One of the essential distinctions in action theory is that between activity and passivity. I address this distinction in this article.

How precisely to understand and evaluate counterfactuals can be an intricate issue. The aim of this article is to examine a new set of difficulties for evaluating counterfactuals that arise in the context of the dynamical spacetimes described by the theory of general relativity. The initial value formulation provides us with a methodology to pin down the specific combination of features of the theory at the origin of the difficulties, namely, non-linearity and certain non-local aspects, in particular when combined with (...) the global and/or quasi-local character of physical quantities in general relativity. Finally, we connect the philosophical question about counterfactuals with concrete applied physical issues in general relativity about extracting meaningful predictions by constructing appropriate initial data sets, leading us to question the very suitability of the Cauchy approach to fully account for the explanatory power of the theory. (shrink)

In the context of his advanced theory of ethics Aristotle like later Kant seems considering the Golden Rule as trivial and not bound to be articulated. It is possible that Aristotle did not feel necessity to mention the Golden Rule, because the very Golden Rule was spread out in his ethics. Though he did not use the formula ofthe Golden Rule in his texts, he often expressed his understanding of virtuous character and virtuous relations using intellective constructions evidently relevant to (...) the Golden Rule. The analysis of Aristotle’s reasoning on shame, social intercourse and, mainly, friendship shows that his ethics is saturated with the content andspirit of the Golden Rule, including such features agent’s initiative, activity, commitment and thus her/his responsibility for establishing relations, their potential reversibility, mutuality, and universalizability. (shrink)

Además del desafío propiamente jurídico que plantean la interamericanización del derecho y los proyectos que propugnan por un constitucionalismo transformador de las desigualdades sociales y políticas que aquejan a los países de la región, se plantean retos de naturaleza política. Sobresalen la inclusión social y la debida representación política. Dentro de los retos filosóficos se encuentra la depuración de conceptos que sofistiquen y precisen las categorías con las cuales describimos nuevos fenómenos en América Latina.

El presente trabajo analiza el esquema de las Asociaciones Público Privadas consagradas en la ley 1508 de 2012, como un instrumento de vinculación del capital privado y modalidad de gestión pública dentro de la actividad contractual. Para ello, se propone resaltar aspectos esenciales de las mismas que permitan responder a la pregunta: ¿Cuál es la importancia de las app como modelo de gestión pública en la actividad contractual, para la concreción de los fines del Estado? La finalidad se cimienta en (...) analizar la importancia de estas como esquemas y herramientas de gestión pública dirigidas al cumplimiento de los fines del Estado, desde el elemento cuantitativo del Estado Social de Derecho, en especial desde el fin de servicio a la comunidad, proponiéndose ahondar en la normatividad vigente colombiana que versa en torno a las mismas, donde se vislumbra la importancia de estas estructuras y se detallan las diferencias entre los esquemas de iniciativa privada como verdadera novedad e iniciativa pública. (shrink)

Confusa, difusa, profusa, la «muerte del hombre» después de cinco décadas de su proclamación sigue siendo una cuestión punzante para no pocos lectores de Foucault. Sin embargo, llama la atención que la mayoría de esos preocupados lectores no considera las rectificaciones que el autor hace a esa formulación. Examinar esas rectificaciones, en relación con los desplazamientos del pensamiento de Foucault, es el propósito de estas reflexiones e inflexiones.

This book introduces readers to the topic of explanation. The insights of Plato, Aristotle, J.S. Mill and Carl Hempel are examined, and are used to argue against the view that explanation is merely a problem for the philosophy of science. Having established its importance for understanding knowledge in general, the book concludes with a bold and original explanation of explanation.

This paper presents an analysis and critique of Roger Penrose’s epistemological, methodological, and ontological positions. The analysis is relevant not only because Penrose is an influential scientist, but also because of the particular traits of his thought. These traits are directly connected with his background and approach to science: ontological and epistemological realism, mathematical Platonism, emphasis on the continuities of science, epistemological inclusiveness and essential openness of science, the role of common sense, emphasis on the connection between science, ethics, and (...) philosophy. The paper articulates Penrose’s position and criticizes some of its possible shortcomings. It contributes to the perception of science as an open activity, as illustrated in Penrose’s particular approach, and provides an interesting case-study that can contribute to understanding how epistemological and ontological positions are connected with particular scientific practices. (shrink)

Lo que aquí se presenta es una introducción a las posibles implicaciones de una «estética freudiana», estética que estaría atravesada por el proyecto inacabado de Freud: la fundamentación de la Trieblehre.

