Abstract: Introspection reveals that one is frequently conscious of some form of inner speech, which may appear either in a condensed or expanded form. It has been claimed that this speech reflects the way in which language is involved in conscious thought, fulfilling a number of cognitive functions. We criticize three theories that address this issue: Bermúdez’s view of language as a generator of second-order thoughts, Prinz’s development of Jackendoff’s intermediate-level theory of consciousness, and Carruthers’s theory of inner speech as (...) a rehearsal of action-schemata. We contend they have problems to account for those cases in which inner speech is fragmentary, and for the difference with those instances in which it appears as more sentence-like. In addition, we present verbal overshadowing as a phenomenon that neither of them can easily explain. Finally, we propose an account in which inner speech is fundamentally silent outer speech and argue that it is more explanatory than the alternatives. (shrink)

Recent work on signaling has mostly focused on communication between organisms. The Lewis–Skyrms framework should be equally applicable to intra-organismic signaling. We present a Lewis–Skyrms signaling-game model of painful signaling, and use it to argue that the content of pain is predominantly imperative. We address several objections to the account, concluding that our model gives a productive framework within which to consider internal signaling.

There has been much discussion of so-called teleosemantic approaches to the naturalization of content. Such discussion, though, has been largely confined to simple, innate mental states with contents such as ?There is a fly here.? Even assuming we can solve the issues that crop up at this stage, an account of the content of human mental states will not get too far without an account of productivity: the ability to entertain indefinitely many thoughts. The best-known teleosemantic theory, Millikan's biosemantics, offers (...) an account of productivity in thought. This paper raises a basic worry about this account: that the use of mapping functions in the theory is unacceptable from a naturalistic point of view. (shrink)

We present a dynamic model of the evolution of communication in a Lewis signaling game while systematically varying the degree of common interest between sender and receiver. We show that the level of common interest between sender and receiver is strongly predictive of the amount of information transferred between them. We also discuss a set of rare but interesting cases in which common interest is almost entirely absent, yet substantial information transfer persists in a *cheap talk* regime, and offer a (...) diagnosis of how this may arise. -/- . (shrink)

Virtue ethicists argue that modern ethical theories aim to give direct guidance about particular situations at the cost of offering artificial or narrow accounts of ethics. In contrast, virtue ethical theories guide action indirectly by helping one understand the virtues—but the theory will not provide answers as to what to do in particular instances. Recently, this had led many to think that virtue ethical theories are self-effacing the way some claim consequentialist and deontological theories are. In this paper I defend (...) virtue ethics against the charge of self-effacement. I distinguish between modestly self-effacing theories, immodestly self-effacing theories and theories that recommend indirect guidance. Though all self-effacing theories are indirect, not all indirect theories are self-effacing. I argue that virtue ethics is not self-effacing, but rather indirectly action-guiding. The response I articulate draws on the distinctive virtue ethical mode of action-guidance: namely, that thinking hard about virtue and what kind of person one aims to be offers the kind of guidance we want (or should want) as we face practical moral problems. (shrink)

The present qualitative study analyzes how a group of young people already involved in STEM fields perceive the prototypical person working in STEM. Gender differences between participants in technological and non-technological STEM fields were analyzed. A total of 27 young people (59.3% women) took part in the interviews (Mean Age = 25.48 years). Of them, 16 participants were working in STEM professions, and 11 were enrolled in the final courses of STEM degrees. The results of the content analysis were examined (...) in light of social role theory and the multidimensional structure of gender stereotypes. Men in these fields were therefore attributed an unappealing and weird physical appearance. Some female participants linked STEM professionals’ intellectual abilities to the stereotype that men have higher abilities in these fields. Whereas females attributed effort and perseverance to STEM professionals’ intellectual aptitudes, males referred to the development of soft skills. Participants in technological STEM fields connected the stereotype of being a ‘weirdo’ to a boring job, whereas those in non-technological fields linked it to their unconventional character. Some participants were disappointed by a lack of correspondence between expectations and the actual job STEM professionals do. Moreover, females in technological STEM fields commented on the job’s low social impact, while males mentioned low attainment of technical qualifications. Most referents in STEM fields were masculine, some of whom were present in the mass media. The practical implications of the findings are discussed. (shrink)

This article identifies philosophical tensions and limitations within contemporary intersectionality theory which, it will be argued, have hindered its ability to explain how positioning in multiple social categories can affect life chances and influence the reproduction of inequality. We draw upon critical realism to propose an augmented conceptual framework and novel methodological approach that offers the potential to move beyond these debates, so as to better enable intersectionality to provide causal explanatory accounts of the ‘lived experiences’ of social privilege and (...) disadvantage. (shrink)

I sketch and defend an imperativist treatment of the phenomenology associated with disgusting smells. This treatment, I argue, allows us to make better sense than other intentionalist alter-natives both of the neuroanatomy of olfaction, and of a natural pre-theoretical stance regarding the sense of smell.

