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)

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)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

La epistemología contemporánea sostiene la imagen de Descartes como un fundamentalista epistemológico clásico, apelando, para ello, a las certezas metafísicas y a la presunta deducción del resto de conocimiento a partir de dichos principios. Con todo, un examen más detallado del proyecto epistemológico cartesiano pone en cuestión esta interpretación. El presente artículo analiza el papel de la deducción y la certeza moral a fin de redefinir el fundamentalismo de Descartes en términos moderados.

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)

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)

RESUMEN La interpretación habitual de Descartes sostiene que la nueva ciencia cartesiana es resultado del remplazo, en las explicaciones científicas, de las causas finales y formales por las causas eficientes. Si bien dicha afirmación en líneas generales es correcta, se ha tendido a asumir que las causas eficientes no entrañan problema alguno. Este artículo desea cuestionar dicha asunción, poniendo de manifiesto una serie de problemáticas concernientes a la cognoscibilidad de las causas eficientes. ABSTRACT The common interpretation of Descartes argues that (...) the new science is a result of Cartesian replacement, in scientific explanations, of the final and formal causes by the efficient causes. While this statement is broadly correct, it has tended to assume that efficient causes do not imply any problem. This paper wishes to question this assumption, showing a number of problems concerning the knowability of efficient causes. (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)

JANET DELGADO RODRIGUEZ | : The concept of vulnerability is central to current developments in bioethics, not only because of its analytic nature, but also due to its capacity for criticism. However, this concept has not been sufficiently developed, neither in the area of moral philosophy nor in bioethics. For this reason, it is necessary to define and analyze the conceptual framework in which the notion of vulnerability has been developed within the scope of bioethics. Thus, the purpose of this (...) paper is to indicate how the concept of vulnerability in the field of bioethics has been developed and what the main problems that derive from this approach are. Secondly, the paper analyzes some of the main philosophical approaches that I consider should be articulated in the expansion of a critical bioethics approach focused on the notion of vulnerability. To address this issue, I analyze the reflections that we find in the work of Martha Fineman, emphasizing the main relevant aspects for bioethics. Finally, I highlight the main implications of a theory of vulnerability for bioethics. | : Le concept de vulnérabilité est au coeur des développements actuels de la bioéthique, non seulement en raison de sa nature analytique, mais aussi en raison de son potentiel critique. Cependant, ce concept n’a pas été suffisamment développé, que ce soit dans le domaine de la philosophie morale ou de la bioéthique. Pour cette raison, il est nécessaire de définir et d’analyser le cadre conceptuel dans lequel la notion de vulnérabilité a été développée en bioéthique. Ainsi, le but de cet article est d’indiquer comment le concept de vulnérabilité a été développé dans le domaine de la bioéthique et quels sont les principaux problèmes découlant de cette approche. Deuxièmement, l’article analyse certaines des principales approches philosophiques qui devraient selon moi être articulées à une approche bioéthique critique centrée sur la notion de vulnérabilité. Pour traiter ce problème, j’analyse la réflexion de Martha Fineman, en soulignant les principaux aspects pertinents pour la bioéthique. Enfin, je souligne les principales implications d’une théorie de la vulnérabilité pour la bioéthique. (shrink)

RESUMEN Introducción: El proceso de cuidar es el resultado de una construcción propia de cada situación, se origina con la identificación de los problemas de salud y las necesidades reales o potenciales de las personas, familia y comunidad que demandan cuidado. Objetivo: Evaluar el impacto del Diplomado Prevención del Síndrome de Burnout, en el autocuidado del personal de enfermería de la Atención Secundaria de Salud de la provincia Camagüey. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo observacional, en el Hospital Amalia Simoni (...) Argilagos de Camagüey, durante el Diplomado Prevención del Síndrome de Burnout dirigido al personal de enfermería de la Atención Secundaria de Salud. Para ello se aplicó una encuesta y el Test Psicológico de Maslach y Jackson al inicio y al final de la aplicación del Diplomado. Los datos aportados por estos instrumentos se complementaron con los provenientes de la aplicación de la técnica del PNI. Resultados: Predominó el sexo femenino. El total de los cursistas son licenciados en Enfermería. Con la ejecución del diplomado se constatan cambios importantes en cuanto a la autopreparación, el rendimiento, los hábitos de descanso, satisfacción personal y realización de ejercicios físicos. Discusión: La aplicación del diplomado logró transformar estilos de trabajo, afrontamientos al estrés, así como una mejor satisfacción personal y colectiva. ABSTRACT Introduction: The process of taking care is the result of a proper construction of every situation, it originates with the identification of the problems of health and the real or potential needs of the persons, family and community that demand care. Objective: To evaluate the impact of Postgraduate Course Prevention of the Syndrome of Burnout, in the self-care of the personnel of infirmary of the Secondary Attention of Health of the Camagüey province. Methods: a descriptive, observational study was carried out in the Hospital Amalia Simoni Argilagos of Camagüey, during Postgraduate Course Prevention of the Syndrome of Burnout directed to the personnel of infirmary of the Secondary Attention of Health. For that reason, a survey and the Psychological Test of Maslach and Jackson was applied at the beginning and at the end of the application of the course. The information contributed by these instruments complemented itself with the originated ones from the application of the technique of the PNI. Results: The sex that predominated was the feminine one. All of the students are licensed in Infirmary. With the execution of the course important changes are stated as for the self-preparation, the yield, the habits of rest, personal satisfaction and achievement of physical exercises. Discussion: The application of the course managed to transform styles of work, confrontations to the stress, as well as a better personal and collective satisfaction. (shrink)

