Cognitive Science, Volume 46, Issue 7, July 2022.

Human–wildlife conflicts involving protected predators are a major social and environmental problem worldwide. A critical aspect in such conflicts is the role of state institutions regarding predators’ conservation, and how this is construed by affected local populations. These interpretations are frequently embodied in conspiratorial rumours, sharing some common traits related to wild and domestic categories, spatial ordering and power relations. In southern Chile, a one-year, multi-sited ethnographic study of human–animal relations in and adjacent to protected areas was undertaken, foregrounding conspiratorial (...) rumours concerning protected predators. Through an analysis of this study and related international cases, this article argues that the uncritical dismissal of rumours and the categories used to interpret such conflicts have detrimental impacts on the conservation of wild predators. Such rumours should be understood as significant comment devices within human–animal relations and the power dynamics that frame human groups affected by them. (shrink)

Barcelona has become one of the most touristic cities in the world, with more than 18 million visitors per year, coming to a city with only 1.7 million inhabitants. The model of tourism is depredatory, destroying old neighborhoods and pushing Catalans out of the city. At the same time, people from the Global South come to the city, but in more precarious conditions. They find a city that does not welcome them and that puts them in the worst conditions. I (...) want to focus on two movies that present Barcelona as an ill city. On the one hand, we have Woody Allen’s Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona, a movie that shows the upper-class American tourism in a European city. On the other hand, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, also starred by Javier Bardem, shows us another story about Barcelona. This is a movie that pays attention to the bottom of the well, Spanish lower-class workers struggling shoulder to shoulder with lower class migrants, people who will never enjoy the life that Allen`s characters have. In this paper I want to show how film can represent illness in different ways. To do so, I first explain, very briefly, the Barcelona model, a model of inclusive, modern city that Vicky and Cristina enjoy. But, this model insofar as it includes people, it excludes them. I will show the construction of the City from 1888 to 1992/2004 and how it has created spaces of inclusion and exclusion. In the second part, I will analyze the right to housing and the housing crisis that is currently affecting the city. In this part, I want to focus both in the crisis and in the social mobilization that it has brought about. After constructing this context, I will analyze the two movies, as instruments to show/hide the diseases of the city. (shrink)

Despite well-founded critiques on the concept of nature and even claims that the concept is decidedly obsolete, evidence would suggest that nature continues to play a pivotal role in orienting people towards environmental practices and advocacy. Given nature’s unyielding relevance, this paper takes inspiration from Sally Haslanger’s project of conceptual amelioration to examine how meanings ascribed to nature can lead to the actualization of desired sociomaterial realities. By building on posthumanist political ecology and Michel Callon’s notion of performation, I illustrate (...) a dynamic in which meanings of nature emerge through the engagement in practices with the environment which are, more often than not, mediated by different technologies. After exploring this proposal through the lens of different environmentalisms, I argue that technologies can play a significant role in mediating conceptualizations of nature. To support this argument, I introduce a few elements of mediation theory and examine the meaning of nature that may emerge when social media users interact with online content of climate and ecological collapse. Overall, this approach advances a postphenomenological contribution to the scholarly trend of examining how technologies may disrupt fundamental concepts with which we respond to ethical issues. This approach underscores the role of technologically mediated practices in processes of conceptualization, as well as the significant political dimension of conceptual engineering projects. (shrink)

El objetivo del presente artículo es mostrar el influjo decisivo del pensamiento de Friedrich Schelling en la reflexión existencial de Søren Kierkegaard. Primeramente, se describe el contexto histórico en el cual el filósofo alemán retoma el dictado de clases y el impacto que producen las lecciones sobre Philosophie der Offenbarung en el joven Kierkegaard. Posteriormente, se examinan las tesis principales que contiene el curso de Schelling y la apropiación, reinterpretación y desarrollo de ellas por parte de Kierkegaard en su famoso (...) escrito Begrebet Angest. Finalmente, se concluye que la posibilidad infinita de la libertad y la distinción entre esencia y existencia, principios kierkegaardianos fundamentales, son proposiciones de Schelling que devienen en el pensador danés una intuición única e inseparable. (shrink)

