La sociedad atraviesa una serie de transformaciones en sus relaciones entre instituciones y comunidad; en este marco la universidad, desde su misión académica centrada en la formación e investigación para el desarrollo de conocimientos, está promoviendo una mayor implicación hacia las necesidades de la sociedad, a lo que se denomina responsabilidad social universitaria (RSU). Este artículo presenta cómo, desde una perspectiva humanista, se constituye una comunidad social de investigación entre la Unidad de Investigación Enfoque Centrado en la Persona de la (...) Universidad de Valencia –España-, el grupo Prisma de la Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga –Colombia- y la Fundación Albeiro Vargas (FAVAC) –Colombia- cuya finalidad es la atención al adulto mayor. Mediante una metodología de investigación-acción participativa, se genera una base de cooperación institucional para la promoción del bienestar psicológico del adulto mayor. El voluntariado, a través de sus docentes y sus alumnos, se concreta así en una acción de responsabilidad social universitaria cuya primera actividad es la valoración del bienestar psicológico del adulto mayor en la fundación Albeiro Vargas. (shrink)

Challenges to Legal Theory offers the reader a fascinating journey though a variety of multi-disciplinary topics, ranging from law and literature, and law and religion, to legal philosophy and constitutional law. The collection reflects some of the challenges that the field of legal theory currently faces. It is compiled by a selection of international and Spanish scholars, whose essays are made available in English translation for the first time. The volume is based on a collection of essays, published in Spanish, (...) in honour of Professor José Iturmendi Morales, of Complutense University, Madrid, and brings the rich scholarship of pre-eminent Spanish scholars of law and legal theory to an international audience. (shrink)

RESUMEN Juan Marinello Vidaurreta, eminente trabajador de las letras, que no cambió la pluma por la política, sino que hizo de la política incesante gestión de creación espiritual. Vivió tres etapas decisivas de Cuba: los rezagos de la colonia española; la República mediatizada, que combatió; y el socialismo, que ayudó a consolidar. El objetivo es demostrar la confluencia del pensamiento martiano y marxista desde el análisis de la cultura en la obra de Juan Marinello Vidaurreta. Se asumió la (...) concepción dialéctica materialista como metodología general para conocer el objeto de investigación en sus antecedentes y tendencias actuales. Además permitió ampliar el conocimiento sobre el tema objeto de estudio, a través del análisis de texto, el contenido y el discurso; la crítica de fuentes posibilitó extraer inferencias a partir de la teoría preexistente y la información empírica acopiada. El pensamiento marinelliano se fue formando como resultado de la influencia del movimiento progresista cubano, del pensamiento martiano y marxista-leninista, lo más avanzado del pensamiento latinoamericano y universal. Subyace en su obra una concepción integradora y totalizadora de la cultura, de base martiana y marxista. ABSTRACT Juan Marinello Vidaurreta eminent worker of the letters that did not change the pen by the policy, but that made of the policy, incessant management of spiritual creation. He lived three decisive stages of Cuba: the lags of the Spanish colony; the mediated Republic, which fought; and socialism, which helped to consolidate. The objective is to demonstrate the confluence of Marti's and Marxist thinking from the analysis of culture in the work of Juan Marinello Vidaurreta. The dialectical materialist conception was assumed as general methodology to know the object of research in its antecedents and current trends. In addition it allowed expanding the knowledge on the subject under study, through the analysis of text, content and discourse; the critique of sources made it possible to draw inferences from the preexisting theory and the empirical information collected. Marinellian thought was formed as a result of the influence of the Cuban progressive movement, of Marti and Marxist-Leninist thought, the most advanced of Latin American and universal thought. It underlies in his work an integrative and totalizing conception of the culture, of Marti base and marxist. (shrink)

