El presente trabajo se ocupa del efecto que la propuesta de Nietzsche de una forma de vida que aspira a la autorrealización del individuo tiene en María Zambrano y Hannah Arendt. La lectura que cada una de ellas hace del autor alemán permite establecer con respecto a este continuidades y divergencias e hilvanar también un paralelismo entre sus propios planteamientos. Al igual que Nietzsche, Zambrano y Arendt asumen la pluralidad como rasgo constitutivo de lo humano y parten por ello de (...) la crítica del paradigma platónico que uniformiza la existencia. Sin embargo, tanto la noción de persona que perfila Zambrano como la de acción que desarrolla Arendt se desvían del pathos individualista que anima la obra nietzscheana y de la persistente reprobación de la igualdad que contiene. Ambas autoras acaban señalando la insuficiencia de este enfoque para pensar la pluralidad en el horizonte de la democracia. (shrink)

A partir del legado filosófico de Mayo del 68, el artículo se centra en el debate sobre el individualismo contemporáneo tomando como hilo conductor el pensamiento de Nietzsche. Este hilo atraviesa tanto el planteamiento antinietzscheano elaborado por Ferry y Renaut como el nietzscheanismo de izquierda que defiende Onfray, rastreándose así mismo en los enfoques neonihilistas de Glucksmann y Lipovetsky. El pretexto del recorrido es una cita de Así habló Zaratustra que aparece entre las pintadas que ilustraron las paredes parisinas en (...) la emblemática fecha: “Es preciso tener todavía caos dentro de sí para poder dar a luz una estrella danzarina”. El análisis de las dos metáforas que vertebran la frase –caos dentro de sí y estrella danzarina– y la búsqueda de su reflejo sesentayochista permite situar las posiciones de estos autores y considerar la capacidad moral que le conceden al individuo. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo reconstruir la ética de la resistencia que Nietzsche propone en _El Anticristo _partiendo de la imagen que se ofrece en el prólogo a modo de declaración de intenciones: “preferible _vivir en medio del hielo_”. Dicha ética le exige al individuo la superación de la psicología de la convicción o de la fe y recurre, como método, a la Filología entendida como “_ephexis _en la interpretación”. La apropiación nietzscheana de ese término procedente del pirronismo obliga (...) a medir la utilidad de las enseñanzas escépticas para un individuo que aspira a autorrealizarse, _a llegar a ser el que es_. Con este fin ha de poner entre paréntesis los lugares comunes y asegurarse una posición hermenéutica propia que quiere evitar la_ des-simismación_ y que renuncia, por ello, a implicarse en la rutina democrática de las sociedades modernas. En sintonía con la sensibilidad pirrónica que anima a cultivar la distancia y la indiferencia, se acabará mostrando, en primer lugar, que Nietzsche se dirige exclusivamente a una comunidad de lectores afines y que, en segundo lugar, suspende la vocación política de su propuesta. (shrink)

This study analyzes the most important predictors of acceptance of social network sites in a sample of Chilean elder people. We employ a novelty procedure to explore this phenomenon. This procedure performs apriori segmentation based on gender and generation. It then applies the deep learning technique to identify the predictors by segments. The predictor variables were taken from the literature on the use of social network sites, and an empirical study was carried out by quota sampling with a sample size (...) of 395 older people. The results show different predictors of social network sites considering all the samples, baby boomer males and females, silent males and females. The high heterogeneity among older people is confirmed; this means that dealing with older adults as a uniform set of users of social network sites is a mistake. This study demonstrates that the four segments behave differently, and many diverse variables influence the acceptance of social network sites. (shrink)

A realistic axiomatic formulation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics for a single microsystem with spin is presented, from which the most important theorems of the theory can be deduced. In comparison with previous formulations, the formal aspect has been improved by the use of certain mathematical theories, such as the theory of equipped spaces, and group theory. The standard formalism is naturally obtained from the latter, starting from a central primitive concept: the Galilei group.