La familia real española ha mantenido una gran devoción hacia su antepasado Fernando III de Castilla prácticamente desde su muerte. Adicionalmente, la monarquía tenía gran interés en tener algún monarca canonizado entre sus miembros al igual que otras casas europeas. En este artículo analizamos especialmente a la casa de Austria y posteriormente el inicio de la dinastía borbónica. Respecto a los Habsburgo, hubo reyes muy implicados en el proceso de canonización como fueron Felipe IV y su hijo Carlos II. También (...) los Borbones tendrán una especial estima a su “abuelo”, con ejemplos destacables como Felipe V que, en 1729, al inicio del lustro real en Sevilla, inaugura la nueva urna a la que traslada los restos del santo o Carlos IV, que viaja expresamente a Sevilla en acción de gracias por la curación de una de las infantas. (shrink)

El presente trabajo tiene como finalidad exponer la discusión entre Kierkegaard y Hegel en torno a la noción de libertad, de acuerdo con la interpretación que ofrece concretamente sobre la misma el filósofo italiano Cornelio Fabro. De este modo, se mencionarán primeramente algunos de los puntos principales de estudio que aborda el filósofo italiano en su obra. Posteriormente se analizarán las posiciones especulativas que Hegel y Kierkegaard desarrollan, respectivamente, sobre el tema en cuestión. Por último, se realizarán algunas apreciaciones sobre (...) la instancia existencial que presenta el pensador danés y que Fabro destaca. (shrink)

In the summer of 1995, Santiago Castro-Gómez wrote a convincing text entitled Critique of Latin American Reason, and continued Roberto Salazar-Ramos’ work‒who also took part in The Group of Bogotá, responsible for institutionalizing the project of Latin American Philosophy in Colombia‒in order to show how the creation of “The Latin American” was possible through the operation of a series of discourses. Rather than an a priori, the category of “The Latin American” is defined by Castro-Gómez as the effect of a (...) series of discourses to which a specific cultural identity was provided. Consequently, the author uses the tradition of historicism to rethink the history of ideas, so that, instead of studying the reception of European ideas and measuring how close to that scaffolding was Latin American thought, its study should begin from the philosophical and scientific practices themselves as a “part of the critical exercise in Colombia”. It is precisely within this horizon opened by Castro-Gómez’s writings in which this essay is inserted. (shrink)

The Scottish Enlightenment shaped a new conception of history as a gradual and universal progress from savagery to civil society. Whereas women emancipated themselves from the yoke of male-masters, men in turn acquired polite manners and became civilized. Such a conception, however, presents problematic questions: why were the Americans still savage? Why was it that the Europeans only had completed all the stages of the historic process? Could modern societies escape the destiny of earlier empires and avoid decadence? Was there (...) a limit beyond which women's influence might result in dehumanization? The Scottish Enlightenment's legacy for modernity emerges here as a two-faced Janus, an unresolved tension between universalism and hierarchy, progress and the limits of progress. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende analizar los efectos transformadores que la pandemia por Covid-19 ha obrado en nuestras existencias individuales y en nuestra convivencia social cotidiana desde la propuesta analítica del filósofo surcoreano Byung Chul-Han. Dicha transformación es de tal profundidad que, para nuestro autor, viene a exacerbar los males de la sociedad contemporánea, como el agotamiento y el cansancio por autoexplotación y permanente optimización de sí mismo propiciados por el neoliberalismo globalizado y omnipresente en Occidente. Desde esta constatación analizaremos en (...) particular cómo la prevalencia de la comunicación digital obligada por la emergencia viral trae consecuencias antropológicas que amenazan con eliminar lo esencial de la vida humana: la construcción de rituales, la estructura temporal cotidiana, el contacto corporal con los demás, la pertenencia a una comunidad y la apreciación de lo real en su genuina dimensión ontológica. Finalmente, exploraremos una posible salida a la alienación virtual en que forzadamente se encuentra la sociedad contemporánea. (shrink)

Shannon Sullivan's critique of Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception is based on the argument that, due to his concept of the “anonymous body,” his theory of intersubjectivity omits the particularities of bodies, such as gender. I argue that Merleau-Ponty's “anonymous body” is not in fact “neutral” as Sullivan suggests, and moreover that he does not ignore differences but rather provides us with the idea of difference as a process of differentiation. Additionally, I argue that Sullivan's concept of “hypothetical construction,” which is (...) introduced as an alternative to Merleau-Ponty, turns out to be a conscious construction, not reflecting upon its very conditions. Thus, Sullivan's account fails by presupposing what in fact needs to be explained: the particularities. (shrink)

