This paper aims at providing some insights into the philosophical tools that may help solve the huge problems of social justice. For that purpose, I focus on the concept of responsibility, since it could be a suitable catalyst for debate. This paper argues that we must necessarily develop an enhanced notion of responsibility and commit to it both at a social and institutional level. First, I will introduce the relation between ethics and politics—necessarily rather than contingently intertwined. I will elaborate (...) on the concept of poliethics coined by the Spanish philosopher Francisco Fernández Buey. Second, I will outline certain changes undergone in recent years to the understanding of the concept of responsibility in the field of ethics and politics. Finally, I will argue that a significant extension of the notion of responsibility is still necessary if it is to play a relevant role in the contemporary world. I will therefore contend that there are sufficient reasons why our societies should do the moral stretch exercises suggested by Günther Anders. For that purpose, I suggest ten tenets that could serve as a basis for this poliethics of enhanced responsibility and for a collective reflection on this issue. (shrink)

This paper attempts to provide a partial answer to the question as to how deliberation and democratic decision-making in complex human systems-highly diverse economically, socially and culturally-can become a common. For that purpose, we propose to understand deliberation and decision-making processes themselves as commoning. First, we show how these processes can be subject to the “tragedy of the anticommons,” referring to three core issues: individualization of civic responsibility, erosion of information and opinion-forming channels, and the narrowing scope of deliberation and (...) decision-making. Secondly, we propose a solution to the first of these problems drawing on contributions from assembly theory. Finally, we address the other two issues based on classical tenets of the republican tradition and deliberative and participatory democracy. (shrink)

La formación ciudadana constituye uno de los pilares fundamentales para las movilizaciones sociales con sentido, democráticas, inteligentes y conscientes. La presente revisión tuvo como propósito elaborar una recopilación de la literatura sobre el concepto de formación ciudadana en relación a la protesta social. Se efectuó una revisión sistemática que recogió 43 artículos de carácter empírico analítico. De esta forma, se precisaron aspectos relacionados con los retos y tensiones de la formación ciudadana en Latinoamérica y, en particular, en la del caso (...) colombiano. Todo esto ejemplifica la importancia de reconocer que todo el componente educativo formal tiene un poder significativo en la conciencia colectiva, con sujetos críticos, autónomos, con valores, sensibles a las problemáticas de su contexto, capaces de asumir una actitud reflexiva para la toma de decisiones apropiadas. (shrink)

Este artículo desarrolla un recorrido teórico-crítico por la ontología oscilante de dos medios híbridos: la “novela visual” y la “novela gráfica”. El propósito es dilucidar en qué medida ambas producciones comparten una situación de hermanamiento con otras manifestaciones como la literatura y el cine. Así pues, tomando como caso de estudio estos dos géneros de videojuego y cómic, respectivamente, el presente trabajo aborda las implicaciones derivadas de su ambigüedad definitoria y la dificultad de delinear para ellos parcelas clasificatorias estables. En (...) este contexto es relevante la tensión, presente ya en sus propias nomenclaturas, entre la tendencia hacia el elemento literario-textual y la inclinación hacia el componente de imagen, polaridad alimentada por el debate entre narratividad e interactividad hasta desembocar en el “ensayo gráfico filosófico”. (shrink)

Este artículo toma como punto de partida la colaboración artística entre Rainer Maria Rilke y Balthazar Klossowski –Balthus– que vio la luz en la publicación del libro titulado Mitsou. Historia de un gato, con ilustraciones del joven pintor y prólogo del poeta. Este caso de estudio sirve como hilo conductor de un análisis de mayor calado sobre el problema de lo “Abierto”, concepto de orden nouménico que Rilke acuña en su intercambio creativo con Balthus, y que fue motivo concreto de (...) reflexión por parte de Martin Heidegger. El presente trabajo pretende abordar las implicaciones de afinidad y enfrentamiento entre Rilke y Heidegger, y profundizar en la figura del gato como imagen metafórica de la animalidad presente en el develamiento que acontece en el Da-sein. Para ello será necesario considerar aportaciones teóricas clave de Ortega y Gasset y Schopenhauer, así como posturas críticas de Giorgio Agamben y Jacques Derrida, específicamente relevantes en este debate, que se inclinan hacia una ontología animal de la alétheia. (shrink)

