A partir de uma análise comparativa entre a obra consagrada Frankenstein, de Mary Shelley, e a trilogia contemporânea Jogos Vorazes, de Suzanne Collins, este trabalho pretende assinalar a visão pessimista quanto ao progresso tecnológico e científico que ambas compartilham. Apoiamo-nos na teoria de Walter Benjamin e Hannah Arendt, pensadores que escreveram sobre a mesma visão pessimista. Ademais, nossa pesquisa investiga as faces da monstruosidade na trilogia Jogos Vorazes em contraste com a criatura gerada por Frankenstein, categorizada como monstro clássico. Por (...) fim, assinalamos a provável inclinação das mensagens finais para um pessimismo quanto ao progresso científico e tecnológico. Nosso objetivo é o de mostrar como essas histórias, separadas por quase duzentos anos, convergem para o mesmo questionamento sobre o futuro. (shrink)

As result of the ongoing doctoral research, this paper composes the Communication delivered at the First National Post-Graduate Meeting in Philosophy of the University of Brasilia. The thesis relates to the real political action arising from liberty and immanent power. Structured in two moments of the Gramscian thought, that is: a) the juvenile phase (1914-1919), correspondent to the initial period of political engagement towards adherence to the Turin labor movement; and b) the analysis of the 48th § of Volume 3 (...) Prison Notebooks (Q 3, 48, 197) about the real political action. The whole problematic of the research relies in the investigation about Gramscian philosophical demands of the real political action that distinguishes it from the utopian idealism. In this sense, which are Gramscian´s contributions towards the Philosophy of praxis? The research indicates that the praxis requires a critical consciousness – passed through intellectual action in the formation of the people –, since the historical conditions are already given. (shrink)

Este estudo explora alternativas de gênero e sexualidade construídas por grupos étnicos subalternizados que antagonizam com o que estabelece a norma resultante da cosmovisão dos colonizadores europeus. Sustentamos a tese de que a resistência de grupos étnicos subalternizados, dispersos pelo mundo, evidencia cosmovisões alternativas. Como resultado principal, consideramos que, tendo em vista que no Brasil a Lei nº 11.645, de 10 de março de 2008 estabelece a obrigatoriedade do ensino de “História e Cultura Afro-Brasileira e Indígena” em todos os componentes (...) curriculares da Educação Básica, compreendemos que é papel também do Ensino de Ciências problematizar as noções biologizantes e reducionistas de corpo, à luz do que nos ensinam os grupos étnicos subalternizados sobre gênero e sexualidade. Assim, o desenvolvimento e a análise de propostas de ensino de ciências que articulem gênero, sexualidade, colonialismo e as culturas de povos subalternizados é um campo de pesquisa latente de investigações. (shrink)

O artigo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa sobre as relações étnico-raciais no currículo de uma escola do campo. O objetivo foi identificar de que forma conteúdos de história e cultura afro-brasileira e africana são trabalhados pelos professores das disciplinas de Língua Portuguesa, História, Ciências e Artes da Escola Municipal Margarida Maria Alves, localizada na cidade de Amargosa-Ba. Para a produção dos dados, realizamos uma pesquisa qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso utilizando a entrevista semiestruturada. Os dados foram organizados segundo (...) a técnica de análise de conteúdo e permitem apontar que as práticas pedagógicas dos professores apresentam indícios de uma educação intercultural para os estudantes camponeses. (shrink)

As pesquisas sobre formação de professores têm muito a contribuir com a abordagem das relações étnico-raciais. Neste artigo apresentamos os resultados de uma pesquisa-formação realizada com licenciandos em Pedagogia. A questão a ser respondida foi: Quais saberes são mobilizados por professores em formação inicial no curso de Pedagogia ao participarem de uma pesquisa- formação sobre as relações étnico-raciais no ensino de Ciências? Os resultados evidenciam que o processo formativo possibilitou a construção e mobilização de diferentes saberes, particularmente os pedagógicos.

