Imagine a scenario where you are cooking and suddenly, the contents of the pot start to come out, and the oven bell rings. You would have to stop what you are doing and start responding to the changing demands, switching between different objects, operations and mental sets. This ability is known as cognitive flexibility. Now, add to this scenario a strong emotional atmosphere that invades you as you spontaneously recall a difficult situation you had that morning. How would you behave? (...) Recent studies suggest that emotional states do modulate cognitive flexibility, but these findings are still controversial. Moreover, there is a lack of evidence regarding the underlying brain processes. The purpose of the present study was, therefore, to examine such interaction while monitoring changes in ongoing cortical activity using EEG. In order to answer this question, we used two musical stimuli to induce emotional states (positive/high arousal/open stance and negative/high arousal/closed stance). Twenty-nine participants performed two blocks of the Madrid Card Sorting Task (MCST) in a neutral silence condition and then four blocks while listening to the counterbalanced musical stimuli. To explore this interaction, we used a combination of first-person (micro-phenomenological interview) and third-person (behavior and EEG) approaches. Our results show that compared to the positive stimuli and silence condition, negative stimuli decrease reaction times (RTs) for the shift signal. Our data show that the valance of the first emotional block is determinant in the RTs of the subsequent blocks. Additionally, the analysis of the micro-phenomenological interview and the integration of first- and third-person data show that the emotional disposition generated by the music could facilitate task performance for some participants or hamper it for others, independently of its emotional valence. When the emotional disposition hampered task execution, RTs were slower, and the P300 potential showed a reduced amplitude compared to the facilitated condition. These findings show that the interaction between emotion and cognitive flexibility is more complex than previously thought and points to a new way of understanding the underlying mechanisms by incorporating an in-depth analysis of individual subjective experience. (shrink)

Context: Research in the contemplative field has focused on trainable capacities that foster self-regulation and integration. From a psychological perspective, mindfulness and personality research ….

: We offer a response to four themes that result from the commentators’ inquiries and critiques: the psychodynamic perspective in contemplative research; the limitations of self-….

We study by means of a laboratory experiment the role of individuals’ empathy in the Vote-with-the-Wallet Game. Our main purpose is to analyze the impact of the ability to empathize on participants’ behavior when asked to choose between two specific types of product: a cheaper conventional good and a more expensive one which, however, produces a positive externality for the other participants. We consider three manipulations: a) a redistribution mechanism where the expensive product is subsidized by the buyers of the (...) cheaper one; b) a framed version of the game where the expensive good is described as produced by a socially responsible company; c) a treatment where information about other participants’ behavior are made public. We find that all the manipulations increase the rate of contribution to the public good with respect to the baseline treatment and that the effects are stronger among participants who show higher levels of empathy. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Body Awareness to Recognize Feelings: The Exploration of a Musical Emotional Experience” by Alejandra Vásquez-Rosati. Upshot: The enactment view echoes the deeper biology and chemistry of emotion. Music resonates innately because emotional evaluation is the evolutionary grandfather of all senses.

Open peer commentary on the article “Body Awareness to Recognize Feelings: The Exploration of a Musical Emotional Experience” by Alejandra Vásquez-Rosati. Upshot: While generally supportive of the aims of Vásquez-Rosati’s target article, I suggest that it contains some theoretical and methodological shortcomings that could be addressed in future work. I also argue that if the author wishes to produce research that properly engages the enactivist perspective, then a number of additional dimensions are required. With this in mind, (...) I outline the basics of the 4E approach to cognition, suggesting that it may provide a useful framework for empirical research. (shrink)

Open peer commentary on the article “Body Awareness to Recognize Feelings: The Exploration of a Musical Emotional Experience” by Alejandra Vásquez-Rosati. Upshot: A complete account of musical emotions implies examining how factors in the music, the situation, and the person interact, producing objective and subjective changes on affective, bodily and cognitive levels simultaneously. Therefore, a first-person phenomenological method can only provide a limited understanding of these experiences.