Background: Sharing information with relatives of elderly patients in primary care and in hospital has to fit into the complex set of obligations, justifications and pressures concerning the provision of information, and the results of some studies point to the need for further empirical studies exploring issues of patient autonomy, privacy and informed consent in the day-to-day care of older people.Objectives: To know the frequency with which “capable” patients over 65 years of age receive information when admitted to hospital, the (...) information offered to the families concerned, the person who gives consent for medical intervention, and the degree of satisfaction with the information received and the healthcare provided.Method: A descriptive questionnaire given to 200 patients and 200 relatives during the patients’ stay in hospital.Results: Only 5% of patients confirmed that they had been asked whether information could be given to their relatives. A significantly higher proportion of relatives received information on the successive stages of the care offered than did patients themselves. As the age of the patients increased, so the number who were given information, understood the information and were asked for their consent for complementary tests decreased. The degree of satisfaction with the information offered was high for both patients and relatives , despite the irregularities observed.Conclusions: The capacity of elderly patients to participate in the decision-making process is frequently doubted simply because they have reached a certain age and it is thought that relatives should act as their representatives. In Spain, the opinion of the family and doctors appears to play a larger role in making decisions than does the concept of patient autonomy. (shrink)

The relationship between ethics and performance has previously been addressed in the literature, although there are still some gaps, for example, the relationship of ethical ideologies to student performance. This work aims to contribute to the literature with a statistical evaluation using partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM) regarding whether university students’ ethical ideologies and moral meaningfulness influence their level of student performance and academic achievement. Results indicate that the ideologies of justice and deontology increase moral meaningfulness, moral meaningfulness in (...) turn increase student’s citizenship behaviours and student’s in-role performance, and finally, student’s in-role performance positively influences academic achievement. This research provides resources applicable to the fields of pedagogy and ethics to encourage performance during the study and highlight the value of the ideologies of justice and deontology. (shrink)

In eukaryotic cells the nucleus and its contents are separated from the cytoplasm by the nuclear envelope. Macromolecules, as well as smaller molecules and ions, can cross the nuclear envelope through the nuclear pore complex. Molecules greater than approx. 60 kDa and containing a nuclear localization signal are actively transported across the nuclear membranes, but there has been little evidence for regulatory mechanisms for smaller molecules and ions. Recently, diffusion across the nuclear envelope has been observed to be regulated by (...) nuclear cisternal Ca2+ concentrations. Following depletion of Ca2+ from the nuclear store by inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate or Ca2+ chelators, a fluorescent 10 kDa marker molecule was no longer able to enter the nucleus. Distinct conformational states of the nuclear pore complexes depended on the Ca2+ filling state of the nuclear envelope, supporting the assumption that a switch in the conformation of the nuclear pore complex may control the transport of intermediate‐sized molecules across the nuclear envelope. Thus nuclear Ca2+ stores may regulate the conformational state of the nuclear pore complex, and thereby passive diffusion of molecules between the cytosol and the nucleoplasm. The physiological significance of this finding is currently unknown. (shrink)

We present a formal analysis of the Cosmological Argument in its two main forms: that due to Aquinas, and the revised version of the Kalam Cosmological Argument more recently advocated by William Lane Craig. We formulate these two arguments in such a way that each conclusion follows in first-order logic from the corresponding assumptions. Our analysis shows that the conclusion which follows for Aquinas is considerably weaker than what his aims demand. With formalizations that are logically valid in hand, we (...) reinterpret the natural language versions of the premises and conclusions in terms of concepts of causality consistent with (and used in) recent work in cosmology done by physicists. In brief: the Kalam argument commits the fallacy of equivocation in a way that seems beyond repair; two of the premises adopted by Aquinas seem dubious when the terms ‘cause’ and ‘causality’ are interpreted in the context of contemporary empirical science. Thus, while there are no problems with whether the conclusions follow logically from their assumptions, the Kalam argument is not viable, and the Aquinas argument does not imply a caused origination of the universe. The assumptions of the latter are at best less than obvious relative to recent work in the sciences. We conclude with mention of a new argument that makes some positive modifications to an alternative variation on Aquinas by Le Poidevin, which nonetheless seems rather weak. (shrink)

