En la presente investigación se sostiene que San Agustín de Hipona filtró sutiles referencias a los epicúreos y a los estoicos en De beata vita, sin mencionarlos. Las referencias latentes en este diálogo se hicieron patentes en De Trinitate y en sus sermones sobre San Pablo; esto nos presenta, ahora, la oportunidad de convertir la sutileza en diafanidad. Mediante la interpretación de las concepciones de la felicidad descritas por el filósofo africano en De beata vita se descubrió que subyace en (...) este diálogo una discusión entre epicúreos estoicos y cristianos que ilustra las siguientes divergencias: 1) para dichas escuelas helenísticas la serenidad puede hallarse en una disposición interior, mientras que para los cristianos el anhelo de un Bien trascendente es una condición sine qua non para la vida feliz; y, 2) los estoicos y los epicúreos proponen buscar la felicidad limitando los deseos ; en cambio, los cristianos exaltan el velle o desiderare del Sumo Bien, es decir, Dios. Sin embargo, no hay que olvidar que también existe una convergencia en la moderación de los deseos. (shrink)

La polarización, los populismos y la posverdad forman tres fenómenos sociopolíticos fundamentales para comprender cómo se está orientando la política en los sistemas demoliberales. La polarización política se suele entender como un proceso dinámico de activación de las divisiones entre dos o más grupos sociales en el transcurso de los debates públicos que puede terminar con una ruptura comunicativa o una comunicación fallida. Si bien los especialistas no coinciden a la hora de definir el populismo, se puede comprender como una (...) forma concreta de construir el pueblo mediante un discurso que contrapone este al anti-pueblo. La posverdad se referiría a una tendencia cultural donde las verdades de hecho sufren una merma en favor de las verdades vivenciadas subjetivamente. Estos fenómenos tienden a ser percibidos por una buena parte de la sociedad y del mundo académico como una amenaza grave para las bases pluralistas y reflexivas de la democracia. Sin embargo, esa consideración está decantada normativamente. Este artículo trata de explorar un marco referencial diferente, el emotivismo, y cómo, desde este ángulo, toman sentido los tres conceptos clave: polarización, populismo y posverdad. (shrink)

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of 'lenses' and 'tensions' to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the 'mess' of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)

This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of ‘lenses’ and ‘tensions’ to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and (...) procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the ‘mess’ of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses. (shrink)

Prior research has shown the relationship between objective economic inequality and searching for positional goods. It also investigated the relationship between social class and low income with conspicuous consumption. However, the causal relationship between economic inequality has been less explored. Furthermore, there are also few studies looking for the psychological mechanisms that underlie these effects. The current research’s main goal is to analyze the consequences of perceived economic inequality on conspicuous and status consumption and the possible psychological mechanisms that could (...) explain its effects. Furthermore, the current research aims to examine whether there is a causal relationship between PEI and materialism preferences and attitudes toward indebtedness. This work includes two preregister experimental studies. In the Study 1, we manipulated PEI and its legitimacy through a 2 × 2 between-participants experiment. Results showed a main effect of PEI on status consumption, status seeking, status anxiety, materialism, and attitude toward indebtedness. No interaction effect between legitimacy and inequality was found. In the Study 2, we manipulated the PEI through the Bimboola Paradigm. We replicated the effect of PEI on status consumption, status seeking, and materialism and found that status seeking mediated the relationship between PEI and status and conspicuous consumption. Economic inequality affects consumer behavior and favors consumption preferences for products that provide desirable symbolic values associated with status. These results could have important implications in the interpersonal and intergroup processes, including those related to consumption and purchase. (shrink)