Os estudos sobre as comunidades quilombolas tem se ampliado significativamente nos últimos anos no Brasil. Áreas como História, Sociologia, Antropologia, Educação tem evidenciado, com diferentes enfoques teóricos e metodológicos, a importância de se compreender as dimensões histórias, culturais, educacionais dessas comunidades. Neste artigo apresentamos aspectos da história e memória da comunidade quilombola Orquídio Pereira. Os dados foram construídos por meio de entrevistas com moradores antigos e nos permitiu entender as memórias de moradores em uma perspectiva benjaminiana. Palavras-chave: Memória. Narrativa. Comunidade (...) quilombola. (shrink)

A pesquisa sobre quilombos tem se ampliado consideravelmente nos últimos anos, incorporando diferentes referenciais teóricos. Dentre os pesquisadores que têm contribuído para a renovação dos estudos sobre comunidades quilombolas está José Maurício Arruti, doutor em Antropologia Social e professor da Universidade Estadual de Campinas. O professor Arruti pesquisa comunidades quilombolas e povos indígenas, em especial sobre os temas Políticas de Reconhecimento, Território, Memória e Educação. Apresentamos, a seguir, a entrevista por ele concedida, em que discute aspectos de sua trajetória de (...) formação, a produção de conhecimentos sobre comunidades quilombolas, a inserção na pesquisa sobre a temática, as principais dificuldades enfrentadas por essas comunidades no atual contexto de perda gradativa de direitos. Finalizamos a entrevista com o professor Arruti nos apontando sobre seus atuais interesses de ensino e pesquisa. Palavras-chave: Quilombos; Memória; Território; Educação. (shrink)

Resumo A entrada dos cristãos e cristãs na luta política de libertação dos pobres e excluídos é a grande novidade da(s) Igreja(s) na América Latina e no Caribe. Com base em Medellín (1968), por meio de uma recepção criativa do Concílio Vaticano II, a vivência e a compreensão da fé cristã têm experimentado uma nova dinâmica. As comunidades eclesiais de base (CEBs) e a Teologia da Libertação favorecem um novo modo de se assumir o compromisso social visando à construção de (...) uma sociedade diferente, pautada na justiça e na solidariedade. Compreende-se que entre evangelização e libertação há laços muito fortes. A obra de evangelização não pode negligenciar os graves problemas que afetam a vida das pessoas e da natureza: desemprego, exclusão social, violência, devastação da natureza. Os cristãos e cristãs são chamados para contribuir na transformação da sociedade, a partir de sua fé e de sua prática pastoral. Essa contribuição visa colaborar na construção de um projeto de nação que se aproxime dos valores explicitados nas lutas populares. Isso requer o uso de instrumentos capazes de proporcionar a participação cidadã na busca de uma sociedade justa, fraterna, solidária e respeitadora da vida das pessoas e da natureza. Palavras-chave: Evangelização; Libertação; Democracia; Movimentos populares; Prática social; Projeto de nação.The participation of Christian men and women in the political fight to free the poor and excluded is the great news in the Church(es) in Latin America and the Caribbean. After Medellín (1968), with a creative reception from Vatican Council II, the experience and understanding of Christian faith has acquired a new dynamics. Basic ecclesial communities (BECs) and the Theology of Liberation favor a new way of being socially committed to the construction of a different society, inspired by justice and solidarity. It is clear that solid bonds connect evangelization and liberation. The work of evangelization cannot neglect serious problems that affect people's life and nature: unemployment, social exclusion, violence, devastation of the environment. Christian men and women are invited to offer their contribution to the transformation of society based on faith and pastoral practice. It will contribute to the construction of a nation project in harmony with the values of popular fights, which requires the use of instruments capable of fostering the citizens' participation in search of a just and fraternal society that respects people's life and nature. Key words: Evangelization; Liberation; Democracy; Popular movements; Social practice; Project of a nation. (shrink)

O objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre a educação pública em Rousseau e verificar em que medida se relaciona com a proposta da educação doméstica. Os dois modelos são irremediavelmente paradoxais: enquanto a máxima de um é “seguir a natureza”, do outro é “desnaturar”. Apesar disto, a educação pública descrita no modelo para a Polônia apresenta uma série de elementos comuns ao Emílio o que indica que, de certa forma, a educação da natureza pode contribuir para com as especificidades da (...) educação pública. Para desenvolver esta concepção valer-nos-emos de parte da bibliografia crítica sobre a educação em Rousseau, especialmente autores nacionais. (shrink)

