Este artículo se centra en presentar una nueva forma, aunque paradójicamente antigua, de entender la filosofía. Se trata de la filosofía como arte de vivir, cuyo ejemplo paradigmático lo encontramos en la figura socrática, aquel personaje enigmático del siglo V a. C que impactó a la humanidad no tanto por su obra como por su vida y su forma de filosofar. En este artículo, trataremos de comprender tanto el significado como el valor de su filosofía, partiendo de la revitalización que (...) ha hecho de la misma el historiador Pierre Hadot. Finalmente, veremos cómo la Práctica Filosófica se abre paso en nuestra actualidad con el fin de recuperar este espíritu originario con el que nació la filosofía. (shrink)

Coastal wetlands are among the most productive and valuable ecosystems worldwide, although one of the main factors affecting their survival is the coexistence between agriculture and conservation. This paper analyses the complex balance between agriculture and conservation coexistence in El Hondo Natural Park coastal wetland by examining stakeholders’ narratives, perceptions, and interactions. The aim is to highlight the concurrence between socio-economic progress and socio-environmental justice perspectives by identifying those driving factors motivating stakeholders’ conflicts while expanding stakeholders’ behaviour and interaction when (...) discussing the current and future management of this socio-ecological system. Data were collected between April and June 2019 from semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to river basin authorities, regional governments, municipalities, irrigation communities, union farms, regional and local ecologist groups, and social movements; and scrutinized through qualitative data analysis and descriptive statistics. Stakeholders discussed the main driving factors identified through the local newspapers to motivating current conflicts and confronting perspectives in El Hondo Natural Park: the origin and evolution of the coastal wetland, the provision and value of ecosystem services, the management of water scarcity and water quality standards, the guarantee and management of public and private investment, and consequences of a natural park declaration. Likewise, the triple-loop analysis of stakeholders’ representativeness, relevance and collaboration highlighted examples of stakeholders’ underrepresentation and power imbalance, a negative assessment of the stakeholders’ actions, and how agreements are based on both stakeholders’ predisposition to collaborate and affinity. (shrink)

El propósito de este artículo es mostrar la ambigüedad que caracteriza a la definición de los afectos que Spinoza presenta al principio del libro III de su Ética en lo que respecta a la locución adverbial et simul que aparece en ella. El problema que aquí se plantea es aclarar hasta qué punto y en qué sentido Spinoza podría considerar que hay afectos del cuerpo o afectos del alma puramente. Este estudio pretende añadir argumentos, basados en las consideraciones que hace (...) Spinoza sobre el placer y el dolor, que respalden la hipótesis de la existencia de afectos del cuerpo, pero haciendo compatible dicha tesis con el enfoque monista de Spinoza. (shrink)

The lack of public support for climate change policies and refusals to vaccinate children are just two alarming illustrations of the impacts of dissent about scientific claims. Dissent can lead to confusion, false beliefs, and widespread public doubt about highly justified scientific evidence. Even more dangerously, it has begun to corrode the very authority of scientific consensus and knowledge. Deployed aggressively and to political ends, some dissent can intimidate scientists, stymie research, and lead both the public and policymakers to oppose (...) important public policies firmly rooted in science. -/- To criticize dissent is, however, a fraught exercise. Skepticism and fearless debate are key to the scientific process, making it both vital and incredibly difficult to characterize and identify dissent that is problematic in its approach and consequences. Indeed, as de Melo-Martín and Intemann show, the criteria commonly proposed as means of identifying inappropriate dissent are flawed and the strategies generally recommended to tackle such dissent are not only ineffective but could even make the situation worse. -/- The Fight Against Doubt proposes that progress on this front can best be achieved by enhancing the trustworthiness of the scientific community and by being more realistic about the limits of science when it comes to policymaking. It shows that a richer understanding of the context in which science operates is needed to disarm problematic dissent and those who deploy it. This, the authors argue, is the best way forward, rather than diagnosing the many instances of wrong-headed dissent. (shrink)

Academic English has been the focus of attention for many researchers in the past few years. However, academic spoken English has not received much attention, and those who have selected this field have mainly taken academic lectures and conference paper presentations as their corpus. In this article, a new classification of spoken academic genres is presented, which is formed by classroom genres, institutional genres and research genres. Among these, institutional genres have been selected as a corpus, specifically the Honoris Causa (...) acceptance speech, which has not yet been analysed. We believe that this genre has specific characteristics, mainly related to purpose and structure. In this study, we demonstrate that Honoris Causa speeches follow an established structural pattern and that they always have two purposes: a common one, namely, to express gratitude for the award; and a secondary one that varies from one speech to the other. It is also proved that common rhetorical patterns relate the speaker, the topic and the secondary purpose of the speeches. (shrink)

