The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) is a groundbreaking regulatory framework that integrates technical concepts and terminology from the rapidly evolving ecosystems of AI research and innovation into the legal domain. Precise definitions accessible to both AI experts and lawyers are crucial for the legislation to be effective. This paper provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the concepts of AI system, general purpose AI system, foundation model and generative AI across the different versions of the legal text (Commission proposal, (...) Parliament position and Council General Approach) before the final political agreement. The goal is to help bridge the understanding of these key terms between the technical and legal communities and contribute to a proper implementation of the AI Act. We provide an analysis of the concept of AI system considering its scientific foundation and the crucial role that it plays in the regulation, which requires a sound definition both from legal and technical standpoints. We connect the outcomes of this discussion with the analysis of the concept of general purpose AI system and its evolution during the negotiations. We also address the distinct conceptual meanings of AI system vs AI model and explore the technical nuances of the term foundation model. We conclude that rooting the definition of foundation model to its general purpose capabilities following standardised evaluation methodologies appears to be most appropriate approach. Lastly, we tackle the concept of generative AI, arguing that definitions of AI system that include “content” as one of the system’s outputs already captures it, and concluding that not all generative AI is based on foundation models. (shrink)

La cada vez mayor importancia que está adquiriendo el conocimiento en las sociedades contemporáneas hace necesario profundizar en el análisis de la relación existente entre ciencia e innovación. Este artículo la aborda considerando como ha evolucionado nuestra concepción sobre los procesos de producción de conocimiento y el proceso innovador. La revisión bibliográfica realizada muestra que la emergencia de nuevos enfoques en estos campos ha generado una visión sobre la relación ciencia-innovación bastante diferente a la que predominaba hace algunas décadas. De (...) esta forma, si bien por un lado se reconoce que el proceso innovador no depende exclusivamente del desarrollo de actividades científicas, por otro, se establece que el vínculo ciencia-innovación puede ser hoy mucho más estrecho, teniendo en cuenta que las actividades de investigación se desarrollan, cada vez más, en un contexto de aplicación. En el artículo se discute el alcance real de esta nueva visión y las implicaciones que tiene para el diseño de políticas públicas. (shrink)

En este artículo se analizan las características de la transferencia de conocimiento desde unas disciplinas concretas, las humanidades y ciencias humanas, hacia sus respectivos sectores de aplicación. En primer lugar, se pone en evidencia que la transferencia de conocimiento es un concepto complejo y en evolución. En segundo lugar, se caracteriza la transferencia de conocimiento en estas disciplinas; para ello, se analizan los factores que influyen en la transferencia sobre la base del modelo de Bozeman (2000) y de la información (...) obtenida a partir de entrevistas realizadas a responsables de grupos de investigación de este ámbito en el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las características de las diversas dimensiones del proceso de transferencia (agentes, contenidos, medios, destinatarios y entorno), las barreras y los mecanismos más adecuados para lograr una eficiente transferencia de conocimiento, son notablemente diferentes en las humanidades que las que se dan en las ciencias experimentales o las ingenierías. (shrink)

El concepto de sistema de innovación ha tenido un protagonismo creciente en el debate sobre los determinantes de la innovación y sus implicaciones en las políticas de innovación. El sistema de innovación identifica los agentes y sus interrelaciones en diferentes contextos: territorios, sectores o tecnologías y ha permitido un avance significativo en la comprensión de cómo funcionan los procesos innovadores. Sin embargo, frecuentemente el acotamiento puede no resultar el espacio en el que se desarrollan las relaciones más significativas para explicar (...) los procesos de innovación. En nuestra propuesta, el Sistema Distritual de Innovación, tratamos de integrar la perspectiva sistémica y de aprendizaje a través de las interacciones provenientes de los sistemas de innovación con el concepto de distrito industrial, concepto ya consolidado que, si bien no ha considerado la innovación como un elemento clave, sí propone una delimitación del ámbito relacional que consideramos apropiada para el estudio de la innovación. Esta propuesta conceptual sugiere una serie de conclusiones e implicaciones relevantes en este debate sobre los procesos de innovación. (shrink)

Parecería haber una oposición entre el amor a sí mismo, el amor a los demás y el amor a Dios. Por un lado, el amor sui deviene en un egoísmo individualista; por otro, se olvida de sí mismo para entregarse desinteresadamente a los otros. Sin embargo, un análisis profundo de estos distintos amores, como el que nos proponemos en este trabajo, siguiendo las huellas de santo Tomás, muestra su profunda armonía e integración.