The Scottish sentimentalist Francis Hutcheson and the Chinese Confucianist Mencius give benevolence (ren) a key place in their respective moral theories, as the first and foundational virtue. Leaving aside differences in style and method, my purpose in this essay is to underline this similarity by focusing on four common features: first, benevolence springs from compassion, an innate and universal feeling shared by all human beings; second, its objects are not only human beings but also animals; third, it is sensitive to (...) proximity; and finally, it has to be constantly cultivated in order to become a character trait. I will conclude with some brief remarks as to how this understanding of benevolence as rooted in feeling rather than reason, and in personal rather than impersonal relationships, helps to illuminate part of the discussion in moral philosophy today. (shrink)

Pregnancy presents some interesting challenges for the philosophy of embodied cognition. Mother and fetus are generally considered to be passive during pregnancy, both individually and in their relation. In this paper, we use the enactive operational concepts of autonomy, agency, individuation, and participation to examine the relation between mother and fetus in utero. Based on biological, physiological, and phenomenological research, we explore the emergence of agentive capacities in embryo and fetus, as well as how maternal agency changes as pregnancy advances. (...) We show that qualitatively different kinds of agency have their beginnings already in utero, and to what extent fetal and maternal movement modulate affectivity and individuation in pregnancy. We thus propose that mother and fetus are both agents who participate in pregnancy. Pregnancy then emerges as a relational developmental organization that anchors and holds its developing participants. We end the paper with reflections on ethical implications of this proposal, and suggestions for future research. (shrink)

Anna Stilz’s Territorial Sovereignty (2019) aims to be a revisionist account of territorial rights that puts the value of individual autonomy first, without giving up the value of collective self-determination. In what follows I examine Stilz’s definition of occupancy rights and her emphasis on the moral relevance of what she calls ‘located’ life plans. I suggest that, if it aims at being truly revisionist, her theory should work with a broader definition of occupancy. So long as it doesn’t, these rights (...) will be mainly the preserve of groups of settlers and peoples with predictable patterns of movement. Moreover, insofar as occupancy rights ground collective rights to self-determination, they actually have the potential to trump individual rights to what I call ‘dynamic’ or non-located occupancy. This is worrying, I claim, for at least two reasons. First, rights to dynamic occupancy are arguably as central for respecting individual autonomy as rights to located occupancy. And second, rights to dynamic ocupancy should be seen as key in helping to form the kind of political allegiances required to overcome the most pressing collective action problems that humanity faces. (shrink)

El artículo tiene como objetivo examinar la noción de psicoafectividad en Manuel Zapata Olivella e interpretarla desde la perspectiva del concepto contraconducta de Michel Foucault. Se señalan los puntos de encuentro entre los dos pensadores, inicialmente, y se analiza después la particularidad filosófica del concepto zapatiano, resaltando su validez como recurso hermenéutico al abordar la cuestión de la resistencia cultural de los afroamericanos bajo el sistema esclavista colonial.

En este texto se espera evidenciar por qué y cómo el tono sencillo y amistoso de la epístola permite que las doctrinas filosóficas se aprendan y se realice la interiorización de las mismas. Se mostrará que Sócrates, el personaje histórico y ficcional de Platón, es un antecedente de este modo de filosofar; seguidamente se caracterizará la misiva como “medio diálogo” por la forma en que ésta, siendo consciente de las peculiaridades del interlocutor, se apoya en el estilo llano y coloquial (...) y en la relación filial entre los interlocutores ficticios. (shrink)

Resumen El presente trabajo pretende revisar el concepto de intencionalidad de John Searle a la luz de la noción de objetividad de García-Carpintero así como la concepción de libre arbitrio que de dicho concepto podría llegar a desprenderse. Asimismo, y con el fin de esclarecer qué podría entenderse por acción voluntaria nos valdremos de algunos comentarios hechos por Kenny en los cuales el autor intenta explicar qué es exactamente eso que solemos llamar una acción racional. Palabras clave: intencionalidad; objetividad;libre arbitrio;acción (...) voluntaria; acción racional. Intentionality, Free Will and Rational Action: an Approach to John Searle and Anthony Kenny’s stancesThis paper aims to review John Searle’s concept of intentionality in the light of Garcia Carpintero’s notion of objectivity, as well as the conception of free will which might come to be a consequence of the latter concept. Likewise, in order to clarify what might be understood as voluntary action, we will resort to some comments made by Kenny, in which the author attempts to explain what a rational action exactly is. Keywords : Intentionality; Objectivity; Free Will; Voluntary Action;Rational Action. (shrink)

