As suicide rates increase worldwide, the mental health industry has reached an impasse in attempts to assess patients, predict risk, and prevent suicide. Traditional assessment tools are no more accurate than chance, prompting the need to explore new avenues in artificial intelligence (AI). Early studies into these tools show potential with higher accuracy rates than previous methods alone. Medical researchers, computer scientists, and social media companies are exploring these avenues. While Facebook leads the pack, its efforts stem from scrutiny following (...) suicides and suicide attempts broadcasted on Facebook Live. The company continues to face scrutiny for ethical, privacy, and safety concerns associated with the quick rollout of proprietary AI technology that seems more focused on the optics of the company than the protection of its billions of users. This paper explores some of these issues, including a lack of transparency, questionable data practices, escalation to law enforcement, little to no regulation, potential for bias, increased viewership of troubling content, and worsening thoughts of suicide among vulnerable Facebook users. Despite AI tools showing promise in improving the accuracy of suicide risk predictions over traditional methods, without regulation, external review, and increased protection of users and data, these tools have the potential to cause more harm than good in the hands of powerful companies like Facebook. (shrink)

Technology integration in education has transformed learning, highlighting tools such as ChatGPT in teaching English. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the integration of ChatGPT in Latin America's Higher Education. The methodology was qualitative and descriptive, with a literature review design. It shows that students and teachers value ChatGPT in English teaching, highlighting its potential to improve writing, feedback, and academic engagement. However, ethical challenges, technological dependence, the digital divide, and contextual limitations are identified in Latin America. The studies suggest (...) the need for formative strategies and regulatory frameworks that ensure responsible use adapted to cultural and institutional particularities to maximize significant educational benefits. It is concluded that, despite the remarkable interest and potential of ChatGPT to improve English language learning, there are challenges in integration, training, digital divide, and regulation, particularly in Latin American contexts. (shrink)

Je cherche à défendre la démocratie délibérative en soumettant à la critique l'un de ses concurrents théoriques : le pluralisme agonistique de Chantal Mouffe. Premièrement, je reconstruis la vision que la démocratie délibérative et le pluralisme agonistique ont de la relation entre le politique et la vérité. Deuxièmement, je relie la position de chaque doctrine sur cette relation à la distinction entre délibération et négociation. Troisièmement, je démontre que la doctrine de Mouffe, en niant qu'il existe une relation entre le (...) politique et la vérité, défend une version de la politique où prédomine le déploiement de l'action stratégique. Je soutiens que cela contribue à la marchandisation de la politique. Enfin, je soutiens que cette manière de faire de la politique est hautement dysfonctionnelle. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI) appears to be an unstoppable phenomenon that will increasingly conquer more areas of our lives and in a more intimate way. One of the areas where this disruptive technology could have a major impact is the field of law. Numerous studies already support the enormous advantages that AI could have on citizens’ right of access to justice. However, like all technological advances, it has uses, both current and future, that could be “unacceptable” or “high-risk” in any democratic (...) country governed by the rule of law that holds human dignity as a supreme value. In these cases, only adequate regulation can establish the scope and limits of the use of this technology. Thus, in this paper, we analyze the current state of AI in the administration of justice in Ibero-America at the regulatory level and explore the different tools that are already being applied in this field in the region. The European Union’s AI Law will be taken as a reference. (shrink)

Este ensaio discute as relações entre conhecimento, linguagem e educação no campo dos documentos educacionais que são produzidos e reproduzidos nos dias de hoje. Para tal, nos apoiamos nos escritos de Nietzsche e sobre Nietzsche, buscando identificar os paralelos com os diagnósticos do autor naquele tempo com o cenário atual, no qual organismos multilaterais como a OCDE ditam os rumos das políticas educacionais de diversas nações, inclusive do Brasil, com relatórios, pareceres e avaliações em larga escala. Concluímos que os documentos (...) e as palavras escolhidas carregam ideologias e um projeto de sociedade. (shrink)

