En este ensayo pretendo señalar la experiencia y la práctica de la investigación cualitativa en Iberoamérica. Al comparar el estado del arte de la investigación cualitativa en diferentes países, este manuscrito es un primer esfuerzo por difundir el debate al que nos enfrentamos en nuestras sociedades de habla hispana en el contexto de la globalización de la academia. ¿Cómo se ve la investigación cualitativa iberoamericana a través de la globalización? ¿Cuáles son nuestras principales preocupaciones acerca de los métodos y enfoques? (...) ¿Está la hermenéutica incluida en nuestra agenda? En particular, voy a tomar en cuenta el contexto iberoamericano para señalar un conjunto determinado de obstáculos y desafíos de hacer investigación cualitativa en estos países. (shrink)

Texto de presentación para el monográfico _De São Paulo a Puebla: la izquierda iberoamericana entre el retorno y la transformación (1990-2024)._.

In this paper, I provide an analysis of the emergence of “problematic of alien sexuality.” I first locate discourses about “alien sexuality,” and the so-called anchor baby in particular, within other national discourses surrounding maternity, the fetus, and citizenship. I analyze the ways that national political discourses surrounding “anchor babies” and “alien maternity” construct the “problematic of alien sexuality,” thus constituting the “alien” subject as always-already perverse. I suggest that this production of a sexually deviant and threatening “alien” subject functions (...) in the normative dichotomy that places the sexually pure citizen on the one hand, and the perverse anticitizen on the other, in what I call “backwards uncitizening.” My analysis of this process shows that the perverse “alien” subject, as constituted in significant part by nonjuridical normalizing mechanisms of biopower, resists the juridical discourse that is supposed to determine it. (shrink)

In today's globalized world, we need to communicate values clearly and constructively across cultures and religions to avoid misunderstanding and conflict and to find shared solutions to the issues affecting human communities across the world. This communication is not easy to implement and requires a considerable amount of commitment and empathy. To be effective, intercultural and interreligious dialogues on ethics demand, first of all, an accommodation of different epistemologies coupled with a sincere respect for their richness and internal coherence. Furthermore, (...) our values are so closely rooted in our identity that expressing them becomes a cultural act—even an act of faith in the case of interreligious dialogue. In this paper, I argue that we need to reiterate or embrace this act of faith in the other's values if we are to properly understand them. How is this possible? The answer calls for a theoretical discussion of the hermeneutics of interreligious dialogue. When applied to intercultural and interreligious dialogues, I contend that the theory of hermeneutics needs a specific epistemological dimension—namely that of "appropriation"—that entails that we borrow the other's epistemological outlook, adopt the other's ad hoc modes of communication or transmission of values, and integrate the other's values into the constellation of our sources of meaning. (shrink)

No presente trabalho propõe-se continuar o diálogo sugerido por Alejandro Cerletti (2008), frisando o eixo kantiano e salientando suas implicações políticas. O Sapere aude (KANT, 1999) aparece como proposta para a irrupção do pensamento do outro, o que não se limita ao mero conhecimento, pois a Aufklärung é também um projeto filosófico-político (Kant, 1989). Esse é o primeiro ponto de discussão, pois entendo que esse singular projeto é o modo proposto por Kant tanto para o exercício do pensar como para (...) a realização da liberdade individual e coletiva no âmbito da ação política. Dessa maneira, quando Kant define como o filósofo deveria exercer sua função específica e o para que desse exercício, estabelece uma imbricação (não superposição nem substituição) do filosofar com a ação política, considerando o filósofo como mais um dos agentes da política, com uma função específica e importante no cenário político, a partir do próprio exercício da filosofia. Aqui, então, se desdobra o segundo ponto de discussão, pois partindo desses pressupostos, quando Kant visa a formação de cidadãos do mundo, na construção e preservação de um estado civil, o exercício da filosofia não deveria se entender como uma propedêutica, e sim como uma das instâncias da formação e do exercício da política. Por isso, a formação política faz parte do currículo de filosofia não como instrumental que posteriormente seria utilizado, em âmbitos alheios à filosofia. (shrink)

