This article aims to clarify facts and contribute reasons that could lead one to consider the possibility of the existence of natural dispositions which, in that case, should be considered as ethical precursors. Given that the neuroethics proposal focuses attention and studies on the human brain in order to carry out the search of those natural dispositions, this text suggest an initial question: is it possible to go beyond the brain in that search? Or even better, before it? In this (...) regard, Baruch Spinoza proposes lines of reflection in his Ethics which appear susceptible to be taken into account and that, interestingly, connect with the recent works of the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. (shrink)

RESUMENLa posicion de Berlin sobre el determiniso fue recibida por muchos como un ataque al alcance de las ciencias huamnas. Su argumentación, sin embargo, sugiere nuevas y sugerentes relaciones entre el conocimiento y la libertad, admeas de una concepcion especifica de la lectura de la historia. En el presente ensayo, que se editará en dos partes, se analiza el argumento de I. Berlin sobre el determinismo, situandolo en las dos discusiones sobre la historia que se desarrollaron tras la II Guerra (...) mundial.PALABRAS CLAVEDETERMINISMO-BERLINABSTRACTi. Berlin's position on determinism was received by many authors as an attack on the huma sciences. His interpretation, howevers suggets novel and stimulating relations between knowledge and freedom, tgether with a specific philosophy of histori. This paper continues the assement of Berlin's argument on determinism, initiated in a previous essay. Thus, locates determinism within the two debates on histori held after world war IIKEYWORDS DETERMINISM-BERLIN. (shrink)

La oposición entre dos grupos de valores, como nos muestran determinantes casos del mapa geopolítico actual, sugiere los límites de las expectativas modernizadoras tanto del viejo imperialismo como de sus opositores: los nuevos pueblos parecen tan reacios a la administración racional colonial como a la autóctona, y exigen formas de dirección y encuadramiento acordes con la propia cultura. Todo ello parece abrir de nuevo el problema de la tradición, ante el cual, desde la perspectiva de la cultura occidental, parece necesario (...) un proceso reflexivo y crítico sobre la diversidad de valores y lenguajes. Reticentes ante los esquemas de la conciencia moderna, hemos de proceder de manera análoga a la que Geertz advierte en minorías pertenecientes a culturas no occidentales, identificadas con los valores modernos de racionalidad crítica y ética autónoma: atender a las "voces mezcladas" de las tradiciones, demorarnos en esa babel que es el suelo, movedizo pero real, de los valores ilustrados. En el presente trabajo se ofrece, siguiendo algunas ideas de Isaiah Berlin, un acercamiento a la tradición, desde el que examinar dos estrategias cruciales en su constitución: las de De Maistre y Burke. (shrink)

RESUMENLa posición de i.Berlin sobre el determinismo fue recibida por muchos como un ataque al alcance de las ciencias humanas. Su argumentación, sin embargo, sugiere nuevas y sugerentes relaciones entre el conocimiento y la libertad, además de una concepción específica de la lectura de la historia. En el presente ensayo, que constituye una primera parte del trabajo, se analiza el argumento de I. Berlin sobre el determinismo, situándolo en las dos discusiones sobre la historia que se desarrollaron tras la II (...) Guerra Mundial. PALABRAS CLAVEDETERMINISMO-BERLINABSTRACTI. Berlin's position on determinism was received by many authors as an attack on the human sciences. His interpretation, however, suggests novel and stimulating relations between knowledge and freedom, together with a specific philosophy of history. This paper, wich constitutes the first part of a whole essay, assesses Berlin's argument on determinism, placing it within the two debates on history held after world war II.KEYWORDSDETERMINISM-BERLIN. (shrink)