La literatura occidental, de acuerdo con Harold Bloom, tiene un par de pilares: las obras homéricas y la tradición judeocristiana: la Biblia. Esta herencia sigue viva en este siglo. Actualmente estamos inmersos en un mundo en el que las redes sociales son parte de nuestra cotidianidad, por esa razón, en este artículo me interesa mostrar tres series de minificciones que se encuentran en Museo de nimiedades (2022) de José Juan Aboytia, así como el tratamiento que este autor les da. Dichas (...) series son las siguientes: lo bíblico, lo literario y las redes sociales. Aunque éstas no son las únicas que se hallan en el volumen, las destaco por los distintos elementos que aportan para el estudio de la minificción: la brevedad, el humor, el des-género que señala Violeta Rojo, la intertextualidad, la crítica social y las posibilidades de lectura que obligan al lector a ser un participante activo. (shrink)

This paper analyses the probability of a reading so far neglected by editors in Lactantius Placidus’ late antique commentary on Stat. Theb. 5.16. Next, the article argues that, regardless of the accepted reading, this part of the scholium is likely an interpolation.

The winds of change sweeping across our globalised world have inspired a wide range of studies, new research paradigms, and new concepts that seek to characterise their nature and effects, the chal...

En este artículo reevaluamos la tesis de la relatividad lingüística tomando corno referencia la vision de la mente que Fodor ha venido ofreciendo. Partiendo de su argumento clásico a favor del lenguaje del pensamiento, veremos como el desarrollo de su tesis de la modularidad y de su mas reciente teoria psicosemántica (el atomismo informacional), permiten compatibilizar su posición con, al menos, una variedad de relatividad, la relatividad léxica. Así mismo, examinaremos su ultimo argumento en favor de la prioridad explicativa del (...) pensamiento, basado en la composicionalidad que éste exhibe, a diferencia del lenguaje.This paper reevaluates the thesis of linguistic relativity in the context of Fodor’s views on the nature of mind. We begin with Fodor’s classical argument for the language of thought, and follow the development of his ideas as he adds a general account of the structure of mind (the modulariry thesis) and a psychosemantical theory (informational atomism). Finally, we examine his most recent altempt to support the explanatory prioriry of thought, based on the compositionaliry that thought, but not language, exhibits. We argue that Fodor’s position is compatible a variety of lexical relativiry. (shrink)

En este trabajo sostenemos que el giro jonasiano experimentado por la teoría autopoiética de Varela, que tuvo como finalidad incluir un complemento teleológico para la autopoiesis, puede reemplazarse por la fenomenología de la biología del filósofo alemán Helmuth Plessner. Esta última, a diferencia de la propuesta jonasiana, no incluye presupuestos existenciales antropocentristas en la consideración de los seres vivos. Nuestro argumento se despliega en cuatro pasos: a) en primer lugar, desarrollaremos los elementos fundamentales de la versión clásica de la teoría (...) autopoiética, elaborada por Maturana y Varela en los años ’70, la que, entre otras cosas, es decididamente antiteleológica; b) luego, mostraremos que años más tarde, Varela se vuelca hacia la teleología en el llamado “giro jonasiano”, que incluye dentro de la teoría autopoiética elementos de la fenomenología existencial; c) posteriormente, desarrollaremos algunos de los elementos más relevantes de la fenomenología biológica plessneriana, especialmente los referidos al concepto de posicionalidad y que sirven para esta complementariedad entre la posición autopoiética y la plessneriana; d) para finalizar, concluiremos que la teoría autopoiética, debido a las acusaciones que recibe por haber girado hacia una filosofía existencialista, puede migrar hacia la fenomenología biológica plessneriana, la cual no adolece de los problemas antropocéntricos atribuidos a la fenomenología jonasiana. (shrink)

Se trata de una reseña bibliográfica del libro de Luis Enrique Varela, Filosofía Práctica y Prudencia. Lo universal y lo particular en la Ética de Aristóteles.

