In view of the publication of the DSM-V researchers were asked to discuss the theoretical implications of the definition of mental disorders. The reasons for the use, in the DSM-III, of the term disorder instead of disease are considered. The analysis of these reasons clarifies the distinction between the general definition of disorder and its implicit, technical meaning which arises from concrete use in DSM disorders. The characteristics and limits of this technical meaning are discussed and contrasted to alternative definitions, (...) like Wakefield’s harmful/dysfunction analysis. It is shown that Wakefield’s analysis faces internal theoretical problems in addition to practical limits for its acceptance in the DSM-V. In particular, it is shown that: a) the term dysfunction is not purely factual but intrinsically normative/evaluative; b) it is difficult to clarify what dysfunctions are in the psychiatric context (the dysfunctional mechanism involved being unknown in most cases and the use of evolutionary theory being even more problematic); c) the use of conceptual analysis and commonsense intuition to define dysfunctions leaves unsatisfied empiricists; d) it is unlikely that the authors of the DSM-V will accept Wakefield’s suggestion to revise the diagnostic criteria of any single DSM disorder in accordance with his analysis, because this is an excessively extensive change and also because this would probably reduce DSM reliability. In conclusion, it is pointed up in which sense DSM mental disorders have to be conceived as constructs, and that this undermines the realistic search for a clear-cut demarcation criterion between what is disorder and what is not. (shrink)

