Early childhood is an important period for the development of attitudes, such as prejudice or food preferences (e.g. Nicklaus, 2016; Rudman, 2004). Because they are considered core drivers of behav...

Biografie van de Duitse filosoof Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860).

The church cleric Gregor von Nyssa celebrated the evolution of the hand as a bequest to the mouth and lips. Liberated from the compulsory, primordial pursuit of food, it can now devote itself to the functions of speech and rationality. The modern age has set about disencumbering he hand in an ever-expanding machine park. Elation, however, has been muted. If the hand no longer serves the mouth but the machine, isn't the association to the state of being human lost? The (...) modern age in conspicuous insistence, rejects the storm of technology, evolution and the animality of the human prerogative by meditating on the future fate of the hand. (shrink)

A timely volume that uses science fiction as a springboard to meaningful philosophical discussions, especially at points of contact between science fiction and new scientific developments. Raises questions and examines timely themes concerning the nature of the mind, time travel, artificial intelligence, neural enhancement, free will, the nature of persons, transhumanism, virtual reality, and neuroethics Draws on a broad range of books, films and television series, including _The Matrix, Star Trek, Blade Runner, Frankenstein, Brave New World, The Time Machine,_ and (...) _Back to the Future_ Considers the classic philosophical puzzles that appeal to the general reader, while also exploring new topics of interest to the more seasoned academic. (shrink)

The ‘cosmological constant problem’ has historically been understood as describing a conflict between cosmological observations in the framework of general relativity and theoretical predictions from quantum field theory, which a future theory of quantum gravity ought to resolve. I argue that this view of the CCP is best understood in terms of a bet about future physics made on the basis of particular interpretational choices in GR and QFT, respectively. Crucially, each of these choices must be taken as itself grounded (...) in the sucesses of the respective theory for this bet to be justified. 1 Introduction 2 The Cosmological Constant Problem 2.1 The physics that anticipates ‘vacuum energy’ 2.2 Getting to zero-point energies 2.3 Getting to the cosmological constant 3 The Epistemology of Physical Interpretation 4 The View from High-Energy Physics 5 Concluding Remarks. (shrink)

_Naturalism and Democracy_, first published in German in 2014, presents a long-awaited commentary on Spinoza’s _Political Treatise _. It gives a detailed analysis of Spinoza’s latest theory of State and Law, with special attention to his democratic approach.

Este artigo pretende analisar um dos temas mais discutidos e controversos do pensamento aristotélico, a questão do direito natural. Aristóteles discute o tema nas seguintes obras: Ethica Nicomachea [EN], Magna Moralia [MM], Retórica [Ret] e Política [Pol]. É apenas na Ret que a lei natural é definida como imutável. Nas outras obras ela é apresentada por Aristóteles como uma lei variável. A questão a ser investigada consiste em saber se as passagens presentes na Ret que apresentam exemplos de lei natural (...) [Antígona, Empédocles e Sófocles] podem ser lidas como pertencentes ao pensamento de Aristóteles. (shrink)

Excerpt from Die Überwindung des Schopenhauerschen Pessimismus Durch Friedrich Nietzsche Obwohl der philosophische Pessimismus in unserer Zeit wenige Vertreter aufweist, begegnen wir dem praktischen Pessimismus leider nur zu häufig. Die Stellung Nietzsche's zu dieser Frage eingehender zu untersuchen, ist die Aufgabe der vorliegenden Schrift. Der Zweck ist, den Leser zum Studium Nietzsches selbst anzuregen, insbesondere der Schriften, die sich mit dem Pessimismus auseinandersetzen. Sehr zu bedauern wäre es dagegen, wenn Jemand glaubte, durch die Lektüre von Schriften uber Nietzsche sich das (...) Studium von Nietzsche's Werken selbst ersparen zu können. Herrn Professor Vaihinger in Halle möchte ich auch hier meinen Dank aussprechen fur die Ratschläge, die er mir bei der Ausführung dieser Arbeit zuteil werden liess, zu der ich die erste Anregung ebenfalls von ihm empfing. Der Verfasser.2. Der innere Gegensatz Nietzsche's gegen Schopenhauer trotz der äusseren Bejahung des Schopenhauer'schen Pessimismus 20 - 28. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

In September 1931, a panel discussion was convened at Central Hall Westminsteron the subject of the ‘Evolution of the Universe’, at the centenary meeting of theBritish Association for the Advancement of Science. Center stage was what todo about the evolving universe being younger than the stars, evidently a paradoxin the relativistic study of the evolving universe, at the time. Here, we discusstwo diametrically opposed reactions to the paradox, which were each broadcastat the meeting by Lemaˆıtre and de Sitter, respectively. As (...) we argue, that bothcould be projected to the public as viable reflects an unsettled question at thefoundations of the then-nascent discipline: what is the role for considerationsof scale in relativistic cosmology? (shrink)

Starting in June 2012, a series of articles in the journal Nature and in the online journals of the Public Library of Science made public the first results of a massive, international collaborative scientific endeavor known as the “Human Microbiome Project” . This project, which is attempting to categorize the vast number of microbiological species and organisms that live in and on the “healthy” human body, raises important questions about what it means to be a whole individual organism, especially if (...) that individual involves a community of some hundreds of trillions of others. In this article, we will explore a handful of political, ethical, and philosophical issues that this new research raises .. (shrink)

Law provides a rich language for thinking about bioethical issues and is a tool for action as well as talk. But the language of the law, often inapt, regularly fails to achieve its desired effect.

