. Introductory Remarks THEODOSIUS DOBZHANSKY The problems of reduction in biology are currently of considerable theoretical interest and practical ...

The question whether ethical behavior is biologically determined may refer either to the capacity for ethics (i.e., the proclivity to judge human actions as either right or wrong), or to the moral norms accepted by human beings for guiding their actions. I herein propose: (1) that the capacity for ethics is a necessary attribute of human nature; and (2) that moral norms are products of cultural evolution, not of biological evolution. Humans exhibit ethical behavior by nature because their biological makeup (...) determines the presence of three necessary conditions for ethical behavior: (i) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s own actions; (ii) the ability to make value judgments; and (iii) the ability to choose between alternative courses of action. Ethical behavior came about in evolution not because it is adaptive in itself, but as a necessary consequence of man’s eminent intellectual abilities, which are an attribute directly promoted by natural selection. That is, morally evolved as an exaptation, not as an adaptation. Since Darwin’s time there have been evolutionists proposing that the norms of morality are derived from biological evolution. Sociobiologists represent the most recent and most subtle version of that proposal. The sociobiologists' argument is that human ethical norms are sociocultural correlates of behaviors fostered by biological evolution. I argue that such proposals are misguided and do not escape the naturalistic fallacy. The isomorphism between the behaviors promoted by natural selection and those sanctioned by moral norms exist only with respect to the consequences of the behaviors; the underlying causations are completely disparate. (shrink)

Should the philosophy of biology deal with organismic, or with molecular aspects , or with both ? We are, of course, not the first to appreciate the ...

Tras la lectura de esta obra, reconocemos que su autora, Stephanie Graf, mantiene una signatura o estilo constante en cada parte, capítulo y subtítulo, pues le interesa plantear una trama, un tablero para dialogar con el trabajo de Walter Benjamin y de Theodor W. Adorno, ante uno de los desafíos más urgentes de nuestro tiempo: ¿Cómo entender la supervivencia de la teología en un mundo secular? En específico, ¿de qué forma el escándalo del mal, sobre todo del mal excesivo en (...) Auschwitz, nos remite inevitablemente a la metafísica, a la creación, la revelación, la redención, aun cuando estos pensadores judíos se ubican en el campo del materialismo histórico y la sola responsabilidad humana? De ahí el llamado a la inversión. (shrink)

Il volume considera la figura teoretica del valore dell’altro nel pensiero di Edmund Husserl, ponendo in connessione le analisi del filosofo sull’intersoggettività e sull’etica. Da qui le questioni fondamentali che guidano il percorso: è possibile impiegare le analisi fenomenologiche husserliane della relazione nel campo dell’assiologia e dell’etica? Può così essere fondato il valore dell’altro soggetto e della dimensione intersoggettiva e, dunque, un dovere nei loro confronti? Le analisi etiche presentano una particolare concezione dell’altro soggetto e della relazione come dotate di (...) valore? È la categoria etica dell’amore a permettere di guadagnare una prospettiva significativa rispetto a tali interrogativi, rivelando come valore e dovere siano implicati dalla dimensione intersoggettiva dell’esperienza. Si apre così un’interessante prospettiva interpretativa, secondo la quale la fenomenologia husserliana contribuisce ad analizzare la dimensione dell’alterità e della relazione intersoggettiva anche da un punto di vista assiologico ed etico. (shrink)

Metabolomics, including lipidomics, is emerging as a quantitative biology approach for the assessment of energy flow through metabolism and information flow through metabolic signaling; thus, providing novel insights into metabolism and its regulation, in health, healthy ageing and disease. In this forward‐looking review we provide an overview on the origins of metabolomics, on its role in this postgenomic era of biochemistry and its application to investigate metabolite role and (bio)activity, from model systems to human population studies. We present the challenges (...) inherent to this analytical science, and approaches and modes of analysis that are used to resolve, characterize and measure the infinite chemical diversity contained in the metabolome (including lipidome) of complex biological matrices. In the current outbreak of metabolic diseases such as cardiometabolic disorders, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, metabolomics appears to be ideally situated for the investigation of disease pathophysiology from a metabolite perspective. (shrink)