This study aims to investigate the spillover impact of work-family/family–work conflict and stress on five major industrial sectors, during the first wave of Covid-19. The purpose of this cross-sectional study is twofold; firstly, to test a hypothesized model where work-family/family-work conflicts are related to stress and where stress could exert a mediating role in such relationships. Secondly, we seek to explore the presence of these conflicts and stress in each of the five major industrial sectors and evaluate if there are (...) significant differences between them, identifying the sociodemographic characteristics associated. Two questionnaires were applied to 748 employees from the selected industries. According to our results, stress predicts both types of conflict and also exerts a mediator role. It was primarily found that the five sectors are significantly different regarding the work-family/family-work conflicts and stress. Findings and implications are discussed. (shrink)

The acquisition and evolution of speech production, discourse and communication can be negatively impacted by brain malformations. We describe, for the first time, a case of developmental dynamic dysphasia (DDD) in a right-handed adolescent boy (subject D) with cortical malformations involving language-eloquent regions (inferior frontal gyrus) in both the left and the right hemispheres. Language evaluation revealed a markedly reduced verbal output affecting phonemic and semantic fluency, phrase and sentence generation and verbal communication in everyday life. Auditory comprehension, repetition, naming, (...) reading and spelling were relatively preserved, but executive function was impaired. Multimodal neuroimaging showed a malformed cerebral cortex with atypical configuration and placement of white matter tracts bilaterally and abnormal callosal fibers. Dichotic listening showed right hemisphere dominance for language and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) additionally revealed dissociated hemispheric language representation with right frontal activation for phonology and bilateral dominance for semantic processing. Moreover, subject D also had congenital mirror movements (CMM), defined as involuntary movements of one side of the body that mirror intentional movements of the other side. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and fMRI during voluntary unimanual (left and right) hand movements showed bilateral motor cortex recruitment and tractography revealed a lack of decussation of bilateral corticospinal tracts. Genetic testing aimed to detect mutations that disrupt the development of commissural tracts correlating with CMM (e.g., Germline DCC mutations) was negative. Overall, our findings suggest that DDD in subject D resulted from the underdevelopment of the left inferior frontal gyrus with limited capacity for plastic reorganization by its homologous counterpart in the right hemisphere. Corpus callosum anomalies probably contributed to hinder interhemispheric connectivity necessary to compensate language and communication deficits after left frontal involvement. (shrink)

Fundamentación: el desarrollo de la cultura profesional docente colaborativo se sustenta en los postulados vigotskianos, donde se concibe al profesor como un sujeto comprometido con las demandas y exigencias de la sociedad. Objetivo: socializar las categorías de análisis que se deben tener en cuenta en un colectivo docente para el desarrollo de una cultura profesional colaborativa en el proceso de formación del profesional de la educación superior. Método: se realizó un estudio etnográfico en la Universidad José Martí Pérez, de Sancti (...) Spíritus, apoyada en la metodología cualitativa y un grupo de técnicas posibilitó la recogida de la información. Resultados: se obtuvieron las categorías de análisis que están estrechamente asociadas al deber ser de un docente universitario, portador de esta cultura. Conclusiones: a partir de la coincidencia de criterios sobre los aspectos teóricos y la reflexión colectiva emergieron elementos indispensables en un colectivo para lograr la cultura profesional docente colaborativa a la cual se aspira, elaborados al tener en cuenta su estructura de contenido y forma. Background: the development of collaborative professional teaching culture is based on Vigotskian statements, where the teacher is seen as an individual compromised with the demanding and needs of the society. Objective: Socialize the analytical categories that should be taken into consideration in a teaching staff for the development of collaborative professional teaching culture in the process formation of the professional of higher education. Method: an ethnographic study was carried out in the University José Marti Pérez, from Sancti Spiritus, based on a qualitative methodology and a group of techniques that make data collection possible. Results: The analytical categories obtained were closely linked to the requirements of a university teacher that has this culture. Conclusions: starting from common criteria about theoretical aspects and group reflection, vital elements emerged in the teaching staff to get the collaborative professional teaching culture that is needed, elaborated taking into account its structure of content and form. (shrink)

