Beauvoir’s ethics, meaning, and competition

This paper discusses Simone de Beauvoir’s views on the meaning of life as presented in The Ethics of Ambiguity. I argue that Beauvoir’s view matches contemporary hybrid views on the meaning of life, incorporating both subjective and objective elements, while connecting them in a distinct way—through the tension between self and other. I then analyze the meaning of excessively competitive projects through Beauvoir’s ethics and conclude that success that amounts to denying other people’s access to the things one values is absurd. I use the case of contemporary academia as an illustration of extreme competition, then employ Beauvoir’s views to suggest a shift towards more meaningful practices

Causality, Human Action and Experimentation: Von Wright's Approach to Causation in Contemporary Perspective

This paper discusses von Wright's theory of causation from Explanation and Understanding and Causality and Determinism in contemporary context. I argue that there are two important common points that von Wright's view shares with the version of manipulability currently supported by Woodward: the analysis of causal relations in a system modelled on controlled experiments, and the explanation of manipulability through counterfactuals - with focus on the counterfactual account of unmanipulable causes. These points also mark von Wright's departure from previous action-based theories of causation. Owing to these two features, I argue that, upon classifying different versions of manipulability theories, von Wright's view should be placed closer to the interventionist approach than to the agency theory, where it currently stands. Furthermore, given its relevance in contemporary context, which this paper aims to establish, I claim that von Wright's theory can be employed to solve present problems connected to manipulability approaches to causation

Is Future-Oriented Mental Time Travel Inextricably Linked to the Self?

Ganeri's [2018] discussion of mental time travel and the self focuses on remembering the past, but has less to say with respect to the status of future-oriented mental time travel. This paper aims to disambiguate the relation between prospection and the self from the framework of Ganeri's interpretation of three Buddhist views—by Buddhaghosa, Vasubandhu, and Dignaga. Is the scope of Ganeri's discussion confined to the past, or is there a stronger assumption that future thought always entails self-representation? I argue that if mental time travel towards the past and towards the future are continuous, both past and future thought should be possible independently of self-representation. An assumption of discontinuity however would enable the employment of the self as one of the defining differences between remembering the past and imagining the future. The two options can be further contrasted on the basis of distinct ways of constructing past/future scenarios (field vs. observer perspective), modes of experiencing time (known vs. lived), and the origin of mental time travel (episodic vs. semantic memory). I further assess the compatibility of future-oriented thought with the three Buddhist views on the basis of these coordinates

Teaching Philosophy in Central Asia: Effects on Moral and Political Education

This paper investigates how an introductory philosophy course influences the moral and political development of undergraduate students in a Liberal Arts university in Central Asia. Within a context of rapid changes characteristic of transitional societies—reflected in the organization of higher education—philosophy provides students with the means to reason about moral and political values in a way that overcomes the old ideological tenets as well as contemporary reluctance to theoretical inquiry. Studying philosophy provides a remedy for deficiencies in both secondary and higher education, by improving general reading and reasoning skills, that enable the development of moral reasoning. Furthermore, familiarity with major works of moral and political philosophy can help students comprehend the patterns of social change, as well as surmount the issue of unsatisfactory theoretical foundations for social science

Collingwood, Pragmatism, and Philosophy of Science

This paper argues that there are notable similarities between Collingwood’s method of investigating absolute presuppositions and contemporary strands of pragmatism, focusing on two areas - the critique of realism and causation. It is first argued that there are methodological similarities between Collingwood’s argument against realism and his Kantian-inspired critique of metaphysics, and Putnam’s critique of externalism. Regarding causation, it is argued that Collingwood’s view and Price’s pragmatist approach have a common method – investigating causation in the context of specific human practices. Both authors place causation in the framework of scientific inquiry as opposed to making it the subject of the inquiry itself. Thus, Collingwood’s work proves to be in line with current metaphilosophical debates, particularly in the philosophy of science

Biodegradation study of some food packaging biopolymers based on PVA

Abstract Polymers are a common choice as protective materials since they combine flexibility, variable sizes and shapes, relatively light weight, stability, resistance to breaking, barrier properties and perceived high-quality image with cost-effectiveness. Currently, mainly non-biodegradable petroleum-based synthetic polymers are used as packaging materials for foods, because of their availability, low cost and functionality. However, biopolymers can be made from renewable resources without the environmental issues of petroleum-based polymers and with the additional advantage of being available from renewable sources or as by-products or waste-products from the food and agriculture industries. The aim of this study was to test some food packaging biopolymers based on PVA. In this respect, some biopolymers for food packaging applications were subjected to biodegradation tests by covering the tested samples with soil. The samples were incubated in known temperature and humidity conditions. The experiment lasted 45 days, after that the samples were washed, weighed and the biodegradation degree was calculated. The obtained results shows that PVA is a promising material for food packaging usage, as it is made from renewable resources and it is environmentally friendly.Â

Las reservas a los tratados. La especificidad de los tratados de Derechos Humanos

Treball Final de Grau en Dret. Codi: DR1052. Curs: 2019/202

Romanian Banks – Romanian SMEs: A Mutual Business Relationship

This paper analyzes the bank-SMEs partnership in terms of ICT collaboration. The data about ICT projects developed in the Romanian banks having SMEs as a technology provider is collected by web content mining. Then, the paper addresses two main perspectives. At first, we identify the features that characterize the successful SMEs that managed to develop business relationships with the Romanian Banks and we build an econometric model to express this dependency. On the other hand, the paper analyzes the problem from the Romanian banks’ perspective, identifying patterns in their IT investment decisions.SMEs; banking industry; IT investments; clustering; decision patterns.