With the pressing shortage of human organs and recent breakthroughs in gene editing, xenotransplantation—using animal organs, tissues or cells for human transplants—offers new hope for patients on wait lists. The use of genome editing technologies to produce xenotransplants from pigs with reduced immunogenicity has recently brought renewed attention to the field while also raising a host of ethical dilemmas. These concerns include animal welfare, the risks of zoonotic diseases, the moral implications of crossing species boundaries and the potential inequities in (...) access to such treatments. In their article ‘Who shall go first? A multicriteria approach to patient selection for first clinical trials of cardiac xenotransplantation’,1 Kögel and colleagues propose an ethical framework for selecting patients in cardiac xenotransplantation trials. They argue that while significant advances have been made with xenotransplants in brain-dead humans, limited knowledge can be gained from procedures performed outside clinical trials. According to them, knowledge production should be prioritised, and terminally ill patients who are unlikely to survive would not contribute meaningfully to scientific understanding or benefit from the procedure. At the core of xenotransplantation ethics …. (shrink)

When events such as a pandemic occur, and the entire population’s health must be ensured, the focus is on public health. Despite several criteria for decision-making, it is advisable to delve into the weighting beyond the mere consideration of plainly visible factors. We propose weighting as a mechanism instead of chance since, given the person’s substantial unity and intrinsic dignity, their destiny cannot be subject to anything less than the exercise of intelligible judgment inherent to human reason.

The article deals with the problem of method for a bioethical approach to clinical cases from the standpoint of bioethics, and analyzes the various methodologies that exist, highlighting their contributions and strengths, as well as their difficulties. Tools for reflecting on how to implement a methodology adapted to the context of contemporary Mexican reality are provided as well. They underscore the characteristics particular to Mexico in bioethical analysis and discernment.

La veneciana Arcangela Tarabotti (1604-1652) fue encerrada por su padre en un convento de clausura a la edad de once años y pasó allí toda su vida en contra de su voluntad. Este hecho, que marcó profundamente su obra, fue decisivo para que Tarabotti desarrollase un pensamiento filosófico que, en los inicios de la modernidad, intentaba pensar a las mujeres e incluirlas en tanto que sujetos racionales en los nuevos sistemas de pensamiento. Tomando como referencia dos de sus obras más (...) decisivas, Tiranía paterna y Las mujeres son de la misma especie que los hombres, en este artículo trato de poner en valor y reivindicar como centrales en la historia del pensamiento universal sus ideas de humanidad, mujer, libertad y salvación, ordenadas en dos sub grupos: metafísica y política. Son destacables tanto su noción del ser humano en tanto que materia e idea divina, como el acceso a la salvación —central en su pensamiento por creerse pecadora y eternamente condenada al no haber decidido libremente su encierro monástico— a través de la humanidad. Todo ello acompañado de una noción de libertad individual que, lejos de ser medida y amparada por las instituciones civiles, Tarabotti busca en el estado previo de naturaleza. (shrink)

La perspectiva de la Razón Abierta propone un método propio para el repensamiento de las ciencias. En concreto, sugiere analizar el contenido de cualquier ciencia desde las claves de la antropología fisiológica, la epistemología, la ética y la cuestión del sentido último. El artículo ofrece una primera definición del objeto formal y material de la ciencia gastronómica tal y como se entiende hoy en el ámbito universitario. A partir de aquí se analiza cómo, de las cuatro preguntas que propone la (...) razón abierta, la cuestión antropológica obliga especialemten a repensar contenidos, dimensiones y alcance de la Gastronomía. En relación con las otras cuatro preguntas, el estudio se limita solo a apuntar un primer acercamiento que se ampliará en ulteriores investigaciones. (shrink)

La relación entre el fenómeno religioso y el marco de la secularidad o la postsecularidad se hace presente en el ámbito de la escuela pública y, en cierta medida, reproduce las tensiones que tiene la sociedad a la hora de situar esa relación. El objetivo de este texto es presentar y valorar esa relación en el caso español, el cual posee un modelo de tipo confesional de la enseñanza de la religión en la escuela pública. La descripción del modelo debe (...) tener en cuenta el contexto histórico particular y su aplicación, que ha tenido variaciones significativas a lo largo del período democrático según los gobiernos de turno. Se trata de una opción muy controvertida que requiere una valoración ponderada, de tal manera que el texto sumaría los aspectos positivos y las dificultades que suscita el modelo en general y, en particular, la concreción española. La controversia tiene aspectos más coyunturales y otros de mayor calado, cuyo tratamiento sugiere una reflexión de tipo antropológico y teológico, la cual se realiza de manera incipiente. (shrink)

Reseña de: Jesse Prinz: Beyond Human Nature. How Culture and Experience Shape Our Lives. London, Allen Lane, 2012. 401 pp. ISBN: 978-0393061758.

This paper recovers and pays homage to the arguments in support of the equality of the sexes developed by the Seventeenth Century Cartesian philosopher François Poullain de la Barre (1647-1723).