Este estudo tem como finalidade analisar a perspectiva da arte como parte do aparato de dominação social, desenvolvida na obra A ideologia da sociedade industrial, de Herbert Marcuse. Para isso, utilizaremos como referência constante as teorias propostas pelos filósofos da Escola de Frankfurt, em especial Theodor W. Adorno e Max Horkheimer no que diz respeito, sobretudo, ao termo “indústria cultural”, cujo conceito aparece no capítulo homônimo de A dialética do esclarecimento. Apoiaremo-nos também na tese de doutorado de Imaculada Kangussu, intitulada (...) Leis da liberdade: as relações entre Estética e Política na Filosofia de Herbert Marcuse, e, ainda, nas demais obras marcuseanas, com destaque para Eros e Civilização: uma interpretação filosófica do pensamento de Freud. (shrink)

Este livro reúne parte da obra ensaística de Benedito Nunes, um dos responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento da Filosofia no Brasil. Abrangendo resenhas críticas de recepção do existencialismo e do estruturalismo, publicadas na década de 1960, esta coletânea, arquitetada por Victor Sales Pinheiro, acompanha momentos culminantes do pensamento hermenêutico do autor, marcado pela interlocução com as filosofias de Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault e Ricoeur.

O livro analisa as obras dos principais filósofos que criaram as bases da filosofia da arte contemporânea.

Em treze ensaios, o pensamento brilhante de um dos mais importantes filósofos brasileiros da atualidade.

O livro revela a passagem do filosófico para o poético em Heidegger.

Neste artigo apresentamos parte dos resultados de uma pesquisa qualitativa e de revisão bibliográfica, cujo problema envolve os sentidos de ensino de Filosofia no currículo para o ensino médio no período de 2009 a 2019. Assim, objetivamos investigar os discursos sobre ensino de Filosofia no ensino médio, presentes na produção acadêmica dos autores mais recorrentes do campo teórico. Para tanto, nos aportamos na Teoria do Discurso de Ernesto Laclau e Chantal Mouffe, cuja potência teórica, já afirmada em importantes trabalhos do (...) campo educacional, nos permitiu identificar o problema do não reconhecimento do ensino de Filosofia como um ponto-nodal que une uma parte da comunidade acadêmica de Filosofia na afirmação antagônica de que tal ensino deve, sim, compor o currículo do nível médio brasileiro. Palavras-chave: Filosofia; Ensino de Filosofia; Currículo; Ensino médio; Teoria do Discurso Discourse on Philosophy teaching in the high school curriculum: defense of a problem, curricular conception and affirmation of a practice Abstract: In this article we present part of the results of a research of qualitative nature and bibliographic cut whose problem involves the meanings of Philosophy teaching in the curriculum for high school in the period from 2009 to 2019. Thus, we aim to investigate the discourses on teaching Philosophy in high school present in the academic production of the most recurrent authors in the theoretical field. To this end, we focus on the Discourse Theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, whose theoretical potency, already affirmed in important works in the educational field, allowed us to identify the problem of the non- recognition of philosophy teaching as a nodal point that unites a part of the academic philosophy community in the antagonistic claim that such teaching should be part of the Brazilian high school curriculum. Key-words: Philosophy; Philosophy teaching; Curriculum; High school; Discourse Theory. Discursos sobre la enseñanza de la Filosofía en el currículo de bachillerato: defensa de un problema, concepción curricular y afirmación de una práctica Resumen: En este artículo presentamos parte de los resultados de una investigación cualitativa y revisión bibliográfica, cuyo problema involucra los significados de la enseñanza de la Filosofía en el currículo para la escuela secundaria en el período de 2009 a 2019. Así, nos propusimos investigar los discursos sobre la enseñanza de la Filosofía en la escuela secundaria, presentes en la producción académica de los autores más recurrentes en el campo teórico. Para ello, hemos estado en la Teoría del Discurso de Ernesto Laclau y Chantal Mouffe, cuyo poder teórico, ya afirmado en importantes trabajos del campo educativo, nos permitió identificar el problema del no reconocimiento de la enseñanza de la filosofía como un punto-nodal que une a una parte de la comunidad académica de la Filosofía en la afirmación antagónica de que dicha enseñanza debe, Sí, para conformar el currículo del nivel medio brasileño. Palabras clave: Filosofía; Enseñanza de la filosofía; Plan de estudios; Bachillerato; Teoría del discurso. Data de registro: 02/03/2022 Data de aceite: 17/05/2022. (shrink)