[Recipient of the 2024 Inter-American Philosophy Award] Philosophers have recently debated whether the social identity category "Latinx" picks out a race (Alcoff 2006), an ethnicity (Gracia 2008), or something else altogether (Arango and Burgos 2021). Rather than defending one or several of these ways of understanding US Latinx as a political or social group, my paper focuses on the personal social identity turmoil young US Latinx people feel and explores the history of inter-American thought to seek a remedy for it. (...) Three prominent American philosophers – José Martí, Alain Locke, and Emilio Uranga – combine to teach us that, while the US Latinx strives for belonging, they find themselves in a situation of unbelonging. The tension that results from the desire to belong but the reality of unbelonging produces a deep-seated anxiety that has come to characterize the US Latinx condition. I suggest that an effective tool for coping with this anxiety, affirming our identity, and building community is the activity of doing inter-American, Latin American, and Latinx Philosophy. (shrink)

El presente artículo presenta la intensa y compleja reflexión que la convivencia entre cristianos y diversos tipos de ‘infieles’, judíos y musulmanes en la España tardomevial, a los que se añadirán paganos, herejes, apóstatas y ateos en la Primera Modernidad, suscitó en algunos de los principales escolásticos salmantinos. Tras una breve mirada a obras tardo-medievales como la Summa theologiae de Tomás de Aquino, un punto de referencia inexcusable para la tradición escolástica hispánica, o el Capistrum iudaeroum de Raimundo Martí, (...) se analizan con detenimiento diversas referencias a la convivencia interreligiosa en los Comentarios a la Secunda Secundae de Francisco de Vitoria. Abordando aspectos de esta convivencia o coexistencia se resalta la tendencia del maestro burgalés a flexibilizar las normatividades tradicionales que advertían con marcado rigorismo del periculum fidei representado por el compartir mesa, techo o debates con ‘infieles’. Analizamos también como con el correr de las décadas, canonistas como Martín de Azpilcueta, posteriores comentaristas de la Summa theologiae como Pedro de Aragón e importantes teólogos morales del siglo XVII como Francisco Suárez y Juan Azor, van abandonando progresivamente el optimismo pro-convivencia de Vitoria para adoptar un tono marcadamente anti-musulmán y anti-judío. Finalmente, el artículo llama la atención sobre la modificación e incluso inversión de algunas pautas de convivencia interreligiosa en la América y Asia de la Primera Modernidad. (shrink)

The dialogue Bruno of 1802 is arguably the natural starting point for any investigation on the concepts of finitude, evil and human freedom in Schelling’s middle metaphysics. In this dialogue the author elaborates for the first time in his system a concept of freedom and independence of the finite, which extends via his reformulation in Philosophy and Religion of 1804 to the Freedom Essay of 1809 and beyond to the works of 1810 and 1811 – Stuttgart Private Lectures and The (...) Ages of the World. The central ontological problem of the dialogue relates to the possibility of a separation between the absolute and the world as space of finite beings, which, according to the system of identity first presented in 1801, cannot exist as such. The question we will then address concerns the status of the finite as such and how would it be possible to admit both its existence for consciousness and the positing of an absolute and infinite principle of philosophy. We will show how Schelling’s interest shifts, almost unintentionally, from the infinite principle to the finite as such, as a principle of freedom and self-initiation independent of the real. (shrink)

In his work Bruno, Schelling elaborates for the first time a concept of freedom and independence of the finite that extends through his reformulation in Philosophy and Religion of 1804, to the Freedom Essay of 1809 and beyond to the works of 1810 and 1811—Stuttgart Private Lectures and The Ages of the World. The question we will address in this article—taking a necessary detour through Bruno themes—concerns the status of the finite as such and how it is at all possible (...) to admit both the existence of a world of finite beings as it appears to consciousness and the positing of an Absolute and infinite principle of philosophy. We will show how Schelling’s interest shifts, almost unintentionally, from the infinite principle to the finite as such, as a principle of freedom and self-initiation independent of the real. The split opened by the duality of the two principles will continue in Philosophy and Religion of 1804 and will become more evident in the other works of the 1800s that are the subject of our broader philosophical interest. In analyzing Bruno, we fill for the first time a major existing gap in Schelling’s now-renowned middle metaphysics culminating in his Freedom Essay of 1809 as well as proving its inception in the unresolved problems of the system prior to 1809. (shrink)

