This paper discuss the relations between the conception of freedom of press and the construction of a professional identity on journalism. As a departure point, we do bibliographical revision of the press freedom definition as it was initially elaborated by Illuminist philosophers. After that, we investigate how such concepts integrate journalists’ self- legitimating discourse and also how it participates on the construction of their identity.

Physiological responses in futsal have not been studied together with temporal information about the players’ stay on the court. The aim of this study was to compare heart rate and blood lactate concentration responses between 1-H and 2-H considering the time of permanency of the players on the court at each substitution in a futsal match. HR was recorded during entire match and [La−] was analyzed after each substitution of seven players. %HRmean and [La−] mean did not differ between 1-H (...) and 2-H. Time in intensity zones of 50–100 %HRmax differed only in 60–70 %HRmax. HR coefficient of variation throughout the match was low and among the four outfield players on the court. Substitutions, time of permanence on the court, ratio between time in- and out-ratio on the court also were similar between 1-H and 2-H. Balancing the number of substitutions, and the In:Outcourt ratio of players in both halves of the match, playing lower time at 1-H, ~8 min for each participation in the match, made it possible to maintain intensity of the match in 2-H similar to the 1H. These results are a good guidance to coaches and for application in future studies. (shrink)

O presente artigo tem como objetivo realizar uma leitura do modo como a biopolítica, em autores como Foucault e Agamben, reflete sobre a economia em sua constituição contemporânea, desde a sua formação moderna, numa ordem que é liberal e capitalista. Em um primeiro momento, busca-se apresentar uma contextualização, indicando a relação entre Mercado e Estado no mundo moderno, destacando alguns destes aspectos fundamentais. Em seguida, almeja-se refletir e expor a relação entre a biopolítica e economia, privilegiando aquilo que Foucault realizou (...) em Nascimento da Biopolítica e, logo depois, apresentar as percepções de Agamben sobre o capitalismo, destacando o livro O Reino e a Glória. Não se propondo uma reflexão fechada, busca-se apresentar as reflexões dos autores, marcada pela leitura biopolítica, sobre a hegemonia do econômico na contemporaneidade. (shrink)

The evangelical movement has shown a significant growth among the Brazilian population in recent decades, which has also manifested itself in political representation and, consequently, draws the attention for the political projects that this group raises. For this reason, studies in this area are extremely relevant to understand how this relationship between religious and seculars should take place in the public space. After analysis based on the hypothetical-deductive methodology, it was found that both religious and people with different worldviews should (...) act in the public space with respect and tolerance. Imposing a way of looking at the world goes against the essence of liberalism and the democratic rule of law, as it violates basic issues such as the right to free consciousness and religion freedom itself. (shrink)

Este artigo, um recorte de pesquisa de Doutorado, objetiva desvelar as percepções de 208 professores de filosofia do Paraná no sentido de buscar evidenciar quais seriam as especificidades da disciplina de filosofia em relação a outras disciplinas do currículo. Inicialmente, disserta-se sobre a intermitência da disciplina de Filosofia no currículo da Educação Básica, com base em Deleuze e Guattari (2010), os quais demarcam o entendimento da filosofia como criação de conceitos. Em seguida, fundamentado em Rodrigues e Gelamo (2019), entre outros (...) autores, reflete-se sobre o modo de compreender a filosofia, que pode oscilar entre uma compreensão enciclopédica com base na memorização dos sistemas filosóficos e experiência filosófica. Por fim, por meio da análise de conteúdo de Bardin (2016), a seguinte questão de um questionário que envolvia outras dez foi analisada: “Você acredita que a filosofia proporciona espaços ou momentos diferenciados em relação aos das outras disciplinas? Se sim, no que ela se diferencia?”. Das respostas dos 208 docentes, emergiram as seguintes categorias: criar conceitos, espaço para o debate/reflexão de ideias, possibilidade da experiência filosófica e superar o senso comum. Os resultados apontam, assim, em um sentido de que a disciplina de filosofia não deve limitar-se a um conhecimento enciclopédico, mas, sim, trata-se de um conhecimento que se relaciona com o cotidiano de seus interlocutores. Faz-se necessário, porém, um saber valorizar adequadamente a história da filosofia, pois, ao valorizar demais a história da filosofia, pode-se incorrer a um ensino meramente descritivista; contudo, ao não valorizar a história da filosofia, pode-se debruçar em discussões sem conteúdo filosófico. (shrink)