Este artículo examina la percepción estudiantil sobre discriminación y racismo en la educación superior. La pregunta que orienta el estudio es: ¿Qué percepciones tienen los estudiantes sobre la discriminación y el racismo en el contexto universitario? El racismo es considerado una ideologíaque naturaliza la desigualdad y que toma como base las particularidades biológicas para establecer situaciones de diferenciación social. Así, la discriminación se refiere a circunstancias de exclusión,segregación, restricción debido a estereotipos que limitan los derechos de las personas. El estudio (...) fue de carácter cuantitativo, descriptivo y transversal. Participaron 263 estudiantes provenientes decuatro facultades de la Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo. Los datos de la investigación fueron recogidos mediante el Cuestionario de Percepción sobre racismo y discriminación en la EducaciónSuperior. Se evidencia que el 29,9 % de estudiantes manifiesta haber experimentado racismo y discriminación; el 89,7 % afirma que nunca lo han ejercido y el 57,7 % aduce que ha observado diversas manifestaciones en las interacciones. Los principales focos de la discriminación son: etnia, género, identidad sexual, situación socioeconómica y/o discapacidad. Las manifestaciones de la exclusión son explícitas e implícitas y las formas más evidentes de ejercerlos son a través deviolencia psicológica, verbal y física. Finalmente, existe una negación y naturalización del fenómenoque se encuentra enraizado en la dinámica institucional. (shrink)

The _Physics_ is a foundational work of western philosophy, and the crucial one for understanding Aristotle's views on matter, form, essence, causation, movement, space, and time. This richly annotated, scrupulously accurate, and consistent translation makes it available to a contemporary English reader as no other does—in part because it fits together seamlessly with other closely associated works in the New Hackett Aristotle series, such as the _Metaphysics_, _De Anima_, and forthcoming _De Caelo_ and _On Coming to Be and Passing Away_. (...) Eventually the series will include all of Aristotle's works. Sequentially numbered endnotes provide the information most needed at each juncture, while a detailed Index of Terms indicates places where focused discussion of key notions occurs. An illuminating general Introduction describes the book that lies ahead, explaining what sort of work it is and what sorts of evidence it relies on. (shrink)

