This paper reviews te principal points of Okcham’s philosophy: representationism, voluntarism, contingentism, and also the critics that Polo makes to them. The three parts of the study are: theory of knowledge, ethics-psychology, and metaphysics.

En este artículo se presenta una propuesta formativa utilizando el cine como material cultural y fuente de conocimiento. Una película como Babel permite trabajar la globalización y la educación de la ciudadanía, con planteamientos que exigen un nuevo humanismo, una nueva relación interpersonal, conscientes de los problemas de comunicación, prejuicios y choques culturales derivados del desarrollo tecnológico. La película cuestiona esta existencia en un mundo global interrelacionado, evocando el viejo mito bíblico de la Torre de Babel haciendo énfasis en identificaciones (...) erróneas, malentendidos y oportunidades fallidas, como manos invisibles que nos guían; o el fin cuyo destino se nos escapa.Babel hace comprender la realidad de la globalización. Nos permite observar cuatro lugares tan distantes como Estados Unidos, Méjico, Marruecos y Japón, no sólo distanciados físicamente. Los cuatro países representan estilos culturales diferentes, tres formas de realización humana. Asistimos al choque, a la incomunicación personal, al aislamiento por la diferencia de cultura y la ficticia proximidad tecnológica. Vivimos juntos, pero aislados los unos de los otros. (shrink)

Las personas portadoras o enfermas del virus de inmunodeficiencia humana han experimentado consecuencias devastadoras en el plano personal, familiar y social desde la aparición de los primeros casos. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar el cumplimiento de los principios bioéticos, así como la repercusión derivada de las implicaciones éticas del actuar profesional con estos pacientes, lo cual demuestra la necesidad de vencer los tabúes y la discriminación que han sido objeto desde los inicios de la epidemia. Persons who are (...) carrier of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or persons who are sick have experienced destructive consequences in the personal, familiar and social spheres since the appearance of the first cases. The objective of this work is to analyze the fulfilment of the bioethical principles, as well as the repercussion derived from the ethics dilemma of the professional behaviour with these patients, what demonstrate the necessity of overcoming taboos and the discrimination they have suffered from since the beginnings of the disease. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to theorize how materials can play an active, constitutive, and causally effective role in the production and sustenance of cultural forms and meanings. It does so through an empirical exploration of the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA). The article describes the museum as an “objectification machine” that endeavors to transform and to stabilize artworks as meaningful “objects” that can be exhibited, classified, and circulated. The article explains how the extent to which (...) the museum succeeds in this process of stabilization ultimately depends on the material properties of artworks and, more specially, on whether these behave as “docile” or “unruly” objects. Drawing on different empirical examples, the article explores how docile and unruly objects shape organizational dynamics within the museum and, through them, the wider processes of institutional and cultural reproduction. The article uses this empirical example to highlight the importance of developing a new “material sensibility” that restores heuristic dignity to the material within cultural sociology. (shrink)

Reseñado por FERNANDO DOMÍNGUEZ REBOIRASAlbert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, [email protected].

One of the most remarkable features of the St. James’ Way in its heyday was, no doubt, the consideration of St. James’ grave as the border of the Christian boundaries and cosmos. Compostela was the shrine at the end of the world; it marked the Western limit of the Christendom, i.e., Rome’s domains towards the setting sun. This constituted its strategic privilege and was the main source of its meaning: A way towards the end but with the willingness to start (...) afresh. The Jacobean pilgrim did not look for any miraculous healing, but he longed for a renewed comeback to his ordinary life after he had put his life at risk and made that unique effort of experiencing the boundaries of the earth and the last skyline. (shrink)

