UK Higher Education is characterised by structural and institutional forms of whiteness. As scholars and activists are increasingly speaking out to testify, whiteness has wide-ranging implications that affect curricula, pedagogy, knowledge production, university policies, campus climate, and the experiences of students and faculty of colour. Unsurprisingly then, calls to decolonize the university abound. In this article, we draw upon the Critical Race Theory method of counter-storytelling. By introducing composite characters, we speak back to assumptions that universities are race-neutral, meritocratic institutions. (...) We illustrate some of the key themes that shape the experiences of faculty of colour in UK Higher Education: institutional racism, racial microaggressions, racial battle fatigue, and steadfast fugitive resistance. We argue that, despite the paradox of working under (what purports to be) a ‘decolonial’ agenda, widespread calls to decolonize our universities have further embedded rather than dismantled whiteness, thus continuing to characterise the careers, wellbeing, and daily lives of faculty of colour. (shrink)

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)

Presupposition, vagueness, and oddness can lead to some sentences failing to have a clear truth value. The homogeneity property of plural predication with definite descriptions may also create truth-value gaps: The books are written in Dutch is true if all relevant books are in Dutch, false if none of them are, and neither true nor false if, say, half of the books are written in Dutch. We study the projection property of homogeneity by deploying methods of general interest to identify (...) truth-value gaps. Method A consists in collecting both truth judgments and, independently, falsity judgments. The second method, employed in experiment series B and C, is based on one-shot ternary judgments: completely true vs. completely false vs. neither. After a calibration of these methods, we use them to demonstrate that homogeneity projects out of negation, the scope of universal sentences and the scope of non-monotonic quantifiers such as exactly two, to some extent. We assess our results in light of different theoretical approaches to homogeneity—approaches based on presuppositions, scalar implicatures, and something like supervaluations, respectively. We identify free parameters in these theories and assess various variants of them based on our results. Our experimental paradigms may be of broader significance insofar as they can be applied to other phenomena which result in the failure of a sentence to have a definite truth value. (shrink)

When someone masters a skill, their performance looks to us like second nature: it looks as if their actions are smoothly performed without explicit, knowledge-driven, online monitoring of their performance. Contemporary computational models in motor control theory, however, are instructionist: that is, they cast skillful performance as a knowledge-driven process. Optimal motor control theory, as representative par excellence of such approaches, casts skillful performance as an instruction, instantiated in the brain, that needs to be executed—a motor command. This paper aims (...) to show the limitations of such instructionist approaches to skillful performance. We specifically address the question of whether the assumption of control-theoretic models is warranted. The first section of this paper examines the instructionist assumption, according to which skillful performance consists of the execution of theoretical instructions harnessed in motor representations. The second and third sections characterize the implementation of motor representations as motor commands, with a special focus on formulations from OMCT. The final sections of this paper examine predictive coding and active inference—behavioral modeling frameworks that descend, but are distinct, from OMCT—and argue that the instructionist, control-theoretic assumptions are ill-motivated in light of new developments in active inference. (shrink)

This paper reports on a study of the largest Spanish corporations concerning the status of corporate ethics policies. The research project, the first of its kind in Spain, has two parts. First, the types of formal documents the companies use are analysed, including those dealing with ethical values or norms. Three groups of companies are distinguished: the first group has no formal documents dealing with ethical values, and the reasons given for not having any ethical statement are discussed. A second (...) group has one document mentioning ethical values (generally the vision and/or mission statement), and a third group has in place two or more documents (one generic and the other more detailed, such as a code of conduct). The findings show that the latter group is more proactive than the former in implementing measures for promoting business ethics throughout the organisation. In the second part of the research, the study analyses the differences between companies whose headquarters are in Spain, Europe and USA regarding the arguments, the focus and the practices used to formalise business ethics. (shrink)

This paper tackles the following puzzle. On the one hand, a growing body of literature suggests that most of our current political disagreements are pernicious and difficult to resolve because they are instances of deep disagreement. On the other hand, there does not seem to be anything inherent to a deep disagreement that necessarily makes it pernicious nor irresolvable. To address this issue, I distinguish two senses in which a disagreement can be deemed “deep”, and show that they are conflated (...) in the literature. In order to separate them, I refer to these two senses as deep disagreement and deep conflict. Contrary to recent literature, I argue that most of our current pernicious political disagreements are so not because they are instances of deep disagreement, but of deep conflict. This way, the problem disappears. (shrink)

This paper analyzes two different proposals, one by Ellis and Brundrit, based on classical relativistic cosmology, the other by Garriga and Vilenkin, based on the DH interpretation of quantum mechanics, both concluding that, in an infinite universe, planets and beings must be repeated an infinite number of times. We point to possible shortcomings in these arguments. We conclude that the idea of an infinite repetition of histories in space cannot be considered strictly speaking a consequence of current physics and cosmology. (...) Such ideas should be seen rather as examples of «ironic science» in the terminology of John Horgan. (shrink)

