El presente artículo explora cómo el mundo digital ha transformado no solo la comunicación humana, sino también la naturaleza misma del ser humano. Este nuevo entorno antropológico requiere una adaptación de la teología y la moral a la lógica digital. Se requiere una “cibermoral”, respuesta ética que permita un desarrollo integral del hombre en este contexto. La cibermoral aborda los desafíos y oportunidades que presentan las redes sociales y la inteligencia artificial y ofrece principios éticos que guíen su uso responsable. (...) El artículo analiza cómo estas tecnologías influyen en la identidad, la relacionalidad y la sociabilidad del ser humano y promueve una relacionalidad integral basada en la dignidad, la empatía y las virtudes cardinales y teologales, con el fin de lograr una auténtica comunión en el ámbito digital. (shrink)

The process of democratic consolidation in Mexico has not resolved the issues of trust in public institutions due to the lack of mechanisms to implement public policies related to transparency and accountability. Municipal governments have struggled to meet transparency and accountability obligations due to the heterogeneity in their demographic, economic, cultural, and institutional composition. In the case of Sonora, most municipalities have faced difficulties in fulfilling these basic information obligations on their portals and assuming responsibility for the management of resources. (...) The aim of this study is to explain the main factors that have hindered the fulfillment of these transparency and accountability obligations in the municipalities of the state of Sonora and to analyze the institutional instruments involved. This research reveals findings on the relationship between transparency and accountability policies and the municipal institutional design, and how the latter has represented an obstacle for the efficient implementation of these policies in Sonora’s municipalities. (shrink)

Este artículo examina el significado del desarrollo humano integral propugnado por Benedicto XVI en Caritas in veritate, destacando su continuidad con Populorum progressio y, en general, con el magisterio social precedente. Tras dar razón del vínculo existente entre la economía, la ética y la antropología, el autor trata de espigar las principales orientaciones ético-económicas que han sido propuestas en esa última encíclica social con vistas a un tal desarrollo, articulándolas a partir de dos concepciones antropológicas de honda raigambre en la (...) doctrina social de la Iglesia, a saber, la dignidad humana y el personalismo comunitario.Comenta, finalmente, la relevancia económica de la antropología cristiana y su potencial crítico frente al homo oeconomicus, así como la capacidad de interlocución con diversas corrientes de pensamiento contemporáneas que dicha antropología proporciona a la doctrina social de la Iglesia.This article examines the meaning of the human, complete development defended by Benedict XVI in Caritas in veritate, emphasizing its continuity with Populorum progessio and with the previous social teaching in general. After stating the existing link between economy, ethics and anthropology, the author tries to select the main ethic-economic orientations proposed in that last social encyclical in relation to a such development, and structures them beginning with two anthropological conceptions deep-rooted in the social doctrine of the church, that is, human dignity and personalism of the community. Finally, the article comments on the economic importance of Christian anthropology and its critical potential against the homo oeconomicus, as well as the capacity of being an interlocutor with several contemporary trends of thought that anthropology provides the social doctrine of the church with. (shrink)

In this paper, I engage in the debate on the definition of the cyborg. I identify the two defining components of the traditional definition of the cyborg: the symbiotic relationship between human nature and technology; and the embodiment of a superhuman or inhuman feature or ability. Then, I trace these two components in the scholarly debate on the cyborg. To conclude, I explore the role the scholarly view of the cyborg plays in the debate on cyborg-athletes in the philosophy of (...) sport. (shrink)

Se ha señalado muchas veces la vinculación esencial del barroco con la experiencia de la extrañeza y con la admiración o asombro que le son propios. La misma palabra «barroco» significa «extraño» (Spitzer, 1980: 311) y frecuentemente se dice que el arte barroco se define por la «estética de la extrañeza» (Paz, 1982: 85) o que la admiración es uno de sus principios fundamentales (Riley, 1963: 173). Pero la admiración o asombro, y la extrañeza, constituyen actitudes o experiencias definitorias de (...) la misma filosofía. Quizás habría que pensar el barroco –más que la ilustración– como la época propiamente filosófica. O que esa esencia filosófica del barroco podría ser también una esencia barroca de la filosofía. Las siguientes páginas quisieran explorar esa hipótesis en referencia al modo en que el thaumazein filosófico está presente en dos importantes momentos barrocos: en el desengaño, omnipresente en la cultura barroca del XVII, y en «lo real maravilloso» sugerido por el neobarroco. (shrink)

