El presente escrito tiene dos propósitos. En primer lugar, busca recapitular algunos temas abordados en los últimos años por el filósofo alemán Jürgen Habermas, como representante del liberalismo: a) la noción de sociedad post-secular, sus condiciones y desafíos; b) la tolerancia y el multiculturalismo; y c) la traducción como actividad mediadora que remedie la dificultad de comprensión entre el pensamiento secular de Occidente y las diferentes cosmovisiones religiosas tradicionales, de variadas procedencias. En segundo lugar, pretende ampliar el panorama de Habermas (...) con el apoyo de dos autores provenientes de otras tradiciones de pensamiento, y que permiten complementar y matizar algunas de las propuestas habermasianas: Michael Walzer, como representante del comunitarismo, y Peter Lamborn Wilson, alias Hakim Bey, como representante del postanarquismo. Esto para construir las bases de una forma más radical de pensar el fenómeno del pluralismo. (shrink)

In this paper we explore in what sense we can claim that affordances, the objects of perception for ecological psychology, are related to normativity. First, we offer an account of normativity and provide some examples of how it is understood in the specialized literature. Affordances, we claim, lack correctness criteria and, hence, the possibility of error is not among their necessary conditions. For this reason we will oppose Chemero’s normative theory of affordances. Finally, we will show that there is a (...) way in which taking advantage of affordances could be considered as possessing a normative character, but only when they are evaluated within the framework of social normative standards in particular situations. This reinforces our claim that affordances, per se, lack normativity and can only be taken to be rule-governed in relation to established normative practices. (shrink)

Recent debates on linguistic diversity inevitably raise questions about the value of languages. This paper deals with two descriptions of language’s value that play a prominent role in those debates: language considered as a means of communication and a cultural heritage. Its purpose is explanatory, providing an account of how languages are assessed in each of these descriptions. Moreover, the paper will also pay attention to the rhetorical uses of such value descriptions in the discourses on linguistic diversity, considering the (...) intrinsic value given to language as a cultural heritage. (shrink)

I consider some themes and issues arising in recent work on moral responsibility, focusing on three recent books —Carlos Moya's Moral Responsibility, Al Mele's Free Will and Luck, and John Martin Fischer's My Way. I argue that these texts collectively suggest some difficulties with the way in which many issues are currently framed in the free will debates, including disputes about what constitutes compatibilism and incompatibilism and the relevance of intuitions and ordinary language for describing the metaphysics of free will (...) and moral responsibility. I also argue that each of the accounts raise more particular puzzles: it is unclear to what extent Moya’s account is properly an account of free will; Mele’s account raises questions about the significance of luck for compatibilist theories; and Fischer’s account of the value of responsibility as self-expression raises questions about the normative significance of moral responsibility. (shrink)

Dieser Beitrag greift das Phänomen Fake News auf und plädiert für einen analytischen Zugang zur Thematik. Zunächst grenzt er den Begriff der Fake News von anderen Phänomenen ab. Er zeigt auf, dass der Begriff nicht nur keinen analytischen Mehrwert bietet, sondern dass er die eigentlichen Probleme verschleiert und als Propagandabegriff u.a. Verwendung findet, um Zensur zu rechtfertigen und die Gegenseite zu delegitimieren. Trotzdem sollte die Politische Bildung nicht vollkommen auf den Begriff verzichten. Versteht man Fake News als einen fließenden Signifikant (...) in hegemonischen Projekten, erlaubt dies den Zugriff auf die politische Dimension von Desinformation. Fake News als politischer Kampfbegriff lässt sich darüber hinaus als einen Angriff auf die Autorität der Leitmedien interpretieren. Der Autor geht im Anschluss sowohl auf die inhaltliche als auch auf die formelle Dimension dieses Angriffs ein. Darauf basierend erarbeitet er einen Vorschlag, wie Fake News auf analytischer Basis in der Politischen Bildung behandelt werden könnten. (shrink)

Coherence theories are regularly confronted with the objection that there can be many coherent systems, so that mere coherence is said to be insufficient as either the defining element of truth or even as a working criterion of truth. This objection has been called the “master objection”. If someone is taking coherence not only as a criterion supporting the truth of a theory, but as an ingredient to a definition of “true” she has to attack the master objection straight on.