En un artículo anterior expusimos el marco cristológico donde trata la Escolástica la ciencia humana de Jesucristo. Al asumir el Verbo la naturaleza humana de Jesús para llevar a cabo la redención, implica la consideración de la constitución ontológica del Hijo de Dios. Esto se analiza en la cuestión de la unión hipostática. La postura de la Escuela Franciscana arranca de Alejandro de Hales ante las tres opiniones que Pedro Lombardo transmite en las Sentencias. Por otra parte, esta cuestión conduce (...) al análisis de la esencia y propiedades de dicha naturaleza asumida. Con esto se contemplan, no sólo las cualidades naturales, por lo general situadas en el alma de Cristo, sino también los defectos aducidos en el estudio sobre la pasión y muerte de Cristo, centro de la aislada soteriología medieval. (shrink)

I construct a quantum-logical model of the type of situation that seems to be at the root of the problem of interpreting the projection postulate (Luders' rule) as a criterion of minimal disturbance. It is shown that the most natural way of characterizing minimal disturbance leads to contradictory conclusions concerning the final state.

En este artículo se presentan las reflexiones epistemológicas del filósofo Francisco Fernández Buey (1943-2012), las cuales, han estado continuamente presentes en la obra del autor al menos desde la publicación en 1991 de La ilusión del método, y culminan en su obra póstuma Para la tercera cultura (2013) en una apuesta por la complementariedad entre ciencias positivas y reflexión humanística. Partiendo de un marxismo heterodoxo tanto en el plano ético-político como en el epistemológico, Fernández Buey apuesta por una idea de (...) ciencia alejada del positivismo, a la vez que critica las filosofías contrarias a aquella en la medida en que la consideran como un conocimiento meramente reductor de una realidad que no puede ser aprehendida por la ciencia. Desde el concepto de dialéctica de Manuel Sacristán; el reconocimiento a la figura de Einstein como ejemplo de científico que no renuncia a otros modos de conocimiento; y la reflexión sobre la filosofía de la ciencia en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, el autor nos muestra la necesidad de un diálogo entre cultivadores de la ciencia y las humanidades para afrontar los desafíos del siglo XXI. (shrink)

Let L be one of the topological languages L t , (L ∞ω ) t and (L κω ) t . We characterize the topological spaces which are models of the L-theory of the class of ordinals equipped with the order topology. The results show that the role played in classical model theory by the property of being well-ordered is taken over in the topological context by the property of being locally compact and scattered.

A partir de las propuestas metodológicas de los Estudios del Imaginario, este trabajo busca mostrar que algunas de las principales tramas ideadas por Philip K. Dick tienen un sustrato gnóstico. Para ello, en primer lugar, mencionamos algunos datos biográficos que muestran el interés de Dick por el gnosticismo; en segundo lugar, identificamos mitemas idénticos entre ambos corpus (“este mundo es un engaño”; “este mundo es una prisión de hierro”; “el iniciado tiene un doble”; etc.). Con ello, esta investigación contribuye al (...) debate científico en torno a la recepción y reutilización de antiguos mitos en la literatura de ciencia ficción. (shrink)

This article argues that Tran Duc Thao’s anticolonial work constitutes one of the first mobilizations of phenomenology in a political context. It also argues that by transposing Husserl’s reflections on objective sense and on transcendental horizons to the pre-objective sphere of perception, as well as drawing on Husserl’s genetic analyses on the affective dimensions of modalization to articulate a form of homeworld/alienworld structure, Tran Duc Thao anticipates generative developments in phenomenology and foreshadows the movement of critical phenomenology. However, as this (...) article also argues, he further anticipates potential limits to generative renewal and critique, brought about by the horizons of meaning and material conditions of community existence. But, this article concludes, those limits are not absolute; rather, they are conditioned by the very horizons that institute them and can only be overcome experientially. Thus, only an experience of failure, as Thao argues, can motivate the radical revision of the ultimate horizons that condition the meaning of our existence, and thereby enable its transformation. (shrink)

Starting from the impossibility of understanding fundamental rights from the standpoint of natural law doctrine or positivism, the author tackles the issue of rights from a realistic point of view, that is to say from the perspective of law and politics on the one hand, and from the perspective of public morality, on the other. Thus the foundation of fundamental rights is the meeting point of conceptions of social morality that are current in the modern world and the political aspect (...) of the conception of pluralist democracy. Moreover, fundamental rights are considered an instrument to enable the social and moral development of human beings. (shrink)