Ao enfrentar novos desafios de formação em uma subárea de estudo e pesquisa, busquei traçar a trajetória acadêmica daqueles autores/pesquisadores pertencentes à Filosofia da Educação. Minha trajetória acadêmica foi parâmetro para análise dos dados desta pesquisa. Coletei todos os trabalhos apresentados entre 2007 até 2017, das Reuniões Científicas Nacionais da Anped, GT17. Pesquisei a trajetória acadêmica dos autores destes trabalhos por meio do acesso ao currículo Lattes. Pude concluir que minha trajetória acadêmica não é tão errática como imaginava e que (...) o estudo pode definir algumas premissas que podem ajudar a direcionar outros pesquisadores, envolvidos no tornarem-se filósofos da educação. (shrink)

By around the age of 5½, many children in the United States judge that numbers never end, and that it is always possible to add 1 to a set. These same children also generally perform well when asked to label the quantity of a set after one object is added (e.g., judging that a set labeled “five” should now be “six”). These findings suggest that children have implicit knowledge of the “successor function”: Every natural number, n, has a successor, n (...) + 1. Here, we explored how children discover this recursive function, and whether it might be related to discovering productive morphological rules that govern language‐specific counting routines (e.g., the rules in English that represent base‐10 structure). We tested 4‐ and 5‐year‐old children’s knowledge of counting with three tasks, which we then related to (a) children’s belief that 1 can always be added to any number (the successor function) and (b) their belief that numbers never end (infinity). Children who exhibited knowledge of a productive counting rule were significantly more likely to believe that numbers are infinite (i.e., there is no largest number), though such counting knowledge was not directly linked to knowledge of the successor function, per se. Also, our findings suggest that children as young as 4 years of age are able to implement rules defined over their verbal count list to generate number words beyond their spontaneous counting range, an insight which may support reasoning over their acquired verbal count sequence to infer that numbers never end. (shrink)

This paper explores the relation of order and welfare for Han Fei's philosophy. It will be claimed that the Legalist did indeed show concern for the overall quality of life of society, claiming that his model state would lead to a substantial increase for the individual's welfare. On the other hand, although he acknowledges (and cares) for these positive consequences, Han Fei does not attach any value for legitimizing the system he proposes to them. Even if there were any value (...) attached to benefitting the people, it would be indirect. For Han Fei, a welfare does not legitimize the system but is a consequence of the ‘right system’. He is not concerned with letting the people live better for the sake of the people, but rather with having healthy and motivated subjects, as these are at the same time consequences of, and requirements for, a strong and stable state. The novelty of this paper is to interpret Han Fei's philosophy as welfare-maximization through a specific understanding of the role of virtue. (shrink)

Michurinist biology was introduced to China in 1948; granted a state supported monopoly in 1952; and reduced to parity with western genetics from 1956. The Soviets exported it through the propaganda agencies Sino Soviet Friendship Association and VOKS. China’s Ministry of Agriculture achieved broad public awareness and acceptance of Michurinist biology through a translation, publication, and Soviet guest speakers campaign – all managed by a team of agriculturalists led by Luo Tianyu, a veteran CCP cadre. The campaign grew exponentially, but (...) did not affect university or Chinese Academy of Sciences biology. Luo Tianyu’s failed attempt to force Michurinist biology on a Beijing university triggered its second stage: monopoly status and a ban on “Mendelist-Morganist” biology in teaching, research, and publication. The CCP Central Committee supported this policy believing that Michurinst biology would increase agricultural production for the forthcoming first Five Year Plan; whereas, western genetics had no practical value. Michurinist biology flourished at all levels of education, research, and science literature; Western genetics was completely shut down. This only began to change when the CCP Central Committee became wary of China’s dependency on Soviet technical expertise and failure to fully utilize that of China. Change was further promoted by significant attacks on Michurinist biology by Soviet and East German biologists. Soon, these developments informed China’s “genetics question,” which became a test case for larger questions about the definition of science and the relationship between scientists and the state. Under the guidance of Lu Dingyi’s Central Committee Propaganda Department, the CCP eventually decided that, henceforth, science controversies would only be resolved by the science community; and that monopolies or ideological orthodoxies would not be imposed on science. At the same time, the CCP rescinded Michurinist biology’s monopoly and the ban on western genetics. By the mid-1960s western genetics had successfully restored itself, largely due to the leadership of C. C. Tan, a former student of Dobzhansky. Michurinist biology’s presence shrank and it became marginalized. (shrink)

This is a new release of the original 1941 edition.

Humphreys and Forde conceptualize object representations as structural descriptions, without discussing the implications of structural description models. We argue that structural description models entail two major assumptions – a part-structure assumption and an invariance assumption. The invariance assumption is highly problematic because it contradicts a large body of findings which indicate that recognition performance depends on orientation and size. We will delineate relevant findings and outline an alternative conception.

O texto tem como propósito realizar uma reflexão sobre a ideia da tradição, considerando a experiência nietzschiana. A tradição não é o oposto da contemporaneidade, não impede a reflexão sobre o presente. A tradição, em qualquer perspectiva filosófica bem como em qualquer dimensão cultural, é um recurso utilizado para explicar nossa inserção na história, poderá ser um recurso para reeditar esta inserção considerando os desafios atuais.