The rise of foundational dualism and the eclipse of the body -- "Body am I entirely, and nothing else": non-reductive materialism and the struggle against dualism -- Toward a materialist phenomenology of religion -- The phenomenology of embodiment and the study of religion -- Religious bodies as social artifacts -- Holding social constructionism in check: the recovery of the active, lived body -- A cultural neurophenomenology of religion: enter the embodied mind -- The eclipse of practice: textualism at large -- (...) "Ceci n'est pas un texte": from textualism to practice -- Expanding the conversation on emplaced religion -- Mobility, networks, and ecology. (shrink)

En este artículo se presenta un análisis cualitativo preliminar de los contratos laborales firmados entre cuatro músicos de Europa del este y la dirección de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Antioquia en 1949, mientras dichos músicos estaban en los campos de refugiados europeos donde los sobrevivientes de la guerra fueron congregados para su atención y rehabilitación. Con este análisis se pretende problematizar la inserción de estos personajes como agentes de modernización cultural en Medellín, haciendo énfasis en las condiciones políticas y socioculturales (...) que caracterizaban a Colombia a comienzos de la década de 1950. La nacionalidad de estos músicos (tres checos y un rumano) era objeto de sospecha desde la legislación migratoria colombiana, que desde la década de 1920 establecía un catálogo de extranjeros que no debían entrar al país, pues podían traer ideologías contrarias a la defensa de la propiedad privada. Al contrastar estos contratos laborales con la política migratoria colombiana y con la responsabilidad pedagógica cívica que se le imponía a la actividad musical académica, se plantean algunas preguntas para debatir acerca de la narrativa oficial que presenta a estos músicos como agentes de modernidad importados e integrados a un proceso de modernización cuya representación se ha caracterizado por la ausencia de conflicto. (shrink)

Volume 19, Issue 3, December 2023, Page 359-363.

Religion and spirituality (R/S) serve as coping mechanisms for circumstances that threaten people’s psychological well-being. However, using R/S inappropriately to deal with difficulties and problems in daily life may include the practice of Spiritual Bypass (SB). SB refers to avoiding addressing emotional problems and trauma, rather than healing and learning from them. On the other hand, coping strategies may be determined by the cultural context. This study aims to describe the presence of SB in individuals who may have experienced stressful (...) situations and to understand the influence of culture on SB by comparing SB in two culturally different groups. The sample consists of a total of 435 people, 262 of Honduran nationality and 173 of Spanish nationality. Both groups are approximately equivalent in age and gender. The degree of SB, stressful events, perception of social support and spiritual well-being are examined, respectively, through the Spiritual Bypass Scale, and specific items and subscales from the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Spiritual Wellbeing. The results showed a higher spiritual well-being and use of SB in the Honduran sample as compared to the Spanish sample, but similar social support and stressful events. Furthermore, some of the factors predicting SB were different between the two samples. While age and a greater number of R/S practices were important in both samples, for the Honduran sample the variables that best explained SB were being a Christian, having greater social support, fewer stressful events, and greater attendance at church or temple. For the Spanish sample, however, the variable that best explained SB was studying R/S texts. Therefore, SB must be understood within the culture in which it develops, since in different cultural contexts it appears to relate to differing factors. Thus, SB becomes a possible functional or dysfunctional coping strategy depending on the social context. (shrink)

A través de un estudio de caso y bajo el paradigma de investigación cualitativa, este artículo contribuye con evidencia que da cuenta de la conformación de los repertorios lingüísticos de estudiantes universitarios en el centro-norte de México, así como los espacios en donde ejercen prácticas lingüísticas flexibles.