Se trata de pensar y abrir el horizonte del ser-con desde los análisis fenomenológicos vertidospor Heidegger en la I Sección de su libro Ser y Tiempo, respetando y aceptando sus propiaslimitaciones intrínsecas y a pesar del carácter aparentemente negativo que rodea a este existenciario,a fin de radicalizarlo, extenderlo y ubicarlo en su posibilidad más genuina. Por esta razón, a través deuna interpretación de corte fenomenológico, se ha querido potenciar los posibles rendimientos de unser-con en propiedad, enfatizando la necesidad de interpretar (...) el opus magnum heideggeriano desdeel horizonte de la mismidad del Dasein. La conclusión apunta sobre dos vías temáticas, a saber: a) atomar la mismidad del Dasein, por cuanto constituye una posibilidad ejecutiva de existir conforme alo que este ente es, en tanto condición necesaria y suficiente para pensar un ser-con en propiedad; b) aestablecer, casi a modo de esbozo, una relación entre ser-con, libertad y mismidad, la cual tiene su basetemática en una presumible igualdad de orden pre-ontológico. (shrink)

In this article, we present for the first time Schelling’s early critique of absolute idealism within his middle metaphysics (1804–1820), which has great relevance and influence on the subsequent course of German philosophy, and, more broadly considered, on later systematic thinking about the categories of unity and duality. We aim to show how Schelling defends a form of metaphysical duality, from 1804 onwards, without relapsing into a stronger Kantian dualism. In this sense, our author rejects both the dualism between nature (...) and spirit, necessity and freedom, as well as the monist-immanent metaphysical stance later associated with Hegelian panlogism. Against Hegel, Schelling increasingly vindicates the reality of the finite and degrades the infinite to mere ideality in a movement that resembles later existentialism. Furthermore, we defend Schelling against the accusation of irrationalism that sections of Hegelianism formulated against him and present the concept of infinity without the notion of totality, which he thinks of, much like Fichte, in the light of the concept of an ‘infinite task’. Schelling’s later criticisms of Hegel are shown to be influenced by his early idealist critique of the period at hand. (shrink)

This article presents three studies examining the importance of identification with characters in research on media entertainment. In Study 1 it was found that identification with characters was associated with spectators' degree of enjoyment of feature films of different genres. Study 2 showed that identification with characters predicts the affective impact of a dramatic film and, also, it was associated with greater cognitive elaboration and a more complex reflexive process during the viewing of the dramatic film. In Study 3 it (...) was observed that identification with characters predicted the incidental impact of a full length fictional film on attitudes and beliefs. These results support the centrality of the construct of identification with characters in narrative persuasion research. (shrink)

Resumen El objetivo principal del artículo es terminar quién es el Dasein desde el aparecer del mundo en la obra de Martin Heidegger Ser y tiempo. Para ello, se plantea la posibilidad de aprehensión del horizonte del sí mismo del Dasein, en contra de los propios análisis heideggerianos sobre el uno, y, también, se muestra de qué manera la mismidad del Dasein se presupone ya en el modo de aparición del mundo-entorno a través del existenciario significatividad. La conclusión del artículo (...) intentará descubrir los posibles rendimientos fenomenológicos de la apertura del horizonte del sí-mismo del Dasein.The main goal of the paper is to determine who is the Dasein itself from the appearance of the world in the Book of Martin Heidegger Being and time. For this, it raises the possibility of understanding the horizon of the self of Dasein itself differently to Heidegger’s analysis about the they and also it shows how the Selfhood of Dasein is presupposed already in the appearance of the world-environment through the existential meaningfulness. The conclusion of this paper will try to discover the phenomenological yields of Dasein’s openness as horizon of its Selfhood. (shrink)

