Varzi a un articolo di Johnson- Laird del 2005 intitolato «The (...) Shape of Problems». Nelle conclusioni, farò un ultimo riferimento a un articolo di Varzi pubblicato nel 2000, scritto con Philip Kitcher e intitolato «Some Pictures Are Worth 2 אo Sentences». Le parole configurazioni, geometry, shape e picture nei titoli degli articoli di cui mi occuperò sono dei buoni indizi per capire quale sia il filo rosso che lega a mio avviso tutti questi lavori. (shrink)

The contributions in this book, which include articles from Tony Lawson, Ivor Grattan-Guinness and Roger Backhouse, highlight current notions of equilibrium in..

In the following pages I will outline the main biographical data and the intellectual activity of two of the major protagonists of the debate on the mechanistisches Weltbild within the Frankfurt “Institut fur Sozialforschung” in the thirties. I have included a selected bibliography of Grossmann's and Borkenau's works, and refer to titles with abbreviations [H.G.…] and [F.B.…].

La primera recepción de la Ética a Nicómaco (1230-1250) encuentra varias discusiones teológicas en curso, entonces es fácil, interesante y hasta natural para los Maestros de Artes de la Universidad de París incluirlas en los debates sobre la interpretación literal de la Ética aristotélica. Por eso, ellos incluyen en sus desarrollos sobre la elección (proereses-eligentia, que también podemos traducir como “decisión”) una conexión inmediata con el libre albedrío, el cual no está considerado en la Ética. En este artículo presentaremos la (...) discusión que ellos introduce sobre el libre albedrío, estableciendo una coherencia con los debates entre los maestros de teología. (shrink)

BackgroundMultiple sclerosis, the most common neurological disease that causes disability in youth, does not only affect physical functions but is also associated with cognitive impairment, fatigue, depression, and anxiety and can significantly impact health-related quality of life. Since MS is generally diagnosed at a young age—a period of great significance for personal, relational, and professional development—adaptation can become highly challenging. Therefore, enhancing the competence of young people to adaptively cope with these potential challenges is of utmost importance in order to (...) promote their potentialities and talents. It has been shown that psychological interventions targeting MS patients can enhance resilience and HRQoL and that regular physical activity and social engagement can improve psychological well-being. However, literature on the development of global interventions based on the bio-psycho-social model of the disease is missing. Even less attention has been paid to interventions dedicated to young adults with MS and to the involvement of patients in the development of such programs.AimsIn collaboration with MS patients, this study aims to develop a bio-psycho-social intervention for YawMS, aiming to improve their HRQoL and to explore its feasibility, acceptability, and effects.MethodsTo tailor the intervention to the specific needs of YawMS, “patient engagement principles” will be adopted in the co-creation phase, performing a web survey and focus groups with patients and healthcare professionals. In the intervention phase, a pilot sample of 60 young adults with MS will be enrolled. The co-created intervention, composed of group sessions over a 12-week period, will cover psycho-social strategies and include physical activities. Adopting a longitudinal, pre–post evaluation design, self-report questionnaires measuring HRQoL and other bio-psycho-social features will be administered, the quantity and quality of PA will be measured, and a questionnaire developed by the authors will be used to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the ESPRIMO intervention. (shrink)

Who is the human being? A powerful, enhanceable biological organism, which techniques and artifacts can augment or a disembodied spirit damned to be influenced by its fragile body? In Defense of the Human Being accounts for both perspectives existing in the contemporary debate on the human and provides us with an answer: we should conceive of “ … the human person as a physical or embodied being, as a free, self- determining being, and ultimately as an essentially social being connected (...) with others.” (p. 2). Temporality, embodiment, relationality, vulnerability: we need to take into account these features and embrace them, even though this means to accept that we cannot live forever, we cannot rely on machines only, but we have to fulfil our existence. (shrink)

From a cognitive-psychological perspective, physical exercise (PE) and sports are an interesting tool for improving people’s cognitive abilities. One field of application for such a tool is decision making (DM) support in chronic patients, cancer patients, and survivors in particular. On the one hand, cancer patients and survivors have to continually take important decisions about their own care (e.g., treatment choice; changes in lifestyle), in collaboration with caregivers and health providers; on the other hand, side effects of treatment may be (...) detrimental to cognitive abilities, such as attention, which make the health DM tasks even more demanding, complex, and emotionally disruptive for patients. Since cancer patients have to engage in healthy activities both for improving their own quality of life and for sustaining the effects of medications, clinical advice to engage in sport and PE is becoming more and more widespread within interventions. However, while sports are usually seen as healthy physical activities, their impact on cognitive abilities is mostly overlooked in the literature. The hypothesis of the present work is that sports could be fully exploited in their potential as focused exercises for cognitive ability training, in the field of cognitive training for chronic patients specifically. Indeed, literature shows that different sports (e.g., individual or team-based) influence and possibly augment cognitive abilities such as focused and divided attention, working memory, and DM under time constraints. Moreover, besides providing training for cognitive abilities, the experience of sports may represent an opportunity to explore, train and sharpen DM abilities directly: we identify five ways in which sport experiences may influence DM processes, and provide indications for future research on the topic. (shrink)