When engaging in verbal communication, we do not simply use language to dispense information, but also to perform a plethora of actions, some of which depend on conventionalised, recurrent linguistic structures. Additionally, we must be skilled enough to arrive at the speaker’s intended meaning. However, speakers’ performance may deviate from certain habits and expectations concerning the way of speaking or accomplishing actions, while various factors may hinder comprehension, which may give rise to misappraisals of their respective abilities and capacities as (...) competent language users. This paper discusses whether such misappraisals may be subsumed by any of the already identified types of epistemic injustice and proposes a new label for them. It also describes the consequences of those misappraisals and approaches their origins from a cognitive perspective. (shrink)

Sobre los pasajes concretos de la Historia authéntica, de Luis Francisco de Viana y Bustos y Joseph Juan de Laboraría, canónigos del Sacromonte de Granada, se evoca la condenación de la memoria que esta institución hace para la historia, del padre Ignacio de las Casas. Éste, jesuita granadino, morisco de nación, misionero con sus hermanos y trabajador social por donde pasó, campos en los que ganó merecido prestigio, se significó como acérrimo refutador de las invenciones de la Torre Turpiana y (...) Valparaíso de fines del siglo XVI. El arzobispo Pedro de Castro lo persiguió en vida y, luego, decidió para los siglos posteriores la estigmatización de su memoria, que implicaba el falseamiento y envilecimiento de su biografía. La Historia authéntica, defensorio escrito en 1756, es la mejor expresión del fanático cumplimiento de ese mandato del fundador carismático, siglo y medio después de los hallazgos. (shrink)

En una época en la que estamos cayendo en la barbarie de eliminar la filosofía y la literatura de los planes de estudio de ciertos niveles de la enseñanza, o bien en la excesiva especialización nacida de un pensamiento burdamente técnico, este libro reivindica esos dos espacios de creación entendidos no como identidades puras, sino como procesos en continuo trance de transformación y desfiguración. De este modo, se llava a cabo un recorrido por los principales momentos históricos de tal transformación (...) y desfiguración, teniendo en cuenta las ramificaciones que han tenido lugar en dicho recorrido: éticas, metafísicas, sexuales, formales, retóricas, etc. (shrink)

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence make its use in education more likely. In fact, existing learning systems already utilize it for supporting students’ learning or teachers’ judgments. In this perspective article, we want to elaborate on the role of humans in making decisions in the design and implementation process of artificial intelligence in education. Therefore, we propose that an artificial intelligence-supported system in education can be considered a closed-loop system, which includes the steps of data recording, pattern detection, and adaptivity. (...) Besides the design process, we also consider the crucial role of the users in terms of decisions in educational contexts: While some implementations of artificial intelligence might make decisions on their own, we specifically highlight the high potential of striving for hybrid solutions in which different users, namely learners or teachers, are provided with information from artificial intelligence transparently for their own decisions. In light of the non-perfect accuracy of decisions of both artificial intelligence-based systems and users, we argue for balancing the process of human- and AI-driven decisions and mutual monitoring of these decisions. Accordingly, the decision-making process can be improved by taking both sides into account. Further, we emphasize the importance of contextualizing decisions. Potential erroneous decisions by either machines or humans can have very different consequences. In conclusion, humans have a crucial role at many stages in the process of designing and using artificial intelligence for education. (shrink)

La preparación del Jubileo del 2000 pasa por el descubrimiento de la importancia de los años santos en la historia de la Iglesia. Esto es lo que pretendemos con esta investigación: acercarnos a los años santos celebrados a lo largo de la historia de la Iglesia. En este trabajo abordamos la institución del primer año santo, la historia de los jubileos y la idea fundamental de cada uno de ellos, su periodicidad y la labor de mecenazgo cultural y artístico de (...) los papas con motivo de los años santos. Por último, se estudia la participación de la Iglesia de Sevilla en algunos años santos. (shrink)

RÉSUMÉ : Les attitudes de se sont généralement considérées comme constituant une classe particulière d’attitudes de re. Cet article propose une analyse différente, qui s’appuie sur la notion d’attitude de objecto et qui évite un engagement ontologique envers le sujet. La proposition élabore l’idée de Hintikka d’une logique épistémique dite de seconde génération, qui introduit un marqueur syntaxique permettant d’exprimer des relations d’indépendance entre certaines constantes logiques. De cette sémantique résulte une conception du Moi, dénotation de «je», comme un objet (...) simplement intentionnel. ABSTRACT: De se attitudes are generally regarded as being a proper part of de re attitudes. In this paper an alternative analysis that avoids ontological commitment to the self is proposed, based on the notion of de objecto attitudes. This proposal develops an idea from Hintikka’s second generation epistemic logic, which introduces a syntactic marker expressing independence relations between certain logical constants. According to this semantic account, the Self, as the denotation of ‘I’, is conceived of as a mere intentional object. (shrink)