Hay en la obra de Juan José Sebreli, más allá de la diversidad de los temas, una sorprendente continuidad. En esta obra, ambiciosa y de madura reflexión, Sebreli encara la síntesis de los problemas que lo han obsesionado desde los años 60. Los analiza ahora desde una perspectiva originalísima, a la que contribuyen sin duda los cambios experimentados por el mundo y por él mismo. El asedio a la modernidad, publicada en Argentina en 1991 y totalmente revisada para (...) la actual edición, es una apasionante y apasionada revisión crítica de las ideas predominantes en la segunda mitad del siglo XX. A partir de hilos constructores hábilmente detectados por el autor, a través de marcas y huellas que señalan semejanzas o diferencias, aparecen unidas corrientes de pensamiento tan distintas a primera vista como el existencialismo heideggeriano, Nietzsche, el estructuralismo, las filosofías críticas de la historia, la antropología culturalista, el funcionalismo, el psicoanálisis junguiano y lacaniano, el posestructuralismo, la reconstrucción, el posmodernismo. La abundancia de información, la coherencia metodológica y la originalidad de los planteamientos estimulan la lectura e instigan en algunos casos a la polémica. Sebreli no teme desdecirse, autocriticarse, romper con el pasado; si no es complaciente consigo mismo, tampoco lo es con el lector, a quien no trata de halagar. El asedio a la modernidad es, por lo tanto, un libro provocativo e ineludible, que despertara en el lector una seria curiosidad por los nuevos rumbos del conocimiento. (shrink)

Este libro está dirigido a quien desee familiarizarse con los problemas clásicos y contemporáneos de la ética. Pero también está escrito desde un punto de vista y refleja una posición personal de l autora en torno a esta disciplina. En este libro se encontrarán nociones sobre un saber sistematizado que constituye el corazón de los conocimientos filosóficos. Pero en cuanto que la ética nos muestra esa pequeña pero poderosa arma que constituye la voluntad de transformación, liberación y cambio del ser (...) humano cabe esperar que la lectura de este tratado iniciador en la disciplina contribuya a la mejora de la vida y la sociedad humanas. (shrink)

This paper regards Leonardo Polo’s motivation for his proposal of a new method in metaphysics, the science of being. It is presented a brief comparison with similar motivations in the area of Thomistic thought. The three main points of the proposal are: the problem of the mental limit, the notion of habitual knowledge, the distinction between metaphysics and the transcendental anthropology.

Este trabajo analiza ciertas controversias en torno a las interpretaciones biopolíticas de Arendt. Recientemente, algunos de sus comentaristas han enfatizado las nuevas perspectivas teóricas que ciertos conceptos claves de Arendt («Natalidad», «Libertad», «Poder», «Vida») podrían ofrecer desde el paradigma biopolítico. Sin embargo, estas reinterpretaciones no parecen ser fieles al fundamento original de tales conceptos —la fenomenología—. Intentaré mostrar aquí que es necesario: a) precisar la viabilidad de estas interpretaciones; b) calibrar su alcance; y c) hacer visible el riesgo de operar (...) con ellas una tergiversación del pensamiento aredtiano. Si es plausible mostrar esta incompatibilidad, podremos mostrar también algunos de los límites interpretativos del paradigma biopolítico. (shrink)

This article presents a systematic literature review on quality management and social responsibility (focusing on ethical and social issues). It uses the literature review to identify the parallels between quality management and social responsibility, the extent to which qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods are used, the countries that have contributed most to this area, and how the most common quality management practices facilitate social responsibility. The literature review covers articles about quality management and social responsibility (focusing on ethical and social (...) categories) based on a computer search in three databases, namely ABI Inform, Emerald and Science Direct, and includes articles dealing with the subject that were found in the lists of references of the articles found in the primary search, as well as a search in six top management journals. The results show (1) the journals most likely to publish this type of article; (2) the range of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods used; (3) the most productive countries in this field; (4) the parallels between quality management and social responsibility; and (5) how the most common quality management practices facilitate ethical behaviour and social aspects. (shrink)

