Properly speaking, the corporation, considered as an entity distinct from its members, cannot be morally responsible for wrongful corporate acts. Setting aside (in this abstract) acts brought about through negligence or omissions, we may say that moral responsibility for an act attaches to that agent (or agents) in whom the act "originates" in this sense: (1) the agent formed the (mental) intention or plan to bring about that act (possibly with the help of others) and (2) the act was intentionally (...) brought about through bodily movements over which that agent had direct control (i.e. the kind of direct mental control that I have over the body I refer to as "my" body) and through which the agent carried out his (mental) intention or plan. Corporate acts do not thus originate in some corporate entity distinct from its members because the corporation has neither a mind to form intentions nor a body it directly controls: it lacks the proper mind/body unity. Instead, corporate acts originate in individual autonomous human beings who make up the corporation and who intentionally bring about corporate acts through their own bodily movements. Such human individuals, and not "the corporation," are morally responsible for corporate acts. Moreover, to say that an entity is "morally responsible" for a wrongful act is to say that the entity is liable to blame and punishment. But it is not possible to impose blame and punishment on a corporation without inflicting it on corporate members. Thus, to say that a corporation (as an entity distinct from its members) is "morally responsible" for a wrongful corporate act is to imply that a (possibly innocent) corporate member legitimately may be punished for something for which another entity was morally responsible. This violates the moral principles that underlie blame and punishment. To hold that the corporation can be morally responsible for its acts is to adopt a dangerous organicism. (shrink)

I address three topics. First, I argue that the issue of corporate moral responsibility is an important one for business ethics.Second, I examine a core argument for the claim that the corporate organization is a separate moral agent and show it is based on anunnoticed but elementary mistake deriving from the fallacy of division. Third, I examine the assumptions collectivists make about whatit means to say that organizations act and that they act intentionally and show that these assumptions are mistaken (...) in their failure to understand the nature of intentional causality and of “as-if” intentionality. In exposing these mistakes I set out my own view in the form oftwo theses, the first of which states that individual members of an organization are always causally responsible for any corporate act,and the second of which states that attributions of intentions to corporations are always either descriptive or prescriptive attributionsof “as if” intentionality. (shrink)

This is a topically organized introduction to the traditional problems of philosophy. It aims to introduce readers to traditional philosophical problems and to expose readers to philosophical argumentation in such a way that they will feel confident in handling abstract concepts.

La presente obra ofrece una perspectiva abierta de la filosofía de al-Andalus con enfoques diversos y complementarios a cargo de reconocidos especialistas del arabismo, el hebraísmo y el pensamiento medieval: Miguel Asín Palacios, Manuel Alonso, Roger Arnaldez, Miguel Cruz Hernández, Fernando Díaz Esteban, Salvador Gómez Nogales, David Gonzalo Maeso, Joaquín Lomba, Andrés Martínez Lorca y Juan Vernet. Novedad importante que reflejan estas páginas es la integración de los filósofos judíos y musulmanes en la casa común de al-Andalus, como (...) históricamente aconteció. En la primera parte se analizan las influencias clásicas y orientales que confluyeron en la vida intelectual de la España musulmana. En la segunda se traza un amplio y detallado panorama de los principales filósofos de al-Andalus. El editor ha reconstruido en la introducción el desarrollo del pensamiento andalusí dentro de su contexto histórico. Rigor histórico-filológico, contextualización social, profundización en las cuestiones especulativas y espíritu crítico constituyen rasgos comunes de estos ensayos. (Fuente: Almuzara). (shrink)

The author sets out a realist defense of the claim that in the absence of an international enforcement agency, multinational corporations operating in a competitive international environment cannot be said to have a moral obligation to contribute to the international common good, provided that interactions are nonrepetitive and provided effective signals of agent reliability are not possible. Examples of international common goods that meet these conditions are support of the global ozone layer and avoidance of the global greenhouse effect. Pointing (...) out that the conclusion that multinationals have no moral obligations in these areas is deplorable, the author urges the establishment of an international enforcement agency. (shrink)

