Since their introduction in Colombia in the '80s for Pablo Escobar’s extravagant zoo, hippos have become an ecological problem around the basin of the Magdalena River. This article proposes an ecosemiotic discourse analysis of different visions of nature enacted by stakeholders and public opinion around the management of hippos in Colombia. Concretely, we focus on three particular discourses and visions of nature: animalista, narco-cultural, and conservacionista. In this article, we present the relevant social and ecological context of Colombia, the visions (...) of nature theory and the impact of such visions on conservation measures regarding so-called invasive species; we describe and analyze the three visions of nature we center on, and present a computational analysis of discourse dynamics and controversies in Twitter between of such visions of nature; and we reflect on possible courses of action and recommendations about addressing the close interrelation of public discourses and ecosystem conservation by proposing an alternative view, based on the biosemiotic framework of semiocide, to the concept of invasive species. (shrink)

This study explores multimodal metaphors and metonymies in Faust, a German Expressionist silent fiction movie by Murnau. The article combines principles of psychocinematics, an interdisciplinary scientific field of enquiry, with the multimodal metaphor and expressive movement model, which looks into the temporal dynamics of metaphoric meaning-making by movie watchers. It is shown that interrelating both film-analytic approaches provides a deeper and more comprehensive insight into how figurative thought influences psycho-cognitive processes in the moviegoer’s mind as they dynamically unfold in their (...) cinematic contexts. Evidence is provided that Kappelhoff and co-workers’ proposal can be complemented and enriched by psychocinematics findings on the allocation of visual attention and eye fixation, motion and image frame sensing, and mental activity underlying emotional and diagetic experiences. (shrink)

In his conference “The Age of the World Picture” (1938), Heidegger displays a strong criticism of the concept of image (Bild). More precisely, the German philosopher rejects any consideration of the image, as he correlates the image with the process of subjective representation (Vorstellung). At first glance, that position does not seem to change in his posthumous works written from 1930 to 1940, where Heidegger develops his Ereignis-thinking. However, a more thorough study of the writings (from the Beiträge zur Philosophie (...) to Das Ereignis and the Black Notebooks) allows us to reconsider the scope of that common idea. In this paper, I analyze the project of a thinking without images (bildloses Denken) and of imagination (Phantasie) elaborated throughout the private writings. My aim is to re-examine the extent of Heidegger’s refusal of images, in order to prove that, in the end, his essay of a thinking without images cannot escape their ontological weight. (shrink)

In this article we examine the way in which the American Alt-Right movement has made Friedrich Nietzsche its most influential philosopher. The authors ascribed to the Alt-Right evidence a strong liking for the German philosopher's ideas, which resonate forcefully in many their principal policies: specifically, the characterisation of our contemporaneity as “decadent”, the comparison between “superior men” and the project to construct a “white ethnostate”, and the advocacy of Christianity, as opposed to Christianism, as an identity structure for defining white (...) civilisation. Having trawled the main Alt-Right forums of ideological expression and analysed the key writings of their theorists, references and spokespersons, we aim to present a systematic explanation of how this advocacy has been built on certain Nietzschean themes. We also argue that this is a partial, superficial and contradictory reading of Nietzsche, as well as a narrow and distorted interpretation. (shrink)

Enrique Gómez Arboleya chose as the subject for his doctoral thesis the study of Hermann Heller's theoretical proposals. This research was done in Nazi Germany to be read in the Republican Spain of 1935, but was not published until 1940, after the Civil War. The present article seeks to compare the 1935 original version, until now unknown, with that subsequently published in 1940, while at the same time assessing these works for the Spain of that time and for the (...) author.s intellectual production. In spite of the radically opposed historical and personal circumstances of the writing and publication, the differences are not so great because the author limits himself to setting out the thought of the German theorist without evaluating it. Nevertheless, these works are a good introduction to Heller's thought, despite certain gaps and the iusnaturalist nuances added in the 1940 version, and open up the sociological and humanist path that would mark Gómez Arboleya's intellectual trajectory. (shrink)