Haciendo uso de paquete informático Bibliometrix y de la Guía Prisma, se desarrolló un análisis bibliométrico de la literatura proveniente de la Web of Science sobre la competencia digital docente universitaria. Se delimita la investigación a través de tesauros de Eric. Se plantearon preguntas de investigación relacionadas con las fuentes de datos, los autores y las redes de colaboración. La investigación evidencia incrementos en la producción a partir del año 2019, la nacionalidad de los autores y la filiación de instituciones (...) resaltan a través de redes de investigaciones extendidas en Iberoamérica. Es necesario ampliar este estudio a otras bases científicas. (shrink)

Este ensayo propone una lectura de la VIII de las Tesis sobre la historia, de Benjamin que la “emplea”, en el sentido en que el propio Benjamin sostenía que una exposición materialista de la historia debía emplear los fragmentos del pasado para interrogar radicalmente el presente y resistir a las opresiones. Se pone en relación esta tesis con las palabras de las mujeres zapatistas, pronunciadas con motivo de la inauguración del Segundo encuentro internacional de mujeres que luchan, para argumentar que (...) el “estado de excepción” que Benjamin había advertido era en verdad la regla, lo sigue siendo hoy específicamente (aunque no únicamente) para las mujeres y otros cuerpos, individuales y colectivos, feminizados. Se argumenta también que la tradición de lucha de las mujeres indígenas producida por una colonialidad capitalista que sigue en curso es la que hoy nos muestra la normalidad del “estado de excepción” contemporáneo. Finalmente se propone que las luchas de las mujeres son, también, ejercicios críticos y prácticas de resistencia e invención, para una justicia por-venir. (shrink)

Se realizó una revisión sistemática de la literatura localizada en Scopus sobre la competencia digital (CD) del profesorado universitario; con ayuda de la metodología PRISMA y operadores se delimitó la investigación a través de tesauros de Eric. Los autores/entidades españolas resaltan en la temática, existen esfuerzos orientados al diseño, validación y aplicación de rúbricas a nivel mundial. Los abordajes predominantemente son cuantitativos. La investigación fortalece el entendimiento sobre la CD, existe un efecto positivo otorgado por las CD docentes en la (...) formación de estudiantes, se requiere desarrollar planes de formación y emprender esfuerzos similares en otras bases de datos científicas. (shrink)

El objetivo de este trabajo es proponer un acercamiento metafísico al problema del método filosófico como proceso de reflexión y, con ello, enunciar que toda investigación filosófica se sustenta en la noción de relación como concepto metafísico absoluto. La tesis que sostengo señala, primero, que la relación es la expresión ontológica fundamental, y segundo, la noción de porción es el concepto mínimo de sentido en toda multiplicidad ontológica y todo criterio gnoseológico. Al asumirlas como premisas deduzco de ellas la proporción (...) (analogía) que hace posible establecer un vínculo congruente entre un mundo ontológico α y un criterio gnoseológico β apoyado en una lógica de magmas, indispensable para acudir a que llamo lógica gamma. (shrink)

Reivindicación de Maquiavelo en la obra de Hannah Arendt -- Acercamientos a Max Weber desde una crítica a la modernidad -- La violencia como disolución de lo político.