Neste artigo partimos da hipótese de que a afinidade que atrai evangélicos e conservadorismo está muito mais ligada às condições discursivas que engendram os sujeitos e suas subjetividades, do que as características intrínsecas à teologia cristã ou, especificamente, evangélica pentecostal. Com isso não queremos dizer que conformações teológicas específicas não ensejaram discursos religiosos regressivos, que a maioria de nós classificaria como conservador. Assim, chamamos a atenção, tanto para o caráter relacional, posicional das identidades evangélicas, que engendram o discurso conservador, quanto (...) para a base material deste discurso, ligando, portanto, sujeitos e formas de sujeição e subjetivação. Interessam-nos, as formas políticas em que se precipitarão os antagonismos articulados a partir dos grupos de identidade evangélica, bem como os deslocamentos na base material destes sujeitos, que possibilitam o engendramento de subjetividades atomizadas e refratárias a solidariedades coletivas exógenas a sua comunidade. Defenderemos que, embora evangélicos tenham ganhado relevo no espaço público por pautas reativas à ampliação de direitos de minorias, tais ações não se devem unicamente a aspectos intrínsecos à teologia pentecostal, ou ao seu caráter alienante ou irracional, mas, principalmente a forma como se posicionam no jogo político nacional, ou melhor, como se publicizaram, bem como a forma como o discurso de fundo conservador é acionado como estratégia de sobrevivência nas grandes cidades. (shrink)

Brazil stands out at the global level for having implemented several policies intending to promote agroecology as a productive paradigm for small-holder farmers. However, the impacts of this process of institutionalization of agroecology still lack research and debates that evaluate the effectiveness of these policies. In this paper, we assess and discuss the impacts of a policy specifically focused on education in agroecology, the support to the establishment of Centers for the Study of Agroecology and Organic Production (NEAs) in more (...) than 150 higher education institutions throughout Brazil. NEAs bring together teachers, researchers, and students who engage in teaching, research, and extension activities in partnerships with peasant farmers, their organizations, and rural extension workers. The hypothesis that guides our analysis is that this support to establish NEAs allowed redistribution of symbolic power in the universities where they were established, supporting agroecology to gain greater legitimacy inside and outside the university field. Based on an in-depth study of four NEAs, performed through participant observation and documentary analysis, the NEAs are evaluated from the perspective of social fields in dispute, first in a university sphere, but also from the perspective of training people in integrative and transdisciplinary thinking that will contest the industrial-corporate food regime. Our findings suggest that the State support to university groups dedicated to the promotion of agroecology has allowed the construction of what we have named agroecological spaces, which symbolically dispute the dominant paradigms in educational institutions, supporting the constitution of material and immaterial agroecological territories. (shrink)

A linguagem para Nietzsche é considerada como uma metáfora das coisas externas produzida pelos estímulos que elas causam em nós. A partir disso, indagamos sobre a possibilidade da linguagem e da história auxiliarem na busca pela verdade. Para tal, o texto reconstrói o pensamento de Nietzsche contido em dois escritos de 1873 3 1874. Por fim, contrapormos a concepção de Nietzsche, ainda que brevemente, com a visão de Habermas para demonstrar que a história, expressa pela linguagem, deve ser crítica e, (...) com isso, conduzir a verdade. (shrink)

ResumoO direito brasileiro foi articulado em torno das categorias clássicas do liberalismo europeu. Para além do debate da compatibilidade entre liberalismo e escravidão, esse artigo pretende demonstrar como a necessidade de preservar uma escravidão semilegal constituiu institucionalidades que fizeram com que o direito brasileiro operasse problematicamente sob o registro da tradição liberal, mesmo em relação aos seus cidadãos livres. Isso não foi um “erro” do direito, uma falha, mas foi antes uma ação inteligível dos arquitetos das formas e modos de (...) funcionamento da juridicidade nacional. Nesse sentido, esse artigo pretende apontar para a necessidade de construção de uma teoria brasileira do direito que dê conta de compreender as particularidades de um sistema jurídico profundamente afetado pelo escravismo do século XIX.Palavras-chave: História do Direito. Teoria do Direito Brasileiro. Direito da Escravidão. AbstractBrazilian Law was crafted around the classical categories of European liberalism. Beyond the debate regarding the compatibility between liberalism and slavery, this paper intends to show how the need to preserve a semi-legal slavery system created illegalities that highlighted the contradictions between Brazilian Law and the liberal tradition. The resulting tensions also created consequences for free citizens, which are the focus of this paper. It demonstrates that these consequences were not mere legal defeasibility, but rather an intelligible action shaping the national legal system. The article advocates for the necessity to build a Brazilian theory of Law that takes these aspects into consideration, accounting for the systematic impact of 19th-century slavery on the idea of legality in Brazil.Keywords: Legal History. Brazilian Theory of Law. Slavery Law. (shrink)