The traditional “realist” conception of physics, according to which human concepts, laws and theories can grasp the essence of a reality in our absence , seems incompatible with quantum formalism and it most fruitful interpretation. The proof rests on the violation by quantum mechanical formalism of some fundamental principles of the classical ontology. We discuss if the conception behind Einstein’s idea of a reality in our absence, could be still maintained and at which price. We conclude that quantum mechanical formalism (...) is not formulated on those terms, leaving for a separated paper the discussion about the terms in which it could be formulated and the onto-epistemological implications it might have. (shrink)

Some arguments are presented in this paper where it can be stated that the truth that philosophy seeks is not the truth that matches with the verification interests of knowledge instrumentalization or pragmatism (Rorty) present in contemporary philosophy (Rorty). Aside from the unavoidable reality of human necessities and from the instruments that allow science and technology, as well as its own meaning (thanks to knowledge), which are necessary for human life, it is still a priority to explain a personal, “existential (...) truth” that requires a belief system conversion. This belief system conversion would be the philosophy’s starting point and not a “question about the oblivion of the being” (Heidegger), nor an ethic (Lévinas). (shrink)

When does a human being begin to exist? Barry Smith and Berit Brogaard have argued that it is possible, through a combination of biological fact and philosophical analysis, to provide a definitive answer to this question. In their view, a human individual begins to exist at gastrulation, i. e. at about sixteen days after fertilization. In this paper we argue that even granting Smith and Brogaard's ontological commitments and biological assumptions, the existence of a human being can be shown to (...) begin much earlier, viz., with fertilization. Their interpretative claim that a zygote divides immediately into two substances and therefore ceases to exist is highly implausible by their own standards, and their factual claim that there is no communication between the blastomeres has to be abandoned in light of recent embryological research. (shrink)

La Casa de Santiago de Jerusalén, para estudiantes bíblicos y arqueólogos españoles en Tierra Santa, fue erigida, formalmente, en noviembre de 1955. Este trabajo recopila e interpreta algunos de los diplomas que se intercambiaron hasta aquel momento los promotores de esta obra. La relevancia que, con los años, ha adquirido este centro de investigación hace que resulte importante recuperar esta documentación y la información programática que aporta para el análisis y la definición de su historia.