This article explores the intellectual relationship between Paul Ricœur and Karl Marx, focusing on the metaphor of the camera obscura used by Marx to describe ideology in The German Ideology. It provides an overview of Ricœur’s significant references to Marx, which began with a critical appropriation of Marxism in an attempt to reconcile it with a Christian worldview, continuing throughout the 1960s and beyond with the exploration of concepts such as “false consciousness” and ideology. After this overview, the article examines (...) three presuppositions inherent in this metaphor, which implies an inversion of reality. First, it analyzes the notion of “false consciousness” within Ricœur’s hermeneutics, situating Marx among the “masters of suspicion.” Second, the article examines the conditions that make this inversion of reality possible, framed within Ricœur’s broader examination of ideology and the symbolic constitution of the social bond. Third, it discusses the idea of an original state to which one can return by reversing the inversion, drawing parallels with Husserl’s method of retrospective questioning applied to Marx’s reduction in The German Ideology. The metaphor of the camera obscura illustrates the complex relationships between reality and its distorted representations. The discussion around the metaphor used by Marx leads Ricœur to underline the fundamental role of imagination to broaden understanding and overcome interpretative reductionisms. (shrink)

What might it mean to say that there is such a thing as a hermeneutic circle in the social sciences? A consideration of some remarks by Charles Taylor and others and an interpretive reconstruction, and assessment, of the idea of such a circle.

The idea of sociability - a person’s disposition and ability to communicate and live in the community - goes through the whole history of philosophy. Due to the peculiarity of translations, this term and the whole tradition related to it have been lost to the Russian reader. The article discusses some tendencies in comprehending the idea of sociability in early modern moral philosophy. The key to this consideration is F. Hutcheson’s essay On the Natural Sociability of Mankind, the title of (...) which contains the very term “sociability” and which presents the main essential points in a discussion of the issue in the first third of the 18 th century. One can distinguish two main approaches to the problem. According to one of them, sociability determined by various human natural needs is the basis of social relations, and a person becomes a moral agent as a social being (H. Grotius, T. Hobbes, S. Pufen-dorf, B. Mandeville). According to another approach, sociability is a manifestation of a person’s natural tendency to care for the good of others, and its consistent implementation leads to the formation of community and supports its stability (Cambridge Platonists, Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, J. Butler, D. Hume, A. Smith). Representatives of both approaches recognized contradiction in manifestations of sociability or in its nature. I. Kant theoretically overcame the confrontation between these approaches and conceptualized the contradiction and associated it with the human nature. According to Kant, the “unsociable sociability” is given in the fact that a person has a tendency to sociability but also a tendency to self-assertion at the expense of others. However, despite the presence of asocial features (evil principle), Kant considered the person’s inherent sociability (good principle) as a prerequisite for culture and as one of the most important conditions of possibility of morality. (shrink)

En este escrito me propongo presentar una reconstrucción à la Suppes de la Teoría pictórica, representacional o figurativa del lenguaje propuesta por L. Wittgenstein en el Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus para mostrar los límites del pensamiento, o más precisamente del lenguaje como expresión sensible del pensamiento, sobre el presupuesto de la existencia no explícita por parte de su autor de un isomorfismo entre la estructura del lenguaje, como expresión sensible del pensamiento, y la del mundo; de suerte que, para que el lenguaje (...) pueda figurar algo del mundo, se requiere que entre ambas estructuras, la del lenguaje y la del mundo, se pueda establecer una función h-isomórfica no solo a nivel de sus dominios respectivos, dado que ambos poseen la misma cardinalidad, sino entre sus predicados y relatores, dada su misma aridad. Con ella pretendo dar cuenta de la compleja teoría pictórica o figurativa con el fin de diferenciar aquello que podemos decir con sentido, de aquello que únicamente podemos mostrar. (shrink)