O objetivo do artigo é compreender e apresentar a filosofia do direito no âmbito do pensamento de Edith Stein. Sob o prisma fenomenológico, há de se analisar os conceitos axiais empregados pela autora, capazes de elucidar o sentido de direito, tais como Pessoa, Comunidade e Estado, conforme defluem de seus escritos e refletivos à luz de especialistas. Com base nesses elementos, há de se perscrutar a atualidade e aplicação do seu pensamento no contexto sociojurídico contemporâneo e as possíveis consequências desta (...) aferição. Há também de se ponderar e refletir os paradigmas hegemônicos na ciência jurídica mediante às contribuições peculiares da autora. Os resultados da análise permitem entrever a densidade dos textos de Stein, cujos aportes filosóficos podem orientar hermenêutica jurídica consistente, mediante percepção metanormativa. (shrink)

This article presents a two level hierarchical forecasting model developed in a consulting project for a Brazilian magazine publishing company. The first level uses a VARMA model and considers econometric variables. The second level takes into account qualitative aspects of each publication issue, and is based on polynomial networks generated by Genetic Programming (GP).

Statistical tests that detect and measure deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) have been devised but are limited when testing for deviation at multiallelic DNA loci is attempted. Here we present the full Bayesian significance test (FBST) for the HWE. This test depends neither on asymptotic results nor on the number of possible alleles for the particular locus being evaluated. The FBST is based on the computation of an evidence index in favor of the HWE hypothesis. A great deal of (...) forensic inference based on DNA evidence assumes that the HWE is valid for the genetic loci being used. We applied the FBST to genotypes obtained at several multiallelic short tandem repeat loci during routine parentage testing; the locus Penta E exemplifies those clearly in HWE while others such as D10S1214 and D19S253 do not appear to show this. (shrink)

The discovery of participation of astrocytes as active elements in glutamatergic tripartite synapses (composed by functional units of two neurons and one astrocyte) has led to the construction of models of cognitive functioning in the human brain, focusing on associative learning, sensory integration, conscious processing and memory formation/retrieval. We have modelled human cognitive functions by means of an ensemble of functional units (tripartite synapses) connected by gap junctions that link distributed astrocytes, allowing the formation of intra- and intercellular calcium waves (...) that putatively mediate large-scale cognitive information processing. The model contains a diagram of molecular mechanisms present in tripartite synapses and contributes to explain the physiological bases of cognitive functions. It can be potentially expanded to explain emotional functions and psychiatric phenomena. (shrink)

Introduction: The importance attached to ethical practice and related informed consent varies among health professionals and is further influenced by working environments, level of knowledge, experience and societal values and beliefs. The objective of this study is to evaluate the ethical conduct of professors, undergraduates and graduate students through questionnaires answered by patients. Methods: One hundred twenty patients at the dental clinics of three different dental schools in São Paulo State were interviewed based on objective and discursive questions about signed (...) informed consent, participation in scientific research, photographs during treatment, requested saliva samples, tooth donation requests, and information about tooth destination after removal. A frequency distribution was used for a statistical analysis of the data. Results: In all, 65.8% of the patients had given signed informed consent for treatment and 12.5% had not done so; 10.8% did not know if they had participated in scientific research; 54.2% were photographed during dental procedures and 47.1% of them had signed an authorization form; 6.6% were requested to provide a saliva sample and 66.6% of them had signed an authorization form to that effect; 16.1% had a tooth donation requested and 64.4% of them had signed an authorization form to that effect; and 61.3% did not know the destination of the tooth after removal, when donation was not requested. Conclusions: The majority of the patients had signed an informed consent form for treatment, photographs, saliva samples and tooth donation. This demonstrated ethical conduct towards patients on the part of professors, undergraduates and graduate students. doi: 10.5294/pebi.2017.21.1.2. (shrink)

