Social Prerequisites for the Proper Function of Individual Reason

Episteme ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Kornblith

Human beings form beliefs by way of a variety of psychological processes. Some of these processes of belief acquisition are innate; others are acquired. A good deal of interesting work has been done in assessing the reliability of these processes. Any such assessment must examine not only features intrinsic to the psychological processes themselves, but also features of the environments in which those processes are exercised; a mechanism which is reliable in one sort of environment may be quite unreliable in others. This is true not only of the physical environment; it is true of the social environment as well. This has important implications for how we should think about the exercise of individual reason, as well as the interpersonal practice of giving and asking for reasons.

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Alejandra Martínez Ibarra ◽  
Jorge Ibarra Salazar

En este artículo analizamos los determinantes de la satisfacción residencial en México a partir de los resultados de la Encuesta de Satisfacción Residencial 2013. Los datos están agregados en 512 conjuntos habitacionales. Estimamos diferentes especificaciones por mínimos cuadrados generalizados para relacionar el índice de satisfacción residencial con variables independientes agrupadas en: características personales, aspectos económicos de la vivienda, medio ambiente físico, medio ambiente social, características de la vivienda, y localización y proximidad. Encontramos que las variables relacionadas con el medio ambiente físico y el medio ambiente social ayudan a explicar las variaciones en la satisfacción residencial promedio entre los conjuntos habitacionales en México. Estos hallazgos indican áreas de oportunidad para la política de vivienda que pueden mejorar el bienestar de los residentes.AbstractIn this paper, we analyze the determinants of residential satisfaction in Mexico on the basis of the results of the Residential Satisfaction Survey 2013. The data are aggregated into 512 housing complexes. We estimate different specifications generalized by least squares to link the rate of residential satisfaction to independent variables grouped into personal characteristics, economic aspects of the dwelling, physical environment, social environment, housing characteristics and location and proximity. We found that the variables related to the physical environment and the social environment account for the variations in average residential satisfaction in housing complexes in Mexico. These findings indicate areas of opportunity for housing policy that could improve residents’ well-being.


Author(s):  
Tamler Sommers

The success of defending universalist or objectivist theories of moral responsibility rests on a crucial empirical assumption. Specifically, the assumption that under ideal conditions of rationality human beings would come to share considered intuitions about moral responsibility regardless of their physical and social environment. This chapter raises serious doubts about the plausibility of this assumption by examining the origins of these intuitive differences and the psychological mechanisms that underlie them. It reviews recent theories in the evolution of cooperation, which suggest that a wide variety of norms may emerge as a response to the different features of a culture's social and physical environment. It then appeals to theories about the psychology of norm acquisition to argue that variation in norms about responsibility is grounded in cognitive mechanisms associated with emotional responses and intuitions about deservingness. It concludes that it is unlikely that we would ever reach agreement about the criteria of moral responsibility—even under ideal conditions of rationality.


Author(s):  
Camilla Aparecida Silva de Oliveira ◽  
Andréa Maria Duarte Vargas ◽  
Fernanda de Morais Ferreira ◽  
Efigênia Ferreira e Ferreira

(1) Objective: To understand the perception of Brazilian children about the Quality of Life (QoL) considering their living environment. (2) Methods: This is a qualitative study conducted with children aged 6–10 years, from a medium-sized Brazilian municipality, recruited from public and private schools. An adaptation of the “draw, write, and say” method was used to collect data. At first, all children (n = 252) drew a “neighborhood with QoL”. On the same day, the researcher analyzed the graphic elements of the representations and intentionally selected the two best-detailed drawings from each class (n = 49) and the children were invited to narrate them. The narratives were analyzed through content analysis. (3) Results: Two major themes emerged from the content analysis, namely, the physical environment and social environment. The first included the needs to live in a community, such as housing, places of leisure, essential services, and natural elements. The second was relationships with family and friends. (4) Conclusion: The children presented the meaning of an environment with QoL, pointing out essential items to have this ideal environment. The social environment and the physical environment were perceived interdependently; that is, any change in one of these aspects may affect children’s QoL.