Je lui ai associÉ un court extrait d'une revue de questions portant sur le même thème. Implicit memory is revealed when previous experiences facilitate perf on a task that does not require conscious or intentional recollection of those expces. Explicit memory is revealed when perf on a task requires conscious recolelction of previous expces. Il s'agit de defs descriptives qui n'impliquent pas l'existence de deux systs de mÉmo sÉparÉs. Historiquement Descartes est le premier ˆ faire mention de phÉnomènes de mÉmo (...) implicites, Leibniz, Maine de Biran, Bergson en ont Également parlÉ. Korsakoff (1889) avec ses travaux sur les amnÉsiques montre qu'ils sont capables d'utiliser de l'info qu'ils ont acquises dans des Épisodes rÉcents sans pour autant manifester le moindre souvenir de l'Épisode. L'interprÉtation de ces phÉnomènes Était alors que ça renvoyait ˆ des traces en mÉmoire trop tÉnues pour accèder jusqu'au champ de la conscience. Cette interprÉtation va pouvoir être ÉcartÉe par les travaux rÉcents. Thorndike a Également conduit un nbre important de travaux sur MI. Les trauvaux un peu plus rÉcents ont montrÉ qu'un apprentissage antÉrieur pouvait faciliter une perfce sans qu'il y ait ref explicite à l'Épisode d'apprentissage. On a montrÉ aussi l'effet de stimuli subliminaux, qui en tant que tels ne peuvent pas être rappelÉs consciemment, mais qui influencent la conduite ou les jugts ultÉrieurs. Par ex, la prÉsentation de formes sur des temps très courts qui excluent la possibilitÉ d'une perception consciente influence significativement lechoix de formes dans une pÉreuve ultÉrieure de choix forcÉs où les sjts doivent indiquer la forme qu'il prÉfère entre deux. Ils choisissent prÉfÉrentiellement celles qui leur ont ÉtÉ prÉsentÉes de manière subliminale. De même Bargh et al. ont montrÉ que des sjts soumis de manière subliminale ˆ des mots hostiles portent ultÉrieurement des jugts plus nÉgatifs sur une personne target. Il ya Également eu des travaux sur l'apprsge ou le condt without awareness en particulier apprsge implicite de règles de grammaire (ie le sjt peut construire de nouvelles phrases conformes ˆ la syntaxe de celles qui lui ont ÉtÉ prÉsentÉes sans pour autant petre capables d'noncer les règles de grammaire qu'il utilise) Rem: N'est ce pas un pbe de typemÉtacognition??? Enfin, tous les travaux sur le priming sont des elts en faveur de MI: Facilitation in the processing of a stimulus as a function of a recent encounter with the same stimulus. Type de perfce sur lesquels les effets de priming ont ÉtÉ dÉmontrÉs: -T‰ches de dÉcision lexicale: Le sjt doit dire si la cha"ne de caractères qu'on lui prÉsente est un mot ou pas: Le temps de latence est beaucoup plus court si la cha"ne a dÉjˆ ÉtÉ prÉsentÉe une première fois. -Mesures de temps d'identification de mots en rpÉsentation tachitoscopiques -ComplÉmentation de mots: les sjts ont tendance ˆ complÉter pour crÉer les mots qui leur ont ÉtÉ prÉsentÉs antÉrieurement. L'intÉrêt pour le paradigme de priming se retouve chez les gens qui s'intÉressent ˆ: -reconnaissance de mots et organisation lexicale. les effets de priming permettent de faire des hyps sur l'accès lexical et la reprÉsentation. -M. Épisodique: travux sur les amnÉsiques qui ne se souviennent pas qu'on vient de leur prÉsenter des mots mais qui manifestent une mÉmoire implicite lorsqu'on leur fait faire de la complÉmentation de mots. DISSOCIATION ENTRE M.I. ET M EXPLICITE 1-Si de nombreux travaux montrent que la M explicite est influencÉe par le travail d'Élaboration (profondeur de traitement) en jeu pendant la première phase d'Étude des stimuli, il semble que la MI ne le soit pas. 2-Le changt de modalitÉ (par ex auditif -> visuel) entre la phase d'Étude et la phase de test provoque une attÉnuation importante de l'effet de priming si le test est un test de MI mais pas si c'est un test de ME. 3-Les effets de primings persistent assez largement sur plusieurs jours ce qui n'est pas le cas des perfces ˆ une Épreuve de reconnaissance. 4-Les perfces sur des tests de MI ne semblent pas influencÉes par des manipulations d'interfÉrences proactives ou rÉtroactives dont on sait qu'elles influencent les perfces en ME. 5-Absce de corrÉlation entre perfces ˆ des tests de reconnaissance et perfces ˆ une Épreuve de complÉmentation de mots. SIMILARITES ENTRE PRIMING ET REMEMBERING 1- A certaines conditions les durÉes de rÉtention on des effets parallèles sur les effets de priming et les mesures de ME (REm: en partie contradictoire avec 3 ci dessus) 2-La manipulation du contexte de la liste lors de la phase d'Étude affecte ˆ la fois les perfces en reconnaissance et en identification de mots. 3- ME et MI sont influencÉes par des associations nouvellement acquises entre des paires de mots non reliÉes (Rem: contradictoires avec 4 ci dessus ??) 4- Rem: Le contraire de 1 du pt "dissociation" !!!! dans une manip particulière 5-Johnston et al. ont montrÉ que des mots identifÉs plus rapidement Étaient plus svt jugÉs comme 'old' dans une t‰che de reconnaissance que les mots identifiÉs plus lentement. Il n'est pas exclu que les phÉnomènes que l'on interprètent comme relevant de MI soient parfois de la ME involontaire cad des cas o les cues fournis dans le test conduisent ˆ un souvenir involontaire mais totalement conscient. LES INTERPRETATIONS THEORIQUES DE MI 1-Les effets de priming sur des test de MI sont attribuables ˆ l'activation temporaires de reprÉsentations ou structures de K prÉ-existantes . Cette activation est supposÉe avoir lieu de manière automatique, indÉpendamment des processus d'Élaboration nÉcessaires pour Établir de nouvelles traces Épisodiques. 2- les difÉrences entre ME et MI sont dues ˆ la nature et aux relations entre les processus d'encodage et de rÉcupÉration. Une version de cette approche est celle qui s'appuie sur la distinction entre processus dirigÉs par les donnÉes et processus dirigÉs par les concepts. Ces derniers reflètent des activitÉs initiÉes par le sjt comme l'Élaboration, l'organisation et la reconstruction, c'est sur ce type de processus que reposerait la ME alors que la MI reposerait sur des processus data-driven. 3-ME et MI renvoient ˆ des systs sous jacents diffÉrents. Pour Cohen & Squire (1984), la ME est supportÉe par une M DECLARATIVE , syst qui est en jeu dans la formation de nouvelles reprÉsentations. La MI repose sur un syst PROCEDURAL dans lequel la M se manifeste par des modifications on line de procÉdures ou opÉrations de traitement. Le syst de M Épisodique est vu comme la base pour le souvenir explicite d'evts rÉcents tandis que la M sÉmantique est responsable des perfces sur des tests de MI. Chacune de ces approches est conforme ˆ certaines des donnÉes recueillies mais pas ˆ d'autres. (shrink)

Wie ist es wohl, eine Fledermaus zu sein? Wäre ein rein physikalisches Duplikat von mir nur ein empfindungsloser Zombie? Muss man sich seinem Schicksal ergeben, wenn man sich unfreiwillig als lebensnotwendige Blutwaschanlage eines weltberühmten Violinisten wieder findet? Kann man sich wünschen, der König von China zu sein? Bin ich vielleicht nur ein Gehirn in einem Tank mit Nährflüssigkeit, das die Welt von einer Computersimulation vorgegaukelt bekommt? Worauf beziehen sich die Menschen auf der Zwillingserde mit ihrem Wort 'Wasser', wenn es bei (...) ihnen gar kein H2O gibt? -/- Diese und weitere seltsame Fragen sind das tägliche Brot vieler professioneller Philosophen. Die abstrusen Umstände, die dabei geschildert werden, nennt man "Gedankenexperimente". -/- Was soll die Erörterung dieser Szenarien, die sich so weit von unserem alltäglichen Leben, z.T. außerhalb der Grenzen unserer Wirklichkeit abspielen? Welche Rolle spielen diese "Gedankenexperimente" in der philosophischen Methodologie? Ist diese Rolle überhaupt berechtigt? -/- Das vorliegende Buch gibt Antworten auf diese Fragen. Es stellt sich heraus, dass diese seltsamen Gedankenexperimente nicht nur berechtigte, sondern überaus wichtige Instrumente philosophischen Forschens darstellen. (shrink)

