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Displaying: 1-10 of 10 documents


philosophical reflections
1. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Ward Blondé An Evolutionary Argument for a Self-Explanatory, Benevolent Metaphysics
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In this paper, a metaphysics is proposed that includes everything that can be represented by a well-founded multiset. It is shown that this metaphysics, apart from being self-explanatory, is also benevolent. Paradoxically, it turns out that the probability that we were born in another life than our own is zero. More insights are gained by inducing properties from a metaphysics that is not self-explanatory. In particular, digital metaphysics is analyzed, which claims that only computable things exist. First of all, it is shown that digital metaphysics contradicts itself by leading to the conclusion that the shortest computer program that computes the world is infinitely long. This means that the Church-Turing conjecture must be false. Secondly, the applicability of Occam’s razor is explained by evolution: in an evolving physics it can appear at each moment as if the world is caused by only finitely many things. Thirdly and most importantly, this metaphysics is benevolent in the sense that it organizes itself to fulfill the deepest wishes of its observers. Fourthly, universal computers with an infinite memory capacity cannot be builtin the world. And finally, all the properties of the world, both good and bad, can be explained by evolutionary conservation.
2. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Ioana Grancea Visual Arguments and Moral Causes in Charity Advertising: Ethical Considerations
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Social advertising often employs persuasive imagery in support of a morally laden cause. These visual arguments can take the form of veridical representations of the given situation or the form of purposeful visual blends. Both visual routes to persuasion have serious ethical issues to confront. In what concerns the purportedly veridical images, controversies about picture retouching and framing have cast many doubts on their success in offering unmediated access to a given reality. Editorial interests have proven far too influential on the destiny of what and how is presented to the audience from the amount of visual material available on a topic. Even when the audience is certain that photos are not doctored, the use of veridical images may be seen as unethical. Their disproportionate affective impact may lead the audience to hold biased opinions, since other concerns may be impossible to capture in a vivid picture. Visual blends may be the answer to this problem, employing the fictional or the figurative to help the viewer grasp the moral anatomy of a given situation. Their generous use of figurative meaning may be seen as their strength and their weakness at the same time. It makes them less likely to face accusations of distorting reality, because they do not claim to be windows on reality per se. At the same time, it makes them vulnerable to interpretations that miss their true point – one might appreciate the artistry of a visual metaphor or a visual pun and fail to consider the statement it makes about a given situation. Contemporary philosophical approaches to the place of visuals in moral persuasion inform my analysis of the use of visual arguments in charity-oriented advertising.
3. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Maja Alexandra Nazaruk Contre la prestance du déterminisme social: Bourdieu et Melançon
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Focused on the notion of the threshold of objectivity, my article dissects the empirical mirror-glass of the philosophy of Joseph Melançon. I propose to thrust this emblematic perspective of determinist discourse against the literary turn, acclaimed for its underpinning ambiguous subjectivity – here notably made relevant by Pierre Bourdieu. Both discursive practices complete each other and reject each other in a self-feeding spiral: incessant motivation for a hybrid, vexing study of mutual tensions.
social science investigations
4. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Emilia Alexandra Antonese Understanding Moral Judgments: The Role of the Agent’s Characteristics in Moral Evaluations
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Traditional studies have shown that the moral judgments are influenced by many biasing factors, like the consequences of a behavior, certain characteristics of the agent who commits the act, or the words chosen to describe the behavior. In the present study we investigated a new factor that could bias the evaluation of morally relevant human behavior: the perceived similarity between the participants and the agent described in the moral scenario. The participants read a storyabout a driver who illegally overtook another car and hit a pedestrian who was crossing the street. The latter was taken to the hospital with a broken leg. The driver was described either as being similar to the participant (a student, 21 years old, the same gender as the participant) or dissimilar (a retired person, 69 years old, different gender as the participant). The results show that the participants from the increased similarity group expressed more lenient evaluations of the immorality of the driver’s behavior compared to the participants from the decreased similarity group. The results are discussed within a framework which puts emphasis on motivational and protective reasons.
5. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Cristina Maria Bostan The Role of Motivational Persistence and Resilience Over the Well-being Changes Registered in Time
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The present study investigates the interaction between personal characteristics that are considered nowadays strengths used to face difficult events or transition period. A number of 200 married or living together participants completed self-reports for common goals, motivational persistence, resilience and well-being. Results show that persistence and resilience do interact with each other at an individual level but also from a family concept perspective. Moreover, maintaining apositive outlook and family spirituality do have an impact over the intensity and direction of the relationship between long term purposes pursuing (LTPP) and recurrence of unattained purposes (RUP) and changes in well-being registered in time. Resiliency as a personal characteristic and family resilience show good psychometric qualities for this study. Although some of the results are descriptive, in-depth analyses of direction and intensity of the relationships lead the finalconclusions to suggestions for further research and implications for psychological practice.
6. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Cornelia Măirean Individual Differences in Emotion and Thought Regulation Processes: Implications for Mental Health and Wellbeing
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This paper focuses on two strategies – cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression – that people use to regulate their emotions and thoughts in daily life. Cognitive reappraisal is considered to be the effort made by an individual with the aim of changing the meaning of a situation in order to decrease its intense and negative emotional impact. Expressive suppression represents the effort of inhibiting the outward signs of inner emotional states or unwanted thoughts. Many studies, both experimental and correlational, showed that cognitive reappraisal is often more effective than expressive suppression. In this paper, previousstudies about the role of emotion and thought dysregulation in the development of negative psychological outcomes were reviewed. First, the definition and characteristics of emotion and thought regulation strategies are presented. Secondly, the specific individual differences in the use of emotion and thought regulation strategies, in terms of personality traits, attachment, gender, and age, are discussed. The third section presents the associations between these emotion and thought regulation strategies and various mental disorders. In the last section, previous empirical studies that analyzed the associations between such strategies and wellbeing, defined as a low level of negative affect, a high level of positive affect, and life satisfaction, are presented.
7. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Information About Authors
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8. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Call for Papers
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9. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
About the Journal
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10. Symposion: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Author Guidelines
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