Pluralistic approaches in the philosophy of biological individuality suggest that reality is divisible into multiple types of biological individuals (evolutionary, genetic, physiological, etc.). In this research I will argue in favor of this pluralistic ontology. Inspired mainly by John Dupré’s processual metaphysics, Ronald Giere’s perspectivism, and Hasok Chang’s active realism, I will suggest that: (i) biological individuals are temporarily stable nexuses in a flow of causal processes, (ii) individuations in biology represent real individuals only under the scientific perspectives that (...) support them, (iii) biology’s ability to recognize diverse types of individuals comes from epistemically successful individuation practices. These practices not only contact us with multiple sites of reality, but also invite us to embrace pluralism as an effective way to increase our scientific knowledge of nature. (shrink)

Este artículo aborda la aplicación de la técnica del andamiaje en un proceso de evaluación a nivel de máster universitario. En el ámbito de la comunicación digital, se propuso al alumnado la realización de una campaña para un cliente real, una asociación protectora de animales. A través de la técnica de la observación participante y de una encuesta al alumnado, se llevó a cabo este proyecto cuyos resultados muestran que el andamiaje es efectivo en el nivel de máster y (...) que su combinación con la tecnología y la motivación del profesorado contribuye a obtener mejores resultados. (shrink)

Se plantea una reflexión sobre qué es y cómo se elabora el sentido ético presente en toda forma de vida humana. Se propone un itinerario que comienza con la narración de algunas situaciones en las que se ponen de manifiesto preguntas que se antojan urgentes en estos tiempos: conflictos reales entre formas de valoración y acercamiento a la realidad con tintes en general muy violentos. En un segundo paso se trata de encauzar los posibles desarrollos de esas preguntas, de manera (...) que podamos agudizar un cierto olfato respecto al sentido ético de la existencia humana describiendo y analizando los mecanismos racionales y afectivos implicados en su elaboración, para terminar con algunos apuntes que permitan seguir pensando y desarrollando los aspectos positivos de las formas de vida sin perder de vista sus patologías. (shrink)

In this article, we identify various kinds of injustice at work in the global care chains by looking at the damages they entail and at some of their ties. Taking as our point of reference an invidious privileges dilemma that poses a real challenge to feminist theories, we analyze first the moral harm that, as Eva Kittay maintains, follows the fracturing of central, interpersonal and affective relationships of the women migrant workers. This specific moral harm of care relationships is (...) not reducible to other kinds of social injustice. These other kinds are identified by applying Nancy Fraser’s questioning of the frame problem to the global care chains. We can then talk of an interdependence of several genres or axes of injustice (maldistribution, misrecognition and misrepresentation) that work and intersect at several scales. (shrink)

Durante las cuatro últimas décadas, Javier Muguerza ha contribuido como nadie a la modernización del pensamiento español, dando a conocer y comentando lo mejor que se publicaba en otras lenguas, particularmente a lo tocante a la filosofía analítica, a la teoría crítica y a las corrientes morales y políticas anglosajonas y alemanas, además de tener muy en cuenta todo lo que se escribía en español y prestar una especial atención al espíritu del pensamiento práctico kantiano. La deuda que con (...) él tiene contraída la filosofía en castellano es muy difícil de calcular. En el libro Disenso e incertidumbre. Un homenaje a Javier Muguerza, un grupo de importantes filósofos analiza su obra en profundidad ofreciendo al lector la oportunidad única de conocerla desde múltiples puntos de vista. (shrink)

En las sociedades de la información y el conocimiento las lenguas se convierten en un recurso estratégico. Al expresar y compartir conocimiento por medio de los idiomas, las culturas generan yacimientos de conocimiento, que pueden ser transferidos e intercambiados entre comunidades epistémicas diferentes. Las actuales tecnologías de la información y la comunicación han cambiado la estructura de los flujos de conocimiento. La globalización del conocimiento plantea un gran desafío a todas las lenguas, incluyendo la española. Para sobrevivir en el mundo (...) digital, los lenguajes han de convertirse en tecnolenguajes. El lema “Pensar en español” aporta un nuevo modelo de gobernanza para las comunidades iberoamericanas del conocimiento. (shrink)