The COVID-19 global health emergency has greatly impacted the educational field. Faced with unprecedented stress situations, professors, students, and families have employed various coping and resilience strategies throughout the confinement period. High and persistent stress levels are associated with other pathologies; hence, their detection and prevention are needed. Consequently, this study aimed to design a predictive model of stress in the educational field based on artificial intelligence that included certain sociodemographic variables, coping strategies, and resilience capacity, and to study the (...) relationship between them. The non-probabilistic snowball sampling method was used, involving 337 people from the university education community in south-eastern Spain. The Perceived Stress Scale, Stress Management Questionnaire, and Brief Resilience Scale were administered. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to design the architecture of artificial neural networks. The results found that stress levels could be predicted by the synaptic weights of coping strategies and timing of the epidemic, with a predictive capacity of over 80% found in the neural network model. Additionally, direct and significant associations were identified between the use of certain coping strategies, stress levels, and resilience. The conclusions of this research are essential for effective stress detection, and therefore, early intervention in the field of educational psychology, by discussing the influence of resilience or lack thereof on the prediction of stress levels. Identifying the variables that maintain a greater predictive power in stress levels is an effective strategy to design more adjusted prevention programs and to anticipate the needs of the community. (shrink)

RESUMEN Introducción: El mundo enfrenta un acelerado envejecimiento poblacional y tasas de fecundidad por debajo de los niveles de reemplazo, situación a la que no son ajenos la población y el servicio de Salud cubanos. Objetivo: Valorar las implicaciones sociales de los resultados del Servicio Provincial de Reproducción Asistida de Baja Complejidad de Camagüey, durante el bienio 2016-2017, dados en el incremento del número de embarazos logrados por Estimulación Ovárica Controlada e Inseminación Intrauterina. Métodos: En la contribución se emplearon los (...) métodos investigativos pertinentes, así como procedimientos diagnósticos y terapéuticos. Resultados: En el período estudiado, se logró un número significativo de embarazos por técnicas de baja complejidad, así como un número superior de embarazo en mujeres mayores de 36 años con respecto a años anteriores. Discusión: El Estado cubano ha trazado estrategias de trabajo para brindar atención diferenciada a las parejas que presenten alteraciones de la reproducción, en favor de solucionar la problemática mediante alternativas cuyos resultados se correlacionan con los obtenidos a nivel mundial. ABSTRACT Introduction: The world faces an intensive population aging and valuations of fecundity below the levels of substitution, situation which is not foreign to the Cuban population and health service. Objective: To value the social implications of the results of the Provincial Service of Assisted Reproduction of Low Complexity of Camagüey, during the two-year period 2016-2017, given for the increase of the number of pregnancies achieved by Controlled Ovarian Stimulation and Intrauterine Insemination. Methods: In the contribution thepertinent,investigative methods were used as well as diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Results: In the studied period, a significant number of pregnancies was achieved by skills of low complexity, as well as a top number of pregnancy in women older than 36 years old with regard to previous years. Discussion: The Cuban State has planned work strategies to offer attention differentiated to the couples that present alterations of the reproduction, in favor of solving the problems by means of alternatives which results are correlated by the obtained ones on a global scale. (shrink)

Background: In Hospital Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services professionals experience situations in which they face difficulties or barriers to know patient’s advance directives and implement them. Objectives: To analyse the barriers, facilitators, and ethical conflicts perceived by health professionals derived from the management of advance directives in emergency services. Research design, participants, and context: This is a qualitative phenomenological study conducted with purposive sampling including a population of nursing and medical professionals linked to Hospital Emergency Department and Emergency Medical (...) Services. Three focus groups were formed, totalling 24 participants. We performed an inductive-type thematic discourse analysis. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by ethical committees of Ethical Commitee of Clínic Hospital (Barcelona) and Comittee of Emergency Medical Services (Barcelona). The participants received information about the purpose of the study. Patients’ anonymity and willingness to participate in the study were guaranteed. Findings: There were four types of barriers that hindered the proper management of patients’ advance directives in Hospital Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services: personal and professional, family members, organisational and structural, and those derived from the health system. These barriers caused ethical conflicts and hindered professionals’ decision-making. Discussion: These results are in line with those of previous studies and indicate that factors such as gender, professional category, and years of experience, in addition to professionals’ beliefs and the opinions of colleagues and family members, can also influence the professionals’ final decisions. Conclusion: The different strategies described in this study can contribute to the development of health policies and action protocols to help reduce both the barriers that hinder the correct management and implementation of advance directives and the ethical conflicts generated. (shrink)