INTRODUÇÃO O anestro pós-parto é o período após o parto no qual a fêmea não apresenta ciclos estrais (atividade cíclica). Na vaca leiteira, o parto é seguido de um período de inatividade ovariana de duração variável, que é principalmente afetada pelo estado nutricional, produção leiteira, ganho ou perda de condição corporal antes e depois do parto, e por condições patológicas como hipoplasia dos ovários, cistos ovarianos, mumificação uterina, piometra entre outras, além, também, de condições ambientais como instalações que podem causar (...) estresse etc. 1. Controle neuroendócrino do anestro Entre os 12 e 15 dias pós-parto, as células gonadotróficas presentes na adenohipófise começam a produzir e secretar o FSH (hormônio folículo estimulante), o qual estimula a primeira onda folicular; entretanto, nenhum folículo dominante do(s) ovário(s) chega a completar seu desenvolvimento devido à carência de estímulo apropriado do LH (hormônio luteinizante) que também é produzido pelas mesmas células e que deve estar presente em altas concentrações. Nas 2 primeiras semanas pós-parto (primeiros 15 dias), as concentrações circulantes de LH são baixas, o que se deve à ausência de reservas do LH e à incapacidade temporal da hipófise para responder ao estímulo da GnRH (hormônio liberador de gonadotrofina). Entre os dias 15 e 20 pós-parto, a hipófise aumenta a sua capacidade para responder ao GnRH; entretanto, o estabelecimento do padrão de secreção do LH adequado para estimular a maturação e a ovulação do folículo dominante das primeiras ondas foliculares depende fundamentalmente do balanço energético. 2. Fatores que determinam o início da atividade ovariana pós-parto Na vaca leiteira, é frequente que algum dos primeiros folículos dominantes que se desenvolvem durante as primeiras duas ou três semanas complete a sua maturação e chegue à ovulação, isto é, madure e ovule. O fator limitante para o reinício da atividade ovariana é o balanço energético negativo (BEN). No gado leiteiro, o consumo de matéria seca (CMS), após o parto, deverá ser aumentado em até quatro vezes, para cobrir a demanda de nutrientes para a produção de leite e mantença; no entanto, a vaca é incapaz de consumir a exigência de matéria seca, por isso recorre a suas reservas de gordura e proteína, e cai em BEN. As vacas que consomem menos matéria seca, produzem menos leite, têm um BEN mais profundo e o período do parto à primeira ovulação é maior. O nível mais baixo do BEN é alcançado entre os 10 a 20 dias pós-parto e a vaca continua em BEN até os 70 a 80 dias pós-parto e, em alguns casos, até aos 100 dias pós-parto (vacas primíparas). Entretanto, mesmo com BEN, uma proporção elevada das vacas inicia sua atividade ovariana normal nas primeiras 8 semanas pós-parto. As vacas que alcançam um nível baixo de BEN rapidamente e saem deste ponto mínimo de forma rápida, iniciam sua atividade ovariana mais rápido também (20 a 30 dias pós-parto) do que aquelas que têm um BEN mais profundo e duradouro, essas muitas vezes permanecem em anestro aos 70 dias pós-parto (figura 1). As mudanças na condição corporal estão correlacionadas positivamente com as concentrações séricas de insulina, IGF-I e leptina; assim, a maior qualificação da condição corporal é maior mediante a concentração sérica desses hormônios, que atuam principalmente como sinais que chegam ao hipotálamo e modificam a frequência de secreção do GnRH e, consequentemente, de LH. A leptina é um hormônio que é produzido pelos adipócitos e tem sido proposto que sua concentração é o sinal mais importante de alterações de condição corporal. A transição do anestro para a ciclicidade coincide com um aumento das concentrações séricas de insulina, IGF-I e leptina. Além das mensagens dadas pelos hormônios supracitados, outras substâncias presentes no sangue fornecem informações sobre o estado metabólico do animal. Por exemplo, os ácidos graxos não esterificados e o β-hidroxibutirato são indicadores da mobilização e utilização da gordura corporal; assim, o aumento destas substâncias proporciona uma mensagem inibidora de reprodução. O intervalo médio entre o parto e a primeira ovulação, em vacas leiteiras em sistemas de produção não intensiva, é em torno de 30 dias; enquanto em vacas em sistemas de produção intensiva, é de 40 dias. Deve-se sinalar que é comum aos 70 dias pós-parto, que 20% das vacas ainda não ovulem. Verifica-se frequentemente que as vacas leiteiras desenvolvem folículos que crescem mais que os folículos ovulatórios, os quais convertem em cistos foliculares. Esta condição está associada com insensibilidade do hipotálamo ao retorno positivo do estradiol, o que não desencadeia o pico pré-ovulatório de LH (figura 2). 3. O corpo lúteo dos primeiros ciclos pós-parto Durante um ciclo estral o corpo lúteo tem uma meia-vida fisiológica de 12 a 14 dias; no entanto, na primeira ovulação pós-parto cerca de 25% das vacas desenvolvem corpos lúteos de vida curta (<10 dias), 30% de vida longa (21 a 50 dias) e 45% da vida normal (11 a 20 dias). A regressão prematura do corpo lúteo é uma condição frequente nos ruminantes no primeiro ciclo estral, da transição do anestro à ciclicidade. Ou seja, na vaca é frequente que no primeiro ciclo de pós-parto e da puberdade sejam ciclos curtos; isto deve-se à liberação antecipada da PGF2α. Por outro lado, a causa dos corpos lúteos de vida longa (corpos lúteos persistentes) não é clara, mas está relacionada com alterações na secreção da PGF2α devido a infecções uterinas (tabela 1). 4. Anestro patológico 4.1 Alterações do aparelho genital que causam anestro Na vaca foi calculado que as alterações do aparelho genital que afetam a atividade ovariana representam apenas 10% do total das causas de anestro. Entre as alterações do aparelho genital se encontram os cistos foliculares, cistos luteinizados, aplasia segmentar, piometra e mumificação fetal. . 4.2 Cistos foliculares Os cistos foliculares são a patologia ovariana mais comum nos bovinos leiteiros, causando perdas econômicas devido ao atraso do período do parto ao primeiro serviço, pelo custo dos tratamentos e pelo risco que têm as vacas de serem descartadas. A incidência aumentou à medida que a produção de leite se intensificou. Entre 5 e 30% das vacas desenvolvem cistos foliculares nos primeiros 60 dias do pós-parto; no entanto, cerca de 60% destas se recuperam espontaneamente. Sinais clínicos de vacas com cistos foliculares descritos na literatura são: ninfomania, ciclos curtos, masculinização e relaxamento dos ligamentos pélvicos. Atualmente uma alta proporção de vacas com cistos foliculares apresentam anestro. Por muitos anos um cisto folicular foi definido como um folículo com um diâmetro de 2,5 mm, presente em um ou em ambos os ovários durante um período mínimo de 10 dias, na ausência de um corpo lúteo. Os conhecimentos atuais modificaram o conceito clássico; assim, nem todos os cistos foliculares têm um diâmetro de 2,5 mm; além disso, alguns podem persistir mais de 10 dias. Outros são estruturas dinâmicas, que sofrem regressão e podem ser substituídas por novos cistos. Por esta razão, a definição mais precisa e técnica de um cisto folicular é: folículo de um diâmetro, de pelo menos 20 mm, que está presente em um ou ambos os ovários na ausência de tecido lúteo que interfere com o ciclo estral normal (figura 3). A patogênese dos cistos foliculares não é conhecida. Propõe-se que as vacas que desenvolvem esta patologia têm uma anomalia nos mecanismos de retroalimentação entre o hipotálamo e a hipófise, em conjunto com uma disfunção a nível folicular. É pesquisado e sugerido que em vacas com cistos foliculares, o pico pré-ovulatório de LH não ocorre ou é de menor amplitude, ou não tem uma relação síncrona com o amadurecimento do folículo, o que provoca a falha ovulatória. A alteração na secreção de LH pode obedecer a falta de sensibilidade do hipotálamo ao feedback positivo de estrogênio. Observa-se também que algumas anormalidades a nível folicular, tais como alterações na síntese de hormônios esteroides e uma menor sensibilidade à LH, podem contribuir com a patogenia. Uma vez que o cisto folicular foi estabelecido, observou-se um aumento na frequência de secreção pulsátil de LH, o que contribui com a persistência desta patologia. Existem fatores associados com a incidência de cistos foliculares que, de acordo com a patogenia proposta, podem influenciar ao nível do eixo hipotálamo-hipófise-ovário. Os cistos foliculares ocorrem principalmente durante a transição do anestro pós-parto para a ciclicidade. Neste período as vacas estão em BEN, e tem sido observado que as vacas que sofrem de um BEN mais profundo tendem a apresentar uma incidência maior de cistos foliculares. Por outra parte, há uma correlação positiva entre a produção de leite e a incidência de cistos, o que indica que as vacas que produzem mais leite têm maior risco de sofrer com esta patologia. Também existem outros fatores relacionados com a incidência de cistos foliculares tais como estresse, genéticos, infecções uterinas, estresse calórico e presença de fitoestrogênios na dieta (tabela 2). O tratamento indicado consiste na administração do GnRH, que provoca a luteinização do cisto. É recomendável a combinação com uma dose luteolítica de PGF2α, 7 a 10 dias depois da injeção de GnRH. Também é indicado o tratamento com hCG em vez de GnRH. Em alguns estudos foi possível integrar vacas com cistos foliculares em programas de sincronização da ovulação e inseminação em tempo fixo, com resultados aceitáveis de fertilidade (figura 4). 4.3 Cistos luteinizados Esse tipo de cisto pode se desenvolver a partir de um cisto folicular, também ocorre quando o saco libera um óvulo e, em seguida, se fecha novamente e enche-se de líquido. O tecido luteinizado produz progestágenos do qual os sinais incluem anestro persistente. São bastante mais raros e originam-se pelo contínuo aumento do espaço cavitário central normalmente existente nos corpos lúteos (figura 5). Normalmente, a parede do cisto contém células lúteogranulosas grandes e células tecaluteais pequenas. Se diferenciam com dificuldade de corpos lúteos recém-formados durante o período em que ainda possuem um antro. Os cistos luteínicos únicos, pelo menos os menores, necessitam de importância clínica. Se os cistos são funcionais, a sintomatologia mais destacada é o anestro ou pseudogestação. É preciso lembrar que esses cistos agem como uma fonte de secreção contínua de progesterona, diminuindo assim a resistência do útero a infecções, podendo desencadear-se uma endometrite (figura 6). Se eles forem diagnosticados é recomendável a administração de PGF2α. 4.4 Aplasia segmentar As vacas com esta condição podem gestar quando a ovulação ocorre do lado do corno uterino presente. Se a ovulação acontece do lado onde falta o corno uterino causa anestro. 4.5 Piometra A piometra, por definição, é a acumulação de material purulento no interior da luz uterina que ocorrem geralmente durante ou imediatamente após o período de domínio da progesterona. É uma condição que ocorre mais frequentemente nos primeiros 30 dias pós-parto; no entanto, algumas vacas em anestro que são revisadas no dia 50 pós-parto chegam a ter piometra. O tratamento indicado consiste na administração de PGF2α. 5. Anestro relacionado com o tempo de serviço O anestro em bovinos também é classificado como anestro pré-serviço e pós-serviço. 5.1 Anestro pré-serviço Inclui vacas e novilhas que não tenham mostrado estro, isto é, manifestado cio, no período em que devem ser servidas. Em alguns estudos observou-se que o anestro antes do serviço pode afetar até 50% das vacas elegíveis para apresentar estro. 5.1 Anestro pós-serviço Neste grupo incluem-se as vacas que não retornam ao estro, ou seja, que não retornaram ao cio, 21 dias depois da inseminação e não estão prenhes. Essas vacas são conhecidas como vacas fantasma (The Phantom Cow). A causa principal do atraso do retorno ao estro é a baixa eficiência na detecção de estros; mas também foram descritas outras causas como: inseminação em um estro anovulatório, inseminação em tempo fixo em vacas em anestro, suspensão da ciclicidade após o serviço, fases lúteas longas e morte embrionária. O diagnóstico precoce da gestação é de grande ajuda para conhecer oportunamente o número de fêmeas que não estão prenhes. A ecografia no trigésimo dia pós-inseminação adianta, pelo menos 10 dias, a ressincronização de vacas vazias. 