Empirical research on Rational Choice Theory has brought up two focus of the economics laws problem. On one hand, we find the authors who state that the neoclassical economics laws are explanatory and predictive on specific cases: in transparent contexts in which the standard rationality operates successfully. On the other hand, we find the authors who state that the descriptive theories of the rational choice opens up a research path in which fundamental principles of the neoclassical building could be questioned. (...) Both view points have generated an important standard Rational Choice Theory revision what has produced the so called descriptive view point . It implies understanding that most of the choices take place under risky or uncertainty conditions and, that, these choices are far more complex than the normative Rational Choice Theory supposes. This article's main goal is to expand the descriptive point of view in rational choice, theorizing how some factors, coming from the social and cultural environment, operate within the rational choice. Into space of this research essay we find the debatable question of whether these sort of proposals expands the explanation of the deviation of the rational choice normative theory, and that, of the disturbing causes of the microeconomics laws, or they call into question fundamental principles of these laws and therefore they are opening the possibility to focus some economics issues in a new different manner. (shrink)

More and more studies and research have found a positive relationship between the participation of young people in altruistic activities and helping others, but it is interesting to discover a relationship of that personal and vocational satisfaction in the preparation and training in a profession as important to society as teaching. For students who begin university studies related to teaching, their psychological well-being and motivation towards this activity are very relevant aspects to consider. The access to and attainment of a (...) University Degree with a great vocational character, such as that of Pre-School Teacher or Primary Education Teacher, can benefit the students who will be in charge. These future educational professionals will have adequate motivation and maintain a psychological well-being that, in short, will favour their personal balance and will impact their future students. This research aims to analyse the degree of psychological well-being and its relationship with the motivation towards starting the teaching career. A sample of 233 students and students aged between 17 or 19 years of age who are beginning university studies at the School of Education of Ciudad Real was selected. All participants are enrolled in the first year of the Degree in Pre-school and Primary Education. The relationship between the psychological well-being of the students and their motivation towards attaining a professional teaching career was analysed. Other variables such as age or sex were also taken into account. A quantitative study was carried out and the Ryff Psychological Welfare Scale and the Intrinsic Motivation Questionnaire (IMI) were used. Once the results were analysed, it was observed that there is a positive correlation between the perception of psychological well-being that the participants have and their motivation towards the beginning of university studies, whose professional focus is mainly direct teaching with the students of the early stages of Pre-school and Primary Education. There are also some significant differences, considering the age and sex of the participants. The vocational character of university preparation for the teaching profession may determine that students who begin their Degree studies have an important motivation towards the performance of their professional future. (shrink)

An essential requirement for increasing human confidence in computer systems is knowing an event’s origin. Therefore, it is necessary to have an efficient method to record such information. It is especially challenging in robotics, where unexpected behaviours can have unpredictable consequences, endangering the interests of people or even their safety. Furthermore, to analyse an incident’s cause or anticipate future behaviours, we must identify the events that cause a specific action. Although it is common to use logging systems for such purposes, (...) issues such as partial recording of events, unhelpful data or the impact on robot performance suggest conceiving new accountability solutions that assist when determining the responsible entities or the provenance of specific information. This paper presents a general-purpose approach to developing an accountability system for autonomous robots. It consists of four main components: a system event logger, a message producer, a distributed event streaming platform and a database. Our proposal is completely decoupled from the monitored system and allows real-time analysis, improving flexibility, besides system protection and transparency. Finally, the need to reduce the impact of the audit process and logging tasks on robot performance has promoted the development of different assessment scenarios to determine the best strategy for providing accounting services. (shrink)

