Why would we ever take a picture of a dead person? This practice began as a way to perpetuate the image of the deceased, rendering their memory eternal – Victorians thought that it could be useful to have portraits of their dead loved ones. Certainly, subjects in post-mortem photos will be remembered forever. However, we must ask two more questions. Are they people portrayed as if they were still alive? Or on the other hand, are they bodies that represent death? (...) Our paper takes an in-depth look at different iconographical styles as well as photographic techniques and religious and ethical reasons behind memento mori photos during the Victorian Age. (shrink)

In March 2016, DeepMind's computer programme AlphaGo surprised the world by defeating the world‐champion Go player, Lee Sedol. AlphaGo exhibits a novel, surprising and valuable style of play and has been recognised as “creative” by the artificial intelligence (AI) and Go communities. This article examines whether AlphaGo engages in creative problem solving according to the standards of comparative psychology. I argue that AlphaGo displays one important aspect of creative problem solving (namely mental scenario building in the form of Monte Carlo (...) tree search), while lacking another (domain generality). This analysis has consequences for how we think about creativity in humans and AI. (shrink)

Drosophila flies began to be used in the study of species evolution during the late 1930s. The geneticists Natasha Sivertzeva-Dobzhansky and Elizabeth Reed pioneered this work in the United States, and María Monclús conducted similar studies in Spain. The research they carried out with their husbands enabled Drosophila population genetics to take off and reveals a genealogy of women geneticists grounded in mutual inspiration. Their work also shows that women were present in population genetics from the beginning, although their contributions (...) have previously remained unacknowledged. The similarities between their research biographies also illustrate their position in a genealogy of partnerships working on Drosophila genetics. (shrink)

In order to clarify the status of morality, this paper tries to answer the following questions: 1. Which is the difference between morality and happiness in Aristotle? 2. How does Thomas Aquinas assume the aristotelian ethics whithin a christian frame? 3. What has aristotelian and thomistic ethics in common? 4. Which is the main difference between their concept of morality and the modern one.

The origin of the bilaterian metazoans from radial ancestors is one of the biggest puzzles in animal evolution. A way to solve it is to identify the nature and main features of the last common ancestor of the bilaterians (LCB). Recent progress in molecular phylogeny has shown that many platyhelminth flatworms, regarded for a long time as basal bilaterians, now belong to the lophotrochozoan protostomates. In contrast, the LCB is now considered a complex organism bearing several features of modern bilaterians. (...) Here we discuss an alternative view, in which acoelomorph (Acoela + Nemertodermatida) flatworms, which do not belong to the Platyhelminthes, represent the earliest extant bilaterian clade. Sequences from ribosomal and other nuclear genes, Hox cluster genes, and reinterpretation of some morphological features strongly support the basal position of acoelomorphs arguing against a complex LCB. This reconstruction backs the old planuloid–acoeloid hypothesis and may help our understanding of the evolution of body axes, Hox genes and the Cambrian explosion. BioEssays 26:1046–1057, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

En este trabajo, a partir de un repaso de la hipótesis Nietzsche en la concepción foucaulteana de la genealogía del poder y de la constitución de los Estados modernos, se trata de ver de cerca el �caso Argentina�, en alguno de los autores fundacionales, en especial la impronta de la recepción sociobiológica que permitió la configuración ideológica de las principales instituciones estatales en la llamada �generación del ´80�. El evolucionismo fue la herramienta científica, el discurso debajo del cual se encubrieron (...) los intereses políticos por higienizar el cuerpo social, para someter cuando no exterminar a las �razas inferiores�, a los gauchos, indios, negros y sirvió para legitimar las políticas de sojuzgamiento, dominación y aniquilamiento de los sectores sociales que resultaban superfluos en el nuevo orden. (shrink)

Clarke and Beck discuss in their sections on congruency and confounds literature that has challenged the claim that the approximate number system represents numerical content. We argue that the propositions put forward by these studies aren't that far from the indirect model of number perception suggested by C&B.

