Some chapters revisions of works previously issued 2004-2016.

Conversation analysts have noted that, in psychotherapy, formulations of the client's talk can be a vehicle for offering a psychological interpretation of the client's circumstances. But we notice that not all formulations in psychotherapy offer interpretations. We offer an analysis of formulations that are diagnostic: that is, used by the professional to sharpen, clarify or refine the client's account and make it better able to provide what the professional needs to know about the client's history and symptoms. In doing so, (...) these formulations also have the effect of shepherding the client's account towards subsequent therapeutic interpretation. In a coda, we notice that sometimes the formulations are designed discreetly. We examine one such discreet formulation in detail, and show how its very ambiguity can lead to its failure as a diagnostic probe. (shrink)

Theories of organization and management have offered several concepts and models which indicate that organizational values are an important factor for running organizations successfully. A still unexplained question concerns the creation of balanced organizational values, which can support the achievement of several different and even conflicting goals of modern organizations. To explore balanced organizational values in contemporary business practice, we tested different models of organizational values on a sample of Fortune 100 companies. Research results demonstrate that none of the proportions/ratios (...) of balance proposed by the main models of organizational values from existing literature possesses/presents the ideal balance that is currently pursued in the business field. As a conclusion, a new model of balanced organizational values is proposed. (shrink)

Ivan Efimovič Orlov’s paper “The calculus of the compatibility of propositions”, published in Russian in 1928, is fascinating for anyone interested in the early history of relevance, modal or intuitionistic logic. This is a translation of that paper.

An increase in the scale of modern science is associated with the proliferation of a new kind of research formation: collaborations involving teams of researchers from several organizations. Historical and sociological studies indicate substantial variation in such formations, but no general classification scheme exists. The authors provide the outline of a scheme through a systematic analysis of multi-institutional collaborations that span a variety of fields in physical science. First, general dimensions of scientific collaborations were identified through a qualitative, historical analysis (...) of collaborations in high energy physics, space science, and geophysics. Next, the authors used informants in five new areas to collect systematic information on twenty-three recent collaborations. Finally, cluster analysis was employed to develop a variety of classification schemes and examine their relationships with outcome dimensions. Results show that a classification based on a broad conception of technological practice is superior to others in its ability to predict perceived success, trust, stress, conflict, and documentary routines. (shrink)

This paper analyzes the narrative strategies of Radical Basque Nationalism, taking advantage of Thomas Lacoste's documentary, Pays Basque et liberté. It is made up of four parts. The first, as an introduction, focuses on general considerations about language to frame the narrative practices of the RBN. The second and third address the two central elements of the nationalist communication strategy: the use of international figures as an amplification mechanism, on the one hand, and the appropriation of a noble language that (...) functions as a legitimating and prestigious element, while it incorporates elements that can be decoded by the members of the collective as part of its canonical interpretation, on the other. The fourth summarizes the main argumentative axes conveyed by the participants in the documentary. The text is closed with a brief conclusion. The main methodological tool is the analysis of contents. (shrink)

The value of the notion of ‘indeterminacy in the past’ continues to be contested. Ian Hacking’s claim that the notion is perspicuous in the examination of historical instances is questioned through discussion of the possibility of retrospective application of the relatively recent diagnostic category ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder’. Kevin McMillan maintains that there are deeper philosophical merits to the idea–particularly with respect to questions of truth–but neither Hacking’s treatment of historical cases nor McMillan’s directly philosophical elaboration of Hacking’s position sustain this (...) claim. (shrink)

In the wake of Stalin's death, many Soviet scientists saw the opportunity to promote their methods as tools for the engineering of economic prosperity in the socialist state. The mathematician Leonid Kantorovich (1912–1986) was a key activist in academic politics that led to the increasing acceptance of what emerged as a new scientific persona in the Soviet Union. Rather than thinking of his work in terms of success or failure, we propose to see his career as exemplifying a distinct form (...) of scholarship, as a partisan technocrat, characteristic of the Soviet system of knowledge production. Confronting the class of orthodox economists, many factors were at work, including Kantorovich's cautious character and his allies in the Academy of Sciences. Drawing on archival and oral sources, we demonstrate how Kantorovich, throughout his career, negotiated the relations between mathematics and economics, reinterpreted political and ideological frames, and reshaped the balance of power in the Soviet academic landscape. (shrink)

