In this paper I argue that Artificial Intelligence and the many data science methods associated with it, such as machine learning and large language models, are first and foremost epistemic technologies. In order to establish this claim, I first argue that epistemic technologies can be conceptually and practically distinguished from other technologies in virtue of what they are designed for, what they do and how they do it. I then proceed to show that unlike other kinds of technology (_including_ other (...) epistemic technologies) AI can be uniquely positioned as an epistemic technology in that it is primarily designed, developed and deployed to be used in _epistemic contexts_ such as inquiry, it is specifically designed, developed and deployed to manipulate _epistemic content_ such as data, _and_ it is designed, developed and deployed to do so particularly through _epistemic operations_ such as prediction and analysis. As has been shown in recent work in the philosophy and ethics of AI (Alvarado, AI and Ethics, 2022a), understanding AI as an epistemic technology will also have significant implications for important debates regarding our relationship to AI technologies. This paper includes a brief overview of such implications, particularly those pertaining to explainability, opacity, trust and even epistemic harms related to AI technologies. (shrink)

En general, todas las emociones comparten ciertas características que les son inherentes: tienen conductas asociadas y tienen objetos intencionales; además, en las emociones recalcitrantes el sujeto hace un juicio sobre el objeto intencional que entra en conflicto con la emoción. Un caso típico es el miedo a volar: una persona se rehúsa a volar en avión, pero juzga que no hay nada que implique peligro en esa acción. Dado que las conductas que involucra la emoción son acciones intencionales del sujeto (...) que tienen un objetivo contrario a su juicio, se propone que dichas emociones son irracionales. (shrink)

The rapid expansion of computational tools and of data science methods in healthcare has, undoubtedly, raised a whole new set of bioethical challenges. As Laacke and colleagues rightly note,...

The object of study in this paper is belief. Our aim is to show how, through this concept, Hume's modern and Pirro's ancient scepticism may converge into a fairly similar position. Both the theoretical and at the same time practical attitudes consider it licit to "assent to what presents itself to man in an unavoidable way and independently from our will". As we now, there is for Sixtus as well as for Hume something, regardless of the name we give it (...) , which "induces" us to or "demands" assent from us, [the latter being] a fundamental term which seems to indicate a concept common to both, ancient scepticism and Hume's thought. Would it then be legitimate or justified to keep giving our support to that statement of history that called Hume first an "empiricist" and afterwards a "naturalist"? Would it not be more accurate to trace some pirronism, even unconscious, in the Scot's ideas? Our answer starts off from Michael Frede's non-traditional interpretation, who somewhat firmly set up the idea that the sceptical resign having beliefs, or at least, can have them without by it trespassing the epoché. The central issue will then be to determine which meaning should be attributed to the term "belief".El objeto de estudio de este trabajo es la creencia. Nuestro objetivo es mostrar cómo a través de ese concepto el escepticismo moderno de Hume y el antiguo de Pirrón pueden llegar a converger en una posición bastante similar. Ambas actitudes teóricas y a la vez prácticas consideran que es lícito dar "asentimiento a aquello que se presenta al hombre de modo inevitable e independientemente de nuestra voluntad. Sabemos que tanto para Sexto como para Hume hay algo, independientemente del nombre que le demos , que nos "induce" o nos "exige" asentimiento, término fundamental que parece indicar un concepto común al escepticismo antiguo y al pensamiento de Hume. ¿Será entonces legítimo o justificado seguir apoyando el juicio de la historia que calificó en un principio a Hume de "empirista" o posteriormente de "naturalista"? ¿No será más exacto rastrear cierto pirronismo, aunque sea inconsciente, en las ideas del escocés? Nuestra respuesta parte de la interpretación no tradicional de Michael Frede que fundamentó con cierta solidez la idea de que el escéptico no renuncia a tener creencias o, al menos, puede tenerlas sin infringir con ello la epoché. La cuestión central será entonces determinar qué significado habría que atribuir al término "creencia". (shrink)

Este trabajo discute el argumento presentado por Carmichael (2010) para justificar la existencia de universales trascendentes, esto es, universales que no requieren instanciaciones para existir. Se sostiene en este trabajo que una proposición puede describir correctamente un mundo posible sin existir como una parte de ese mundo, esto es, que una proposición puede ser verdadera de un mundo posible, sin ser verdadera en un mundo posible. Se sostiene, además, que las mismas premisas usadas por Carmichael permiten justificar el necesitismo.