En este artículo se pretende problematizar la noción de injusticia testimonial, mediante una reconstrucción históricofilosófica de algunos usos contemporáneos del testimonio. La literatura sobre el testimonio en el siglo XX no siempre considera la discusión filosófica acerca del significado epistémico del testimonio, pese a que ambos asuntos podrían articularse mejor si el testimonio se comprende desde sus usos históricos recientes, y si la interpretación de los testimonios históricos se sostiene en una concepción adecuada del dispositivo discursivo de la testificación. Se (...) realizó un análisis filosófico del discurso testimonial y una revisión histórica de sus usos en dos contextos testimoniales: los testimonios del Holocausto y la literatura del testimonio latinoamericana. Como resultado de esta reconstrucción históricofilosófica sugerimos ampliar la noción de injusticia testimonial para que, además del desconocimiento o rechazo de la palabra ajena, incorpore el enrarecimiento de la testificación que cabe reconocer en cierto paradigma contemporáneo expresivista de la memoria testimonial.AbstractIn this article we try to problematize the notion of testimonial injustice, through a historical-philosophical reconstruction of some contemporary uses of testimony. The literature on testimony in the twentieth century does not always consider the philosophical discussion of the epistemic meaning of testimony, although both issues could be articulated better if testimony is understood from its recent historical uses, and the interpretation of historic testimony is held on an adequate conception of the discursive device of witnessing. We conducted a philosophical analysis of testimonial discourse and a historical review of its use in two testimonial contexts: Holocaust Testimonies and Latin American literature of testimony. As a result of this historical-philosophical reconstruction, we suggest to expand the notion of testimonial injustice so that, apart from disregard or rejection of the word of others, it incorporates the rarefaction of witnessing, which can be recognized in a certain expressivist contemporary paradigm of testimonial memory. (shrink)

El desarrollo del discernimiento crítico moderno es inseparable de la introducción de signos de puntuación que permitieron distinguir niveles de discurso, distanciarse de lo enunciado y marcar las actitudes subjetivas implicadas en la enunciación. Este estudio pretende establecer los rendimientos retóricos y diferencias estilísticas de la puntuación en la obra de Nietzsche y compararlos con dos referentes del discurso crítico de la modernidad: Kant y Marx. Se realizó un análisis de las frecuencias de los signos de puntuación modales, y de (...) aquellos que secuencian y distinguen niveles de discurso en la obra de Nietzsche y en algunos escritos de Kant y Marx. Los resultados suscitan una discusión sobre el papel privilegiado de los paréntesis en Kant, de las comillas en Marx y de los guiones en Nietzsche. (shrink)

This article reviews the didactic units in biology and environmental education in the context of Latin America, analyzing their design, implementation, and effectiveness in the teaching of environmental and biological topics. Through a literature review and case analysis, the most commonly used teaching strategies are identified and their impact on student learning is evaluated. It highlights best practices and proposes recommendations to improve the quality of biology and environmental education in the region.

In this article, we study Latin American populist constitutions and their uses, seeking to analytically understand whether populist constitutionalism is, indeed, a thing. We posit that Latin American populist constitutionalism is a particular form of mixed constitutionalism in three senses: first, as a specific combination of substantive traits that includes both empowering and (some) constraining devices; second, as a peculiar politics of constitutional change that incorporates popular mobilization against pre-existing institutions as a key trait; and third, as a particular practice (...) of constitutional enforcement that involves weak and selective implementation, often through institutional capture. By considering not only the texts of constitutions but also the ways in which they are changed and implemented, we hope to complement legal perspectives of mixed constitutions with a sociopolitical analysis of practices and contexts. By capturing the distinctive contribution of Latin American populism to the discussion of mixed constitutions, we seek to challenge both legal conceptions of constitutionalism that reduce it to negative or constraining features, and political conceptions of populism that simply equate it to authoritarian rule. (shrink)

La idealización del diálogo es un gesto característico no sólo del pensamiento filosófico contemporáneo, sino también de las ciencias humanas y de los procedimientos de intervención pedagógica, terapéutica y organizacional. En este artículo revisaremos críticamente ese mito fundacional del diálogo socrático, mediante un análisis conversacional de los movimientos y las funciones discursivas que en él se desarrollan. Además, exploraremos la evolución moderna del género del diálogo filosófico.