Un supuesto común dentro del debate interpretativo en torno a la descripción epicúrea de la amistad es que el hedonismo que promulgaba esta escuela implicaba al egoísmo como su consecuencia conceptual y doctrinal necesaria. Este trabajo plantea que la amistad epicúrea, lejos de ser un concepto que contradice su propio sistema, ilumina zonas del hedonismo que habían sido oscurecidas por este supuesto. Por esto, el objetivo de esta investigación es disolver –y no resolver– el problema de la coherencia entre el (...) concepto epicúreo de amistad y el hedonismo supuestamente egoísta. La primera parte de este trabajo está dedicada a describir por lo menos una parte de la discusión académica en torno al concepto epicúreo de amistad. Así, la segunda parte procura cuestionar, a partir de textos epicúreos que versan sobre la amistad y la justicia, la suposición de que Epicuro y los epicúreos basaban su sistema en el egoísmo. Finalmente, en la conclusión, se sintetizan los resultados del cuestionamiento y se plantean algunas consecuencias que la disolución del mentado problema podría tener en futuras investigaciones sobre la dimensión social del placer en Epicuro. (shrink)

La experiencia de hacer filosofía en la escuela como práctica de libertad nos convoca al análisis de los modos de recepción de la filosofía en la Argentina y Latinoamérica. Dicho de otra manera, el planteo de Filosofía con Niñ@s requiere reponer el problema de filosofía latinoamericana o filosofía en Latinoamérica; y, con ello, tematizar la "antinomia/oposición/ alternativa" de estos términos en relación con prácticas filosóficas no reproductivas, de gratuidad del pensar, de anulación de la asimetría a la hora del filosofar.

Studies demonstrating the benefits of ethical behavior at an individual level are scarce. The business ethics literature centers its analysis on unethical behaviors and their consequences, rather than ethical behaviors and their benefits. There is now considerable debate on the role of auditors in society and the function of accounting firms in the free market capitalist system. Specifically, the eminently ethical nature of the auditor’s work has been highlighted. Therefore, the aim of our paper is to show the impact of (...) auditors’ sustained ethical behavior: the trust it generates. This trust results in considerable benefits for the firm due to a reduction in the costs of the partner’s supervision of the auditor. The methodology chosen to validate these claims is a survey of partner of the audit firm in auditing companies. The results of this research confirm the hypotheses raised in the theoretical model. (shrink)

Este artículo sostiene que los límites del verbum vocis, paradójicamente, le dan sentido al esfuerzo del docere humano en la retórica agustiniana. Se espera ilustrar a lo largo de la investigación que esta hipótesis se sigue del análisis del concepto de docere en libro IV de De doctrina christiana a la luz del De Magistro. Se pretende alcanzar este objetivo a través de tres etapas. En primer lugar, se analizarán las funciones de la retórica agustiniana, en especial, la enseñanza, en (...) De doctrina christiana IV. En segundo lugar, se profundizará en los límites del lenguaje en el docere según las reflexiones del De Magistro. Finalmente, se realizará una síntesis de ambas descripciones, basada en De Trinitate, para mostrar que los límites del lenguaje no son una limitación en la retórica agustiniana, sino la realización de su propio sentido. (shrink)

Despite continuing controversies regarding the vital status of both brain-dead donors and individuals who undergo donation after circulatory death (DCD), respecting the dead donor rule (DDR) remains the standard moral framework for organ procurement. The DDR increases organ supply without jeopardizing trust in transplantation systems, reassuring society that donors will not experience harm during organ procurement. While the assumption that individuals cannot be harmed once they are dead is reasonable in the case of brain-dead protocols, we argue that the DDR (...) is not an acceptable strategy to protect donors from harm in DCD protocols. We propose a threefold alternative to justify organ procurement practices: (1) ensuring that donors are sufficiently protected from harm; (2) ensuring that they are respected through informed consent; and (3) ensuring that society is fully informed of the inherently debatable nature of any criterion to declare death. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence is a useful predictive tool for a wide variety of fields of knowledge. Despite this, the educational field is still an environment that lacks a variety of studies that use this type of predictive tools. In parallel, it is postulated that the levels of self-esteem in the university environment may be related to the strategies implemented to solve problems. For these reasons, the aim of this study was to analyze the levels of self-esteem presented by teaching staff and (...) students at university and to design an algorithm capable of predicting these levels on the basis of their coping strategies, resilience, and sociodemographic variables. For this purpose, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Brief Resilience Scale were administered. The results showed a relevant role of resilience and stress perceived in predicting participants’ self-esteem levels. The findings highlight the usefulness of artificial neural networks for predicting psychological variables in education. (shrink)