A inicio de los años 90 la sociedad cubana se enfrentaba a un proceso de profundas transformaciones internas como consecuencia de los cambios en la esfera de las relaciones internacionales, el recrudecimiento del bloqueo de Estados Unidos y la necesidad de insertarse en la nueva dinámica de las relaciones económicas mundiales después de desaparecida la URSS y el socialismo este-europeo. Todo ello tuvo un importante impacto en los valores de la sociedad cubana, especialmente en los jóvenes. En razón de ello, (...) la Asamblea nacional del Poder Popular convocó a una audiencia pública sobre la formación de valores en las nuevas generaciones, llevada a cabo los días 24 y 25 de abril de 1995. Este libro recoge las más importantes intervenciones presentadas desde diversos planos de análisis: filosófico (José Ramón Fabelo Corzo), histórico (Cintio Vitier), sociológico (María Isabel Domínguez), psicológico (Fernando González) y pedagógico (Gilberto García Batista). (shrink)

Parental burnout is a unique and context-specific syndrome resulting from a chronic imbalance of risks over resources in the parenting domain. The current research aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment across Spanish-speaking countries with two consecutive studies. In Study 1, we analyzed the data through a bifactor model within an Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling on the pooled sample of participants obtaining good fit indices. We then attained measurement invariance across both gender (...) and countries in a set of nested models with gradually increasing parameter constraints. Latent means comparisons across countries showed that among the participants’ countries, Chile had the highest parental burnout score, likewise, comparisons across gender evidenced that mothers displayed higher scores than fathers, as shown in previous studies. Reliability coefficients were high. In Study 2, we tested the relations between parental burnout and three specific consequences, i.e., escape and suicidal ideations, parental neglect, and parental violence toward one’s children. The medium to large associations found provided support for the PBA’s predictive validity. Overall, we concluded that the Spanish version of the PBA has good psychometric properties. The results support its relevance for the assessment of parental burnout among Spanish-speaking parents, offering new opportunities for cross-cultural research in the parenting domain. (shrink)

Reseña de la obra de Fernando Vidal & Francisco Ortega,_ ¿Somos nuestro cerebro? La construcción del_ _sujeto cerebral_, Alianza, Madrid, 367 pp.

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo principal examinar y determinar las consecuencias de las metáforas contenidas en las obras de Diego Domínguez Caballero, fundador de la filosofía académica panameña. Tales metáforas se volvieron fundamentales para el desarrollo discursivo de la filosofía panameña y también para las ciencias sociales en el país, como la historia y la sociología. Con este fin, recurriremos a la teoría de las metáforas conceptuales desarrollada por Lakoff y otros como una herramienta de ayuda para analizar las (...) que Domínguez emplea. Del mismo modo, intentamos dar cuenta de la larga incidencia discursiva de dichas metáforas a la luz de los resultados de la investigación psicológica sobre el esencialismo. -/- The main objective of this work is to examine and determine the consequences of the metaphors contained in the works of Diego Domínguez Caballero, founder of Panamanian academic philosophy. Such metaphors became fundamental for the discursive development of Panamanian philosophy and also for the social sciences in this country, as history and sociology. To this end, we will turn to the theory of conceptual metaphors developed by Lakoff and others as a helpful tool in analyzing the ones used by Domínguez. In the same way, we try to account for the long discursive incidence of these metaphors in the light of the results of psychological research on essentialism. (shrink)

There is no systematic knowledge about how individuals with Locked-in Syndrome experience their situation. A phenomenology of LIS, in the sense of a description of subjective experience as lived by the ill persons themselves, does not yet exist as an organized endeavor. The present article takes a step in that direction by reviewing various materials and making some suggestions. First-person narratives provide the most important sources, but very few have been discussed. LIS barely appears in bioethics and neuroethics. Research on (...) Quality of Life provides relevant information, one questionnaire study explores the sense of personal continuity in LIS patients, and LIS has been used as a test case of theories in “embodied cognition” and to explore issues in the phenomenology of illness and communication. A systematic phenomenology of LIS would draw on these different areas: while some deal directly with subjective experience, others throw light on its psychological, sociocultural and materials conditions. Such an undertaking can contribute to the improvement of care and QOL, and help inform philosophical questions, such as those concerning the properties that define persons, the conditions of their identity and continuity, or the dynamics of embodiment and intersubjectivity. (shrink)