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)

Most experimental studies of facial expression processing have used static stimuli (photographs), yet facial expressions in daily life are generally dynamic. In its original photographic format, the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) has been frequently utilized. In the current study, we validate a dynamic version of this database, the KDEF-dyn. To this end, we applied animation between neutral and emotional expressions (happy, sad, angry, fearful, disgusted, and surprised; 1,033-ms unfolding) to 40 KDEF models, with morphing software. Ninety-six human observers categorized (...) the expressions of the resulting 240 video-clip stimuli, and automated face analysis assessed the evidence for 6 expressions and 20 facial action units (AUs) at 31 intensities. Low-level image properties (luminance, signal-to-noise ratio, etc.) and other purely perceptual factors (e.g., size, unfolding speed) were controlled. Human recognition performance (accuracy, efficiency, and confusions) patterns were consistent with prior research using static and other dynamic expressions. Automated assessment of expressions and AUs was sensitive to intensity manipulations. Significant correlations emerged between human observers’ categorization and automated classification. The KDEF-dyn database aims to provide a balance between experimental control and ecological validity for research on emotional facial expression processing. The stimuli and the validation data are available to the scientific community. (shrink)

One of the causes of the rebirth that the philosophy of being of Thomas Aquinas has been experiencing since the middle of the last century is, without a doubt, the impact of the studies carried out on this subject by the French medievalist, Étienne Gilson. Spurred on by the onto-theological critique of M. Heidegger, Gilson and other Thomists, made common cause to clarify the scope of the Heideggerian invective, which judged that Aquinas’s metaphysics of being would also have fallen into (...) an essentialism or reification of being. The proposal of these authors focused on highlighting the original notion of being (actus essendi) in front of interpreters (some from the Thomist school itself) who would have obscured its meaning, fundamentally its supreme current value. In the opinion of Gilson, Fabro and others, the main cause of this blurring would be the identification of being and existence. My objective in this article is to critically analyze some positions of contemporary Thomism and justify the impossibility of identifying what Thomas Aquinas calls esse by existence. (shrink)

La Revolución Rusa tuvo un inmediato impacto mundial, tanto por el ejemplo que supuso para procesos revolucionarios o de intensa movilización social desatados en el período subsiguiente en varios países de Europa (Finlandia, Alemania, Austria, Hungría, Italia, etc.) como por los grandes debates que suscitó en el socialismo internacional, ya que fue una de las principales causas del “gran cisma” (en palabras del historiador Carl Schorske) dentro de la II Internacional Socialista entre las organizaciones e individuos que se volcarían hacia (...) la reconstrucción de la socialdemocracia y aquellos que apostarían a la construcción de la Internacional Comunista.El período inmediatamente posterior a la Revolución Rusa (1917-1920), hasta la consolidación de la Comintern en su II Congreso, fue un momento fluido de debate acerca de la caracterización de la Revolución Rusa y sus consecuencias políticas, teóricas y estratégicas. A través del análisis de las posiciones de Karl Kautsky y Antonio Gramsci —dos intelectuales de gran influencia teórica en el movimiento socialista internacional— pretendemos iluminar algunos aspectos principales del debate que provocó este proceso: el carácter de las fuerzas sociales involucradas, los objetivos de la revolución, el rol de la democracia y la dictadura en el proceso de transición al socialismo y la aplicabilidad internacional del balance de la Revolución Rusa. El análisis se centra en fuentes primarias de cada autor, situando las posiciones de cada uno en el contexto de su relación con el socialismo de su país y los debates que lo atravesaban. (shrink)

The present chapter is concerned with revisionism about free will. It begins by offering a new characterization of revisionist accounts and the way such accounts fit (or do not) in the familiar framework of compatibilism and incompatibilism. It then traces some of the recent history of the development of revisionist accounts, and concludes by remarking on some challenges for them.

In “Free Will and Substance Dualism: The Real Scientific Threat to Free Will?” Al Mele extends his groundbreaking work on scientific arguments against free will. He replies to charges that he has missed the real threat to free will posed by experimental work, and he focuses on two issues: (1) the claim that the “real” threat of scientific work is bound up with substance dualism, and (2) recent work by Soon et al. that has been taken to show that some (...) intentions can be predicted in advance. (shrink)