En ces temps d’avenir perdu, les sociétés sont des sociétés spéculatives, qu’elles le veuillent ou non. Alors que la crise financière de 2007–2008 s’est transformée en une myriade de crises politiques dans les années qui ont suivies. En effet, l’esprit d’un âge néo-biedermeierien et les programmes politiques axés sur la stabilité sont devenus le modus operandi de l’Occident dans les contextes économiques et bien au-delà. Le désenchantement du néolibéralisme et son eschatologie politique dans un large éventail de domaines socioculturels perdurent (...) des deux côtés de l’Atlantique, tout autant que l’aporie des sociétés qui tentent de sauver le statu quo même si celui-ci avait perdu son chemin. En conséquence, les sociétés actuelles seraient, même sans le désirer, des sociétés spéculatives. Des éclaircissements sur la notion même de spéculation apparaissent alors nécessaires. Cet article vise à offrir ces éclaircissements. Pour cela, cet article s’appuie sur le cadre réglementaire d’après-crise de Bâle III. Cette analyse philosophique est d’autant plus éclairante si le « désarmement de la politique » (Habermas 2018, ma traduction) au nom de politiques prétendument inévitables, à vocation sécuritaire et stable, peut constituer l’objet de critique. Cet article est, par conséquent, une esquisse philosophique. Ce qui suit est une série de réflexions sur le concept de spéculation au-delà des frontières de la compréhension financière ou économique actuelle et, enfin, de minuscules manifestes sur la façon dont les études philosophiques et autres pourraient mobiliser et affiner ce concept. Tout d’abord cet article offre une histoire conceptuelle de la notion de spéculation (section deux). Dans un deuxième temps, les effets instables de l’aporie de stabilité concernant des régularisations financières sont analysés (section trois). Enfin, les bases pour un renouveau du concept de spéculation, utile pour la philosophie et qui maîtrise les apories des sociétés spéculatives, sont développées (section quatre). Si la philosophie ne peut prévenir la pensée d’être parfois large et incertaine, la philosophie peut sans doute être appréhendée comme un « hybride onto-épistémique-éthique », en recourant à la notion de spéculation. C’est ce que cet article suggère : offrir un langage qui pourrait permettre de penser la « spécularisation » des mondes sociaux en ce début du xxi e siècle. C’est à dire, le passage de la politique des classes à la politique identitaire (représentant les cultures plutôt que les classes), du capitalisme industriel à la politique culturelle (vendre des valeurs au détriment des fonctions) et des acteurs rationalisés au conservateur (choisir entre des identités à la place des préférences). (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)

Según Williamson, saber y creer son estados mentales, pero creer algo verdadero y creer justificadamente algo verdadero no lo son. Ese tratamiento discriminatorio es relevante para la epistemología de Williamson. Su principal tesis epistemológica negativa y su principal tesis epistemológica positiva están en peligro si su teoría metafísica sobre lo mental es incorrecta. Presento aquí un problema para dicha teoría: impone limitaciones implausibles a los posibles usos de conceptos y expresiones lingüísticas. Describiré algunas opciones que tendría Williamson para evitar el (...) problema; pero sostendré que acarrean cierta dosis de arbitrariedad. (shrink)

I present an epistemological puzzle about perceptual knowledge and its relation to the evaluation of probabilities. It involves cases, concerning a given subject S and a proposition P in a determinate context, where apparently: S has perceptual knowledge of P; the epistemic justification S has for believing Not-P is much greater than her epistemic justification for believing P. If those two theses were true, the following very plausible epistemological principle would fail: If S knows P, then the epistemic justification S (...) has for believing Not-P is not greater than her epistemic justification for believing P. I offer a solution to the puzzle, which is compatible with basic intuitions and theses of orthodox Bayesianism. (shrink)

Tanto la Fórmula Barcan como la postulación de possibilia contradicen los juicios intuitivos preteóricos de la mayoría de los sujetos, favorables al actualismo sobre la naturaleza de los mundos posibles. En este artículo discuto y rechazo dos argumentos que pretenderían contrarrestar tales juicios, y que conciben erróneamente la relación entre la semántica de mundos posibles y nuestros lenguajes naturales modales. El argumento más importante asume que el dominio de todas las entidades es idéntico al dominio de @. Desarrollo una interpretación (...) de la SMP conforme a la cual esa tesis no está suficientemente justificada. /// Barcan Formula and the postulation of possibilia contradict the pretheoretical intuitive judgments of most people, which favour actualism about possible worlds. In this paper I discuss and reject two arguments against such judgments, both of which conceive wrongly the relation between possible worlds semantics and modal natural languages. The more important argument assumes that the domain of the actual world is identical to the domain of @. I develop an interpretation of PWS which elucidates why that thesis is unwarranted. (shrink)

"Cuando hablamos de criticar el arte, no hablamos de considerar las cualidades más o menos objetivables de algo que hemos convenido en designar como "obra de arte", sino de cuestionar, cabría decir de un modo trascendental, los fundamentos ideológicos mismos que nos han llevado no sólo a convertir a una serie de objetos en una especie de excepción en el reino de las cosas, sino a considerar incluso que en ellos habitan revelaciones trascendentales que nos sitúan de modo inmediato en (...) el reino de la verdad. Hablamos más bien de replantear el propio estatuto ontológico del arte en tanto realidad histórica un tanto estupefaciente, de la misma forma en que el pensamiento ilustrado se atervió a cuestionar las verdades más o menos inconmesurables del discurso religioso". (shrink)