Este artículo busca el reconocimiento del trabajo de los educadores de adultos y sus luchas desde el fin de la dictadura hasta la actualidad para asentar las bases de la educación de adultos.Con una metodología cualitativa de corte exploratorio, basada en entrevistas en profundidad a los profesionales que estuvieron involucrados, este artículo describe los orígenes, las dificultades encontradas y los procesos llevados a cabo en la creación y reconocimiento oficial del centro de educación de adultos Joan Carles I, situado en (...) el barrio de La Mariola de Lleida, que tiene una idiosincrasia propia. (shrink)

El concepto de “pueblo” ha llegado a ser central en nuestro vocabulario político y para nuestro sentido de agencia colectiva; de hecho, “pueblo” es una palabra clave para concebir la constitución de los sujetos políticos modernos. Este artículo explora los medios de inscripción del significante “pueblo” a través del sistema hegeliano, e intenta articular esas formas de diferenciación y totalización que exponen la ambigüedad de este concepto en la concepción hegeliana: se refiere a formas de vida ética, pero también a (...) la comunidad política; se relaciona con la soberanía autorizada del Estado, pero también con la muchedumbre igualitaria. Para mostrar el sentido del “pueblo” en el pensamiento político hegeliano, este artículo interpreta los roles narrativos del significante, a través de la tragicomedia hegeliana que relata la alienación y reapropiación del Espíritu. (shrink)

En este artículo se explora la respuesta filosófica de Michael Oakeshott a la fragmentación de los modos de experiencia en la modernidad y a la pluralidad idiomática que presupone la moderna moralidad de la individualidad. Más allá de la consagración postmoderna de la diferencia y de la nostalgia de las cosmovisiones jerárquicas pre-modernas, Oakeshott ofrece una reconstrucción filosófica específicamente moderna de una moralidad reflexiva y autónoma, sustentada en el reconocimiento de las consideraciones prácticas incorporadas en nuestros idiomas tradicionales de comportamiento. (...) Se trata de una moralidad adverbial que nos invita a ejercer un pensamiento adverbial sobre las condiciones contingentes de nuestra actividad y nuestra comprensión. (shrink)

The role of rules in our normative practices constitutes a relevant philosophical problema, mainly associated with Wittgenstein’s philosophy, but to which Michael Oakeshott has also attempted to answer. Not surprisingly, some scholars have found parallels between their conceptions of human practices and rule-following. Through an exegesis of the notion and uses of the rule in Oakeshott's works, this article aims to clarify the link between rule-following and normative authorization. In this way, it will be possible to to decide the originality (...) and specificity of Oakeshott’s contribution and settle the question of the differences with the Wittgensteinian problematization of rule-following. (shrink)

The debate over judicial review of legislation is profuse. But differences are often due to the lack of a common methodology. This article discusses the proper way to evaluate judicial review and confronts central challenges raised against it. It develops the two main models that can be used for analyzing the intersection between democracy and constitutional decision-making and shows that judicial oversight may not be rejected, regardless of how we interpret that connection. The article discusses in detail the model developed (...) by Jeremy Waldron. A nice attempt to answer methodological questions, Waldron's model wrongly tips the balance against judicial review. Its excessive level of abstraction and idealization renders it inoperable. Few systems meet its standards, and those that do pay a high price: they contradict the concept of democratic legitimacy that underlies the model. Paradoxically, a system with judicial review may end up being more legitimate than one without it. (shrink)

“Our Tyrannies. Tocqueville on Democratic Despotism”. Although thelexicon of “tyranny” and “despotism” is subject to historical changes in meaning,we still keep on using those terms to refer to some types of illegitimate, unjust orindecent political regimes. So does Tocqueville, when he describes the new waysof despotism emerging from modern democratic revolution. In this article, weexplore the uses of “tyranny” and “despotism” in Tocqueville’s thought, and wealso try to discover the concrete models or social prototypes which could inspireTocqueville’s prognosis concerning a (...) tutelary democratic despotism. (shrink)