6. Falso anestro ou anestro funcional Este causa as maiores perdas econômicas de caráter reprodutivo em rebanhos leiteiros, e refere-se às vacas que estão ciclando, mas não são observadas em estro pelos trabalhadores. É um dos maiores problemas dentro de um sistema de criação extensivo e, às vezes, semiintensivo, uma vez que é de suma importância a observação técnica e precisa do comportamento da vaca para observar o possível retorno ao cio ou não. 7. Manejo da vaca anéstrica A probabilidade de que a vaca seja inseminada oportunamente depende da eficiência da detecção de estros. É comum que a metade das vacas apresentem estro e não sejam observadas, por essa razão, muitas não são inseminadas uma vez que termina o período de espera voluntária. Por outro lado, há vacas que, por causas patológicas ou por seu estado metabólico, ainda estão em anestro depois que termina o período voluntário de espera. Para identificar as causas da ausência de estros, todas as vacas que não tenham sido inseminadas no dia 60 pós-parto, devem ser revisadas por via retal para aplicar o tratamento ou manejo pertinentes. Durante esta revisão é dada especial atenção às características do útero e nas estruturas ovarianas, já que daqui depende o manejo subsequente. A palpação começa no útero; neste é importante determinar se não há gestação. Posteriormente, avalia-se sua consistência que pode ser normal, edematosa ou turgente. Depois de avaliar o útero procede-se a palpação dos ovários, começando com o direito e, em seguida, esquerdo. Abaixo estão descritas as diferentes descobertas que podem ser encontradas na literatura e seu tratamento ou manejo. O registo dos resultados à palpação é feito através de chaves reprodutivas. 7.1 UN CLD2-3 FE10 Útero normal (UN) com um corpo lúteo 2 ou 3 no ovário direito (CLD2-3) e um folículo no ovário esquerdo de 10 mm de diâmetro (FE10). A consistência normal do útero (é normal quando não há edema ou turgescência) é encontrado em vacas não prenhes durante o diestro, ou em vacas que estão em anestro. O CL 2 ou 3 é uma estrutura bem desenvolvida que deforma o ovário e em alguns casos representa mais de 50% da massa ovariana. Classificá-los como CL 2 ou 3 é uma apreciação subjetiva do tamanho do corpo lúteo e não tem significado prático, pois em qualquer dos casos o manejo é o mesmo. O CL indica que a vaca está em qualquer dia do diestro e, obviamente, indica que está ciclando. Durante o diestro pode-se encontrar folículos de tamanho diferente em qualquer um dos dois ovários, já que este depende das ondas de desenvolvimento folicular. É importante frisar que as estruturas mencionadas podem estar em ovários diferentes ou no mesmo ovário. O achado mais importante nesta fase é a presença do corpo lúteo o que permite o tratamento com a PGF2α, o que resulta na apresentação do estro nas próximas 48 a 120 horas. A presença de um corpo lúteo é o estado fisiológico que é mais frequentemente encontrado neste grupo de vacas, primeiro porque paradoxalmente a maior proporção de vacas em “anestro” está ciclando (anestro funcional) e, em segundo lugar, porque o diestro ocupa 65% dos dias do ciclo estral. 7.2 UE CLD1 FE10-15 Útero edematoso (UE) com um corpo lúteo 1 no ovário direito (CLD1) e um folículo 10 ou 15 mm de diâmetro no ovário esquerdo. O útero edematoso pode ser encontrado no proestro e metaestro. A presença do CL1 e um folículo grande indica que se trata de uma vaca que muito provavelmente é encontrado em proestro. A diferença entre um CL1 e um CL 2 ou 3 é basicamente o seu tamanho; um CL1 é uma estrutura pequena com consistência dura. As vacas que têm estas características devem ser marcadas para que os trabalhadores prestem mais atenção, já que apresentarão o estro nas próximas 48 a 72 horas. Se a vaca não apresentar estro nesse período, deverá ser palpada na semana seguinte. 7.3 UT DE FE10-15 Útero túrgido ou tonificado, ovário direito estático e ovário esquerdo com um folículo de 10 ou 15 mm de diâmetro. Estes achados, além da presença de muco estral, correspondem a uma vaca em estro. Frequentemente, na palpação das vacas do grupo de anestro, há vacas em estro; estas vacas deverão ser programadas para inseminação. 7.4 UE DE EE Útero estático e ovários estáticos. Estas observações correspondem a uma vaca em metaestro; esta decisão tem uma alta margem de erro uma vez que também pode corresponder a um animal no proestro ou em anestro verdadeiro. Um achado que permite ser mais bem sucedido no diagnóstico é a presença de sangue no muco cervical; neste caso, a presença de sangue indica, com certeza, que a vaca está em metaestro; no entanto, nem todas as vacas apresentam este sangramento. As vacas com estes achados devem ser palpadas sete dias depois para confirmar ou corrigir um primeiro diagnóstico. Se a primeira palpação foi correta, na segunda se encontrará um CL2-3. 7.5 UE CHD FE10 Útero edematoso, com corpo hemorrágico no ovário direito (CHD) e com folículo de 10 mm de diâmetro no ovário esquerdo. Estas observações são de uma vaca em metaestro. O corpo hemorrágico é considerado como a fase de transição entre o folículo e o corpo lúteo; o CH é palpado como uma estrutura com uma saliência em forma de papila e é muito suave ao toque. Será necessário esperar 4 ou 5 dias para que se converta num corpo lúteo maduro e assim destruí-lo com PGF2α. Na rotina, estas vacas são palpadas na seguinte revisão (sete dias depois). 7.6 UN DE EE Útero normal e ovários estáticos. Este caracteriza as vacas que estão no anestro verdadeiro. As vacas caem no anestro principalmente por se encontrar em balanço negativo de energia; este problema é mais grave em vacas de primeiro parto. O único tratamento eficaz consiste em melhorar o seu estado metabólico. Tratamentos hormonais não funcionam caso não seja resolvido primeiro o seu estado nutricional. 7.7 UN CFD EE Útero normal, cisto folicular no ovário direito e ovário esquerdo estático. Embora as vacas com cistos foliculares sejam caracterizadas por apresentar estros recorrentes, também chegam a apresentar anestro. O tratamento consiste na administração do GnRH ou hCG. 7.8 UN CLD EE Útero normal, cisto luteinizado no ovário direito e ovário esquerdo estático. Este cisto também é causado por uma deficiência na secreção de LH, só que neste caso a deficiência foi parcial, o que provoca um certo grau de luteinização. O cisto luteinizado é uma estrutura com mais de 20 mm de diâmetro de paredes grossas. O tratamento indicado é a administração de PGF2α. Na prática, é difícil diferenciar um cisto folicular de um luteinizado, pelo que o tratamento recomendado é, primeiro, a administração de GnRH ou hCG e sete dias depois é injetado PGF2α (figura 7). 7.9 Piometra CLD2-3 FE A piometra é uma condição que ocorre principalmente nos primeiros 30 dias pós-parto; no entanto, na revisão das vacas anéstricas são encontradas vacas com esta patologia. O tratamento indicado consiste na administração de PGF2α. 8. Tratamentos hormonais para indução da atividade ovariana O estabelecimento precoce da ciclicidade pós-parto favorece a involução uterina e está positivamente correlacionado com a fertilidade; ou seja, quanto mais ciclos estrais a vaca tenha antes da primeira inseminação, a percentagem de concepção é maior. Um tratamento utilizado para induzir a primeira ovulação pós-parto em vacas anéstricas, consiste na administração de GnRH quando à palpação retal se encontra um folículo grande (> 10 mm). Com isso se pretende fazer o folículo ovular e depois injeta-se PGF2α para provocar a regressão lútea. Outras combinações consistem na administração de GnRH e na inserção de dispositivos de liberação de progesterona e, ao retirar o progestágeno, injeta-se PGF2α (figura 8). No entanto, os tratamentos mencionados são de uso comum, não funcionam em todos os casos. Um requisito para se obter êxito é que as vacas devem ter boa condição corporal ou que estejam ganhando condição corporal. Embora os tratamentos hormonais possam ajudar em alguns casos, não deve-se esquecer que as causas do anestro não são corrigidos apenas com a administração de hormônios, já que a vaca não cicla porque toda a informação do estado metabólico que recebe o cérebro, indica que não o deve fazer. 9. Gonadotropina coriônica equina (eCG) Na égua, por volta do dia 30 de gestação, células do córion migram para o endométrio e formam umas estruturas conhecidas como copas endometriais. Entre o dia 40 e o dia 130 de gestação nestas estruturas é produzido o eCG (anteriormente conhecida como gonadotropina sérica da égua prenha ou PMSG, pela sua abreviatura em inglês). Na égua esse hormônio tem atividade de LH pelo qual estimula a função do corpo lúteo e promove a formação de corpos lúteos acessórios. Nos ruminantes, o eCG se une aos receptores de LH e FSH do folículo, estimulando o desenvolvimento folicular, e no corpo lúteo estimula a secreção de progesterona. O eCG tem sido utilizado com a finalidade de superovulação e em vacas de corte sob anestro é incluído em programas com progestágenos para induzir ciclicidade. Nestes programas é injetado eCG no momento da remoção do progestágeno, o que favorece o desenvolvimento folicular e apresentação do estro. Em rebanhos leiteiros na Nova Zelândia tem sido incrementado a taxa de prenhez sem aumentar a proporção de partos gêmeos, através da injeção de eCG na remoção do dispositivo de libertação de progesterona em programas combinados com a injeção de benzoato de estradiol. RESUMO ➢ Transcorrem 15 dias pós-parto para que a hipófase responda ao hormônio GnRH. ➢ Entre os dias 12 e 15 pós-parto começa-se a secreção de FSH e iniciam as ondas foliculares. ➢ As vacas chegam ao ponto mais baixo de BEN entre os dias 15 e 20 pós-parto. ➢ As vacas iniciam a atividade ovariana normal, em média, após os 40 dias pós-parto. ➢ Aos 70 dias pós-parto é normal que 20% das vacas ainda estejam em anestro. ➢ Na primeira ovulação pós-parto 25% das vacas desenvolvem corpos lúteos de vida curta e 30% mostram corpos lúteos de vida longa (persistentes). ➢ As anormalidades do aparelho reprodutor são responsáveis por 10% das causas de anestro. ➢ 5 a 30% das vacas desenvolvem cistos foliculares nos primeiros 60 dias pós-parto e 60% destas se recuperam de forma espontânea. ➢ No dia 30 pós-inseminação é possível identificar vacas vazias mediante a ecografia e reservá-las para a ressincronização. ➢ A proteína B específica da gestação aparece no soro a partir do 15º dia de gestação. ➢ Para o diagnóstico precoce de gestação é recomendado medir a PSPB no dia 30 pósinseminação e em vacas com mais de 90 dias pós-parto. ➢ Entre os dias 50 e 60 pós-parto todas as vacas não servidas devem ser examinadas via retal para programar seu serviço. REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS AMBROSE, Divakar J. Postpartum anestrus and its management in dairy cattle. Bovine Reproduction, p. 408-430, 2021. BALL, P. J. H.; PETERS, A. R. Reprodução em bovinos. São Paulo: SP, 2006. Características Gerais dos Bovinos/General Characteristics of Cattle Bovine. 2020. Fisiologia da Reprodução Animal: Ovulação, Controle e Sincronização do Cio. 2020. Nutrição Sobre a Reprodução e Fertilidade dos Bovinos. DERIVAUX, Jules; BECKERS, Jean-François; ECTORS, Francis. L'anoestrus du postpartum. Vlaams Diergeneeskundig Tijdschrift, v. 53, p. 215-229, 1984. ELLI, Massimiliano. Manual de reproducción en ganado vacuno. Zaragoza, ES: Servet Edit., 2005. FERNÁNDEZ DE CÓRDOBA DE LA BARRERA, Luis. Reproducción aplicada en el ganado bovino lechero. 1993. FERREIRA, A. de M. Reprodução da fêmea bovina: fisiologia aplicada e problemas mais comuns (causas e tratamentos). Juiz de Fora: Minas Gerais–Brasil, p. 422, 2010. GARVERICK, H. Allen. Ovarian follicular cysts in dairy cows. Journal of dairy science, v. 80, n. 5, p. 995-1004, 1997. HAFEZ, Elsayed Saad Eldin; HAFEZ, Bahaa. Reprodução animal. 2004. HIDALGO, Galina et al. Reproducción de animales domésticos. 2008. PETER, A. T.; VOS, P. L. A. M.; AMBROSE, D. J. Postpartum anestrus in dairy cattle. Theriogenology, v. 71, n. 9, p. 1333-1342, 2009. PETERS, A. R. et al. Reproducción del ganado vacuno. 1991. SPAIN, JAMES N.; LUCY, MATTHEW C.; HARDIN, DAVID K. Effects of nutrition on reproduction in dairy cattle. In: Current Therapy in Large Animal Theriogenology. WB Saunders, 2007. p. 442-450. UNGERFELD, Rodolfo. Reproducción de los animales domésticos. Edizioni LSWR, 2020. VILLA-GODOY, A. et al. Association between energy balance and luteal function in lactating dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, v. 71, n. 4, p. 1063-1072, 1988. WATHES, D. C. et al. Influence of negative energy balance on cyclicity and fertility in the high producing dairy cow. Theriogenology, v. 68, p. S232-S241, 2007. (shrink)