Despite the promise to boost human potential and wellbeing, enhancement drugs face recurring ethical scrutiny. The present studies examined attitudes toward cognitive enhancement in order to learn more about these ethical concerns, who has them, and the circumstances in which they arise. Fairness-based concerns underlay opposition to competitive use—even though enhancement drugs were described as legal, accessible and affordable. Moral values also influenced how subsequent rewards were causally explained: Opposition to competitive use reduced the causal contribution of the enhanced winner’s (...) skill, particularly among fairness-minded individuals. In a follow-up study, we asked: Would the normalization of enhancement practices alleviate concerns about their unfairness? Indeed, proliferation of competitive cognitive enhancement eradicated fairness-based concerns, and boosted the perceived causal role of the winner’s skill. In contrast, purity-based concerns emerged in both recreational and competitive contexts, and were not assuaged by normalization. (shrink)

AI research is being challenged with ensuring that autonomous agents learn to behave ethically, namely in alignment with moral values. Here, we propose a novel way of tackling the value alignment problem as a two-step process. The first step consists on formalising moral values and value aligned behaviour based on philosophical foundations. Our formalisation is compatible with the framework of (Multi-Objective) Reinforcement Learning, to ease the handling of an agent’s individual and ethical objectives. The second step consists in designing an (...) environment wherein an agent learns to behave ethically while pursuing its individual objective. We leverage on our theoretical results to introduce an algorithm that automates our two-step approach. In the cases where value-aligned behaviour is possible, our algorithm produces a learning environment for the agent wherein it will learn a value-aligned behaviour. (shrink)

The present article intends to analyze the repercussions that neuroethics, as a growing discipline of neurosciences, has in the field of philosophy and moral education. These repercussions concern the evidence of a biological or neuronal support that determines both ethical behavior and moral reasoning. Faced with this situation, there are two main opposing positions: on the one hand, that which conceives that morality has to become a matter of sociobiologists; from another, the one that maintains that morality is irreducible to (...) neuronal chemistry, so it continues to demand a philosophical commitment. (shrink)

El presente estudio se realizó con el objetivo de evaluar el impacto del estrés emocional en la adecuada toma de decisiones y práctica médica oportuna y de calidad de los estudiantes que cursan el quinto año de la carrera en la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Se utilizó una lista de valoración para las competencias de la simulación de reanimación cardiopulmonar avanzada, y un Cuestionario de Maslach Burnout Inventory para valorar los sentimientos, actitudes y de (...) desgaste profesional. Los resultados muestran que aquellos que estaban expuestos a mayor cantidad de labores recientes y estrés fueron más propensos de incidir en errores médicos durante la toma de decisiones y su aprendizaje. This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the impact of emotional stress in the appropriate decision-making and quality medical practice of fifth year medical students from the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. It was used an assessment list for cardiopulmonary resuscitation simulation competence and a Maslach Burnout Inventory Questionnaire was used to assess feelings, attitudes and professional wear and tear. Results show those who were exposed to a greater number of recent tasks and to greater stress were more likely to make medical mistakes while making decisions and learning. (shrink)

The organizational climate is the work environment conceived by emotions and motivation of an organization and, an optimal way of increasing participation is with working groups in the dependencies to improve: objectives, processes, conflicts, leadership. Thus the objective was to determine the characterization of variables. The method incorporates the quantitative approach, non -experimental design, descriptive level, applied and transversal type, analysis and deductive methods. The results show, there is a high organizational climate level, due to the contribution of three dimensions (...) or aspects that are: economic conditions, management values and organizational policies. (shrink)