Most research on women’s empowerment in agriculture focuses on households that rely on crop farming activities and livestock systems. Despite an estimated 12 million dairy farms in the Global South, less is known about women’s empowerment in dairy farming. Recognising the unique structure of dairy production, we adapted the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) to include dairy-specific tasks across four domains: production, resources, income, and leadership, offering an adapted tool to examine women’s empowerment in dairy farming. This study (...) draws on survey data from 435 husband-wife couples in smallholder dairy households in West Java Province, Indonesia. Using a modified A-WEAI, our calculation suggests that, although both women and men in dairy households are generally empowered, women exhibit higher levels of empowerment than men. However, looking at the individual indicators that construct the index, women are less empowered in specific domains. For example, in the leadership domain, women participate less in dairy cooperatives, which provide key services such as access to market, inputs and training. Sensitivity analysis using different thresholds (80%, 70%, and 60%) showed that while women’s empowerment levels remained unchanged, men’s varied considerably. This variation reflects the key role women play in managing household income in Southeast Asian societies, highlighting the importance of context-specific interpretation of metrics. These findings reflect the gendered division of responsibilities in dairy farming households and highlight the need to adapt women’s empowerment indicators to specific farming systems and interpret them within the local institutional and cultural contexts in which they are measured. (shrink)

El trabajo aborda el análisis, desde una perspectiva sociodiscursiva, de veinte cartas de relación escritas por religiosos y cuatro realizadas por conquistadores durante los siglos XVI y XVII en la Nueva España. El propósito es advertir el tipo de condicionamientos que presentan esta clase de epístolas, modelos rígidos que a través del tiempo se continúan y que determinan formas, fórmulas y estructuras. También se quiere mostrar cómo la configuración del _ethos_, en los misioneros, se ve determinada por el imaginario social. (...) A través del análisis se pretende dar cuenta de que en la conformación del carácter del emisor interviene no solo la imagen que se tenga de sí mismo, también la relación u oposición que se obtiene de la imagen del otro. Se llega a la conclusión de que el _ethos_ de los religiosos, a diferencia del de los conquistadores, se configura como un estereotipo colectivo dentro del entramado social novohispano. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se abordan algunas de las políticas para la contención del Covid-19 adoptadas en los centros penitenciarios de Chile, partiendo de un diagnóstico de vulnerabilidad que afecta al grupo de personas reclusas, previo a la pandemia, pero que se profundiza con ella. Se propone la incorporación de la categoría de discriminación estructural en el sistema de ejecución penal, como una herramienta de análisis de la cuestión carcelaria.

In this work we review the formalism used in describing the thermodynamics of first-order phase transitions from the point of view of maximum entropy inference. We present the concepts of transition temperature, latent heat and entropy difference between phases as emergent from the more fundamental concept of internal energy, after a statistical inference analysis. We explicitly demonstrate this point of view by making inferences on a simple game, resulting in the same formalism as in thermodynamical phase transitions. We show that (...) analogous quantities will inevitably arise in any problem of inferring the result of a yes/no question, given two different states of knowledge and information in the form of expectation values. This exposition may help to clarify the role of these thermodynamical quantities in the context of different first-order phase transitions such as the case of magnetic Hamiltonians. (shrink)

: This work proposes the methodology to obtain a correlation between the particle size of the rock material and the point load test index, in order to characterize the materials, present in mining projects in terms of resistance. For a correct development of mining activities, both open pit and underground, it is important to determine the compressive strength of the rocks, since, through it, geomechanical classifications are obtained, and thus calculate safety factors to define stabilization and/or fortification systems for mining (...) operations. This work was developed on the basis of samples from a geological formation and subsequent preparation of specimens, then they were subjected to physical tests, which can be carried out without problem in the field, and finally, the respective relationships were obtained. The results are encouraging and the equations are proposed to characterize the rock and achieve the proposed objective. Keywords: Rock, Crushing, Classification, Compression. (shrink)

Este trabajo pretende poner de manifiesto la incompatibilidad entre las formas hegemónicas para elaboración de relatos de ficción audiovisuales de circulación masiva y las características específicas de los hechos que describen las teorías darwinistas. Esta incompatibilidad explica la tendencia a «forzar» la adaptación y selección de hechos evolutivos representados en detrimento del rigor científico y el valor divulgativo de los productos culturales de cine y televisión respecto a las mencionadas teorías.