This article takes the scientific study of conspiracy theories itself as an object of inquiry. It looks at the three main frameworks to look at conspiracy theories: a psychological, epistemological and a sociological approach. These different approaches exist somewhat separately and often do not get along. The central claim that follows from a genealogy of these research programs is that the conflicts between these different approaches should be understood not merely as disagreements about how the world works, but as a (...) fundamental disagreement about the underlying diagnosis of what is at stake in conspiracy theories. In other words, the conflicts stem in part from political differences, not merely empirical ones. The purpose of this article is to bring these different diagnoses back into dialogue with each other and to point out that despite their differences, they also have something in common: a concern about the state of contemporary democratic institutions. Depending on which project one subscribes to, conspiracy thinking will appear either as the cause or the solution of these democratic concerns. (shrink)

In this short paper we consider Linnebo's thin/thick dichotomy: first, we show that it does not overlap with the very common one between abstract/concrete objects; second, on the basis of some difficulties with the distinction, we propose, as a possible way out, to move from thin/thick objects to thin/thick concepts.

Following the speech act theory, we take hypotheses and assertions as linguistic acts with different illocutionary forces. We assume that a hypothesis is justified if there is at least a scintilla of evidence for the truth of its propositional content, while an assertion is justified when there is conclusive evidence that its propositional content is true. Here we extend the logical treatment for assertions given by Dalla Pozza and Garola by outlining a pragmatic logic for assertions and hypotheses. On the (...) basis of this extension we analyse the standard logical opposition relations for assertions and hypotheses. We formulate a pragmatic square of oppositions for assertions and a hexagon of oppositions for hypotheses. Finally, we give a mixed hexagon of oppositions to point out the opposition relations for assertions and hypotheses. (shrink)

Some scientific categories seem to correspond to genuine features of the world and are indispensable for successful science in some domain; in short, they are natural kinds. This book gives a general account of what it is to be a natural kind and puts the account to work illuminating numerous specific examples.