El objetivo principal de este artículo es mostrar el tratamiento de lo sagrado en el pensamiento del filósofo y poeta Ramón Xirau. Autor de gran profundidad, perteneció, al igual que su padre, el filósofo y pedagogo Joaquín Xirau, a la tradición humanista cristiana. Después de exponer brevemente su biografía intelectual, nos detendremos en su particular concepción de la filosofía, en su interés por la poesía, para pasar a analizar uno de los temas que más le preocuparon, junto con la crisis (...) del mundo occidental: la búsqueda de Dios y de lo sagrado. (shrink)

Este estudio tiene como propósito explicar la relatividad del secreto médico y la actuación del médico perito. El secreto profesional médico es un derecho a la intimidad y constituye obligación ineludible para el personal de la salud, los pacientes y peritados, de ahí que todo lo que revelen deba ser guardado para evitar daños a la vida privada de los individuos. Desde el punto de vista ético el secreto médico profesional obliga al perito a no revelar más de lo necesario (...) para el peritaje, así como a no divulgar dicho informe, limitándose a entregarlo solamente a quienes tuvieran derecho a él. This study aims at explaining the relativity of medical secrecy and the performance of the medical expert. The medical professional secrecy is a right to privacy and it is an unavoidable obligation for the health staff, and assessed patients, hence everything they reveal must be stored to prevent damage to the private life of individuals. From the ethical point of view medical confidentiality forces the expert not to disclose more than necessary for the expertise, as well as not to disclose such report, just limited to be delivered to those who had right to it. (shrink)

Authors deal with theoretical and social contexts of the teaching profession as a starting point for empirical research into ethical relationships among Slovak primary and secondary school teachers. They surveyed the opinions of teachers at that level regarding their relationship with students, parents, colleagues and superiors. According to the research results, more than 80% of respondents positively rate the behaviour of teachers towards their students and parents from the viewpoint of realising ethical values, based on which they could be an (...) ethical model for their students. The level of relationships among colleagues received a less optimistic rating. They were, however, much more critical in evaluating their superiors. Only approximately 60% of the members of school management could be an ethical model for other teachers. (shrink)

Three experiments investigated the mechanisms, correlates, and methods of immunization against interrogative suggestibility (IS). IS involves reliance in memory reports on suggestions contained in misleading questions (Yield) and the tendency to change answers under negative feedback about the quality of previous testimony (Shift). All three studies found that the milder version of the tool used in the studies (GSS) resulted in lower Yield and Shift. In analyses considering the memory states of the participants, IS was found to be highest when (...) participants mistakenly attributed the information contained in the suggestive questions to the original material. However, significant percentages of the participants succumbed to suggestions and changed answers even when they were aware of the discrepancy between the original material and the information contained in the questions. The warning against suggestions was found to lower Yield and Shift, and this was especially true when participants were aware of discrepancies between original material and suggestions. Enhancing self-esteem and inducing mindfulness did not reduce IS. The correlations between IS, including IS in individual mindfulness states, with the Big Five personality traits, anxiety, susceptibility to influence, and self-esteem were inconsistent. (shrink)

Dans cet article sont examinés les différents sens du mot «probable» tel qu'il apparaît dans certains commentaires desTopiques d'Aristote, notamment ceux d'Alexandre d'Aphrodise, d'Averroès et surtout celui d'Agostino Nifo, ainsi que dans des traités qui s'en inspirent, notamment leDe dialogo de Carlo Sigonio et leDe inventione dialectica de Rudolph Agricola. On retrouve dans ces écrits les trois sens principaux de ce mot depuis Aristote et Cicéron: celui d'opinion communément admise, celui d'opinion qui correspond à «ce qui se passe la plupart (...) du temps» et celui d'opinion apte à produire la persuasion. À partir de cette polysémie du mot «probable», l'article met en évidence les différentes fonctions attribuées aux opinions probables dans ces divers écrits, plus particulièrement au XVIe siècle. L'association du mot «probable» avec la notion de vérité contingente conduit à mettre en valeur le lien entre hypothèse probable et conjecture. (shrink)