Este trabajo, quiere considerar retórica y narrativamente el relato de Pablo acerca del conflicto de Antioquía, para proponer como tesis, que el final abierto de Pablo en su descripción del conflicto de Antioquía es una estrategia retórica consciente y deseada, que genera tensión en su auditorio gálata, en orden a presentar la afirmación teológica central de la carta: “somos salvados en Cristo por la fe y no por las obras de la ley”, una tesis que quiere sostener su mensaje principal (...) a la comunidad gálata «no os circuncidéis», si lo hacéis, “Cristo no os servirá de nada”. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Editors' IntroductionAlan D. Schrift and Shannon SullivanThe articles in this special issue of the Journal of Speculative Philosophy were selected from revised versions of papers that were originally presented at the sixtieth annual meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP) at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas October 13–15, 2022.Michael Hardt of Duke University and Patricia Pisters of the University of Amsterdam gave the SPEP (...) 2022 Plenary Addresses, and we are grateful to be able to include their plenary papers in this special issue. Hardt's paper, "The Politics of Articulation and Strategic Multiplicities," treated SPEP members to an early peek at his newest book, The Subversive 70s (Oxford University Press, 2023). In this work, Hardt digs into the powerful resources for social movements that activists and theorists from the 1970s developed. As he argues, in many ways those activists and thinkers were ahead of their times—and also ahead of ours—in understanding how to analyze interwoven multiplicities of power and how to articulate and organize liberation struggles based on those multiplicities. Hardt brilliantly demonstrates how analyzing the progressive and revolutionary social [End Page 237] movements of the '70s can help us not only understand the roots of contemporary social and political struggles but also reclaim critical resources for those struggles.Patricia Pisters's paper, "Thinking with Fire: Elemental Philosophy and Media Technology," draws upon Gaston Bachelard's "fire complexes" to address a variety of pyrotechnical images appearing in contemporary cinema. Noting that elemental philosophy is on the rise in media studies and elsewhere, not least because of current environmental crises, fire is particularly engaging for its metaphorical, "matterphorical," and technological associations. While acknowledging fire as a material medium—cooking, heating, burning, etc.—Pisters's primary focus in her paper is on fire as an immaterial medium, and it is here that she turns to Bachelard's constellation of fire complexes—the Empedocles, Prometheus, and Novalis Complexes—to which she adds her own fourth complex, the Sita Complex. With these complexes, she provides readings of four cinematic productions that elucidate the annihilating, transgressive, sexual, and purifying qualities of fire, and she suggests that these entangled fire complexes present different kinds of combustive knowledge in which the element of fire manifests itself as material phenomenon of nature, the engine for modern life, and immaterial affective reverie of destruction, transgression, and sexuality.The other articles in this special issue have been organized according to five broad groupings. The first grouping, "On Latin American Philosophy," brings together three papers that engage Latin American philosophy, particularly as found in Mexican, Columbian, and Venezuelan history and political movements. In "Radicalizing Localization: Notes on Santiago Castro-Gómez's Genealogies of Coloniality," Julian Rios Acuña argues that Columbian philosopher Santiago Castro-Gómez develops a radical method of localization. This method allows Castro-Gómez to transform Foucauldian genealogy into genealogies of coloniality that grapple with the complexities of extreme violence produced by colonialism. In "Stefan Gandler's Renewal of Critical Theory from Latin America," Jake M. Bartholomew argues for a version of Critical Theory that is not bound by Europe but also remains true to its first-generation Marxist roots. Relocating to Mexico and advocating for Mexican philosophers, German-born philosopher Stefan Gandler shows how Latin American philosophy can enrich Critical Theory, providing more than can the second and third generations of Critical Theory because of its ability to analyze capitalism from outside the economic perspectives of the Global North. In "Two Versions of the Mestizo [End Page 238] Model: Toward a Theory of Anti-Blackness in Latin American Thought," Miguel Gualdron Ramirez criticizes the anti-Blackness that he sees at the heart of mestizo models of latinidad, or lo latinoamericano. Focusing on the concepts of liberation offered by Venezuelan theorist and politician Simón Bolívar and Mexican philosopher José de Vasconcelos, Ramirez reveals the exclusion and erasure of Black bodies, lives, and histories that ground their versions of Latinx identity and Latin American history. Together these three articles showcase how Latin American philosophy can enrich and expand the scope of Continental philosophy.The second grouping, "Liberatory Limits and Misalignments," features three articles... (shrink)

Background Even though we are now well into the 21st century and notwithstanding all the abuse to individuals involved in clinical studies that has been documented throughout History, fundamental ethical principles continue to be violated in one way or another. Discussion Here are some of the main factors that contribute to the abuse of subjects participating in clinical trials: paternalism, improper use of informed consent, lack of strict ethical supervision, pressure exerted by health institutions to increase the production of scientific (...) material, and the absence of legislation regarding ethics in terms of health care and research. Are researchers ready to respect fundamental ethical principles in light of the ample window of information provided by individual genomes, while defending the rights of the subjects participating in clinical studies as a major priority? Summary As one of the possible solutions to this problem, education regarding fundamental ethical principles is suggested for participants in research studies as an initial method of cognitive training in ethics, together with the promotion of ethical behavior in order to encourage the adoption of reasonable policies in the field of values, attitudes and behavior. (shrink)

This text, a product of an investigation supported by the Universidad de La Salle entitled “Ecocrítica y Literatura: Aproximación a María y La Vorágine”, is a reflection upon the method (or metamethod) of ecocriticism, that is, literary criticism from ecological values, which uses the work of the aforementioned investigation as an example and object of analysis. The problem is examined from the perspective of a reconciliation between the humanities and the biological sciences. Finally, some pedagogical advantages of ecocriticism are outlined.

