El artículo compara el modo como Aristóteles explica que un cuerpo llegue a vivir o que una mente llegue a entender, con el esquema explicativo que emplea Wittgenstein para dar cuenta de problemas como éstos: ¿qué hace posible que el signo adquiera significado, o que una acción sea el seguimiento de una regla? El interés se centra en la lógica de la explicación, y el propósito no es establecer relaciones de influencia, sino explorar analogías formales, con el objetivo de arrojar (...) luz sobre algunos conceptos centrales del pensamiento maduro de Wittgenstein. (shrink)

Resumen: Partiendo de la hipótesis, avanzada por Horkheimer y Adorno, de que Auschwitz era una posibilidad inscrita en la racionalidad instrumental de la civiliza- ción moderna, el artículo analiza algunos mecanismos de la estructura de empresa heredada del industrialismo que pudieron contribuir a ‘normalizar’ lo anormal en el Holocausto nazi. Esta argumentación se desarrolla mediante la articulación de la concepción weberiana de la burocracia moderna con la teoría de la moral de colaboración de Günther Anders.: Starting from the hypothesis, advanced (...) by Horkheimer and Adorno, that Auschwitz was a possibility inscribed in the instrumental rationality of modern civilization, the article analyzes some mechanisms of the company structure inherited from industrialism that could contribute to ‘normalize’ the abnormal in the Nazi Holo- caust. This argument is developed through the articulation of the Weberian concep- tion of modern bureaucracy with the Günther Anders’ theory of collaborative moral. Palabras clave: Holocausto, burocracia, medialidad, conformismo, moral de empresa, Weber, Anders, Bauman. Keywords: Holocaust, bureaucracy, mediality, conformism, company moral, Weber, Anders, Bauman. (shrink)

El concepto de 'banalidad del mal' fue introducido por Hannah Arendt a fin de caracterizar una forma inédita de perversidad que ella vio encarnada en Adolf Eichmann y otros criminales nazis. Arendt consideraba que esa forma de perversidad estaba muy alejada de la noción de 'mal radical' que Kant había acuñado y la propia Arendt había empleado en trabajos anteriores. El objetivo principal del artículo es mostrar que hay más afinidades entre el mal radical kantiano y la banalidad del mal (...) de lo que la propia Arendt reconoce. (shrink)

En el artículo se analizan los pasajes más relevantes donde Wittgenstein emplea la expresión‘forma de vida’, estableciendo conexiones entre sus diferentes sentidos. Acontinuación se exponen dos interpretaciones de esta noción –la orgánica y la cultural–, quealgunos autores consideran excluyentes entre sí, y se discute críticamente la unilateralidadde ambas interpretaciones y su status teórico. Finalmente, se propone una interpretaciónque permite compatibilizar trascendentalismo y naturalismo, habida cuenta de la funciónmetodológica que Wittgenstein atribuyó a la noción de ‘forma de vida’ en su análisisconceptual (...) de las condiciones de la comprensión del lenguaje. (shrink)

El objetivo principal del artículo es mostrar que, en aspectos significativos, la obra artística de Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett y Francis Bacon se hace cargo de ciertas aporías de la subjetividad moderna y puede entenderse como una respuesta crítica a las mismas dentro del horizonte de la modernidad. La especificidad de este arte crítico se analiza a través de una red de conexiones: en primer lugar, trazando contrastes entre la lógica de la acción presente en la tragedia moderna, y la (...) lógica del acontecimiento propia de la epopeya griega arcaica y la tragedia antigua; luego, estableciendo diferencias entre el sujeto de la tragedia moderna y el del arte crítico del siglo XX; y, por último, mostrando la existencia en éste de tensiones entre la lógica de la acción y la lógica del acontecimiento. (shrink)