Quatro painéis de muito boa pintura, representando aspectos da vida e martírios dos Santos Mártires de Lisboa, Veríssimo, Máxima e Júlia, estão patentes no Museu Carlos Machado, em Ponta Delgada, nos Açores.Obras nunca estudadas antes de 2001, embora referenciadas documentalmente já no século XIX, permaneceram em colecções particulares até aos anos sessenta do século XX, quando foram doadas ao museu açoriano, onde se encontram em bom estado de conservação. Nunca dali saíram, a não ser um dos painéis para a XVII (...) Exposição Europeia de Arte, Cultura e Ciência (núcleo da Casa dos Bicos) e outro painel, em 1992, para uma exposição em Génova. As obras, de relativamente pequenas dimensões, são muito ricas em aspectos iconográficos e de caracterização de ambientes. Datáveis da década de 30 do século XVI, têm sido atribuídas ao pintor Garcia Fernandes e, mais recentemente, a Cristóvão de Utreque, um dos mestres que foi referenciado como eventual colaborador dos chamados Mestres de Ferreirim: Cristóvão de Figueiredo, Gregório Lopes e Garcia Fernandes.Muito interessante, no entanto, é a iconografia das paisagens urbanas de duas das pinturas, mas a vida e os martírios dos santos não acompanham o que se conhecia da literatura do tempo. (shrink)

San Pedro de Alcántara destaca por su vida de profundización en la vida contemplativa y mística. Un ejemplo palpable de esta actitud la encontramos su Tratado de Oración y Meditación. En esta reflexión realizamos una lectura filosófica de un párrafo de la meditación del primar día de esta obra alcantarina. Desde la antropología existencial, el autor del Tratado nos invita a la contemplación de uno mismo, para llegar a la trascendencia y la alteridad que deja su huella en lo más (...) profundo del ser personal. Saint Pedro of Alcántara stands out for his enthusiasm for a comtemplative and mystical life. A very good instance of his disposition towards this can be found in his “Tratado de Oración y Meditación”. In this reflection we can interpret philosophically a paragraph from this particular work, which deals with meditation on the first day, that is to say, on Monday. By means of existential anthropology, the author invites us to look thoroughly into ourselves so that we can reach a transcendental state which will mark our inner self. (shrink)

En este artículo se revisa críticamente la teoría sobre el intelecto humano que Orígenes de Alejandría mantiene en su Tratado sobre los Principios. En esta revisión se aprecia una importante influencia del comentario peripatético sobre el alma humana sin que haya una dependencia de Orígenes sobre esta literatura. Más bien, se da una reflexión original cuyo objetivo es resolver el problema de la participación del intelecto separado con el alma y el cuerpo humanos. La solución es notablemente efectiva y se (...) consigue incorporando el punto de vista de autores de su tiempo quienes sostienen, conforme a lo que dicen las Sagradas escrituras, que el alma humana es un intelecto enfriado por la caída y contacto con la naturaleza creada. (shrink)

El trabajo presenta las distintas actividades científicas que con motivo del cuarto centenario del fallecimiento de Francisco Suárez se han celebrado y se han organizado durante el año 2017 o el curso académico 2017-18. En las iniciativas presentadas se advierte la vigencia de la reflexión suareciana, no sólo por su relevancia histórica, sino también como un pensamiento con el que poder replantear los retos de nuestra situación contemporánea.

Examino Acerca del cielo (De caelo) I 2 con el fin de mostrar allí la presencia de la demostración científica. Este desarrollo pretende aportar nueva evidencia en favor de la no discrepancia entre teoría y praxis científica en Aristóteles (Barnes, 1969) y de relativizar la interpretación de que el método real y únicamente usado es la dialéctica (cuyo antecedente se remonta a Owen, 1980). Además, siguiendo la propuesta hermenéutica de Gotthelf (1987) y Detel (1993 y 1997), mostraré de qué modo (...) se utiliza la demostración científica en la prueba de la existencia del cuerpo simple o éter. Ofreceré también una reconstrucción de las pruebas mediante la elaboración de un esquema que abarque el conjunto de las deducciones. Estos últimos desarrollos constituyen el aporte más novedoso del presente artículo. I examine On the Heavens (DC) 12 in order to show there the presence of scientific demonstration. This development tries to contribute new evidence in favor of the not discrepancy between theory and scientific practice in Aristotle (Barnes, 1969) and to make the interpretation that method real and solely used is dialectic relative (whose precedent goes back to Owen, 1980). In addition, following the hermeneutic proposal of Gotthelf (1987) and Detel (1993 and 1997), I will show how scientific demonstration is used in the proof of simple body (ether) existence. I will offer also a reconstruction of the proof by means of the elaboration of a scheme that includes the set of deductions. The latter developments constitute the most new contribution of the present paper. (shrink)