This book develops a new approach to plural arbitrary reference and examines mereology, including considering four theses on the alleged innocence of mereology. The authors have advanced the notion of plural arbitrary reference in terms of idealized plural acts of choice, performed by a suitable team of agents. In the first part of the book, readers will discover a revision of Boolosʼ interpretation of second order logic in terms of plural quantification and a sketched structuralist reconstruction of second-order arithmetic based (...) on the axiom of infinite, a la Dedekind, as the unique non-logical axiom. The work goes on to analyse the pros and cons of the new interpretation, also with respect to Linneboʼs objections to the thesis that second order logic is genuine logic. A theory of concepts that can be labelled as a theory of logical concepts is expounded. In the second part of the book, the authors consider grounding megethology on plural arbitrary reference and argue that the arguments for the ontological innocence of mereology are not conclusive and that – for a certain use of mereology – a thesis of innocence, similar to that of plural arbitrary reference, is defensible. The work proposes a virtual theory of mereology in which the role of individuals is played by plural choices of atoms. This considered work will appeal to scholars from branches of analytic philosophy, logic and the philosophy of mathematics in particular. (shrink)

Often associated with themes in political philosophy and aesthetics, the work of Jean-François Lyotard is most known for his infamous definition of the postmodern in his best-known book, La condition postmoderne, as incredulity towards metanarratives. The claim of this article is that this famous claim of Lyotard is actually embedded in a philosophy of technology, one that is, moreover, still relevant for understanding present technoscience. The first part of the article therefore sketches Lyotard’s philosophy of technology, mainly by correcting three (...) common misconceptions: that La condition postmoderne would only be about metanarratives, whereas in fact, it is mainly about what replaces them, namely performativity; that performativity would be shorthand for capitalism, whereas in reality, capitalism is the latest instance of a longer history of performativity; and that Lyotard’s reflections on science and technology would be restricted to this book alone, whereas in reality, a well-articulated philosophy of technology, centered around the concept of technoscience, is found in his later work. The second part of the article then aims to highlight the contemporary relevance of this philosophy of technoscience through a brief examination of two contemporary technosciences: synthetic biology and data science. (shrink)

“Love hurts”—as the saying goes—and a certain amount of pain and difficulty in intimate relationships is unavoidable. Sometimes it may even be beneficial, since adversity can lead to personal growth, self-discovery, and a range of other components of a life well-lived. But other times, love can be downright dangerous. It may bind a spouse to her domestic abuser, draw an unscrupulous adult toward sexual involvement with a child, put someone under the insidious spell of a cult leader, and even inspire (...) jealousy-fueled homicide. How might these perilous devotions be diminished? The ancients thought that treatments such as phlebotomy, exercise, or bloodletting could “cure” an individual of love. But modern neuroscience and emerging developments in psychopharmacology open up a range of possible interventions that might actually work. These developments raise profound moral questions about the potential uses—and misuses—of such anti-love biotechnology. In this article, we describe a number of prospective love-diminishing interventions, and offer a preliminary ethical framework for dealing with them responsibly should they arise. (shrink)

The work of Thomas Kuhn has been very influential in Anglo-American philosophy of science and it is claimed that it has initiated the historical turn. Although this might be the case for English speaking countries, in France an historical approach has always been the rule. This article aims to investigate the similarities and differences between Kuhn and French philosophy of science or ‘French epistemology’. The first part will argue that he is influenced by French epistemologists, but by lesser known authors (...) than often thought. The second part focuses on the reactions of French epistemologists on Kuhn’s work, which were often very critical. It is argued that behind some superficial similarities there are deep disagreements between Kuhn and French epistemology. This is finally shown by a brief comparison with the reaction of more recent French philosophers of science, who distance themselves from French epistemology and are more positive about Kuhn. Based on these diverse appreciations of Kuhn, a typology of the different positions within the philosophy of science is suggested. (shrink)

In ethical reflections on new technologies, a specific type of argument often pops up, which criticizes scientists for “playing God” with these new technological possibilities. The first part of this article is an examination of how these arguments have been interpreted in the literature. Subsequently, this article aims to reinterpret these arguments as symbolic arguments: they are grounded not so much in a set of ontological or empirical claims, but concern symbolic classificatory schemes that ground our value judgments in the (...) first place. Invoking symbolic arguments thus refers to how certain new technologies risk undermining our fundamental symbolic distinctions by which we organize and evaluate our interactions with the world and in society. Such symbolic distinctions, moreover, tend to be resilient against logical argumentation, mainly because they themselves form the basis on which we argue in the cultural and ethical sphere in the first place. Therefore, effective strategies to evaluate and counter these arguments require another approach, showing that these technologies either do not challenge these classifications or, if they do, how they can be accompanied by the proper actions to integrate these technologies into our society. (shrink)

It is often claimed that epistemic bubbles and echo chambers foster post-truth by filtering our access to information and manipulating our epistemic attitude. In this paper, I try to add a further level of analysis by adding the issue of belief formation. Building on cognitive psychology work, I argue for a dual-system theory according to which beliefs derive from a default system and a critical system. One produces beliefs in a quasi-automatic, effortless way, the other in a slow, effortful way. (...) I also argue that digital socio-epistemic environments tend to inculcate disvalues in their agent's epistemic identity, a process that causes the cognitive shortcircuits typical of conspiracy theories. (shrink)

Practical wisdom is the intellectual virtue that enables a person to make reliably good decisions about how, all-things-considered, to live. As such, it is a lofty and important ideal to strive for. It is precisely this loftiness and importance that gives rise to important questions about wisdom: Can real people develop it? If so, how? What is the nature of wisdom as it manifests itself in real people? I argue that we can make headway answering these questions by modeling wisdom (...) on expert skill. Presenting the main argument for this expert skill model of wisdom is the focus of this paper. More specifically, I’ll argue that wisdom is primarily the same kind of epistemic achievement as expert decision-making skill in areas such as firefighting. Acknowledging this helps us see that, and how, real people can develop wisdom. It also helps to resolve philosophical debates about the nature of wisdom. For example, philosophers, including those who think virtue should be modeled on skills, disagree about the extent to which wise people make decisions using intuitions or principled deliberation and reflection. The expert skill model resolves this debate by showing that wisdom includes substantial intuitive and deliberative and reflective abilities. (shrink)

In his 2018 essay Down to Earth, the French philosopher Bruno Latour proposes a hypothesis that connects a number of contemporary issues, ranging from climate denialism to deregulation and growing inequality. While his hypothesis, namely that the elites act as if they live in another world and are leaving the rest of the world behind, might seem like a conspiracy theory, I will argue that there is a way to make sense of it. To do so, I will turn to (...) two other authors, Timothy Mitchell and Shoshana Zuboff, to highlight the kind of logic that Latour seems to have in mind. In the final section, I will propose to capture the commonalities of these authors through the concept of shifting reciprocities and will return to Latour’s political plea to define one’s territories, reinterpreted as reciprocities. (shrink)

Although implementation is ubiquitous in computer science, there is no systematic philosophical analysis of its metaphysical structure. In this article, I argue that the conceptual resources of analytical metaphysics can be very helpful in laying the foundations for a metaphysics of implementation and, by extension, of computer science. More specifically, I hold that implementation is a form of metaphysical grounding, and I show that, by combining the properties of grounding with the specific constraints of computer science, one can clarify what (...) a metaphysics of computer science could look like. In sections 2 and 3 of the article, I discuss various meanings of implementation, while in section 4, I submit my central claim that implementation is a form of metaphysical grounding. I substantiate this claim by showing that implementation and grounding share the same formal properties. If this is correct, then issues of ontological dependence, metaphysical explanation, hyperintensionality, and foundedness, typically associated with grounding, can be re-formulated in computer science using the concept of implementation. This is what I do in sections 5.1-5.4. I conclude with some general remarks about the future development of computer science's metaphysics. (shrink)

This paper motivates the idea that social robots should be credited as moral patients, building on an argumentative approach that combines virtue ethics and social recognition theory. Our proposal answers the call for a nuanced ethical evaluation of human-robot interaction that does justice to both the robustness of the social responses solicited in humans by robots and the fact that robots are designed to be used as instruments. On the one hand, we acknowledge that the instrumental nature of robots and (...) their unsophisticated social capabilities prevent any attribution of rights to robots, which are devoid of intrinsic moral dignity and personal status. On the other hand, we argue that another form of moral consideration—not based on rights attribution—can and must be granted to robots. The reason is that relationships with robots offer to the human agents important opportunities to cultivate both vices and virtues, like social interaction with other human beings. Our argument appeals to social recognition to explain why social robots, unlike other technological artifacts, are capable of establishing with their human users quasi-social relationships as pseudo-persons. This recognition dynamic justifies seeing robots as worthy of moral consideration from a virtue ethical standpoint as it predicts the pre-reflective formation of persistent affective dispositions and behavioral habits that are capable of corrupting the human user’s character. We conclude by drawing attention to a potential paradox drawn forth by our analysis and by examining the main conceptual conundrums that our approach has to face. (shrink)