Contextualist theorists have recently defended the views (a) that metaphor-processing can be treated on a par with other meaning changes, such as narrowing or transfer, and (b) that metaphorical contents enter into “what is said” by an utterance. We do not dispute claim (a) but consider that claim (b) is problematic. Contextualist theorists seem to leave in the hands of context the explanation about why it is that some meaning changes are directly processed, and thus plausibly form part of “what (...) is said”, while some others are not. While granting the role of context in this respect, we contend that there are elements that play an instrumental role in providing direct access to the metaphorical content, namely, the conventionality of the expressions and the salience of the concepts involved. We will start by criticizing Recanati’s and Relevance Theory’s accounts of metaphor. Then we examine the claims of Carston’s and Giora’s two-process accounts that set the stage for a revision of the main elements involved, namely, the properties of conventionality and salience. Finally we examine a number of representative examples, explaining why some cases involve a direct access to the metaphorical content and others require an intermediate non-figurative interpretation. (shrink)

La normativa sobre agricultura orgánica de los principales mercados está diseñada conforme al entendimiento de que la distancia entre el productor y el consumidor de alimentos orgánicos es considerable, lo cual no tiene que ser necesariamente cierto. En consecuencia se han desarrollado iniciativas orientadas a la utilización de canales comerciales cortos para la producción orgánica, basados asimismo en la participación de los agentes que los integran en los procesos de certificación. Dentro de este contexto destacan los Sistemas Participativos de Garantía (...) como modelos de certificación participativa en red, los cuales buscan potenciar la generación de confianza y el aprendizaje mutuo. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo describir los principios en los cuales se fundamentan, así como el funcionamiento, de los Sistemas Participativos de Garantía acorde con una estrategia de fomento de la participación comunitaria, la agricultura tradicional y el desarrollo rural endógeno. (shrink)

Bacterial conjugation, wherein DNA is transferred between cells through direct contact, is highly prevalent in complex microbial communities and is responsible for spreading myriad genes related to human and environmental health. Despite their importance, much remains unknown regarding the mechanisms driving the spread and persistence of these plasmids in situ. Studies have demonstrated that transferring, acquiring, and maintaining a plasmid imposes a significant metabolic burden on the host. Simultaneously, emerging evidence suggests that the presence of a conjugative plasmid can also (...) provide both obvious and unexpected benefits to their host and local community. Combined, this highlights a continuous cost‐benefit tradeoff at the population level, likely contributing to overall plasmid abundance and long‐term persistence. Yet, while the metabolic burdens of plasmid conjugation, and their causes, are widely studied, their attendant potential advantages are less clear. Here, we summarize current perspectives on conjugative plasmids’ metabolic burden and then highlight the lesser‐appreciated yet critical benefits that plasmid‐mediated metabolic burdens may provide. We argue that this largely unexplored tradeoff is critical to both a fundamental theory of microbial populations and engineering applications and therefore warrants further detailed study. (shrink)

Los diferentes narrativismos que afirman la auto-constitución narrativa del self son acusados en ocasiones de círculo vicioso. Si un self es una historia que alguien podría contar, y ese self es autor de su propio relato, parece que entramos en un bucle irresoluble. Este artículo intenta evaluar diferentes respuestas a esta imputación que se dan dentro de los narrativismos contemporáneos basadas en la búsqueda de un fundamento de ese self narrativo externo al círculo vicioso.

The systematicity argument only challenges connectionism if systematicity is a general property of cognition. I examine this thesis in terms of properties of concepts. First, I propose that Evans's Generality Constraint only applies to attributions of belief. Then I defend a variety of conceptual pluralism, arguing that concepts share two fundamental properties related to centrality and belief-attribution, and contending that there are two kinds of concepts that differ in their compositional properties. Finally, I rely on Dual Systems Theory and on (...) differences between animal and human cognition to suggest a scenario of two processing systems that work on different kinds of concepts, with only one of them supporting full systematicity. I sketch a non-classical systematicity argument that rules out classicism as the basis of one of those systems given that it would wrongly entail that both systems are fully systematic. (shrink)