Se analiza la evolución del Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ), centro mixto del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas y de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, desde su creación en 1990 en el marco de una iniciativa de colaboración institucional y de investigadores. Se describen las fases del proceso, los elementos facilitadores y las dificultades encontradas, así como las características actuales del Instituto. La valoración de la iniciativa evidencia su éxito: se han superado con creces los resultados esperados por las instituciones (...) y el grupo de científicos involucrados. El ITQ es un centro de referencia internacional en su ámbito científico, tanto por la excelencia de sus resultados científicos y tecnológicos, como por la concepción de sus actividades en contexto de aplicación y el impacto de sus contribuciones en la práctica industrial. Como conclusión, se reflejan las lecciones aprendidas a lo largo del proceso de creación y desarrollo del Instituto. (shrink)

El reconocimiento de los agentes externos como una fuente importante de conocimiento para el desarrollo de los procesos de innovación ha hecho que las empresas tengan que hacer frente a una decisión importante: generar o adquirir externamente el conocimiento tecnológico que precisan. Debido a sus implicaciones, esta decisión se ha convertido en un tema de creciente interés entre los académicos y estudiosos de la innovación, propiciando el desarrollo de toda una literatura, teórica y empírica, sobre los factores y motivaciones que (...) inciden en la misma. En este artículo se presenta una revisión de esta literatura, a partir del análisis de tres estrategias de innovación (hacer, comprar y cooperar) y considerando las aportaciones derivadas de la teoría económica de los costes de transacción y de los enfoques basados en las capacidades de la empresa. (shrink)

The concept of vital force – the immanent energy that promotes the processes of life in the body and in nature – has proved a source of endless fascination and controversy. Indeed, the question of what vitalizes the body has haunted humanity since antiquity, and became even more pressing during the Scientific Revolution and beyond. Examining the complexities and theories about vital force in Spanish modernity, Nicolás Fernández-Medina's Life Embodied offers a novel and provocative assessment of the question of bodily (...) life in Spain. Starting with Juan de Cabriada's landmark Carta filosófica, médico-chymica of 1687 and ending with Ramón Gómez de la Serna's avant-gardism of the 1910s, Fernández-Medina incorporates discussions of anatomy, philosophy, science, critical theory, history of medicine, and literary studies to argue that concepts of vital force served as powerful vehicles to interrogate the possibilities and limits of corporeality. Paying close attention to how the body's capabilities were conceived and strategically woven into critiques of modernity, Fernández-Medina engages the work of Miguel Boix y Moliner, Martín Martínez, Diego de Torres Villarroel, Sebastián Guerrero Herreros, Ignacio María Ruiz de Luzuriaga, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Pedro Mata y Fontanet, Ángela Grassi, Julián Sanz del Río, Miguel de Unamuno, and Pío Baroja, among others. Drawing on extensive research and analysis, Life Embodied breaks new ground as the first book to address the question of vital force in Spanish modernity. (shrink)

La música popular ha funcionado en numerosas ocasiones como una herramienta para articular discursos y lanzar mensajes que desafían los valores de una sociedad. Más allá de repertorios musicales con un explícito mensaje político, existen numerosos ejemplos que desde el mainstream y a través de estrategias más sutiles envían mensajes que resultan subversivos y generan debates sobre convenciones que han sido normalizadas en nuestra cultura. En los últimos años, la proliferación de las redes sociales ha incrementado el papel de la (...) música en las discusiones políticas, y el crecimiento del consumo musical audiovisual a través de YouTube y las redes sociales ha convertido a los videoclips en un soporte fundamental para dar forma a estos mensajes. En este artículo analizamos cómo se utiliza el espacio urbano en la música mainstream para articular discursos capaces de generar debate en la sociedad. Partimos de una concepción dual (física y simbólica) del espacio urbano para entenderlo como un constructo social cargado se significados, y abordamos su funcionamiento en la música popular estudiando casos recientes, como la representación de espacios e imaginarios religiosos en los videoclips mainstream. (shrink)