Este artigo é sobre a folksonomia como uma ferramenta que contribui para as atividades colaborativas de grupos de usuários na rede social acadêmica Passei Direto, com o objetivo de analisar a folksonomia como ferramenta de apoio em grupos colaborativos nessa rede social, por meio de estudo de caso holístico e exploratório, sendo realizada observação direta intensiva. A justificativa baseou-se na necessidade de compreender a potencialidade das atividades cooperativas e a solução das necessidades informacionais. Concluiu-se que a folksonomia é uma ferramenta (...) de apoio em grupos colaborativos no Passei Direto, onde os usuários, no uso de tags em práticas de indexação, visam a enriquecer e ampliar as possibilidades de acesso às informações. No entanto, apesar de representar uma ferramenta de forte cunho colaborativo, a folksonomia também deixa lacunas no tocante à recuperação da informação, dada a falta de padronização e controle dessa ferramenta, embora essas características façam parte da sua essência. (shrink)

Much forensic inference based upon DNA evidence is made assuming Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) for the genetic loci being used. Several statistical tests to detect and measure deviation from HWE have been devised, and their limitations become more obvious when testing for deviation within multiallelic DNA loci. The most popular methods-Chi-square and Likelihood-ratio tests-are based on asymptotic results and cannot guarantee a good performance in the presence of low frequency genotypes. Since the parameter space dimension increases at a quadratic rate on (...) the number of alleles, some authors suggest applying sequential methods, where the multiallelic case is reformulated as a sequence of “biallelic” tests. However, in this approach it is not obvious how to assess the general evidence of the original hypothesis; nor is it clear how to establish the significance level for its acceptance/rejection. In this work, we introduce a straightforward method for the multiallelic HWE test, which overcomes the aforementioned issues of sequential methods. The core theory for the proposed method is given by the Full Bayesian Significance Test (FBST), an intuitive Bayesian approach which does not assign positive probabilities to zero measure sets when testing sharp hypotheses. We compare FBST performance to Chi-square, Likelihood-ratio and Markov chain tests, in three numerical experiments. The results suggest that FBST is a robust and high performance method for the HWE test, even in the presence of several alleles and small sample sizes. (shrink)

Intentional sampling methods are non-probabilistic procedures that select a group of individuals for a sample with the purpose of meeting specific prescribed criteria. Intentional sampling methods are intended for exploratory research or pilot studies where tight budget constraints preclude the use of traditional randomized representative sampling. The possibility of subsequently generalize statistically from such deterministic samples to the general population has been the issue of long standing arguments and debates. Nevertheless, the intentional sampling techniques developed in this paper explore pragmatic (...) strategies for overcoming some of the real or perceived shortcomings and limitations of intentional sampling in practical applications. (shrink)

Clearing algorithms are at the core of modern payment systems, facilitating the settling of multilateral credit messages with (near) minimum transfers of currency. Traditional clearing procedures use batch processing based on MILP - mixed-integer linear programming algorithms. The MILP approach demands intensive computational resources; moreover, it is also vulnerable to operational risks generated by possible defaults during the inter-batch period. This paper presents TORC3 - the Token-Ring Clearing Algorithm for Currency Circulation. In contrast to the MILP approach, TORC3 is a (...) real time heuristic procedure, demanding modest computational resources, and able to completely shield the clearing operation against the participating agents’ risk of default. (shrink)

For the epic journey of autumn migration, long-distance migratory birds use innate and learned information and follow strict schedules imposed by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, the details of which remain largely unknown. In addition, bird migration requires integrated action of different multisensory systems for learning and memory, and the hippocampus appears to be the integration center for this task. In previous studies we found that contrasting long-distance migratory flights differentially affected the morphological complexity of two types of hippocampus astrocytes. Recently, (...) a significant association was found between the latitude of the reproductive site and the size of the ADCYAP1 allele in long distance migratory birds. We tested for correlations between astrocyte morphological complexity, migratory distances, and size of the ADCYAP1 allele in three long-distance migrant species of shorebird and one non-migrant. Significant differences among species were found in the number and morphological complexity of the astrocytes, as well as in the size of the microsatellites of the ADCYAP1 gene. We found significant associations between the size of the ADCYAP1 microsatellites, the migratory distances, and the degree of morphological complexity of the astrocytes. We suggest that associations between astrocyte number and morphological complexity, ADCYAP1 microsatellite size, and migratory behavior may be part of the adaptive response to the migratory process of shorebirds. (shrink)

Fábio Abreu dos Passos é doutor em Filosofia Política pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Atualmente é Professor do Departamento e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da Universidade Federal do Piauí – UFPI. Tem experiência na área de Filosofia, com ênfase em Filosofia Política, atuando principalmente nos temas relacionados à Filosofia Política Contemporânea, a partir dos seguintes autores: Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault e Giorgio Agamben. É autor também da obra A Faculdade do Pensamento em Hannah Arendt:: implicações políticas e (...) da organização conjunta das obras Hannah Arendt: pensamento, revolução e poder e A gramática da ação e a sintaxe do poder em Hannah Arendt. (shrink)

Livro em homenagem ao filósofo brasileiro Luiz Henrique Lopes, um dos maiores expoentes da filosofia analítica. Neste livro grandes nomes da filosofia brasileira discorrem sobre a filosofia analítica e vários assuntos da filosofia contemporânea.

