Andreu Nin defines fascism and analyses its class nature, challenging the notion that fascism’s aims match its rhetoric. While recruiting from among Italy’s middle classes, the petite bourgeoisie, it ultimately serves the big bourgeoisie objectively.

Bullshit is a prevalent phenomenon in this info-crazy world of ours. With the help of Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfurt, I want to provide a brief philosophical account of this phenomenon, and offer some practical tips to how we could deal with it.Export citation.

This study analyzes the development of a culture of personal transformation in contemporary societies, showing its forms and orientations, and pointing to the factors that favor its development. This new culture unifies psychology and spirituality, emphasizes the transformational power of the experience of transcendence, and flourishes in an heterogeneous and loosely organized milieu driven by trends toward individualization and hybridization. The interpretative hypothesis is that this cultural development is a response to a societal change at the level of the individual: (...) the expansion of the self. The culture of personal transformation can be explained as a response to the existential turmoil that is inherent to the expansion of the self. (shrink)

Joaquín M. Fuster is an eminent cognitive neuroscientist whose research over the last five decades has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural structures underlying cognition and behaviour. This book provides his view on the eternal question of whether we have free will. Based on his seminal work on the functions of the prefrontal cortex in decision-making, planning, creativity, working memory, and language, Professor Fuster argues that the liberty or freedom to choose between alternatives is a function (...) of the cerebral cortex, under prefrontal control, in its reciprocal interaction with the environment. Freedom is therefore inseparable from that circular relationship. The Neuroscience of Freedom and Creativity is a fascinating inquiry into the cerebral foundation of our ability to choose between alternative actions and to freely lead creative plans to their goal. (shrink)

The urgent need for solutions to critical environmental challenges is well attested, but often environmental problems are understood as fundamentally collective action problems. However, to solve to these problems, there is also a need to change individual behavior. Hence, there is a pressing need to inculcate in individuals the environmental virtues — virtues of character that relate to our environmental place in the world. We propose a way of meeting this need, by the judicious, safe, and controlled administration of “classic” (...) psychedelic drugs as a way to catalyze the development of environmental virtues – a form of moral bio-enhancement. Recent evidence shows that psychedelics can be given safely in controlled environments, and can induce vivid experiences of unity and connectedness. These experiences, in turn, can durably increase feelings of nature-relatedness and pro-environmental behaviors. Therefore, we argue that responsible psychedelic use can reliably catalyze the development of a key environmental virtue known as living in place. This is a “master environmental virtue” that subsumes the qualities of respect for nature, proper humility, and aesthetic wonder and awe. Our account advances the environmental virtues debate by introducing a relevant practical proposal, and advances the psychedelic moral enhancement debate by providing a much-needed conceptual framework. (shrink)

What might a modern environmental or technological virtue or vice look like? That is, what virtues or vices might relate to our environmental place in the world, rather than our social place in the world? This question is particularly pressing in light of the unique chal­lenges presented by the current environmental and technological milieu. A recurring theme that arises in response to advances in certain technologies, particularly technologies that are seen in some way as “interfering in nature,” is that humans (...) are indulging in the vice of hubris, often referred to by the phrase “playing God.” Taking the notion of hubris as a starting point, the notion of “living in place” can be developed as a primary environmental and technological virtue, with reference to Heidegger’s analysis of the role of technology in human life. A pre-eminent environmental and technological virtue—living in place—can be understood in the light of Heidegger’s notion of “poetic dwelling,” where the role of human art and technology, rather than being primarily to dominate or manipulate nature, is to bring the natural world “into being.”. (shrink)

Jc Beall’s off-topic interpretation of Weak Kleene logic offers a logic of ‘true-and-topic’ preservation. However, Nissim Francez has recently argued that being ‘off-topic’ is a relational and not an _absolute_ semantic property; as such, it fails to satisfy the conditions of truth-functionality. For Francez, this means that it ‘cannot serve as an interpretation of a truth-value’. In this paper, I propose a two-layered _re_interpretation of Beall’s off-topic semantics. This two-layered framework has two crucial features: a sentential topic-tagging device and a (...) two-layered evaluation tool. I show that this framework results in a logic that preserves Beall’s key insight and addresses Francez’s concerns. (shrink)

The debate concerning the proper way of understanding, and hence solving, the “is-ought problem” produced two mutually exclusive positions. One position claims that it is entirely impossible to deduce an imperative statement from a set of factual statements. The other position holds a contrary view to the effect that one can naturally derive an imperative statement from a set of factual statements under certain conditions. Although these two positions have opposing views concerning the problem, it should be evident that they (...) both accept that the “is-ought problem” is concerned with the deducibility of imperative statements from factual statements. Later I will argue that this should not be our concern when we try to make sense of the way we reason about morality. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 99 Heft: 1 Seiten: 130-148.