The present work tried to analyze the emergency of a feminine social movement of defense against the hunger and the misery through different theoretical concepts, particularly taken from authors like of Ipola, Jelin and Evers. The central axis of the essay is the collective action of a group of women who opened a communitarian dining room to satisfy the basic food needs of the district.

Molecular cloning of the genes encoding the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors has shwon that receptor subtypes classified on the basis of pharmacological properties are related polypeptides encoded by distinct genes. These studies have laso revealed the existence of novel muscarinic receptor subtypes. Functional analysis of each of the subtypes expressed in mammalian cells indicates that the different subtypes activate distinct biochemical pathways, a finding that explains the tissue‐specific physiological response elicited by the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.

Este artículo trata sobre las violencias entre estudiantes y las aborda como constitutivas de la conformación de un entramado de vinculación juvenil en la escuela media; allí donde se juegan cotidianamente procesos identitarios que implican la tensión entre identificación y diferenciación, a través de la re-constitución de taxonomías sociales. Dentro de la tradición de investigación cualitativa nos centramos en la perspectiva narrativa de análisis, en base a la cual construimos un esquema analítico que fue aplicado a micro relatos de situaciones (...) conflictivas entre jóvenes de primer año de escuelas secundarias de Córdoba, Argentina. Este proceso de análisis nos ha permitido diferenciar contextos relacionales de emergencia de violencias así como caracterizar distintas formas de manifestación y sentidos que adquiere para los actores que la vivencian, ya sea como protagonistas o como espectadores. (shrink)

Erik Wielenberg recently invoked the parent-child analogy in an argument against Christian theism. The argument relies on the claim that a loving parent would never allow her child to feel abandoned in the midst of what feels like gratuitous suffering. In this paper, I offer three clear counterexamples to Wielenberg’s central premise. At the same time, a successful counterexample does not a robust theology of suffering make. To that end, and with a careful eye towards anti-theodical concerns, I defend the (...) need for a more proactive Christian philosophical examination of the role of suffering in a meaningful life. (shrink)

Dru Johnson’s account of Hebraic philosophy seems well-suited for the task of reconciling the Christian account of God with the reality of suffering. I outline two ways in which this is the case: one retrospective, one proactive. Looking back, if biblical philosophy is mysterionist, creationist, transdemographic, and ritualist, then we might understand the failure of a certain kind of theodicy in light of its failure to meet one or more of these criteria. Looking forward, we ought to keep these features (...) in mind. I conclude by suggesting that Johnson’s account of truth is, in fact, best understood as a correspondence account. (shrink)