En el presente ensayo se estudia el tema de la historia y la historicidad en los escritos de la primera etapa (etapa ontológica) del pensamiento de X. Zubiri. Siguiendo las sugerencias de sus maestros Ortega y Gasset y Heidegger, Zubiri aborda esta problemática desde la perspectiva de la reforma del ser, pero ya en este momento apunta una orientación propia que culminará en la etapa de madurez. Frente a la concepción antigua de la historia, la que se hizo presente a (...) partir del siglo xix y que desembocará en las diversas formas de historicismo, Zubiri sostiene que hay que entender el devenir histórico como una dialéctica de posibilidades, por lo que distingue cuidadosamente entre hecho (actualización de potencias) y suceso (actualización de posibilidades), y postula una reforma de la metafísica cuyo programa es: de la naturaleza y de la historia al ser. (shrink)

This paper presents current trends in philosophy of mind and philosophy of neuroscience, with a special focus on neuroscientists dealing with some topics usually discussed by philosophers of mind. The aim is to detect the philosophical views of those scientists, such as Eccles, Gazzaniga, Damasio, Changeux, and others, which are not easy to classify according to the standard divisions of dualism, functionalism, emergentism, and others. As the variety of opinions in these fields is sometimes a source of confusion, it is (...) worth the effort to obtain an overall panorama of the topic. A general conclusion on epistemological and ontological issues, concerning the relationship between neurobiology and philosophy and the multi-level account of the embodied mind, is proposed. (shrink)

Espléndido manual de teoría del conocimiento en el que se abordan todos los temas clásicos desde una perspectiva renovadora.

Este artículo estudia, desde un punto de vista analítico, la teoría de la percepción que AndrésBello presenta en su Filosofía del Entendimiento. El objetivo central consiste en elucidar cuáles sonlos elementos que componen y estructuran el proceso de la percepción. En este sentido, se procedemediante el análisis de los capítulos y los apéndices relacionados con los temas de la percepción, quecorresponden con la primera parte denominada, “Psicolojía mental”. De conformidad con lo anterior,se analizan las nociones de alma o espíritu, conciencia, (...) sensación, intuición, referencia o juicio, eimpresión. Metodológicamente, se recurre a las estrategias y recursos que para el trabajo filosóficoprovee el análisis del lenguaje. Finalmente, se concluye que la teoría de la percepción en Andrés Bello,involucra la colaboración de una serie de subprocesos como la intuición, la sensación y la referencia ojuicio, además de reclamar como indispensable la unidad e indivisibilidad del alma o el “yo”. (shrink)

This paper considers the relevance of the theory of the cogitative power in Aquinas, as highlighted by Cornelio Fabro during his early research in the fourth decade of the past century, in contemporary neuropsychological studies, and particularly as a specific way of overcoming a dualistic approach in the psychology of perception. The thesis is coherent with an anthropological view based on the substantial unity between soul and body. As a consequence, the capacities of the cogitative faculty (estimative in animals) involve (...) a special account of perception, irreducible to pure thought and to sensations as well, an account that is present in the psychological view of M. Merleau-Ponty and J. J. Gibson. (shrink)

Este artículo compara el supuesto 'neoparmenidismo' de la filosofía de Severino con Polo como filósofo 'antiparmenidiano'. Siguiendo la visión de Polo, puede dilucidarse el método fundamental seguido por Severino, que consiste en asumir la mismidad de Parménides y en proyectarla en la dialéctica de Hegel. Al usar el principio de no contradicción, Severino recurre preferentemente a la operación mental de negar.