El siguiente texto intenta abordar la relación existente entre los procesos de globalización-mundialización y ciertas concepciones de historia que le son solidarias. Para lo anterior apela a las reflexiones realizadas por Marc Abélès en Política de la supervivencia y Michael Hardt y Antonio Negri en Imperio. En ambos análisis se puede percibir la importancia que tiene la historia como soporte de los procesos globales que entremezclan lo político, lo económico y lo cultural, procesos que parecen avanzar, según el curso de (...) la historia, y que permiten además dar referencia de sentido a los sujetos en sus procesos identitarios y de individuación. The following text tries to approach the relation between the globalization-mondialisation process and certain conceptions of history witch are solidary with them. For the previous thing, it appeals to the reflections realized by Marc Abélès in Politics of the survival and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri in Empire. In both analyses it is possible to perceive the importance that takes the history as a support of the global processes that intermingle the politics, the economy and culture, processes that seem to advance according to the course that history has, and they allow to give in addition reference of sense to the subjects in his processes of identity and of individuation. (shrink)

"El repertorio bibliográfico no presenta resumen".

This work presents a causal conception of metaphysical modality in which a state of affairs is metaphysically possible if and only if it can be caused (in the past, the present or the future) by current entities. The conception is contrasted with what is called the "combinatorial" conception of modality, in which everything can coexist with anything else. This work explains how the notion of 'causality' should be construed in the causal theory, what difference exists between modalities thus defined from (...) nomological modality, how accessibility relations between possible worlds should be interpreted, and what is the relation between the causal conception and the necessity of origin. (shrink)

The aim of this research is to develop and validate a measurement scale for consumer’s perceptions of corporate social responsibility using the three-dimensional social, environmental and economic conceptual approach as a theoretical basis. Based on the stages of measurement scale creation and validation suggested by DeVellis and supported by Churchill Jr.’s :64–73, 1979) suggestions, five different empirical studies are developed expressly and applied to consumers of tourist services. This research involves 1147 real tourists from 24 countries in two different cultural (...) and geographical contexts. A three-dimensional 18-item scale is proposed for measuring consumer perceptions of corporate social, environmental and economic responsibilities. This paper presents the complete development of the scale, as well as the implications and limitations of the main findings and the managerial implications. (shrink)

Bioethics, Volume 36, Issue 2, Page 121-133, February 2022.

Computer simulations have conventionally been understood to be either extensions of formal methods such as mathematical models or as special cases of empirical practices such as experiments. Here, I argue that computer simulations are best understood as instruments. Understanding them as such can better elucidate their actual role as well as their potential epistemic standing in relation to science and other scientific methods, practices and devices.

The rapid development of large language models (LLM’s) and of their associated interfaces such as ChatGPT has brought forth a wave of epistemic and moral concerns in a variety of domains of inquiry...

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar enunciados conversacionales con humor fallido producido en conversaciones entre mujeres, entre hombres, y entre hombres y mujeres para comprobar si utilizan las mismas estrategias conversacionales cuando se trata de evitar la descortesía. El humor fallido se produce cuando los interlocutores, si bien reconocen la presencia de un enunciado humorístico, no lo continúan para así evitar ataques hacia la imagen de algunos de los participantes. Para llevar a cabo nuestro objetivo, nos basaremos en (...) la Teoría General del Humor Verbal propuesta por Attardo y Raskin ed: Joke similarity and joke representation model. En HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research : pp. 293-347) y, en especial, Attardo, en la Teoría de la Cortesía que proponen Brown y Levinson, en tanto que analizaremos ejemplos extraídos del Corpus de conversaciones coloquiales de Briz y grupo Val.Es.Co. y del corpus de los mismos autores en proceso de digitalización. (shrink)