A presente resenha trata da obra O CONCEITO DE MUNDO EM HANNAH ARENDT: Para uma nova filosofia política. Nesta, seu autor, o professor doutor Fábio Abreu Dos Passos aborda um conceito importante do pensamento arendtiano procuramdo mostrar que tal conceito é útil para a superação do abismo entre filosofia e política.

Not all symmetries are on a par. For instance, within Newtonian mechanics, we seem to have a good grasp on the empirical significance of boosts, by applying it to subsystems. This is exemplified by the thought experiment known as Galileo’s ship: the inertial state of motion of a ship is immaterial to how events unfold in the cabin, but is registered in the values of relational quantities such as the distance and velocity of the ship relative to the shore. But (...) the significance of gauge symmetries seems less clear. For example, can gauge transformations in Yang-Mills theory—taken as mere descriptive redundancy—exhibit a similar relational empirical significance as the boosts of Galileo’s ship? This question has been debated in the last fifteen years in philosophy of physics. I will argue that the answer is ‘yes’, but only for a finite subset of gauge transformations, and under special conditions. Under those conditions, we can mathematically identify empirical significance with a failure of supervenience: the state of the Universe is not uniquely determined by the intrinsic state of its isolated subsystems. Empirical significance is therefore encoded in those relations between subsystems that stand apart from their intrinsic states. (shrink)

This text represents our first attempting to offer a Metaphysic model to interpret the late modernity (which emerges in the middle of the 18th century and goes along until the end of the IIWW) through the concept of Teleontology. Thus, Teleontology means the procedure of the spirit of the late modern age to shift its paradigms from ontology (an investigation about the being as being, in which existence means an attribute) to teleology, in which essence must be conquered and revealed (...) in the final of a progressive process. Instead of Being, Man became the main object of this investigation; the question of the being as being has given way as to an enlightened concept of being-man (never reached) as also to the task to achieve this in order to satisfy what reason designed to human species. However, as this project of achieving the concept of Being-Man advanced, its true nature became clear: a unilateral and arbitrary colonial expansion, which forced everyone to follow Teleontological paradigms. Teleontology can demonstrate that Greek-Christian metaphysics means a particular element (never universal) submitted to a specific culture and, in this case, expresses the structure of Eurocentric thought that became global by way of the expanding of capitalism/colonialism. Specifically, in this text, we propose to investigate: 1 - what is Teleontology; 2 - what are its objects; 3 - what are its origins. (shrink)

Local gauge theories are in a complicated relationship with boundaries. Whereas fixing the gauge can often shave off unwanted redundancies, the coupling of different bounded regions requires the use of gauge-variant elements. Therefore, coupling is inimical to gauge-fixing, as usually understood. This resistance to gauge-fixing has led some to declare the coupling of subsystems to be the \textit{raison d'\^etre} of gauge \cite{RovelliGauge2013}. Indeed, while gauge-fixing is entirely unproblematic for a single region without boundary, it introduces arbitrary boundary conditions on the (...) gauge degrees of freedom themselves---these conditions lack a physical interpretation when they are not functionals of the original fields. Such arbitrary boundary choices creep into the calculation of charges through Noether's second theorem, muddling the assignment of physical charges to local gauge symmetries. The confusion brewn by gauge at boundaries is well-known, and must be contended with both conceptually and technically. It may seem natural to replace the arbitrary boundary choice with new degrees of freedom, for using such a device we resolve some of these confusions while leaving no gauge-dependence on the computation of Noether charges \cite{DonnellyFreidel}. But, concretely, such boundary degrees of freedom are rather arbitrary---they have no relation to the original field-content of the field theory. How should we conceive of them? Here I will explicate the problems mentioned above and illustrate a possible resolution: in a recent series of papers \cite{GomesRiello2016, GomesRiello2018, GomesHopfRiello} the notion of a connection-form was put forward and implemented in the field-space of gauge theories. Using this tool, a modified version of symplectic geometry---here called `horizontal'---is possible. Independently of boundary conditions, this formalism bestows to each region a physically salient, relational notion of charge: the horizontal Noether charge. Meanwhile, as required, the connection-form mediates an irenic composition of regions, one compatible with the attribution of horizontal Noether charges to each region. Thes aims of this paper are to highlight the boundary issues in the treatment of gauge, and to discuss how gauge theory may be conceptually clarified in light of a resolution to these issues. (shrink)