Examinamos aquí el pensamiento filosófico político de Richard Rorty tomando como punto de partida su artículo <>, así como su libro Contingencia, ironía y solidaridad. Mostramos, en primer lugar, que la pretensión de Rorty de justificar la prioridad de la democracia sobre la filosofía basándose en la tradición liberal que va de Jefferson a Rawls, es, al mismo tiempo, la reivindicación de los supuestos antropológicos (hobbesianos) de esa tradición. A través de esos supuestos (...) se evidencia- en un plano más general-la estrecha conexión que existe entre filosofía y política, especialmente si se considera la crisis del concepto de hombre que recorre a ambas disciplinas. En segundo lugar, planteamos que así como Rorty realiza una lectura postmoderna de la tradición política liberal, también es posible ensayar una lectura liberal (incluso hobbesiana) de la pretensión postmoderna de Rorty. Con ello es posible mostrar que precisamente la fuerza y la persistencia de la imagen del hombre moderno hace inútil plantearse la relación entre democracia y filosofía en términos de prioridad.We discuss the philosophical and political thought of Richard Rorty considering his article <>, and his book Contingency, irony and solidarity. We show that Rorty's pretension to justify the priority of democracy above philosophy based on the liberal tradition that comes from Jefferson to Rawls, is at the same time, the acknowledge of the anthropological (hobbesian) statements of this tradition. Throughout these statements we can point out the close connection between politics and philosophy considering the crisis of man's concept that is common to both disciplines. Secondly, we state that as Rorty does a postmodern lecture of the political liberal tradition, it is also possible a liberal (hobbesian) lecture of the postmodern Rortys ' position. In this way it is possible to show that the strength and persistence of the man's modern image make impossible the relationship between democracy and philosophy in terms of priority. (shrink)

Resumen: Los niveles de concreción paradigmáticos, se estudian a través de aspectos como: la ontología, la epistemología y la metodología, cada uno delineado conforme a los diferentes paradigmas según sea el caso: positivista, post positivista o interpretativo, constructivista y el socio crítico. El estudio presente propone reflexionar sobre los paradigmas de la investigación científica considerando las características importantes de la complejidad del objeto de estudio en aplicación al paradigma o paradigmas, concluyendo que a través del uso de la geometría fractal (...) los diferentes elementos obtenidos de la investigación presentan resultados que sintetizan la realidad compleja para tener una visión sistémica generando conocimientos de manera holística. (shrink)

El presente ensayo tiene como finalidad mostrar que la pornografía es una significación imaginaria social cuyo sentido consiste en producir en el individuo una inquietud que lo lleva a una confrontación consigo mismo. Para lograr este objetivo, en primer lugar se explicará qué es una significación imaginaria a partir de la tesis que propone Cornelius Castoriadis. En segundo lugar, se analizará a la pornografía como un aspecto de la sexualidad; y en tercer lugar, se estudiará la noción de pornografía a (...) partir de las propuestas de Jean Baudrillard, Andrés Barba y Javier Montes; finalmente se presentarán las conclusiones. (shrink)

Western philosophy’s relationship with prisons stretches from Plato’s own incarceration to the modern era of mass incarceration. Philosophy Imprisoned: The Love of Wisdom in the Age of Mass Incarceration draws together a broad range of philosophical thinkers, from both inside and outside prison walls, in the United States and beyond, who draw on a variety of critical perspectives (including phenomenology, deconstruction, and feminist theory) and historical and contemporary figures in philosophy (including Kant, Hegel, Foucault, and Angela Davis) to think about (...) prisons in this new historical era. All of these contributors have experiences within prison walls: some are or have been incarcerated, some have taught or are teaching in prisons, and all have been students of both philosophy and the carceral system. The powerful testimonials and theoretical arguments are appropriate reading not only for philosophers and prison theorists generally, but also for prison reformers and abolitionists. (shrink)

Background: The present article aims to measure the extent to which the physical and recreational needs of elderly persons in the communities of Posorja and Puna are being met. Nowadays, it is known that physical activity is beneficial for the elderly, as it helps to diminish illness and all kinds of diseases. Method: The population in this study is comprised on 378 elderly persons between 65 and 79 years of age: 200 belong to the community of Posorja and 178, to (...) the community of Puna in Guayas Province. The tools used for this research include, among others, the ADL Test, which evaluates the degree of self-care and mobility; the Lawton and Brody Scale, which is an appropriate instrument to evaluate the level of independence and skills; and the MMT, which evaluates cognitive functions such as memory, language, praxis and attention. They all are essential to detecting and diagnosing Alzheimer´s disease. Results: Various statistical techniques were used to obtain the results, such as descriptive analysis, contingency tables and main components. Conclusions: The population between 65 and 90 years of age was analyzed and it accounted for 35.9% of the total population back in 2010, which means there was a variation. Nowadays, it represents 56.6% of the obtained sample. This generational group refers to the elderly, who should be favored by public policies that are intended to improve health programs, generate recreational areas, and create senior care centers. Generally, the demographic dynamics of Posorja show a structured pyramid, with an expanding population, a large amount of young people and adults who contribute to the economic dynamics and productivity of the area. The questionnaire could be adapted and contain the specifications required to suit the true dimensions of this population. (shrink)