This book presents a novel metaphysics of concrete entities. The author uses the theory developed to address three major topics in the metaphysics of concreta: fundamentality, persistence over time, and phenomenal consciousness. The book provides a new theory of what "bundles" particular property instances, or tropes, into material property bearers. The theory is based on two new ideas. The first is that the primitive nature of one sui generis monadic property called markedness bears on the bundling of other properties' tropes. (...) The second idea is that the geometric and topological features of a given markedness trope help to determine which tropes it bundles. The author argues that this new markedness bundle theory determines all property co-instantiation at the levels of both type and token, positioning markedness tropes as the fundamental concreta. The theory also explains bundling across time, yielding an advantageous account of material persistence. Finally, markedness tropes operate as de facto panprotopsychist property instances: fundamental non-consciousness tropes that uniquely explain where and why consciousness properties are exemplified. The book solidifies the case for markedness through sustained critical analysis of competing theories of fundamentality and persistence, focusing in part on their inability to account for unending mereological and plural structures. Concrete Particulars will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. (shrink)

Human beings, even very young infants, and members of several other species, exhibit remarkable capacities for attending to and engaging with others. These basic capacities have been the subject of intense research in developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, comparative psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind over the last several decades. Appropriately characterizing the exact level and nature of these abilities and what lies at their basis continues to prove a tricky business. The contributions to this special issue investigate whether and to (...) what extent the exercise of such capacities count as, or are best explained by, a genuine understanding of minds, where such understanding depends on the creatures in question possessing capacities for attributing a range of mental states and their contents in systematic ways. The question that takes center stage is: Do the capacities for attending to and engaging with others in question involve mindreading or is this achieved by other means? In this editorial we will review the state of the debate between mindreading and alternative accounts of social cognition. The issue is organized as follows: the first two papers review the experimental literature on mindreading in primates (Bermúdez) and children (Low & Wang), and the kinds of arguments made for mindreading and alternative accounts of social cognition. The next set of papers (Hedger & Fabricius, Lurz & Krachun, Zawidzki, and de Bruin et al.) further critique the existing experimental data and defend various mindreading and non-mindreading accounts. The final set of papers address further issues raised by phenomenological (Jacob, Zahavi), enactive (Michael), and embodied (Spaulding) accounts of social cognition. (shrink)

Are non-indexical action rationalizations necessarily incomplete because of a missing indexical component? Bermúdez argues that they are. Two things make the argument unpersuasive. First, it assumes that all action rationalizations involve attitudes that are about the agent. Second, it assumes that the attitudes expressible using ‘I’ are themselves indexical. Each is an assumption that believers in complete but non-indexical action rationalizations can and do reject. Surprisingly though, a more effective argument can be obtained by switching focus from indexical attitudes about (...) agents to indexical attitudes about times. The debate about the de se and the de nunc has much less in common than is standardly assumed. It is the de nunc not the de se which provides the knock-down case for essential indexicality. (shrink)

Unified theories of de se attitudes and de dicto attitudes, along the lines of David Lewis’s proposal, face a problem. Whether or not they are adequate for representing beliefs, they can misrepresent the content of many of our desires, which rank possible outcomes in which the agent with the desire does not exist. These desires are shown to play a role in the rational explanation of action, and recognising them is important in our understanding of ourselves. Lewis’s account of attitudes (...) de dicto and de se is shown to be unsatisfactory, and the lessons learned are applied more broadly. (shrink)

Salomon Maimon, philosophischer Autodidakt und wichtiger zeitgenössischer Kritiker Kants, schreibt in einem Kommentar, dass er angesichts des Spinozismus 'vor dem Nichts zurück schaudert'. An anderer Stelle heisst es, jene Philosophie sei 'das akosmische System'. Die schwerwiegende inhärente Problematik dieser Äusserungen wird in dem vorliegenden Band ausführlich diskutiert. Es wird der Frage nachgegangen, was es mit Maimons komplexer Beziehung zur Philosophie Spinozas auf sich hat. Dabei wird gezeigt, dass es dort zu erheblichen Kollisionen verschiedenartiger Vorstellungen vom Intellekt kommt, vom menschlichen wie (...) göttlichen. Letztlich geht es in diesem jahrhunderteübergreifenden Disput um nicht weniger als um eine tiefgreifende Bestimmung des Verhältnisses von Welt, Gott und menschlichem Denken.Indem verschiedene Zweige der Philosophie Maimons in Bezug zueinander gesetzt werden und damit ein facettenreiches Gesamtbild ergeben, wird der Versuch eines neuartigen Zugangs zu seiner Philosophie insgesamt unternommen. (shrink)

The purpose of my paper is to challenge the binary classification of authenticity, which is currently employed in the bioethical debate on enhancement technologies. According to the standard dichotomy, there is a stark opposition between the self-discovery model, which depicts the self as a substantial and original inwardness, and the self-creation model, which assumes that the self is an open project, that has to be constituted by one’s free actions. My claim is that the so-called self-creation model actually conflates two (...) distinct versions of authenticity: one that is decisionist and one that is experimentalist. Hence, my proposal is to distinguish between three different models of authenticity: (i) self-discovery, which is an expressivist model of authenticity; (ii) existential commitment, which is a decisionist model; and (iii) reinvention of the self, which is an experimentalist model. Such a three-fold distinction will vast a more nuanced and clear light upon the enhancement debate. (shrink)

Discusses Armstrong's and Roman Ingarden's ontology, criticises substance ontology, and defends tropes and a field ontology.