En este artículo se intenta demostrar que los argumentos esgrimidos para negar que la publicidad creativa pueda ser considerada como artística descansan sobre falsos fundamentos, lo que relativiza su verdad. Ni el argumento de la fórmula, ni el de la pasividad del espectador, ni el de la inutilidad del arte, como los ha caracterizado en otro contexto Noël Carroll, resultan válidos para lograr dicho propósito. A ello hay que sumar que carecemos de un concepto definitivo y universal de “obra de (...) arte”, por lo que resulta imposible negar con él el carácter artístico de la publicidad. (shrink)

En este artículo se pretende analizar críticamente la propuesta de reconstrucción de la estética tradicional que el filósofo norteamericano, Fredric Jameson, expone en su ensayo “El surrealismo sin el inconsciente” en relación con las nuevas formulaciones artísticas en formato vídeo y con la televisión comercial.

El propósito de este trabajo es entablar un diálogo entre Spinoza y el estoicismo a propósito de su teoría de las pasiones. En este sentido, la tesis principal que se sostiene es que Spinoza mantiene una concepción de la virtud y de la felicidad similar a la aristotélica, y que, por esa razón, su terapia de las pasiones no insta a extirpar las pasiones, como sí hace el estoicismo, sino que propone seleccionarlas y encauzarlas racionalmente para aprovechar su fuerza en (...) el sentido de la virtud. (shrink)

Marie Cardinal's novel Les Grands Desordres explores the power of biography and fictional writing to reveal the human world in ways that elude the grasp of an abstract and academic psychology. This essay examines Cardinal's narrative treatment of a Parisian psychologist who, at the beginning of her career, is convinced that natural science will contribute to human knowledge and will reduce suffering. However, a personal crisis makes her question her basic assumptions and leads her to discover the spiritual wealth and (...) revealing powers of narrative writing. The bond between reader and writer is interpreted as an alliance between a host and a guest that conquers narcissism and isolation by building and inhabiting a neighborly world. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it deals with showing that Spinoza´s ontology is naturalistic because it conceives of reality as nature, and, in this way, it combats all form of mystification that presents us the reality as something supernatural and transcendent nature itself. Secondly, it deals with showing, according to characteristic features of Spinoza ´s naturalism, that is, its dynamism and its materialistic elements, that Spinoza´s ontology is an ontology of the passions. The passions are, according to (...) Spinoza´s philosophy, modes of being, finite, human modes of being. (shrink)

A new reprogenetic technology, mitochondrial replacement, is making its appearance and, unsurprisingly given its promise to wash off our earthly stains --or at least the scourges of sexual reproduction--, John Harris finds only reasons to celebrate this new scientific feat.1 In fact, he finds mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRTs) so “unreservedly welcome” that he believes those who reject them suffer from “a large degree of desperation and not a little callousness.”2 Believing myself to be neither desperate nor callous, but finding myself (...) also no closer at all – not even after reading his article—to following Harris in welcoming these technologies wholeheartedly, it seems appropriate to respond. (shrink)

The disclosure policies of scientific journals now require that investigators provide information about financial interests relevant to their research. The main goals of these policies are to prevent bias from occurring, to help identify bias when it occurs, and to avoid the appearance of bias. We argue here that such policies do little to help achieve these goals, and we suggest more effective alternatives.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine critically Julian Savulescu's claim that people should select, of the possible children they could have, the one who is expected to have the best life, or at least as good a life as the others, based on the relevant, available genetic information, including information about non‐disease genes. I argue here that in defending this moral obligation, Savulescu has neglected several important issues such as access to selection technologies, disproportionate burdens on women, (...) difficulties in determining what is best, problems with aggregate effects of individual choices, and questions about social justice. Taking these matters into account would call such a moral requirement into serious question. (shrink)

Through an interpretative phenomenological perspective, this article analyses the education policy implemented in Spain following the declaration of the state of alarm due to Covid-19 pandemic. It questions the measures implemented (i.e. the confinement of the population to their homes and school closures, others related to the right of minors to study and to managing the school year), and the main effects on children and families from an inclusive standpoint. Three main categories emerged from the analysis: 1) access to education, (...) 2) the relationships between, and the participation of, members of the educational community, 3) learning acquisition. The results underline that the effects have not been the same for different families, especially among more vulnerable groups. Marginality and socio-educative inequality have increased. It is essential to make more flexible policies to accommodate diversity and ensure the principles of equity. In this direction, family’s socio-educational role has to be acknowledged and their needs assumed as a priority. (shrink)