It is not uncommon for patients with advanced disease to express a wish to hasten death. Qualitative studies of the WTHD have found that such a wish may have different meanings, none of which can be understood outside of the patient’s personal and sociocultural background, or which necessarily imply taking concrete steps to ending one’s life. The starting point for the present study was a previous systematic review of qualitative studies of the WTHD in advanced patients. Here we analyse in (...) greater detail the statements made by patients included in that review in order to examine their moral understandings and representations of illness, the dying process and death. We identify and discuss four classes of assumptions: assumptions related to patients’ moral understandings in terms of dignity, autonomy and authenticity; assumptions related to social interactions; assumptions related to the value of life; and assumptions related to medicalisation as an overarching context within which the WTHD is expressed. Our analysis shows how a philosophical perspective can add to an understanding of the WTHD by taking into account cultural and anthropological aspects of the phenomenon. We conclude that the knowledge gained through exploring patients’ experience and moral understandings in the end-of-life context may serve as the basis for care plans and interventions that can help them experience their final days as a meaningful period of life, restoring some sense of personal dignity in those patients who feel this has been lost. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the treatment/enhancement distinction as employed by those against using the newest biomedical technologies for purposes other than those strictly curative. First, we analyze the most common definitions related to treatment, such as health, disease or medicine, showing their limitations and problems. Secondly, we consider three different tasks usually assigned to the treatment/enhancement distinction: 1) to establish what we owe to others, 2) to establish what should be included as part of a medical (...) insurance system and 3) to distinguish the morally permissible from the morally impermissible. We conclude that the treatment/enhancement distinction is a useful, if limited, tool for the first two tasks, but an inadequate one for the third. (shrink)

How should automated vehicles (AVs) react in emergency circumstances? Most research projects and scientific literature deal with this question from a moral perspective. In particular, it is customary to treat emergencies involving AVs as instances of moral dilemmas and to use the trolley problem as a framework to address such alleged dilemmas. Some critics have pointed out some shortcomings of this strategy and have urged to focus on mundane traffic situations instead of trolley cases involving AVs. Besides, these authors rightly (...) point out the political nature of the most interesting debates involving AVs. However, in our view, they do not offer an adequate account of the distinction between ethics and politics and still see their proposals as contributions to the ethics of AVs. We argue that many of the interesting questions about how AVs should behave, both in emergency and other situations, are of political, and not moral, nature. This view is based on a conception of politics and political normativity that we have developed elsewhere and that we call “political minimalism.” Additionally, we show that this proposed perspective has significant consequences for the design, management, and regulation of transport systems. (shrink)

Previous research suggests that free will beliefs and moral responsibility beliefs are strongly linked, yet ultimately distinct. Unfortunately, the most common measure of free will beliefs, the free will subscale (FWS) of the Free Will and Determinism Plus, seems to confound free will beliefs and moral responsibility beliefs. Thus, the present research (1,700 participants across two studies) details the development of a 2-factor FWS – the FWS-II – that divides the FWS into a free will subscale and a moral responsibility (...) subscale. The FWS-II showed good fit compared to standard fit thresholds and superior fit compared to the original FWS. The moral responsibility subscale was moderately correlated with general punitive attitudes and specific punitive assignments, even when controlling for the free will subscale. Conversely, the free will subscale was moderately correlated with conservativism and religiosity, even when controlling for the moral responsibility subscale. These results provide evidence that the FWS is better suited – psychometrically, theoretically, and practically – as a 2-factor measure of free will beliefs and moral responsibility beliefs than as a 1-factor measure of free will beliefs. (shrink)

Two college-age samples, one from the United States and one from Spain, were studied with mixed methods, phenomenological and traditional experimental - regarding the alleged foundational topic of `unfairness'. Participants gave their instantiations of `It's not fair!', which were deconstructed and qualitatively analyzed to find and compare the essential types of unfairness. Using traditional experimental methods, unfairness vignettes were rated by severity and quantitatively analyzed, to see whether the two cultural groups make similar or different distinctions among the concepts of (...) `unfairness', `injustice' and `misfortune'. From qualitative analyses, the fairness principles of `equity' and `equality' appeared in both groups, but `honor and dignity' violations were much more frequent in the Spanish group, as different fairness principles interacted in complex ways. From the quantitative analyses, `unfairness' was the broadest of the three concepts, extending beyond `injustice' and both cultural groups viewed `misfortunes' as `unfairnesses'. Implications for a commonsense morality across cultures are discussed. (shrink)