Belief systems of human societies are deeply related with animals, which are symbolised in traditional narratives. Here we review reported cases from around the world and our own ethnographic observations from southern Chile, to analyse beliefs associated with owls. In particular, we explore the role that owls play in traditional narratives and the likely reasons of their saliency, including their connections with the extraordinary. For the latter, we utilise the concept of “the uncanny” to analyse how owls generate a feeling (...) of something not simply mysterious but, more specifically, something strangely familiar. Owls trigger unsettling experiences of the “normal,” with the ensuing feelings of unhomeliness, which may explain their saliency across human societies. Finally, we discuss that the uncanny nature of owls is precisely what locates them in a culturally stimulating position and what should be considered by conservationists and politicians to tackle a more integrative approach to owl conservation. (shrink)

Objetivo de este artículo es ofrecer una introducción general a todo el conjunto de cuestiones que se plantean en torno al tema de la epistemología de los medios de comunicación. En la medida de lo posible intenta establecer los parámetros más importantes para reflexionar sobre el tema. Se hace esto en un doble sentido: 1) con el resumen de los paradigmas sobre los que se asienta la reflexión sobre los medios de comunicación a lo largo de estos últimos cincuenta años (...) ; y 2) con la dilucidación de los principales aspectos apistemológicos que deben estar presentes para su estudio e investigación. (shrink)

Las exposiciones de Rolando Castellón han tenido espacio en varias partes del mundo. El artista ha ganado premios en su natal Nicaragua y fuera de ella. Reside en Costa Rica actualmente, y no se ha detenido allí. Se le puede encontrar con varios nombres y con cada uno de ellos desarrolla una actividad distinta, es así de multifacético. Él se ha construido a sí mismo desde su propia experiencia, sin la academia de por medio. Este trabajo quiere dar un recorrido (...) sobre el trabajo y obra del artista. (shrink)

What are the relevant values to the appraisal of research programs? This question remains hotly debated, as philosophers have recently proposed many lists of values potentially relevant to scientific appraisal. Surprisingly, despite being mentioned in many lists, little attention has been paid to fruitfulness. It is unclear how fruitfulness should be explicated, and whether it has any substantial role in scientific appraisal. In this paper, I argue we should explicate fruitfulness as the capacity to develop of research programs. Moreover, I (...) provide a novel strategy to assess and compare the fruitfulness of programs focused on their research questions and heuristics. To illustrate how this strategy would work, I will discuss a case study, namely the adaptationist program in evolutionary psychology. (shrink)

To what extent did the debate on the orangutan contribute to the global Enlightenment? This article focuses on the first 150 years of the introduction, dissection, and public exposition of the so-called ‘orangutan’ in Europe, between the 1630s, when the first specimens arrived in the Netherlands, and the 1770s, when the British debate about slavery and abolitionism reframed the boundaries between the human and animal kingdoms. Physicians, natural historians, antiquarians, philosophers, geographers, lawyers, and merchants all contributed to the knowledge of (...) the orangutan, while also reshaping the boundaries of humanity: when the human/animal divide narrowed, the divide between ‘savage’ and ‘civilized’ peoples crystallized, becoming wider than in any previous period. (shrink)

Tanto la obra de Hegel en la modernidad como la obra de Tomás de Aquino en el medioevo, representan dos de los mayores esfuerzos que se han realizado en el pensamiento filosófico por dar explicación a las grandes interrogantes y problemas de la metafísica. No cabe duda de que la presencia o inmanencia de lo Absoluto en lo finito, como así también la concepción de la nada, son temas de particular profundidad en la reflexión especulativa y ocupan un lugar de (...) privilegio en la misma. En este escrito se analizarán de forma concisa ambas cuestiones, siguiendo la lectura e interpretación de los dos autores antes mencionados llevada a cabo por el filósofo italiano Cornelio Fabro. (shrink)

This paper is motivated by a puzzling observation made when conducting a case study of ProCredit, a well-known social bank. The HR practices that this social enterprise adopted to cultivate mission identification were unfavorably impacting its retention rate. Building on prior research and our analysis of the case, we argue the need for SEs to embrace HRM systems that are both mission-identification proactive and employee-retention preemptive. It theorizes that these HRM systems should be attuned to the labor market conditions that (...) frame how SEs develop and sustain Person-Organization fit. Attuned HRM systems are adapted to labor market conditions and tuned to support SEs’ adeptness to operate against the grain of country and industry norms. (shrink)