OBJECTIVES: To analyse the attitudes of medical personnel towards terminally ill patients and their right to be fully informed. DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire composed of 56 closed questions. SETTING: Three general hospitals and eleven health centres in Granada (Spain). The sample comprised 168 doctors and 207 nurses. RESULTS: A high percentage of medical personnel (24.1%) do not think that informing the terminally ill would help them face their illness with greater serenity. Eighty-four per cent think the patient's own home is the (...) best place to die: 8.9% of the subjects questioned state that the would not like to be informed of an incurable illness. CONCLUSION: In our opinion any information given should depend on the patient's personality, the stage of the illness and family circumstances. Our study confirms that a hospital is not the ideal environment for attending to the needs of the terminally ill and their families. (shrink)

Uterus transplantation (UTx) research has been introduced in several countries, with trials in Sweden and the United States producing successful outcomes. The growing interest in developing UTx trials in other countries, such as Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia, raises important questions regarding the ethics of surgical innovation research in the field of UTx. This paper examines the current state of UTx in the context of the surgical innovation paradigm and IDEAL framework and discusses the ethical challenges faced by those (...) considering the introduction of new trials. We argue that UTx remains an experimental procedure at a relatively early stage of the IDEAL framework, especially in the context of de novo trials, where protocols are likely to deviate from those used previously and where researchers are likely to have limited experience of UTx. We conclude that countries considering the introduction of UTx trials should build on the strengths of the reported outcomes to consolidate the evidence base and shed light on the uncertainties of the procedure. Authorities responsible for the ethical governance of UTx trials are advised to draw on the ethical framework used in the oversight of surgical innovation. (shrink)

We present a deductive theory of space-time which is realistic, objective, and relational. It is realistic because it assumes the existence of physical things endowed with concrete properties. It is objective because it can be formulated without any reference to cognoscent subjects or sensorial fields. Finally, it is relational because it assumes that space-time is not a thing but a complex of relations among things. In this way, the original program of Leibniz is consummated, in the sense that space is (...) ultimately an order of coexistents, and time is an order of succesives. In this context, we show that the metric and topological properties of Minkowskian space-time are reduced to relational properties of concrete things. We also sketch how our theory can be extended to encompass a Riemannian space-time. (shrink)

We present an axiomatization of non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics for a system with an arbitrary number of components. The interpretation of our system of axioms is realistic and objective. The EPR paradox and its relation with realism is discussed in this framework. It is shown that there is no contradiction between realism and recent experimental results.

mRNA synthesis in all organisms is performed by RNA polymerases, which work as nanomachines on DNA templates. The rate at which their product is made is an important parameter in gene expression. Transcription rate encompasses two related, yet different, concepts: the nascent transcription rate, which measures the in situ mRNA production by RNA polymerase, and the rate of synthesis of mature mRNA, which measures the contribution of transcription to the mRNA concentration. Both parameters are useful for molecular biologists, but they (...) are not interchangeable and they are expressed in different units. It is important to distinguish when and where each one should be used. We propose that for functional genomics the use of nascent transcription rates should be restricted to the evaluation of the transcriptional process itself, whereas mature mRNA synthesis rates should be employed to address the transcriptional input to mRNA concentration balance leading to variation of gene expression. (shrink)

The influence of age and formal education on the development of moral reasoning in a Spanish sample of students was assessed by using a Spanish translation of Rest's Defining Issues Test. Our results support the hypothesis that moral development is highly related to both variables in our cultural context, although more so with formal education than with age.

The present research seeks to better understand research conditions in laboratory research, with special attention paid to the informed consent process and experimenter characteristics. The first study tested the impact of language perspective and experimenter demeanor upon participant retention of the informed consent information, attitudes toward the research project, and performance on experimental tasks. The second study examined the impact of experimenter attire. Across the two studies, our results suggest that there was no impact of language perspective, whereas the number (...) of other participants in the laboratory, experimenter attire, and experimenter demeanor influence participant behaviors in the laboratory. (shrink)