A finales del siglo XX el cine musical renovó su lenguaje, dando lugar a nuevas narrativas en las que la intertextualidad y la parodia permitían nuevas significaciones y múltiples lecturas. Roberta Torre se erige en una figura representativa del cine musical contemporáneo en Italia, y en sus películas Tano da morire (1997) y Sud side story (2000) nos presenta el retrato de una Sicilia en proceso de cambio y negociación entre tradición y modernidad. La alusión a los tópicos y a (...) los estereotipos que configuran el imaginario de la Italia meridional (mafia, inmigración, religión, música popular, etc.) dentro de una narrativa postmoderna ofrece una visión diferente que desmonta los clichés tradicionalmente asociados con Sicilia. (shrink)

La adaptación cinematográfica de novelas va más allá de la transposición de la narrativa de un medio de expresión a otro e implica a una serie de discursos que están presentes en la obra y que son activados por el lector-espectador en función de su competencia cultural. La música, presente en ambos medios, es capaz de vehicular mensajes que, aunque no se encuentren en la estructura narrativa de las obras, participan en la creación de significados. En este artículo abordamos un (...) análisis formal y discursivo de la música popular en Alta fidelidad y The Commitments, dos novelas adaptadas al cine en las que la ideología de la cultura rock se manifiesta en personajes y espacios. Canciones, músicos e instrumentos aparecen en texto escrito, diálogos, imagen y sonido en las novelas de Roddy Doyle y Nick Hornby y sus respectivas adaptaciones cinematográficas de Alan Parker y Stephen Frears, demostrando la condición multimedia de la música como lenguaje y su capacidad para interactuar con la estructura narrativa y articular sus propios discursos de forma paralela. (shrink)

In this essay I address the question, “What is the subject matter of phenomenological research?” I argue that in spite of the increasing popularity of phenomenology, the answers to this question have been brief and cursory. As a result, contemporary phenomenologists lack a clear framework within which to articulate the aims and results of their research, and cannot easily engage each other in constructive and critical discourse. Examining the literature on phenomenology’s identity, I show how the question of phenomenology’s subject (...) matter has been systematically neglected. It has been overshadowed by an unending concern with phenomenology’s methodological identity. However, an examination of recent contributions to this literature reveals that a concern with articulating phenomenology’s subject matter has gradually increased, although such articulations remain preliminary. In light of this, I delineate, define, and illustrate three layers of phenomenological research, which I term “existentials,” “modes,” and “prejudices.” While the delineation of these layers is drawn primarily from classical phenomenological texts, they are defined and illustrated through the use of more contemporary literature. Following the articulation of this subject matter, I briefly consider some of the debates—both foundational and applied—that can be facilitated by the adoption of this framework. (shrink)

The purpose of this chapter is to determine what is to remember something, as opposed to imagining it, perceiving it, or introspecting it. What does it take for a mental state to qualify as remembering, or having a memory of, something? The main issue to be addressed is therefore a metaphysical one. It is the issue of determining which features those mental states which qualify as memories typically enjoy, and those states which do not qualify as such typically lack. In (...) sections 2 and 3, I will discuss the two main existing conceptions of the conditions that a mental state must satisfy to count as an episode of remembering. The first of these approaches is backward-looking. It puts forward conditions that strictly concern the aetiology of the mental state. I will argue that the conditions offered by the backward-looking approach are both too strong and too weak: They rule out mental states which, intuitively, count as memories while including mental states which, intuitively, do not qualify as memories. The second approach is forward-looking. It puts forward conditions that only concern the use that the subject makes of the mental state while forming beliefs about their own life. I will argue that the conditions proposed by the forward-looking approach are both too weak and too strong as well. However, the discussion of the two approaches will allow us to extract some helpful lessons on the constraints that any proposal about the nature of remembering should respect. An alternative approach aimed at incorporating those lessons will be offered in section 4 by drawing on the literature on functionalism. In section 5, I will argue that this approach can, on the one hand, accommodate as memories those mental states which indicate that the backward-looking approach and the forward-looking approach are too strict while, on the other hand, excluding those mental states which suggest that the two alternative approaches are too permissive. Accordingly, I will conclude that construing memory along functionalist lines is a satisfactory approach to the nature of remembering. (shrink)