This text is an artistic political friction and therefore its intention is to be a manifesto. It follows Donna Haraway’s thought in its character of situated experience and knowledge, the narrative voice is of the singular creatures that question the interactions with the earth as soil and the plants, as well as the hybrids and the grafts in their contradictions and liminal character in the history of agricultural technology and of the domestication of the earth/soil. It is an approach to (...) the notion nosótrica of the earth/soil, coming from the language Tojol’ab’al of the Indigenous people of Mexico and the meaning of knowing how to listen, studied by Carlos Lenkersdorf. (shrink)

Cellular identity and its response to external or internal signalling variations are encoded in a cell's genome as regulatory information. The genomic regions that specify this type of information are highly variable and degenerated in their sequence determinants, as it is becoming increasingly evident through the application of genome‐scale methods to study gene expression. Here, we speculate that the same scenario applies to the regulatory regions controlling where DNA replication starts in the metazoan genome. We propose that replication origins cannot (...) be defined as unique genomic features, but rather that DNA synthesis initiates opportunistically from accessible DNA sites, making cells highly robust and adaptable to environmental or developmental changes. (shrink)

Trump’s election renewed discussion about the Electoral College, mostly centered on its disparity with the popular vote. Yet much commentary about the Electoral College neglects its original purpose grounded in the Founders’ concern to provide for indirect election to many important offices. The Founders’ project entailed determining the people’s aptitude to elect the types of individuals desirable for high office, in an attempt to harmonize their dual commitments to political right and political legitimacy. The Electoral College’s function was soon frustrated (...) by the rise of political parties, yet parties came to serve at least part of that function, with party leaders standing as a moderating force between the people and the presidency. However, the 2016 elections suggest that parties no longer play this intermediary role effectively. Examining the steps that led to this result, we seek to provide a reminder of the enduring thesis that the dangers inherent in republicanism require creative republican remedies. (shrink)

The past years have seen the official completion of the Opera Omnia of Nicholas of Cusa and have witnessed, as well, the production of a plethora of new studies on this fifteenth-century thinker. It is no longer enough, however, to be familiar with scholarship in German, Italian, and English in order to have a comprehensive view of the newer Cusanus research. One must also have a command of Spanish and Portuguese as well. An informal survey of the Philosopher's Index, by (...) no means exhaustive, of the secondary literature on Cusa reveals that over the last decade, the ratio approaches 1:1 when one compares Spanish and Portuguese entries on Cusa with those in other languages. Although Cusa was already a figure of interest in these two countries in the early 1960s, due in no small part to the work of Eusebio Colomer involving Ramon Llull, and that of Mariano Álvarez-Gómez, one can now see the work of these earlier scholars bearing fruit in the work of their students and their students' students. This scholarship, while it may be categorized broadly as history of philosophy or ideas, has tended to. (shrink)

The article attempts to verify that inappropriate use of information provided by the media can increase risks for persons who are susceptible to mental illness. The impact of Colombian news in 2014 related to the word suicide was studied to that end. The news was analyzed subsequently through a survey with eight questions applied by two members of the group who had been trained to conduct the study. The idea was to delve deeper and to see the effect of the (...) media and its stigmatization. Nowadays, adolescents are more exposed to situations in which their mood can be affected by improper use of the media, bearing in mind that the worst outcome would be that it leads to suicidal behavior. (shrink)

The article suggests an ethical-anthropological reading of Thoughts, magna opera of the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, which was published after his death by his relatives and friends. Such a reading is presented in three moments: Firstly, an anthropological description aimed at answering the question ‘who is man?’; secondly, an analysis of Pascal’s erotic condition; and, finally, an ethical proposal as cura amoris. The main argument of the article is that every human being has a motivation in acting, that (...) of love and being loved. Thus, having a happy or unhappy life depends on the care for this erotic condition, and the latter is achieved through thought. (shrink)

