Me enfoco aquí en los principales contraargumentos que han sido erigidos en contra de una tesis que postulé en mi artículo “Nietzsche, the Overhuman, and the Transhumanims” (2009a), según la cual se pueden encontrar similitudes significativas en un nivel fundamental entre el concepto de posthumano, tal como es sostenido por algunos transhumanistas, y el concepto de Nietzsche de sobrehumano. Los artículos con los contraargumentos fueron publicados en el reciente apartado de la Journal of Evolution and Technology “Nietzsche and European Posthumanisms” (...) (junio-julio 2010). Como varios comentadores se han referido a problemas idénticos, he decidido que no sería apropiado responder a cada artículo individualmente, sino enfocarme en los argumentos centrales y lidiar con los contraargumentos mencionados en las diferentes réplicas. Me ocupo de cada tópico en una sección separada. Las secciones se titulan como sigue: 1. Tecnología y evolución; 2. Superando el nihilismo; 3. Política y liberalismo; 4. ¿Utilitarismo o ética virtuosa?; 5. La vida buena; 6. Creatividad y voluntad de poder; 7. Inmortalidad y longevidad; 8. Logocentrismo; 9. El tercer Reich. Cuando me ocupo con cada tópico, no sólo estoy respondiendo a los contraargumentos; también erijo interrogantes concernientes al transhumanismo y postulo mis propios puntos de vista en relación con algunas de las interrogantes con las que estoy lidiando. (shrink)

Having defended the usefulness of our definition of reasoning, we stress that reasoning is not only for convincing but also for evaluating arguments, and that as such it has an epistemic function. We defend the evidence supporting the theory against several challenges: People are good informal arguers, they reason better in groups, and they have a confirmation bias. Finally, we consider possible extensions, first in terms of process-level theories of reasoning, and second in the effects of reasoning outside the lab.

Most studies of academic inbreeding have focused on assessing its impact on scholarly practices, outputs, and outcomes. Few studies have concentrated on the other possible effects of academic inbreeding. This paper draws on a large number of studies on academic inbreeding to explore how the practice has been conceptualized, how it has emerged, and how it has been rationalized in the creation and development of higher education systems. Within this framework, the paper also explores how academic inbreeding shapes and maintains (...) a powerful academic oligarchy, leading to the stonewalling of both knowledge and institutional change to maintain social and political structures somewhat akin to those of medieval societies. The paper shows that the key to mitigating academic inbreeding practices lies in ensuring that academic recruitment processes are open, meritocratic, and transparent. However, a more difficult task is to change longstanding mentalities and disrupt a system that serves the interests of certain groups but not the advancement of knowledge or the fulfillment of universities’ social mandates. (shrink)

According to the argumentative theory of reasoning, humans have evolved reasoning abilities for argumentative purposes. This implies that some reasoning skills should be universals. Such a claim seems to be at odd with findings from cross-cultural research. First, a wealth of research, following the work of Luria, has shown apparent difficulties for illiterate populations to solve simple but abstract syllogisms. It can be shown, however, that once they are willing to accept the pragmatics of the task, these participants can perform (...) at or near ceiling. Second, historical, sociological and anthropological research has been used to claim that some Eastern cultures have not developed argumentation. These claims are the result of oversimplifications and of a selective view of the data. A closer looks reveals instead very elaborate forms of argumentation, in Chinese culture particularly. Third, cross-cultural psychologists have carried out an extensive research program aimed at showing that Easterners do not rely on the principle of non-contradiction and that they use holistic rather than analytic thinking. A review of these experiments shows that no qualitative difference emerges in the way Easterners and Westerners deal with argumentation and that in the proper context both populations can easily have recourse to holistic or analytic thinking. It is possible to conclude from this critical review that the reasoning skills involved in argumentation seem to be universal even though they can be used in different ways in various cultural contexts. (shrink)