I argue that Plato was right in claiming that justice is more profitable, more rational, and more intrinsically valuable than injustice, and that this is particularly true for business organizations. The research on prisoners’ dilemmas and social dilemmas shows that ethical behavior is more profitable and more rational than unethical behavior in terms of both the negative sanctions on unethical behavior when interactions with stakeholders are iterated, and the positive rewards of habitually ethical behavior when stakeholders can identify those who (...) are predisposed to be ethical. In addition, the psychological research on justice shows that justice is intrinsically valued, both from an outcome and from a process perspective, and so crucial for business organizations, particularly in terms of organizational effectiveness. (shrink)

We describe the Catholic natural law tradition by examining its origins in the medieval penitentials, the papal decretals, the writings of Thomas Aquinas, and seventeenth century casuistry. Catholic natural law emerges as a flexible ethic that conceives of human nature as rational and as oriented to certain basic goods that ought to be pursued and whose pursuit is made possible by the virtues. We then identify four approaches to natural law that have evolved within the United States during the twentieth (...) century, including the traditionalist, proportionalist, right reason, and historicist approaches. The normative implications of these approaches are discussed in relation to ethical issues in the tobacco industry, ITT under Geneen, the marketing of pharmaceuticals, affirmative action, and bribery. It is argued that Alasdair MacIntyre is correct in claiming that the natural law tradition is superior to the liberal ethics of modern deontology and utilitarianism. (shrink)

In _A Treatise of Human Nature_, Hume proposes a new philosophical method. This method results from integrating an empirically founded skepticism with an innovative study of the epistemic role of emotions. This combination of skepticism, empiricism, and moral psychology aims to establish a virtuous way of doing philosophy based on the regulation of our epistemic emotions. In this paper, I present the operating principles of this virtuous way of doing philosophy. The paper has three parts. I firstly claim that four (...) principles compose Hume’s philosophical methodology. I contend that the moderation of curiosity plays the central role among them. Secondly, I claim that that is the case because of the pernicious effects resulting when this passion becomes excessive and misplaced. Finally, I show the role of curiosity’s moderation in the Conclusion of Book 1 of the _Treatise_, to substantiate the claim that the crisis Hume there depicts illustrates his virtuous way of doing philosophy. (shrink)

In this article, we put forward a new strategy for teaching the concept of energy. In the first section, we discuss how the concept is currently treated in educational programmes at primary and secondary level (taking the case of France), the learning difficulties that arise as well as the main teaching strategies presented in science education literature. In the second section, we argue that due to the complexity of the concept of energy, rethinking how it is taught should involve teacher (...) training specifically developed for the concept. In our view, Epistemology and the History of Science and Technology (EHST) is the best method for a full understanding of the concept of energy and should thus be included in the teacher training programme. In the third section, we provide a general framework for a teacher training programme on energy, based on the history and epistemology of the concept and structured on the following three questions: ‘What is the origin of the concept of energy?’, ‘What is energy?’ and ‘What purpose does the concept of energy serve?’. (shrink)

Frente a las concepciones del Derecho como norma, como hecho o como valor , se propone aquí un cuarto enfoque que consiste en ver el Derecho como argumentación . Sin embargo, no hay una única forma de entender la argumentación jurídica. Aunque conectadas entre sí, en el trabajo se distinguen tres concepciones: la formal, la material y la pragmática o dialéctica; muchas cuestiones que se plantean en el ámbito de la teoría de la argumentación jurídica pueden resolverse -o aclararse- teniendo (...) en cuenta esa triple perspectiva. (shrink)

The understanding of a wide array of practices related to fraud, bribery, corruption, and more widely, illicit practices have been capturing the attention of practitioners and management researchers worldwide. A substantial portion of the extant research has used university students to measure their actual or intended cheating behaviours and often studies have tested for variations across countries and cultures. We highlight some major concerns in this stream of inquiry and discuss both the definition and some inconclusive results in prior studies, (...) namely those deriving from differences in cheating behaviour across different cultural contexts. We suggest the need to examine intentionality, and further advance that intentionality may assume a reactive or a proactive essence. Depending on the social and formal contexts of different countries, both reactive and proactive intentions lead to distinct moral concerns, which we name in this work omorality (meaning ‘our morality’) or immorality (in the traditional sense). (shrink)