Automatic control of physiological variables is one of the most active areas in biomedical engineering. This paper is centered in the prediction of the analgesic variables evolution in patients undergoing surgery. The proposal is based on the use of hybrid intelligent modelling methods. The study considers the Analgesia Nociception Index to assess the pain in the patient and remifentanil as intravenous analgesic. The model proposed is able to make a one-step-ahead prediction of the remifentanil dose corresponding to the current state (...) of the patient. The input information is the previous remifentanil dose, the ANI variable and the electromyogram signal. Modelling techniques used are Artificial Neural Networks and Support Vector machines for Regression combined with clustering methods. Both training and validation were done with a real dataset from different patients. Results obtained show the potential of this methodology to calculate the drug dose corresponding to a given analgesic state of the patient. (shrink)

Objective: Illness perceptions are important predictors of emotional and behavioral responses in many diseases. The current study aims to investigate the COVID-19-related IP throughout Europe. The specific goals are to understand the temporal development, identify predictors and examine the impacts of IP on perceived stress and preventive behaviors.Methods: This was a time-series-cross-section study of 7,032 participants from 16 European countries using multilevel modeling from April to June 2020. IP were measured with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire. Temporal patterns were observed (...) considering the date of participation and the date recoded to account the epidemiological evolution of each country. The outcomes considered were perceived stress and COVID-19 preventive behaviors.Results: There were significant trends, over time, for several IP, suggesting a small decrease in negativity in the perception of COVID-19 in the community. Age, gender, and education level related to some, but not all, IP. Considering the self-regulation model, perceptions consistently predicted general stress and were less consistently related to preventive behaviors. Country showed no effect in the predictive model, suggesting that national differences may have little relevance for IP, in this context.Conclusion: The present study provides a comprehensive picture of COVID-19 IP in Europe in an early stage of the pandemic. The results shed light on the process of IP formation with implications for health-related outcomes and their evolution. (shrink)

Álvarez J.F. (2016) Conflicts, Bounded Rationality and Collective Wisdom in a Networked Society. In: Scarafile G., Gruenpeter Gold L. (eds) Paradoxes of Conflicts. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning (Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Humanities and Social Sciences), vol 12. Springer, Cham -/- The adoption of an individualistic perspective on reasoning, choice and decision is a spring of paradoxes of conflicts. Usually the agents immerse in conflicts are drawn or modelled as rational individuals with targets well defined and full capabilities to access (...) to information, without both temporal limitations and perfect reasoning abilities to obtain their preferences are taken account. -/- However, other models of agent, in the bounded rationality perspective, could help to understand better the interrelationships. I adopt embedded argumentative reasoning processes as satisfying criteria to analyze the expert function in a new socio technical environment that has changed deeply the mechanism and tools to access and to aggregate information. The open access to information and institutional arrangements addressed towards team knowledge could offer other kind of tools to affront the conflict, even its possible benefits. -/- The “crowd expertise” is emerging as an actual possibility and it must be incorporated to affront with conflicts. The very possibility of obtaining knowledge generated by “many minds”, collective wisdoms, brings up a real challenge to the conservative or elitist conception of the masses, because masses now emerge as a smart collective user, with new mechanisms to select and produce quality knowledge. These new collective actions differ deeply from the traditional modes of social organization. A new mass society is emerging now as a hybrid one that breaks some conceptual traditional models, such as Ortega y Gasset’s ones, and induces a structured way of flourishing both new practices and new knowledge with transforming capabilities. (shrink)

Las propuestas éticas de Javier Muguerza y Amartya Sen comparten profundas raíces igualitarias y libertarias. Al revisar el carácter del individualismo ético defendido por ambos, distinguiéndolo del metodológico y del ontológico, se percibe que van “más allá del contrato social” abriendo espacio a las características individuales al tiempo que incorporan la indispensable sociabilidad del individuo. Muguerza, al utilizar la autonomía como elemento focal sobre el que plantear la igualdad, se acerca al enfoque de Sen en La idea de la (...) justicia , donde se propone más que una teoría general de la justicia una práctica activa contra la injusticia. El against injustice que ha formulado Sen tiene claras conexiones con el imperativo del disenso que ha propuesto Muguerza. El individualismo ético expresa el núcleo de anudamiento social que supone adoptar al individuo como elemento último responsable de decisiones que comportan su responsabilidad moral. La autonomía como dimensión básica de la igualdad, a decir de Muguerza, converge con la importancia de tener en cuenta el acto mismo de elección, como responsabilidad personal,que ha destacado Sen. (shrink)