This essay examines how hermeneutic philosophy, particularly Gadamer's, recovers rhetoric, less as the art of speaking well than as a statement of a truth of the sensus communis, that which communicates veracious content through argumentation. This is the sense in which Gadamer acknowledges the ubiquity of rhetoric and hermeneutics as components of linguisticity (Sprachlichkeit). Conceived in the context of non-methodical wisdom and phronesis, Gadamer's rehabilitated rhetoric is concerned with pragmatics and ethics. Rhetoric is no longer viewed as a technique of (...) verbal manipulation and becomes relevant for dialogic communication. Gadamer thus joins the Habermasian criticism of formalized reason that is detached from values. Both of them reject instrumental reason, because it has colonized communicational reason. However, since Gadamer's view of rhetoric has also been criticized by Habermas and Ricoeur their objections cannot be overlooked in a discussion of his hermeneutics. The essay concludes with a brief consideration of the implications of the debate on rhetoric, hermeneutics, and communication for the twenty-first century. (shrink)

It has been said that Sophocles’ Ajax lacks unity, and that its conclusion loses part of its tragic effect. This paper examines the tragedy’s structure and the associated innovations introduced by Sophocles, focusing primarily on the double agon. The paper attempts to explain the agon’s dual nature by comparing Ajax with three other works, namely the Iliad, Ichneutai and, especially, the Hymn to Hermes.

The paper presents a teaching experience implemented in two Sociology of Work courses at two Spanish universities. The teaching practice consists of the leisurely, reflective and critical reading of a classic text of the Sociology of Work, after which the students must prepare a mind map, that is, a graphic representation in which ideas are schematically organized and associated. The analysis of the students’ responses to a questionnaire allows us to affirm that the practice of mind maps is a creative, (...) visual and useful method of synthesizing and memorizing a classic sociological text. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dialogical and creative character of pedagogic work by analyzing the affinities between Martin Buber's I-Thou relation and Lev Semenovich Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development. Backed up by empirical studies on the teacher-student relation, we understand that education can only result in students' development if meaningful processes are undertaken. The paper asserts that education shall primarily aim at promoting relational possibilities.

The book delves into mathematical mindsets, a current approach to understanding mathematical identities, as well as success and failure in mathematics.

Lawrence, Carmen Why should we protect our heritage? In the broadest sense our heritage is what we inherit; it's what we value of that inheritance and what we decide to keep and protect for future generations. Heritage is both global enough to encompass our shock at the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan and as local as our own sepia-tinted family photographs. Everything which our predecessors have bequeathed, both tangible and intangible, may be called heritage - landscapes, (...) structures, objects, traditions, stories and language. (shrink)

Este artículo reúne los resultados de nuestra sistematización de las magnitudes físicas y de las expresiones matemáticas de los aparatos formales de la mecánica clásica, relativista y cuántica, revelando su estructura subyacente común. La sistematización se ha realizado ordenando en tablas algunas de las magnitudes físicas y expresiones matemáticas más conocidas según sus diferentes grados de derivación, abriendo paso, de este modo, a un criterio de fundamentalidad de las leyes, principios, postulados y ecuaciones de cada aparato formal.

Esta obra propone una interpretación alternativa de las relaciones entre la ética y la tragedia en Aristóteles sobre la base de una revisión que parte de la Poética, pero no ha quedado encerrada en ella, considerando otros textos ...

María Zambrano’s thought is intimately linked to the way in which things are expressed. Thus, the question is posed: What is a philosophy that is done with words? In the case of María Zambrano, it could be said that in her relationship with words the work of a complicated, but also unitary and ..

Gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR, are being heralded as powerful new tools for delivering agricultural products and foods with a variety of beneficial traits quickly, easily, and cheaply. Proponents are concerned, however, about whether the public will accept the new technology and that excessive regulatory oversight could limit the technology’s potential. In this paper, we draw on the sociotechnical imaginaries literature to examine how proponents are imagining the potential benefits and risks of gene editing technologies within agriculture. We derive (...) our data from a content analysis of public comments submitted to the Food and Drug Administration’s 2017 docket titled “Genome Editing in New Plant Varieties Used for Food.” Our sample frame consists of 26 comments representing 30 agriculture and biotech companies, organizations, and trade associations. Our findings reveal three key sociotechnical imaginaries, including that gene editing technologies in agriculture: are not GMO but instead equivalent to traditional plant breeding; have the potential to usher in a new Green Revolution; and could facilitate the democratization of agricultural biotechnologies. We argue that forming and projecting these collective interpretations of the potential of gene editing technologies for crops and foods plays an important role in efforts by proponents to influence regulatory oversight, modes of governance, and build public acceptance. This research contributes to calls by science and technology studies scholars to investigate emergent concerns and imaginaries for novel technoscientific advances to help inform upstream models of public engagement and governance decisions. (shrink)