Die in Wittgensteins Anfangsthesen des Tractatus formulierte Ansicht, daß Tatsachen die Bausteine der Welt ausmachen, kann auch so interpretiert werden, daß Tatsachen physische Entitäten sind. Die These von der physischen Existenz von Tatsachen wird in der analytischen Philosophie jedoch weitgehend abgelehnt. Hier wird hingegen versucht, diese Position als Tatsachen-Ontologie kohärent zu entwickeln. Vorzüge diese Position wären u.a. eine elegante Deutung der Vielheit verschiedener wahrer Aussagen, eine gute Basis fur eine Korrespondenztheorie der Wahrheit, Referenz auf strukturierte Raum-Zeit-Bereiche, sie wäre Baustein einer (...) realistischen Situationslogik und könnte eine Lösung für David Lewis' Problem der Einermengen liefern. (shrink)

A todo el mundo le gusta estar enamorado, el amor alimenta la fantasía de poder ser otro sin dejar de ser el mismo. Devolvemos a la persona amada la imagen exagerada de sus cualidades amplificadas. Sin embargo, nuestra sociedad jalea de puertas para afuera a los enamorados y desconfía de ellos puertas para adentro. Como el resto de humanos, los grandes pensadores vivieron intensamente, para bien o para mal, el amor. Sin embargo, ellos nos han dejado el legado de todas (...) las ideas que tuvieron sobre este sentimiento. ¿Quién no ha sentido amor platónico? ¿Quién no se ha dejado arrastrar por el deseo? ¿Quién no se ha obsesionado con el amado? ¿Cuántas veces nos hemos enamorado de la imagen que nos hacemos de alguien en lugar de la persona real? (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to focus on the phenomenon of selective attention as pointing out important psychological cases where it is arguable that we can have practical reasons without the capacity to carry out any relevant inference. Selective attention also would serve to show the possibility to have very basic demonstrative references to particular perceptual items without the possession of any concept. I will argue that if we assume 1) that believing can be taken as a kind of (...) action and 2) that demonstrative references to particular empirical items in that so basic sense have an important epistemological role in all of our knowledge, then our conclusions would have a very large application. There would be reasons without inferences not only for acting but also for believing, anddemonstrative reference without concepts would be an uneliminable component of our knowledge. (shrink)

In this paper, we analyze a way of valuing positively something which rarely has been taking into account in the literature: to value positively something because it could be valued positively by someone else. The main features of that way of valuing something are really very suggesting. Here, we would not have instrumental valuations, nor valuations directly sensitive to intrinsic values either. However, there would be cases in which valuations made in that way would make us able to detect things (...) that can be valued in an inconditional way. When we imagine or conceive what could be value positively, our motivational structures face us with something that is valued without evaluative conditions and, therefore, with something that is a good candidate to have an intrinsic value. (shrink)

Un libro imprescindible para comprender los grandes debates de algunos de los importantes temas de la agenda ética de hoy. A la vez profundo y actual, con la rigurosidad intelectual que lo caracteriza, Vivanco rescata para la visión de izquierda los principios de la autonomía individual, mal apropiados por las ideologías conservadoras. Tal autonomía sería, sin embargo abstracta si no se asegura la igualdad material de los individuos que conforman la sociedad, lo que sólo puede ser garantizado por el Estado (...) en sus aspectos normativos y de política pública. Sin entrar en esta dimensión del debate, Vivanco sienta los fundamentos de una posición libertaria anclada en la constitución social de los seres humanos. (shrink)