How precisely to understand and evaluate counterfactuals can be an intricate issue. The aim of this article is to examine a new set of difficulties for evaluating counterfactuals that arise in the context of the dynamical spacetimes described by the theory of general relativity (GR). The initial value formulation provides us with a methodology to pin down the specific combination of features of the theory at the origin of the difficulties, namely, non-linearity and certain non-local aspects (typically captured by ellipticity (...) at the analytical level), in particular when combined with the global and/or quasi-local character of physical quantities in GR. Finally, we connect the philosophical question about counterfactuals with concrete applied physical issues in GR about extracting meaningful predictions by constructing appropriate initial data sets, leading us to question the very suitability of the Cauchy approach to fully account for the explanatory power of the theory. (shrink)

Resumen. La propuesta de estudio, que se desarrollará durante el 2012, pretende llegar a la sociedadcon un aporte sobre: valores, habilidades gerenciales y responsabilidad social, que evidencian poseerlos estudiantes de últimos niveles de las carreras de Administración y Contabilidad de lasUniversidades de Quito categoría A. Se contribuirá a orientar en el cumplimiento de los fines yobjetivos nacionales expuestos en la Ley de Educación Ecuatoriana. Demanda de las universidades lapreparación de profesionales bajo una visión humanista, líderes críticos, con alto sentido depertenencia, (...) que sintoniza con la misión y visión de estas instituciones. El estudio responde a unainvestigación aplicada de carácter inductivo-deductivo que utiliza la encuesta como instrumento demedición. El marco teórico se basa en habilidades gerenciales de los estudiantes, futuroslíderes/gerentes que tomarán decisiones en el futuro inmediato, siempre con la visión de que laexcelencia no es solo conocimiento sino la persona con sus valores éticos. La propuesta base paralas habilidades gerenciales es la del sicólogo americano Edgar Schein bajo el abrigo de unaformación humanística Ignaciana, para el respeto propio, del entorno y el mundo. Los resultadosserán una referencia para la construcción de un modelo sobre formación integral de estudiantesuniversitarios desde la visión de la persona en comunidad.Palabras claves. Desarrollo integral, habilidades gerenciales, valores éticos, responsabilidad social.. The objective of the study, which will be developed during 2012, is to reach the societywith a contribution of: values, management skills and social responsibility, that Administration andAccounting senior students of A Class Universities in Quito show. The study will guide in thefulfillment of national objectives stated in the Ecuadorian Education Law. The Universities areexpected to prepare professionals under a humanist approach, critical leaders, with a high sense ofownership that tune with the mission and vision of these institutions. The study is the response to aninductive-deductive applied research that uses the survey as a measure instrument. The theoreticalframework is based on student’s management skills, which will become leaders/managers that willbe decision makers in the near future, always with the vision that excellence is not only about theknowledge but also about ethical values. The base of the proposal for management skills is the one ofthe American Psychologist Edgar Schein, based on Ignatius humanistic education, for self,environment and world respect. The results will be the reference to build a model on student’scomprehensive education from the vision of a person in the community.Keywords. Comprehensive education, management skills, ethical values, social responsibility. (shrink)

El ensayo explora los principios básicos y los supuestos teóricos del socialismo raizal propuesto por el sociólogo colombiano Orlando Fals Borda. Este socialismo es presentado como una propuesta enraizada en la Investigación Acción Participativa, haciendo énfasis en su origen en las experiencias históricas revolucionarias de los pueblos originarios y diversos sectores populares de América Latina. Igualmente, se resalta su contenido popular, humanista, democrático y epistémico. El ensayo también explora sus acercamientos y sus diferencias con el pensamiento de Marx.

Víctima de un cáncer de pulmón el pasado 4 de octubre falleció en Barcelona, a los 76 años, el filósofo español Jesús Mosterín, quien se desempeñó como catedrático de lógica de la Universidad de Barcelona desde 1992, como profesor investigado del CSIC y Fellow del Center for Phiosophy of Science de Pittsburg, pero también como profesor invitado en numerosas universidades y centros de investigación en Europa, Asía y América (incluyendo Colombia), entre los que se destacan la Universidad de San Pettesburg (...) (Rusia) y el MIT (USA). Fue miembro titular del Institut International de Philosophie (París), de la European Academy of Humanities, Letters and Sciences (Londres) y de la International Academy of Philosophy of Science (Bruselas). (shrink)

The present article, more than to deepen in the polemic classic Popper - Kuhn regarding the progress of the science, seeks to indicate some fundamental pillars that should be kept in mind as possibility for the elaboration of a curriculum in the teaching of the sciences. It is rescued of this discus..