La recepción durante el siglo XX se preguntó si la filosofía nietzscheana era a-, im- o anti-política, es decir, si podía ser asimilada por la democracia, o si era antimoderna, elitista y reaccionaria. El italiano Roberto Esposito ha propuesto leerla como formando e informando el paradigma de la biopolítica. Se discuten cuatro lecturas de esa biopolítica: como formadora del paradigma de la inmunidad, como tanatopolítica, como liberal y neoliberal, y como biopolítica afirmativa. Twentieth-century readers wondered if Nietzschean philosophy was apolitical, (...) impolitic, or anti-political; that is, if it could be assimilated by democracy or if it was antimodern, elitist, and reactionary. The Italian philosopher Robert Esposito has proposed reading Nietzsche's philosophy as forming and informing the biopolitical paradigm. Four readings of these biopolitics are discussed: as part of the paradigm of immunity, as thanatopolitics, as liberal and neoliberal, and as affirmative biopolitics. (shrink)

El ensayo parte de la premisa que el método científico funciona como un dispositivo de generación de verdades articuladas con estrategias de ejercicio del poder. Los argumentos desarrollados giran en torno a una crítica de la supremacía de la ciencia formal en el quehacer científico social y el uso ..

En este texto se desarrollará una temática problemática y dilemática en tanto que se hará una reflexión sobre los efectos de la pandemia para las personas. Se afirmará que esta pandemia ha dejado enfermedades por tratar y curar; estas enfermedades no son solo del cuerpo; nos ha dejado entender la necesidad de cuidado de sí como un cuidado también del otro. Por esto, planear y proponer algunas virtudes que orienten dicha búsqueda de sabiduría. El texto consta de seis partes donde (...) se enmarcará la pandemia como el problema a abordar, luego se tratará el asunto de la acción humana y sus implicaciones para sí mismo y para el otro; estas acciones provienen de la autonomía y del cuidado de sí que requiere unas virtudes con las cuales se transforma a la persona y a la comunidad. (shrink)

RESUMO Neste artigo, propomos estratégias de captação de regiões polêmicas em corpus produzido a partir de publicações do Twitter, partindo de quadro teórico que enfatiza a perspectiva dialógica. Com base nessas estratégias, fornecemos entradas para a análise da materialidade oriunda do universo tecnodiscursivo em circulação em ambientes digitais. Em razão da produção do corpus da investigação, avançamos na compreensão de traços que compõem imagens discursivas em torno de Diego Maradona em circulação no Twitter por ocasião de seu falecimento. Para tanto, (...) explicitamos e problematizamos técnicas de captação e produção de um corpus digital de pesquisa, através da delimitação de um espaço discursivo no Twitter que circundou a morte de Maradona. Os resultados obtidos se dirigem tanto às condições de utilização dessas plataformas por analistas do discurso, quanto à cartografia das regiões do dizer que se configuram nesse espaço e dos embates que nelas ganham consistência. (shrink)

A “Critical Perspectives” article in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry on scientific integrity in Brazil summarizes several misconduct cases documented therein . To further reinforce the responsible conduct of research in developing countries and to fight against the unaccountability of many editors , we describe here a Mexican instance of alleged in-house plagiarism .In June 2011, we submitted a “Correspondence” note to a Nature group journal to expose what we claimed to be a breach of collegiality and inappropriate authorship in (...) a three-page mutation report just published in that journal. Our main complaints were two: the surreptitious way in which we believed that both displayed metaphases in that report had been obtained from our files by a local colleague and then published without our consent and the massive easy-on co-authorship: 14 out of 21 co-authors declared just to have “provided clinical material.” In c .. (shrink)

The point of departure for htis essay is the evaluation of democracy in Latin America, in particular, Colombian democracy following the new, 1991 Constitution. Special emphasis is placed upon the phenomena of violence, corruption and abstentionism, while a solution for these problems is sought in the strengthening of democracy in the specific form of participatory democracy, understood as a more authentic version capable of incorporating diverse cultures, classes and social movements. Recent discussions in contemporary moral and political philosophy help to (...) clarify the meaning of participatory democracy through a reconstruction of the debate between J. Habermas' discourse ethics and radical democracy, and J. Rawls' political liberalism, which has in turn been challenged by the liberal and communitarian critiques of R. Dworkin and M. Sandel, respectively. (shrink)