Magnífico libro ha tenido a bien reeditar la editorial madrileña Encuentro, situándolo como el primer volumen de la colección Mínima Política. En él, además de realizar algunas correcciones y estructurar la obra de forma más manejable para el lector, se ha encargado del estudio preliminar el profesor Jerónimo Molina, como ya hiciera con otras obras del mismo autor, Teoría y sistema de las formas políticas e Introducción al Derecho político actual, hace unos pocos años. En esta introducción, se nos ofrece (...) un recorrido biográfico, intelectual y político por Francisco Javier Conde, sencillo, directo y profundo. Propio de quien tiene un riguroso conocimiento del autor y de su obra. Con su lectura conseguiremos enmarcar correctamente este libro en la trayectoria vital e intelectual de Conde, entre la actitud intelectual del realismo político, el fracaso en la vida de actividad política y el olvido arrastrado hasta casi nuestros días. Y digo casi, porque, según lo que hemos dicho, no son pocos los que honran a Conde y su trabajo intelectual, de gran mérito. No en vano señala el profesor Molina que este libro es un pequeño clásico contemporáneo. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to analyze the explanatory level of the variables advertising influence, verbal messages, social models and social situations as regards body dissatisfaction, weight worry, and bodily discomfort. The study was conducted in a convenience sample of 206 Mexican women with an average age of 22.12 years. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the direct and indirect effects of the independent variables on the dependent ones in three hypothetical models proposed. In the case of the (...) model proposed for body dissatisfaction, it was found that the set of variables had 79% of variance explained and showed adequate goodness-of-fit indices. The model for weight worry had 62% of variance explained and an acceptable goodness of fit. Finally, the model for bodily discomfort had 72% of variance explained and showed adequate goodness of fit. It is concluded that social influences have a significant impact on body image. Verbal messages had the strongest impact on the variables studied. (shrink)

The question whether ethical behavior is biologically determined may refer either to thecapacity for ethics (e.i., the proclivity to judge human actions as either right or wrong), or to the moralnorms accepted by human beings for guiding their actions. My theses are: (1) that the capacity for ethics is a necessary attribute of human nature; and (2) that moral norms are products of cultural evolution, not of biological evolution.Humans exhibits ethical behavior by nature because their biological makeup determines the presence (...) of the three necessary, and jointly sufficient, conditions for ethical behavior: (i) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one's own actions; (ii) the ability to make value judgements; and (iii) the ability to choose between alternative courses of action. Ethical behavior came about in evolution not because it is adaptive in itself, but as a necessary consequece of man's eminent intellectual abilities, which are an attribute directly promoted by natural selection. (shrink)

This collection of specially commissioned essays puts top scholars head to head to debate the central issues in the lively and fast growing field of philosophy ...

In contrast to individualistic explanations of social injustice that appeal to implicit attitudes, structural explanations are unintuitive: they appeal to entities that lack clear ontological status, and the explanatory mechanism is similarly unclear. This makes structural explanations unappealing. The present work proposes a structural explanation of one type of injustice that happens in conversations, discursive injustice. This proposal meets two goals. First, it satisfactorily accounts for the specific features of this particular kind of injustice; and second, it articulates a structural (...) explanation that overcomes their unattractiveness. The main idea is that discursive injustice is not the result of biased interlocutors, but of problematic discursive norms. (shrink)

The theory of punctuated equilibrium has been proposed as a challenge to the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory. Two important issues are raised. The first is scientific: whether morphological change as observed in the paleontological record is essentially always associated with speciation events. This paper argues that there is at present no empirical support for this claim: the alleged evidence is based on a definitional fallacy. The second issue is epistemological: whether macroevolution is an autonomous field of study, independent from (...) microevolutionary knowledge. It is herein argued that macroevolution and microevolution are not decoupled in two senses: identity at the level of events and compatibility of theories. But macroevolution is autonomous in the epistemologically important sense: macroevolutionary theories are not reducible to microevolutionary principles. It is finally pointed out that the discipline of macroevolution is notoriously lacking in theoretical constructs of great import and generality. (shrink)

Traces scholarly thought from the nineteenth-century birth of evolutionary biology to the mapping of the human genome through forty-eight essays, arranged in chronological order, each preceded by a one-page essay that explains the significance of the chosen work.