Despite the central presence of materialism in the history of philosophy, there is no universal consensus on the meaning of the word “matter” nor of the doctrine of philosophical materialism. Dictionaries of philosophy often identify this philosophy with its most reductionist and even eliminative versions, in line with Robert Boyle’s seventeenth century coinage of the term. But when we take the concept back in time to Greek philosophers and forward onto our own times, we recognize more inclusive forms of materialism (...) as well as complex interplays with non-materialist thought about the place of matter in reality, including Christian philosophy and German idealism. We define philosophical materialism in its most general way both positively (the identification of reality with matter understood as changeability and plurality) and negatively (the negation of disembodied living beings and hypostatized ideas). This inclusive approach to philosophical materialism offers a new light to illuminate a critical history of the concept of matter and materialism from Ancient Greece to the present that is also attentive to scientific developments. By following the most important connections and discontinuities among theoretical frameworks on the idea of matter, we present a general thread that offers a rich and plural, but highly cohesive, field of investigation. Finally, we propose building on rich non-reductionist materialist philosophies, such as Mario Bunge’s systemic materialism and Gustavo Bueno’s discontinuous materialism, to elaborate powerful theoretical alternatives to both physicalism and spiritualism. (shrink)

Many digital technologies, designed and controlled by intensive data-driven corporate platforms, have become ubiquitous for many of our daily activities. This has raised political and ethical concerns over how they might be threatening our personal autonomy. However, not much philosophical attention has been paid to the specific role that their hyper-designed (sensorimotor) interfaces play in this regard. In this paper, we aim to offer a novel framework that can ground personal autonomy on sensorimotor interaction and, from there, directly address how (...) technological design affects personal autonomy. To do this, we will draw from enactive sensorimotor approaches to cognition, focusing on the central notion of habits, understood as sensorimotor schemes that, in networked relations, give rise to sensorimotor agency. Starting from sensorimotor agency as a basis for more complex forms of personal autonomy, our approach gives us grounds to analyse our relationship with technology (in general) and to distinguish between autonomy-enhancing and autonomy-diminishing technologies. We argue that, by favouring/obstructing the enactment of certain (networks of) habits over others, technologies can directly act upon our personal autonomy, locally and globally. With this in mind, we then discuss how current digital technologies are often being designed to be autonomy-diminishing (as is the case of “dark patterns” in design), and sketch some ideas on how to build more autonomy-enhancing digital technologies. (shrink)

Understanding the interaction of Cd with plants, as well as the search for alternatives to minimize its effects, has caught the interest of the scientific community, due to the accelerated growth of contamination with this metal and its high toxicity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of two rhizospheric bacterial strains LC7504001.1 Burkholderia cepacia (C65RLIM) and FJ972527.1 Pseudomonas aeruginosa (C85RLIM) to three concentrations of cadmium (100, 300 and 500 mg/L) and to compare the growth behaviour (...) with increasing temperature from 32 to 45°C. The results show different growth patterns for each strain tested against exposure to the three cadmium concentrations and the four temperatures tested. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain (C85RLIM) had the best adaptive behaviour to the three cadmium concentrations tested, and also showed stability when subjected to 500 mg/L CdCl2 and temperatures between 40 and 45°C. The results predict the possible behaviour of rhizospheric bacteria in the face of global warming and heavy metal remediation processes. (shrink)

Materialism has been the subject of extensive and rich controversies since Robert Boyle introduced the term for the first time in the 17th century. But what is materialism and what can it offer today? The term is usually defined as the worldview according to which everything real is material. Nevertheless, there is no philosophical consensus about whether the meaning of matter can be enlarged beyond the physical. As a consequence, materialism is often defined in stark exclusive and reductionist terms: whatever (...) exists is either physical or ontologically reducible to it. This conception, if consistent, mutilates reality, excluding the ontological significance of political, economic, sociocultural, anthropological and psychological realities. Starting from a new history of materialism, the present book focuses on the central ontological and epistemological debates aroused by today’s leading materialist approaches, including some little known to an anglophone readership. The key concepts of matter, system, emergence, space and time, life, mind, and software are checked over and updated. Controversial issues such as the nature of mathematics and the place of reductionism are also discussed from different materialist approaches. As a result, materialism emerges as a powerful, indispensable scientifically-supported worldview with a surprising wealth of nuances and possibilities. (shrink)

Hidden cluster problems can manifest when broad ethnic categories are used as proxies for cultural traits, especially when traits are assumed to encode cultural distances between groups. We suggest a granular understanding of cultural trait distributions within and between ethnic categories is fundamental to the interpretation of heritability estimates as well as general behavioral outcomes.

