Millenniums ago, Socrates established the basis for philosophy today, only by using criticism to set up concepts and rules discussing them with his disciples. This approach, named Socratic Method, has also proved to be a teaching-learning strategy. Nowadays, even though web-based, collaborative Distance Learning systems are becoming industry standards for representation and deployment of online...

The aim of this research study was to explore the effect of instructional techniques on critical thinking and critical thinking dispositions in online discussion, based on triangulation design. Six Thinking Hats, Brainstorming, Role Playing, Socratic Seminar, and Anyone Here an Expert, were selected as an instructional techniques for online discussion. In the quantitative part, according to the...

Adaptation of a component-based system can be achieved in the coordination modelling language Paradigm through the special component McPal. McPal regulates the propagation of new behaviour and guides the changes in the components and in their coordination. Here we show how McPal may delegate part of its control to local adaptation managers, created on-the-fly, allowing for distribution of the a...

If indigenous people are to have the legal right to hunt a particular species that other citizens are denied, then it presents a significant challenge to philosophers to explore the moral grounds that justify the special right, especially in respect to the issues of normative weight and fairness. This exploration is the subject of the current paper.

The present article articulates a cognitive theoretical perspective of delusional beliefs. In contrast to the focus of psychoanalytic therapy (theoretically-derived phenomena beyond personal awareness), the cognitive therapist focuses primarily on the conscious cognitive-experiential level in the treatment of delusional beliefs, thereby emphasizing a 'common-sense' level of analysis or reasonin...

There is a prevalent notion among cognitive scientists and philosophers of mind that computers are merely formal symbol manipulators; performing the actions they do solely on the basis of the syntactic properties of the symbols they manipulate. This view of computers has allowed some philosophers to divorce semantics· from computational explanations. Semantic content, then, becomes something on...

The term ‘evolution’ is defined as a process of change and development over time, typically tending towards greater complexity (although not necessarily greater improvement) and one that is unidirectional and non-cyclical. Nevertheless, the idea of evolution as conceived throughout western history has not always comported with this definition, with evolution often being understood teleologicall...

Few philosophers have been tempted to be relativists about absolutely everything—although, we are told, there have been some notable exceptions (Protagoras). Many philosophers, however, have been tempted to be relativists about specific domains of discourse, especially about those domains that have a normative character. Gilbert Harman, for example, has defended a relativistic view of morality,...

Few philosophers have been tempted to be relativists about absolutely everything—although, we are told, there have been some notable exceptions (Protagoras). Many philosophers, however, have been tempted to be relativists about specific domains of discourse, especially about those domains that have a normative character. Gilbert Harman, for example, has defended a relativistic view of morality,...