En el escenario contemporáneo, caracterizado por la rehabilitación de la retórica, Kenneth Burke (1897-1993) ha realizado contribuciones decisivas que lo han convertido en una de las figuras fundamentales de la “nueva retórica” y, quizá, de un posible “giro retórico”. Mediante una sistematización de las proyecciones de la retórica en los distintos momentos de su pensamiento, este artículo identifica los aportes de Burke a la retórica contemporánea, sopesa las transformaciones que su enfoque introduce en la tradición retórica y discute los alcances (...) de su crítica retórica. En su obra, asistimos a una amplificación de la crítica retórica hasta la formulación de una retórica dialéctica y filosófica que se perfila, sucesivamente, como una retórica de la filosofía, una filosofía de la retórica y una filosofía retórica o dramática. La crítica retórica burkeana constituye una vía privilegiada para cualquier proyecto de retórica general y de renovación de la retórica. (shrink)

Aunque no siempre se incluye entre sus influencias intelectuales, hay un notorio platonismo en la reflexión filosófica de Oakeshott, atribuible al influjo del neohegelianismo británico. Sin embargo, a través de sus ensayos, Oakeshott no dejará de pronunciarse críticamente sobre los presupuestos racionalistas e intelectualistas de la concepción política platónica. En este artículo, se explora la ambivalente relación de Oakeshott con el platonismo, tal como se reconoce en la particular reinterpretación de la alegoría de la caverna contenida en On human conduct. (...) En el regreso a la caverna, nuestra interpretación de Oakeshott no solo reconoce un cuestionamiento de las pretensiones del racionalista en política, sino también una invitación a explorar la reunión de los distintos modos de la imaginación humana y una defensa de la relevancia de “la voz de la poesía en la conversación de la humanidad”. (shrink)

El pathos de la democracia moderna ha sido descrito de diversos modos, aunque comúnmente en un sentido unívoco. A veces, se dice que la era de la igualdad exhibe una reflexividad y un autocontrol desapasionados; otras veces, la modernidad es retratada como un proceso de exacerbación de los deseos, o como una gran transformación de las pasiones en intereses razonables. Además, las pasiones democráticas son vistas frecuentemente como pequeños sentimientos domésticos, alienados de la esfera pública, gestionados en una intimidad clausurada, (...) y sujetos a una administración tutelar. Tocqueville —quien fue un testigo único y privilegiado de la transición del pathos aristocrático a las pasiones democráticas— nos suministra una sutil interpretación de los variados matices y los complejos vínculos que configuran los afectos modernos. En este artículo, analizamos la prognosis de Tocqueville acerca del curso del pathos democrático, pero también prestamos atención a sus temores relativos a una gestión emocional tutelar. (shrink)

Usually, the criticism of the modern foundational epistemo-logical project and the representational conception of knowledge is associated with the philosophies of Heidegger and Wittgenstein. However, in an epigone of British idealism such as Michael Oakeshott, one can also recognize a singular position against philosophical foundationalism, representational epistemology, the theory of truth as correspondence and universalist rationalism. This article aims to reconstruct Oakeshott’s philosophical inquiries into the conditions of human experience and understanding. Through the exegesis of his philosophical essays, we propose (...) an integral reading of his systematic reflection on the modalities of human knowledge, which coherently combines idealistic, skeptical, and hermeneutical motives beyond the temptations of traditional epistemology. (shrink)

El tópico de la Filosofía como aprendizaje de la muerte nos ha sido transmitido desde la Antigüedad, y ha experimentado algunos giros en el pensamiento moderno y contemporáneo. En la Filosofía contemporánea, este tópico parece interpretarse como la necesidad de enfrentar la propia muerte de la Filosofía, y actualmente ha generado un marcado giro necrológico hacia el obituario filosófico y la biografía intelectual. En este artículo nos proponemos revisar —desde una perspectiva metafilosófica estos desplazamientos de sentido de la actividad filosófica (...) y el pathos necrológico de la Filosofía actual. Desde ese punto de vista, el análisis del género de discurso del obituario filosófico nos permite interpretar las encrucijadas metafilosóficas del pensamiento contemporáneo. (shrink)

