Search results for "Ethics"
showing 10 items of 2130 documents
On how to legitimately constrain a semantic theory
2021
Abstract Semanticists often restrict their theories by imposing constraints on the parameters that can be employed for interpreting the expressions of a language. Such constraints are based on non-logical features of actual contexts of utterance, but they often have important effects on issues that do pertain to logic, like analyticity or entailment. For example, Kaplan’s restriction to so-called “proper contexts” was required in order to count “I am here now” as valid. In this paper I argue that constraints of this kind are often posited in an arbitrary and non-consistent way, and that they yield the intended results only at the price of imposing ad hoc principles whose justification could…
What can the concept of affective scaffolding do for us?
2020
The concept of affective scaffolding designates the various ways in which we manipulate the environment to influence our affective lives. In this article, I present a constructive critique of recent discussion on affective scaffolding. In Part 1, I summarize how the theories of situated mind and niche construction contribute to a multidimensional notion of scaffolding. In Part 2, I focus specifically on affective scaffolding and argue that current ambiguity over its distinctive criteria causes uncertainty as to how the concept can and should be used. In Part 3, I identify and examine two possible responses to the suggested state of conceptual ambiguity. The first, restrictive option is to k…
A commentary on the Special Issue “Innovations in measuring and fostering mathematical modelling competencies”
2021
This is a commentary on the ESM 2021 Special Issue on Innovations in Measuring and Fostering Mathematical Modelling Competencies. We have grouped the ten studies into three themes: competencies, fostering, and measuring. The first theme and the papers therein provide a platform to discuss the cognitivist backgrounds to the different conceptualizations of mathematical modelling competencies, based on the modelling cycle. We suggest theoretical widening through a competence continuum and enriching of the modelling cycle with overarching, analytic dimensions for creativity, tool use, metacognition, and so forth. The second theme and the papers therein showcase innovative ideas on fostering an…
Ageing, Gender and Leadership: A Study Based on Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
2017
Based on current research on ageing in organizations, this chapter focuses on ageing, its gendered nature, and its relations to what is valued in organizational settings in terms of careers and leadership. Stories about ageing are present in mythology, archetypes, and the societal collective unconsciousness, often followed by heroism and charismatic figures. Myths of ageing are manifold but may also represent a “Grand Story” of ageing, present for everyone as an ideal without gender or other dimensions. Using Tolkien’s mythology and Peter Jackson’s guided film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, the gendered relations between ageing, leadership, and leadership charisma are explored and interpret…
Il Comune come paradigma dell’etica pubblica
2022
The paper discusses the definition and range of the notion of the common good as a key to developing coherent public ethics on a phenomenological basis.
Del Comune, o un’etica per il XXI secolo?
2021
This article proposes an ethical reinterpretation of Dardot and Laval's analyses of the concept of the "commune", published in 2014. The circulation of ethical arguments and the activation of a line of thought related to public ethics can indeed contribute to finding an answer to some objections moved to the proposal of the commune. This is the intention of my contribution, which focuses in particular on the question of the subjectivity implied, or rather evoked by the theoretical-political proposal of the French thinkers.
Political and religious aspects of community according to Kant
2016
Based on the concept of community, Kant's conception of religion may be connected, on my view, to the question of which mental attitude is suitable for the collective life of human society. It is possible to imagine a successful community, even if such a community does not exist in the empirical world, and to be oriented toward this ideal without ever being able to realize it. According to Kant, human moral self-understanding is developed by human reason, and this explains the structural similarity between the secular republic and the Kingdom of God under the specific conditions of the enlightened consciousness of a person who thinks for herself. Thus the anthropological "fact": the self-un…
08. Recognition and the ideology of merit
2015
This paper discusses pathological forms that the ideal of merit takes in ideological uses of meritocratic ideas. According to the French philosopher Dominique Girardot (2011) the possibility of our genuinely recognizing one another is impaired by the ideology of merit: this new ideology standardizes recognition and forces competition, thus creating hierarchies and what Axel Honneth calls social pathologies. The ideology also threatens the category of action in Hannah Arendt’s (1958) sense. The paper elucidates Girardot’s stance and sketches a comparison between Honneth’s and Girardot’s views on recognition. Despite the explicit connection to Honneth’s theory, Girardot actually creates an Ar…
The iGEM Competition
2014
The international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition is a well-known example of synthetic biology and a workbench for the development of heterodox, multidisciplinary and frontier work made by undergraduate students. We review the origin, organization and structure of the competition; we describe how an iGEM team can be set in place, and briefly summarize some of the main milestones and challenges of a competition that is only one decade old. We discuss the links of the competition with the Registry of Standard Biological Parts and the flagship role of iGEM as a very trench of the synthetic biology revolution.
Playfully Coding
2017
This paper describes a framework for successful interaction between universities and schools. It is common for computing academics interested in outreach (computer science evangelism) to work with local schools, particularly in countries where the computing curriculum in K-12 is new or underdeveloped. However it is rare for these collaborations to be ongoing, and for resources created through these school-university links to be shared beyond the immediate neighborhood. We have achieved this, through shared resources, careful evaluation, and cross-country collaboration. The activities themselves are inspired by ideas from the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT, emphasizing playful exploratio…