This work, in English "Struggle for power, organic crisis and judicial independence", has its origin in research academics of the IAEN carried out to provide expert advise to the Inter American Court of Human Rights in the case Quintana and others (Supreme Court of Justice) vs the State of Ecuador. The research is about the nature of the evolution of the ecuadorian state, the dynamics of its institutions, its players, parties, laws, its factors of instability, the way rights have been (...) deployed since the return to democracy in 1979, those who have benefited from neoliberal democracy and those who have paid the costs, and where in all this was the Supreme Court of Justice. The Introduction takes a look at this origin of the work and its intellectual import, provides a brief characterization of the Inter American Sistem of Human Rights Protection, how the Quintana Case fits within it, and an overview of the chapters and their logic. The first chapter analyzes the institutional and sociological factors that have contributed to Ecuador's historically unstable state, based primarily in an antagonistic struggle for power between the Executive and Legislative branches. The second chapter analyzes the economic and political factors that provoked an organic crisis, or crisis of hegemony, between 1997 and 2007 in Ecuador. The third chapter analyzes the evolution of the way in which judges are selected in Europe, the outcomes they have generated, and how they compare with the ecuadorian systems of judge selection in terms of securing judicial independence. The fourth chapter develops a theory of judicial independence in democracy and analyzes how Ecuador measures up to that standard, from when it became a neoliberal minimal democracy in 1981, to when it became a neoliberal false democracy as a consequence of instalation of a system evidently lacking in the people's support under the guise of the 1998 Constitution and its system of judge selection, and the new democratic horizons set by the 2008 Constitution, and the judicial system that springs from it. (shrink)

Se analizan los resultados de una reciente encuesta levantada principalmente en la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara, México, y se destaca que, aunque la mayoría de los informantes realizaron modificaciones materiales a su entorno doméstico para adecuarlo a las nuevas condiciones exigibles, se necesita flexibilidad en los espacios arquitectónicos donde se desarrollan actividades cotidianas, por lo que es necesario que profesionales del hábitat, investigadores académicos, funcionarios gubernamentales y líderes sociales propongan formas de resiliencia ante esta nueva normalidad.

RESUMEN Se presentan los resultados de la investigación La calidad de vida en pacientes con catarata senil atendidos en Nuevitas de junio a diciembre del 2016, con el objetivo de demostrar el impacto social de la cirugía. Para el estudio descriptivo, longitudinal, prospectivo realizado se seleccionaron 65 pacientes, los cuales constituyen la muestra seleccionada. Para medir el impacto se aplicó una planilla de recolección de datos, y el cuestionario de calidad de vida relativa a la visión pre y postoperatoria. Se (...) concluye que todos los pacientes fueron operados debido a un deterioro visual y funcional marcado. Luego de la cirugía se logró una recuperación visual satisfactoria, con una mejor calidad de vida que revela valores altamente significativos desde el punto de vista clínico, psicológico y social que contribuyeron a la reincorporación de estos ancianos a la sociedad. ABSTRACT It is presented the results of the investigation “The quality of life in patients with senile cataract attended in Nuevitas from June to December, 2016", with the objective to demonstrate the social impact of the surgery. For the descriptive, longitudinal, pilot study were selected 65 patients, which constitute the chosen sample. To measure the impact there was applied a chart of information compilation, and the questionnaire of quality of life relative to the vision pre and postoperative. It was concluded that all the patients were operated due to a pronounced visual and functional deterioration. After the surgery a satisfactory visual recovery was achieved, with a better quality of life that reveals highly significant values from the clinical, psychological and social point of view that they contributed to the reincorporation of these elders to the society. (shrink)