Este texto analiza la formación del concepto de genealogía en _Teoría e Instituciones Penales_, donde aparece la primera aplicación práctica del método genealógico. La pregunta por el estatuto de la formación de la genealogía nos permitirá plantearnos, a su vez, los límites y los problemas implicados en su emergencia que poseen una relevancia específica para la actualidad del método. Por último, se planteará la actualidad de la genealogía a través de los desarrollos de la obra foucaultiana y las características posibilitadoras (...) y antirrepresentativas de la misma. Todo ello nos permitirá actualizar un método que posee profundas virtudes epistémicas y críticas para pensar nuestro presente. (shrink)

SummaryThis article presents the development and current situation of the sociology of sport in Spain. It begins with a brief description of its origins and development as an academic field, which can be divided into three stages: birth, growth, and consolidation and internationalization. It then describes the theoretical and methodological traditions as well as the predominant topics (including the most representative research) in the social scientific studies on physical activity conducted so far in Spain. The main topics have been sports (...) in society, sports controversies, the social sports structure, sports identities and spaces for practicing sports, organization, management, and the job market. The article concludes with an analysis of the possible future challenges for the sociology of sport in Spain and the role that the journal Sociología del Deporte (Sociology of Sport) can play in view of these challenges. (shrink)

En las investigaciones sobre fisiología cardiovascular desarrolladas por William Harvey es posible distinguir entre dos teorías que responden a preguntas diferentes. La primera de ellas, que denominamos teoría del movimiento circular de la sangre, intenta dar una respuesta al problema sobre la cantidad de sangre que se mueve dentro del sistema. La segunda pretende dar cuenta de las causas de que la sangre se mueva y la denominamos teoría de las causas del movimiento de la sangre. En este trabajo, presentamos (...) una reconstrucción estructuralista de la primera de éstas, y mostramos que posee todos los componentes considerados esenciales para cualquier teoría, de acuerdo con la concepción estructuralista de la ciencia. (shrink)

In his Formal Logic, Arthur N. Prior declared that Jan Łukasiewicz's logical notation is ‘unquestionably the best logical symbolism for most purposes’. Whether he had a substantive, and...

In this paper, I address the problem about the role of academic philosophy for the feminist movement. I argue that the professionalization of feminism, especially within the sphere of academic philosophy, is detrimental to the stated goal of the feminist movement, which, as historically understood, is to procure women’s rights and liberties and to reassess the treatment of women by different social institutions. The thought is that if feminism were to reap the rewards of a socio-political change, feminists should stop (...) their fantastic theorizing and start bringing their advocacies to the proper forums. (shrink)

Da Ré and Szmuc argue that while there is a symmetry between ‘infectious’ and ‘immune’ logics, this symmetry fails w.r.t. extending an algebra with an immune or an infectious element. In this paper, I show that the symmetry also fails w.r.t. defining a new logical operation from a given set of primitive (Boolean) operations. I use the case of the material conditional to illustrate this point.

In this essay, I would like to look at two particular attempts of developing a preliminary question that paves the way for establishing a Filipino Philosophy: viz. Rolando Gripaldo’s Historian of Philosophy approach and Napoleon Mabaquiao’s Strict Discipline approach. The former envisages that the first question that needs to be considered in the discussion of Filipino Philosophy must be taken from the perspective of a scholar of the history of philosophy. The latter’s procedure is to take what academic philosophers deem (...) to be the characterization of their discipline. In effect, while the former’s question is a question of a historian of philosophy; the latter’s question is a question of a philosopher. As this essay progresses I will try to make a critical assessment of the two attempts by first showing the strengths and weaknesses of their respective attempts, and secondly by stressing that their attempts, whether successful or not, should already be taken as contributions to the effort of establishing a Filipino Philosophy. (shrink)

In this paper, I offer a reconstruction of Wittgenstein's view of the happy life by sketching out three interconnected themes in his early works. The first theme is the distinction between a science of ethics and the ethical. The second is the idea of the willing subject. And finally, the third is the possibility of the happy life.