As a result of recent corporate scandals, several rules have focused on the role played by Boards of Directors on the planning and monitoring of corporate codes of ethics. In theory, outside directors are in a better position than insiders to protect and further the interests of all stakeholders because of their experience and their sense of moral and legal obligations. Female directors also tend to be more sensitive to ethics according to several past studies which explain this affirmation by (...) early gender socialization, the fact that women are thought to place a greater emphasis on harmonious relations and the fact that men and women use different ethical frameworks in their judgments. The goal of this paper is to determine the influence of these characteristics of the Board in terms of promoting and hindering the creation of a code of ethics. Our findings show that a greater number of female directors does not necessarily lead to more ethical companies. Moreover, within Europe as a continent, board ownership leads to an entrenchment of upper-level management, generating a divergence between the ethical interests of owners and managers. In light of this situation, the presence of independent directors is necessary to reduce such conflicts. (shrink)

Retraction note: Espinoza Palomino, S. A., Silva Juárez, R., Seminario-Morales, M. V., Villalta Arellano, S. R., Arévalo Rodríguez, M. E. & Lujan-Vera, P. E. (2023). Organizational Climate: Characterization from the Perspective of Senati Students - Peru. HUMAN REVIEW. International Humanities Revista Internacional De Humanidades, 21(1), 47-54. https://doi.org/10.37467/revhuman.v21.5030 The Editorial Office of Eurasia Academic Publishing Group has retracted this article. An investigation carried out by our Research Integrity Department has found a group of articles, among which this one is found, (...) that are not within the thematic scope of the journal. We believe that the editorial process was manipulated and, furthermore, acceptance decisions were made under possibly inappropriate peer review. (shrink)

What is the relationship between morals and politics? What is the relationship between moral philosophy and political philosophy? Defenders of political moralism postulate moral aims or constraints for politics, and hence they see political philosophy as a chapter of moral philosophy. Contrastingly, advocates of political realism describe politics as an independent endeavor aiming at providing order and security, and conceive of political philosophy as an autonomous discipline. This article claims that political moralism and political realism share the mistake of assuming (...) that politics has substantial, permanent goals or constraints. After criticizing political substantialism, the article explains the main ingredients of its alternative, political minimalism: the idea that politics, understood as collective instrumental rationality, aims at providing adequate means for the accomplishment of people's goals, whatever these are; and the conception of the relationship between morality and politics as one of “reciprocal containment.” Finally, it addresses some foreseeable criticisms of political minimalism. (shrink)

In most domains of human life, we are willing to accept that there are experts with greater knowledge and competencies that distinguish them from non-experts or laypeople. Despite this fact, the very recognition of expertise curiously becomes more controversial in the case of “moral experts”. Do moral experts exist? And, if they indeed do, are there ethical reasons for us to follow their advice? Likewise, can emerging technological developments broaden our very concept of moral expertise? In this article, we begin (...) by arguing that the objections that have tried to deny the existence (and convenience) of moral expertise are unsatisfactory. After that, we show that people have ethical reasons to ask for a piece of moral advice in daily life situations. Then, we argue that some Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems can play an increasing role in human morality by becoming moral experts. Some AI-based moral assistants can qualify as artificial moral experts and we would have good ethical reasons to use them. (shrink)

A faulty understanding of the relationship between morality and politics encumbers many contemporary debates on human enhancement. As a result, some ethical reflections on enhancement undervalue its social dimensions, while some social approaches to the topic lack normative import. In this essay, I use my own conception of the relationship between ethics and politics, which I call “political minimalism,” in order to support and strengthen the existing social perspectives on human-enhancement technologies.

