This conceptual paper explores the theoretical possibilities of posthumanism and presents ecologies of repair as a heuristic device to explore the association modes of different entities, which, when confronted with the effects of human-induced destructive events, seek to repair the damage and transform the conditions of coexistence of various life forms. The central idea is that severe socio-environmental crisis caused by an intensification of industrial activity are conducive to observing new sociomaterial configurations and affective dispositions that, through the reorganization of (...) practices of resistance, remediation, and mutual care, are oriented to generating reparative and/or transformative processes from damaged ecologies and communities. Crises constitute true ontological experimentation processes where the presence of other-than-human natures, and of artifacts or devices that participate in reparative actions, become visible. A post-human approach to nature allows us to use languages and methodologies that do not restrict the emergence of assemblages under the assumption of theira prioriontological separation, but rather examine their reparative potential based on the efficacy of situated relationships. Methodologically, transdisciplinarity is relevant, with ethnography and other engaged methods applied over units of observation and experience called socio-geo-ecologies. The relevant attributes of these socio-geo-ecologies, beyond the individual, community, or institutional aspects, are the specific geological characteristics that make possible an entanglement of interdependent relationships between human and non-human agents. The conceptual analysis is illustrated with empirical examples stemming from socio-geo-ecologies researched in Southern Chile. (shrink)

This textbook presents the basics of philosophy that are necessary for the student and researcher in science in order to better understand scientific work. The approach is not historical but formative: tools for semantical analysis, ontology of science, epistemology, and scientific ethics are presented in a formal and direct way. The book has two parts: one with the general theory and a second part with application to some problems such as the interpretation of quantum mechanics, the nature of mathematics, and (...) the ontology of spacetime. The book addresses questions such as "What is meaning?", "What is truth?", "What are truth criteria in science?", "What is a theory?", "What is a model?" "What is a datum?", "What is information?", "What does it mean to understand something?", "What is space?", "What is time?", "How are these concepts articulated in science?" "What are values?" "What are the limits of science?", and many more. The philosophical views presented are "scientific" in the sense that they are informed by current science, they are relevant for scientific research, and the method adopted uses the hypothetical-deductive approach that is characteristic of science. The results and conclusions, as any scientific conclusion, are open to revision in the light of future advances. Hence, this philosophical approach opposes to dogmatic philosophy. Supported by end-of-chapter summaries and a list of special symbols used, the material will be of interest for students and researchers in both science and philosophy. The second part will appeal to physicists and mathematicians. (shrink)

I argue for a four dimensional, non-dynamical view of space-time, where becoming is not an intrinsic property of reality. This view has many features in common with the Parmenidean conception of the universe. I discuss some recent objections to this position and I offer a comparison of the Parmenidean space-time with an interpretation of Heraclitus’ thought that presents no major antagonism.