This article proffers an invitation to neoclassical sociology. This is understood as a Habermasian reconstruction of the fundamental vision of the discipline as conceptualized by classical theorists, particularly Weber. Taking the cases of Eastern and Central Europe as a laboratory, we argue against the idea of a single, homogenizing globalizing logic. Currently and historically what we see instead is a remarkable diversity of capitalist forms and destinations. Neither sociological theories of networks and embeddedness nor economic models of rational action adequately (...) comprehend this diversity. A neoclassical approach enjoins an empirical research agenda comparing capitalisms, and an ironic, historical approach to analysis to inform an immanent critique of capitalist possibilities. (shrink)

In this short piece I am not undertaking to give a full discussion of the whole of Patočka’s “heretical” work. I wish only make clear its most essential core. What, in Patočka’s view, made Europe Europe and what is Europe’s bequest to the world after what Patočka describes as its fall, completed by the two world wars? What should Europe look to conserve in itself if- as seems likely - it would like to once again play a respected role in (...) world events? Is there something which the globalised world should take over from old Europe, or something which it should eschew, if it does not wish history to end and utter decadence to ensue? (shrink)

WILLIAM E. SCHEUERMAN: Carl Schmitt: The End of Law, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Boulder, Nueva York y Oxford, 1999. 345 páginas.GOPAL BALAKRISHNAN: The Enemy: An Intellectual Portrait of Carl Schmitt, Verso, Londres y Nueva York, 2000. 312 páginas.ARIEL H. COLOMBO: Democracias sin fundamento, Trama Editorial/ Prometeo libros, Buenos Aires, 2001. 159 páginas.ARIEL H. COLOMBO: Tiempo, justicia y validez. Replanteos de teoría política, Trama Editorial/ Prometeo libros, Buenos Aires, 1999. 80 páginas.

This article carries out a critical analysis of the discourse/practice of Business Ethics that has developed to an unprecedented extent in the last decade or so. It argues that in the late-modern global political economy (GPE) there develops a form of a Gramscian hegemony of transnational capital and the discourse/practice of Business Ethics can be seen as a form of moral leadership in the context of the emerging hegemonic order.

Издание содержит: из истории Химкинского леса; Химкинский лес как памятник природы; выбор трассы; начало гражданского сопротивления; рождение "Экообороны" и многое другое. Для широкого круга читателей.

Et si on appliquait à la philosophie la méthodologie du physicien? L'inexplicable constat des limitations inhérentes à toute réalité expérimentée inciterait à poser en théorie l'hypothèse d'un modèle exempt de ces limitations d'où pourrait procéder la réalité limitée telle que nous la vivons. Et si par déduction on en arrivait à des résultats scientifiquement plausibles, l'aventure à laquelle nous serions alors conviés serait de décoder l'univers comme une anamorphose. Sous la forme d'un dialogue, ce livre met en débat la pensée (...) originale de Pierre Malifaud qui ouvre ensuite à des problématiques plus englobantes. (shrink)

In this paper I will discuss a recent attempt of justifying democracy and its authority. It pertains to recently published papers by Niko Kolodny, which complement each other and taken together practically assume a form of a monograph. It could be said that Kolodny's approach is a non-standard one given that he avoids typical ways of justifying democracy. Namely, when a justification of democracy is concerned, Kolodny maintains that it is necessary to offer a kind of an independent justification. It (...) is not so much that he insists that the usual approaches are wrong as much as that an independent justification is necessary in order to discern what it is that gives them their significance. Kolodny's independent justification of democracy is based on the idea of social equality. In this paper I will try to reconstruct and critically assess Kolodny's approach by paying special attention to the question of democratic authority. (shrink)