La disfasia es un término que conceptualiza una entidad gnoseológica relacionada con la organización del lenguaje en su evolución. Es un trastorno grave y de prolongada duración que afecta a niños desde el inicio del desarrollo del lenguaje, se extiende a toda la infancia y la adolescencia y puede dejar secuelas en el estado adulto. En esta revisión bibliográfica se propone un acercamiento a la comprensión de sus dimensiones, concepto, síntomas y pautas para el diagnóstico e intervención desde el enfoque (...) de la Comunicación. Dysphasia is a term that conceptualizes a gnoseologic entity related to the organization of language in its evolution. It is a severe and prolonged duration disorder that affects children since the beginning of the language development and extends to all children and adolescents; it can also leave consequences in the adult stage. This review proposes an approach to the understanding of its dimensions, concept, symptoms and guidelines for the diagnosis and involvement from a communication perspective. (shrink)

La presente investigación, tiene por objeto delimitar las consideraciones epistemológicas de la contabilidad ambiental desde tres categorías: funcionalista, interpretativo y crítico, cada una de ellas con 16 subcategorías. La metodología utilizada es de carácter exploratoria, cualitativa, basada en un análisis documental de artículos científicos arbitrados en la más alta exigencia científica (SCOPUS), bajo filtros de búsqueda exacta, con procesamiento sistemático a través de ATLAS.ti9. Los resultados muestran un mayor enraizamiento en el enfoque crítico, destacando el impulso al cambio, los estudios (...) de conflictos, la desigualdad estructural; seguido del enfoque funcionalista, donde predomina el interés por la claridad, el rigor conceptual, así como la pretensión demostrativa y el espíritu de precisión y certeza; finalmente, en el enfoque interpretativo se buscan prácticas racionalizadoras, con una intención comprensiva que impulse a un proceso de resolución. (shrink)

Participatory research (PR) has been analyzed and documented from different points of view, with emphasis on the benefits generated for farmers. The effect of PR on organizational learning has, however, received little attention. This paper analyzes the interaction between a research and a development institution, the International Potato Center (CIP) and CARE in Peru, respectively, and makes the case that PR can contribute to creating a collaborative learning environment among organizations. The paper describes the evolution of the inter-institutional collaborative environment (...) between the two institutions for more than a decade, including an information-transfer period (1993–1996), an action-learning period (1997–2002), and a social-learning period (2003–2007). Several lessons learned from each period are described, as are changes in institutional contexts and stakeholders’ perceptions. The case shows that research and development-oriented organizations can interact fruitfully using PR as a mechanism to promote learning, flexibility in interactions, and innovation. Interactions foster the diffusion of information and the sharing of tacit knowledge within and between organizations, which in turn influences behavior. However, the paper also argues that long-term inter-organizational interactions are needed to facilitate learning, which can be used to influence the way organizations implement their interventions in a constantly changing environment. (shrink)

En El sentido de la filosofía, Antonio Zirión se propone analizar, entre otras cosas, el papel y la función que cumple la fenomenología en la obra y el pensamiento de José Gaos. En mi comentario abordo, en primer lugar, el contraste entre los conceptos de fenomenología y método fenomenológico de Husserl y Gaos. En segundo lugar, recupero la discusión acerca de los límites entre fenomenología y metafísica al interior del pensamiento de Gaos, lo que desemboca en un concepto más amplio (...) de fenomenología, vinculado a la idea de una filosofía científica. En tercer lugar, propongo otro acercamiento posible a los motivos fenomenológicos en Gaos. (shrink)