El presente artículo explora el carácter farmacológico de la tecnología a partir del caso del software libre de navegación anónima por internet y su potencial político. Se defiende la tesis de que el software, que es la base del sistema de vigilancia y control psicopolítico neoliberal descrito por Byung-Chul Han, puede ser al mismo tiempo, cuando se implementa en programas de código abierto que camuflan nuestra huella digital, una herramienta para la resistencia y emancipación. Esto se debe a que dicha (...) implementación ataca los principios fundamentales de la lógica de dominación dataísta: la transparencia y la predictibilidad. (shrink)

Montaigne compone una ética moderna definida por el ejercicio de su pensamiento autocritico que acompañado de un método filosófico aborda la construcción de sÍ mismo como una "manera" filosófica. Las reflexiones intentan responder simultáneamente a dos cuestiones: ¿cómo le es posible proveerse de una ética que le permita una existencia ordenada y sensata, cuando la condición humana está signada por el desorden y la extravagancia? ¿Cómo le es posible fundar una ética moderna -antes que Descartes- con una posición escéptica?

A discussion of three central ideas in action theory; trying to act, doing or acting, one's action causing further consequences.

Resumen: Este artículo trata del método y su relación con la investigación educativa. El objetivo es analizar la relevancia del método en ciencias humanas y sociales, en especial, en educación. Para ello, dividimos este artículo en tres secciones: 1. ¿Hay método? 2. ¿Hay uno o varios métodos? 3. La discusión sobre el método en la investigación educativa. A la primera pregunta, respondemos que hay método. Respondemos a la segunda señalando la necesidad de adoptar un pluralismo metodológico. La tercera sección defiende (...) que las discusiones sobre el método de investigación educativa implican dimensiones ontológicas, epistemológicas y éticas que se han tornado críticas, y se hace una revisión de cada una de ellas. En el apartado conclusivo, sugerimos algunas vías para desanudar esos asuntos críticos en la investigación educativa.: This article deals with method and its relation to educational research. The objective is to analyze the relevance of method in human and social sciences, especially in education. To this end, we divide this article into three sections: 1. Is there a method? 2. Is there one or more methods? 3. The discussion on method in educational research. To the first question, we answer that there is a method. We answer the second question by pointing out the need to adopt methodological pluralism. The third section argues that discussions on the method of educational research involve ontological, epistemological, and ethical dimensions that have become critical, and a review is made of each of them. In the concluding section, we suggest some ways to disentangle these critical issues in educational research. (shrink)