Despite the emergence of computer games as a dominant cultural industry, we know little or nothing about the ethics of computer games. Considerations of the morality of computer games seldom go beyond intermittent portrayals of them in the mass media as training devices for teenage serial killers. In this first scholarly exploration of the subject, Miguel Sicart addresses broader issues about the ethics of games, the ethics of playing the games, and the ethical responsibilities of game designers. He argues (...) that computer games are ethical objects, that computer game players are ethical agents, and that the ethics of computer games should be seen as a complex network of responsibilities and moral duties. Players should not be considered passive amoral creatures; they reflect, relate, and create with ethical minds. The games they play are ethical systems, with rules that create gameworlds with values at play. Drawing on concepts from philosophy and game studies, Sicart proposes a framework for analyzing the ethics of computer games as both designed objects and player experiences. After presenting his core theoretical arguments and offering a general theory for understanding computer game ethics, Sicart offers case studies examining single-player games, multiplayer games, and online gameworlds from an ethical perspective. He explores issues raised by unethical content in computer games and its possible effect on players and offers a synthesis of design theory and ethics that could be used as both analytical tool and inspiration in the creation of ethical gameplay. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with the semantics of bare plural I-generics such as ‘Tigers are striped’, ‘Chickens lay eggs’, and ‘Kangaroos live in Australia’. In a series of recent papers, Bernhard Nickel has developed a comprehensive view of a certain class of bare plural I-generics, which he calls characterizing sentences :629–648, 2009. doi:10.1007/s10988-008-9049-7; Linguist Philos 33:479–512, 2010a. doi:10.1007/s10988-011-9087-4; Philos Impr 10:1–25, 2010b). Nickel’s ambitious proposal includes a detailed account of their truth-conditions, an account of certain pragmatic phenomena that they give (...) rise to, a metaphysical picture of their truth-makers in terms of mechanisms, and an epistemological story connecting characterizing sentences to such concepts as induction and explanation. This paper offers an extended critique of the central truth-conditional component of Nickel’s proposal. In a nutshell, his account has it that ‘Tigers are striped’ is true iff, for tigers, there is a way of being normal with respect to fur-pattern such that all tigers that are normal that way are striped. I begin by explaining what characterizing sentences are and distinguish several readings that are available for sentences with bare plurals in subject position. I then introduce Nickel’s account and discuss some of its predictions which, in my view, seem highly problematic. Moreover, I argue that Nickel’s principle of Homogeneity does not go together well with his proposed truth-conditions, and that his truth-conditional account violates a plausible principle about the logic of generics, a principle I call generic non-contradiction. (shrink)

In having an experience one is aware of having it. Having an experience requires some form of access to one's own state, which distinguishes phenomenally conscious mental states from other kinds of mental states. Until very recently, Higher-Order (HO) theories were the only game in town aiming at offering a full-fledged account of this form of awareness within the analytical tradition. Independently of any objections that HO theories face, First/Same-Order (F/SO) theorists need to offer an account of such access to (...) become a plausible alternative. My aim in this paper is twofold. In the first place, I wish to widen the logical space of the discussion among theories of consciousness by offering a distinction, orthogonal to that between F/SO and HO theories, between what I will call 'Self-Involving' (SI) and 'Mental-State-Involving' (MSI) theories and argue in favor of the former one. In the second place, I will present the basics of a characterization of such a Self-Involving theory in Same-Order terms. (shrink)

Why computer games can be ethical, how players use their ethical values in gameplay, and the implications for game design.

Recent experimental studies indicate that epistemically irrelevant factors can skew our intuitions, and that some degree of scepticism about appealing to intuition in philosophy is warranted. In response, some have claimed that philosophers are experts in such a way as to vindicate their reliance on intuitions—this has become known as the ‘expertise defence’. This paper explores the viability of the expertise defence, and suggests that it can be partially vindicated. Arguing that extant discussion is problematically imprecise, we will finesse the (...) notion of ‘philosophical expertise’ in order to better reflect the complex reality of the different practices involved in philosophical inquiry. On this basis, we offer a new version of the expertise defence that allows for distinct types of philosophical expertise. The upshot of our approach is that wholesale vindications or rejections of the expertise defence are shown to be unwarranted; we must instead turn to local, piecemeal investigations of philosophical expertise. Lastly, in the spirit of taking our own advice, we exemplify how recent developments from experimental philosophy lend themselves to this approach, and can empirically support one instance of a successful expertise defence. (shrink)

Philosophers of mathematics commonly distinguish between explanatory and non-explanatory proofs. An important subclass of mathematical proofs are proofs by induction. Are they explanatory? This paper addresses the question, based on general principles about explanation. First, a recent argument for a negative answer is discussed and rebutted. Second, a case is made for a qualified positive take on the issue.