In a recent paper, Pruss proves the validity of the rule beta-2 relative to Lewis’s semantics for counterfactuals, which is a significant step forward in the debate about the consequence argument. Yet, we believe there remain intuitive counter-examples to beta-2 formulated with the actuality operator and rigidified descriptions. We offer a novel and two-dimensional formulation of the Lewisian semantics for counterfactuals and prove the validity of a new transfer rule according to which a new version of the consequence argument can (...) be formulated. This new transfer rule is immune to the counter-examples involving the actuality operator and rigidified descriptions. However, we show that counter-examples to this new rule can also be generated, demanding that the Lewisian semantics be generalized for higher dimensions where counter-examples can always be generated. (shrink)

Focused on city-scale automation, and using self-driving cars (SDCs) as a case study, this article reflects on the role of AI—and in particular, computer vision systems used for mapping and navigation—as a catalyst for urban transformation. Urban research commonly presents AI and cities as having a one-way cause-and-effect relationship, giving undue weight to AI’s impact on cities and overlooking the role of cities in shaping AI. Working at the intersection of data science and social research, this paper aims to counter (...) this trend by exploring the reverse perspective: how do cities affect the development, and expose the present limits, of SDCs? The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, by comparing urban and nonurban environments and thoroughly examining the relationship between computer vision and city-specific sociality and form, it defines machine autonomy/automation as a function of the sociotechnical milieu in which an AI system operates. Second, and related, the paper problematizes the notion of SDCs as autonomous technologies and the role it plays in envisioning contending policy arrangements and technical solutions for achieving full driving automation. Finally, the article offers insight into a materialist and spatialized understanding of AI—namely, not as an abstract quality susceptible to replication within discrete machines, but rather as a distributed property emerging through embodied interactions among a multiplicity of agents (human, non-human, and technological) within/with their environments. (shrink)

Populism is widely thought to be in tension with liberal democracy. This article clarifies what exactly is problematic about populism from a liberal–democratic point of view and goes on to develop normative standards that allow us to distinguish between more and less legitimate forms of populism. The point of this exercise is not to dismiss populism in toto; the article strives for a more subtle result, namely, to show that liberal democracy can accommodate populism provided that the latter conforms to (...) particular discursive norms. What the article calls a ‘liberal ethics of populism’ turns out to be closely bound up with a broader ethics of peoplehood, understood as a way of articulating who ‘the people’ are in a way that is compatible with liberal–democratic principles of political justification. Such an ethics, concludes the article, inevitably has a much wider audience than populist political actors: its addressees are all those who seek legitimately to exercise power in the name of the people. (shrink)

In a recent article, P. Roger Turner and Justin Capes argue that no one is, or ever was, even partly morally responsible for certain world-indexed truths. Here we present our reasons for thinking that their argument is unsound: It depends on the premise that possible worlds are maximally consistent states of affairs, which is, under plausible assumptions concerning states of affairs, demonstrably false. Our argument to show this is based on Bertrand Russell’s original ‘paradox of propositions’. We should then opt (...) for a different approach to explain world-indexed truths whose upshot is that we may be morally responsible for some of them. The result to the effect that there are no maximally consistent states of affairs is independently interesting though, since this notion motivates an account of the nature of possible worlds in the metaphysics of modality. We also register in this article, independently of our response to Turner and Capes, and in the spirit of Russell’s aforementioned paradox and many other versions thereof, a proof of the claim that there is no set of all true propositions one can render false. (shrink)