Este trabajo tiene el objetivo de mostrar que actualmente la bioética, si bien requiere de la aplicación de conocimientos de disciplinas heterogéneas, afronta diversas polémicas que tienen una estructura filosófica. Para sustentar una perspectiva filosófica como problema central, el método de abordaje de la presente propuesta contempla un análisis acerca del tipo de indagaciones que caracterizan a la bioética, la delimitación del objeto que estudia, las propuestas metodológicas más relevantes y aquellas alternativas de búsqueda que pretenden tomar distancia de la (...) reflexión filosófica, paralelamente a las variadas conceptualizaciones que parten de la moral y desembocan en la casuística. El argumento central es que la bioética atiende a incertidumbres morales que surgen en la interacción con la vida, estas son el objeto sobre el que reflexiona la ética, y si la ética es una disciplina que se resuelve apelando a los métodos de la filosofía, con este trabajo se pretende concluir que la bioética necesariamente ha de tener una estructura filosófica. (shrink)

It is common for constructivists to claim that Kant was the first philosopher to understand moral facts as ‘constructions of reason’. They think that Kant, just like the constructivist, proposes a procedure – the Categorical Imperative – from which the order of value can be ‘constructed’ and grounds the validity of this construction procedure not in some previous value but in its capacity to solve a practical problem, the problem of ‘free agency’. I here argue that this reading is misguided (...) and propose that we read Kant as a teleological realist instead. Kant is a realist in that he takes the value of rational nature to be objective and so not ‘constructed’. Kant is a teleological realist insofar as his derivation of the moral law from the objective value of rational nature relies on a teleological understanding of rational nature. (shrink)

Resumen En el § 7 de la Crítica de la razón práctica Kant expone su primera definición de la ley moral universal. Ahí afirma que la conciencia de ella es un “Faktum de la razón”. La ambigüedad de esta expresión ha hecho que algunos autores argumenten que Kant no deduce la ley moral satisfactoriamente ni aclara cómo llegamos a ser conscientes de ella. Sin embargo estos críticos olvidan en sus análisis un aspecto relevante de la filosofía moral kantiana y que (...) es de gran relevancia en los estudios contemporáneos de la filosofía de la acción: el carácter autoconstitutivo del yo o del sujeto racional y su papel en la fundamentación de la moralidad. Sostengo que el Faktum de la razón debe entenderse fundamentalmente como un acto autoconstitutivo.In § 7 of the Critique of Practical Reason Kant presents his first definition of the universal law of morality - called the Categorical Imperative. In the same place, he affirms that being conscious of the law of morality is a Faktum of reason. The ambiguity of this statement has prompted some authors to argue that Kant does not deduce the moral law satisfactorily nor does he clarify how we become conscious of it. Nevertheless, they all forget in their analysis a relevant aspect of Kantian moral philosophy that turns out to be of great importance in contemporary studies of the philosophy of action - the self-constituting character of the rational subject and the role it plays within the foundation of morality. I claim that the Faktum of reason must be understood fundamentally as a self-constituting act. (shrink)

This article introduces the perspectivist interpretation of Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality, characterized by two core theses. According to the results thesis, the three treatises of GM introduce three types of critical results, respectively: psychological claims about the value of morality for the interests of various character types; physiological claims about its value for the ‘progress of the species’; and medical claims about its value for health. According to the distinction thesis, the critical results of GM are descriptive, while (...) their reader-specific implications are normative. This interpretation illuminates the genealogical method of GM by answering four fundamental questions about its historical method, the history of morality that it reveals, the critical results of GM, and their intended therapeutic effects. Challenging the widespread assumption that the critical results of GM are evaluative claims, the perspectivist interpretation reveals the novelty of Nietzsche’s “new demand” for a critique of values not only relative to his predecessors’ approach to critique, but also to his own previous works. GM offers a critique that is grounded on factual claims, at once extramoral and external to morality, and internal to its readers’ evaluative perspectives, even those who remain beholden to moral values. Consequently, its authority and therapeutic efficacy are not threatened by discrepancies between it and its readers’ affective-evaluative preferences. (shrink)