El debate filosófico sobre la subjetividad moderna se ha centrado frecuentemente en la autorreflexión de los posicionamientos del sí mismo, y no se ha prestado suficiente atención a los modos discursivos de subjetivación, por ejemplo a marcadores de subjetividad como los adverbios. En este artículo se pretende establecer de qué manera los adverbios de modalidad expresan la gama de actitudes y los posicionamientos epistémicos del sujeto moderno hispanohablante. Se realizó un análisis de contenido de los usos idiomáticos entre 1500 y (...) 1950, tomando como muestra los contenidos del Corpus Diacrónico de la Real Academia Española, para establecer la frecuencia de empleo de los adverbios modales, evaluativos y evidenciales. Los resultados evidencian un incremento constante a partir del siglo XVIII en estos marcadores subjetivos de actitud, pero también permiten reconocer un tipo de subjetivación adverbial centrado en el aseguramiento epistémico, la naturalización de expectativas y ciertos desplazamientos en las evaluaciones personales. (shrink)

Se presenta una aplicación de la paradoja de Newcomb a la disyuntiva evangélica de la elección entre Dios y el Dinero. Se concluye que la elección simultánea de Dios y el Dinero es debida, o bien a la creencia en la predestinación divina, o bien a una falta de fe en el Evangelio.

This study evaluates the comprehension of generalized conversational implicatures (GCI) in children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), using a GCI test constructed based on the Levinson model, which distinguishes between three types of implicatures: type Q (or scalar: “what is not referred to does not occur”); type I (“by default, it is not necessary to say what can be assumed”); and type M (“if someone is expressing something in a not very simple or marked way, it is because (...) s/he is describing a situation that is not very typical, frequent, or prototypical”). In addition to the ASD group ( n = 22), two comparison groups were utilized: a group matched on chronological age with the ASD group, but with a higher linguistic age (TCD group, n = 22), and a group matched on linguistic age with the ASD group, but with a lower chronological age (TLD group, n = 22). In all cases, linguistic age was assessed with the Peabody test. The performance of the three groups on the GCI test was compared (overall and on each type of implicature), and performance on the three types of implicature was compared within each group. The ASD group obtained worse performance than the other two groups, both overall and for each implicature type, without also obtaining differences in performance on the three implicature types. The TCD group obtained better performance than the TLD group on overall performance, but not on each implicature type, and both groups obtained lower performance on the type M heuristics than on the type I. Based on these results, the children with ASD in our study presented limitations in the comprehension of the three types of GCI, but it was not possible to obtain evidence for an inferential continuum of the three types of GCI. However, in the two typical development groups, this evidence was obtained, leading us to propose an inferential continuum model based on the different levels of dependence on the context of each of the three types of implicatures, with type M implicatures being more contextually dependent. (shrink)

Scarcity acts as a mental burden that disrupts how people process information and make decisions (Mullainathan and Shafir in Scarcity: Why having too little means so much. Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013; Mani et al. Science 342:976–980, 2013). In this study, we replicated Mani et al.’s (Science 342:976–980, 2013) experimental design to explore whether scarcity also taxes Colombian high school students’ mental bandwidth. In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we tested how 417 high school students from high and low socioeconomic status (SES) in Bogotá, (...) Colombia, responded to different scarcity situations. Students were first presented with hypothetical scenarios of harsh or soft scarcity. Next, participants had to solve a series of tasks that measured higher cognitive functions (i.e. Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Cognitive Reflection Task and questions to assess their Delay Discounting value) and had to explain how they would solve the scarcity situation. As opposed to Mani et al. (Science 342:976–980, 2013), we did not find that scarcity taxed individuals’ mental bandwidth, neither their cognitive nor executive functions. We found that low-SES individuals, under the harsh scarcity condition, displayed more empathic attributes than high-SES individuals. Taken together, the results of this study show the importance of replication in different cultures and environments. (shrink)