After a brief introduction to issues that plague the realization of a theory of quantum gravity, I suggest that the main one concerns defining superpositions of causal structures. This leads me to a distinction between time and space, to a further degree than that present in the canonical approach to general relativity. With this distinction, one can make sense of superpositions as interference between alternative paths in the relational configuration space of the entire Universe. But the full use of relationalism (...) brings us to a timeless picture of Nature, as it does in the canonical approach. After a discussion of Parmenides and the Eleatics' rejection of time, I show that there is middle ground between their view of absolute timelessness and a view of physics taking place in timeless configuration space. In this middle ground, even though change does not fundamentally exist, the illusion of change can be recovered in a way not permitted by Parmenides. It is recovered through a particular density distribution over configuration space which gives rise to 'records'. Incidentally, this distribution seems to have the potential to dissolve further aspects of the measurement problem that can still be argued to haunt the application of decoherence to Many-Worlds quantum mechanics. I end with a discussion indicating that the conflict between the conclusions of this paper and our view of the continuity of the self may still intuitively bother us. Nonetheless, those conclusions should be no more challenging to our intuition than Derek Parfit's thought experiments on the subject. (shrink)

It is a widely held principle that no one is able to do something that would require the past to have been different from how it actually is. This principle of the fixity of the past has been presented in numerous ways, playing a crucial role in arguments for logical and theological fatalism, and for the incompatibility of causal determinism and the ability to do otherwise. I will argue that, assuming bivalence, this principle is in conflict with standard views about (...) knowledge and the semantics for ‘actually’. I also consider many possible responses to the argument. (shrink)

Populist movements have become key players in European politics. These movements are readily criticized by journalists or political rivals, yet none of the common objections to populism seems to arrest their success. This article turns to normative political theory to cultivate sensitivity to problems arising from some existing arguments against populism, and to explore possible alternatives. It offers a critical reading of prototypical liberal and conservative arguments against populism, and proposes that the principles of solidarity and procedure provide good grounds (...) for a sustainable critique of populism. (shrink)

Popular sovereignty requires that citizens perceive themselves as being able to act and implement decisions, and that they are de facto causally connected to mechanisms of decision making. I argue that the two most common understandings of the exercise of popular sovereignty—which center on direct decision making by the people as a whole and the indirect exercise of democratic agency by elected representatives, respectively—are inadequate in this respect, and go on to suggest a complementary account that stresses the central role (...) of internally democratic and participatory political parties in actualising popular sovereignty, drawing on the democratic theory of Hans Kelsen. (shrink)

Populism is widely thought to be in tension with liberal democracy. This article clarifies what exactly is problematic about populism from a liberal–democratic point of view and goes on to develop...

Why is gauge symmetry so important in modern physics, given that one must eliminate it when interpreting what the theory represents? In this paper we discuss the sense in which gauge symmetry can be fruitfully applied to constrain the space of possible dynamical models in such a way that forces and charges are appropriately coupled. We review the most well-known application of this kind, known as the 'gauge argument' or 'gauge principle', discuss its difficulties, and then reconstruct the gauge argument (...) as a valid theorem in quantum theory. We then present what we take to be a better and more general gauge argument, based on Noether's second theorem in classical Lagrangian field theory, and argue that this provides a more appropriate framework for understanding how gauge symmetry helps to constrain the dynamics of physical theories. (shrink)

This article aims to rethink the meaning of “nature” and the human in Plato, more specifically through some examples contained in the _Phaedrus_, a rare dialogue further away from the city. Phaedrus and Socrates leave Athens on a path outside the walls, past the Ilisus stream and the breeze of the woods, and end up sitting in the shadows of trees full of singing cicadas. What is the meaning of this scenario in the construction o the text? Is it possible (...) to learn from oak trees or insects? The philosophizing of this dialogue passes through the coolness of the shadows of the trees in the hot summer noon. This sensuous topography through the text reveals the writer Plato wary of the enveloping meaning of the living drama between Phaedrus and Socrates. The audience and participation of natural elements, trees and cicadas in the dialogue reveals an involvement of the discourse with the surrounding atmosphere, a special concern of Socrates in his palinode and in his final prayer to Pan. In this dialogue, more than distinct and removed from nature, we think the human being (and reason) immersed in it - in an attempt to integrate a mythological and dialogical search between river, rock, plants, animals, humans, gods and demigods. The image of an overly rationalist and humanist Plato finds in this text a perspective of an inspired writer, a hybrid poet and philosopher, with a mission to restore language and the city to animal and cosmic life. (shrink)

