Estevan Garcia

Synaesthesia is a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces photisms, i.e. mental percepts of colours. R is a 20 year old colour blind subject who, in addition to the relatively common grapheme-colour synaesthesia, presents a rarely reported cross modal perception in which a variety of visual stimuli elicit aura-like percepts of colour. In R, photisms seem to be closely related to the affective valence of stimuli and typically bring out a consistent pattern of emotional responses. The present case study suggests that colours might be an intrinsic category of the human brain. We developed an empirical methodology that allowed us to study the subject's otherwise inaccessible phenomenological experience. First, we found that R shows a Stroop effect elicited by photisms despite the fact that he does not show a regular Stroop with real colours. Secondly, by manipulating the colour context we confirmed that colours can alter R's emotional evaluation of the stimuli. Furthermore, we demonstrated that R's auras may actually lead to a partially inverted emotional spectrum where certain stimuli bring out emotional reactions opposite to the normal ones. These findings can only be accounted for by considering R's subjective colour experience or qualia. Therefore the present paper defends the view that qualia are a useful scientific concept that can be approached and studied by experimental methods

In this article, we explore why conservation schemes that have positive outcomes through the participation of local communities cannot necessarily be deemed as just. We observe that recognition (understood as inclusion and respect) of local communities value-systems, a key factor towards environmental justice, is not often achieved in conservation governance. We build our argument on the authors extensive research on four Mexican forest areas and contrast our insights with the literature on environmental justice and conservation. All four cases are characterised by positive conservation outcomes as well as the inclusion of local communities in conservation governance, and as such are typically considered best-practice conservation initiatives in Mexico. Yet, in all cases, our engagement with local community members leads us to believe that their value-systems fail to be recognised in conservation governance. Three main factors appear to hinder recognition: (a) the dominant knowledge-system underpinning conservation action prevails in legal frameworks; (b) financial resources heavily determine power relations in decision-making, and (c) a lack of sensitiveness to local cultural norms affects local stakeholders capacity to communicate with external actors that design and implement conservation action. We conclude that achieving meaningful recognition of local communities value-systems requires: (a) developing awareness of the structural political and economic factors impacting on decision-making in conservation, and (b) an epistemological transformation, permeating conservation governance, in which local communities value-systems are considered one of various legitimate knowledge-systems. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. © 2021 The Authors. People and Nature published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

In the context of European Convergence, it has non-stop been encouraged a revolution in higher education in order to face up to challenges thrown down by the socalled "knowledge society". Nevertheless, as it happens in all revolutions, by means of the revolutionary legislation we risk destroying completely what we were trying to legislate on. This essay aims to attract academic circles attention to this matter so 225 LOGOS. Anales del Seminario de Metafísica ISSN: 1575-6866 Vol. 37 (2004): 225-253 Carlos Fernández Liria La revolución educativa Luis Alegre Zahonero that, at least, this disaster is not consolidated with our collaboration