Since its emergence in the early 2000s, neuroethics has become a recognized, institutionalized and professionalized field. A central strategy for its successful development has been the claim that it must be an autonomous discipline, distinct in particular from bioethics. Such claim has been justified by the conviction, sustained since the 1990s by the capabilities attributed to neuroimaging technologies, that somehow ‘the mind is the brain’, that the brain sciences can illuminate the full range of human experience and behavior, and that (...) neuroscientific knowledge will have dramatic implications for views of the human, and challenge supposedly established beliefs and practices in domains ranging from self and personhood to the political organization of society. This article examines how that conviction functions as neuroethics’ ideological condition of possibility. (shrink)

El ensayo consta de tres partes: en la primera, se establece una breve genealogía de la afinidad entre el nacimiento de la Filosofía de la historia y la noción de Progreso. En la segunda, se extraen algunas consecuencias políticas del hecho de que la idea de Progreso se tradujera como pura aceleración del tiempo histórico. Finalmente, se problematiza la idea de la muerte del Tiempo en tanto efecto postmoderno de la aceleración del Progreso. Y se realiza una crítica a las (...) prácticas políticas que, tras la postmodernidad, volvieron a destacar las relaciones entre experiencia histórica y eficacia racional, sustituyendo los ideales emancipatorios ilustrados por meros ideales securitarios. Volviendo a poner sobre la mesa la idea de Futuro tan sólo como amenaza que hay que controlar. (shrink)

Dieses Buch problematisiert "die Sophistik" als Gegenstand der Philosophiegeschichte und stellt die These auf, "die Sophistik" sei das Resultat einer philosophischen Operation. Anhand der kritischen Diskussion relevanter Texte von Platon und Aristoteles wird versucht, eine eigentümliche sophistische Logos-Form zu rekonstruieren. Der Konflikt zwischen Sophistik und Philosophie wird als ein Konflikt zwischen einer parametrischen und einer strategischen Rationalitätsform dargestellt.

The Euthydemus offers important elements of Platonic thought, from which emerges the need to study philosophy in order to achieve a good life. This article offers a brief introduction to this work of Plato. It then presents an analysis of several ideas that appear throughout the discussion, putting special emphasis on those dealing, directly or indirectly, with the main theme of the Dialogue . It concludes with a synthesis of the arguments given in the work.

Science in film, and usual equivalents such asscience on filmorscience on screen, refer to the cinematographic representation, staging, and enactment of actors, information, and processes involved in any aspect or dimension of science and its history. Of course, boundaries are blurry, and films shot as research tools or documentation also display science on screen. Nonetheless, they generally count asscientific film, andscience inandon filmorscreentend to designate productions whose purpose is entertainment and education. Moreover, these two purposes are often combined, and inherently (...) concern empirical, methodological, and conceptual challenges associated withpopularization,science communication, and thepublic understanding of science. It is in these areas that the notion of thedeficit modelemerged to designate a point of view and a mode of understanding, as well as a set of practical and theoretical problems about the relationship between science and the public. (shrink)

Purpose Given the considerable challenges posed by disinformation to both society and journalism, how do news media outlets in Hispanic America and Spain address this pervasive global phenomenon? The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent to which these outlets embrace recommendations from academic, professional and institutional spheres for countering false contents. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative content analysis was used using variables linked to transparency, verification and potential errors incurred. This study comprehensively analyses the ethical codes of 34 digital (...) native outlets spanning 12 Hispanic American countries (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela), as well as Spain. Findings The key findings reveal significant variations in adherence to the recommended guidelines. Particularly striking is the disparity between compliance with transparency and verification compared to notably higher adherence to measure aimed at rectifying errors. This exploratory study paves the way for further research on additional countries. Originality/value Ethical codes are a fundamental instrument of media accountability. Nevertheless, their utility in the fight against misinformation has barely been addressed. This study is pioneering in the field of disinformation and ethical codes within digital native media outlets in Hispanic America and Spain. (shrink)