El propósito del trabajo es comparar las trayectorias filosóficas de Paul Ricoeur y Mario Presas. Se sostiene que una adecuada comprensión del giro de la fenomenología a la hermenéutica, en el cual ubicamos a ambos, implica poner en relieve su pertenencia inicial a la fenomenología existencial francesa de la primera mitad del siglo XX. Se precisará la denominación fenomenología existencial y el impacto que tuvo en la concepción de la hermenéutica que fue desarrollada a partir de ella. Para concluir, proponemos (...) una periodización de la producción de Presas en relación con su lectura de la obra de Ricoeur. (shrink)

With growing vigor, political philosophers have started questioning the Westphalian system of states as the main actors in the international arena and, within it, the doctrine of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources. In this article I add to these questionings by showing that, when it comes to migratory natural resources, i.e., migratory species, a plausible theory of territorial rights should advocate a regime of shared sovereignty among states. This means that one single entity should represent their interests and maybe also (...) those of third parties, managing and making decisions over the resource as a whole. Although such a regime might be the tacit goal of existing international conventions regarding wildlife, it remains untheorized in political philosophy and largely under-theorized in international law. By presenting the critical situation of the monarch butterfly in North America, I point to the inadequacy of the compartmentalized current regime, which generates injustice in migration; namely, the phenomenon whereby range states of a given species may neglect or over-exploit it while in their territory, to the detriment of others. I suggest that more flexible and imaginative governance arrangements are needed to deal in a better way with these and similar natural resources. (shrink)

At Universitat Politècnica de València, Meridies, an internship programme that places engineering students in countries of Latin America, is one of the few opportunities the students have to explore the implications of being a professional in society in a different cultural and social context. This programme was analyzed using the capabilities approach as a frame of reference for examining the effects of the programme on eight student participants. The eight pro-public-good capabilities proposed by Melanie Walker were investigated through semi-structured interviews. (...) The internship is an environment in which students can put into practice the knowledge they have acquired in undergraduate studies and to find practical relevance in what they studied. Occasionally, this also entails a critical questioning of what they have learned, a greater awareness of the limits of the contents of their studies and of the way things were taught, and interest in less explored issues that are closely linked to social justice. However, tensions can arise between the pro-public-good oriented perspectives of this programme, and a more instrumental vision. One way to overcome these tensions is to foster consideration of reflexivity, that is, the dynamic relationship between technology and society. To do so, the programme must create space before and during the internship, and upon the return of the students, to discuss and collectively reflect upon their lived experience. Additionally, it ought to engage supervisors in this educational journey, both at the university and in the host institutions, and also involve socially committed organisations in this task. (shrink)

The exact nature of the relation between science and Scripture in the thought of Francis Bacon is a well-studied but controversial field. In this paper, it is shown that Bacon, though convinced that there exists no enmity between the book of God's wisdom and the book of God's power, usually tries to separate knowledge acquired by reason from knowledge acquired by faith. In his exposition of the principle of the conservation of matter, however, Bacon seems to find himself constrained to (...) invoke Scriptural truths in a manner that he usually disapproves of. In order to establish this principle, which is so essential to his overall scientific program, he appeals both to the Bible and Greek mythology in a way that points to certain conceptual tensions within his natural philosophy. (shrink)

The evaluation of study habits as determinant factors in academic performance is a concern for educational agents because they determine the academic opportunities of students. However, a problem encountered is the accessibility of valid and reliable instruments to evaluate study habits from the students' point of view. In this sense, this paper analyzes the internal structure, reliability, and rating of the study habits perception questionnaire. The results and the practical contribution to the educational community in guiding intervention to improve students' (...) academic opportunities are discussed. (shrink)

En este artículo se aborda la identidad personal desde la perspectiva de Derek Parfit, a través de un contraste filosófico entre el planteamiento de la esencialidad y las concepciones fenomenológicas de esta misma. El propósito de este artículo radica en la posibilidad de atender la identidad personal como problema filosófico en vistas de un mundo que recrea identificaciones mediante lo cibernético y la imagen. Es por ello que abordar la identidad personal desde el tenor psicologista permite establecer argumentos que aporten (...) a la relevancia de la memoria como factor pertinente del problema identitario, gracias a las contribuciones de la filosofía parfitiana que sostiene la variabilidad y perdurabilidad en el tiempo como determinantes de la identidad personal. Esto significa que podremos entender la identidad personal desde una apreciación del pasado, más que una determinación del futuro. (shrink)