Contemporary psychiatry finds itself in the midst of a crisis of classification. The developments begun in the 1980s—with the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders —successfully increased inter-rater reliability. However, these developments have done little to increase the predictive validity of our categories of disorder. A diagnosis based on DSM categories and criteria often fails to accurately anticipate course of illness or treatment response. In addition, there is little evidence that the DSM categories link up (...) with genetic findings, and even less evidence that they... (shrink)

Memories are mental states with a number of interesting features. One of those features seems to be their having an intentional object. After all, we commonly say that memories are about things, and that a subject represents the world in a certain way by virtue of remembering something. It is unclear, however, what sorts of entities constitute the intentional objects of memory. In particular, it is not clear whether those are mind-independent entities in the world or whether they are mental (...) entities of some kind. The purpose of this chapter is to map the different positions on this issue, and to highlight the virtues and difficulties for each of the options. In Section 2, I will specify the question of what the intentional objects of memory are by clarifying the relevant notions of memory and intentional object. In Section 3, I will motivate the significance of identifying the intentional objects of memory by exploring the relations between, on the one hand, the intentionality of memory and, on the other hand, the phenomenology and the epistemology of memory. In Section 4, I will consider two natural candidates for being the intentional objects of memory, namely, worldly entities and mental entities, and I will raise some concerns for each of the two candidates. A promising alternative will emerge, in Section 5, as preserving the virtues of the two original candidates while avoiding their difficulties. The alternative will concern a certain combination of worldly and mental entities; a combination that involves both causal and truth-making relations. I will conclude by sketching how the alternative candidate can shed some light on the phenomenological and epistemological issues raised in the third section. (shrink)

Are those judgments that we make on the basis of our memories immune to error through misidentification? In this paper, I discuss a phenomenon which seems to suggest that they are not; the phenomenon of observer memory. I argue that observer memories fail to show that memory judgments are not IEM. However, the discussion of observer memories will reveal an interesting fact about the perspectivity of memory; a fact that puts us on the right path towards explaining why memory judgments (...) are indeed IEM. The main tenet in the account of IEM to be proposed is that this aspect of memory is grounded, on the one hand, on the intentionality of perception and, on the other hand, on the relation between the intentionality of perception and that of memory. (shrink)

The purpose of this essay is to determine how we should construe the content of memories or, in other words, to determine what the intentional objects of memory are.1 The issue that will concern us is, then, analogous to the traditional philosophical question of whether perception directly puts us in cognitive contact with entities in the world or with entities in our own minds. As we shall see, there are some interesting aspects of the phenomenology and the epistemology of memory, (...) and I shall aim at a specification of the content of memories that is in accordance with those aspects of them. (shrink)

Luego de un rápido bosquejo de las etapas por las que ha pasado el pensamiento filosófico-cristiano en América Latina, el trabajo se concentra en la principales tendencias y autores en el período que va de la década del 40 del siglo XX hasta el momento que se publica el ensayo en 1998.

“On the Subject Matter of Phenomenological Psychopathology” provides a framework for the phenomenological study of mental disorders. The framework relies on a distinction between (ontological) existentials and (ontic) modes. Existentials are the categorial structures of human existence, such as intentionality, temporality, selfhood, and affective situatedness. Modes are the particular, concrete phenomena that belong to these categorial structures, with each existential having its own set of modes. In the first section, we articulate this distinction by drawing primarily on the work of (...) Martin Heidegger—especially his study of the ontological structure of affective situatedness (Befindlichkeit) and its particular, ontic modes, which he calls moods (Stimmungen). In the second section, we draw on a study of grief to demonstrate how this framework can be used when conducting phenomenological interviews and analyses. In the concluding section, we explain how this framework can be guide phenomenological studies across a broad range of existential structures. (shrink)