Among the contemporary philosophers using the concept of the Anthropocene, Bruno Latour and Isabelle Stengers are prominent examples. The way they use this concept, however, diverts from the most common understanding of the Anthropocene. In fact, their use of this notion is a continuation of their earlier work around the concept of a ‘parliament of things.’ Although mainly seen as a sociology or philosophy of science, their work can be read as philosophy of technology as well. Similar to Latour’s claim (...) that science is Janus-headed, technology has two faces. Faced with the Anthropocene, we need to shift from technologies of control to technologies of negotiations, i.e., a parliament of things. What, however, does a ‘parliament of things’ mean? This paper wants to clarify what is conceptually at stake by framing Latour’s work within the philosophy of Michel Serres and Isabelle Stengers. Their philosophy implies a ‘postlinguistic turn,’ where one can ‘let things speak in their own name,’ without claiming knowledge of the thing in itself. The distinction between object and subject is abolished to go back to the world of ‘quasi-objects’ (Serres). Based on the philosophy of science of Latour and Stengers the possibility for a politics of quasi-objects or a ‘cosmopolitics’ (Stengers) is opened. It is in this framework that their use of the notion of the Anthropocene must be understood and a different view of technology can be conceptualized. (shrink)

The no-miracles argument and the pessimistic induction are arguably the main considerations for and against scientific realism. Recently these arguments have been accused of embodying a familiar, seductive fallacy. In each case, we are tricked by a base rate fallacy, one much-discussed in the psychological literature. In this paper we consider this accusation and use it as an explanation for why the two most prominent `wholesale' arguments in the literature seem irresolvable. Framed probabilistically, we can see very clearly why realists (...) and anti-realists have been talking past one another. We then formulate a dilemma for advocates of either argument, answer potential objections to our criticism, discuss what remains (if anything) of these two major arguments, and then speculate about a future philosophy of science freed from these two arguments. In so doing, we connect the point about base rates to the wholesale/retail distinction; we believe it hints at an answer of how to distinguish profitable from unprofitable realism debates. In short, we offer a probabilistic analysis of the feeling of ennui afflicting contemporary philosophy of science. (shrink)

Michel Serres’s proposal to extend the social contract to a natural contract has been met with criticism and misunderstanding. In this article, I would like to respond to common criticisms by reconsidering two central related concepts. It is claimed that we cannot represent nature’s interests and therefore cannot come to an agreement, and thus a contract, with nature. However, I will suggest a way out by reinterpreting representation and agreement. I will start with the problem of representation: nature cannot be (...) represented. Specifically, I will present two counterarguments. The first argument is that political representation is always difficult, even in the case of human beings. Representing nature only seems more difficult because we have forgotten the difficulties associated with representing humans. The second argument aims to rethink representation. Representing nature only seems so hard because we tend to follow a cognitive understanding of representation, as if representation is about representing the ideas of the represented party. Instead, following Michael Saward, I propose an alternative understanding of representation as a game of representative claims and counterclaims: political representation is about claiming to speak on behalf of a referent and then allowing that referent to respond to that claim. Then I turn to the problem of agreement. A natural contract seems difficult because it is hard to imagine what it would mean for nature to agree to a particular proposal. To counter this, I turn to the notion of symbiosis, found in the work of Serres. A natural contract, I will argue, need not be a contract of consensus or synthesis. The alternative is a contract of symbiosis, which does not require all parties to have a common understanding of the situation. Instead, it allows for an agreement in which all parties have their own interests and definition of the situation. In this sense, a natural contract can make sense if it is understood as a contract in which symbiosis is achieved through political representation based on a game of claims and counterclaims. (shrink)

According to the so-called strong variant of Composition as Identity (CAI), the Principle of Indiscernibility of Identicals can be extended to composition, by resorting to broadly Fregean relativizations of cardinality ascriptions. In this paper we analyze various ways in which this relativization could be achieved. According to one broad variety of relativization, cardinality ascriptions are about objects, while concepts occupy an additional argument place. It should be possible to paraphrase the cardinality ascriptions in plural logic and, as a consequence, relative (...) counting requires the relativization either of quantifiers, or of identity, or of the is one of relation. However, some of these relativizations do not deliver the expected results, and others rely on problematic assumptions. In another broad variety of relativization, cardinality ascriptions are about concepts or sets. The most promising development of this approach is prima facie connected with a violation of the so-called Coreferentiality Constraint, according to which an identity statement is true only if its terms have the same referent. Moreover - even provided that the problem with coreferentiality can be fixed - the resulting analysis of cardinality ascriptions meets several difficulties. (shrink)

Are identity criteria grounding principles? A prima facie answer to this question is positive. Specifically, two-level identity criteria can be taken as principles related to issues of identity among objects of a given kind compared with objects of a more basic kind. Moreover, they are grounding metaphysical principles of some objects with regard to others. In the first part of the paper we criticise this prima facie natural reading of identity criteria. This result does not mean that identity criteria could (...) not be taken as grounding principles. In the second part, we propose some basic steps towards a conceptual reading of grounding. Such a way of understanding it goes along with an epistemic reading of identity criteria. (shrink)

This paper evaluates the Natural-Kinds Argument for cognitive extension, which purports to show that the kinds presupposed by our best cognitive science have instances external to human organism. Various interpretations of the argument are articulated and evaluated, using the overarching categories of memory and cognition as test cases. Particular emphasis is placed on criteria for the scientific legitimacy of generic kinds, that is, kinds characterized in very broad terms rather than in terms of their fine-grained causal roles. Given the current (...) state of cognitive science, I conclude that we have no reason to think memory or cognition are generic natural kinds that can ground an argument for cognitive extension. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is twofold: First, we present and develop a system of logic for pragmatics including the act of denial. Second, we analyse in our framework the so-called paradox of assertability. We show that it is possible to yield sentences that are not assertable. Moreover, under certain conditions, a symmetric result can be obtained: There is a specular paradox of deniability. However, this paradox is based on the problematic principle of classical denial equivalence.

According to strong composition as identity, the logical principles of one–one and plural identity can and should be extended to the relation between a whole and its parts. Otherwise, composition would not be legitimately regarded as an identity relation. In particular, several defenders of strong CAI have attempted to extend Leibniz’s Law to composition. However, much less attention has been paid to another, not less important feature of standard identity: a standard identity statement is true iff its terms are coreferential. (...) We contend that, if coreferentiality is dropped, indiscernibility is no help in making composition a genuine identity relation. To this aim, we analyse as a case study Cotnoir’s theory of general identity, in which indiscernibility is obtained thanks to a revisionary semantics and true identity statements are allowed to connect non-coreferential terms. We extend Cotnoir’s strategy for indiscernibility to the relation of comaternity, and we show that, neither in the case of composition nor in that of comaternity, indiscernibility contibutes to show that they are genuine identity relations. Finally, we compare Cotnoir’s approach with other versions of strong CAI endorsed by Wallace, Bøhn, and Hovda, and canvass the extent to which they violate coreferentiality. The comparative analysis shows that, in order to preserve coreferentiality, strong CAI is forced to adopt a non-standard semantic treatment of the singular/plural distinction. (shrink)