En su Genealogía de la moral, Nietzsche situó el resentimiento del débil en la base de la moralización de los valores originales del fuerte -entre ellos, la crueldad inherente a la afirmación de la vida que transformó éstos en negativos. A esta idea del resentimiento como un mecanismo esencialmente distorsionador se opone Jean Améry, víctima de la violencia nazi, en Más alla de la culpa y la expiación (1966), donde reivindica su resentimiento hacia los verdugos y sus cómplices como un (...) instrumento de verdad para exigirles el reconocimiento de su crimen y la negación de su condición de verdugos. El objetivo del artículo es reconstruir la trama conceptual en que se articula la divergencia entre Améry y Nietzsche, mostrando los diferentes compromisos ontológicos sobre la moral que sustentan sus respectivas concepciones del resentimiento. (shrink)

En la primera parte del artículo examino la interpretación que hace Karl O. Apel de varios textos de Peter Winch sobre el problema de la comprensión de culturas ajenas, distinguiendo aquellos aspectos de la crítica de Apel que me parecen plausibles de otros que considero infundados. En la segunda parte trato de demostrar que en la obra del ultimo Wittgenstein hay elementos para una teoría de la comprensión transcultural libre de las limitaciones que Apel atribuye a Winch, pero a la (...) vez enfocada desde una perspectiva naturalista diametralmente opuesta a la aproximación trascendental de Apel a la hermenéutica.The first part of the article considers Karl O. Apel’s interpretation of various texts by Peter Winch dealing with the problem of understanding alien cultures. I distinguish those aspects of Apel’s critique that seem plausible from others that I consider to be ill-founded. The second part seeks to demonstrate that Wittgenstein’s works contains elements that allow for a theory of transcultural understanding wich is free from the limitations that Apel attributes to Winch. However, such a theory should be developed from a naturalistic perspective that is diametrally opposed to Apel’s transcendental approach to hermeneutics. (shrink)

Wittgenstein siempre practicó la filosofía como una actividad esclarecedora de las condiciones conceptuales del significado lingüístico. En la primera parte del artículo se trata de probar el papel relevante que Wittgenstein dio al uso de modelos como método de análisis del funcionamiento del lenguaje. Asimismo, en la parte final se intenta mostrar la dimensión ética y la significación estética que Wittgenstein atribuyó a su labor filosófica de aclaración. For Wittgenstein, the philosophical working was an enlightening tool in order to disclose (...) the conceptual conditions of the linguistic meaning. The aim of the first part of the paper is to show the relevant role that Wittgenstein gave to models in his description of the way in which our language works. The last part emphasizes both the ethical dimension and the aesthetic significance that Wittgenstein attached to his philosophical work of clarification. (shrink)

El artículo compara el modo como Aristóteles explica que un cuerpo llegue a vivir o que una mente llegue a entender, con el esquema explicativo que emplea Wittgenstein para dar cuenta de problemas como éstos: ¿qué hace posible que el signo adquiera significado, o que una acción sea el seguimiento de una regla? El interés se centra en la lógica de la explicación, y el propósito no es establecer relaciones de influencia, sino explorar analogías formales, con el objetivo de arrojar (...) luz sobre algunos conceptos centrales del pensamiento maduro de Wittgenstein. (shrink)

Els estudis sobre la filosofia de Wittgenstein darrerament han posat de manifest la potència del seu pensament sobre qüestions morals, estètiques i, fins i tot, polítiques, a més dels problemes lògics, lingüístics o epistemològics que va plantejar. Les qüestions estètiques van ocupar bona part del seu treball en filosofia i, com mostren els treballs recollits en aquest volum, la vinculació entre el pensament filosòfic de Wittgenstein, les qüestions estètiques i la seua pròpia biografia és tan estreta que cal considerar-la com (...) un dels pòrtics d’entrada que ens permeten endinsar-nos en l’univers de la filosofia wittgensteiniana. (shrink)

We have a reason to use information which is available about such genes in our reproductive decision-making; (3) couples should selec.