Ruben Berrios Queen’s University Belfast Anti-realism and Aesthetic Cognition Abstract At the core of the debate between scientific realism and anti-realism is the question of the relation between scientific theory and the world. The realist possesses a mimetic conception of the relation between theory and reality. For the realist, scientific theories represent reality. The anti-realist, in contrast, seeks to understand the relations between theory and world in non-mimetic terms. We will examine Cartwright’s simulacrum account of explanation in order to illuminate (...) the anti-realist position. Science consists of phenomenological and theoretical laws. The former are concerned with appearances, or those phenomena that can be directly observed; the latter involve the unobservable reality that is alleged to underlie appearances, and are capable only of indirect confirmation. Phenomenological laws are said to be descriptive, whilst theoretical laws are understood as explanatory. Cartwright is concerned with the theoretical. She claims that the standard realist account of the explanatory efficacy of theoretical laws is faulty. The explanatory power of theoretical laws consists in their ability to provide an explanation of physical phenomena. According to Cartwright, the realist claims that laws explain phenomena by providing an abstract description of them, in terms of their micro-structural features, that is alleged to be true. On this view, explanatory power is entirely dependent on descriptive adequacy. As phenomenological laws describe appearances, so theoretical laws describe the fundamental reality that governs appearances. Cartwright rejects the preceding view and in its place proposes a simulacrum account of explanation. According to Cartwright, the explanatory power of theoretical laws is related not to descriptive adequacy, but rather to the construction of adequate models. To explain a phenomenon is to construct a model which best or most adequately accommodates the phenomenon to a theory. The model will consist of various posited objects that serve to explain the phenomena in terms that are consistent with a set of theoretical laws. Cartwright claims that theoretical laws are true of, or describe, the objects of the model. The objects of the model, however, are not descriptive of reality. They are simulacra. They have, that is, the form or appearance of things, without possessing their substance or proper qualities. In light of the foregoing account we can summarise the distinction between scientific realism and anti-realism as follows. The realist claims that theoretical laws literally represent real objects. The anti-realist claims that laws represent objects of a model that are simulacra of reality. Anti-realism has an aesthetic dimension. The movement from realism to anti-realism is also the movement from the mimetic conception of the scientist as holding a mirror to nature to the constructionist view of the scientist as engaging with nature through invention. There is a lot of the artist in the anti-realist’s view of the scientist. This is true for Cartwright as well as, for example, Van Fraassen in his doctrine of constructive empiricism. It would appear, then, that the philosophy of science has absorbed some concepts that are ordinarily housed in aesthetics. And it has done so profitably. The aim of this paper is to reverse the direction of disciplinary influence. Can art, in relation to its status as a cognitive enterprise, be illuminated by scientific anti-realism? I will argue that it can. In an unexpected reference to the Nicomachean Ethics, Cartwright draws a suggestive parallel between theoretical laws and general moral principles, on the one hand, and physical phenomena and everyday moral conduct, on the other hand. If we add to this the claim that a central component of art’s value is cognitive, then we have the basic materials with which to flesh out a broadly anti-realist view of art. In the production of art, artists can construct models that mediate between everyday ethical phenomena and general ethical tendencies. These models reveal the ways in which there are implicit consistencies or inconsistencies, conflicts or congruences and so forth, between the phenomena and the tendencies. On this basis art can contribute to the reflective understanding of ethical life. This constitutes to a large degree art’s status as a cognitive enterprise. To apprehend art cognitively as artist or critic is to engage in aesthetic cognition. (shrink)

This article has been retracted by the Publications Committee of the School of Philosophy and Universitas Philosophica editorial team.

Does 'Person P tried to A' entail that there is some particular, whether a mental act or a brain state or whatever, that is a trying? Most discussions of trying assume that this entailment holds. There is no good reason for holding that this is a valid inference. In particular, I examine one 'Davidsonian' argument that might be used to justify the validity of such an inference and argue that the argument is not sound. See: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IxsuPqt7rvdzqMxpFiTv/full.

A propósito de su reciente visita a Colombia, invitado por la Corte Constitucional y la Universidad de La Sabana, los profesores Leonardo García Jaramillo y Vicente F. Benítez-R. entrevistaron al profesor Jeremy Waldron. Waldron fue Chichele Professor en la Universidad de Oxford, discípulo y contradictor de Dworkin, y es uno de los autores más influyentes del debate teórico político y constitucional contemporáneo. Actualmente es University Professor de la Universidad de New York. La traducción al español de la entrevista es (...) también de Leonardo García Jaramillo y Vicente F. Benítez-R... (shrink)

Deliberative Transformative Moments (DTM) is a new concept that serves as an amendment to the DQI. With this new concept it is easier to get at the quick give-and-take of discussions of small groups of ordinary citizens. As an illustration, we apply the concept to discussions about the peace process among Colombian ex-combatants, ex-guerrillas and ex-paramilitaries. Specifically, we show how personal stories can transform a discussion from a low to a high level of deliberation and how they can have the (...) opposite effect. To increase the level of deliberation in the general population, we recommend that good illustrations of DTM’s should be part of the school programs from an early age on, so that children learn how to discuss with others who have different opinions and values. (shrink)

Este trabajo analiza los discursos de científicos españoles residentes en Bochum (Alemania), y de parte de ellos que, tras pasar una larga etapa en dicha ciudad, habían retornado. El mismo muestra cómo experimentan una dificultosa adaptación caracterizada por un sentimiento de infravaloración laboral, una falta de estabilidad y la añoranza de ciertos aspectos propios de la cultura española como la calidad del ocio y la mayor sociabilidad de su población. Por otro lado, se observa un retorno singularizado por la desincronización (...) con sus lugares de origen, debido a que sienten que el tiempo ha pasado muy rápido en los mismos, mientras que para ellos sus vidas se ha ralentizado. (shrink)