This monograph presents new material on Francisco Suárez’s comprehensive theory of sense perception. The core theme is perceptual intentionality in Suárez’s theory of the senses, external and internal, as presented in his Commentaria una cum quaestionibus in libros Aristotelis De anima published in 1621. The author targets the question of the multistage genesis of perceptual acts by considering the ontological “items” involved in the procession of sensory information. However, the structural issue is not left aside, and the nature of the (...) relationship due to which our perceptions are mental representations of this or that object is also considered. The heuristic historiographical background includes not only the theories of classical authors, such as Aristotle and Aquinas, but also those of late medieval authors of the fourteenth century. These are headed by John Duns Scotus, John of Jandun, Peter Auriol and Peter John Olivi. Readers will discover the differences between Suárez’s and Aquinas’s views, as well as other sources that may have served as positive inspiration for the Jesuit’s theory. By considering the late medieval philosophy of the fourteenth century, this book helps, to a certain extent, to fill a gap in the historiography of philosophy regarding the link between late medieval and early modern scholasticism. In the first part of the book, the metaphysics of the soul and powers is considered. Chapters on the external senses follow, covering topics such as the sensible species, the causes of sensation, self-awareness, and the ordering of the external senses. A further chapter is devoted to the internal senses and the author argues that by reducing the number and functional scope of the interior senses Suárez deepens the gap between the external senses and the intellect, but he reduces it through emphasizing the unifying efficacy of the soul.This book brings a synthetic and unifying perspective to contemporary research and will particularly appeal to graduate students and researchers in theology and philosophy, especially philosophy of mind. (shrink)

Why are de se mental states essential? What exactly is their de se-ness needed to do? I argue that it is needed to fend off accidentalness. If certain beliefs – for example, nociceptive, proprioceptive or introspective beliefs – were not de se, then any truth they achieved would be too accidental for the subject to count as knowing. If certain intentions – intentions that are in play whenever we intentionally do anything – were not de se, then any satisfaction they (...) achieved would be too accidental for the subject to count as intentionally acting. How states hook on to their referent is relevant in a systematic but underexplored way to whether they non-accidentally achieve their aim – truth in the case of beliefs, satisfaction in the case of intentions. In the relevant cases, the way of hooking on to a referent needed to avoid being accidental is the way a de se state hooks on to its referent. (shrink)

En este trabajo discutimos la extensión de la influencia que el pensamiento de Richard Owen tuvo sobre el de Charles Darwin. Además, se intentará mostrar lo heterogéneo de tal influencia, que va desde teorías específicas a giros retóricos. Esta influencia es en muchos casos subestimada, dando la sensación de que la novedad darwiniana consistió únicamente en mirar con ojos desprejuiciados lo que los otros no habían visto. Esta visión resulta injusta con Owen, y también con el esfuerzo conceptual llevado adelante (...) por Darwin con las piezas brindadas por sus precursores. Finalmente, este es un caso interesante para entender el tipo de novedad aportada por las revoluciones científicas y el modo sofisticado en que tal novedad se sustenta sobre el trabajo de los enfoques previos. (shrink)

Theodor Adorno’s 1960–1961 lecture course Ontology and Dialectics, recently translated into English, provides the most systematic articulation of his critique of Martin Heidegger. When Adorno delivered three of the lectures at the Collège de France, Maurice Merleau-Ponty was reportedly scandalised as he was at that time developing his own ontology, informed by Heidegger. However, this article problematises the assumption that Adorno’s negative dialectic and Merleau-Ponty’s late ontology are incompatible. First, Adorno’s criticism of Heidegger’s ontology is delineated, with particular focus on (...) how Adorno argues that Heidegger’s subordination of the human being to being is homologous with the logic of capitalism. Then, we turn to Merleau-Ponty’s own engagement with Heidegger, with particular focus on how Merleau-Ponty cannot be accused of denigrating ontic beings. Finally, it is argued that Merleau-Ponty’s indirect ontology has the same implications as those which allow Adorno to position his dialectical method as politically opposed to Heidegger’s ontology. (shrink)

Nietzsche criticizes the shared suffering of compassion as a basis for ethics, yet his challenge to overcome compassion seeks not to extinguish all fellow feeling but instead urges us to transform the way we relate to others, to learn to share not suffering but joy. For Schopenhauer, we act morally when we respond to another’s suffering, while we are mistrustful of the joys of others. Nietzsche turns to the type of relationality exempli!ied by friendship, understood as shared joy, in order (...) to help him to articulate his ethical ideal for human beings. (shrink)

In the current bioethical debates on authenticity and enhancement, the discourse is dominated by a binary distinction between self-discovery and self-constitution. The self-discovery model views authenticity as staying true to a preexisting, intrinsic nature, while self-constitution frames it as being faithful to self-imposed goals and freely chosen aspirations. However, I argue that a threefold distinction could enrich this debate and offer more nuanced perspectives on authenticity. I propose a new taxonomy consisting of three models. First, the expressivist model, aligned with (...) self-discovery, sees authenticity as expressing a natural, inner self. Second, the decisional model focuses on existential commitment, where authenticity arises from firm life choices and perseverance in the face of challenges. Lastly, the experimentalist model, inspired by Nietzsche, views life as a continuous process of self-reinvention, where authenticity is achieved through experimentation and embracing change. In the final section, I examine both sides of the enhancement debate. Supporters, using the experimentalist model, can argue that enhancement technologies allow for personal growth and creative self-exploration. However, critics, drawing on Nietzschean insights, warn that these technologies might provide superficial shortcuts, bypassing the deep struggles essential for authentic self-transformation. Moreover, they could lead to conformity, limiting individual uniqueness. My tripartite model offers a pluralistic view, suggesting that while enhancement can be ethically valuable, it also requires caution to avoid undermining the very process of self-overcoming that defines true authenticity. (shrink)