This dissertation focuses on the topic of analyticity. The traditional concept of analyticity characterizes analytic sentences in at least two ways. On the one hand, these sentences are thought to be true in virtue only of the meaning of the expressions that constitute them. On the other hand, they are thought to be such that they can be concluded by competent speakers in an a priori fashion--that is, merely on the basis of the speakers' knowledge of the meaning of the (...) expressions contained in the sentences. In the dissertation I argue that these two ways of characterizing analyticity do not single out the same set of sentences, and that at least two different notions of meaning should be postulated to account for this fact. ;To show this I focus first on the notion of truth in virtue of meaning. I identify two ways in which a sentence can be said to be true in virtue of meaning: on the one hand, if the condition it expresses necessarily obtains; on the other hand, if semantic facts concerning the reference of the expressions that constitute it determine that it has to be true. I argue that the sets of sentences that can be said to be true in virtue of meaning according to these two criteria and the set of sentences ordinarily deemed analytically true do not coincide. ;I focus then on the second traditional criterion for analyticity--i.e., apriority. This criterion determines a set of sentences--what I call a priori acceptable sentences--that seems to coincide most closely with the set of sentences we ordinarily judge to be analytic. To account for the disparity between the extensions of this and the 'truth in virtue of meaning' criteria I propose that a distinction should be made between truth-conditional meaning--which concerns the contribution of expressions to truth-conditions--and conceptual meaning--which concerns the abilities necessary for competence in a language. I finally argue that conceptual meaning cannot always guarantee the truth of a priori acceptable sentences. (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)

The traditional point of view on analyticity implies that truth in virtue only of meaning entails a priori acceptability and vice versa. The argument for this claim is based on the idea that meaning as it concerns truth and meaning as it concerns competence are one and the same thing. In this paper I argue that the extensions of these notions do not coincide. I hold that truth in virtue of meaning— truth for semantic reasons—doesn't imply a priori acceptability, and (...) that a priori reflection based only on knowledge of meaning—in the sense of competence—doesn't necessitate true conclusions.The main consequence of this view concerns conceptual analysis, as it presupposes we have a privileged—incorrigible in the face of empirical evidence—access to non-trivial truths about the world on the basis of mere a priori reflection founded on meaning. If, as I argue, such access is not incorrigible the project of conceptual analysis loses its special epistemological status. (shrink)

Einleitung -- Phänomenologie -- Epistemologie -- Poetologie -- Schlussbemerkungen -- Verzeichnisse.

In the last twenty years analytic philosophy has seen a rising interest in the philosophy of religion in general and in rational reconstructions of religion related arguments and Christian doctrines. In this short note I like to point to a problem that although cosmological arguments play a great role in the present discussion has not received the attention, I believe, it deserves.[1] An old objection to cosmological arguments, named “the Carriage Objection” by Schopenhauer[2], charges them as being arbitrary: the arguments (...) are employed to carry you to the existence of God, but no further (as the carriage carries you to some destination to be dismissed then, therefore the name of the objection). A simple cosmological argument claims the existence of the universe to require explanation, and offers God as the cause of the universe. The Carriage Objection now asks why the principle of sufficient explanation that carried the argument forth to God will not carry us on to a sufficient explanation of God, and then on – ad infinitum . The regress is considered to be vicious. If one was to accept some brute fact (like the existence of God) then why not stop with the brute fact of the existence of the universe? (shrink)

Tras una inicial aproximación a la génesis del concepto de responsabilidad, génesis en la que se empiezan a percibir algunos de los rasgos del mismo que terminarán por hacerse explícitos en nuestros días, el trabajo se centra en señalar las implicaciones que tiene adscribir decididamente la responsabilidad a la época moderna y, en concreto, al surgimiento de la civilización industrial. Acaso una de las más importantes sea la de obligarnos a plantear toda una serie de asuntos en conexión necesaria con (...) otro tema-eje del pensamiento moderno, el de la identidad. Junto a dicho tema, en el texto quedan apuntados otros, como el de la justa escala en la que abordar tales asuntos o el del mal, por citar sólo dos, cuya envergadura puede servir como indicador de la importancia que presenta el concepto de responsabilidad en el pensamiento contemporáneo. (shrink)

This essay is about the emancipatory potential of the protest song A Rapist in Your Path The theoretical assumptions for this analysis are a listening’s esthetical-political set up from the philosophy of Jacques Rancière and the structure of patriarchal-colonial-modernity of Rita Laura Segato in the form of census, guardianship, ownership and proscription of the voices of the being a woman. What is postulated is that this song-performance is the bursting into a heteronormative world of a singular oneself position through the (...) voice with the aim of inaugurate a new form of community making. What is to be emphasized is that this song sets in motion a stasis against the rape’s order and thus transgresses disciplinary notions and attitudes that prescribe the ontic annihilation of dissenting voices. (shrink)