This article presents a meta-analysis of the validity of cognitive reflection (CR) for predicting job performance and training proficiency. It also examines the incremental validity of CR over cognitive intelligence (CI) for predicting these two occupational criteria. CR proved to be an excellent predictor of job performance and training proficiency, and the magnitude of the true validity was very similar across the two criteria. Results also showed that the type of CR is not a moderator of CR validity. We also (...) found that CR showed incremental variance over CI for the explanation of job performance, although the magnitude of the contribution is small. However, CR shows practically no incremental validity over CI validity in the explanation of training proficiency. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for the research and practice of personnel selection. (shrink)

While the earlier work of Philip Kitcher, in particular The Advancement of Science (1993), continues to inform his more recent studies, such as Science, Truth, and Democracy (2001), there are significant "changes of opinion" from those articulated in the 1990s. One may even speak of two different stages in the configuration of epistemological proposals. An analysis, from an empiricist standpoint, of the shifts between one and the other indicates further evolution towards realist positions but much more modest ones than those (...) previously endorsed. Kitcher qualifies former individualism with an ensuing defence of pluralism, vital to his effort to develop a social epistemology. The present centrality of the achievement of a well-ordered science , one that promotes the common good within the context of democracies, encapsulates recent variation in the work of Kitcher and may be considered one of the author's most defendable proposals, even including its classically empiricist resonance. (shrink)

Reprogenetic technologies, which combine the power of reproductive techniques with the tools of genetic science and technology, promise prospective parents a remarkable degree of control to pick and choose the likely characteristics of their offspring. Not only can they select embryos with or without particular genetically-related diseases and disabilities but also choose embryos with non-disease related traits such as sex. -/- Prominent authors such as Agar, Buchanan, DeGrazia, Green, Harris, Robertson, Savulescu, and Silver have flocked to the banner of reprogenetics. (...) For them, increased reproductive choice and reduced suffering through the elimination of genetic disease and disability are just the first step. They advocate use of these technologies to create beings who enjoy longer and healthier lives, possess greater intellectual capacities, and are capable of more refined emotional experiences. Indeed, Harris and Savulescu in particular take reprogenetic technologies to be so valuable to human beings that they have insisted that their use is not only morally permissible but morally required. -/- Rethinking Reprogenetics challenges this mainstream view with a contextualised, gender-attentive philosophical perspective. De Melo-Martín demonstrates that you do not have to be a Luddite, social conservative, or religious zealot to resist the siren song of reprogenetics. Pointing out the flawed nature of the arguments put forward by the technologies' proponents, Rethinking Reprogenetics reveals the problematic nature of the assumptions underpinning current evaluations of these technologies and offers a framework for a more critical and skeptical assessment. (shrink)

Recently, some have proposed moral bioenhancement as a solution to the serious moral evils that humans face. Seemingly disillusioned with traditional methods of moral education, proponents of bioenhancement believe that we should pursue and apply biotechnological means to morally enhance human beings. Such proposal has generated a lively debate about the permissibility of moral bioenhancement. We argue here that such debate is specious. The claim that moral bioenhancement is a solution – whether permissible or not – to the serious moral (...) problems that affect human beings is based on several problematic framing assumptions. We evaluate here three of such assumptions: the first rests on a contested understanding of morality, the second consist in a mistaken conception of human moral problems, and the third relates to problematic presuppositions grounding the interpretation of existent scientific evidence presented to defend moral bioenhancement. Once these framing assumptions are identified and critically evaluated, it becomes clear that the moral bioenhancement debate is misguided. (shrink)

Este trabajo tiene como objeto poner de manifiesto las claves suarecianas de la teoría de la libertad, de acuerdo con las cuales la libertad es una potencia activa de la voluntad que, si bien se muestra indiferente en el acto de elección, sin embargo, se trata de una indiferencia activa, en la medida en que el ser humano ejerce una específica causalidad por libertad que tiene su fundamento metafísico en la teoría del acto virtual. El hombre es libre porque el (...) concurso divino no determina el acto de la voluntad libre, sino que deja al libre arbitrio humano la decisión de actuar o no actuar, de hacer una cosa o su opuesta. (shrink)

A growing number of jurisdictions hold that gamete donors must be identifiable to the children born with their eggs or sperm, on grounds that being able to know about one's genetic origins is a fundamental moral right. But the argument for that belief has not yet been adequately made.

