En el pensamiento de Foucault se encuentra la composición de una nueva noción de crítica, susceptible de aclarar la cuestión de las relaciones sujeto y verdad y la práctica de su propio pensamiento. La crítica puede leerse como modo de ser y como operador del pensamiento, y de un pensamiento que se toma en su existencia misma, no en «función de documento», sino en su «existencia de monumento», como práctica histórico-crítica. Interrogamos: si, para Foucault, no hay práctica alguna exterior a (...) la verdad, ¿el pensamiento es susceptible de definirse como práctica histórico-crítica de la verdad -de la «verdad-ritual»-? (shrink)

In this article we aim to distinguish between the transhuman and posthuman condition, according to their anthropological, ontological, and ethical natures. We will show that the current historical moment can be considered the beginning of a transhuman civilisation, given that the characteristics of the transhuman are already present in today’s human being. We will show that a series of decisive limitations for belonging to the human condition are in the process of being transcended due to acquisition of attributes of divinity (...) that human beings do not currently possess: omnipotence, omnipresence , ex nihilo creation – starting from the divine creative ideation – and immortality. Humans are increasingly taking on the attributes of divinity in the process of human enhancements. We will discuss the ways in which technology allows the human to overcome these limitations, elevating humans past their current condition, in a process in which they gain technological transcendence. Excepting immortality, all other limitations, once exceeded, generate a transhuman condition. Immortality generates a posthuman condition, since it can only be obtained by modifying the human ontological status from that of a biological being to that of a resident being in informatics networks. In order to clarify this process, we will discuss the concepts of everlastingness and artificial life prolongation. (shrink)

Over the last decade, humans have produced each year as much data as were produced throughout the entire history of humankind. These data, in quantities that exceed current analytical capabilities, have been described as “the new oil,” an incomparable source of value. This is true for healthcare, as well. Conducting analyses of large, diverse, medical datasets promises the detection of previously unnoticed clinical correlations and new diagnostic or even therapeutic possibilities. However, using Big Data poses several problems, especially in terms (...) of representing the uniqueness of each patient and expressing the differences between individuals, primarily gender and sex differences. The first two sections of the paper provide a definition of “Big Data” and illustrate the uses of Big Data in medicine. Subsequently, the paper explores the struggle to represent exhaustively the uniqueness of the patient through Big Data is highlighted prior to a deeper investigation of the digital representation of gender in personalized medicine. The final part of the paper put forward a series of recommendations for better approaching the complexity of gender in medical and clinical research involving Big Data for the creation or enhancement of personalized medicine services. (shrink)

The essay examines Thomas Hill Green’s idealistic reading of Aristotle’s Metaphysics and De anima, starting from his “monopsychist” view of human understanding. His criticism of the Aristotelian notion of substance leads him to a recalibration of hylomorphism and a “noetization” of matter, which could be seen as an averroizing move. Green holds that there is only one “Eternal Consciousness” and that the individual thinking subjects are particular manifestations of it. As for Averroes’ unity of intellect, this idea derives from a (...) “left-wing” account of the potency of thought. But there are several other ontological, ethical, religious, and political consequences in making potency something essentially spiritual. The comparison between the two philosophers could help to throw light on the ‘obscure’ conception of “Eternal Consciousness”. (shrink)

Saint Paul's "thorn in the flesh" has been the subject of much controversy in medical, historical and religious literature. It was crucial for the development of Paul's theology and, therefore, its study is important for a better understanding of early Christianity. The purpose of this article is to review the available evidence on this issue, perform a historical and medical critical analysis and suggest plausible diagnosis that have not been previously published in scientific literature. Our research on primary sources seem (...) to indicate that in 41–42 AD Paul of Tarsus developed a clinical picture with a pain similar to that of a thorn injury and bad physical appearance. It could also have a chronic course with a limited number of relapses and few global. It could remind Job’s illness and provoke humiliation in Paul and repulse in his audience. Multiple diseases could explain some of these data, but fewer explain all of them. Though a definitive diagnosis cannot be achieved, we think that cutaneous disorders are the most obvious candidates for a humiliating and painful disease which, however, would permit long journeys during more than a decade. Disorders with cutaneous involvement like lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, urticaria/angioedema, leukocytoclastic vasculitis or nodular vasculitis should be added to other possibilities previously reported. (shrink)

En primer lugar, el autor de este documento presenta superficialmente las nueve iglesias del Magreb y, a continuación, describe las características que definen la forma de concebir y vivir la misión eclesiástica. El documento termina con algunas sugerencias y una conclusión clara: el diálogo interreligioso no es opcional, sino inevitable.

This paper investigates the influence of the increasingly sustainable sourcing policies of many multinational companies on suppliers located in developing countries. Our research was conducted in Viet Nam and involved 25 Vietnamese enterprises. The results reveal, on the one hand, how CSR makes business sense even in a developing country and, on the other hand, the difficulties of maintaining sustainability as products move from northern consumers to Vietnamese suppliers. In more detail, we highlight the unsustainable process through which corporate responsibility (...) is being imposed on Vietnamese suppliers and how CSR might eventually turn into a new form of protectionism. Therefore, this process calls for more collaborative models of governance among the companies along the supply chain, local authorities, international players, and civil society at large. (shrink)

The paper considers the "GR-desideratum", that is, the way general relativity implements general covariance, diffeomorphism invariance, and background independence. Two cases are discussed where 5-dimensional generalizations of general relativity run into interpretational troubles when the GR-desideratum is forced upon them. It is shown how the conceptual problems dissolve when such a desideratum is relaxed. In the end, it is suggested that a similar strategy might mitigate some major issues such as the problem of time or the embedding of quantum non-locality (...) into relativistic spacetimes. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo pretende mostrar cómo Ortega y Gasset propone una ética vocacional, heroica y deportiva contra, por una parte, el idealismo abstracto y universalista de Kant y, por otra, contra el nihilismo ético de la época de las masas, que acaba en un positivismo utilitarista y en desorientación. Esa ética orteguiana presenta además un carácter humanista mundano, alejado de todo trascendentalismo y fundado sobre la autoilustración del sujeto. De esta forma, el sujeto puede ser dueño y señor de sí (...) mismo para libremente poder gobernar su existencia y dirigirla hacia la realización del sí mismo. Según Ortega y Gasset, oír la vocación que nos llama a ser nosotros mismos es lo que caracteriza al sujeto moral, o sea, al héroe moral. ‘Llegar a ser uno mismo’ es el concepto que Ortega y Gasset propone para rellenar el hueco que ha dejado en el alma europea la muerte de dios anunciada por Nietzsche. Abstract: This article aims to show how Ortega y Gasset proposes a vocational, heroic and sportive ethic against, on the one hand, Kant's abstract and universalist idealism and, on the other hand, against the ethical nihilism of the era of the masses, which ends in utilitarian positivism and disorientation. This orteguian ethics also presents a mundane humanist character, far removed from all transcendentalism, and founded on the self-clarification of the subject. In this way, the subject can be lord and master of oneself to freely govern his existence and direct it toward the realization of the self. According to Ortega y Gasset, to hear vocation that calls us to be ourselves is what characterizes the moral subject, that is, the moral hero. ‘To become oneself’ is the concept that Ortega y Gasset proposes to fill the gap left by God’s death announced by Nietzsche in the European soul. (shrink)