Research traditions on cognition and depression focus on relatively unconnected aspects of cognitive functioning. On one hand, the neuropsychological perspective has concentrated on cognitive control difficulties as a prominent feature of this condition. On the other hand, the clinical psychology perspective has focused on cognitive biases and repetitive negative patterns of thinking for emotional information. A review of the literature from both fields reveals that difficulties are more evident for mood-congruent materials, suggesting that cognitive control difficulties interact with cognitive biases (...) to hinder cognitive switching, working memory updating, and inhibition of irrelevant information. Connecting research from these two traditions, we propose a novel integrative cognitive model of depression in which the interplay between mood-congruent cognitive control difficulties, cognitive biases, and rumination may ultimately lead to ineffective emotion-regulation strategies to downregulate negative mood and upregulate positive mood. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Changing Human Nature: Ecology, Ethics, Genes, and God by James C. PetersonDolores L. ChristieChanging Human Nature: Ecology, Ethics, Genes, and God James C. Peterson Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2010. 259 pp. $18.00Grounding himself in the Christian tradition, James Peterson argues for the moral efficacy of human genetic manipulation. Interpreting intentional intervention as part of human stewardship rather than as a wrongful interference with some divine plan, he takes (...) on the sticky questions, making critical distinctions, for example, between cure and enhancement or welcoming children as they come and making them “better.” Not neglecting future implications of current tinkering with human biology, even in such taboo areas as gamete selection, he contends that engineering a baby free of harmful genes (for example, Tay-Sachs or Down syndrome) not only makes that person better, but it also eliminates an ongoing burden to family, to society, and perhaps to future generations. Treading gingerly among the sacred cows of some Christian ethicists, he advocates the implanting of selected embryos free of unwanted genes; in his view, embryos are not yet persons.Peterson considers serious concerns such as eugenics projects and racial bias but offers standards to address them. He contends that intentionally increasing choices for our children is not only acceptable but also praiseworthy. What parents would not optimize the educational and social opportunities for their child, even without the child’s consent? Interventions should be safe, offer genuine improvement, increase the recipient’s capacity, and make the best use of limited resources. Peterson is not so naive that he does not recognize that technology does not always make us better. He recognizes, too, that his standards do not eliminate risk.Fair enough, but the issue of what “improvement” may mean to the individual as well as to the greater community remains somewhat ambiguous. Peterson suggests that broadening the decision making among a variety of professional and individual cohorts would help, but his argument is not totally persuasive. In sum, Peterson’s treatment falls short of offering a totally satisfying standard for determining which characteristics should be manipulated and which should be accepted. Nor does he demonstrate definitively how a [End Page 187] Christian perspective would contribute to sorting out possible choices. Does the deaf parents’ desire for their child to be deaf like them constitute an instance where intervention should not be attempted? Can the disparate cohorts he suggests as arbiters rise above their own biases? Does Christianity and its belief system offer answers? Readers—even readers who call themselves Christian—will likely be persuaded that genetic intervention is a good, and even compatible with their religious perspective. Nonetheless, they will harbor lingering doubts about how the questions can best be solved, who should solve them, and how Christian belief helps sort among the possibilities. In his closing comments Peterson appears to agree.The book is rich in research and in provocative ideas. It is an exciting book. It is a readable and enlightened contribution to the professional conversation on gene therapy. Peterson’s research is extensive, his argumentation balanced. His attempt to locate the question within the Christian tradition is laudable. Happily, Peterson eschews a creationist approach to world and human origins. Unhappily, his approach to the scriptural text is not always nuanced. His assertion that Jesus himself was different biologically from other human beings (132) seems a stretch. If one takes the passages of Jesus’s biological origins literally, as apparently does the author, what happens to the assertion that Jesus is like other human beings “in all things but sin”? And where did Jesus get the Y chromosomes? While he persuades the reader that genetic intervention is compatible with a Christian worldview, Peterson does not offer—at least in this reviewer’s view—an adequate criterion for navigating this new world of the possible.Dolores L. ChristieJohn Carroll UniversityCopyright © 2013 Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Professional Sexual Ethics: A Holistic Ministry Approach ed. by Patricia Beattie Jung and Darryl W. StephensDolores L. ChristieProfessional Sexual Ethics: A Holistic Ministry Approach Edited by Patricia Beattie Jung and Darryl W. Stephens minneapolis: fortress press, 2013. 256 pp. $24.00.Sex is a powerful element in human life. It infects politics and power struggles, baby making, and the world of marketing. This book cuts across denominational lines to address (...) the impact of hot-button sexual issues on ministry. It presents a holistic approach, articulating honestly the sexual reality of the minister and the need to name and nurture it. Knowledge of the sexual self and of skills needed to deal adequately with sexual dilemmas in personal and professional relationships are essential to successful ministry.The book is made up of twenty essays and is divided into four sections. The first section, “Ethical Landscape of Ministry,” deals primarily with ministers themselves. It considers sexual wholeness, the murky area of exploitation, and boundaries in ministerial relationships. This portion of the book could serve as a valuable tutorial for novice ministers or as a refresher course for those [End Page 217] long in the ministerial tooth. The second section, “Sources of Wisdom,” considers inherited historical conclusions that influence how we think about sex, revisiting the usual suspects—Augustine and Aquinas—but also including contemporary insights from liberation and feminist thought. Culturally conditioned assumptions about marriage, gender variety, self-love and self-care, and the distinctions among friendship, love, and sex are explored. “Practices of Ministry,” the third section, covers everything from clergy dating to teaching sexual ethics in a congregational setting. The essays address such central issues as power, intimacy, and sexual feelings. One of the most interesting essays deals with the implications of sex for preaching; listeners in the pew may infer something entirely different from what preachers think they are communicating.Since most people involved in ministry have likely considered many of the aforementioned topics before reading this book, perhaps the most helpful part—even for experienced ministers—is the final section, “Pastoral Leadership.” Social media, online pornography, and the endurance of digital utterances have added a new dimension to sexual ethics in ministry. Moral lapses by congregational ministers have become an increasingly public problem.All of the essays are brief and to the point. “Thick” cases are used generously to illustrate delicate or even dangerous situations that might occur in the professional and personal lives of ministers. Each case is paired with good analysis and practical solutions, and sometimes a checklist to facilitate application of the authors’ thinking. Also offered are suggestions for personal reflection and discernment by the minister and principles or criteria for dealing with difficult issues. These include guidelines for dealing with adolescents and congregational education on sex. As a consistently taboo subject, it is refreshing to hear voices advocating for systematic sexual instruction for the local church. Each author includes a pertinent bibliography.It is difficult to review twenty essays adequately, particularly with the richness each offers. Which marvelous chocolate should I choose? The reader may decide to savor one at a time. Discussion questions demand reflection on the issues that touch the reader, like red wine to enhance the taste of each chocolate. This book teaches ethics in the best way—as a real life activity rather than a spectator sport—and there are only a few weaknesses. For some reason the book ends with an itemization of quoted scripture passages, which might have been more useful had connections been made to specific issues. And while the book affirms healthy sex and offers suggestions for dealing with sexual problems that ministers might encounter, it has little to say about the peculiar situation of celibate Catholic clergy. Nevertheless, this modest volume is a must read for both the novice minister and the seasoned practitioner. [End Page 218]Dolores L. ChristieJohn Carroll UniversityCopyright © 2016 Society of Christian Ethics... (shrink)