En este artículo se parte del planteamiento de Merleau-Ponty del cuerpo como una existencia ambigua, que no se puede reducir a un mero sujeto o a una mera cosa. Esto lleva a explorar el cuerpo desde ambas perspectivas. En primer lugar, se analiza el cuerpo como un objeto producto de las representaciones del capitalismo cognitivo y del sistema farmacopornográfico de poder descrito por Paul Beatriz Preciado. En segundo lugar, se analiza el cuerpo como sujeto, como elemento que posibilita la acción (...) política, a partir de las reflexiones que han realizado Judith Butler y Jacques Rancière en torno al cuerpo vulnerable y al cuerpo estético, respectivamente. De esta manera, se encuentra que si bien el cuerpo se encuentra atravesado por los diferentes dispositivos de poder del capitalismo contemporáneo, así mismo en este se encuentra la potencialidad de resistencia y emancipación frente a estos mecanismos. (shrink)

In this article I deal with the topic of perceptual self-awareness, focusing on whether a plausible account of sensory self-perception having exterior sensations as its objects requires sensible species representing these acts. I first introduce Aristotle’s two distinct views from On the Soul and On Sleep and Waking as defining the scholastic status quaestionis, then bring in Francisco Suárez’s, Bartholomeo Mastri’s and Bonaventura Belluto’s, and Hugh McCaghwell’s accounts. I show, first, that Suárez’s view, which cannot be substantiated by Scotus’s littera, (...) is rejected by Mastri/Belluto and by McCaghwell in one of his conclusions. Second, I argue that McCaghwell’s second tenet is to be assessed as Suarezian. This shows that Suárez’s philosophy of perception was positively received also by seventeenth-century Scotists. (shrink)

This paper attempts to characterize the method that Descartes put forward in the Discours de la methode of 1637 and the earlier Regulae ad Directionem Ingenii. It is argued that because if important changes in Descartes ' scientific and epistemological programs, Descartes abandons the method of his earlier years at just the moment that he makes it public in the Discours.

Descartes is, for us, the father of modern philosophy, the figure with whom the history of our philosophy begins, the philosopher who ended scholasticism once and for all and turned aside the excesses of Renaissance thought. And the Discours de la méthode and Essais is the work in which Descartes seems to have declared his revolution, and announced to the world his independence from the history of philosophy. In the opening pages of his first published writing, Descartes wrote.

In the quest for a workable ideal of democracy, the systems approach has recently shifted its perspective on deliberative democratic theory. Instead of enquiring how institutionalized decision-making might mirror an ‘ideal deliberative procedure’, it asks how democracy might be construed as a ‘deliberative system’. This leads it to recommend de-emphasizing the role of parliament and focusing instead on non-institutionalized actors and communications. Though this increased emphasis is undoubtedly warranted, the importance of parliament must not be downplayed. In the debate about (...) transnational democracy – and about EU democratization in particular – it is widely held that making democracy safe for transnational politics entails finding new, non-parliamentary ways of organizing it. Here, the deliberative systems perspective may be misunderstood as offering an alternative, non-parliamentary route to transnational democracy. This article argues that a deliberative system without a parliamentary legislature is tantamount to deliberation without democracy and that an elected parliamentary legislature is constitutive of democracy as a deliberative system – national or transnational. To substantiate this claim, the article suggests looking at Habermas’ discourse theory in a new light, as a sociological-reconstructive approach that aims to explicate the cognitive dimension of modern democratic decision-making. Acknowledgement of discourse theory’s sociological intent enhances our understanding of democracy as a deliberative system in two important ways. First, it helps elucidate the epistemic meaning of democracy differently from the accounts given in alternative theories. Discourse theory holds that what generates democratic legitimacy in modern democracies is a particular epistemic quality which the democratic process lends to decisions by enabling citizens to view the latter as valid outcomes of a cooperative practice of collective problem-solving among equals. From this pragmatist understanding it follows, second, that the presence of a parliamentary legislature is crucial to the establishment and operation of democracy as a deliberative system. (shrink)