The paper examines the ethically relevant category of choice in Edmund Husserl’s ethics and asks whether a choice is a purely individual moment or whether it is not characterized by an intersubjective dimension. To this end, the centrality of the category of choice in Husserlian ethical reflection is considered, and its structural elements are highlighted: the subject of choice, the situation of choice, and the values in relation to which the choice is made. By analyzing these elements, especially in the (...) context of the development of Husserlian thought in the Freiburg period, it appears that choice, the most individual moment in which the subject becomes him or herself, has no less an intersubjective dimension. If this is so, then it is possible to conceive of a deep connection between ethics and intersubjectivity in the thought of Edmund Husserl. (shrink)

Individuals can do a broad variety of things with their words and enjoy different degrees of this capacity. What moderates this capacity? And in cases in which this capacity is unjustly disrupted, what is a good explanation for it? These are the questions I address here. I propose that speech capacity, understood as the capacity to do things with your words, is a structural property importantly dependent on individuals' position in a social structure. My account facilitates a non-individualistic explanation of (...) cases in which speech capacity is undermined due to speaker's perceived social identity, e.g. episodes of silencing. Instead of appealing to interlocutors' implicit bias against speaker's identity, a structural approach refers to the positions interlocutors occupy in the social structure and the discursive conventions operating upon those positions. I articulate my proposal drawing on the notion of affordances. Each position within a social structure is associated with its own range of speech affordances. Thus, speech capacity is a function of the probability distribution of speech affordances across positions in the structure. (shrink)

Why does social injustice exist? What role, if any, do implicit biases play in the perpetuation of social inequalities? Individualistic approaches to these questions explain social injustice as the result of individuals’ preferences, beliefs, and choices. For example, they explain racial injustice as the result of individuals acting on racial stereotypes and prejudices. In contrast, structural approaches explain social injustice in terms of beyond-the-individual features, including laws, institutions, city layouts, and social norms. Often these two approaches are seen as competitors. (...) Framing them as competitors suggests that only one approach can win and that the loser offers worse explanations of injustice. In this essay, we explore each approach and compare them. Using implicit bias as an example, we argue that the relationship between individualistic and structural approaches is more complicated than it may first seem. Moreover, we contend that each approach has its place in analyses of injustice and raise the possibility that they can work together—synergistically—to produce deeper explanations of social injustice. If so, the approaches may be complementary, rather than competing. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that the main contribution of Hegel's philosophy of right to the contemporary political debate is that it opens a window on the idea that liberalism and individual freedom are incompatible. My main thesis is that the liberal conception of the State and law, structured from a nonrelational account of singularity, ends up denying the individual freedom that it claims to defend. I begin by reconstructing the Hegelian concept of freedom from its most general lines, showing (...) that being free consists in wanting to become someone and not so much in wanting to do something. After showing that the purpose of becoming someone can only be fulfilled in a social medium, I focus on Hegel's critique of the liberal state (as expounded in the section on “civil society”). I argue that civil society structurally impedes individuals from realizing their purpose of becoming someone: the economical interactions of civil society give rise to impersonal and inscrutable mechanisms, which take the social conditions of people's individuation beyond their control. Finally, I claim that (rational) individual freedom consists in being able to thematize and democratically control the very social conditions of individuation through the State and law. (shrink)

This article discusses the category of foreigner in the context of academia. In the first part I explore this category and its philosophical significance. A quick look at the literature reveals that this category needs more attention in analyses of dimensions of privilege and disadvantage. Foreignness has peculiarities that demarcate it from other categories of identity, and it intersects with them in complicated ways. Devoting more attention to it would enable addressing issues affecting foreigners in academia that go commonly unnoticed. (...) In the second part of the article I argue that current efforts to make academia a more inclusive environment should address the disadvantages that many foreign academics face. I focus on two senses of foreigner: working and living in a country that is not your country of origin, and being a nonnative speaker of the language in which you work. (shrink)

This paper brings feminist public health ethics and feminist analytic tools to bear on mainstream medical research. Specifically, it uses these approaches to call attention to several problems associated with “The Placenta Harbors a Unique Microbiome,” a recent study published in Science Translational Medicine. We point out the potential negative consequences these problems have for both women’s health and their autonomy.Our paper has two parts. We begin by discussing the study, which examines the composition of the placental microbiome, that is (...) to say, the communities of microorganisms that live in the placenta. Among other things, this study considers two different relations: a correlation.. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se aborda el pensamiento de E.M. Cioran desde la perspectiva de un sinsabor vital denominado sentimiento de muerte. El término, aunque aparece solo en su primer escrito, es transversal a toda su obra, puesto que para el autor los seres humanos nos intuimos como posesos de la muerte en cada momento de nuestra existencia. Esto cambia el tono normal de la vida, al poner frente a la persona una realidad carente de sentido y dominada por circunstancias radicales y limitantes (...) como el dolor y la agonía, que culmina en una atmósfera gobernada por la intuición trágica de la vida. ABSTRACT The article addresses the thought of E.M. Cioran from the perspective of that vital uneasiness known as the sentiment of death. Although the term appears only in his first book, the idea cuts across his entire work given that, for Cioran, human beings intuit themselves as possessed by death at every moment of their lives. When persons are faced with a meaningless reality, dominated by radical and limiting circumstances such as pain and agony, the whole tenor of life changes until it becomes a tragic intuition of life. (shrink)