Las metodologías activas son unas excelentes herramientas para la mejora del desarrollo de competencias, así como del aprendizaje del alumnado. Se recogen las percepciones y el uso que 92 profesores de educación secundaria de la Comunidad Valenciana (España) manifestaron en un cuestionario tras haber realizado una formación en las mismas. Los resultados permiten constatar que, si bien se produce un aumento en el uso y una mejora en las percepciones, sigue habiendo una considerable resistencia al cambio de este colectivo de (...) profesorado. Encuentran desventajas como considerarlas muy exigentes con el tiempo y son escépticos en el aprendizaje real del alumnado. (shrink)

Ciertas referencias biográficas son útiles para comprender un pensamiento tan articulado y complejo como el de Amartya Sen. Se destaca la importancia teórica de Sen para filósofos políticos, filósofos morales o filósofos de la ciencia. La reflexión filosófica, sobre métodos, sobre aspectos éticos y en general sobre cuestiones político culturales, es un asunto de primera importancia para la misma actividad interna a la ciencia económica. Para entender correctamente la obra de Sen resulta fundamental el trasfondo filosófico cultural, la comprensión del (...) individuo como parte de un compromiso social y la extracción sistemática de las consecuencias de ese tipo de compromiso. El desarrollo aparece como un proceso de expansión de las libertades reales que las personas disfrutan. La centralidad de la libertad para el proceso de desarrollo, la encuentra Amartya Sen en dos razones diferentes, una por razones evaluativas y otra por razones de eficacia. La evaluación del progreso podría hacerse teniendo en cuenta si de hecho se amplían las libertades que las personas tienen Se trata de interconexiones que ha encontrado Sen en muchos análisis empíricos que muestran cómo la responsabilidad “libre y sostenible” de los individuos emerge como la principal fuerza para el desarrollo. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease pandemic fundamentally disrupted humans’ social life and behavior. Public health measures may have inadvertently impacted how people care for each other. This study investigated prosocial behavior, its association well-being, and predictors of prosocial behavior during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and sought to understand whether region-specific differences exist. Participants from eight regions clustering multiple countries around the world responded to a cross-sectional online-survey investigating the psychological consequences of the first upsurge of lockdowns in spring 2020. Prosocial behavior (...) was reported to occur frequently. Multiple regression analyses showed that prosocial behavior was associated with better well-being consistently across regions. With regard to predictors of prosocial behavior, high levels of perceived social support were most strongly associated with prosocial behavior, followed by high levels of perceived stress, positive affect and psychological flexibility. Sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of prosocial behavior were similar across regions. (shrink)

Dentro de las actividades científicas de la Sección de Exactas de la Real Academia de Ciencias a lo largo del curso 2003--2004, el día 2 de febrero de 2004 se conmemoró el centenario del nacimiento de Andrei Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, uno de los más grandes matemáticos del siglo XX, con un breve ciclo de dos conferencias a cargo de dos especialistas en sus respectivas materias, precedidas de una breve introducción biográfica del autor de estas líneas y coordinador del ciclo, prof. (...) Javier Girón.…. (shrink)

El cosmopolitismo, esto es, la representación del conjunto de los seres humanos como una sociedad universal, tiene una larga historia: las doctrinas y propuestas cosmopolitas atraviesan lo siglos. Pero hoy el cosmopolitismo suscita un renovado e intenso interés, debido tanto a la intensificación de la comunicación e interdependencia económica, cultural y política entre los habitantes y pueblos de la Tierra como a los presupuestos universalistas de los principales planteamientos morales y políticos actuales. Este libro examina los variados aspectos y expresiones (...) del cosmopolitismo -cultural, económico, moral, jurídico, político-, atendiendo siempre a su relación, explícita o implícita, con la política. Trata igualmente de hacerse cargo de las principales críticas a las que se enfrenta, ya se trate de las que lo consideran una fantasía bienintencionada, ajena a la realidad conflictiva y plural de la política, y por tanto de imposible realización, o bien de aquellas que ven en el cosmopolitismo una máscara ideológica que encubre la dominación y la represión de las diferencias por parte de los poderosos. Teniendo en cuenta todo eso, aquí se concluye sin embargo que la política del siglo XXI ha de ser comprendida necesariamente desde un punto de vista cosmopolita, es decir, teniendo en cuenta el horizonte mundial de los problemas y propuestas de cualquier signo. Al mismo tiempo, se sostiene que el cosmopolitismo ha de ser concebido como un proyecto político para ser real y eficaz, por difícil o lejana que nos parezca su realización. Javier Peña Echeverría (San Sebastián, 1951) es catedrático de Filosofía Moral de la Universidad de Valladolid. Sus líneas de investigación fundamentales son la historia del pensamiento político moderno, la ciudadanía, el republicanismo y el cosmopolitismo, temas sobre los que ha publicado varios libros, artículos y contribuciones a obras colectivas. Cabe destacar los libros La filosofía política de Espinosa (1989) y La ciudadanía hoy. Problemas y propuestas (Universidad de Valladolid, 2000). (shrink)