Diferentes investigaciones han abordado el fenómeno de cómo el jugador de ajedrez alcanza un nivel alto de experticia; sin embargo, la gran mayoría se han llevado a cabo desde una perspectiva en tercera persona, es decir, sin tomar en cuenta la experiencia subjetiva del ajedrecista. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivos: 1) analizar la experticia de ajedrecistas de nivel proficiente desde una perspectiva fenomenológica, esto es, desde la experiencia subjetiva del jugador; 2) señalar los estados internos que parecen ser cognitivamente (...) relevantes en las acciones de los ajedrecistas; 3) teorizar sobre el eventual papel que juega la intuición en las acciones de los jugadores de ajedrez. Para ello se realizó un estudio exploratorio con cinco jugadores de ajedrez durante una competencia de corte nacional en México, utilizando como método la entrevista microfenomenológica propuesta por Claire Petitmengin. Los resultados indican que hay regularidades en los estados internos de los jugadores a nivel intra e interpersonal asociadas implícitamente a momentos críticos de las partidas. Lo anterior permite ofrecer una definición operacional de la intuición y afirmar que esta, en efecto, forma parte de los procesos cognitivamente relevantes de los ajedrecistas de nivel proficiente, aunque las acciones de estos aún dependen, en buena medida, de los cálculos explícitos que realizan durante los momentos críticos. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to prove how what is apparently a mistake made by Plutarch, wheter deliberate or not, in his reference to the arson attack of Caesar´s soldiers in Alexandria as the end of the famous Library, show us the common sense of the term “bibliotheke” from that time up to now. Coming to this conclusion has required a detailed analysis of the Library of Alexandria since its birth applying Aristotelian doctrine to its configuration not only as (...) an organized space for books but also as an imaginary reading room from which the helenistic world of relations is established. In a second approach, we focus the attention on the change occurred in this collection with the introduction of alphabetical order and, then, with the philological activity of Callimachus. As a result of his Pinakes, the platonic concept of daimon, “guide”, became the first characteristic o a philologist or librarian. Using the information ordered in the Pinakes anybody could be a librarian and find a library anywhere. The old megále bibliotheke of Alexandría remains only with the idea of the conservation of original papyrus. This is de reason of the enigmatic sentence of Plutarch announcing the end of this situation caused by the action of the fire. (shrink)

Background A combination of theoretical and practical approaches is required to learn and acquire ethical competencies in caring. Occasionally, reflection on practical action differs from theoretical learning. In the context of reflective learning, issues such as ethical values can be discussed since they evoke conflict among nursing students. Aim To identify ethical conflicts encountered by nursing students during clinical placements and to determine their cooperation strategies. Research design Qualitative study with a content analysis according to Elo and Kinglas framework. Participants (...) and research context Students enrolled in a nursing program at a Spanish university aged between 22 and 35, mainly women. Methodology The study includes 134 ethical reflections from nursing students in the last year of the nursing program, written during their clinical practices in a variety of learning environments. The research team analyzed the reflections using an inductive content analysis method. Ethical considerations Ethical permission was obtained by the management center according to Law 3/2028, and all the participants accepted to participate through the informed consent form. Findings Three main categories emerged from the analysis of the ethical reflections: (1) evaluation of professional performance and patient care; (2) the student as the protagonist of the dilemma; (3) student coping. Student dilemmas and concerns are related to ignorance, student-patient communication, mistakes made and self-confidence. Some situations conflict with the autonomy of patients and their rights, and can contribute to stressful situations for patients. Stress factors include hospital routines, which the patient cannot modify, and asymmetric relationships with staff, which encourage passivity. Conclusion All ethical problems detected by the students begin with the professional-patient relationship, including issues related to bad news, errors or malpractice. Reflection on the ethical values of nursing, both in the classroom and in clinical practices, allows students to develop a greater ethical awareness of care, enhancing their decision-making skills in ethical dilemmas. (shrink)

Purpose As part of an international study of knowledge of and attitudes to Snowden’s revelations about the activities of the National Security Agency/Government Communications Headquarters, this paper aims to deal with Mexico, taking its socio-cultural and political environment surrounding privacy and state surveillance into account. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire was answered by 160 Mexican University students. The quantitative responses to the survey were statistically analysed as well as qualitative considerations of free text answers. Findings Snowden’s revelations have had a limited influence (...) over Mexican youngsters’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance, although there is a great awareness by Mexican young people of individual rights issues. Practical implications The study results imply a need to build a collective awareness of the importance of the right to privacy and its responsibilities, the available technological options for individuals to exert their own privacy and security and the democratic means to agree and enforce appropriate legal restrictions on state surveillance. Social implications The results of this study based indicate an urgent necessity for providing Mexican youngsters with opportunities to learn more about privacy, liberty, individual autonomy and national security. Originality/value This study is the first attempt to investigate the social impact of Snowden’s revelations on Mexican students’ attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance as part of cross-cultural analyses between eight countries. (shrink)