According to what we call the Principle of Procreative Beneficence, couples who decide to have a child have a significant moral reason to select the child who, given his or her genetic endowment, can be expected to enjoy the most well-being. In the first part of this paper, we introduce PB, explain its content, grounds, and implications, and defend it against various objections. In the second part, we argue that PB is superior to competing principles of procreative selection such as (...) that of procreative autonomy. In the third part of the paper, we consider the relation between PB and disability. We develop a revisionary account of disability, in which disability is a species of instrumental badness that is context- and person-relative. Although PB instructs us to aim to reduce disability in future children whenever possible, it does not privilege the normal. What matters is not whether future children meet certain biological or statistical norms, but what level of well-being they can be expected to have. (shrink)

The phenomenon of ‘structural irrationality’ covers a diverse range of combinations of attitudes, including (inter alia) contradictory beliefs, contradictory intentions, means–end incoherence, akratic incoherence, and cyclical preferences. This paper offers a novel, unified account of when a pattern of attitudes qualifies as structurally irrational. It begins by setting up the core of the view I will be defending: a set of attitudes is irrational if and only if it is impossible for those attitudes to be jointly successful. I show that (...) this view can account for a wide range of paradigmatically irrational combinations of attitudes. I then refine the account to make it sufficiently subjective. I argue that a set of attitudes is irrational only if the impossibility of their joint success is (i) logically transparent, (ii) subjectively inferable, and (iii) not justifiably denied. (shrink)

Principles of distributive justice are normative principles designed to guide the allocation of the benefits and burdens of economic activity.

The publication of the first study to use gene editing techniques in human embryos (Liang et al., 2015) has drawn outrage from many in the scientific community. The prestigious scientific journals Nature and Science have published commentaries which call for this research to be strongly discouraged or halted all together (Lanphier et al., 2015; Baltimore et al., 2015). We believe this should be questioned. There is a moral imperative to continue this research.

Two approaches to evidential reasoning compete in the biomedical and social sciences: the experimental and the pragmatist. Whereas experimentalism has received considerable philosophical analysis and support since the times of Bacon and Mill, pragmatism about evidence has been neither articulated nor defended. The overall aim is to fill this gap and develop a theory that articulates the latter. The main ideas of the theory will be illustrated and supported by a case study on the smoking/lung cancer controversy in the 1950s.

Behavioral intervention techniques leveraging reactive responses have gained popularity as tools for promoting ethical behavior. Choice architects, for example, design and present default opt-out options to nudge individuals into accepting preselected choices deemed beneficial to both the decision-maker and society. Such interventions can also employ mild financial incentives or affective triggers including joy, fear, empathy, social pressure, and reputational rewards. We argue, however, that ethical competence is achieved via reflection, and that heavy reliance on reactive behavioral interventions can undermine the (...) development of ethical competence over the long term. Specifically, drawbacks may occur through motivational displacement, dependency, moral crowding out, loss of personal autonomy, and reactance. We introduce complementary cognitive boosting techniques designed to stimulate reflective cognition, as a more promising long-term strategy for instilling ethical behavior. One such approach is the Moral Self-Awareness (MSA) motivational construct, which incrementally leads agents to increasing levels of ethical reflection. We explain why ethical boosting approaches present more edifying and durable alternatives to reactive behavioral interventions and offer suggestions for social and organizational policy. (shrink)

In this paper we make a proposal for reforming biomedical research that is aimed to align re-search more closely with the so-called fair-share principle according to which the proportions of global resources as-signed to different diseases should agree with the ratios of human suffering associated with those diseases.