Putnam's Model- Theoretic Argument has been generally held as invalid. In this work, attention is addressed to two broad facts understated by critics and commentators: (i) there are, at least, two different model-theoretic arguments. One is directed against realism and the other is directed to naturalistic semantics. The general rejection affects the former, but it is open to discussion if it affects the latter; (ii) on the other hand, the model-theoretic argument construed as a reductio argument has not - prima (...) facia - ontological consequences, but only restrains our methodology to deal with the intentional realm. (shrink)

Resumen: Este artículo responde a la pregunta sobre el carácter de la literatura antropológica chilena en su posición híbrida entre ciencia y literatura, para ello maneja las categorías del antropólogo y literato originario de Martinica Édouard Glissant, en lo relativo a su concepción de “Todo Mundo” como posibilidad de comprensión transcultural, utilizándose conceptos como los de archipiélago, rizoma, opacidad, caos y criollización. Con ello logramos asumir a la literatura antropológica chilena como una forma textual que responde a definiciones propias de (...) literatura y poesía, y que se define básicamente como un instrumento de comunicación intercultural, con un origen en las ciencias sociales.: This article answers the question about the character of the Chilean anthropological literature in its hybrid position between science and literature, for it uses the categories of the anthropologist and literary native of the Martinique Édouard Glissant, with regard to his conception of "All World" as a possibility of transcultural understanding, using concepts such as archipelago, rhizome, opacity, chaos and creolization. With this we managed to assume the Chilean anthropological literature as a textual form that responds to own definitions of literature and poetry and that is basically defined as an instrument of intercultural communication, with an origin in the social sciences. (shrink)

Fair trade is an ethical alternative to neoliberal market practices. This article examines the development of the fair trade movement, both in Mexico and abroad, beginning with the experience of UCIRI (Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Región del Istmo – Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region), an association of small coffee growers in Mexico and a main actor in the creation of the first fair trade seal in the world, Max Havelaar, in 1988. Future success of the (...) fair trade movement depends mainly on resolving the tension between the capitalist business goals and the activist transformation goals of its diverse practitioners. (shrink)

Many people believe today that legislation is a tool powerful enough to shape society and to cure social diseases. Others think that legislation is useful to gain political support from special interest groups in search of privileges, at the expense of those whose cost of rejecting these actions is higher than their individual share of cost of such protection. Yet others think that legislation is the appropriate tool to implement public policy, according with their own “utopia”.To all those people, both (...) of his era and ours, Frédéric Bastiat wrote one of the most persuasive and clearest discussions on the nature and the ends that the law must pursue. In his book The Law Bastiat shows how and why pursuing ends other than justice ultimately leads to the perversion of the law and the fragmentation of society into special interest groups.De nos jours, beaucoup de gens pensent que la législation est suffisamment puissante pour modeler la société et remédier aux maux sociaux. D’autres pensent que la législation est utile pour acquérir les faveurs politiques de groupes d’intérêts spéciaux à la recherche de privilèges, au détriment de ceux pour qui le coût du rejet de telles actions est supérieur à leur part individuelle du coût d’une telle protection. D’autres encore pensent que la législation est l’outil approprié pour instaurer des politiques publiques en accord avec leur propre “utopie”.A tous ces gens, à la fois ceux de son époque et ceux de la nôtre, Frédéric Bastiat adressa une des discussions les plus convaincantes et les plus claires de la nature de la loi et des finalités que celle-ci doit poursuivre. Dans cet ouvrage, La Loi, Bastiat montre comment et pourquoi la poursuite de fins autres que la justice conduit de manière ultime à la perversion du droit et à la fragmentation de la société en des groupes d’intérêts spéciaux. (shrink)