A pesar de que la alusión es ampliamente usada por poetas, escritores y filósofos así como en el lenguaje cotidiano, sus características y alcance como instrumento cognitivo se han estudiado escasamente. Esto es cierto hasta el extremo de que el sustantivo alusión no es merecedor de una humilde entrada en diccionarios y enciclopedias especializados, no solamente de filosofía, sino tampoco de lingüística. Teniendo en cuenta este status quaestionis, este trabajo intenta conseguir los siguientes objetivos, a saber: 1) mostrar que la (...) alusión es un instrumento cognitivo; 2) delimitar la alusión con respecto a la cita, el plagio y el eco; 3) considerar la alusión como un caso de implicatura; y 4) analizar las principales características de la alusión. Todos estos puntos se estudian mediante el recurso a textos poéticos y filosóficos serios, así como a textos y proferencias humorísticos y del lenguaje cotidiano. (shrink)

This article reflects on the concepts of health, well‐being, gender, and dignity when providing nursing care to older adults, focusing on their wisdom and the phenomena that can affect their health or improve their quality of life. These concepts are analyzed based on the current health conditions of older adults and their needs, on the perspectives of authors in this field of research, and on Patricia Benner's philosophy: the integration of science, clinical wisdom, and ethics in nursing practice. Furthermore, this (...) article aims at contributing to the health, well‐being, gender, and dignity of older adults, despite the discrimination that they may face, as well as to the reality of nursing practice. As such, this study stems from the observed reality, experiences as caregivers and reflection of nurses committed to the values of the profession. Therefore, the article begins with the conceptualization of health, well‐being, gender, and dignity, subsequently analyzing the health–disease status of older adults from a gender perspective, addressing nursing care for older adults based on Patricia Benner's philosophy and concluding with reflections on nursing practice for a better future for older adults. (shrink)

La presente obra reúne los temas imprescindibles de un curso de filosofía política, dirigido tanto a estudiantes como a lectores interesados en la historia, los fundamentos y las implicaciones actuales de esta disciplina. La primera parte trata de la tradición liberal, los socialismos, las dimensiones del nacionalismo, el feminismo como proyecto filosófico-político y la institución de la democracia. La segunda parte aborda en profundidad un amplio abanico de cuestiones, desde la globalización o los problemas de legitimación del poder, pasando por (...) las relaciones entre Estado y nación, los derechos humanos como legado de la Modernidad o la actualidad y perspectivas de la ciudadanía, hasta la multiculturalidad y la inmigración, los movimientos sociales, la ecología o la justicia social. (shrink)

O objetivo deste breve texto é o de mostrar como de Aristóteles a Agostinho houve uma revalorização do termo tapeinos, um conceito de menor importância no âmbito da ética aristotélica indicando aquele que se rebaixa ou se diminui ante outra pessoa. Faremos um breve excurso pelo uso desse termo por um autor pagão, Epicteto, e por dois autores cristãos, Atanásio de Alexandria e Basílio de Cesaréia, antes de chegarmos até o seu uso em Agostinho de Hipona, pensador no qual o (...) conceito já adquiriu o valor positivo de humildade, uma virtude (areté) concebida como essencial, pois assinala uma característica do próprio Cristo e, por conseguinte, fundamental para o Cristianismo. Palavras-chave: Tapeinos; Aristóteles; Basílio; Agostinho. Some remarks on the Christian resignification of tapeinos Abstract: This text aims to show how from Aristotle to Augustine of Hippo, there was a revalorization of the term tapeinos, a concept of minor importance inside the Aristotelian Ethics, which could be translated as signalizing the person who stoops to someone else. We will do a brief excursus considering the use of this term in one Pagan author, Epictetus, and in two Christian ones, Athanasius of Alexandria and Basil of Caesarea, before we arrive at Augustine of Hippo, a thinker in which the concept has already acquired the positive value of humility, a virtue (arete) thought as essential, because typical of Christ himself and consequently of Christianity. Key-words: Tapeinos; Aristotle; Basil; Augustine. Quelques notes sur la resignification chrétienne de tapeinos Resumé: Le but de ce bref texte est de montrer comment d’Aristote jusqu’Augustin, il y a eu une réévaluation du terme tapeinos, qui était un concept d’une importance mineure dans le domaine de l’éthique aristotélicienne qu’on peut traduire comme indiquant quelqu’un qui s’abaisse ou se diminue devant une autre personne. Nous allons faire un bref excurs à travers l’utilisation de ce terme par un auteur païen, Épictète, et par deux auteurs chrétiens, Athanase d’Alexandrie et Basile de Césarée, avant d’arriver à son utilisation chez Augustin d’Hippone, un philosophe chez qui le concept de tapeinos a déjà acquis la valeur positive de l’humilité, une vertu (arete) conçue comme essentielle, car elle souligne une caractéristique du Christ lui-même et, par conséquent, du christianisme. Mots-clés: Tapeinos; Aristote; Basile; Augustin. Data de registro: 02/08/2023 Data de aceite: 22/11/2023. (shrink)