Designers’ intentions are important for determining an artifact’s proper function (i.e., its perceived real function). However, there are disagreements regarding why. In one view, people reason causally about artifacts’ functional outcomes, and designers’ intended functions become important to the extent that they allow inferring outcomes. In another view, people use knowledge of designers’ intentions to determine proper functions, but this is unrelated to causal reasoning, having perhaps to do with intentional or social forms of reasoning (e.g., authority). Regarding these latter (...) social factors, researchers have proposed that designers’ intentions operate through a mechanism akin to social conventions, and that therefore both are determinants of proper function. In the current work, participants learned about an object’s creation, about social conventions for its use and about a specific episode where the artifact was used. The function implemented by the user could be aligned with the designer’s intended function, the social convention, both, or neither (i.e., an opportunistic use). Importantly, the use episode always resulted in an accident. Data show that the accident negatively affected proper function judgments and perceived efficiency for conventional and opportunistic functions, but not for designers’ intended functions. This is inconsistent with the view that designers’ intentions are conceptualized as causes of functional outcomes and with the idea that designers’ intentions and social conventions operate through a common mechanism. (shrink)

RESUMEN La Estrategia socioeducativa para la familia en el uso de la tecnología sanitaria del lente de contacto, proyecto de investigación del cual derivan los resultados que se exponen en el presente texto; se instituye a partir de un nuevo algoritmo de trabajo por el optometrista, atendiendo a que con la terapéutica encaminada a contrarrestar las complicaciones que ocasiona el uso indebido de la tecnología se ha intentado minimizar las anomalías de enfermedades oculares. Su objetivo general se dirige a un (...) estudio social sobre la innovación, desde la perspectiva de las relaciones ciencia, tecnología y sociedad. El proyecto tiene carácter de innovación tecnológica de tipo Investigación aplicada. Sus resultados validan, desde un enfoque interdisciplinario, las influencias que cada contexto sociocultural ejerce sobre el desarrollo de la ciencia y la tecnología y los impactos sociales. ABSTRACT La The socio-educative strategy for the family in the use of the sanitary technology of the contact lens, research project from which derive the results that are exhibited in the present text; it is instituted from a new work algorithm by the optometrist, attending to that with the therapeutics directed to resist the complications that the undue use of the technology causes, it has tried to minimize the anomalies of ocular illnesses. Its general objectiv goes to a social study on the innovation, from the perspective of the relations science, technology and society. The project has character of technological innovation of type Applied Investigation. Its results validate, from an interdisciplinary approach, the influences that every sociocultural context exercises on the development of the science and the technology and the social impacts. (shrink)

Optimization is about finding the best available object with respect to an objective function. Mathematics and quantitative sciences have been highly successful in formulating problems as optimization problems, and constructing clever processes that find optimal objects from sets of objects. As computers have become readily available to most people, optimization and optimized processes play a very broad role in societies. It is not obvious, however, that the optimization processes that work for mathematics and abstract objects should be readily applied to (...) complex and open social systems. In this paper we set forth a framework to understand when optimization is limited, particularly for complex and open social systems. (shrink)

Philosophers have long struggled to reconcile Martin Heidegger's involvement in Nazism with his status as one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century. The recent publication of his Black Notebooks has reignited fierce debate on the subject. These thousand-odd pages of jotted observations profoundly challenge our image of the quiet philosopher's exile in the Black Forest, revealing the shocking extent of his anti-Semitism for the first time. For much of the philosophical community, the Black Notebooks have been either used (...) to discredit Heidegger or seen as a bibliographical detail irrelevant to his thought. Yet, in this new book, renowned philosopher Donatella Di Cesare argues that Heidegger's "metaphysical anti-Semitism" was a central part of his philosophical project. Within the context of the Nuremberg race laws, Heidegger felt compelled to define Jewishness and its relationship to his concept of Being. Di Cesare shows that Heidegger saw the Jews as the agents of a modernity that had disfigured the spirit of the West. In a deeply disturbing extrapolation, he presented the Holocaust as both a means for the purification of Being and the Jews' own "self-destruction": a process of death on an industrialized scale that was the logical conclusion of the acceleration in technology they themselves had brought about. Situating Heidegger's anti-Semitism firmly within the context of his thought, this groundbreaking work will be essential reading for students and scholars of philosophy and history as well as the many readers interested in Heidegger's life, work, and legacy. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Despite society’s increasing sensitivity toward green production, companies often struggle to find effective communication strategies that induce consumers to buy green products or engage in other environmentally friendly behaviors. To add clarity to this situation, we investigated the effectiveness of negative versus positive message framing in promoting green products, whereby companies highlight the detrimental versus beneficial environmental consequences of choosing less versus more green options, respectively. Across four experiments, we show that negatively framed messages are more effective than positively framed (...) ones in prompting consumers to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. More importantly, we find that anticipated shame is the emotion responsible for this effect. Furthermore, both environmental concern and the type of product promoted serve as moderators; thus, the mediating role of anticipated shame is attenuated when environmental concern is low and the product is a luxury one. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our work, along with its limitations and some directions for future research. (shrink)