Of all the different types of public buildings, hospitals are the biggest energy consumers. Cooling systems for air conditioning and healthcare uses are particularly energy intensive. Forecasting hospital thermal-cooling demand is a remarkable and innovative method capable of improving the overall energy efficiency of an entire cooling system. Predictive models allow users to forecast the activity of water-cooled generators and adapt power generation to the real demand expected for the day ahead, while avoiding inefficient subcooling. In addition, the maintenance (...) costs related to unnecessary starts and stops and power-generator breakdowns occurring over the long term can be reduced. This study is based on the operations of a real hospital facility and details the steps taken to develop an optimal and efficient model based on a genetic methodology that searches for low-complexity models through feature selection, parameter tuning and parsimonious model selection. The methodology, called GAparsimony, has been tested with neural networks, support vector machines and gradient boosting techniques. Finally, a weighted combination of the three best models was created. The new operational method employed herein can be replicated in similar buildings with similar water-cooled generators. (shrink)

As systems based on opaque Artificial Intelligence (AI) continue to flourish in diverse real-world applications, understanding these black box models has become paramount. In response, Explainable AI (XAI) has emerged as a field of research with practical and ethical benefits across various domains. This paper not only highlights the advancements in XAI and its application in real-world scenarios but also addresses the ongoing challenges within XAI, emphasizing the need for broader perspectives and collaborative efforts. We bring together experts (...) from diverse fields to identify open problems, striving to synchronize research agendas and accelerate XAI in practical applications. By fostering collaborative discussion and interdisciplinary cooperation, we aim to propel XAI forward, contributing to its continued success. Our goal is to put forward a comprehensive proposal for advancing XAI. To achieve this goal, we present a manifesto of 27 open problems categorized into nine categories. These challenges encapsulate the complexities and nuances of XAI and offer a road map for future research. For each problem, we provide promising research directions in the hope of harnessing the collective intelligence of interested stakeholders. (shrink)

Nowadays, batteries play an important role in a lot of different applications like energy storage, electro-mobility, consumer electronic and so on. All the battery types have a common factor that is their complexity, independently of its nature. Usually, the batteries have an electrochemical nature. Several different test are accomplished to check the batteries performance, and commonly, it is predictable how they work depending of their technology. The present research describes the hybrid intelligent system created to accomplish fault detection over a (...) Lithium Iron Phosphate—LiFePO4 power cell type, commonly used in electro-mobility applications. The approach is based on the cell temperatures behaviour for voltage and current specific values. Taken into account the operating range of a real system based on a LiFePO4 cell, a large set of points of operation have been used to achieve the dataset. The different behaviour zones have been obtained by clustering as a first step. Then, different regression techniques have been used over each cluster. Polynomial regression, artificial neural networks and support vector regression were the combined techniques to develop the hybrid intelligent model proposed. The intelligent system gives very good results over the operating range, detecting all the faults tested during the validation. (shrink)