El presente artículo elucida la posición de Félix Guattari, y secundariamente la de Gilles Deleuze, respecto al concepto de ideología. Para ello se efectúa un análisis del recorrido intelectual de Guattari desde sus primeros artículos reunidos en Psychanalyse et transversalité (1974) hasta Mille Plateaux (1980). Se procede en dos instancias. Primero, se precisa cuál es el concepto específico de ideología con el cual Guattari discute. Este no es otro que la noción desarrollada por Louis Althusser como se puede detectar en (...) referencias explícitas tanto cuanto en alusiones implícitas. Segundo, a partir de la discusión de los elementos centrales de la posición guattariana, se argumenta la afinidad que existe entre el célebre concepto de agenciamiento de Guattari y Deleuze y la recusación crítica de los aparatos ideológicos de Althusser. (shrink)

This article aims to analyze the concept of animality from the perspective of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. More precisely, the question arises as to whether the animal possesses the status of otherness or lacks it. Indeed, the animal, with respect to the human, turns out to be another entity, but, from the assumptions of phenomenology, is that enough for it to be apprehended as an intersubjectivity or a coexistence that is donated to the world of human beings? To answer (...) this question, we will review Husserl's argumentation, especially in Hua IV and Hua XXXIX, and Heidegger's in GA 2 and GA 29/30. Finally, we will add a critical consideration of the ideas of the authors studied in the face of developments in contemporary biology to ask ourselves to what extent their philosophical inquiry would be consistent with current zoological evidence. (shrink)

The article elucidates the concept of subjectivity in Karl Marx, while providing an analysis from a Heideggerian and a Foucaultian perspective. Furthermore, the aim of the article is to determine the relevance of the categories elaborated by Heidegger and Foucault in the analysis of the Marxist concept of subjectivity. In order to achieve this goal, the article is divided into three sections. First, the concept of subjectivity is studied as it appears in Marx’s works. Second, a Heideggerian reading of that (...) concept is reconstructed from elements of the “early” and “later” Heidegger. Third, a Foucaultian reading of subjectivity is proposed from the coordinates of the notions of governmentality, veridiction and subjectivation. It is concluded that the readings of Heidegger and Foucault are, respectively, insufficient and partially sufficient, which does not exclude, however, the possibility of adding nuances to them in order to develop, with contributions from all three philosophers, a kind of “post-Heideggerian and post-Foucaultian Marxism”. (shrink)

The comparative study of synchronic occurrences of a particular construction in interactional corpora from different languages can provide a complete understanding of the development of the construction as a response to some basic intimately associated set of interactional moves and cognitive demands. A comparative formal analysis of lists in Spanish and English conversations shows that in both languages the construction has developed a stylized intonation pattern based on the holding of tones by means of lengthening of nuclear syllables, a durable (...) syntactic organization based on parataxis and an almost identical inventory of lexicalized expressions to index the end of the list. A parallel analysis of lists in their interactional contexts shows that in both English and Spanish conversation the formal properties of lists emerge as adaptations to a recurrent set of communicative tasks. The first type of `framing' lists is used for its incremental structure in the negotiation of common background between interlocutors, whereas the second type of `demonstrative' lists is used for its rhetorical structure to provide evidence for a claim and is directed to obtaining agreement. (shrink)

The ultimate source of explanation in biology is the principle of natural selection. Natural selection means differential reproduction of genes and gene combinations. It is a mechanistic process which accounts for the existence in living organisms of end-directed structures and processes. It is argued that teleological explanations in biology are not only acceptable but indeed indispensable. There are at least three categories of biological phenomena where teleological explanations are appropriate.