Este trabajo retoma la discusión acerca de la pertinencia de la teología en el espacio público, lo cual habría sido puesto en cuestión por la modernidad debido al vínculo de la teología con la religión. La religión, de perdurar, debía restringirse al ámbito de lo privado o de la conciencia, en sociedades cada vez más secularizadas y pluralistas. Sin embargo, el artículo no solo se refiere a la persistencia creativa de las religiones y de la teología en el espacio público, (...) sino incluso a la necesidad de un retorno de las espiritualidades y religiones, y de los discursos asociados a ellas, en aquellas sociedades desgastadas y carentes de sentido. Pero, sobre todo, se detiene en la emergencia y desarrollo creciente de nuevos espacios públicos: las plataformas y autopistas digitales, las redes sociales y todo ese conjunto de posibilidades que conlleva el “ciberespacio”. Es aquí donde se plantea un ineludible desafío para la teología: no se trata únicamente de servirse de estos nuevos espacios para difundir los propios saberes y hallazgos, o de reflexionar desde la fe acerca de estos nuevos ambientes; se trata, sobre todo, de ejercer la teología en esos espacios atendiendo a las coordenadas culturales que allí se están gestando. Del encuentro del Evangelio con la cultura digital han de surgir, entonces, nuevas formas de ser Iglesia, nuevas maneras de hacer teología y, sin duda, contenidos reformulados e, incluso, inéditos de la fe. (shrink)

Este ensayo aborda la película El otro día, de Ignacio Agüero, centrándose en las estrategias mediante las cuales el documental construye un espacio fílmico y un modo de mirar a partir de la exploración de la casa de su director y los lugares de residencia de quienes tocan su puerta, como punto de partida para una meditación sobre la vita cotidiana y la memoria personal y colectiva. Se analiza la presencia en el documental de diversos tipos de imágenes y la (...) construcción por medio de diversas estrategias de una mirada respetuosa y reflexiva hacia los sujetos que protagonizan el filme. (shrink)

Las más elementales exigencias de rigor crítico e independencia siguen a menudo sin cumplirse hoy en día en la reconstrucción histórica de la figura del judío Yeshua ben Yosef, en parte porque el carácter inconsistente de las fuentes evangélicas no es tomado en serio. El presente artículo analiza las incongruencias de los relatos de la pasión, muestra en ellos los indicios de un proceso de despolitización, y señala el carácter insostenible de varias afirmaciones clave de muchos historiadores contemporáneos sobre el (...) predicador galileo. (shrink)

Inertia is enshrined in Newton’s first law of motion, a body at rest or in uniform motion remains in that state unless a force is applied to it. Now, consider (1). (1) Pat stopped the car before it hit the tree. Can we conclude from (1) that the car struck the tree? Not without further information such as that supplied in (2). (2) But the bus behind kept going. A post-condition for Pat stopping the car is that the car be (...) at rest. To satisfy a pre-condition for the car hitting the tree (namely, that the car not be at rest), inertia requires that some intervening force act on the car (as hinted, for example, by (2)). In the absence of such a force, (1) would appear to suggest that Pat prevented a collision between car and tree. Exactly what bit of physics are we importing into natural language interpretation here? Oversimplified, Newton’s first law of motion says: no change without force. Identifying force with cause, we come to the slogan no temporality without cause, capturing in a phrase the proposal from Steedman 2000 that.. (shrink)