Why the social ontology uses the game as paradigmatic example of social object? Is social reality a game? In this short essay, shared characteristics and differences of ludic and social acts are explored to explode the myth of the normative structure of social reality. In order to explain and demonstrate their theories, major authors of our research sector as Searle and Smith appeal to ludic phenomenons as unmistakable evidences of regulated social activities. Nevertheless well valued theorists don’t recognize that there (...) are tens of different typologies of games, about which it should be appropriate to draw up a regional ontology, as much there are tons of rule types, not always prescriptive and not always descriptive. The instant article demonstrates that social reality is not explainable by appealing to regulated behaviors, opening in this way a research context that involves the Interactive Fiction of play. Therefore the ludic phenomenon rests the base of social reality, however disconnecting it from the concept of rule, which too much influenced the research on mind, language and culture. (shrink)

El artículo contextualiza e investiga los detalles del «Mes de Reflexión Episcopal» organizado por el Departamento de Pastoral de Conjunto del Celam en julio de 1971, que reunió providencialmente varios obispos, algunos de los cuales no estuvieron en la II Conferencia General tres años antes, y que darían testimonio del espíritu de Medellín hasta el martirio o hasta una muerte trágica en cumplimiento de su misión: Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Juan Gerardi Conedera, Gerardo Valencia Cano y Raúl Zambrano Camader. El encuentro (...) se describe a partir de la revisión documental de las actas y de los pocos informes impresos. La tesis central del artículo es que el diálogo informal entre obispos, teólogos y otros expertos en el «Mes de Reflexión Episcopal» es fuente de propuestas novedosas para una Pastoral de Conjunto, contra la clericalización y el autoritarismo en la Iglesia latinoamericana. Desafortunadamente, no hay una reunión posterior similar debido a una controversia con la Congregación romana para los obispos. (shrink)

The main idea of quantum mechanics, whether formulated in terms of the Planck constant or the noncommutativity of certain observables, must be tied to the recognition of the relativity and nonuniversality of the abstract concept of set (manifold) in the description of quantum systems. This entails the necessarily probabilistic description of quantum systems: since a quantum system ultimately cannot be decomposed into elements or sets, we have to describe it in terms of probabilities of only a relative selection of certain (...) elements or sets in its structure. This gives rise to the potential possibilities of quantum systems in an actual physical situation, and as a result the corresponding probabilities are ontologically real, like any other physically verifiable relationships. In this way, the quantum potential possibilities (and probabilities as their measure) are no less objectively real than the conventional reality which we identify with the physically directly verifiable elements, particles, etc. Indeed, the distribution of probabilities described by the nonfactorizable wave function is as objectively real and concrete as chairs, walls and all other physical things. In the pure quantum state the probabilities of selection of elements from the ultimately detailed state of the system are mutually coordinated and correlated by the phenomenon of wholeness of the system, and form an implicative logical structure governed by this phenomenon of wholeness. This idea of the implicative logical organization of the probabilistic structure of a quantum system in the so-called pure (non-detailable) state, and the governing role of the phenomenon of wholeness (in the redistribution of probabilities depending on the nature of the development of the real experiment), is in good agreement with the results of quantum correlation experiments (for example, the experiments of Alain Aspect, Nicolas Gisin and others). (shrink)

This paper discusses the epistemic value of political parties and other partisan associations from the standpoint of epistemic democracy. It examines whether political parties contribute to the quality of democratic deliberation, thus increasing the epistemic value of democratic decision-making procedures, or represent a threat that polarizes the society and impedes and distorts the public deliberation. The paper introduces several arguments that support the epistemic value of partisanship. Partisan associations empower otherwise marginalized social groups or groups that have disproportionally small political (...) influence by facilitating political education or by connecting citizens and experts who share the same values. Partisan associations also help us resist the epistemically damaging effects of hermeneutical (epistemic) injustice by enabling marginalized citizens to construct alternative discourses. However, though partisanship might facilitate the transmission of knowledge, this deliberative tool will only be used in a group of like-minded citizens (i.e. within a political party), thus increasing the polarization between the parties and citizens alike, and decreasing the epistemic value of such collective decision-making procedures. The paper analyses some epistemic strategies (like red-teaming or building a critical thinking culture) that can help us avoid or (at least) reduce the epistemically damaging effects of polarization. However, internal action (from within a deliberative group) might not be enough. Making the deliberation on political issues public and spreading it through different forms of citizens’ organizations will ensure that political deliberation is not closed within a single homogenous deliberating group (i.e. the party). These practices should significantly reduce the damaging effects of group polarization. (shrink)