Radical enactivism supports radical embodied cognition (REC), which is the idea that basic or fundamental cognition (perception and action) does not need to be understood in representational, contentful terms. REC departs from the idea that the mind can be naturalized through biological functions, but rejects the idea that mental content, which is understood as having a representational nature, can be naturalized. For REC, the natural origins of content (or NOC) is a program based on the following hypothesis: first, we depart (...) from basic cognitive processes that are target-based and guided by an Ur-intentionality or directedness toward the world, and then sociality enters in the picture when language appears into the scene, allowing for establishing full-blown semantic content in which that content is about worldly states of affairs. Here, we are going to focus on the phenomenon of directedness since there are blind spots in this picture: as many authors claim, REC takes Ur-intentionality as the starting point, but there is simply no explanation to date of how this directedness or Ur-intentionality is established. Therefore, how could we account for Ur-intentionality? How does this kind of intentionality emerge? We believe that we can answer this question if we invoke the best scientific evidence from ecological perceptual learning especially in regard to the role of the environment and the information for perceiving affordances in our learning processes. This allows us to offer an answer to the question of how the most basic form of cognition (Ur-intentionality or directedness) emerges in nature. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza el papel de la escritura en la consultoría filosófica desde una perspectiva nietzscheana, proponiendo que esta facilita la expresión y reconfiguración de las interpretaciones del consultante sobre su vida. Se parte de la premisa de la «voluntad de poder» como principio explicativo de la realidad, que impulsa a los individuos a buscar comprensión y transformación. Así, la actividad filosófica se concibe como una constante interpretación, donde la escritura emerge como herramienta crucial de manifestación de estas interpretaciones preexistentes, (...) para luego ser reinterpretadas. Por su parte, la consultoría filosófica se constituye como un espacio propicio para este acto interpretativo, utilizando la escritura como medio. Este proceso permite a los consultantes examinar y reconfigurar sus percepciones e interpretaciones, conduciendo a nuevas comprensiones de sí mismos. En síntesis, el artículo argumenta que la escritura en la consultoría filosófica no solo es un medio de expresión, sino una actividad filosófica que permite el autoconocimiento a través de la reinterpretación constante de la propia vida. (shrink)

El artículo trata sobre la negación estoica y su crítica a la fórmula aristotélica según los testimonios de Apuleyo, Alejandro de Afrodisias y Boecio. La crítica se divide en tres aspectos: (i) sistematicidad (ya que una misma regla no se aplica a todo tipo de proposición); (ii) universalidad (ya que todo par contradictorio no divide la verdad y la falsedad sin excepción alguna); y (iii) rigurosidad (ya que el sujeto de la proposición puede no existir o no ser lo que (...) creemos que es). Se concluye que el fondo de la crítica no se relaciona con que una fórmula es inconsistente o hace imposible la lógica y sus operaciones, sino que tiene relación con cuál fórmula es más ambigua y menos preferible. (shrink)

AI (ethics) initiatives are essential in bringing about fairer, safer, and more trustworthy AI systems. Yet, they also come with various drawbacks, including a lack of effective governance mechanisms, window-dressing, and ‘ethics shopping.’ To address those concerns, hard laws are necessary, and more and more countries are moving in this direction. Two of the most notable recent legislations include the Biden Administration’s Executive Order (EO) on AI and the E.U.’s AI Act (AIA). While several scholarly articles have evaluated the strengths (...) and weaknesses of the AIA and proposed reform measures that could help strengthen the Act, only a couple of papers do the same for the EO or compare the two regulatory initiatives. The following sections try to close this research gap by providing an in-depth comparative analysis of the EO and AIA. They offer, in particular, a critical computer-ethical evaluation of the EO’s and AIA’s pros and cons and similarities and differences and discuss possible ways to improve both legislations. (shrink)