The aim of this study is twofold: one, to determine the presence and function of scientific knowledge when it is required by such cases as `mad cow' disease, when the crisis breaks in the press; and two, to explore the role of scientific information through the analysis of quoted speech used by journalists in their discourse. Citation is the most explicit form of inclusion of other-discourse in one's-discourse. Within the framework of the theory of énonciation, in combination with a critical (...) view of discourse, we analyse the following: the identity of agents of reference chosen by journalists; the specific linguistic choices made in the pre-citation segment where the agents are introduced, that is, identification of discourse procedures and use of specific verbs of communication. The study shows the proportion of scientific and non-scientific voices, the different ways of representing science agents in the process of news communication as well as the use of citation by journal writers not just to confer authority and legitimation to their discourse but to set the scene of the conflict. The scientific role is not presented as a decisive social role capable on its own of reassuring public alarm and journalists fail to secure appropriate credibility for the scientific community. (shrink)

This study contributes to existing research on polymedia by probing into what we call academic polymedia, investigating the constant availability of interpersonal, professional, and social media for constructing scholarly personas. Drawing on the technobiographical narratives of a group of Hong Kong bilingual academics, we analyze academics’ perceptions of their media choices as situated in their professional polymedia environments. In particular, we examine how choices between public and private media shape academic persona development, and the way polymedia engagement impacts the participants’ (...) language choice for academic purposes. This study sheds light on existing research on workplace discourse and identity in sociolinguistics by offering a polymedia dimension that draws on people’s media ideology in developing their professional identities. (shrink)

Dos son los objetivos fundamentales de estas páginas. En primer lugar, analizar la postura de Unamuno ante el avance de la democracia en la Europa de principios de siglo. Esta posición que en apariencia se muestra contradictoria, adquirirá sentido pleno al distinguir entre democracia liberal y no liberal. Y en segundo lugar, rastrear las principales aportaciones que su pensamiento político puede ofrecer hoy en día a la teoría política en general y la teoría de la democracia en particular.

Empathy is an integral aspect of human existence. Without at least a basic ability to access others’ affective life, social interactions would be well-nigh impossible. Yet, recent studies seem to show that the means we have acquired to access others’ emotional life no longer function well in what has become our everyday business – technologically mediated interactions in digital spaces. If this is correct, there are two important questions: (1) What makes empathy for frequent internet users so difficult? and (2) (...) What can we do to alleviate the negative consequences? Correspondingly, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, we identify structural differences between offline and technologically mediated interactions that can explain why digital empathy is harder to achieve. Second, drawing on the literature on ‘situated affectivity,’ we consider the idea of modifying digital spaces in ways specifically designed to ‘scaffold’ empathy where our evolved mechanisms fail. Section 2 argues that empathy is requires _interpreting_ the behavior of _embodied subjects_. Section 3 identifies three factors that are crucial for this interpretative endeavor: the empathizer’s _affective repertoire_, their _perceptual input_, and their _background knowledge_. Section 4 argues that technologically mediated interactions differ from face-to-face interactions with regard to these factors in ways which render our evolved empathy mechanisms less effective in the digital world. Section 5 introduces the idea that situational factors can serve as ‘empathic scaffolds,’ i.e., as ‘tools’ that can ‘shape’ people’s empathic reactions. Section 6 wraps up the main line of reasoning, responds to objections and invites further scholarship. (shrink)

Managing the relationship with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is a key capability for most companies, because dialogue with stakeholders is a requested feature of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This paper analyses the relationship between businesses and NGOs in Spain. By applying grounded theory, the authors summarize this relationship in the dynamics of conflict and cooperation. NGOs' strategies vis-à-vis companies are categorized and the variables explaining different approaches on both companies' and NGOs' side are examined. The paper concludes by placing the private (...) relationship with NGOs in a wider context (the public arena), dominated by the approach-withdrawal dynamics between firms and NGOs. Finally, this paper presents the theory that results from this research. (shrink)