Presentism is, roughly, the metaphysical doctrine that maintains that whatever exists, exists in the present. The compatibility of presentism with the theories of special and general relativity was much debated in recent years. It has been argued that at least some versions of presentism are consistent with time-orientable models of general relativity. In this paper we confront the thesis of presentism with relativistic physics, in the strong gravitational limit where black holes are formed. We conclude that the presentist position is (...) at odds with the existence of black holes and other compact objects in the universe. A revision of the thesis is necessary, if it is intended to be consistent with the current scientific view of the universe. (shrink)

Daniel K. Finn’s Moral Agency Within Social Structures and Culture: A Primer on Critical Realism for Christian Ethics (Moral Agency for short) contributes well to the mutual enrichment of critical...

The construct of the self is important in the domain of memory research. Recent work has shown that person memory is influenced by similarity of social targets to the self. The current experiments investigate self-similarity as defined by traits and political ideology to better understand how memory for social targets is organised. Across three experiments, participants formed positive or negative impressions based on each target’s picture, a trait-implying behavior (Experiments 1 & 2), and/or political ideology (conservative/liberal label in Experiment 2; (...) political-ideological belief statements in Experiment 3) followed by a memory test. Results showed a self-similarity effect dependent on valence in Experiment 1, but not in Experiments 2 or 3 when participants processed ideological information associated with targets. These results suggest that self-similarity has an effect on memory for social targets, but that ideological information disrupts self-focused processing of others, suggesting that ideological information also has a powerful influence on what people remember about others (i.e. social targets). (shrink)

The objective of this study was to correlate the presence of arsenic in roots and stems of Brachiaria humidicola cv. humidicola (Rendle) Schweick grown in cattle areas of the San Jorge subregion and the population density of endophytic bacteria in roots and foliage with the presence of this metal. Samples of soil, roots and stems of B. humicola grass were collected and characterized for arsenic concentration in roots and foliage and the presence of endophytic bacteria (CFU/g tissue). The results show (...) the presence of arsenic concentrations in roots and stems above the values established at national and international level. Likewise, the presence of endophytic bacteria was found in the roots and foliage of B. humidicola, which may be contributing to the remediation and reduction of arsenic concentration from the roots to the foliage. This is the first study correlating the presence of arsenic and endophytic bacteria on cattle farms with B. humicola and the possible role of these bacteria in contributing to bioremediation of this metal in the soil and within the tissues of the pasture species. (shrink)

El presente artículo plantea una reflexión filosófica y pedagógica acerca de las condiciones para el Desarrollo humano y el empoderamiento ciudadano en contextos digitales. Vivir en plena era digital requiere de unas bases teóricas que orienten la educación cívica en entornos digitales y que apunten hacia el progreso social y democrático. No obstante, la idea de forjar un ethos intercultural y democrático en un mundo interconectado y mediático no es una tarea sencilla de abordar. Así, se propone como objetivo abordar (...) algunas preguntas cruciales en este sentido: ¿Cuáles son las capacidades y las virtudes cívicas en un entorno mediático radicalmente diverso? ¿Cómo fomentar la ciudadanía mediática frente a usos de las redes sociales ética y políticamente cuestionables? ¿Cómo promover una cultura digital en la línea del Desarrollo humano? Tras un análisis bibliográfico y hermenéutico, se articula una propuesta formativa para empoderar la ciudadanía mediática a partir del «enfoque de las capacidades» de Amartya Sen y Martha Nussbaum. A partir de estos presupuestos, y partiendo de la actual necesidad de reconstruir un ethos democrático para un mundo interconectado y globalizado, se formula un modelo teórico para cultivar la democracia en entornos digitales, a favor del Desarrollo humano y aprovechando el potencial de las redes sociales como estructura comunicativa reticular de alcance global e intercultural. (shrink)