La contribución de David Gauthier a la filosofía moral es poco conocida en nuestro país, a pesar de ser uno de los más novedosos y originales aportes que en materia de ética se han desarrollado en las últimas décadas en el ámbito norteamericano. El uso de la Teoría de la elección racional y de la teoría de los juegos hace que sus tesis morales contractualistas resulten muy interesantes a la luz del neocontractualismo. Algunos comentaristas han sostenido que desde la (...) Teoría de la justicia de John Rawls el contractualismo no volaba tan alto. En este trabajo se presenta de forma muy sintética la tesis de Gauthier, a la vez que se cuestiona la validez de su proyecto a la luz de sus posibilidades de aplicación práctica. (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)

ABSTRACT Empathy is relevant to sociomoral development, especially in relation to prosociality and the penalization of acts as faults and crimes. The objective of this research was to test whether empathy is a predictor of prosociality and of perceptions of seriousness of delinquent acts among research participants in Argentina and Spain. The Argentinian sample comprised 215 high school and university students. The Spanish sample comprised 199 university students. The proposed theoretical model showed good fit in both countries. Although empathy was (...) found to predict prosocial conduct more than the perception of the seriousness acts as offenses and crimes, empathy was a significant of both prosocial conduct and perception of the seriousness acts as faults and crimes. Thus, the importance of empathy in morality was supported for both countries, supporting the influence of in different cultural context. (shrink)

Many of our daily activities are now made more convenient and efficient by virtual assistants, and the day when they can be designed to instruct us in certain skills, such as those needed to make moral judgements, is not far off. In this paper we ask to what extent it would be ethically acceptable for these so-called virtual assistants for moral enhancement to use subtle strategies, known as “nudges”, to influence our decisions. To achieve our goal, we will first characterise (...) nudges in their standard use and discuss the debate they have generated around their possible manipulative character, establishing three conditions of manipulation. Secondly, we ask whether nudges can occur in moral virtual assistants that are not manipulative. After critically analysing some proposed virtual assistants, we argue in favour of one of them, given that by pursuing an open and neutral moral enhancement, it promotes and respects the autonomy of the person as much as possible. Thirdly, we analyse how nudges could enhance the functioning of such an assistant, and evaluate them in terms of their degree of threat to the subject’s autonomy and their level of transparency. Finally, we consider the possibility of using motivational nudges, which not only help us in the formation of moral judgements but also in our moral behaviour. (shrink)

Este artículo tiene el objetivo de dilucidar el contexto, contenido y propósito general de las críticas que Agnes Heller (1929-2019) planteó sobre las filosofías de la historia. Para tal efecto, se revisan algunos de los postulados de estas con el fin de destacar cómo Heller, a propósito del contexto político en el que vivió, volvió su mirada hacia esas filosofías con el fin de escrutar los vínculos que, a su parecer, se tejían entre ellas y los regímenes totalitarios que se (...) forjaron durante el siglo xx. Al respecto, se argumenta que las reflexiones de la autora no se orientaron solamente a dar cuenta de dicha cuestión, sino que, como resultado de su esmerada labor intelectual, de sus convicciones morales y de su propia experiencia personal, encaminó sus esfuerzos hacia la elaboración de una sugerente concepción de la historia que se fundamentó en criterios y principios éticos. (shrink)

El propósito del presente trabajo consiste en poner en valor un modelo de innovación abierto y responsable para el desarrollo tecnológico. Este modelo permite poner en tela de juicio la cultura científica que entiende el proceso de generación de conocimiento en términos de monopolios y oligopolios, privilegiando en enfoque de arriba hacia abajo. Este enfoque presenta un déficit comunicativo entre los expertos tecnólogos y los demás grupos de interés y afectados por la tecnología. En ese sentido, es importante promover una (...) investigación e innovación responsables, estableciendo de ese modo un hilo comunicativo entre lo deseable y lo aceptable. Además, las tecnologías despliegan su actividad en contextos morales y por lo tanto presentan una dimensión política y social que exige llevar a cabo una evaluación ética. Este artículo es el resultado de una investigación bibliográfica. (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)

The social determinants of mental health with respect to the role of a person’s religiosity are examined in this paper, based on personal experience and a review of the literature. The objective is to hypothesize that religiosity can influence a person’s mental health through three factors: a sense of moral value, support from a community of faith, and exercise of spirituality. The Medline and SciElo databases were reviewed as of 1990, in English and Spanish, using the keywords: spirituality, belief, religion (...) and social determinants of mental health. The references related to the subject were taken into account as well. The article concludes that it is important in bioethics to incorporate the theme of religiosity as a factor in mental health, based on deliberative dialogue and considering the patient’s position as an interlocutor. It also is imperative to bear in mind the support provided by a community of faith that has embraced the virtues of solidarity and acceptance of others. (shrink)

This book deals with the topic that has been understudied of what Bioethics of Displacement is and what are their implications, subverting the anthropocentric moral view for the resulting loving, knowing and experiencing from the displaced ones, those who have lost their center and offering a case study from the Salvadorian humanitarian crises that will shed a new light on how political decision-making works.