The article proposes to interpret the Thomistic notion of cognitive species and its relationship with the ‘mental word’ in terms of a pre-objective and pre-conscious mental background capable to become an objective thought and to be used in human rational behaviour. Some particular points about intentionality, sensitive perception and human consciousness will be considered in this study.

The article presents the relationship between religious faith and natural sciences within a historical perspective. Three great periods are distinguished: classical, enjoying a substantial harmony between science and belief in God; modern period, characterized by a radical rationalism that can be seen as the root of the structural conflict between science and religion; contemporary phase, with the collapse of rationalism, notwithstanding the great prestige of natural science, often perceived within a secularist framework. It is argued that no objective reasons oppose (...) today scientific knowledge to theology and religion. The present state of natural sciences is favourable for a new complementarity between secular/rational views and theological/religious faith. (shrink)

Being-in-the-world defines in Heidegger an ontological and practical existential situation that in a first approach characterizes intellectual knowledge, an approach related to the Husserlian notion of intentionality. In his Curso de teoría del co- nocimiento, Polo rectifies this characterization, stressing the primacy of theory regarding action, and interpreting the practical (technical) relation- ship with the world as a lower level of “having”. Ma- king some comparisons between Husserl, Scheler and Jonas, in connection with Polo’s thought, the article presents different accounts (...) of the notion of the world (phenomenological, metaphysical, mo- ral) that allow to clarify the problem of the rela- tionship between contemplation and action in the world. (shrink)

The author brings out three interpretations of the relationship between neuroscience, philosophy and theology. Then he presents the character of neuroscience in contrast with biology and psycholo- gy. Critical consideration is given to different currents of neuroscience on the central theme of the relationship brain-mind, soul-body and the reductionism of body alone. He opts for the Thomistic view which holds that the spiritual soul is essentially linked to the body, making it the identity of the human person. Finally, he analyses (...) the relationship between neuroscience, philosophy and Christian Faith, concluding with some key meeting points between anthropology and neuroscience. (shrink)

The Thomistic account of freedom as election and freedom as love of the transcendental good, which in its perfect achievement is indefectible, introduces a new and unexpected approach in relation to contemporary debates concerning compatibilism and incompatibilism between freedom and determinism. This article develops both aspects of freedom and tries to bring new light to the problem of defining and evaluating the concepts of determination and indeterminacy.

Life as self-organization is philosophically understood by L. Polo in terms of co-causality between matter, formal configuration and intrinsic efficiency. This characterization provides a dynamic account of life and soul, capable to explain both its identity and its continuous renovation. In this article I especially highlight in this author the metaphysical notions of finality, unity and cosmos, which may be helpful to understand the sense of biological systems in the universe.

The article describes how Cornelio Fabro views the history of Western Metaphysics in a partial agreement with Heidegger's account of the same topic.

This article explores Schelling's critique of Fichte's idealism in light of his evolving metaphysical framework, emphasizing his affirmation of the primacy of nature. By challenging Fichte's concept of being, Schelling underscores the importance of a realist position that asserts the unity of ideal and real, drawing on Hölderlin’s idea of Being as trans-reflexive. The first major theme examined is Schelling’s critique of the distinction between consciousness and its real content, which Fichte's system inadvertently promotes. Schelling counters this by advocating for (...) an identity of the ideal and the real, thus reframing the metaphysical debate. The second theme explores the theory of the bond, a pivotal shift in Schelling’s thought, which disrupts the notion of a systematic unity grounded in reason. Schelling’s realization that no being can wholly be itself, and the resulting impossibility of establishing a strict identity, challenges the traditional modern philosophical systems that uphold the identity of principle and development. This article argues that Schelling’s work anticipates a more dynamic, interconnected understanding of Being, ultimately undermining the conventional idea of reason as a static, substantial principle, as upheld by earlier idealist thinkers. (shrink)

The article studies the Thomistic view of the universe as a synthesis between unity and multiplicity, mediated through order. The metaphysical notion of multiplicity is related to the transcendental "unum". Even some account of multiplicity may belong to transcendentals. Notions of non-being and distinction are distingued.