Reasoning, defined as the production and evaluation of reasons, is a central process in science. The dominant view of reasoning, both in the psychology of reasoning and in the psychology of science, is of a mechanism with an asocial function: bettering the beliefs of the lone reasoner. Many observations, however, are difficult to reconcile with this view of reasoning; in particular, reasoning systematically searches for reasons that support the reasoner’s initial beliefs, and it only evaluates these reasons cursorily. By contrast, (...) reasoners are well able to evaluate others’ reasons: accepting strong arguments and rejecting weak ones. The argumentative theory of reasoning accounts for these traits of reasoning by postulating that the evolved function of reasoning is to argue: to find arguments to convince others and to change one’s mind when confronted with good arguments. Scientific reasoning, however, is often described as being at odds with such an argumentative mechanisms: scientists are supposed to reason objectively on their own, and to be pigheaded when their theories are challenged, even by good arguments. In this article, we review evidence showing that scientists, when reasoning, are subject to the same biases as are lay people while being able to change their mind when confronted with good arguments. We conclude that the argumentative theory of reasoning explains well key features of scientists’ reasoning and that differences in the way scientists and laypeople reason result from the institutional framework of science. (shrink)

Summer School in Cognitive Science: Minds and Societies. Communication par affiche dans un congrès, Montréal, 26 juin - 06 juillet 2008.

People not only disagree about religious belief, but they disagree about what it is to disagree about religious belief; and consequently about what it would be for one religion to be uniquely true. What I shall try to do first is to characterise the nature of religious disagreement; and next to suggest in what the uniqueness of Christianity might consist.

La recepción de la Wissenschaft der Logik de G. W. F. Hegel en la filosofía argentina fue tardía y focal. A la casi nula atención al aspecto especulativo de la filosofía hegeliana durante el positivismo decimonónico, continuó un superficial interés en las primeras décadas del siglo XX que derivó en dos comentarios de la Wissenschaft der Logik: La Lógica de Hegel de M. A. Virasoro y Hegel y la dialéctica de C. Astrada. Para Virasoro la obra representaba un posicionamiento lógico (...) contrapuesto al formal con derivaciones gnoseológicas y metafísicas; para Astrada ella exponía la fundamentación del método dialéctico, el cual tenía relevancia ontológica y política. Ambos filósofos coincidieron en un interés crítico por la obra y en un privilegio exegético de la Doctrina del ser por sobre la Esencia y el Concepto. Las diferencias y las continuidades entre ambas interpretaciones conformaron la recepción inicial de la Wissenschaft der Logik en la filosofía argentina. (shrink)

Hindbrain development is orchestrated by a vertebrate gene regulatory network that generates segmental patterning along the anterior–posterior axis via Hox genes. Here, we review analyses of vertebrate and invertebrate chordate models that inform upon the evolutionary origin and diversification of this network. Evidence from the sea lamprey reveals that the hindbrain regulatory network generates rhombomeric compartments with segmental Hox expression and an underlying Hox code. We infer that this basal feature was present in ancestral vertebrates and, as an evolutionarily constrained (...) developmental state, is fundamentally important for patterning of the vertebrate hindbrain across diverse lineages. Despite the common ground plan, vertebrates exhibit neuroanatomical diversity in lineage‐specific patterns, with different vertebrates revealing variations of Hox expression in the hindbrain that could underlie this diversification. Invertebrate chordates lack hindbrain segmentation but exhibit some conserved aspects of this network, with retinoic acid signaling playing a role in establishing nested domains of Hox expression. (shrink)

La importancia de Montserrat como santuario se puede medir no sólo por la extensión de su culto, sino también como centro irradiador de modelos narrativos. La leyenda de Garí fue elaborada en el medievo por los benedictinos y proviene de dos fuentes conocidas: el eremita tentado y la historia del hombre salvaje. En ella se aúnan legados de origen oriental y europeo. El hallazgo de la imagen se suma más tarde a esta narración, lo que pone de manifiesto cómo se (...) van hilvanando las leyendas, su proceso de elaboración: 1º una leyenda de fundación del monasterio santuario como la de Garí. En 2º lugar una leyenda de origen de culto a una imagen. La leyenda mariana de Montserrat forma parte de la cultura devocional dedicada a ciertos santos y a san Miguel, así como también al culto a las imágenes. (shrink)