The problem of demarcating science from nonscience remains unsolved. This article executes an analytical process of elimination of different demarcation proposals put forward since the professionalization of the philosophy of science, explaining why each of those proposals is unsatisfactory or incomplete. Then, it elaborates on how to execute an alternative multicriterial scientific demarcation project put forward by Mahner. This project allows for the demarcation not only of science from non-science and from pseudoscience, but also of different types of sciences and (...) of scientific fields from each other. This article also offers arguments in favor of accepting two types of scientific demarcations, namely epistemic-warrant scientific demarcations and territorial scientific demarcations, and argues in favor of accepting a territorially broad scientific demarcation. (shrink)

Recently, there have been calls to develop a more contextual approach to phenomenological psychopathology—an approach that attends to the socio-cultural as well as personal and biographical factors that shape experiences of mental illness. In this Perspective article, we argue that to develop this contextual approach, phenomenological psychopathology should adopt a new paradigm case. For decades, schizophrenia has served as the paradigmatic example of a condition that can be better understood through phenomenological investigation. And recent calls for a contextual approach continue (...) to use schizophrenia as their primary example. We argue, in contrast, that substance misuse provides a better paradigm case around which to develop a contextually sensitive phenomenological psychopathology. After providing a brief vignette and analysis of a case of substance misuse, we explain why this kind of condition requires considerable sensitivity and attention to context, better motivating the incorporation and development of new contextually sensitive approaches. (shrink)

Episodic memory has a distinctive phenomenology. One way to capture what is distinctive about it is by using the notion of mental time travel: When we remember some fact episodically, we mentally travel to the moment at which we experienced it in the past. This way of distinguishing episodic memory from semantic memory calls for an explanation of what the experience of mental time travel is. In this paper, I suggest that a certain view about the content of memories can (...) shed some light on the experience of mental time travel. This is the view that, when a subject remembers some fact episodically, their memory represents itself as coming from a perception of that fact. I propose that the experience of mental time travel in memory is the experience of representing one of the elements in this complex content, namely, the past perceptual experience of the remembered fact. In defence of this proposal, I offer two considerations. Firstly, the proposal is consistent with the idea that memories enjoy a temporal phenomenology (specifically, a feeling of pastness). Secondly, the proposal is consistent with the possibility that some of our other cognitive capacities might yield an experience of mental time travel which can be oriented towards the future. I argue that the received conception of mental time travel is in tension with those two ideas. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to introduce an approach for understanding social cognition that we call the normative approach to social cognition. Such an approach, which results from a systematization of previous arguments and ideas from authors such as Ryle, Dewey, or Wittgenstein, is an alternative to the classic model and the direct social perception model. In section 2, we evaluate the virtues and flaws of these two models. In section 3, we introduce the normative approach, according to (...) which human, socio-cognitive competences rely on a myriad of social norms and routines that mediate our social interactions in such a way that we can make sense of each other without taking into consideration their mental states. In sections 4 and 5, we find some common premises shared by the two prior models and offer some arguments against them. In section 6, we advance some possible arguments against our approach and offer some responses against them. (shrink)

The feeling of error (FOE) is the subjective experience that something went wrong during a reasoning or calculation task. The main goal of the present study was to assess the accuracy of the FOE in the context of mental mathematical calculation. We used the number bisection task (NBT) to evoke this metacognitive feeling and assessed it by asking participants if they felt they have committed an error after solving the task. In the NBT participants have to determine whether the number (...) presented in the middle of a triplet corresponds to the arithmetic mean of the two outer numbers (e.g., 07_16_25) with a Yes/No answer. Our results show that FOE reports were strongly correlated with arithmetic errors and numerical properties of the NBT, suggesting that the FOE accurately represents the error. This finding indicates that even very fast metacognitive feelings are reliable when it comes to evaluating one’s own mental performance. Moreover, our results suggest that the occurrence of FOEs is determined by the fluency with which each triplet was solved and the post-decision evaluation processes that occurred after the NBT was solved. Additionally, we asked participants to report their confidence in the given answer for the cases where they did not report FOEs. Participants reported less confidence for the (objectively) incorrect answers than for the (objectively) correct ones, suggesting that in cases where they did not have a conscious FOE they still were able to implicitly detect their errors. Remarkably, confidence was also determined by the fluency of the NBT. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that phenomenological psychopathologists, despite their critical attitude toward mainstream psychiatry, still hold problematic prejudices about the nature of psychiatric conditions as illness or disorder. I suggest that phenomenological psychopathologists turn to resources in the neurodiversity and mad pride movements to critically reflect upon these prejudices and appreciate the methodological problems that they pose.