Resumen: Este artículo pretende abordar aspectos esenciales del pensamiento de Henri Bergson en la dimensión de las prácticas políticas. Específicamente, esta indagación se centrará en un análisis del sentido de la democracia en Les Deux Sources de la morale et de la religion, en las escuetas, pero decisivas porciones de texto donde esta es abordada. Bajo este objetivo, se podrá extender una discusión de fondo, de carácter ontológico, en torno al rendimiento de una noción de Acontecimiento que pretende servir de (...) reflexión basal en torno al dominio de un concepto de lo político atribuible a este filósofo francés.: This article aims to address essential aspects of Henri Bergson’s thought in the dimension of political practices. Specifically, this inquiry will focus on an analysis of the meaning of democracy in Les Deux Sources de la morale et de la religion, in the succinct, but decisive portions of the text where it is focussed. Under this point, it will be possible to extend a substantive discussion, of an ontological nature, around the performance of a notion of Event that aims to serve as a basal reflection on the domain of a concept of the political attributable to this French philosopher. (shrink)

A modernidade e a pós-modernidade estão atravessando um processo corrosivo da moral, numa relativização de valores em várias esferas. No desejo emancipatório, o indivíduo acaba desconfiado e descrente frente aos projetos históricos, cético frente aos padrões éticos e valores morais. Deseja viver intensamente, embalado pelo prazer. Cai, sem perceber, num individualismo narcisista. No entanto, este individualismo reinante já dá mostras de graus de responsabilidade, aberto às regras morais, à eqüidade, aberto ao futuro, como que numa reabilitação da inteligência sob forma (...) de ética. Verificamos um retorno à ética. (shrink)

It is often claimed that a minimal form of self-awareness is constitutive of our conscious experience. Some have considered that such a claim is plausible for our ordinary experiences but false when considered unrestrictedly on the basis of the empirical evidence from altered states. In this paper I want to reject such a reasoning. This requires, first, a proper understanding of a minimal form of self-awareness – one that makes it plausible that minimal self-awareness is part of our ordinary experiences. (...) I will argue that it should be understood as Perspectival First-Person Awareness : a non-conceptual identification-free self-attribution that defines the first-person perspective for our conscious experience. I will offer a detailed characterization of PFP-Awareness in semantic and epistemological terms. With this tool in hand, I will review the empirical literature on altered states. I will focus on psychedelics, meditation and dreams, as they have been claimed to present the clearest cases in favor of a radical disruption of self-awareness. I will show that the rejection of the idea that minimal self-awareness is constitutive of our experience on the basis of this evidence is unfounded, for two main reasons. First, although there are good grounds to think that some forms of self-awareness that typically accompany our ordinary experiences are compromised, they do not support the claim that PFP-Awareness is absent. Secondly, the reports that could make us think of a radical disruption of self-awareness are most probably due to a confirmation bias – and hence we should mistrust them – derived from the expectations and metaphysical views of their subjects. (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta uma análise sobre o currículo da escola no campo e as relações étnico-raciais no município de Amargosa-Ba, município localizado no território de identidade do Vale do Jiquiriçá. O lócus da pesquisa foi a escola municipal Margarida Maria Alves. As análises foram realizadas por meio da leitura do Projeto Político-Pedagógico e dos Planos de Ensino dos professores das disciplinas de Língua Portuguesa, História, Ciências e Artes. Os documentos curriculares analisados apontam indícios de que a educação no campo do (...) município está sendo trabalhada com o paradigma da educação no campo funcional, porque reconhece as diferenças, todavia, o município ainda adota nas escolas do campo um currículo urbano. Algumas ações inseridas no plano de ensino dos professores indicam que os conteúdos referentes às relações étnico-raciais, estão presentes no cotidiano da escola, ainda que de forma bem tímida, sobressaindo-se na disciplina de História. (shrink)

In developing a theory of consciousness, one of the main problems has to do with determining what distinguishes conscious states from non-conscious ones—the delimitation problem. This paper explores the possibility of solving this problem in terms of self-awareness. That self-awareness is essential to understanding the nature of our conscious experience is perhaps the most widely discussed hypothesis in the study of consciousness throughout the history of philosophy. Its plausibility hinges on how the notion of self-awareness is unpacked. The idea that (...) consciousness involves self-awareness has been understood in two different ways: either as awareness of oneself—the subject of experience—or as awareness of the conscious episode itself. In this paper I argue (i) that every experience concerns the subject in a very specific way, involving what I will call ‘perspectival de se representation’, and (ii) that there is no need to appeal to the experience itself in order to characterize the awareness within that experience. The view I articulate explains the subjective nature of experience without over-intellectualizing it, accommodates the phenomenology of experience, and dispels any doubt about the need to find the self in introspection. (shrink)