This article addresses the notion of Latin American baroque, linking its aesthetic and interpretive dimension with the cognitive, to develop a located epistemology in Latin America, consistent with its tradition and cultural history. This exercise requires a transdisciplinary effort, therefore this article takes the form of notes, in the context of a broader research program focusing on the contribution of the sociologist Pedro Morandé and writers Pablo Rokha and José Lezama Lima, in a transdisciplinary perspective that assumes theories of knowledge (...) grounded in the identification of Baroque and Latin American appropriations as core of our cultural substrate and therefore epicenter of reflection on identity; developing emerging forms of writing grounded in a metalanguage that appeals to the neo-baroque as a foundation. En este artículo se aborda la noción de barroco latinoamericano, vinculando su dimensión estética e interpretativa con la cognoscitiva, para dar pistas en el desarrollo transdisciplinario de una forma de epistemología situada en Latinoamérica, coherente con su tradición e historia cultural. El ejercicio requiere un esfuerzo transdisciplinario, por ello el artículo toma la forma de apuntes, en el contexto de un programa de investigación más amplio, centrándose en un somero examen del aporte del sociólogo Pedro Morandé y de los escritores Pablo de Rokha y José Lezama Lima, ello en una perspectiva transdisciplinaria que asume teorías del conocimiento fundamentadas en la identificación del barroco y sus apropiaciones latinoamericanas, como médula de nuestro substrato cultural y por tanto, epicentro de la reflexión sobre la identidad, surgiendo un modo de desarrollar formas de escritura cimentadas en una metalengua que apela al neobarroco como fundamento. (shrink)

Dummett’s Manifestation Argument against realism attempts to show that a realist conception of meaning cannot explain the understanding of truth-conditions transcendent to evidence. In this work the general structure of the argument is discussed along with several objections to it. This examination finds that the anti-realist is committed to a deflationary conception of the normative character of meaning that is unpalatable. This essay contends that the argument in its present form cannot have the metaphysical consequences it claims (at least not (...) without begging the question). (shrink)

The philosophy devoted to the sacred knowledge of Athena has suffered an undeniable castration in modernity, because, following Sloterdijk, it has been related to the cynic, subjugation to appearance. For this reason, German literature differentiates between Kynismus and Zynismus. The kynysmós with "k" refers to the wise dogs of the agora and the Zynismus to the toothless Papillon. Under the keys of modernity, philosophy is camouflaged in moderation, good saying and salon etiquette, thereby abandoning the stridency, sarcasm and challenge that (...) the school of Diogenes practiced; but what was that insolence? What was his speech? What were his gestures? These are some of the questions addressed in this article; therefore, the reflection on the figure of the cynic, by the hand of the author of Critique of Cynical Reason, has been central to elucidate some of these questions and, why not, obscure them, after all, the interstices of the words are deeper. For methodological reasons, the text is divided into three sections: first, Resonances of a supplanted concept, in which the link between insolence and the cynical is investigated; second, Philosophical gestures, where the grimaces of an impertinent thought are drawn and third, Conclusions. (shrink)

This book provides a philosophical framework to understand computer simulations as scientific instruments. This is in sharp contrast to existing philosophical approaches on the subject, which have historically understood computer simulations as either formal abstractions or as broadly construed empirical practices. In order to make its case, the volume contains a thorough examination of conventional philosophical approaches as well as their respective limitations. Yet, also, unlike other accounts of computer simulations from the perspective of the philosophy of science, this book (...) incorporates insights from the philosophy of technology and the history of science. Hence, the book offers philosophers of science, technologists and other researchers interested in the topic, a thorough overview of the philosophical issues regarding the design, development and deployment of computer simulations in science and science-based policy making. (shrink)

Has the theory of direct reference for general terms ontological consequences or requirements? It has normally been said that general terms should be conceived as rigid designators of “natural classes”, but this is a very vague expression. What is a “natural class” here? Is it a universal? Is it a class of resembling objects or tropes? It is argued that the theory of direct reference functions better in connection with an ontology of universals. The semantic model actually requires certain type (...) of successful cognitive relation with the referent and it is difficult to explain how such a successful connection could be obtained if there are no universal properties, but only perfect resemblance classes of objects or tropes. (shrink)