I will advance two criticisms and one comment to Hershovitz's Law is a Moral Practice. First, I will argue that the idea that law is a moral practice because it rearranges our moral relationships tends to be circular, unless a conception of practical reason connected to morality and human practices are advanced. Second, I will problematise the predominance of a backward-looking legal reasoning that focuses on rights and wrongs only. Finally, I will explore Bernard Williams diagnosis regarding ‘the problem of (...) the morality system’ and scrutinise how his reflections might have implications for the key premises advanced by Hershovitz. I demonstrate that any explanation of law as moral practice needs to explain the role of our engagement with the law as the kind of creatures we are, i.e. rational creatures. This means that any account of the relationship between law and morality that does not explain the character of practical reason and how it engages with the law is deficient and unsatisfactory. Hershovitz is eager to show that law cannot be neutral and he tells us that it is instead a moral practice that deals with rights and wrongs in a robust manner. However, his account cannot explain to us how the judge and legislator make this possible through the law. Therefore, within this conception, there is no mediation or bridge between law and moral practice qua rational (and not qua practice). Hershovitz seems to discard the ancient philosophical platitude, namely that we cannot understand and engage with right and wrong, good or bad, except through the mediation of reason. (shrink)

Background: The prevalence of anxiety and depression in young students is associated with biosocial factors and scholastic stress. However, few studies have evaluated emotional-affective symptoms that are related to the immune system and antioxidant parameters in young individuals without diagnoses of affective disorders.Aim: This study aims to assess the relationship between emotional-affective symptoms and glutathione concentrations and CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte counts in college students.Methods: College students completed standardized psychometric instruments, including the Perceived Stress Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression (...) Inventory, Familiar Social and Friends Support Scale, and Rosenberg Scale. Blood samples were biochemically analyzed. Analyses of variance were conducted between four groups according to symptom severity.Results: A considerable prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms was observed and negatively correlated with self-esteem and socio-familiar support. Perceived stress was sexually dimorphic. Although biochemical parameters were within reference ranges, glutathione, CD4, and CD8 tended to be lower in participants with anxiety and depression symptoms, which may be of predictive value.Conclusion: The relationship between antioxidant/immune parameters and socio-affective scores is latent in undiagnosed college students who might develop affective disorders. The findings suggest that during the initial development of affective disorders, stress management strategies should be implemented to help college students cope with the academic load and monitor negative changes in their physiological state. (shrink)

Reseña a García Figueroa, Alfonso. Moral de victoria. Terrasa: Hexis, 2021, 368 pp.

Different theoretical models have proposed cognitive and affective components in empathy and moral judgments encompassing compassion. Furthermore, gender differences in psychological and neural functions involving empathic and moral processing, as well as compassionate experiences, have been reported. However, the neurobiological function regarding affective and cognitive integration underlying compassion and gender-associated differences has not been investigated. In this study, we aimed to examine the interaction between cognitive and emotional components through functional connectivity analyzes and to explore gender differences for the recruitment (...) and interaction of these components. Thirty-six healthy participants were exposed to social images in an fMRI session to judge whether the stimuli elicited compassion. The results showed a different connectivity pattern for women and men of the insular cortex, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the cingulate cortex. The integration of affective and cognitive components follows a complex functional connectivity pattern that is different for both genders. These differences may indicate that men largely make compassionate judgments based on contextual information, while women tend to notably take internal and introspective processes into account. Women and men can use different affective and cognitive routes that could converge in similar learning of moral values, empathic experiences and compassionate acts. (shrink)

Con frecuencia el avance y uso del conocimiento han sido relacionados como uno de los indicadores más importantes para el desarrollo económico y bienestar social de países y regiones. Sin embargo, independientemente de los factores teórico metodológicos que impulsan el desarrollo del conocimiento, el acceso a este activo intangible se encuentra limitado a diversas condiciones económicas, sociales, culturales e incluso del mismo conocimiento per se que cada individuo desarrolla dentro de la sociedad. El objetivo principal de este trabajo de investigación (...) consiste en realizar un análisis teórico desde una perspectiva sociológica de la ciencia y la tecnología, sobre el papel que desempeña la universidad pública en la democratización del conocimiento al interior de su comunidad y de la sociedad en general, señalando los principales avances y obstáculos que ésta presenta durante la difusión del mismo. (shrink)