RESUMENEl ensayo intenta mostrar la peculiar importancia que el arte, desde finales del s. XVI, concede al afecto y la atención que paralelamente le dedica la reflexión filosófica, hasta llegar a la obra de Baruch Spinoza. No pretende hacer una historia sino destacar ciertos registros que permitan pensar el valor concedido al afecto, concebido sin sublimaciones, desde su raíz corporal.PALABRAS CLAVEFILOSOFÍA DEL ARTE, AFECTO, SPINOZAABSTRACTThis paper intends to show the specific value which art has attached to affection as well as (...) the attention it is subject of on the part of philosophical reflections from the end of XVI century to Baruch Spinoza’s works. The essay doesn´t attempt to draw a historical process, but rather to highlight some aspects which may allow us to consider the importance attached to bodily affections without any sublimation.KEYWORDSPHILOSOPHY OF ART, AFFECTION, SPINOZA. (shrink)

Perhaps the hottest topic in the philosophy of chemistry is that of the relationship between chemistry and physics. The problem finds one of its main manifestations in the debate about the nature of molecular structure, given by the spatial arrangement of the nuclei in a molecule. The traditional strategy to address the problem is to consider chemical cases that challenge the definition of molecular structure in quantum–mechanical terms. Instead of taking that top-down strategy, in this paper we face the problem (...) of the reduction of molecular structure to quantum mechanics from a bottom-up perspective: our aim is to show how the theoretical peculiarities of quantum mechanics stand against the possibility of molecular structure, defined in terms of the spatial relations of the nuclei conceived as individual localized objects. We will argue that, according to the theory, quantum “particles” are not individuals that can be identified as different from others and that can be reidentified through time; therefore, they do not have the ontological stability necessary to maintain the relations that can lead to a spatially definite system with an identifiable shape. On the other hand, although quantum chemists use the resources supplied by quantum mechanics with successful results, this does no mean reduction: their “approximations” add certain assumptions that are not justified in the context of quantum mechanics or are even inconsistent with the very formal structure of the theory. (shrink)

In the present paper we address the problem of optical isomerism embodied in the socalled “Hund’s paradox”, which points to the difficulty to account for chirality by means of quantum mechanics. In particular, we explain the answer to the problem proposed by the theory of decoherence. The purpose of this article is to challenge this answer on the basis of a conceptual analysis of the phenomenon of decoherence, that reveals the limitations of the theory of decoherence to solve the difficulties (...) posed by optical isomerism and, in general, by quantum measurement. (shrink)

In this paper, I defend a non-mechanistic interpretation of Kant's philosophy of nature. My interpretation contradicts the robust tradition of reading Kant as a mechanist about nature – or as someone who endorses the view that we can know the internally purposive causality characteristic of organisms has no place in nature. By attending closely to Kant's remarks about the possibility of internal purposiveness in nature and to key premises from Kant's arguments in the Antinomy of Teleological Judgment, we shall see (...) that it is not only plausible, but preferable, to believe that internally purposive things (i.e., organisms) exist in nature. Making room for such a belief leaves Kant with a philosophy of nature that simultaneously aligns with and surpasses the philosophies of nature offered up by his Early Modern predecessors. (shrink)