Desde 1980 têm-se feito discussões, na Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, para mudar o sistema de avaliação. Em diversas ocasiões, foram feitas consultas a diversas instância da comunidade sobre o quê e em que todas as vezes a discussão ficou retida em algum ponto sem que houvesse um progresso, nos passos seguintes. A rigor, a única mudança visível em todo esse período foi a eliminação das provas finais do semestre. A discussão sobre a alteração da nota mínima de aprovação, de 54 (...) para 60 ou 70 pontos foi marcada, em 83 e 84, por um artificialismo em torno de um valor aleatório que pudesse significar um maior rigor ou grau de exigência desejável. Um dos argumentos que emergiam, na época, foi o de que um aluno da UFU estaria em desigualdade de condições de competição, ao concorrer por uma vaga no mercado de trabalho, quando comparado com algum aluno de outra Universidade que tivesse um grau de exigência maior. [...] Palavras-chave: Reflexões; Sistema de avaliação; Universidade; Comunidade. (shrink)

Research has demonstrated that policing is a stressful occupation and has a negative impact on police officers’ mental and physical health, performance, and interactions with citizens. Mental health at the workplace has become a concern due to the costs of depression, anxiety, burnout, and even suicide, which is high among police officers.To ameliorate occupational health, it is crucial therefore to identify stress and burnout levels on a regular basis. However, the instruments frequently used to measure stress have not valorized the (...) specificity of policing tasks. This study aims: i) conducting a literature review, to identify questionnaires used to assess occupational stress and burnout among police officers; ii) to analyze the psychometric characteristics of a Portuguese version of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op); and, using the PSQ-op and other questionnaires, iii) to identify operational stress, burnout, and distress levels among Portuguese police officers. The literature review identified 108 studies, which use a multiplicity of questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational stress among police officers, but few studies use specific police stress questionnaires. Sample sizes were mostly below 500 participants and studies were mainly developed in the last decade in the USA and Brazil, but also in another 24 countries, showing the extent of the interest in this topic. This study applied to 2057 police officers from National Portuguese Police, a force policing urban centers, the PSQ-Op, as well the Spanish Burnout Inventory and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.The results show that the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of PSQ-Op are adequate. Factorial analysis revealed two dimensions defined as social and work issues, which were associated with measures of distress and burnout.Fit indices suggested a second-order solution called operational police stress. Overall, and considering the scale range of each questionnaire, the results showed moderate values of operational stress, distress, and burnout. However, considering their cut-off points, 85% of the sample presented high operational stress levels, 11% critical values for burnout, and 28% high distress levels, with 55% of the sample at risk of psychological disorder. These results reinforce the need to prevent stress and to invest in police officers’ occupational health. (shrink)

Los derechos de las personas LGTBI están de actualidad en la sociedad del si- glo XXI. Es nuestro propósito estudiar las normas sobre orientación sexual e identidad de género en los países del Norte de Europa (Reino Unido, Irlanda, Islandia, Finlandia, Dinamarca, Noruega, Suecia, Estonia, Letonia y Lituania). Nos dedicaremos sobre todo al estudio del grado de reconocimiento del derecho al cambio de género en las leyes nacionales, así como si esas legislaciones res- petan o no el Convenio Europeo de (...) Derechos Humanos y la legislación de la Unión Europea, a través de las resoluciones del Tribunal Derechos Humanos y del Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea. (shrink)

the saap 2020 conference in mexico is the culmination of an internal and gradual transformation in SAAP that has taken many years. I came to this organization as a graduate student. I was then the only Latino and Leonard Harris the only African American philosopher in SAAP. Thanks to the efforts of many scholars and presidents, SAAP has come to recognize the important philosophical contributions of female, African American, Indigenous, and Latinx philosophers. Let's not take for granted how we got (...) here, celebrate what we have, and keep moving in the direction of an even better pluralism, a commitment at the heart of those American philosophers that we teach and write about.This essay is inspired by this momentous... (shrink)