Closed-loop administration of propofol for the control of hypnosis in anesthesia has evidenced an outperformance when comparing it with manual administration in terms of drug consumption and post-operative recovery of patients. Unlike other systems, the success of this strategy lies on the availability of a feedback variable capable of quantifying the current hypnotic state of the patient. However, the appearance of anomalies during the anesthetic process may result in inaccurate actions of the automatic controller. These anomalies may come from the (...) monitors, the syringe pumps, the actions of the surgeon or even from alterations in patients. This could produce adverse side effects that can affect the patient postoperative and reduce the safety of the patient in the operating room. Then, the use of anomaly detection techniques plays a significant role to avoid this undesirable situations. This work assesses different one-class intelligent techniques to detect anomalies in patients undergoing general anesthesia. Due to the difficulty of obtaining real data from anomaly situations, artificial outliers are generated to check the performance of each classifier. The final model presents successful performance. (shrink)

In this article, I draw on psychoanalysis to provide a novel understanding of Suits’ theory of games by analyzing the riddle in the Grasshopper’s recurring dream, which Suits presents in his semina...

In this paper, I engage the debate on Suits’ theory of games by providing a Kantian view of Utopia. I argue that although the Kantian aspects of Suits’ approach are often overlooked in comparison to its Socratic-Platonic aspects, Kant’s ideas play a fundamental role in Suits’ proposal. In particular, Kant’s concept of ‘regulative idea’ is the basis of Suits’ Utopia. I regard Utopia as Suits’ regulative idea on game playing. In doing so, I take Utopia to play a double role (...) in Suits’ theory of games. First, it highlights the primary condition of possibility of game-playing, namely, the lusory attitude. Second, it provides a normative criterion that serves as a critical principle to evaluate instances of game playing and as a counterfactual assumption that makes game playing possible. I provide further support for my Kantian interpretation of Suits’ Utopia by bringing to light the anthropological assumptions upon which Utopia is built. In doing so, I argue that both Suits’ theory of games, in general, and his Utopia, in particular, lay out the conditions of possibility of game playing, not an analysis on the life most worth living. (shrink)

This special issue examines critical ethical, legal, and policy debates surrounding brain trauma in sport, focusing on challenges in concussion management practices and protocols. Brain injury concerns extend beyond traditional contact sports like boxing, encompassing sporting activities involving rapid acceleration, deceleration, and surface impacts, such as cycling and equestrian sports. Among such problems are the identification and management of brain injuries, the roles of officials and healthcare professionals, and the broader implications for sport integrity and athlete careers. The special issue (...) is organized into four sections: ethics of concussion medicine, socio-legal aspects, sport ethical dimensions, and public health policies. Contributions discuss concussion management in youth sport, sport federations’ and athletes’ duties involvement in concussion-related research, strategies to support and enhance athlete autonomy, public health-informed brain injury frameworks, conflict of interest in concussion management protocols, litigation and liability in concussion research and collaboration, race and genomics in brain-injury scientific discourses, rule changes in sport to reduce head impact, the contextual nature of brain injury and athlete decision-making, the ethical use of genetic testing in brain-injury related research, marketing strategies to advertise tackle football to children and adolescents, and policy purposes and evidence underpinning concussion management practices. This comprehensive exploration offers diverse disciplinary insights, making it a crucial resource for sport humanities scholars, policymakers, and medical professionals. Keywords: brain injury, sport ethics, concussion, sport law, sport policy. (shrink)

In this paper, we explore the issue of the elimination of sports, or elements of sports, that present a high risk of brain injury. In particular, we critically examine two elements of Angelo Corlett’s and Pam Sailors’ arguments for the prohibition of football and Nicholas Dixon’s claim for the reformation of boxing to eliminate blows to the head based on the empirical assumption of an essential or causal connection between brain injuries incurred in football and the development of a degenerative (...) brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy ; and John Stuart Mill’s rejection of consensual domination. We present four arguments to contest the validity of Corlett, Dixon’s and Sailor’s positions. Specifically, we argue that certain autonomy-based arguments undermine paternalist arguments for reform; the nature of the goods people pursue in their lives might justify their foregoing future autonomy; Mill’s argument against consensual domination draws on ambiguous and arbitrary distinctions; the lack of consensus and empirical evidence regarding CTE arising from brain injuries in sport underdetermines calls for reform. We conclude that these proposals for reforming or eliminating sports with high risks of brain injuries are not well founded. (shrink)