This article provides a discussion of the concepts of politics, sovereignty and man in the thinking of CARL SCHMITT and THOMAS HOBBES, clarifying certain similarities and differences between the two authors. It attempts to understand the well-known theory of the German author concerning that which is political, as drawn from the struggle and distinction between friend/foe in light of the threat posed by the Hobbesian state of nature and the meaning of war. These ideas call for a State that does (...) not arise as the result of a contract, but from unity based on exclusions, according to SCHMITT. The Acerca de los conceptos de política Dolores Marcos y soberanía en Carl Schmitt y Thomas Hobbes need for an absolute power that can protect and coerce connects with certain features of HOBBES´ Leviathan. Finally, the conflictive dimension of man is understood as essential for the political realm, which is based, precisely, on egotistical and dange rous features in human beings. Understanding this sphere turns out to be essential for developing an approach to the resolution of conflicts. (shrink)

Believing Philosophy Video Lectures introduces Christians to the tools and resources of philosophy, helping them understand, articulate, and defend their faith in an age of unbelief. Dolores G. Morris first explains why Christians should read and study philosophy. She begins by introducing learners to the long tradition of Christian philosophy and then explains the basic resources of philosophical reasoning: the role and aim of reason; distinctions between truth, reason, and provability; learning to read like a philosopher; and the fundamentals (...) of philosophical arguments. In the remaining sessions, Morris explores a sampling of philosophical topics relevant to the Christian faith. These lessons focus on the problem of evil and the moral argument for the existence of God. The problem of evil is often invoked as an argument for atheism. In response, the moral argument considers the reality not only of evil but also of moral values in general as evidence for the existence of God. In evaluating these arguments, Morris introduces students to a variety of Christian philosophical positions, including skeptical theism, the free will defense, Reformed epistemology, Christian ethical theories, and a number of theodicies and defenses of the faith. (shrink)