The fictional regime of the photographic image allows Helena Almeida to stage a theatrical metamorphosis of her own body through displacements, expansions and dissimulations, placing photography at the heart of a pictorial transgression that undermines the disciplinary boundaries of visual media: the artist becomes ink, inhabits the empty canvas space, multiplies herself in mirror games that produce the unfolding of a body in deep crisis, thrown beyond its physical limits and identity. Moreover, in multimedia works such as Feel me, Hear (...) me and See me (1979–1980), as well as in some images of the series entitled The House (1982–1983), Almeida seems to move towards a radical linguistic and pictorial derangement, likely to break the traditional communicative and representative mechanisms. We seek to demonstrate, on the basis of these different aspects relating to photography’s effects of hybridization, and making use of the post-structuralist thought of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze, that the artist moves towards the designation of a structural space that combines photography, writing and the reinvention of the body. Almeida’s work confronts us with a complex reconfiguration of ways of seeing, feeling and thinking the photographic act, as well as its discursive features. (shrink)

In this paper I investigate which of the main conditions proposed in the moral responsibility literature are the ones that spell trouble for the idea that Artificial Intelligence Systems could ever be full-fledged responsible agents. After arguing that the standard construals of the control and epistemic conditions don’t impose any in-principle barrier to AISs being responsible agents, I identify the requirement that responsible agents must be aware of their own actions as the main locus of resistance to attribute that kind (...) of agency to AISs. This is because this type of awareness is thought to involve first-person or de se representations, which, in turn, are usually assumed to involve some form of consciousness. I clarify what this widespread assumption involves and conclude that the possibility of AISs’ moral responsibility hinges on what the correct theory of de se representations ultimately turns out to be. (shrink)

ABSTRACT In this article, we will discuss the Bakhtinian concepts of Grotesque realism and grotesque body from various perspectives. We will begin by exploring the synchronic approaches taken by contemporary linguists and semioticians. Additionally, we will delve into Bakhtin’s own treatment of these concepts, tracing their origins to his doctoral thesis during the early 20th century within the context of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, we will examine the significance of both concepts within the work Rabelais and His World, Finally, we (...) will scrutinize some instances of the Grotesque in literary and visual arts from Ancient Judaism and early in Medieval Christianity, which were either directly or indirectly referenced by Bakhtin. (shrink)

Phenomenology in medicine’s main contribution is to present a first-person narrative of illness, in an effort to aid medicine in reaching an accurate disease diagnosis and establishing a personal relationship with patients whose lived experience changes dramatically when severe disease and disabling condition is confirmed. Once disease is diagnosed, the lived experience of illness is reconstructed into a living-with-disease narrative that medicine’s biological approach has widely neglected. Key concepts like health, sickness, illness, disease and the clinical encounter are being diversely (...) and ambiguously used, leading to distortions in socio-medical practices such as medicalization, pharmaceuticalization, emphasis on surveillance medicine. Current definitions of these concepts as employed in phenomenology of medicine are revised, concluding that more stringent semantics ought to reinforce an empirical phenomenological or postphenomenological approach. (shrink)

Higher-order thought theories of consciousness attempt to explain what it takes for a mental state to be conscious, rather than unconscious, by means of a HOT that represents oneself as being in the state in question. Rosenthal Consciousness and the self: new essays, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011) stresses that the way we are aware of our own conscious states requires essentially indexical self-reference. The challenge for defenders of HOT theories is to show that there is a way to explain (...) the required reference-fixing mechanisms that is compatible with the theory. According to Rosenthal, the reference to oneself as such is grounded in the disposition to identify the individual the HOT refers to as the individual who has that HOT. I argue that this leads to a vicious infinite regress on the more than plausible assumption that our cognitive capacities are limited. This leaves such theories without a foundation, since self-reference is thought essential to consciousness. (shrink)

The fundamental problem proponents of truth conditional semantics must face is to specify what role a truth theory is supposed to play within a meaning theory. The most detailed proposal for tackling this problem is the account developed by Ernest Lepore and Kirk Ludwig. However, as I will show in this paper, theories along the lines of Lepore and Ludwig do not suffice to put someone into the position to understand the objectlanguage. The fundamental problem of truth conditional semantics thus (...) remains unsolved. (shrink)