In a previous paper entitled ‘Beyond Physiology: Embodied Experience, Embodied Advantage, and the Inclusion of Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport,’ we claim that analyses of the inclusion or exclusion of transgender athletes in competitive sport must go beyond physiological criteria and incorporate the notions of embodied experience and embodied advantage. Our stance has recently been challenged as impractical and excessively exclusionary. In this paper, we address these challenges and build upon them to expand on the policy implications of our original (...) framework, highlighting that embodied experience and embodied advantage heavily influence athletic performance. We differentiate competitive fairness from justice to, with an emphasis on the inclusion of transgender women in competitive sport, formulate a justice-based argument for maximizing inclusion. Afterward, we identify ideal and nonideal policy recommendations connected to our analysis of embodied experience and embodied advantage. We ultimately advocate for a qualified inclusion that assesses potential residual (physiological and embodied) advantages while striving for justice and competitive fairness. (shrink)

Bernard Suits’ account of play as an autotelic activity has been greatly influential in the philosophy of sport. Suits borrows the notion of ‘autotelicity’ from Aristotle’s ethics, formulating diff...

This article critically examines the development and consensus outputs of the Concussion in Sport Group. We examine the six Consensus Statements between 2001 and 2023 to explore the challenges that the presence of contextual forces pose to the development of effective and ethically justifiable medical guidelines to manage situations involving brain-injured athletes. First, we discuss the implicit and explicit ethical framework and goals underlining the statements. Secondly, drawing on a relational account of athlete choice, we expound on the limitations of (...) the framework, concentrating on those resulting from a simplified understanding of athlete autonomy. Thirdly, we conclude by proposing a series of recommendations to improve concussion management protocols: (1) adopting a broader understanding of autonomy built upon relational accounts, beyond just the healthcare professional-athlete relationship; (2) further minimizing conflicts of interest that increase athletes’ vulnerability and hinder decision-making ability; (3) enhancing healthcare professional training to allow better adjustment of treatment plans to athletes’ contexts; and (4) promoting research on sociocultural elements affecting athletes’ vulnerability and autonomy. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia by Bernard Suits is one of the most influential works in the philosophy of sport. In the book, Suits investigates two fundamental issues in general p...

Since Sigmund Freud developed and popularized psychoanalysis, this psychological theory has significantly influenced contemporary thinking, particularly in philosophical disciplines focused on understanding human behavior and addressing social problems. Take the examples of political philosophy, race theory, and feminist thought, among many others. However, although sport philosophy qualifies as one such discipline, scholars in this field have given little to no attention to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytical theorists. Remarkably, psychoanalytical notions, especially those of Eric Berne and Norman O. Brown, significantly shaped Bernard (...) Suits’ pioneering thoughts on games. Nevertheless, sport philosophers have largely overlooked the importance of psychoanalysis in Suits’ examinations of games and, more broadly speaking, rarely attempted to apply psychoanalytical concepts to their analyses of sport. In this paper, I explain the psychoanalytical roots of Suits’ theory of games and explore how much of his theory of games is indebted to psychoanalysis. Specifically, I first compare Suits’ analysis of unconscious gameplay to psychoanalytic concepts of repression and neurosis. Subsequently, I explore the alignment between Suits’ views on gameplay and psychoanalytic accounts of play and pleasure. To conclude, I examine the therapeutic and emancipatory character of Suits’ proposal, drawing parallels between his philosophical corpus and critical theorists whose critical analyses of modern society are heavily indebted to Freud. (shrink)

This paper addresses the possibility of robots engaging in sports. Recently, several movies like Ex-Machina, Chappi, and Transcendence challenge the spectator to think of the consequences of creating artificial intelligences. Although we refer to athletes who have outstanding sporting performances as machines, for example, in cycling people say ‘the cyclist looked like a machine with wheels,’ the potential participation of such AI in sport has not been addressed. For our argument’s sake, we will assume that the creation of human-like robots (...) who will mirror human athletes’ behavior in the playing field will be possible. Recent advances in cybernetics and robotics point in this way. As argued in the literature on philosophy of mind, the fact that intelligent robots seem to be doing something does not imply they are actually doing it. Understood in this way, sport can be conceived as a particular ‘imitation game’ or Turing test, which permits us to distinguish between an artificial intelligence... (shrink)