A filosofia prática de Kant, ou seja, o nuclear da sua ética, juntamente com o "primado da razão prática sobre a especulativa" e a "religião nos limites da simples razão", com seu acento no "mal radical", têm inegáveis afinidades com a - e em certos casos influxo da - tradição cristã. O próprio Kant terá em alguns momentos reconhecido isso mesmo. Segundo o autor do presente texto, subsistem, contudo, inegáveis divergências. O artigo, escrito a partir de uma declarada 'simpatia metódica, (...) pretende precisar no possível o alcance de umas e de outras, fazendo sobre o tema um balanço positivo. O autor propõe ainda uma hipótese de leitura do Opus Postumum, reconhecendo aqui uma tentativa por parte de Kant no sentido de purificar o seu "teísmo moral" numa direcção que tão pouco é alheia a importantes intuições cristãs. /// Aim of the article is to show that the practical philosophy of Kant, or, in other terms, the core of his ethics, as is the case with the "primacy of the practical reason over the speculative one" and the "religion within the limits of pure reason", with its accent set upon the idea of "radical evil", have undeniable affinities with -and in certain cases influxes from - the Christian tradition. Kant himself seems to have recognized that much at certain moments. For the author of the article, however, there are a few divergences to be reckoned with. In fact, the article, which is clearly written from the standpoint of a declared methodic sympathy, does whatever is possible in order to determine the reach of the ones and of the others, but in the end concludes that the result is a positive one. The author also suggests a reading hypothesis for the Opus Postumum, acknowledging here an attempt on the part of Kant directed towards a purification of his "moral theism" in a direction that as such is no less close to some very important Christian intuitions. (shrink)

"Ay, no quieres, te asusta la pobreza: no quieres ir con zapatos rotos al mercado y volver con el viejo vestido" dice Pablo Neruda en uno de los poemas de su libro "Los versos del capitán".

We give a common mathematical characterization of relevant stochastic evolution schemes built up in the literatute to attack the quantum measurement problem. This characterization is based on two hypotheses, namely, (i) the trace conservation with probability one and (ii) the existence of a complex phase determining a linear support for the stochastic process driving the random evolution.

Título: El Holocausto Rosa Autor: Ricard Huerta Edición: Los libros de la Catarata Lugar de publicación: Madrid Año: 2023 Idioma: Español ISBN: 9788413526058 Páginas: 190.

As religiões podem ser consideradas como sistemas simbólicos mediante os quais os seres humanos ao longo da sua história sempre procuraram encontrar sabedoria em ordem a enfrentar o mal Um olhar pela história das religiões oferece-nos dados que podem ser compreendidos a partir de três tipos ideais de atitude básica em relação ao problema: Ascese, Gnose, Praxis. O Budismo originário, o Maniqueísmo e a religião bí-blico-cristã são exemplificações disso mesmo. Mais do que uma opção pela exclusão, os membros da nossa (...) cultura ocidental iluminada demonstram uma preferência pela atitude práxica. É a partir dela que nos cabe recuperar os valores das outras. Isso é também o que em muitos significa a presença de uma certa nostalgia pela "espiritualidade oriental". Ou ainda, como modesta gnose, a "teodiceia" (porquê tanto mal?): tão pouco prometedora enquanto resposta (teórica), como inevitável enquanto pergunta. /// Religions can be viewed as symbolic systems with which human beings have throughout history sought the wisdom which enables them to face evil. A survey through the history of religions exhibits features which may be brought to three ideal types of basic attitudes: the ascetic, the gnostic and the 'praxical'. Original Buddhism, Manichaeism and the biblical-Christian Religion exemplify them. Men and women of our occidental, enlightened culture need not to take an exclusive option thereabout. They show a preference for the praxical trend, even though at the same time they also retrieve some of the values of the other ones. Signs of this can be seen in the interest of many for 'oriental spirituality' as well as in that sort of modest gnosis which is "theodicee "(Why so much evil?): always unpromising as a theoretical answer and unavoidable as a question. /// Las religiones pueden ser consideradas como sistemas simbólicos con los que los seres humanos hemos buscado en nuestra historia una sabiduría para afrontar el mal. Un recorrido por la historia de las religiones ofrece datos que pueden comprenderse desde tres tipos ideales de actitud básica de afrontamiento: Ascesis, Gnosis, Praxis. El Budismo originário, el Maniqueísmo y la Religión bíblico-cristiana los ejemplifican. Más que una opción excluyente, los humanos de nuestra cultura occidental ilustrada tendrán una preferencia por la actitud práxica. Cabe desde ella recuperar valores de las otras. Eso hace en muchos la añoranza por la "espiritualidad oriental". Y, como modesta gnosis, la "teódicea" (¿por qué tanto mal?): tan poco prometedora como respuesta (teórica), cuanto insoslayable como pregunta. (shrink)