Reichenbach's event, reference and speech times are interpreted semantically by stringing and superposing sets of temporal formulae, structured within regular languages. Notions of continuation branches and of inertia, bound (in a precise sense) by reference time, are developed and applied to the progressive and the perfect.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Cervantes in Italy:Christian Humanism and the Visual Impact of Renaissance RomeFernando CervantesToward the end of 1569, shortly after his twenty-second birthday, Miguel de Cervantes arrived in Rome to serve as chamberlain to the young monsignor Giulio de Acquaviva, soon to be made a cardinal by Pope Pius V.1 The event marked the beginning of a six-year sojourn about which surprisingly little is known with certainty. From scattered semiautobiographical references (...) we can infer that Cervantes traveled widely and that he developed a particular fondness for Italy. We know for sure that he fought bravely against the Turks at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, where he received wounds that rendered his left arm useless for the rest of his life, and that he remained in service as a soldier, based in Italy, until his ill-fated attempt to return to Spain in 1575. Ten years later, in the dedication of his pastoral romance La Galatea to Ascanio Colonna, he reminded his dedicatee that the reverence he had for him did not only stem from having served under his illustrious father, the famous general Marco Antonio Colonna, but also from the many things that he had heard Cardinal Acquaviva say, "like prophesies," about him in Rome. There follows a brief encomium about the "noble virtues," "magnificence," "goodness," and "Christianity" that sustain the "clear and generous line" of the Colonnas, known to all for the "virtuous and heroic deeds" that have been their mark since time immemorial.2 Some of Cervantes's best lyric poetry dates from these years. In it, as in the rest of his work, the unmistakable mark of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Sannazaro, Ariosto, and Bembo, to name but the most explicit ones, leaves us in little doubt about his genuine love of Italian literature.For good reasons, modern biographers have been loath to take these scattered [End Page 325] references too candidly. Can we, for example, assume that Cervantes had more than a very superficial acquaintance with the Colonnas and the Acquavivas? Could a writer still widely regarded as a self-taught, untutored mind realistically have attracted the favors of some of the most illustrious Roman and Neapolitan noble families? More pointedly, is it safe to take the varied and abundant observations about Italy scattered throughout his works as reliable reflections of his own personal experiences? After all, between the latter and the written page there is a time lag often approaching forty years. Add to this the weight of subsequent intellectual influences and of literary conventions, of novelistic invention and of the viewpoints of the characters themselves, and we are left on rather shaky ground. As Jean Canavaggio has remarked, it is not Cervantes the keen visual observer, but rather Cervantes the devoted reader of Boccaccio and the novellieri who brings Italy and Italian themes into his fiction. Even the memorable descriptions of Italian cities to be found in some of his novelas are rather formulaic passages, perfectly in tune with the rhetorical canons of the time.3Our topic, however, is not biography but intellectual history; and here we can afford to be more candid. There can be no doubt that many of Cervantes's descriptions have the unmistakable ring of genuine experience. Take Tomás Rodaja's arrival, "soaked, sleep-deprived and with bags under the eyes," in Genoa's "sheltered Mandraccio,"4 where he becomes acquainted withthe smoothness of the Trebbiano, the fullness of the Montefiascone, the strength of the Asperino, the generosity of the Greeks Candia and Soma, the grandeur of the one from the Five Vineyards, the sweetness and mellowness of the lady Vernaccia, the rustic touch of the Centola, while the lowly one from Rome dared not appear in the presence of such illustrious gentlemen.5Charmed by the gallantry of the Genoese, Rodaja leaves by land for Rome, "the queen of cities and mistress of the world." "Just as the size and ferocity of a lion can be gauged by its claws," Cervantes observed,so Rome's greatness became manifest by its broken marbles, its statues..., its fallen arches and ruined baths, its magnificent porticoes and large amphitheatres, its famous and sacred river whose waters... (shrink)

La apatía con la que el hombre observa el accionar de los administradores públicos es una de las razones por las que muchos gobernantes consideran que acceden al poder para desarrollar proyectos personales y no para cumplir con el mandato del pueblo. En general, el argentino tiene la tendencia a "de..