ArgumentThis article analyzes for the first time the earliest western maps of diseases in China spanning fifty years from the late 1870s to the end of the 1920s. The 24 featured disease maps present a visual history of the major transformations in modern medicine from medical geography to laboratory medicine wrought on Chinese soil. These medical transformations occurred within new political formations from the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) to colonialism in East Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Manchuria, Korea) and hypercolonialism within China (...) (Tianjin, Shanghai, Amoy) as well as the new Republican Chinese nation state (1912–49). As a subgenre of persuasive graphics, physicians marshaled disease maps for various rhetorical functions within these different political contexts. Disease maps in China changed from being mostly analytical tools to functioning as tools of empire, national sovereignty, and public health propaganda legitimating new medical concepts, public health interventions, and political structures governing over human and non-human populations. (shrink)

Information asymmetries are regarded as the main obstacle for consumers to buy responsibly. CSR labels are considered the best tool to give consumers information about the brand's social and environmental performance. Yet, the information and credibility gap associated to the labels may render labels useless. This study aims to unveil the relationship of Spanish consumers with CSR labels, in order to assess the posited consequences of the information and credibility gap. To do so, 385 consumers were interviewed at the main (...) shopping centers in Madrid. The findings support the hypothesized gaps, which leads to recommend public policies in order to improve the effectiveness of CSR labels as an information tool. (shrink)

One of the key questions in the contemporary analytic ontology concerns the relation between the Principle of Identity of Indiscernibles (PII) and the Bundle Theory (BT). The majority of authors believe that BT implies PII. Therefore, it is widely believed that the world violating PII presented by Max Black (1952. “The Identity of Indiscernibles.” Mind 61 (242): 153–64) is also devastating for BT. However, this has been questioned by Rodriguez-Pereyra (2004. “The Bundle Theory is Compatible with Distinct but Indiscernible Particulars.” (...) Analysis 64 (1): 72–81), who formulated an interpretation of BT with instances. Recently Robert (2019. “Can the Realist Bundle Theory Account for the Numerical Difference between Qualitavely Non-discernible Concrete Particulars?” Theorema 38 (1): 25–39) argued that this version of BT is not a constituent ontology and, therefore, Rodriguez-Pereyra’s solution comes at a price of excluding bundle theory from the domain of constituent ontologies, and, in this sense, it fails. I question Robert’s point by claiming that his account of constituent ontologies is too demanding. In particular, I show that the instance version of BT is compatible with the constrains defining constituent ontologies in general, and therefore Rodriguez-Pereyra’s argument is correct. (shrink)

RESUMEN:En este trabajo se analiza el modo en que Kant distingue entre sentimiento y emoción, por un lado, y emoción y pasión, por otro, para mostrar: 1) que bajo el término “emoción” Kant entiende principalmente la afección orgánica privada de contenido cognitivo, aunque precedida y seguida de representaciones; 2) que la emoción constituye un elemento integral de lo que Kant denomina “sentimiento”, término del que se sirve para designar la dimensión subjetiva de la experiencia en sentido amplio, no limitado a (...) la afección empírica; 3) que su concepción negativa de la pasión justifica la posterior distinción entre emoción y pasión introducida en los estudios científicos. ABSTRACT:In this article I analyze Kant’s distinction between feeling and emotion, on the one hand, and emotion and passion, on the other. The objective is to show: 1) that by the term “emotion” he understands organic affection, deprived of cognitive content, although preceded and followed by representations; 2) that emotion so understood constitutes for Kant an integral part of “feeling”, by which Kant designates the subjective dimension of experience, in a broad sense, which is not limited to empirical affection; 3) that his negative approach to passion justifies the sharp distinction between emotion and passion introduced in scientific studies of emotion. (shrink)