Resumen: En los últimos años ha cobrado relevancia académica en el ámbito de los derechos humanos, un debate sobre la propuesta de la estudiosa estadounidense Martha Albertson Fineman de entender la vulnerabilidad como una condición humana universal, innata y constante. Esta nueva conceptualización de la vulnerabilidad se ha presentado como la base teórica de un paradigma alternativo a la teoría liberal del Estado y de los derechos. El presente trabajo analiza algunos puntos críticos de este nuevo paradigma en su relación (...) con la idea de igualdad, especialmente en la medida en que se presenta como una nueva formulación de la idea de igualdad sustantiva, capaz de transcender las limitaciones que se señalan a la noción liberal de igualdad formal y al derecho antidiscriminatorio construido sobre esa noción. Abstract: The proposal advanced by US theorist Martha Albertson Fineman for reconceptualising the notion of vulnerability as a human condition, universal, inherent and constant, has acquired growing academic moment in the field of human rights. This new conceptualisation has been presented as the theoretical foundation for a new political and legal paradigm, alternative to liberal theory. This essay assesses some critical points in this new paradigm in its relation with the idea of equality, especially inasmuch as vulnerability appears as a new formula for substantive equality, capable of transcending the limitations of the liberal notion of formal equality and the antidiscrimination law that is founded thereupon. (shrink)

The acceptance of causal closure has had a profoundly limiting effect on the philosophical treatment of sui generis mental causation in recent decades. Philosophical treatments of special divine action have been likewise hampered by a widespread commitment to closure. If fundamental reality is as closure tells us it is, then nonphysical minds—human and divine— are either causally impotent or redundant. In this paper, I reject this limitation as baseless. Specifically, I will show how Hempel’s dilemma poses a far greater challenge (...) when applied to a causal closure principle than it did to the task of defining physicalism. Reponses to the dilemma can be used to disambiguate closure, but not without significant cost. In light of Hempel’s dilemma, there is no conception of closure that can do all of the following: rule out sui generis mental causation, have a reasonable chance of being true, and avoid problematic circularity. At the end of the day, I maintain that closure, properly understood, is, or ought to be, just one methodological stance among many. If this is correct, it is a stance that a theist can freely reject. (shrink)

Wheeler's contribution in this unique partnership gives a woman's consciousness to the philosophy of sexual equality.

O artigo ten como obxectivo facer un percorrido por tres momentos da escritura filosófica no que o fenómeno do límite ou fronteira do pensamento se pon claramente de manifesto no discurso. En primeiro lugar, Kant, como artífice da produtiva noción dunha “fronteira [Grenze]” da razón como condición e límite do pensamento; en segundo lugar, Hegel, como o seu máximo crítico na “asunción [Aufhebung]” da negación da fronteira kantiana; e, finalmente, Kierkegaard, cuxa contribución á discusión dos seus predecesores consiste no “pathos (...) [Lidenskab]” do límite que Kant demarca e Hegel supera, pois no caso do pensador dinamarqués o límite da filosofía é ao mesmo tempo paradoxo, é dicir, algo que non pode ser coñecido senón tan só re-coñecido pola razón e que pon xustamente a razón no seu límite. (shrink)

This article explores André-Marie Ampère's autobiography in order to analyse the dynamics of science in early 19th century French institutions. According to recent works that have emphasised the value of biographies in the history of science, this study examines Ampère's public self-representation to show the cultural transformations of a life dedicated to science in post-revolutionary French society. With this aim, I have interpreted this manuscript as an outstanding example of the scientific rhetoric flourishing in early 19th century French Romanticism, which (...) celebrated the life and works of men of science by means of biographies. Following this approach, Ampère's account has been analysed in relation to certain commonplaces shared with other autobiographies of that time, such as his traumatic experience linked to the French Revolution. Finally, this article discusses Ampère's autobiography as revealing an emerging model of scientific personae, i.e. a new collective way of thinking, feeling and perceiving, which announced the category of the modern scientist. (shrink)

We study the optimality of direct democracy under incomplete information, in a setting where society must choose between two policies under one of two possible scenarios. Voters are of four types: leftist, rightist, selfish, and altruistic. While leftist and rightist voters are predetermined in their choice, selfish and altruistic voters form the undecided group. In our setting, incomplete information arises from two sources: the realized scenario and the composition of society. While existing literature typically considers only the first three types (...) of voters, we show that introducing altruistic voters alters the effect of available information on the optimality of direct democracy, both under complete and incomplete information. Under complete information, this disruption breaks the alignment between optimal policies and scenarios that exists in the absence of altruistic voters. Under incomplete information, this misalignment becomes more pronounced. When only selfish voters are present, the policy chosen under direct democracy depends solely on the realized scenario and aligns with the optimal policy whenever voters are well-informed. However, with altruistic voters, a second source of informational distortion emerges—the composition of voter types—and altruistic voters can either facilitate or hinder optimal decisions, even when voters are well-informed. Crucially, even well-informed undecided voters may fail to select the optimal policy, as outcomes depend on the internal composition of this group. (shrink)