Since communication and expression are central aspects of music performance it is important to develop a systematic pedagogy of teaching children and teenagers expressiveness. Although research has been growing in this area a comprehensive literature review that unifies the different approaches to teaching young musicians expressiveness has been lacking. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide an overview of literature related to teaching and learning of expressiveness from music psychology and music education research in order to build a (...) new theoretical framework for teaching and learning expressive music performance in instrumental music lessons with children and teenagers. The article will start with a brief discussion of interpretation and expression in music performance, before providing an overview of studies that investigated teaching and learning of performance expression in instrumental music education with adults and children. On the foundation of this research a theoretical framework for dialogic teaching and learning of expressive music performance will be proposed and the rationale explained. Dialogic teaching can be useful for scaffolding young musicians’ learning of expressivity as open questions can stimulate thinking about the interpretation and may serve to connect musical ideas to the embodied experience of the learner. A “toolkit” for teaching and learning of expressiveness will be presented for practical application in music lessons. In addition, a theoretical model will be proposed to further our understanding of teaching and learning of expressive music performance as a multifaceted and interactive process that is embedded in the context of tutors’ and learners’ experiences and environment. Finally, implications of this framework and suggestions for future research will be discussed. (shrink)

We review three broadly geometrodynamical---and in part, Machian or relational---projects, from the perspective of spacetime functionalism. We show how all three are examples of functionalist reduction of the type that was advocated by D. Lewis, and nowadays goes by the label `the Canberra Plan’. The projects are: the recovery of geometrodynamics by Hojman et al. ; the programme of Schuller and collaborators to deduce a metric from the physics of matter fields; the deduction of the ADM Hamiltonian by Gomes and (...) Shyam. We end by drawing a positive corollary about shape dynamics: namely, it has a good rationale for the Hamiltonian it postulates. (shrink)

Neste artigo analisamos o conceito de eu quantificado a partir na Perspectiva de Segunda Pessoa, segundo a qual a eu-dade, ou pessoalidade, é atualizada em relações contexto-dependentes de total ou parcial transparência cognitiva não redutíveis aos aspectos considerados nas perspectivas de primeira ou de terceira pessoa. O eu quantificado designa o indivíduo que realiza medições sobre si mesmo por meio de tecnologias ubíquas em rede para obter um suposto maior autoconhecimento, instanciando, segundo alguns autores, um ponto de vista de Quarta (...) Pessoa constituído por relações de alteridade (pessoa-máquina-pessoa) emergentes, em especial, em um cenário sociocultural permeado por tecnologias ubíquas e análises de big data. Procuraremos problematizar a tese de que o automonitoramento digital promoveria um aprofundamento do autoconhecimento, defendida pelos postuladores da quantificação do eu. Procuraremos mostrar que a coleta de dados sobre si mesmo por meio de tecnologias ubíquas não favorece necessariamente a constituição/atualização da pessoalidade porque o automonitoramento digital mediado pode interferir significativamente nos modos de interação social da Segunda Pessoa e no autoconhecimento que tal interação pode promover. (shrink)

In recent times, representation theory has become one of the most productive and interesting sub-fields in democratic theory. Arguably, the most important theoretical innovation are the so-called ‘constructivist’ approaches to political representation. These approaches play a central role in Creating Political Presence: The New Politics of Democratic Representation and The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation, two impressive volumes that take stock of the state of the art in representation theory. I discuss the two volumes by focusing on three broader and (...) interconnected themes: the problem that constructivism is meant to respond to, the tendency of representation theorists to expand the possibilities of representation as broadly as possible, and the normative aspects of political representation and how constructivists deal with them. (shrink)

Evolutionary Debunking Arguments are defined as arguments that appeal to the evolutionary genealogy of our beliefs to undermine their justification. Recently, Helen De Cruz and her co-authors supported the view that EDAs are self-defeating: if EDAs claim that human arguments are not justified, because the evolutionary origin of the beliefs which figure in such arguments undermines those beliefs, and EDAs themselves are human arguments, then EDAs are not justified, and we should not accept their conclusions about the fact that human (...) arguments are unjustified. De Cruz's objection to EDAs is similar to the objection raised by Reuben Hersh against the claim that, since by Gödel's second incompleteness theorem the purpose of mathematical logic to give a secure foundation for mathematics cannot be achieved, mathematics cannot be said to be absolutely certain. The response given by Carlo Cellucci to Hersh's objection shows that the claim that by Gödel's results mathematics cannot be said to be absolutely certain is not self-defeating, and can be adopted to show that EDAs are not self-defeating as well in a twofold sense: an argument analogous to Cellucci's one may be developed to face De Cruz's objection, and such argument may be further refined incorporating Cellucci's response itself in it, to make it stronger. This paper aims at showing that the accusation of being self-defeating moved against EDAs is inadequate by elaborating an argument which can be considered an EDA and which can also be shown not to be self-defeating. (shrink)