Author(s):  
Luc J. Martin ◽  
David J. Hancock ◽  
Jean Côté

Talent development in sport is achieved through years of preparation and requires constant interaction between personal and contextual resources. Accordingly, extensive research has been dedicated to understanding factors that contribute to sport performance. Literature suggests the factors influencing athletic development can be classified in terms of the physical environment, the social environment, and engaging learning activities. Investigations pertaining to the physical environment suggest the importance of appropriate settings, which can relate to the sport organization or the larger community. Researchers must also cogitate the activities in which athletes take part. These considerations involve the maturational status of athletes, the volume of deliberate practice and play, and early specialization versus diversification. Finally, the salience of the social environment in relation to sport performance cannot be overlooked. Not surprisingly, the relations established with social agents (i.e., coaches, peers/teammates, parents) can facilitate or impede the developmental process. Consequently, the development of athletes in the context of sport and performance psychology extends past the individual and is influenced by several factors that must be discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 91 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1177-1182 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Carmen Hidalgo ◽  
Bernardo Hernández

Social relationships had been important in explanation and prediction of attachment to places. Although some have asserted the importance of physical aspects of the environment in the formation of attachment ties to a place, the social environment is required for the formation of bonds to a place, although strong emphasis on the social aspect has been questioned and the importance of the physical environment noted. The present objective in two studies was to test whether college students ( ns = 30 and 27) show a preference for a place they know, independently of the social interactions developed in them. Results confirmed the hypothesis, i.e., after a very brief stay in a certain place with nobody else there, these college students preferred that place to another with which they had not had previous contact.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-264
Author(s):  
Milan Tanic ◽  
Danica Stankovic ◽  
Vojislav Nikolic ◽  
Aleksandra Kostic

The paper discusses the implications of the social environment on the modern pedagogical process and their interdependence with the physical environment. The initial assumption is that pedagogical processes form certain types of social activities which encourage the development of the appropriate physical environment. Different patterns of social environment are defined by the typological analysis of social activities in the pedagogical process. In addition, the basic research framework implies the cooperation of various forms of social environment and the influencing factors on the organization of the physical environment in terms of contextual changes in the pedagogical process. Defined qualitative properties suggest the creation of a polyvalent physical environment that offers a whole range of intermediate forms for the implementation of various forms of social activities in the pedagogical process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
N Murugesapandian

In Tamil Nadu, during the Sangam era, Vedic religion and other religions, namely, Jainism and Buddhism, were ideologically introduced. During that period, the social environment of the ethnic group was disintegrating, and the political spread of the Muventhar with the marginal kings was dominant. The land, symbolized by the Tamil language, is expanding and relating to politics. Rules and punishments created in the name of ethics were emphasized in the context of producing bodies that were pro-power. In the ethical texts, Thirukkural and Manu Dharma Shastra are important.The idea that lies in the aftermath of the Thirukkural rules that are celebrated as ethics is to be found. At the same time, the practice of Manu dharma, up and downs in the name of the birth, the inequality of the woman on the basis of gender. In Vedic religion the politics that have kept Bhramins at the top of the social stratum remain early to the present day. As far as Thiruvalluvar is concerned with the development of human beings, Manu has given rise to the social dominance of Varunasirama on the basis of birth. The essence of the article is the attempt to contain the political power that operates in the back of two different ethical literatures.


1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Schmaus

In The Rules of Sociological Method, Durkheim tried to remove the ambiguity of The Division of Labor in Society that arose from his essentialist model of explanation, in which causes and effects are both necessary and sufficient conditions of each other. The resulting confusion of effects with causes made possible the materialist interpretation of the latter work, in which increasing population density was mistaken for the cause rather than the sign of changes in the social environment associated with an increase in specialization. The Rules tried to defeat this misinterpretation through clarifying such key concepts as cause, function, and social environment Durkheim's readers had failed to see that he had provided only a functional and not a causal explanation of the division of labor, which he took to be an adaptation to, not a result of, factors in the social rather than the physical environment.


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