In this article we consider argumentation as an epistemic process performed by an agent to extend and revise her beliefs and gain knowledge, according to the information provided by the environment. Such a process can also generate the suspension of the claim under evaluation. How can we account for such a suspension phenomenon in argumentation process? We propose: (1) to distinguish two kinds of suspensions – critical suspension and non-critical suspension – in epistemic change processes; (2) to introduce a Paraconsistent (...) Weak Kleene logic (PWK) based belief revision theory which makes use of the notion of topic to distinguish the two kinds of suspensions previously mentioned, and (3) to develop a PWK-style argumentation framework and its expansion. By doing that, we can distinguish two kinds of suspensions in an epistemic process by virtue of the notion of topic. (shrink)

Pharmaceuticals or other emerging technologies could be used to enhance (or diminish) feelings of lust, attraction, and attachment in adult romantic partnerships. While such interventions could conceivably be used to promote individual (and couple) well-being, their widespread development and/or adoption might lead to “medicalization” of human love and heartache—for some, a source of serious concern. In this essay, we argue that the “medicalization of love” need not necessarily be problematic, on balance, but could plausibly be expected to have either good (...) or bad consequences depending upon how it unfolds. By anticipating some of the specific ways in which these technologies could yield unwanted outcomes, bioethicists and others can help direct the course of love’s “medicalization”—should it happen to occur—more toward the “good” side than the “bad.”. (shrink)

What role does habit formation play in the development of sport skills? We argue that motor habits are both necessary for and constitutive of sensorimotor skill as they support an automatic, yet inherently intelligent and flexible, form of action control. Intellectualists about skills generally assume that what makes action intelligent and flexible is its intentionality, and that intentionality must be necessarily cognitive in nature to allow for both deliberation and explicit goal-representation. Against Intellectualism we argue that the habitual behaviours that (...) compose skilful action are accompanied by their specific, non-cognitive form of intentionality: this is motor intentionality, which is purposive and adaptive while involving no explicit deliberation or goal representation. Our account of habit based on Motor Intentionality explains why the formation of motor habits can sometimes act as the sole basis of skilful acquisition: Motor Intentionality is inherently purposeful because it is an embodied source of sensorimotor anticipation, pre-reflective motivation, and pragmatic know-how. Skill development through exercise always builds on a motor intentional component even when it is guided by Deliberate Practice to the point that, pace Intellectualism, Deliberate Practice is disclosed, not constrained, by habit formation. As suggested by the fact that repetitive exercises can play a major role in the development of flexible and intelligent sport skills, automatism is not a drawback for strategic control and improvisation but rather their pragmatic foundation. (shrink)

In this paper we distinguish two issues that are often run together in discussions about physicalism. The first issue concerns levels. How do entities picked out by non-physical terminology, such as biological or psychological terminology, relate to physical entities? Are the former identical to, or metaphysically supervenient on, the latter? The second issue concerns physical parts and wholes. How do macroscopic physical entities relate to their microscopic parts? Are the former generally determined by the latter? We argue that views on (...) these two issues are independent of one another and should not be conflated. (shrink)

This paper endeavors to understand the research landscape of finance research in Vietnam during the period 2008 to 2020 and predict the key defining future research directions. Using the comprehensive database of Vietnam’s international publications in social sciences and humanities, we extract a dataset of 314 papers on finance topics in Vietnam from 2008 to 2020. Then, we apply a systematic approach to analyze four important themes: Structural issues, Banking system, Firm issues, and Financial psychology and behavior. Overall, there have (...) been three noticeable trends within finance research in Vietnam: (1) assessment of financial policies or financial regulation, (2) deciphering the correlates of firms’ financial performances, and (3) opportunities and challenges in adopting innovations and ideas from foreign financial market systems. Our analysis identifies several fertile areas for future research, including financial market analysis in the post-COVID-19 eras, fintech, and green finance. (shrink)

In this paper, I claim that extant empirical data do not support a radically embodied understanding of the mind but, instead, suggest (along with a variety of other results) a massively representational view. According to this massively representational view, the brain is rife with representations that possess overlapping and redundant content, and many of these represent other mental representations or derive their content from them. Moreover, many behavioral phenomena associated with attention and consciousness are best explained by the coordinated activity (...) of units with redundant content. I finish by arguing that this massively representational picture challenges the reliability of a priori theorizing about consciousness. (shrink)

There are two senses of ‘what scientists know’: An individual sense (the separate opinions of individual scientists) and a collective sense (the state of the discipline). The latter is what matters for policy and planning, but it is not something that can be directly observed or reported. A function can be defined to map individual judgments onto an aggregate judgment. I argue that such a function cannot effectively capture community opinion, especially in cases that matter to us.

The work of Gaston Bachelard is known for two crucial concepts, that of the epistemological rupture and that of phenomenotechnique. A crucial question is, however, how these two concepts relate to one another. Are they in fact essentially connected or must they be seen as two separate elements of Bachelard’s thinking? This paper aims to analyse the relation between these two Bachelardian moments and the significance of the concept of phenomenotechnique for today. This will be done by examining how the (...) concepts of Bachelard have been used from the 1960s on. From this historical perspective, one gets the impression that these two concepts are relatively independent from each other. The Althusserian school has exclusively focused on the concept of ‘epistemological break’, while scholars from Science & Technology Studies, such as Bruno Latour, seem to have only taken up the concept of phenomenotechnique. It in fact leads to two different models of how to think about science, namely the model of purification and the model of proliferation. The former starts from the idea that sciences are rational to the extent that they are purified and free from obstacles. Scientific objectivity, within this later model, is not achieved by eradicating all intermediaries, obstacles and distortions, but rather exactly by introducing as many relevant technical mediators as possible. Finally, such a strong distinction will be criticized and the argument will be made that both in Bachelard’s and Latour's thought both concepts are combined. This leads to a janus-headed view on science, where both the element of purification and the element of proliferation are combined. (shrink)

The work of Michel Serres is often presented as a radical break with the work of Gaston Bachelard. The aim of this paper is to partly correct this image, by focusing on Serres’s early Hermes series (1969-1980). In these books Serres portrays himself as a follower of Bachelard, exemplarily shown in his neologism of the ‘new new scientific spirit’ (le nouveau nouvel esprit scientifique), updating Bachelard in the light of more recent scientific developments. This allows a reinterpretation of the relation (...) between both authors, one where there is room to acknowledge how the roots of Serres’s philosophy lie not in a radical break with Bachelard, but can be partly understood as a Bachelardian criticism of Bachelard himself. This Bachelardian criticism consists in what could be called his ‘surrationalism’: the sciences do not follow the categories imposed by philosophers, but are always more flexible and open than these categories allow. Specific critiques of Serres, such as those concerning the novelty of Bachelard’s thought, the role of epistemology and finally the political dimension of science will be evaluated through a reappraisal of this Bachelardian move that underlies Serres’s criticism. (shrink)

This paper explains how to use a new software tool for argument diagramming available free on the Internet, showing especially how it can be used in the classroom to enhance critical thinking in philosophy. The user loads a text file containing an argument into a box on the computer interface, and then creates an argument diagram by dragging lines from one node to another. A key feature is the support for argumentation schemes, common patterns of defeasible reasoning historically know as (...) topics . Several examples are presented, as well as the results of an experiment in using the system with students in a university classroom. (shrink)