Individual differences related to emotions are typically represented as emotion traits. Although important, these descriptive models often do not address the psychological dynamics that underlie the trait. Appraisal theories of emotion assume that individual differences in emotions can be traced to differences in patterns of appraisal, but this hypothesis has largely gone untested. The present research explored whether individual differences in the emotion of interest, known as trait curiosity, consist of patterns of appraisal. After completing several measures of trait curiosity, (...) participants read complex poems (Experiment 1) or viewed simple and complex pictures (Experiment 2) and then gave ratings of interest and interest's appraisal components. The effect of trait curiosity on interest was fully mediated by appraisals. Multilevel analyses suggested that curious people differ in the amount of appraisal rather than in the kinds of appraisals relevant to interest. Appraisal theories can offer a process-oriented explanation of emotion traits that bridges state and trait emotional experience. (shrink)

En el actual documento se exponen dos tipos de cerámica policroma precolombina de la Región Gran Nicoya (entre Nicaragua y CostaRica); son jarrones tipo Jicote y Pataky policromo del periodo 1200 d.C. a 1550 d.C., con el fin de analizar las representaciones de animales y sus bandas complejas que generalmente aparecen representadas en la boca superior de las vasijas. Para realizar la base de datos se registraron los datos y las fotografías de vasijas en el Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. (...) A partir de dicha base de datos, se categorizaron 56 vasijas cerámicas Jicote y Pataky, las cuales fueron agrupadas por los motivos o temas representados en las bandas complejas en dos grandes grupos: a) 12 geométricas y b) 42 figurativas. En el caso de las figurativas se detallan seis casos en los que se han redibujado sus bandas hasta lograr posibles esquemas de representación gráfica y semiótica. (shrink)

The concept of freedom is not just another concept in Kierkegaard’s thought. On the contrary, it is one of the most significant issues which the Danish philosopher deals with. Thus, the article examines the meaning of this concept within the philosophy of Kierkegaard by following the interpretation of Cornelio Fabro. In order to achieve such a purpose, firstly, the general features of the thought of the Italian philosopher are presented. Subsequently, the metaphysical foundation for Human freedom within the thought of (...) Kierkegaard is developed. Afterwards, the radical determination of the will in its choice of evil and sin are analyzed, as well as the existential reality of Self as the first principle of action. Lastly, the dispute that Kierkegaard has with Hegel, which motivates his writings, is briefly exposed; and some of the ideas that Fabro takes from the Danish philosopher are listed. (shrink)

En virtud del carácter difuso que Foucault atribuye a las relaciones de poder, es posible afirmar que la sujeción de los cuerpos nunca es absoluta, de modo que estos no son algo inexorablemente determinado por el ejercicio del poder. En este artículo se muestra de qué manera el cuerpo, en tanto que blanco principal de un poder preponderantemente físico, puede en forma eventual constituirse en escenario de des-sujeción y resistencia, en el “lugar” desde el cual ese mismo poder puede ser (...) resistido. Esto, gracias a lo que en este artículo se describe como una “condición heterotópica” del cuerpo, que implicaría la excedencia y el desbordamiento de los procesos de sujeción, y que, en última instancia, permitiría hablar del “cuerpo experiencial” como el espacio en el que tendría lugar la puesta en cuestión de la propia subjetividad. (shrink)

La instancia filosófica del cominciamento hace referencia a aquel paso absolutamente primero del pensamiento, que es presupuesto y fundamento de todo contenido, modo y acto ulterior del propio pensar. En la modernidad, la instancia del inicio es reivindicada por Hegel, quien, al igual que Tomás de Aquino en el medioevo, concibe el “ser” como punto de partida del pensamiento. A pesar de esta convergencia entre ambos autores, presentan una profunda divergencia especulativa. Tanto la convergencia como la divergencia mencionadas serán examinadas (...) en este trabajo, siguiendo las investigaciones del filósofo italiano Cornelio Fabro. (shrink)

La crisis de la fé.--Teoría de la expansión.--Nuestra América.--Dinámica numinal.--La inmortalidad.