The growing body of research on interdisciplinarity has encouraged a more in depth analysis of the relations that hold among academic disciplines. In particular, the incursion of one scientific discipline into another discipline’s traditional domain, also known as scientific imperialism, has been a matter of increasing debate. Following this trend, Scientific Imperialism aims to bring together philosophers of science and historians of science interested in the topic of scientific imperialism and, in particular, interested in the conceptual clarification, empirical identification, and (...) normative assessment of the idea of scientific imperialism. Thus, this innovative volume has two main goals. Indeed, the authors first seek to understand interdisciplinary relations emerging from the incursion of one scientific discipline into one or more other disciplines, such as in cases in which the conventions and procedures of one discipline or field are imposed on other fields; or more weakly when a scientific discipline seeks to explain phenomena that are traditionally considered proper of another discipline’s domain. Secondly, the authors explore ways of distinguishing imperialistic from non-imperialistic interactions between disciplines and research fields. (shrink)

Transhumanism is a challenging movement that invites us to rethink what defines humanity, including what we value and regret the most about our existence. Vulnerability is a key concept that require thorough philosophical scrutiny concerning transhumanist proposals. Vulnerability can refer to a universal condition of human life or, rather, to the specific exposure to certain harms due to particular situations. Even if we are all vulnerable in the first sense, there are also different sources and levels of vulnerability depending on (...) concrete social circumstances. Recently, Michael Hauskeller argued about a fundamental incompatibility between transhumanism and vulnerability. He understands vulnerability as an existential category, linked to woundability and mortality. This idea is akin to ontological vulnerability, but it does not notice some important features of social vulnerability. On the other side, transhumanism is a complex and non-homogeneous movement. Here we distinguish between a strong and a weak version of transhumanism. We will propose that the salience of vulnerability is only diminished in the radical one, while a moderate version can reconcile vulnerability with human enhancement. Thus, vulnerability, a concept that has recently gained much importance as an anthropological category in contemporary ethics, is not necessarily at odds with any transhumanist project. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide an account of a certain variety of self-deception based on a model of self-knowledge. According to this model, one thinks that one has a belief on the basis of one’s grounds for that belief. If this model is correct, then our thoughts about which beliefs we have should be in accordance with our grounds for those beliefs. I suggest that the relevant variety of self deception is a failure of self-knowledge wherein the (...) subject violates this epistemic obligation. I argue that construing this type of self-deception as a failure of selfknowledge explains two important aspects of it: The tension that we observe between the subject’s speech and her actions, and our inclination to hold the subject responsible for her condition. I compare this proposal with two other approaches to self-deception in the literature; intentionalism and motivationalism. Intentionalism explains the two aspects of self-deception but it runs into the so called ‘paradoxes’ of self-deception. Motivationalism avoids those paradoxes but it cannot explain the two aspects of self-deception. (shrink)

Aristotle famously distinguishes between merely doing a virtuous action and acting in the way in which a virtuous person would. Against an interpretation prominent in recent scholarship, I argue that ‘acting virtuously,’ in the sense of exercising a virtue actually possessed, is prior to ‘virtuous action,’ understood generically. I propose that the latter notion is best understood as a derivative abstraction from the former, building upon a reading of a neglected distinction between per se and coincidentally just action in Nicomachean (...) Ethics 5, and thus shed light on the meaning and philosophical significance of the priority of acting from virtue. (shrink)