This article provides a comparative and interpretative analysis of the emerging projects in Latin America after the crisis of the neoliberal modernity project. It offers a critical interpretation of the current tendencies in Latin American politics at the national level, while suggesting some hints to understand the current neoliberal crisis in Western countries after Trump’s electoral triumph. The purpose is to figure out the collective meanings behind the new national projects in Latin America (postcolonial indigeneity, confrontational populism, defective neoliberalism, and (...) social liberalism) that are constructing a new regional order. The work examines how the neoliberal modernity project came to be dominant in the late 1980s, only to enter into a period of crisis in the current century. That crisis, in turn, provides the basis for exploring four different alternative projects of modernity, based on the kind of rationality and agency promoted by them. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy of Music Education Review 12.1 (2004) 89-93 [Access article in PDF] Richard Shusterman, Performing Live: Aesthetic Alternatives for the Ends of Art (New York: Cornell University Press, 2000) Performing Live can be ascribed to post-modern American pragmatism in its widest expression. The author's intention is to revalue aesthetic experience, as well as to expand its realm to the extent where such experience also encompasses areas alien to traditional (...) aesthetics (for example, popular art or the somatic arts of self-improvement), reaching "the art of living" and reclaiming life itself as performance.After the introduction, titled "Aesthetic Renewal for the Ends of Art: An Overture," the text is organized in two main parts: "Aesthetic Experience and Popular Art" and "Soma, Self, and Society." Along with its ambitious title, the book's organization and structure promise a consistency of approach and narrative that somewhat dissolves during the reading. Shusterman recognizes that the stylistic problems that arise from a compilation of articles spanning ten years, mixing newly written and revised articles, but appeals to the reader's appreciation of the "quality of the mix" (11). Despite this feature, he is a lucid and thoughtful communicator and his writing style is excellent.In order to propose new or revitalized alternatives for the ends of art, Shusterman [End Page 89] explores the crisis in traditional visions of art, pointing to the compartmentalization and lack of credibility in current artistic thought and practice. Hegel, Walter Benjamin, Gianni Vattimo, and Arthur Danto provide him with the philosophical arguments accounting for the modern "exhaustion" of art. He supports a dialectical approach, both naturalistic and historicist, and builds a solid case for the possibility of alternatives in aesthetic thought and experience. He proposes two alternatives in his introduction: The two most prominent sites for today's aesthetic alternatives are clearly the mass-media popular arts and the complex cluster of disciplines devoted to bodily beauty and the art of living as expressed in today's preoccupation with aesthetic lifestyles. (7) It is unclear why these alternatives are "clearly" "the two most prominent." The author does not build a case for this assumption or for the "newness" of these alternatives. The "compilation style" mentioned above and this lack of justification for one of the most original elements in the book make this text often read as a philosophical drafting board. Keeping these characteristics in mind and also critically pondering the degrees of success in the enterprise, the reader must give Shusterman credit for taking risks while suggesting concrete examples for an experiential, holistic philosophy. In this sense, he mentions (in a different context) that "all of us [are caught] between conceptual history and futuristic speculation" (145), and he takes to heart this situation and its challenges.The first chapter in Performing Live aims to redeem or revalue the concept of aesthetic experience. For Shusterman, the loss of "felt experience" in art makes the interest in this concept utterly relevant for art's survival. He traces the lineage of this aesthetic philosophy to John Dewey, Monroe Beardsley, Nelson Goodman, and Arthur Danto. Besides focusing on these authors, his analysis revisits some of the main currents of thought in Western philosophy on the topic (for example, Plato, Hume, Kant, Dickie, Adorno, Benjamin, Gadamer). He concludes that a pragmatic approach to aesthetics, applying the concept of aesthetic experience directionally (as a means towards the actual experience rather than as a definable concept), can provide new paths for revitalizing art. Throughout the text this concept is also used expansively. The post-modern justification of the proposed aesthetics, by allowing the extension of aesthetic experience to embrace "the art of living," can leave the reader wondering if Shusterman has not simply turned Kierkegaard's existentialist stages to self-realization upside down.The second chapter is an open defense of popular art, carried out by contesting the main complaints found in current art criticism. Shusterman's defense is not directed to the products of popular art, but against the claim that popular art is aesthetically "worthless." His definition of "popular art... (shrink)

Nos deteremos aqui sobre a crítica de Matthew Kramer em relação à interpretação de Quentin Skinner sobre o conceito de “liberdade” em Hobbes contida em seu artigo “On the Unavoidability of Actions: Quentin Skinner, Thomas Hobbes, and the Modern Doctrine of Negative Liberty” (2001). Nele, Kramer trata do então crescente interesse do projeto intelectual de Skinner pelo pensamento hobbesiano, algo já evidenciado desde a publicação de seu livro Liberdade Antes do Liberalismo (1998). Kramer toma como referência central de sua resposta (...) o artigo de Skinner intitulado “Thomas Hobbes on the Proper Signification of Liberty”, criticando a sua posição e contrastando com algumas de suas próprias ideias sobre “liberdade” e “não-liberdade”. Através dessas considerações, Kramer reavalia a noção da liberdade em Hobbes, tomando-a como o protótipo liberal da liberdade negativa por excelência, demonstrando assim os supostos equívocos contidos na interpretação de Skinner sobre ela. Buscamos defender aqui, contudo, que a proposta interpretativa de Kramer carece da devida fundamentação metodológica que correlaciona o neorrepublicanismo de Skinner no campo da filosofia política com certos princípios oriundos de sua historiografia que não são devidamente considerados pelo primeiro. A sua crítica estaria, assim, comprometida por uma abordagem desconectada do pensamento e das intenções de Hobbes enquanto um agente político inserido em um determinado contexto linguístico e social, quadro que seria posteriormente resgatado de maneira primorosa por Skinner em seu estudo Hobbes and Republican Liberty (2008). (shrink)