El estudio de los virus ha experimentado una gran transformación en las primeras décadas del siglo XXI. El descubrimiento de los virus gigantes ha hecho que la distinción entre algunos tipos de virus y de bacterias sea cada vez más difusa, lo que obliga a replantearse el estatus epistemológico y ontológico de estas entidades biológicas. Tanto la visión clásica de los virus por parte de la Biología, como las definiciones generales que las autoridades sanitarias, y las definiciones realizadas por virólogos (...) y microbiólogos necesitan ser revisadas para dar cabida a los conocimientos actuales sobre los virus, o más concretamente, sobre los procesos virales. En este proceso de nuevos descubrimientos aparecen nuevos términos, como virión, viroide, virobiota, viroma y virocélula que deben ser tenidos en cuenta e integrados en un nuevo marco ontológico y epistemológico general. Aunque aún estamos lejos de conseguir una definición generalmente aceptada que permita diferenciar nítidamente a los virus de otras entidades biológicas similares, al final del artículo se presenta una definición tentativa, que trata de evitar las limitaciones que presentaban las definiciones anteriores. (shrink)

Ballard et al.'s is a plausible and useful model. Leaving aside some unnecessary constraints, the model would probably be valid through a wider gamut of interactions between the self and the environment than the authors envision.

RESUMEN El presente artículo trata de mostrar las varias y diversas interpretaciones y posiciones existentes con respecto a la filosofía de Feuerbach, lo cual revela la influencia e importancia de su pensamiento. Así mismo, más allá de los diversos intentos por periodizar la obra de Feuerbach, el artículo trata de mostrar en qué medida es posible afirmar la existencia de un principio interno explicativo de su filosofía, el cual puede encontrarse en el concepto mismo de crítica, referido tanto a su (...) método como a su actitud filosófica. Esta crítica tiene, en cualquier caso, un sentido positivo y trata de reafirmar una concepción plena del ser humano. ABSTRACT This paper tries to show the various and diverse interpretations and positions regarding Feuerbach's philosophy, what reveals the influence and importance of his thought. Likewise, beyond the various efforts to periodize Feuerbach's works, it tries to show how it is possible to affirm the existence of an internal explanatory principle to his philosophy, which can be found in the very concept of critique, referring both to his philosophical method and attitude. This critique has, in any case, a positive sense and tries to reassert a full conception of human beings. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se pretende poner en relación la noción de kénosis, sobre la que se configura esencialmente la concepción hermenéutica de la religión en Gianni Vattimo, con la pretensión emancipatoria que surge del nihilismo hermenéutico. Para ello rastrearemos esa concepción hermenéutica de la verdad que ya no nos violenta, a partir de la cual se estructura la religión del pensamiento débil. Además, constataremos cómo la concepción hermenéutica de la metafísica, aparte de presentarse como clave de la secularización, permitirá (...) identificar la salvación con la interpretación. Sobre estos presupuestos generales de su filosofía Vattimo anuncia la venida de Jesús como fenómeno hermenéutico. Tendremos que preguntarnos finalmente si las posibilidades de este planteamiento trágico de la kénosis se llevan hasta sus últimas consecuencias con el anuncio sociopolítico de una emancipación de corte hermenéutico. (shrink)

This article surveys different philosophical theories about the nature of truth. We give much importance to truth; some demand to know it, some fear it, and others would even die for it. But what exactly is truth? What is its nature? Does it even have a nature in the first place? When do we say that some truth-bearers are true? Philosophers offer varying answers to these questions. In this article, some of these answers are explored and some of the problems (...) raised against them are presented. (shrink)

Emotivists like Ayer claim that moral sentences are devoid of cognitive meaning since they only evince attitudinal approval or disapproval of actions. In this paper, I explore two non-classical sem...

Pueden identificarse cuatro estrategias principales de tratar la cuestión ambiental de acuerdo al marco rawlsiano. Extender la posición original o el principio de igualdad de oportunidades afecta a la concepción de la justicia. Reconocer límites naturales o ambientales a nivel de esencia constitucional o abrir la fase legislativa a la justicia ambiental afectan al liberalismo político. En cualquiera de ellas, el esquema sólo permitiría ir más lejos cuestionando la visión nacional-estatal de sociedad cooperativa.

In “A neglected reply to Prior’s dilemma” Beall [2012] presents a Weak Kleene framework where Prior’s dilemma for Hume’s no-ought-fromis thesis fails. It fails in the framework because addition, the inference rule that one of its horns relies on, is invalid. In this paper, we show that a more general result is necessary for the viability of Beall’s proposal – a result, which implies that Hume’s thesis holds in the proposed framework. We prove this result and thus show that Beall’s (...) proposal is indeed viable. (shrink)

Este texto analiza los modelos de intelectual propuestos por Foucault y Rorty. Dos modelos que renuncian a continuar los patrones del intelectual clásico y optan por soluciones totalmente opuestas. El intelectual específico, propuesto por Foucault, hace de su labor una tarea crítica que supone un nuevo modo de pensar las relaciones entre filosofía y política, mientras que el intelectual irónico propuesto por Rorty conduce la tarea intelectual hacia una deserción, hacia la supeditación de la filosofía a la democracia. Dos modos, (...) pues, de concebir la práctica filosófica en nuestro presente que nos llevan hacia la pregunta por la crítica en democracia. (shrink)