Abstract: Being-in-the-world defines in Heidegger an ontological and practical existential situation that in a first approach characterizes intellectual knowledge, an approach related to the Husserlian notion of intentionality. In his Curso de teoría del conocimiento, Polo rectifies this characterization, stressing the primacy of theory regarding action, and interpreting the practical (technical) relationship with the world as a lower level of “having”. Making some comparisons between Husserl, Scheler and Jonas, in connection with Polo’s thought, the article presents different accounts of the (...) notion of the world (phenomenological, metaphysical, moral) that allow to clarify the problem of the relationship between contemplation and action in the world. (shrink)

In this paper, I develop a criticism to a method for metaontology, namely, the idea that a discourse’s or theory’s ontological commitments can be read off its sentences’ truth- conditions. Firstly, I will put forward this idea’s basis and, secondly, I will present the way Quine subscribed to it. However, I distinguish between two readings of Quine’s famous ontological criterion, and I center the focus on the one currently dubbed “ontological minimalism”, a kind of modern Ockhamism applied to the mentioned (...) metaontological view. I show that this view has a certain application via Quinean thesis of reference inscrutability but that it is not possible to press that application any further and, in particular, not for the ambitious metaontological task some authors try to employ. The conclusion may sound promising: having shown the impossibility of a semantic ontological criterion, intentionalist or subjectivist ones should be explored. (shrink)

Thomas Bonk has dedicated a book to analyzing the thesis of underdetermination of scientific theories, with a chapter exclusively devoted to the analysis of the relation between this idea and the indeterminacy of meaning. Both theses caused a revolution in the philosophic world in the sixties, generating a cascade of articles and doctoral theses. Agitation seems to have cooled down, but the point is still debated and it may be experiencing a renewed resurgence.

Dynamic Assessment (DA) has been shown to have more predictive value than conventional tests for academic performance. However, in relation to reading difficulties, further research is needed to determine the predictive validity of DA for specific aspects of the different processes involved in reading and the differential validity of DA for different subgroups of students with an academic disadvantage. This paper analyzes the implementation of a DA device that evaluates processes involved in reading (EDPL) among 60 students with reading comprehension (...) difficulties between 9 and 16 years of age, of whom 20 have intellectual disabilities, 24 have reading-related learning disabilities, and 16 have socio-cultural disadvantages. We specifically analyze the predictive validity of the EDPL device over attitude towards reading, and the use of dialogue/participation strategies in reading activities in the classroom during the implementation stage. We also analyze if the EDPL device provides additional information to that obtained with a conventionally applied personal-social adjustment scale (APSL). Results showed that dynamic scores, obtained from the implementation of the EDPL device, significantly predict the studied variables. Moreover, dynamic scores showed a significant incremental validity in relation to predictions based on an APSL scale. In relation to differential validity, the results indicated the superior predictive validity for DA for students with intellectual disabilities and reading disabilities than for students with socio-cultural disadvantages. Furthermore, the role of metacognition and its relation to the processes of personal-social adjustment in explaining the results is discussed. (shrink)

This paper aims to explain how the human Self can be said a cause of his/her free actions, especially when they are voluntary and physical. First it is analyzed the natural causation in the physical world, particularly in self-organized living beings and afterwards in animal intentional behaviour, which is guided by cognition and emotions. An important distinction between downward causation and bottom-up causation is useful to explain the complex causality in self-organized intentional beings. Downward causation, coming from a higher level, (...) has in influence over lower ontological levels. Bottom-up causation operates inversely. It is also drawn a distinction between the “natural Self” (nature enhanced by habits) and the “intentional Self” (a subject endowed with consciousness and the power of controlling operations). This framework is applied to man, whose higher downward causality comes from the person (intellect and free will) and, guiding the sensitive lower layer of his/her nature, reaches in a quite natural way the voluntary control of the body. (shrink)