Un aspecto limitado pero significativo del discurso sobre la situación de las personas defensoras de derechos humanos se refiere a la definición conceptual del término en sí. Se ha argumentado que la ausencia de una definición universalmente aceptada dificulta el establecimiento de estándares precisos y exigibles para su protección. Este artículo examina algunas cuestiones en este debate en el contexto de la política de la Unión Europea de derechos humanos. Desde una perspectiva crítica se problematiza el debate sobre la incoherencia (...) de la falta de reconocimiento de las personas defensoras dentro del espacio de la Unión Europea y se propone una lectura decolonial del resultante doble estándar en la política europea sobre personas defensoras de derechos humanos. (shrink)

Believing Philosophy introduces Christians to philosophy and the tools it offers believers, helping them understand, articulate, and defend their faith in an age of unbelief.

Este artículo reseña: Vincenzo LORUBBIO y Maria Giulia BERNARDINI (a cura di), Diritti umani e condizioni di vulnerabilità.

In this dissertation, I examine the implications of the problem of mental causation and what David Chalmers has dubbed the “ hard problem of consciousness” for competing accounts of the mind. I begin, in Chapter One, with a critical analysis of Jaegwon Kim’s Physicalism, or Something Near Enough. (2005) There, I maintain that Kim’s ontology cannot adequately address both the problem of mental causation and the “ hard problem of consciousness.” In Chapter Two, I examine the causal pairing problem for (...) substance dualism. I demonstrate both that the substance dualist can respond to the argument at no great cost, and that the pairing problem applies, with equal force, to the irreducible qualia posited on Kim’s account. Chapters Three and Four are devoted to what I take to be the central argument against any kind of dualism: the causal exclusion argument. In Chapter Three, I examine dualistic responses to the exclusion argument that grant the causal closure of the physical world. I note that these responses, though technically adequate, are nevertheless theoretically unpalatable. In addition to requiring the dualist to adopt unconventional attitudes towards causation, responses of this variety also have the unfortunate result of rendering libertarian freedom impossible. Finally, in Chapter Four, I turn my attention to the question of causal closure. I maintain that the causal closure of the physical world, though widely affirmed, is nevertheless extraordinarily difficult to support. In light of Hempel’s Dilemma, causal closure is either false, compatible with dualistic interaction, or unacceptably stipulative. There is, I maintain, no causal closure principle up to the tasks required by the causal exclusion argument. For that reason, I conclude that the dualist ought not to worry about causal closure. (shrink)

In this study, we investigated the relationship between mothers' psychological lexicon and children's cognitive and socio-emotive development as assessed through conceptual and semantic understanding tasks, in addition to the traditional tasks of theory of mind. Currently, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the frequency of mothers' mental state words used in mother-child picture-book reading is linked with children's theory of mind skills. Furthermore, mothers' use of cognitive terms is more strongly related to children's theory of mind performances than the (...) mothers' references to other mental states, such as desires or emotions (Rollo and Buttiglieri, 2009 ). Current literature has established that early maternal input is related to later child mental state understanding; however it has not yet clarified which maternal terms are most useful for the socio-emotional and cognitive development of the child, and which aspect of the cognitive development benefits from the mother-child interaction. The present study addresses this issue and focuses on the relationship between mothers' mental state talk and children's behavior in conceptual and semantic tasks, and in a theory of mind task. In this study fifty pairs consisting of mothers and their 3 to 6-year-old children participated in two sessions: (1) The mothers read a picture book to their children. To assess the maternal psychological lexicon, their narrative was codified according to the categories of mental state references used in literature: perceptual, emotional, volitional, cognitive, moral, and communicative. (2) After a few days, the conceptual and semantic skills of the children (tasks of contextualization and classification, memory, and definition of words) and their psychological lexicon were assessed. The results suggest close links between the frequency and variety of mothers' mental state words and some semantic and conceptual skills of children. (shrink)