El ultimo tercio del siglo XIII es sin duda de los momentos mas trascendentales en la historia del pensamento cristiano. El esfuerzo creador de varias generaciones ha plasmado ya una realizacion madura en la obra de Santo Tomas. El neoplatonismo agostiniano, que es el sustrato comun de ese pensamento, ha recibido por fin en ella la informacion de lo aristotelico en la medida precisa para producir la formula del equilibrio posible. Pero sucede a continuacion un fenomeno historico interamente natural: el (...) mismo impulso creador y sintetizador impide detenerse en esa postura de equilibrio. Los elementos combinados toman mas conciencia de si, quiete depurar y profundizar su propria individualidad. Y surge una tension bipolar, que es ya clasica como etiqueta historica de todo el periodo: el agostinismo y el aristotelismo se disputan el campo del pensamento cristianos. Los incidentes externos de esta contienda entelectual son bien conocidos. Uno de sus resuldados es la formacion, en el seno de las Ordenes mendicantes, de las escuelas de pensamento cuya divergencia doctrinal va a llenar los siglos posteriores de la Escolastica: el tomismo y el escotismo. (shrink)

In the present work, we propose to explore the passage from critique to commodity fetishism and, in general, of capital in Karl Marx to the critique of the fetishism of power in Enrique Dussel. Marx's category of fetishism and its use in the political field has been suggested by the Latin American philosopher for the negative critique moment of his Politics of Liberation, however, it has not been explicitly developed in his passage from the economic field to the political field. (...) We think that its explicit thematic treatment is important since it seems to us the central category in the critique of politics and the possible alternatives towards a new order. The text is presented in three parts: The first part reviews the historical necessity of the State form and its inevitable possibility of fetishization. In the second one, it recovers the category People and their Will-of-life as anti-fetishist fundament of the political power. And, in the third, we made the exposition of the logical passage from the economic field to the political field, that is, from the fetishism of capital to the fetishism of power between Marx and Dussel. (shrink)

The ability of the medical profession to sustain life, or more appropriately, to prolong dying, in patients with terminal illness, creates a most complex and controversial situation for all involved: the patient, if mentally alert; the patient's family; and the medical care team including physicians, nurses and attendants. This situation is especially complex in large acute care hospitals where medical and nursing students, residents and house officers receive advanced medical training. A major problem, prolonging the dying of the terminally ill, (...) with its medical, legal, ethical and economic complexities now confronts American society. The problem is particularly acute in teaching hospitals, in which one finds a disproportionate number of terminally ill patients. The ability to work at these questions as a community rather than as adversaries will determine much about the ability of the health care system to respect the dignity and autonomy of those who seek aid and comfort when faced with serious illness and impending death. Better communication between the physicians, health care providers, the lawyers and ethicists must be developed in order to solve these problems. Over the next ten years society and our elected representatives will be making very demanding decisions about the use of the health dollar. One possible way to prevent increasing costs is to reach significant agreement on the proper care of the dying. Proper care for the dying is being considered, discussed, and evaluated by very thoughtful people. It is not governments which should decide who is to live or who is to die. There is the serious problem of the 'slippery slope' to euthanasia by omission if cost containment becomes the major force in formulating policy on the proper care of the dying. (shrink)

Human beings have physical and psychological limits, but also ethical, which are precisely what make their actions human. These ethical limits enable any debate and investigation, in particular, with human beings. Therefore, any investigation would be unfeasi- ble without those limits. We talk about ethical limits, not in the sense of impediment but in the sense of possibility for action; you can only speak of ethical limits if you af rm a truth that is valid for everyone and for all (...) times, regardless of oneself. We are witnessing a true progress as long as a research is carried out for the bene t of human beings. That’s right; you can only speak of progress if it is understood in a growth in humanity. (shrink)