This paper proposes some guidelines for the undeveloped discussion of auditory epistemology. Auditory epistemology is an approach concerned with the perceptual basis for knowledge and belief, specifically around audition. The article pursues two goals. Firstly, it claims that addressing auditory perception from the viewpoint of epistemology is more fruitful than the discussion on phenomenology which has thus far dominated the debates in the literature on sound. Secondly, it elaborates a concrete proposal pertaining to the cooperation of sense-modalities. In so doing, (...) a model for “Perceptual Coherence” is suggested. The first section of the paper critically reviews the problem of perception as it is usually understood in traditional epistemology. An ensuing section outlines the model of perceptual coherence. (shrink)

Background: Adolescence is a period with physical, psychological, biological, intellectual, and social changes in which there is usually little perception of risk. COVID-19 has generated constant situations of change and uncertainty worldwide. During the pandemic, the acquisition of preventive behaviors has been relevant. Various studies carried out with adults associate risk perception and the implementation of preventive behaviors with knowledge about the COVID-19 and with age, but there are not many studies with adolescents. Therefore, the objective is to validate, in (...) Spanish, the questionnaire of the knowledge, attitudes, risk perceptions, and practices of adolescents toward the pandemic, and analyze it according to sociodemographic characteristics.Method: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which included adolescents between the ages of 12–18. First, a translation and a back-translation of the questionnaire were performed. The questionnaire was presented in several high schools chosen by convenience sampling and following a non-probabilistic snowball sampling. Reliability and validity analyses were then carried out and the relationships between the different sociodemographic variables were analyzed.Results: The reliability of the questionnaire is acceptable. Knowledge was higher in women, and in those with a higher level of education; and were lower in those who lived in smaller towns, as well as in those who had a member of their family receiving financial aid. In terms of attitudes and risk perceptions, younger adolescents had higher scores, and those who had a member of their family receiving financial aid, lower.Conclusion: The questionnaire is a reliable tool in the Spanish adolescent population. Knowledge was influenced by gender, place of residence, level of education, and financial aid. Attitudes and risk perceptions were influenced by age and financial aid. For practices, no predictors were found. In general, adolescents scored lower on knowledge about COVID-19, but they scored higher on COVID-19 safety practices. (shrink)

This book examines the challenges faced by seven multinational companies - Intel, Lenovo, Samsung Electronics, ZTE, BMW Hyundai Motor Company, Mahindra and Mahindra - in their endeavour to contribute to the economic, environmental and social development of Asia. The lessons learned from the examination of these business practices may directly contribute to an increase in the practice of sustainable management and may as such contribute to positive economic, environmental and social impact of companies in this region. The cases are highly (...) relevant for management theoreticians seeking to deepen our understanding of corporate sustainability in an area where scholars, practitioners and policy-makers can expect new questions, problems and challenges in the years ahead. The book is also of high interest to policy review agencies, policy makers and welfare economists seeking to support the development of a comprehensive sustainability framework for managing social and environmental issues in the context of Asia. (shrink)

En este artículo se investiga la índole y supuestos filosóficos básicos de dos perspectivas metafísicas y epistemológicas contrapuestas en torno a la célebre prueba ontológica de la existencia de Dios. Tales perspectivas son, por un lado, la esencia lista o realista fenomenológica, para la que, por admitir la objetividad y trascendencia de las llamadas "cualidades eidéticas necesarias", la prueba es válida y concluyente; por otro, la perspectiva existencialista o conceptualista, que, al negar tal objetividad y trascendencia, rechaza la validez de (...) la prueba. De este modo, la posición ante este problema metafísico fundamental puede constituir un criterio básico de diferenciación entre defensores y detractores del célebre argumento anselmiano. (shrink)

Una vez presentados los referentes del socialismo francés y los personajes fundamentales de éste, se analizan las figuras señeras de Emmanuel Mounier y Jan Lacroix, así como sus aportaciones a la corriente socialista.

For Ockham and Wittgenstein the analysis of knowledge is based on language. Both authors uphold the conception of the world from a logical-philosophical dimension configured by the close thought-language relationship. This construct is developed on the basis of the following three aspects: first, concepts are signs of things; second, propositions describe “state of affairs”; and third, knowledge in terms of “habits” is expressed in propositions structured in terms of the “uses” of language. These propositions are established by the thought considered (...) as “activity” and “operation of signs”. By analyzing certain a priori propositions, we recognize the very boundaries of the thought-language relationship, wherein the existential problems of mankind are revealed, whether out of the human tendency of explaining the world as a whole or out of the human attitude in the face of it. (shrink)