In this paper, I outline what I take to be the most important theoretical claims and innovations of ‘twenty-first century socialism’ in Venezuela. These, I argue, consist of an emphasis on human development through popular-economy initiatives, and the importance of building popular power through the state, rather than by ignoring or fighting against it. I then present evidence on Venezuela’s Socialist Production Units, one of Venezuela’s newest state-supported popular-economy organisations. I argue that, consistent with the twenty-first-century socialism approach, SPUs are (...) sites of human development in which participants are learning to challenge capitalist social relations, while establishing new values and practices. Therefore, we can think of Venezuela’s popular economy as expressing a sharpened class contradiction.However, my case study also shows that holding hands with human development is class struggle directed against the state. This reveals a central theoretical and practical paradox in twenty-first century socialism, namely that, while nurturing initiatives that challenge capital, the Venezuelan state also emerges as an important barrier to overcoming the class relation. This, I argue, is not wholly consistent with the views of theorists of twenty-first century socialism that understand Venezuela’s popular economy as forming a new form of dual power or a parallel state, and who therefore downplay the importance of struggles against the state within the popular economy. The strategic implication is that struggles between popular-economy participants and the state cannot be avoided, and indeed will need to be fostered if the project for twenty-first century socialism is to continue. (shrink)

Existen tres grandes estrategias para intentar combinar realismo y antirrealismo: una distinción de niveles, una distinción de aspectos y una distinción de partes. En el trabajo se analizan estas tres estrategias. La primera de ellas ha sido desarrollada por numerosos autores. Comentamos en detalle los planteamientos recientes de José Zalabardo a propósito de ciertas tesis de John McDowell, Crispin Wright y Wittgenstein. Esta estrategia plantea graves dificultades. la segunda estrategia parece poder escapar a ellas. Sin embargo, no puede ser adoptada (...) en un sentido máximamente general. Proponemos una combinación basada en la tercera estrategia. Realismo y antirrealismo podrían combinarse de una manera muy natural cuando son adoptados en un sentido local. There are three main strategies to try to combine realism and anti-realism: a distinction of levels, a distinction of aspects, and a distinction of parts. In the paper, these strategies are analysed. The first one has been elaborated by many authors. We discuss in detail the approach of José Zalabardo concerning some theses of John McDowell, Crispin Wright and Wittgenstein. This strategy entails important problems. The second strategy seems to be capable of offering a way out of them. However, it cannot be adopted in a maximally general sense. We argue for a combination based on the third strategy. Realism and anti-realism can be combined in a very natural way when they are adopted in a local sense. (shrink)

Les pronoms personnels peuvent faire référence à la représentation physique (comme une statue ou une photographie) d’une personne plutôt qu’à cette personne elle-même. L’article présente une explication de ce liage sans identité apparente. Une objection est adressée à la théorie des proxies de Reuland et Winter, fondée sur la distinction entre attitudes de re et attitudes de se. La stratégie proposée ici consiste à introduire une nouvelle modalité pour chaque nouveau support d’une représentation physique, ce qui permet d’éviter les proxies (...) et de restaurer l’identité à la base de la résolution des anaphores. Les modalités correspondent à des fenêtres modales au travers desquelles le sujet peut appréhender des objets, existants ou non, y compris lui-même. La sémantique proposée suppose de réinterpréter certains prédicats. Elle emprunte à Wehmeier l’idée de relation inter-mondaine, qui soulève en tant que telle des questions métaphysiques. L’article aborde ces questions, pour proposer finalement d’étendre la théorie des fenêtres modales à l’ensemble des relations intentionnelles. (shrink)

This book examines the social relevance of philosophy as this problem is posed in the contemporary Modernism-Postmodernism debate. Manuel P. Arriaga critically investigates the two sides of the debate in their various presuppositions and their equally diverse ramifications in fields ranging from political theory, philosophy of religion, and theory of knowledge, among others.