De Jaegher’s (2009) paper argues that Gallagher, who aims to replace traditional theory-of-mind accounts of social understanding with accounts based on direct perception (hereafter DP), has missed an important opportunity. Despite a desire to break faith with tradition, there is a danger that proponents of DP accounts will remain (at least tacitly) committed to an unchallenged, and perhaps unnoticed, sort of individualism inherent in traditional theories (i.e. those that regard our engagement with others as a ‘problem’ to be solved: a (...) problem of other minds). Taking a more root and branch approach, De Jaegher recommends a complete shift of focus. She proposes that a more thoroughgoing and fruitful response to traditional approaches must attend to, and seek to understand, interactional phenomena proper—for it is the nature of interactions themselves that importantly influence individuals. Hence, it is the processes of interacting which ‘span individuals’ and their specific, dynamic evolution over time that should take pride of place in research into social cognition. De Jaegher wants to put interactional processes – those that can ‘take on life of their own’ and ‘influence interactors’ – at the heart of enquiries into intersubjectivity. Citing other recent work she has done with Di Paolo, she bills this as ‘‘the central task of any account of intersubjectivity” (De Jaegher, 2009, p. 2; De Jaegher & Di Paolo, 2007). The trouble is that this way of putting matters can make it look as if there is just one task facing researchers in this area; that we are faced with an either/or choice. But it is clear that any fully illuminated understanding of interactional phenomena will require accounts of what individuals and their sub-personal processes/mechanisms are doing in this larger process and, presumably, how their mechanisms/tendencies of response constrain and shape local bouts of interacting, even if we assume it is the dynamics of such encounters that importantly influence and shape what comes next.. (shrink)

Duas das principais controvérsias que têm ocupado aqueles que se dedicam à teoria aris- totélica do movimento animal são a controvérsia acerca da forma da cognição através da qual um animal irracional apreende um objeto como um objeto de desejo e a controvérsia acerca da função desempenhada pela cognição na explicação aristotélica dos movimentos voluntários de locomoção animal. Neste artigo, eu apresento uma teoria acerca das formas como o desejo e a cognição se articulam na teoria aristotélica segundo a qual (...) um animal irracional apreende um objeto como um objeto de desejo através da percepção incidental deste objeto e, ao contrário do que a maioria parece acreditar, esta percepção não tem sempre a mesma função na produção destes movimentos. Se o que for dito aqui estiver correto, em alguns casos esta percepção é responsável tanto pela geração do desejo quan- to pela sua orientação, mas em outros ela é responsável apenas pela sua orientação. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Kant-Studien Jahrgang: 109 Heft: 1 Seiten: 124-146.

This article makes a case for considering Václav Havel’s political theory of the nature of dissent as more politically grounded than that of his mentor Jan Patočka. Against the criticism of Havel, which describes him as a less rigorous repeater of Patočka's ideas, this paper demonstrates how Havel appropriated Patočka's idea that the dissident is, similarly to a World War I trench soldier, fighting in a contemporary front in a demobilized war. However I argue that in Havel's thought, the understanding (...) of dissent takes on a more practical and useful complexion than that of Patočka. This paper will explain and explore Havel’s concept of the power of the powerless, which is his key concept for defining the importance of dissidence, arguing that it is an idea that shares many similarities to Patočka's depiction of the power of dissent; however, the power of the powerless is a move past Patočka's thought in its attempt to make a practical liveable dissent. (shrink)

The word ‘dignity’ arises continuously in the debate over euthanasia and assisted suicide, both in Europe and in North America. Unlike the phrases ‘autonomy’ and ‘slippery slope’, ‘dignity’ is used by those on both sides of the question. For example, the organizations most prominently associated with the campaign that culminated in the recent legalization of euthanasia in Belgium are the Association pour la Droit de Mourir dans la Dignité and Recht op Waardig Sterven. Yet when Belgium passed its euthanasia law, (...) that nation’s Catholic bishops declared, “All this is opposed to the fundamental respect for human life that lies at the heart of a society based on human dignity”. Or, consider the fact that the legislation that legalized assisted suicide in the state of Oregon, U.S.A., was called the “Death with Dignity Act.” Yet opponents of assisted suicide in the United States, such as the Family Research Council, have declared that, “The idea of assisted suicide is a poison pill that kills the dignity of a precious human life”.Over and above differences in translation, the word ‘dignity’ cannot mean the same thing in all four of the preceding sentences. It cannot be the univocal basis of moral arguments both for and against euthanasia and assisted suicide. A better understanding of this word would therefore help to bring clarity and insight to the arguments about euthanasia and assisted suicide in Europe, North America, and throughout the world. (shrink)

There are at present two ways in which to evaluate religiously-based claims to accommodation in the legal context. The first, objective approach holds that these claims should be grounded in « facts of the matter » about the religions in question. The second, subjective approach, is grounded in an appreciation by the courts of the sincerity of the claimant. The first approach has the advantage of accounting for the difference between two constitutional principles : freedom of conscience on the one (...) hand, and freedom of religion on the other. It has the disadvantage of transforming courts into expert bodies on religious matters. The subjective approach has a harder time accounting for the distinction. It also risks giving rise to a proliferation of claims. A plausible synthesis between the two approaches requires that we uncover the normative grounds justifying the granting by liberal democracies of religious accommodation. An analogous argument to that put forward by Kymlicka in the case of minority nations identifies the interest that citizens have in being able to exercise their « cultural agency » : the creative reappropriation and reinterpretation of the rituals, practices and norms of religious traditions.Il existe à l’heure actuelle dans le contexte juridique deux principales approches à l’évaluation de la légitimité des demandes d’accommodement pour des motifs religieux. La première, objective, affirme que ces demandes doivent pouvoir s’appuyer dans des faits concernant la religion en question. La seconde, subjective, s’appuie sur l’appréciation de la sincérité de la demande faite par le requérant. La première approche a l’avantage de rendre compte de la distinction entre les deux principes constitutionnels que sont, d’une part, la liberté de conscience, et de l’autre, la liberté de religion. Elle a l’inconvénient de tendre à ériger les tribunaux en « experts » sur des questions religieuses. L’approche subjective rend plus difficilement compte de la distinction entre les deux principes, et de plus risque de donner lieu à une prolifération de demandes. Pour atteindre une synthèse plausible de ces deux approches, il nous faut identifier les fondements normatifs justifiant l’intérêt que les démocraties libérales ont à reconnaître une telle catégorie d’accommodements. En prenant appui dans le célèbre argument de Kymlicka justifiant les droits de nations minoritaires, nous pouvons identifier un intérêt que ces types d’État ont à protéger les conditions permettant aux citoyens de manifester leur « agentivité culturelle », leur capacité à s’identifier en se les réappropriant et en les réinterprétant les normes, pratiques et rites issues de traditions religieuses. (shrink)