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

O livro The Meme Machine, de Susan Blackmore, foi considerado por Dawkins como aquele que leva a memética mais longe. Nesse livro, Blackmore apresenta várias análises meméticas de variados fenômenos,, além disso, procura resolver algumas das questões mais fundamentais da área e apresentar algumas das definições mais utilizadas de conceitos centrais da memética. Por mais importante que seja tal livro, Blackmore comete o erro de ignorar as pesquisas que poderiam fundamentar suas análises e, desse modo, acaba criando narrativas interessantes, mas (...) sem embasamento empírico. (shrink)

In this paper we provide a compact presentation of the verisimilitudinarian approach to scientific progress (VS, for short) and defend it against the sustained attack recently mounted by Alexander Bird (2007). Advocated by such authors as Ilkka Niiniluoto and Theo Kuipers, VS is the view that progress can be explained in terms of the increasing verisimilitude (or, equivalently, truthlikeness, or approximation to the truth) of scientific theories. According to Bird, VS overlooks the central issue of the appropriate grounding of scientific (...) beliefs in the evidence, and it is therefore unable (a) to reconstruct in a satisfactory way some hypothetical cases of scientific progress, and (b) to provide an explanation of the aversion to falsity that characterizes scientific practice. We rebut both of these criticisms and argue that they reveal a misunderstanding of some key concepts underlying VS. (shrink)

O artigo visa estabelecer a ideia de valor e sua formação, tomando como base o livro “Les Mots et Les Choses” de Michel Foucault, explorando a concepção epistemológica das coisas no âmbito político-econômico-informacional. A metodologia utilizada neste artigo, segue a leitura sintópica da fonte bibliográfica indicada, complementada pela análise conceitual dos capítulos “Échanger” e “Travail, Vie et Langage” da obra, na transversalidade disciplinar, integrando a filosofia da informação e a economia política, numa perspectiva que articula as dimensões da semiótica com (...) a teoria do valor econômico no campo informacional da epistemologia das coisas. (shrink)

Mi intención en este trabajo es doble, y se corresponde con las partes de la exposición que ofrezco. En principio, reconstruyo los argumentos que permiten afirmar, siguiendo a la Scienza Nuova, que el lenguaje y la política se hallan fuertemente interrelacionados. Posteriormente, de manera crítica, pondero algunas interpretaciones que aproximan el pensamiento de Vico sobre la cuestión referida a la filosofía del lenguaje contemporánea. La tesis que defiendo es la de que el lenguaje no expresa meramente una peculiar visión del (...) mundo, sino que es el medio indispensable para la creación y modificación de las instituciones del mundo civil.Palabras clave: institución, lenguaje, universal, política, acción.My intention in this work is double, and corresponds with the parts of the exposition that I offer. In principle, I reconstruct the arguments that they allow to affirm, following the Scienza Nuova, which the language and the politics are strongly interrelated. Later, in a critical way, I consider some interpretations that bring Vico’s thought near on the question referred to the contemporary philosophy of the language. The thesis that I defend is it of which the language does not express merely a peculiar vision of the world, but it is the indispensable way for the creation and modification of the institutions of the civil world.Keywords: Institution, Language, Universal, Politics, Action. (shrink)

El presente artículo tiene por intención principal dilucidar las distinciones y relaciones conceptuales que existen entre labor, trabajo y ocio, en el pensamiento de Hannah Arendt y Walter Benjamin, a modo de esclarecer cómo los posicionamientos de ambos autores contribuyen a la crítica de la concepción del trabajo moderno. Para ello, será necesario exponer los matices conceptuales de la obra de Arendt, a saber, la distinción entre trabajo y labor, con el fin de trazar las diferencias y puntos de encuentro (...) con las reflexiones de Benjamin en torno a los cambios traídos como consecuencia del auge del capitalismo industrial y en la experiencia del ocio. Entre estos matices, esclarecimientos y contrastes, es preciso no solo destacar la importancia de la relación e influencia de ambos autores, sino su vigencia en las problemáticas sociales contemporáneas al respecto. (shrink)