Cognitive theories claim, whereas non-cognitive theories deny, that cognitive access is constitutive of phenomenology. Evidence in favor of non-cognitive theories has recently been collected by Block and is based on the high capacity of participants in partial-report experiments compared to the capacity of the working memory. In reply, defenders of cognitive theories have searched for alternative interpretations of such results that make visual awareness compatible with the capacity of the working memory; and so the conclusions of such experiments remain controversial. (...) Instead of entering the debate between alternative interpretations of partial-report experiments, this paper offers an alternative line of research that could settle the discussion between cognitive and non-cognitive theories of consciousness. Here I relate the neural correlates of cognitive access to empirical research into the neurophysiology of dreams; cognitive access seems to depend on the activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. However, that area is strongly deactivated during sleep; a period when we entertain conscious experiences: dreams. This approach also avoids the classic objection that consciousness should be inextricably tied to reportability or it would fall outside the realm of science. (shrink)

The traditional approach in cognitive sciences holds that cognition is a matter of manipulating abstract symbols followingcertain rules. According to this view, the body is merely an input/output device, which allows the computationalsystem—the brain—to acquire new input data by means of the senses and to act in the environment following its com-mands. In opposition to this classical view, defenders of embodied cognition (EC) stress the relevance of the body inwhich the cognitive agent is embedded in their explanation of cognitive processes. (...) From a representationalist frameworkregarding our conscious experience, in this article, I will offer a novel argument in favor of EC and show that cognitionconstitutively—and no merely causally—depends upon body activity beyond that in the brain. In particular, I will arguethat in order to solve the problem derived from the empirical evidence in favor of the possibility of shifted spectrum,representationalist should endorse the view that experiences concern its subject: the content of experience isde se.Ishow that this claim perfectly matches the phenomenological observation and helps explaining the subjective characterof the experience. Furthermore, I argue that entertaining this kind of representation constitutively depends on bodilyactivity. Consequently, insofar as cognition depends on consciousness, it is embodied. (shrink)

Representations are not only used in our folk-psychological explanations of behaviour, but are also fruitfully postulated, for example, in cognitive science. The mainstream view in cognitive science maintains that our mind is a representational system. This popular view requires an understanding of the nature of the entities they are postulating. Teleosemantic theories face this challenge, unpacking the normativity in the relation of representation by appealing to the teleological function of the representing state. It has been argued that, if intentionality is (...) to be explained in teleological terms, then the function of a state cannot depend on its phylogenetical history, given the metaphysical possibility of a duplicate of an intentional being that lacks an evolutionary history. In this paper, I present a method to produce, according to our current knowledge in genetic engineering, human-like individuals who are not the product of natural selection in the required sense. This variation will be used to shed light on the main replies that have been offered in the literature to the Swampman thought experiment. I argue that these replies are not satisfactory: representations should better not depend on natural selection. I conclude that a non-etiological notion of function is to be preferred for characterizing the relation of representation. (shrink)

Donald Davidson suggested that, in attempting to give meaning theories, we should proceed via giving truth theories. For the programme of truth-theoretic semantics to be successful, two tasks need to be accomplished. First, it has to be shown that natural languages are actually amendable to truth theoretic treatment. The second task is to show how we can bridge the gap between a truth theory and a genuine meaning theory. This second task is necessitated by the simple fact that truth theories (...) by themselves are too weak to satisfy the central desideratum for a meaning theory. In a recent paper, Greg Ray suggests that the goal of giving meaning theories can easily be achieved, not by supplementing the truth-theoretic apparatus, but by doing away with it altogether. In particular, he proposes that what he calls means-that theories meet all the desiderata on meaning theories, and that ‘anyone with basically Davidsonian commitments must accept the means-that approach as viable and that it has certain evident virtues’. This paper argues that theories along Ray's lines do not satisfy the central desideratum for meaning theories. Ray's belief to the contrary rests on a common misunderstanding of what this desideratum amounts to. As I indicate in the final section of the paper, there perhaps is a way of substantially amending Ray's approach in order to meet the central desideratum. However, in an ironic twist, this will require giving a full-fledged truth theory for the metalanguage, including its intensional constructions like ‘means that’ – precisely the project Ray attempted to avoid. (shrink)