Los niveles de evidencia en salud surgieron, en el siglo XX, en el ámbito de la medicina basada en la evidencia, que buscó y busca integrar la mejor evidencia científica disponible con la experiencia clínica de los profesionales de la salud y la experiencia de los pacientes como método para guiar las decisiones clínicas y mejorar los resultados de salud. Sin embargo, las críticas asociadas al uso de niveles de evidencia en salud se centran en simplificar el enfoque, priorizar métodos (...) cuantitativos, desconocer el contexto social y cultural de la atención, la insuficiencia de su uso para enfermedades y condiciones complejas como la salud mental, las enfermedades raras y los cuidados paliativos. Tales críticas y reflexiones dilucidan los desafíos y demandas asociadas a la implementación de niveles de evidencia en salud, que serán objeto de análisis en este estudio teórico. Con base en lo anterior, las conclusiones del presente estudio se centran en proponer posibilidades de implementación de niveles de evidencia desde la perspectiva del siglo XXI, lo que vislumbra una revisión de los niveles de evidencia actuales así como el desarrollo de un nuevo modelo de revisión sistemática denominado, por ahora, una revisión sistemática mixta, viva y contextualizada. (shrink)

La práctica de la pronunciación en el aula es esencial para el desarrollo de las destrezas orales. Este estudio pretende explorar la práctica, la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la pronunciación en la enseñanza de inglés como lengua extranjera en España. Se recogió una muestra de estudiantes (n = 494) y otra de profesores (n = 127) de la etapa preuniversitaria (EP = Educación Secundaria Obligatoria y no Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) y de la etapa universitaria (UN) en España. Sus respuestas (...) se analizaron según cuatro dimensiones: (i) contenidos y sus dificultades; (ii) tipo de actividades; (iii) práctica de destrezas orales; y (iv) percepciones. Los principales resultados revelan que i) el ritmo era el aspecto menos practicado en el aula de EFL en ambas etapas; ii) los alumnos de ambas etapas consideraban que nunca practicaban con canciones, mientras que los profesores indicaron que era una de las actividades más frecuentes; iii) la práctica de destrezas orales obtuvo una puntuación más alta en los profesores y alumnos de UN que en el grupo de profesores y alumnos de PU; iv) el tiempo de clase dedicado a la fonética y la pronunciación fue considerado insuficiente por los dos grupos de profesores, pero sólo por parte de los alumnos de UN. Basándose en publicaciones relevantes y los resultados obtenidos, los autores también aportan ideas y recomendaciones sobre la fonética y la pronunciación del inglés para los profesores de inglés como lengua extranjera. (shrink)

El propósito de este escrito es mostrar la complejidad de la lectura que Quevedo realiza del estoicismo, como representante del barroco hispano, en el contexto de la historia de la recepción de esta escuela antigua en los siglos XVI y XVII. Para ello retomamos la tesis de P. F. Moreau sobre las tres grandes etapas en la historia de la recepción del estoicismo (la humanista, la neoestoica y la crítica moderna) con el objetivo de aportar nuevos argumentos, extraídos del análisis (...) del miedo a la muerte y el temor de Dios en La cuna y la sepultura, que permitan precisar qué posición singular ocupa Quevedo, como representante del neoestoicismo cristianizado, en el contexto de estas tres grandes fases mencionadas. (shrink)

The coherence of autobiographical memories plays an important role in psychological well-being, as borne out by recent studies. This study aimed to advance this understanding by assessing whether coherence predicted depressive symptoms over time in adults. Further, it aimed to specify mediators through which this association might occur, namely psychological resources of self-esteem self-efficacy, meaning in life, and optimism. A sample of 160 participants completed surveys at three time-points spaced 1 week apart. The surveys contained measures of the perceived coherence (...) of life stories and autobiographical memories, psychological resources, and depressive symptoms. The results of a path analysis model, controlling for depressive symptoms at baseline, indicated that perceived causal coherence was the only unique predictor of later depressive symptoms, and that this occurred through positive self-concept, represented by self-esteem and self-efficacy. Limitations of the study include no examination of cultural background as a moderating factor and the short time-intervals. Overall, the findings provide further evidence that the perception of how events have unfolded and impacted on one's life and sense of self is particularly important in mitigating depressive symptoms. It extends on our understanding by showing this occurs through changes in self-concept. (shrink)