Knives, birds' wings, and mountain slopes are used for certain purposes: cutting, flying, and climbing. A bird's wings have in common with knives that they have been 'designed' for the purpose they serve, which purpose accounts for their existence, whereas mountain slopes have come about by geological processes independently of their uses for climbing. A bird's wings differ from a knife in that they have not been designed or produced by any conscious agent; rather, the wings, like the slopes, are (...) outcomes of natural processes without any intentional causation. Evolutionary biologists use teleological language and teleological explanations. I propose that this use is appropriate, because teleological explanations are hypotheses that can be subject to empirical testing. The distinctiveness of teleological hypotheses is that they account for the existence of a feature in terms of the function it serves; for example, wings have evolved and persist because flying is beneficial to birds by increasing their chances of surviving and reproducing. Features of organisms that are explained with teleological hypotheses include structures, such as wings; processes, such as development from egg to adult; and behaviours, such as nest building. A proximate explanation of these features is the function they serve; an ultimate explanation that they all share is their contribution to the reproductive fitness of the organisms. I distinguish several kinds of teleological explanations, such as natural and artificial, as well as bounded and unbounded, some of which but not others apply to biological explanations. (shrink)

Is there a choice in sexual orientation? [Wilkerson, William S. : “Is It a Choice? Sexual Orientation as Interpretation”. In: Journal of Social Philosophy 40. No. 1, p. 97–116] argues that sexual desires require interpretation in order to be fully constituted, and therefore sexual orientation is at least partially constituted by choice. [Díaz-León, Esa : “Sexual Orientation as Interpretation? Sexual Desires, Concepts, and Choice”; In: Journal of Social Ontology] critically assesses Wilkerson’s argument, concluding that we still lack a good argument (...) for the claim that choice plays a role in sexual orientation. Here I examine Díaz-León’s response to Wilkerson. I introduce what I call the conceptual act theory of sexual orientation, and argue that even if interpretation were not necessary to constitute sexual desires, it is a necessary element to constitute what we call sexual orientation. However, I conclude that even if we agree that interpretation is involved in sexual orientation, it does not follow that there is a choice involved. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende esclarecer cuál es la concepción de la política en Alain Badiou en relación con lo que él mismo denominó la “recomposición del marxismo”. Es decir, nos interesa mostrar cómo Badiou, sin dejar de lado un objetivo de emancipación social, se desembaraza de la concepción del marxismo tradicional que redundaba, entre otras cosas, en una visión mecanicista de la historia, en la sustancialización del sujeto político en tanto proletariado y en la concepción del comunismo como un futuro (...) inexorable. Para esto Badiou elabora, desde sus primeros textos, una filosofía del azar y del acontecimiento que rompe con toda determinación lineal del tiempo y, por ende, con una especificación predeterminada de los sujetos y los procedimientos políticos a desarrollar. No obstante, pese a que Badiou enfatiza en el carácter acontecimental y, por tanto, novedoso de la política, conceptualmente parte de conceptos preconstituidos tales como los de proletariado y comunismo, lo que lleva a tensionar su obra, más allá de la redefinición a la que los somete. En tal sentido, queremos detallar la posición política de Badiou en torno a esta tensión e, incluso, indecisión donde, simultáneamente, se convoca y se trastoca las nociones de proletariado y comunismo. Para esto, partiendo de un análisis cronológico de las obras del autor francés, dividimos el artículo en cuatro apartados. En el primero de ellos puntualizamos cómo surge esta filosofía del azar. En el segundo, ahondamos en el diferendo entre lo político y la política, y cómo en esa disyunción se sitúa el concepto de proletariado. En el tercero, tocamos el espinoso tema del comunismo. Finalmente, ofrecemos unas conclusiones donde nos preguntamos si no será necesario ahondar en el carácter radical de los acontecimientos políticos, de tal suerte que habría que trastocar aún más las nociones, e incluso las palabras de proletariado y comunismo. (shrink)

Las relaciones entre autor y publico y otros aspectos de la experiencia estetica, principalmente en la novela, pero tambien en la poesia, la comedia y el cine.

Resumen Los escándalos de corrupción dados a conocer durante los últimos tres años en Latinoamérica, además de reflejar el modo en que la corrupción mueve los engranajes de las instituciones y organizaciones empresariales, pueden considerarse como uno de los principales detonantes de la aporofobia y ceguera moral que aqueja a nuestras sociedades. Teniendo en consideración los resortes que activan ambos fenómenos, el presente artículo explora las posibilidades que tiene la simpatía smithiana para desactivarlos, así como el aporte social de ésta (...) en la lucha contra la corrupción que cualquier país pudiera emprender.The corruption scandals unveiled during the last three years in Latin America, in addition to reflecting the way in which corruption moves the gears of the institutions and business organizations, can be considered as one of the main triggers of the aporophobia and moral blindness that afflicts our societies. Considering the springs that activate both phenomena, this article explores the possibilities that smithian sympathy has to deactivate them, as well as its social contribution in the fight against corruption that any country could undertake. (shrink)