In 1622, Francis Bacon published his Historia naturalis et experimentalis. Many of the features of Bacon's natural and experimental histories were entirely new. This paper studies this literary form as a new epistemic genre. In particular, it analyzes its origin and evolution in Bacon's work, focusing on how its basic template and features were influenced by his specific epistemic requirements. It shows that Bacon devised these features in the process of developing a Historia mechanica, or a history of the mechanical (...) arts, drawing on the particular case of the technical recipe. Since antiquity, the recipe had been the dominant epistemic genre for recording and communicating technical knowledge. However, this paper suggests that the recipe format did not meet Francis Bacon's epistemic needs. In particular, the format was incompatible with the goal of keeping experimentation and its reporting open-ended and flexible. More generally, the acknowledgment of the provisional, historical character of knowledge was a tenet of what Bacon called an “initiative” method of knowledge transmission, or a method of “probation.” According to this approach, knowledge “ought to be delivered and intimated, if it were possible, in the same method wherein it was invented” and discovered. Only the display of its tentative features would encourage and stimulate others to improve and advance it. The format of the new genre of natural and experimental histories grew out of Bacon's dissatisfaction with the way in which recipes hid the imperfection of the process of knowledge production. (shrink)

There are various proposals for a general characterization of holism1. In this paper I propose the following: a variety of holism is the view that every X of an appropriate kind, which is part of a relevant whole W, cannot be legitimately separated or taken in isolation from W. Then, I distinguish two general kinds of holism, depending on two different reasons which can debar us from taking X in isolation from W. One reason can be that separating X from (...) W always amounts to transforming X into something else. Correspondingly, a strong holism is the view that if the whole W is modified anywhere, X ceases to be X and becomes something else. Another reason why it may be illegitimate to consider X in isolation from W can be that if we separate X from W, nothing that we know entitles us to exclude that X might be transformed into something else. Correspondingly, virtual holism is the view that if the whole W is modified anywhere, we can never rule out that X ceases to be X and becomes something else. (shrink)

The intuitionistic conception of truth defended by Dummett, Martin Löf and Prawitz, according to which the notion of proof is conceptually prior1 to the notion of truth, is a particular version of the epistemic conception of truth. The paradox of knowability (first published by Frederic Fitch in 1963) has been described by many authors2 as an argument which threatens the epistemic, and the intuitionistic, conception of truth. In order to establish whether this is really so, one has to understand what (...) the epistemic conception of truth really is. So I shall start inpart I with a description of the matter at issue between theepistemic conception of truth and the opposite position, therealistic conception of truth. Inpart II I shall very briefly describe the paradox. Inpart III I shall try to answer the question which appears in the title of this paper: What can we learn from the paradox of knowability?. My conclusion will be that the paradox of knowability is not a refutation of the epistemic conception of truth, but helps us to better formulate (and understand) such a view. (shrink)