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

Este artigo pretende discutir a conexão entre a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer e a questão ambiental, enquanto uma espécie de eco-hermenêutica. Nesse sentido, busca-se discutir a contribuição do pensamento ontológico-prático de Gadamer em termos ecológicos, como um ramo da filosofia no qual as questões em torno do meio ambiente constituem um problema comum no âmbito da práxis humana. Apontando a crise ecológica como questão básica, Gadamer indica uma forma de pensar a própria constituição do modo de estar no mundo com (...) os outros, situado em uma esfera de práxis atual e cada vez mais degradada. Em uma palavra, ele oferece um horizonte interpretativo ao questionamento ecológico como um dos caminhos onde ainda se pode pensar a solidariedade hermenêutica em termos de solidariedade ecológica, como possibilidade de reabilitação da práxis desde o ambiente comum. (shrink)

Recently, the idea that all rights are positive and costly has come to prominence in international human rights law. This has been taken to imply that there are no reasons to object to providing economic, social, and cultural rights with the same level of protection than civil and political rights. The present contribution aims to reject this undifferentiated view. It argues that even if it is accepted that all rights are in a sense positive and costly, there are still strong (...) grounds for finding the welfare implications of human rights problematic from the perspective of adjudication. (shrink)

The capacity to take part in dialogues and justify one's positions constitutes the normative core of critical social justice. Ensuring this capacity to every citizen is the main objective of justice, which requires transforming social structures and relations as well as counteracting the effects of capitalist dynamics.

El neoplatonismo da un giro significativo cuando Jámblico integra a su doctrina una perspectiva mística basada en los _Oráculos Caldeos_. Esta recopilación de fragmentos, que se remonta al zoroastrismo babilónico, surgió en la civilización helenística y ganó relevancia como textos herméticos entre los filósofos a partir del siglo II. Para Jámblico, la preocupación neoplatónica sobre la posibilidad de un retorno al Uno se aborda no tanto a través de una filosofía puramente abstracta, sino mediante una sabiduría filosófica iluminada por la (...) práctica teúrgica. Jámblico afirma la legitimidad de los ritos detallados en estos textos hieráticos, sosteniendo que fueron inspirados por Dios mismo a Juliano. Siriano y Proclo desempeñan un papel crucial en la preservación y transmisión de este legado. Al heredar las enseñanzas de Jámblico, no solo consideraron este enfoque teúrgico como un elemento cuasi refundacional del neoplatonismo, sino que también introdujeron sus propias contribuciones a su desarrollo. Además, actuaron como los intermediarios a través de los cuales estas doctrinas llegaron al autor del _Corpus Dionysiacum_. En este punto, Dionisio Areopagita entra en escena. Él revitaliza el concepto de teúrgia, aunque –como este trabajo tratará de demostrar– su intento de integrar el neoplatonismo con el cristianismo refleja un retorno a la interpretación original de la teúrgia por parte de Jámblico. Las doctrinas de Dionisio proporcionan una base sólida para que él sostenga que los ritos cristianos instituidos por Jesús –siendo realizados por Dios mismo, en y a través de su propia persona– son doblemente verdaderos. Por lo tanto, estos ritos conducen ciertamente a la _theosis_, el único medio para lograr la unión del alma con el Dios cristiano. (shrink)

This research tries to emphasize the unofficial treatment of historical facts in the new historical novels. Los perros del paraíso (Paradise Dogs), by Argentinean writer Abel Posse, shows a particular management of eroticism as a fundamental narrative axis of the events starring Cristobal Colón, Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragón. The novel presents a way to assume the world mediated by power and carnal desire, where the last one, in particular, is the factor that determines the big historical changes (...) —under these three characters— in Spain and America. (shrink)

Este trabajo presenta la fórmula del comunitarismo (Michael Walzer y sobre todo, Amitai Etzioni) para contrarrestar los problemas de desintegración social de las sociedades postindustriales. Dicha fórmula está basada en una «reforma de conciencia» que se debe lograr a través de la educación para fomentar la tolerancia social. El análisis se centra en el carácter funcional que asume este modelo y en los problemas que presentan sus fundamentos. Por último, se propone una alternativa basada en el sistema de derechos.

Este estudio de caso describe cómo el Tecnológico de Monterrey, en el norte de México, ha expe-rimentado un salto cualitativo y cuantitativo en su productividad intelectual. En menos de diez años, esta universidad se ha desplazado de generar muy pocas ideas a ser una de las universidades privadas me..