There are ethical obligations to conduct research that contributes to generalisable knowledge and improves reproductive health, and this should include embryo research in jurisdictions where it is permitted. Often, the controversial nature of embryo research can alarm ethics committee members, which can unnecessarily delay important research that can potentially improve fertility for patients and society. Such delay is ethically unjustified. Moreover, countries such as the UK, Australia and Singapore have legislation which unnecessarily captures low-risk research, such as observational research, in (...) an often cumbersome and protracted review process. Such countries should revise such legislation to better facilitate low-risk embryo research.We introduce a philosophical distinction to help decision-makers more efficiently identify higher risk embryo research from that which presents no more risks to persons than other types of tissue research. That distinction is between future person embryo research and non-future person embryo research. We apply this distinction to four examples of embryo research that might be presented to ethics committees.Embryo research is most controversial and deserving of detailed scrutiny when it potentially affects a future person. Where it does not, it should generally require less ethical scrutiny. We explore a variety of ways in which research can affect a future person, including by deriving information about that person, and manipulating eggs or sperm before an embryo is created. (shrink)

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has recently released the 2021 update of its guidelines. The update includes detailed new recommendations on human–animal chimera research. This paper argues that the ISSCR recommendations fail to address the core ethical concerns raised by neurological chimeras—namely, concerns about moral status. In minimising moral status concerns, the ISSCR both breaks rank with other major reports on human–animal chimera research and rely on controversial claims about the grounds of moral status that many people (...) will rightly reject. A more robust framework for regulating human–animal chimera research still needs to be developed. (shrink)

I contend that mathematical domains are freestanding institutional entities that, at least typically, are introduced to serve representational functions. In this paper, I outline an account of institutional reality and a supporting metaontological perspective that clarify the content of this thesis. I also argue that a philosophy of mathematics that has this thesis as its central tenet can account for the objectivity, necessity, and atemporality of mathematics.

ABSTRACTWhat is John Cage's 4′33″? This paper disambiguates this question into three sub-questions concerning, respectively, the work's ontological nature, the art form to which it belongs, and the genre it is in. We shall see that the work's performances consist of silence, that it is a work of performance art, and that it belongs to the genre of conceptual art. Seeing the work in these ways helps us to understand it better, and promises to assuage somewhat the puzzlement and irritation (...) of those who are at first resistant to its charms. (shrink)

Descriptivism in the ontology of art is the thesis that the correct ontological proposal for a kind of artwork cannot show the nascent ontological conception of such things embedded in our critical and appreciative practices to be substantially mistaken. Descriptivists believe that the kinds of revisionary art ontological proposals propounded by Nelson Goodman, Gregory Currie, Mark Sagoff, and me are methodologically misconceived. In this paper I examine the case that has been made for a local form of descriptivism in the (...) ontology of art: a form that does not quarrel with the possibility of revisionism in matters of ‘fundamental metaphysics’, but which argues that special features of the arts make descriptivism in this particular sphere obligatory. David Davies, Andrew Kania and Stephen Davies are local descriptivists in this sense. I argue that the burden of proof lies with the local descriptivist, but that this burden is too heavy for him to carry. Specifically, it emerges that the only way in which the local descriptivist can motivate his position is by arguing that our artistic practices determine the art ontological facts: a thesis that local descriptivists typically appeal to, but have not been able to argue for successfully. My conclusion is that the methodological debate in the ontology of art should now proceed by focussing on the case for global descriptivism: i.e. that form of descriptivism that opposes the possibility of revisionism in ontological matters across the board. (shrink)

In this review article we describe the current scope, methods, and contents of medical ethics education in medical schools in Western English speaking countries (mainly the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia). We assess the strengths and weaknesses of current medical ethics curricula, and students’ levels of satisfaction with different teaching approaches and their reported difficulties in learning medical ethics concepts and applying them in clinical practice. We identify three main challenges for medical ethics education: counteracting the bad effects (...) of the “hidden curriculum,” teaching students how to apply ethical knowledge and critical thinking to real cases in clinical practice, and shaping future doctors’ right character through ethics education. We suggest ways in which these challenges could be addressed. On the basis of this analysis, we propose practical guidelines for designing, implementing, teaching, and assessing a medical ethics program within a four-year medical course. (shrink)