In 1939, the influential psychophysicist S. S. Stevens proposed definitional distinctions between the terms ‘number,’ ‘numerosity,’ and ‘numerousness.’ Although the definitions he proposed were adopted by syeveral psychophysicists and experimental psychologists in the 1940s and 1950s, they were almost forgotten in the subsequent decades, making room for what has been described as a “terminological chaos” in the field of numerical cognition. In this paper, I review Stevens’s distinctions to help bring order to this alleged chaos and to shed light on (...) two closely related questions: whether it is adequate to speak of a number sense and how philosophers can make sense of the claim by cognitive scientists that numbers are perceptual entities. Moreover, I offer further support to Stevens’s distinction between numerosity and numerousness by showing that they are relational properties that emerge through different relationships between agents and their environments. The final conclusion is that, by adopting Stevens’s distinctions, numbers do not need to be seen as perceptual entities, since the so-called number sense is better described as a sense of numerousness. (shrink)

The fallibility of deduction is the thesis that a thoughtful speaker-reasoner can wrongly believe that an inference is deductively valid. The author presents an argument to the effect that the fallibility of deduction is incompatible with the widespread view that deduction is epistemically unfruitful (the conclusion is contained in the premises, and the transition from premises to conclusion never extends knowledge). If the fallibility of deduction is a fact, the argument presented is a refutation of the doctrine of the unfruitfulness (...) of deduction. But its relevance goes further, because the argument reveals a connection between two different problems: a solution to the problem of fruitfulness (how can deductive inferences increase our knowledge?) is a starting point for a solution to the problem of fallibility (how can deductive inferences be wrong?). To solve the problem of fruitfulness, Michael Dummett proposed some general ideas concerning meaning and inference. Starting from these meaning-theoretical ideas, one can develop an explanation of the fallibility of deduction. The general explanatory strategy does not depend on the choice between a theory of meaning centered on truth, verification, inferential role, or on other key notions. (shrink)

The concept of “necessity of thought” plays a central role in Dag Prawitz’s essay “Logical Consequence from a Constructivist Point of View” (Prawitz 2005). The theme is later developed in various articles devoted to the notion of valid inference (Prawitz, 2009, forthcoming a, forthcoming b). In section 1 I explain how the notion of necessity of thought emerges from Prawitz’s analysis of logical consequence. I try to expound Prawitz’s views concerning the necessity of thought in sections 2, 3 and 4. (...) In sections 5 and 6 I discuss some problems arising with regard to Prawitz’s views. (shrink)

Cardiology is characterized by its state-of-the-art biomedical technology and the predominance of Evidence-Based Medicine. This predominance makes it difficult for healthcare professionals to deal with the ethical dilemmas that emerge in this subspecialty. This paper is a first endeavor to empirically investigate the axiological foundations of the healthcare professionals in a cardiology hospital. Our pilot study selected, as the target population, cardiology personnel not only because of their difficult ethical deliberations but also because of the stringent conditions in which they (...) have to make them. Therefore, there is an urgent need to reconsider clinical ethics and Value-Based Medicine. This study proposes a qualitative analysis of the values and the virtues of healthcare professionals in a cardiology hospital in order to establish how the former impact upon the medical and ethical decisions made by the latter. (shrink)

The problem I address is: how are cogent inferences possible? In § 1 I distinguish three senses in which we say that one is “compelled” by an inference: automatic, seductive-rhetorical and epistemic compulsion. Cogency is epistemic compulsion: a cogent inference compels us to accept its conclusion, if we accept its premises and we aim at truth. In §§ 2–3 I argue that cogency is intelligible if we consider an inference as a compound linguistic act in which several component acts are (...) related to one another by a commitment that the premises support the conclusion. Non-automatic inferences are primarily public acts in an intersubjective context. But cogency arises in special contexts described in § 4, epistemic contexts, where the participants care for truth, i.e. are intellectually virtuous. An inference is cogent in an epistemic context if it stands up to all the objections raised in the context. In § 5 I consider three different kinds of cogent inferences. In § 6 I argue that in all three cases cogency is fallible and propose a fallibilist variety of inferentialism. In § 7 I distinguish context of utterance and contexts of evaluation. Cogency is relative to epistemic contexts of evaluation. However, validity, i.e. stable cogency, is transcontextual. (shrink)