Typically, existentialist analyses of “America” have been limited to North America (more specifically, the United States). I argue that developing an adequate framework for existentially analyzing America requires a turn to Mexican existentialism. In Emilio Uranga’s and Jorge Portilla’s writings, we discover new conceptual tools for understanding Americanness as such. These thinkers help us imagine an account of American being that does not restrict itself to the United States by using the concepts of existentialism to describe the crises their neighbors (...) to the north as well as they themselves face. American existence has been historically characterized by a convergence (oftentimes clash) of disparate races, ethnicities, languages, cultures, religions, and identities. As history unfolded, this convergence led to various existential crises across the Americas. Whereas the US American way of life is marred by a blustering, naïve, and purposeless misuse of freedom that disregards the other, the existential crisis the Mexican lives is characterized by “accidentality” and “zozobra.” Despite these important differences, all existentialists, and the Mexican existentialists of the Hyperion Group especially, remind us that there is a common way to overcome the various existential crises plaguing the Americas, and that is to exercise freedom in a purposeful, communally conscious manner. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that, contrary to scholarly consensus, Antonio Caso draws inspiration from important principles and ideas from Kant’s philosophy in his critique of positivism. I first examine the prima facie textual reasons why someone might believe that Caso and Kant are philosophical enemies. To contradict this notion, I proceed by noting and developing three core ideas that the two share in common. First, Caso and Kant are both ardent critics of dogmatic philosophizing. Second, both Caso and Kant (...) carve out special room for intuition in their respective accounts of cognition, resisting the idea that the understanding has a more prominent role in the formation of knowledge. Third, Kant’s doctrine of aesthetic judgment paves the way for Caso’s de-intellectualized aesthetics. In the end, we see that Kant and Caso are closer to being philosophical friends than enemies. (shrink)

I reconstruct 20th-century Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos’s answers to two important aesthetic-political questions: (1) Can aesthetic judgments bind community? and (2) Can aesthetic judgments drive political, social, and cultural change? My objectives are twofold: one, to show that Vasconcelos’s responses make original contributions to an important aesthetic-political tradition that begins with Kant, and two, to offer key ideas from Vasconcelos’s aesthetics to a wider audience, as an invitation to engage with his work in their research and teaching. In section I, (...) I argue that Kant’s remarks suggest that aesthetic judgments bind the community. In section II, I explain that Kant sometimes appears to suggest that aesthetic judgments promote political, social, and cultural change. Section III discusses two bridge figures—Schiller and Arendt—that help us better understand how Kantian aesthetics binds community and serves political purposes. In section IV, I argue that Vasconcelos aligns with the Kantian tradition exemplified by Schiller and Arendt when developing a plan for aesthetically-guided social and political progress. I also show that, during his time in various positions of power in the Mexican government, Vasconcelos brought ideas from the Kantian tradition to life. I conclude by reflecting on how Vasconcelos reveals new possibilities for the Kantian tradition. (shrink)

Although during the last decades the philosophy of chemistry has greatly extended its thematic scope, the main difficulties appear in the attempt to link the chemical description of atoms and molecules and the description supplied by quantum mechanics. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the difficulties that threaten the continuous conceptual link between molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics can be overcome or, at least, moderated from the perspective of BM. With this purpose, in “The quantum-mechanical challenges” section (...) the foundational incompatibility between chemical and SQM descriptions will be briefly recalled. “Bohmian mechanics” section will be devoted to explain the main features of BM. In “Empirical equivalence and underdetermination” section, the consequences of the empirical equivalence between SQM and BM will be discussed. Finally, in the Conclusion, we will stress the scope of the obtained conclusions and the philosophical difficulties that still remain even after adopting BM for foundational purposes. (shrink)

One of the main challenges in medicine is to guarantee an appropriate drug supply according to the real needs of patients. Closed-loop strategies have been widely used to develop automatic solutions based on feedback variables. However, when the variable of interest cannot be directly measured or there is a lack of knowledge behind the process, it turns into a difficult issue to solve. In this research, a novel algorithm to approach this problem is presented. The main objective of this study (...) is to provide a new general algorithm capable of determining the influence of a certain clinical variable in the decision making process for drug supply and then defining an automatic system able to guide the process considering this information. Thus, this new technique will provide a way to validate a given physiological signal as a feedback variable for drug titration. In addition, the result of the algorithm in terms of fuzzy rules and membership functions will define a fuzzy-based decision system for the drug delivery process. The method proposed is based on a Fuzzy Inference System whose structure is obtained through a decision tree algorithm. A four-step methodology is then developed: data collection, preprocessing, Fuzzy Inference System generation, and the validation of results. To test this methodology, the analgesia control scenario was analysed. Specifically, the viability of the Analgesia Nociception Index as a guiding variable for the analgesic process during surgical interventions was studied. Real data was obtained from fifteen patients undergoing cholecystectomy surgery. (shrink)