En la última década se observa una recurrente rehabilitación de la filosofía de Gilbert Simondon para pensar el sentido y los desafíos de las tecnologías digitales para las sociales contemporáneas. En este marco, teniendo como eje las efectuaciones de la noción simondoniana de lo transindividual y la caracterización de las tecnologías digitales (Web 2.0, Big data y machine learning), el artículo reconstruye el campo problemático que establecen un conjunto de lecturas entre 2012 y 2016, particulariza sus operaciones teóricas y pondera (...) sus distintas estrategias. En este sentido, tras introducir el debate entre Bernard Stiegler y Muriel Combes en la década de 1990, se analizan las interpretaciones de Mark Hansen, Antoinette Rouvroy y Thomas Berns, Stiegler y Simon Mills. (shrink)

La intención de este artículo es proponer un término más adecuado para la nominación de las prácticas racistas y brindar una perspectiva analítica netamente relacional mediante la determinación y sistematización de las articulaciones intervinientes. Se trata de un trabajo de discusión teórica construido a partir de tres problemas, a saber: ¿cómo denominar un fenómeno social (racismo) que parte de una noción (razas humanas) carente de sustento biológico?, ¿qué relaciones comprende? y ¿a qué se debe su permanencia? Son tres las hipótesis (...) que los responden. En primer término, la contradicción enunciativa se resuelve introduciendo la expresión biologicismo. En segundo lugar, los relacionamientos que comprende son tres: el “técnico”, entre la dimensión física y las demás esferas humanas; el jerárquico, en función de las valoraciones diferenciales (mediante la dialéctica de las categorías norma-ideal/anomalía-degradante); y el instrumental, a partir de los intereses que propicia y encubre. Finalmente, la pervivencia se basa en tal instrumentalización por parte de las clases hegemónicas. Dos son los aportes. Por un lado, y desde una posición en alguna medida interdisciplinar, la justificación del uso de un concepto con mayor precisión. Y por el otro, el esclarecimiento de las relaciones acopladas intervinientes. Metodológicamente se procede examinando fuentes históricas y bibliografía sociológica y antropológica pertinente. (shrink)

En la conquista, colonización y evangelización de las Indias se dio una estrecha colaboración y alianza Iglesia-Estado, amalgama que reforzaba a ambas instituciones, aunque siempre bajo el control estatal, supervisada y coordinada por el Consejo de Indias. Las relaciones Iglesia-Estado en América pasaron por diversas modalidades: Patronato, Vicariato y Regalismo. En el siglo XVI rige el Patronato, basado en las concesiones Pontificias que ponía en manos de la Corona española el ‘cuidado’ sobre la Iglesia americana. Desde fines del XVI, religiosos (...) y juristas españoles elaboraron la teoría del Vicariato, según la cual los reyes, en virtud de la donación papal, eran Vicarios de la Santa Sede en las Indias y adquirían competencias en materia de disciplina eclesiástica. En el siglo XVIII el Regalismo asume ambas posiciones y las convierte en jurisdicción civil al considerar que los derechos esenciales del Patronato y el Vicariato no se basan en concesiones papales sino que son prerrogativas inherentes a la Corona, regalías o atributos del poder real. (shrink)

La letteratura veneziana degli anni Trenta del Cinquecento è caratterizzata da una volontà di reazione nei confronti della tradizione letteraria precedente. Gli effetti delle guerre d’Italia e la conseguente discesa di Carlo V comportò profondi cambiamenti politici e culturali e una decadenza del sistema delle corti. Autori come Aretino, Speroni e Piccolomini furono tra i primi a cogliere questi mutamenti, scrivendo opere che polemizzano nei confronti di testi ambientati a corte come gli Asolani di Bembo e il Cortegiano di Castiglione. (...) Un aspetto che accomuna questa produzione letteraria è rappresentato dal ruolo preminente che viene affidato ai personaggi femminili. Nei Ragionamenti di Aretino, nella Raffaella di Piccolomini e nel Dialogo d’amore di Speroni, le donne diventano lo strumento principale per esprimere opinioni nuove e polemiche nei confronti delle ipocrisie e delle idealizzazioni del mondo della corte. Nel presente articolo, si evidenzieranno gli aspetti più importanti di queste opere, mostrando come la scelta di personaggi femminili non risponda ad una semplice moda letteraria ma derivi piuttosto da ragioni ideologiche. (shrink)