Resumen: Varios filósofos han hecho notar que el naturalismo metafísico ha sido un supuesto compartido por los miembros de la comunidad científica involucrada en la investigación acerca del origen de la vida. Es una consecuencia de esta presuposición que la emergencia de la vida debe haber sido muy probable bajo las condiciones físicas y químicas de la Tierra primitiva. El estado de la investigación sobre el origen de la vida, sin embargo, está muy lejos de poseer una hipótesis naturalista convincente (...) en los términos buscados. La actitud de los investigadores y de algunos filósofos ha sido suponer que estos fracasos no son una razón para pensar que alguna otra hipótesis naturalista no fuese a funcionar. Aquí se ofrece una reconstrucción epistemológica de esta actitud en términos bayesianos. Se argumenta, luego, que el aislamiento del naturalismo metafísico respecto de la desconfirmación no es racional, y podría convertirse en un obstáculo para el avance del conocimiento. Abstract: Several philosophers have noted that metaphysical naturalism has been an assumption shared by the members of the scientific community involved in the research concerning the origin of life. It is a consequence of this presupposition that the emergence of life should have been very probable under the physical and chemical conditions in the primitive Earth. The state of the research on the origin of life, though, is very far from having a convincing naturalist hypothesis in the terms sought after. The attitude of the researchers and some philosophers has been to suppose that these failures are not reason to think that some other naturalist hypothesis won’t work. Here, an epistemological reconstruction of this attitude in Bayesian terms is offered. It is argued that the insulation of metaphysical naturalism from disconfirmation is not rational, and would become an obstacle to the advancement of knowledge. (shrink)

Traditionally, it has been supposed that the central object of Biology are ‘organisms’. The expression “organism” is relatively recent in the use that it has nowadays –it was introduced by the authors of the German Idealism– but corresponds to a very traditional notion. An ‘organism’ is a substance composed by a plurality of materials organized by the same substance that acts upon itself to persist in time, in order to a finality that is the organism itself. To make intelligible an (...) organism seems indispensable its order to an end. This teleological perspective, nevertheless, is unacceptable for the reductivist perspective of Biology, prevalent since the triumph of what has been called the “Modern Synthesis” the first half of last century. It has been proposed, for that reason, to substitute the traditional idea of ‘organism’ by that of ‘Darwinian individual’ (cf. Godfrey-Smith, 2009), that could offer a more adequate perspective of the object of Biology. The object of this science could not be organisms, but individuals that can enter the Darwinian evolutionary drift. In this work it is explained why a hiatus persists between organisms teleologically oriented and a Darwinian individual. The Darwinian perspective leaves aside the central character of the object of Biology: life. (shrink)

Los marcadores discursivos han sido objeto de estudio de numerosas investigaciones en las últimas décadas, y se ha profundizado en su definición y clasificación en el ámbito más general de las partículas, es decir, las partes invariables del discurso. En el presente artículo se describe una propuesta metodológica basada en un enfoque mixto (cuali-cuanti) para la detección automática de marcadores discursivos parentéticos a través de un corpus paralelo inglés-castellano. Proponemos un algoritmo que identifica indicios de una función de marcador discursivo (...) de una unidad y, de ser el caso, su carácter polifuncional. Se presentan resultados de un estudio dirigido a la categoría específica de los conectores causal-consecutivos. El algoritmo en primer lugar determina la eventual condición de marcador discursivo de la unidad, luego señala si pertenece a la categoría específica de conectores causal-consecutivos y, finalmente, señala si hay indicios de polifuncionalidad. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to show an application of variety engineering in the social realm. It focuses on reducing environmental complexity by catalysing self-organizing processes. This catalysis is based on the use of Sen and Nussbaum’s capabilities approach. By doing this an organization may improve the quality of the relations with their clients by transforming environmental agents into new suppliers. This approach opens a new dimension of social responsibility for organizations. A particular case is presented in which a (...) regional university in Colombia faces the challenge of attending low-income students coming from small municipalities. They designed a strategy to offer low-cost housing and a daily balanced meal without using the university's own resources. Instead, they managed to involve some agents of the community by developing their capabilities. This kind of variety engineering shows the possibility of new forms of social responsibility in universities by incorporating the capabilities approach into their managerial practices. This is something that is currently under study in other universities. (shrink)