Este trabalho objetiva tecer reflexões acerca dos efeitos da proposta de Luis Alberto Warat de projetar no campo do Direito os aportes da Teoria da Carnavalização literária de Mikhail Bakhtin e da constituição do que ele denominou Epistemologia Carnavalizada. A partir das diversas linhas abertas pela sua obra A ciência jurídica e seus dois maridos, atravessada pelos conceitos bakhtinianos de carnaval, carnavalização, polifonia, dialogia e polissemia, intenta-se construir uma genealogia intermitente que coloca a própria obra como autêntico ato de carnavalização (...) do Direito. Isso se dá pelo efeito desestabilizador independente do alcance teórico da sua proposta da Epistemologia Carnavalizada. (shrink)

Recensión de A. Gutmann, La educación democrática. Una teoría política de la educación, Paidós, Barcelona, 2001 y B. Brick, En defensa de la política, Tusquets, Barcelona, 2001.

The professionalization of science is a recent phenomenon. Before the mid-1800s, investigations of the natural world were largely performed by those hobbyists who had the leisure time to do so. Things are very different today. Open one of the over twenty thousand scientific journals currently in circulation, and you would be hard pressed to decipher the technical prose, much less the methodological and conceptual strategies being employed. This is changing, however. People are not only taking greater interest in how science (...) works, but choosing to actively participate in the process, whether this involves discovering new protein configurations , identifying and categorizing cancer cells from tissue samples , or analyzing the vocalizations of canids .Why start a review on what might seem like an academic book in contemporary philosophy of biology with a discussion of citizen science? Craver and Darden’s book, In Search of Mechanisms, is positi .. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the third chapter of Fides et ratio, entitled Intellego ut credam This sentence is usually connected with the preambula fidei, truths which are supposed to prepare human mind to receive the gift of faith. But in this case, Pope John Paul II develops this sentence in a different, more existential way according to which the real preambula fidei are not so much a set of truths as the real man who seeks the truth with his entire (...) life. This interpretation remarks the practical dimmension of the relationship between man and truth. (shrink)

Polo's anthropology differs both from aristotelian and modern anthropology in his concept of person. In this paper, I explore the ethical relevance of this concept and its conection with the concept of "human nature", which Polo assumes making a distinction between "essence" and "type". This distinction is important in order to focus the ethical aspect of the relationship between nature and culture correctly.

Las primeras teorías sociológicas son deudoras de las filosofías ilustradas de la historia, las cuales aparecieron para proporcionar un marco de sentido a la acción moral, una vez que la teoría moral renunció a los compromisos metafísicos de la filosofía moral premoderna. Al tiempo que defendió la autonomía de la sociología frente a la filosofía, Durkheim le prescribió a aquélla una tarea específica: realizar una ciencia moral que atendiendo a dos rasgos con los que los hechos morales se muestra a (...) la conciencia —solidaridad y coerción— pueda dar cuenta del sentido moral de la división del trabajo, hasta entonces considerado un proceso casi natural. El propósito de este artículo es mostrar cómo el enfoque durkheimiano permite descubrir una semejanza estructural entre el análisis sociológico y la tradicional perspectiva filosófico-moral de las obligaciones mutuas. (shrink)

A provocative book explores the relationship of music and the natural world.

Much has been written since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The way in which we refer to this and other diseases has been commented and criticized in the media and in public online forums. Several linguists have referred to the different metaphors with which we refer to the disease appealing to our social responsibility towards the words we use to refer to sensitive subjects and have compiled alternative forms to “the war metaphor”. There is a linguistic, political, and even (...) health concern about the possible consequences of referring to Covid-19 as a war. However, the conceptual metaphor DISEASE IS WAR is ubiquitous, the key is: it is conceptual, it is a metaphor of the mind and not of language. Moreover, its variations and changes are a reflection of human creativity, but there is nothing wrong with the metaphor per se. In any case, it is a means to criticize certain discourses and there, as in everything, the context of the communicative act is ineludible. In this article we will see some examples of how we refer to SARS-CoV-2 in different media and explain the ubiquity of the metaphor. We shall also note that there is nothing wrong with the metaphor itself, which is, in fact, based on a biologically hooked form, present in human cognition, to refer to something that threatens us and that we must avoid or combat. (shrink)