Steven Nadler has argued that Spinoza can, should, and does allow for the possibility of suicide committed as a free and rational action. Given that the conatus is a striving for perfection, Nadler argues, there are cases in which reason guides a person to end her life based on the principle of preferring the lesser evil. If so, Spinoza’s disparaging statements about suicide are intended to app...

Summer maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the dominant crops in the North China Plain (NCP). Its growth is greatly influenced by the spatial-temporal variation of climatic variables, especially solar radiation, temperature and rainfall. The WOFOST (version 7.1) model was applied to evaluate the impact of climatic variability on summer maize yields using historical meteorological data from 1961 to 20...

Various studies have been demonstrating the importance of patriarchal values in structuring society, especially with regard to sexual violence against women, pointing out that women themselves are still blamed for they suffer. The work presented here falls within this context and analyzes how social representations university students about victims structured (Study 1; N = 288) information vict...

If you asked a contemporary metaphysician to list her foundational, unanalyzed notions, she might say: possibility, object and part. Or perhaps: grounding, bundle and point. If you asked Spinoza, conception and causation would be at the top of his list. He uses these notions to state many of his most important doctrines, including necessitarianism and substance monism, as well as to define seve...