This article aims to carry out a historical, philosophical, and political analysis of Jean-Luc Nancy’s conception of communism. To achieve this end, a series of texts by the author, published between 1986 and 2021, are referenced, where the question of communism is approached in relation to themes such as totalitarianism, community, the common, literature, democracy, and capitalist civilization. The paper investigates the development of Nancy’s approach until it reaches its more or less definitive form in the mid-2000s, within the framework (...) of the debate on “the Idea of communism” (Alain Badiou). The interpretation of Nancy’s position in this international debate leads to the two main contributions of the article. First, the characterization of an ontological or existential understanding of communism radically differs from other current positions and does not have antecedents within communist theoretical traditions. Secondly, the identification of a threshold in Nancy’s thought, and by extension in contemporary thought, where the sense of “communism,” as the demand for granting inestimable value to every existence, communicates with the search for another “spirit” for our time. (shrink)

Journal Name: Semiotica - Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies / Revue de l'Association Internationale de Sémiotique Volume: 2013 Issue: 195 Pages: 305-329.

This review presents a critical reading of Calboli's and Montagnani's _Handbook of Intellectual Property Research_ from the perspective of Applied Legal Linguistics (ALL). It first identifies the lack of discussion from the perspective of applied legal linguistics (ALL), legal semiotics, and discourse analysis, and points out the strong connection between intellectual property (IP) law and language. I seek to convey my insight how legal linguistics is not merely auxiliary but is, in fact, very much intertwined with real-world legal outcomes in (...) IP law. The review focuses on both internal and external questions in IP law, and particularly engages with the question of how language use in various legal contexts shapes the application of IP law. The article presents the four parts of the handbook, each of which examines the intersections of IP law with other areas of inquiry. It is found that the way the handbook’s contents are structurally arranged is likely to help readers maneuver successfully between quite different legal, humanistic, social science, and pluralistic perspectives on IP law. This allows for both a broad overview and targeted research depending on readers’ focus or interest. Part I discusses interactions between IP law and other legal areas, such as international law, comparative law, contract law, tort law, and criminal law, inter alia, and points towards the methodological diversity and the interconnectedness of these areas of legal study. Part II then explores the relationship between IP and the humanities, including but not limited to cultural heritage, history, and philosophy. Part III then shifts focus to empirical social sciences and covers, inter alia, economics, ethnography, and technological analysis. It is shown that data-driven research can deepen one’s understanding of IP law. Finally, Part IV focuses on pluralism, which, amongst other things, includes sustainable development, human rights, and critical theories, such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and feminist legal theory, which link the role of IP to the notions of social justice and other critical concerns. (shrink)

Speech act theory has been applied to genocidal speech in an extension of its use in other forms of speech regulation. I detail how a misguided reliance on speech act theoretic tools has negatively impacted legal thinking in understanding direct and public incitement to commit genocide. I argue that undue factive and normative significance has been placed on the idea that incitement to genocide may be considered an illocutionary or performative speech act, rather than as a perlocutionary act, as an (...) inchoate crime. With attention to the role of causation in the regulation of incitement to genocide within a speech act framework, I clarify legal applications of speech act theory which have confused or displaced the appropriate questions underpinning genocidal speech regulation. In doing so, I reinforce the role of causation with respect to inchoate speech crimes, and particularly the potential merits of a preventative risk assessment model when identifying genocidal speech. I demonstrate that while these speech act accounts present unique issues for genocidal speech regulation, they also in part stem from prior work applying speech act theory to other speech crimes such as hate speech and pornography. (shrink)

The lambda calculus is a universal programming language. It can represent the computable functions, and such offers a formal counterpart to the point of view of functions as rules. Terms represent functions and this allows for the application of a term/function to any other term/function, including itself. The calculus can be seen as a formal theory with certain pre-established axioms and inference rules, which can be interpreted by models. Dana Scott proposed the first non-trivial model of the extensional lambda calculus, (...) known as $ D_{\infty }$, to represent the $\lambda $-terms as the typical functions of set theory, where it is not allowed to apply a function to itself. Here we propose a construction of an $\infty $-groupoid from any lambda model endowed with a topology. We apply this construction for the particular case $D_{\infty }$, and we see that the Scott topology does not provide enough information about the relationship between higher homotopies. This motivates a new line of research focused on the exploration of $\lambda $-models with the structure of a non-trivial $\infty $-groupoid to generalize the proofs of term conversion to higher-proofs in $\lambda $-calculus. (shrink)