According to an “orthodox” reading proposed by Dummett and more recently endorsed by Lugg and Price, the later Wittgenstein rejects the idea of grouping together certain utterances as a single class of assertions. We offer an alternative commentary on the Philosophical Investigations §§21–24, developing what we call a Wittgensteinian role‐based account of assertion. We then examine whether this role‐based account can solve the problem of on‐stage utterances. In the course of this, the merits of the account are shown and compared (...) to an alternative proposal offered by Searle. (shrink)

The usual justifi cations of democracy attach central importance to fair decision-making procedures. However, it is being increasingly emphasized that it is necessary to address epistemic considerations to justify democracy and democratic authority. In her book Democracy and Truth: The Conflict between Political and Epistemic Virtues, Prijić-Samaržija defends the view which places emphasis on the necessity of epistemic justification of democracy. In this paper, I will discuss her criticism of epistemic proceduralism, which can be considered major contemporary framework for epistemic (...) justification of democracy. Within the framework of epistemic proceduralism, for justifying democracy and democratic authority it is necessary to take into account both political and epistemic values. Nevertheless, Prijić-Samaržija thinks that epistemic proceduralism is not sufficiently epistemic and that it reduces epistemic to political values. I shall argue that epistemic proceduralism can be defended from this kind of criticism. (shrink)

In the study of human cognitive activity using electroencephalogram (EEG), the brain dynamics parameters and characteristics play a crucial role. They allow to investigate the changes in functionality depending on the environment and task performance process, and also to access the intensity of the brain activity in various locations of the cortex and its dependencies. Usually, the dynamics of activation of different brain areas during the cognitive tasks are being studied by spectral analysis based on power spectral density (PSD) estimation, (...) and coherence analysis, which are de facto standard tools in quantitative characterization of brain activity. PSD and coherence reflect the strength of oscillations and similarity of the emergence of these oscillations in the brain, respectively, while the concept of stability of brain activity over time is not well defined and less formalized. We propose to employ the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) as a measure of the EEG persistence over time, and use the DFA scaling exponent as its quantitative characteristics. We applied DFA to the study of the changes in activation in brain dynamics during mental calculations and united it with PSD and coherence estimation. In the experiment, EEGs during resting state and mental serial subtraction from 36 subjects were recorded and analyzed in four frequency ranges: θ1 (4.1–5.8 Hz), θ2 (5.9–7.4 Hz), β1 (13–19.9 Hz), and β2 (20–25 Hz). PSD maps to access the intensity of cortex activation and coherence to quantify the connections between different brain areas were calculated, the distribution of DFA scaling exponent over the head surface was exploited to measure the time characteristics of the dynamics of brain activity. Obtained arrangements of DFA scaling exponent suggest that normal functioning of the brain is characterized by long-term temporal correlations in the cortex. Topographical distribution of the DFA scaling exponent was comparable for θ and β frequency bands, demonstrating the largest values of DFA scaling exponent during cognitive activation. The study shows that the long-term temporal correlations evaluated by DFA can be of great interest for diagnosis of the variety of brain dysfunctions of different etiology in the future. (shrink)

Political ecology is a recent development in contemporary scholarship. Contrary to popular belief, the French philosopher Bruno Latour was not its originator. Some scholars began to recognise that nature and politics were closely connected back to the time of Montesquieu. Nonetheless, Latour’s political ecology is original in that it features new or revamped concepts that lend it new content and meaning. It includes concepts such as ‘mode of existence,’ ‘actor/network,’ ‘humans’ and ‘non-humans,’ ‘terrestrial’ or ‘Earthbound,’ and offers a new interpretation (...) of the concepts of nature and politics. These concepts are the focus of the first and second parts of the article. The final part looks at their practical application, particularly in connection with Latour’s idea of creating a common world fit for life, or at least survival. -------------------------- Received: 24/11/2022. Reviewed: 08/03/2023. Accepted: 30/03/2023. (shrink)