Synthetic biology aims to synthesize novel biological systems or redesign existing ones. The field has raised numerous philosophical questions, but most especially what is novel to this field. In this article I argue for a novel take, since the dominant ways to understand synthetic biology’s specificity each face problems. Inspired by the examination of the work of a number of chemists, I argue that synthetic biology differentiates itself by a new regime of articulation, i.e. a new way of articulating the (...) questions and phenomena it wants to address. Instead of describing actual existing biological systems, the field aims to describe biological possibilities. In the second part I corroborate this hypothesis through a comparison between early research in the field of the origins of life and contemporary synthetic biologists, who are not so much interested in the historical origin of life on Earth, but rather in a universal biology of the possible origins of any life whatsoever. (shrink)

In this article, two different claims about nature are discussed. On the one hand, environmental philosophy has forced us to reflect on our position within nature. We are not the masters of nature as was claimed before. On the other hand there are the recent developments within synthetic biology. It claims that, now at last, we can be the masters of nature we have never been before. The question is then raised how these two claims must be related to one (...) another. Rather than stating that they are completely irreconcilable, I will argue for a dialogue aimed to discuss the differences and similarities. The claim is that we should not see it as two successive temporal phases of our relation to nature, but two tendencies that can coexist. (shrink)

In this issue, Ahmadi1 reports on the practice of hymenoplasty—a surgical intervention meant to restore a presumed physical marker of virginity prior to a woman's marriage. As Mehri and Sills2 have stated, these women ‘want to ensure that blood is spilled on their wedding night sheets.’ Although Ahmadi's research was carried out in Iran specifically, this surgery is becoming increasingly popular in a number of Western countries as well, especially among Muslim populations.3 What are the ethics of hymen restoration?Consider the (...) role of the physician. Two of the doctors interviewed by Ahmadi reported being in ‘a perpetual state of guilt because of the surgery's inherent aim at deceiving the groom’ and noted their ‘personal conflict’ at being involved in this deception. Yet: "None of the doctors believed that the surgery was unethical, arguing that the girl could be ‘abused’ and ‘can even die’ if she is discovered not … ". (shrink)

Ian Hacking’s Representing and Intervening is often credited as being one of the first works to focus on the role of experimentation in philosophy of science, catalyzing a movement which is sometimes called the “philosophy of experiment” or “new experimentalism”. In the 1980s, a number of other movements and scholars also began focusing on the role of experimentation and instruments in science. Philosophical study of experimentation has thus seemed to be an invention of the 1980s whose central figure is Hacking. (...) This article aims to assess this historical claim, made by Hacking himself as well as others. It does so first by highlighting how a broader perspective on the history of philosophy reveals this invention narrative to be incorrect, since experimentation was a topic of interest for earlier philosophers. Secondly, the article evaluates a revision of this historical claim also made by some philosophers of experiment: the rediscovery narrative, which frames Hacking and others as having rediscovered the work of these earlier authors. This second narratives faces problems as well. Therefore we develop a third narrative which we call the contextualist narrative. Rather than considering experimentation in an essentialist manner as a fixed research object that is either present or not in the work of specific authors, experimentation should be addressed through a narrative that asks in what way it becomes a philosophical problem for certain authors and for what purpose. Such contextualization enables a repositioning of Hacking’s philosophy of experiment in relation to the specific debates in which he intervened, such as the realism-antirealism debate, the Science Wars and the debate on incommensurability. (shrink)

The Homeostatic Property Cluster (HPC) account of natural kinds has become popular since it was proposed by Richard Boyd in the late 1980s. Although it is often taken as a defining natural kinds as such, it is easy enough to see that something's being a natural kind is neither necessary nor sufficient for its being an HPC. This paper argues that it is better not to understand HPCs as defining what it is to be a natural kind but instead as (...) providing the ontological realization of (some) natural kinds. (shrink)

In a recent article, Joel Pust argued that direct inference based on reference properties of differing arity are incommensurable, and so direct inference cannot be used to resolve the Sleeping Beauty problem. After discussing the defects of Pust's argument, I offer reasons for thinking that direct inferences based on reference properties of differing arity are commensurable, and that we should prefer direct inferences based on logically stronger reference properties, regardless of arity.

Within continental philosophy of biology the work of Michel Serres has not received a lot of attention. Nonetheless, this chapter wants to argue that Serres was part of a group of thinkers – together with Jacques Monod and Henri Atlan – that started to think about biology in terms of second-order cybernetics and information theory. Therefore, this chapter aims to do four things. First of all, it maps the relation between Serres and Canguilhem, one that was mediated by authors such (...) as Louis Althusser or Jacques Monod. Secondly, it fleshes out Serres’s own ‘biophilosophy’. I label this alternative tradition as a ‘biophilosophy without a subject’. Finally, this chapter explores the consequences of this alternative biophilosophy through a brief examination of two authors whose work lies in the line of this tradition: René Girard and Bruno Latour. Though at first sight different, they both draw inspiration from this biophilosophy to develop a framework that, paradoxically, ‘jumps over’ the subject. Hence, the reason why biology is neither a prominent theme in Girard’s nor in Latour’s work. This is not because of a lack of biophilosophy, but because of an implicit one: a biophilosophy without a subject. (shrink)

In this paper I engage interdisciplinary conversation on inaction as the dominant response to climate change, and develop an analysis of the specific phenomenon of complacency through a critical-feminist lens. I suggest that Chris Cuomo's discussion of the “insufficiency” problem and Susan Sherwin's call for a “public ethics” jointly point toward particularly promising harm-reduction strategies. I draw upon and extend their work by arguing that extant philosophical accounts of complacency are inadequate to the task of sorting out what it means (...) to be complacent on climate change. I offer a sketch for an alternative account, which I take to be a start in the direction of mapping out a diverse array of “motivational vices” that need to be named, grappled with, and remedied. (shrink)

This article argues that pseudoscience lacks an adequate philosophical analysis. Using conspiracy theories as a case study, it is claimed that such an analysis needs to go beyond a mere epistemological approach. In the first part, it is shown that the existing philosophical literature shares the assumption that conspiracy theories are primarily deficient scientific hypotheses. This claim is contested, because such an approach can only understand what conspiracy theories fail to be, but not what they are and why people tend (...) to endorse them. To develop an alternative, the second part starts from recent sociology of science, applied to conspiracy theories, that claims that both true and false theories are in need of a symmetrical social explanation. However, this opens the path to relativism because it does not allow for a significant distinction between scientific and conspiracy theories. In the third section an alternative analysis of conspiracy theories is offered, which does not abandon this distinction. Moreover, it is claimed that the most important element of conspiracy theories is not their truth value but rather their symbolic structures of meaning. The aim of conspiracy theories, and perhaps of pseudoscience in general, is then not to know facts about the world, but rather to offer a meaningful framework within which to live. (shrink)

We argue that the value of authenticity does not explain the value of self-knowledge. There are a plurality of species of authenticity; in this paper we consider four species: avoiding pretense (section 2), Frankfurtian wholeheartedness (section 3), existential self-knowledge (section 4), and spontaneity (section 5). Our thesis is that, for each of these species, the value of (that species of) authenticity does not (partially) explain the value of self-knowledge. Moreover, when it comes to spontaneity, the value of (that species of) (...) authenticity conflicts with the value of self-knowledge. (shrink)

Fiat objects may come into existence by intentional explicit defnition and convention or they can be the result of some spontaneous and unintentional activity resulting in tracing fat spatial boundaries. Artifacts and fiat objects seem intuitively to be correlated: both artifacts and fiat objects depend for their existence on agents and their intentions. Is it possible to consider fiat objects as artifacts and to what extent? Or else can we conceive at least some artifacts as fiat objects? In order to (...) draw a map of the possible answers to these two questions we will take into account various defnitions of artifacts stemming from the two classical approaches: the intentional and the functional one. (shrink)