The Life and Miracles of Saint Thecla, a 5th-century hagiographical work, feature many elements recalling the ancient novel. Even if the first part of the text, the Life, must be considered a novel itself due to its dependence on the model of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, some novelistic motifs - especially the use of descriptions, digressions and first-person narrations − appear throughout the whole text. In addition, we also examine the textual evidence of the influence of the ancient (...) novel on this hagiographical text through the analysis of some lexical details which suggest the reading of the ancient novels. The hagiographer uses these elements to rewrite in same cases the original scene of the Acts of Paul and Thecla or to evoke in other scenes the universe of the ancient novel in order to delight his readers. (shrink)

In developing a theory of consciousness, one of the main problems has to do with determining what distinguishes conscious states from non-conscious ones—the delimitation problem. This paper explores the possibility of solving this problem in terms of self-awareness. That self-awareness is essential to understanding the nature of our conscious experience is perhaps the most widely discussed hypothesis in the study of consciousness throughout the history of philosophy. Its plausibility hinges on how the notion of self-awareness is unpacked. The idea that (...) consciousness involves self-awareness has been understood in two different ways: either as awareness of oneself—the subject of experience—or as awareness of the conscious episode itself. In this paper I argue (i) that every experience concerns the subject in a very specific way, involving what I will call ‘perspectival de se representation’, and (ii) that there is no need to appeal to the experience itself in order to characterize the awareness within that experience. The view I articulate explains the subjective nature of experience without over-intellectualizing it, accommodates the phenomenology of experience, and dispels any doubt about the need to find the self in introspection. (shrink)

In Postsocial History: An Introduction, historian Miguel A. Cabrera points to the crisis of modernity as a locus for the collapse of social historical models. Previously established theories of social change and social relations are proving insufficient, calling for the emergence of a new social historical theory. By arguing convincingly for the inclusion of language in that model, Cabrera awakens a revolutionary new approach to historiography. The book will prove indispensable to historians, and to social scientists in general, who are (...) dissatisfied with the old paradigms and seek new ways of addressing the challenges of social research. (shrink)

RESUMEN Aunque la educación superior cubana constituye un espacio privilegiado para la atención a la diversidad cultural, se identifica la carencia de una concepción de la interculturalidad desde el sujeto que vive la experiencia y cuya cultura de origen se instaura como dimensión mediatizadora de la relación con respecto a otros; carencia no abordada en profundidad a través del prisma de la sicología social. En este orden se realizó una revisión bibliográfica con el objetivo de profundizar en el enfoque sicosocial (...) expresivo de las relaciones interculturales contextualizadas en la enseñanza médica superior cubana; la misma, contribuyó a la comprensión de la expresión subjetiva conformada alrededor de la realidad objeto de estudio. Los resultados permitieron construir un cuerpo teórico descriptivo-explicativo de las emergencias subjetivas que adquieren su especificidad en las relaciones interculturales desde un compromiso práctico y axiológico. A modo de conclusiones se estableció que en la búsqueda de un campo académico unificado y coherente con la complejidad de la realidad objeto de estudio, la sicología social deviene tributaria de un enfoque centrado en el estudio de las formas de subjetividad social que median en las relaciones interculturales desde el contexto de la enseñanza médica superior cubana. ABSTRACT Even though Cuban higher education is a privileged space for the attention of cultural diversity, the lack of an intercultural conception from the person who lives the experience and whose home culture is established as an interfering dimension in his relationship with others is identified; a problem which is not dealt with in depth through the perspective of social psychology. Therefore, a bibliographic review was made in order to go into depth in the expressive psychosocial approach to intercultural relationships put in context in Cuban higher medical education. It contributed to the understanding of the subjective expression which makes the reality of the object of study. The results allowed to make a descriptive-explanatory theoretical body of the subjective emergencies which become specific in intercultural relationships from a practical and axiological commitment. As a conclusion, it was established the search of an academic field which can be unifying and coherent with the complexity of the reality object of study. Social psychology becomes tributary of an approach that is centered in the study of social subjectivity forms that mediate in intercultural relationships from the context of Cuban higher medical education. (shrink)

It is often claimed that a minimal form of self-awareness is constitutive of our conscious experience. Some have considered that such a claim is plausible for our ordinary experiences but false when considered unrestrictedly on the basis of the empirical evidence from altered states. In this paper I want to reject such a reasoning. This requires, first, a proper understanding of a minimal form of self-awareness – one that makes it plausible that minimal self-awareness is part of our ordinary experiences. (...) I will argue that it should be understood as Perspectival First-Person Awareness : a non-conceptual identification-free self-attribution that defines the first-person perspective for our conscious experience. I will offer a detailed characterization of PFP-Awareness in semantic and epistemological terms. With this tool in hand, I will review the empirical literature on altered states. I will focus on psychedelics, meditation and dreams, as they have been claimed to present the clearest cases in favor of a radical disruption of self-awareness. I will show that the rejection of the idea that minimal self-awareness is constitutive of our experience on the basis of this evidence is unfounded, for two main reasons. First, although there are good grounds to think that some forms of self-awareness that typically accompany our ordinary experiences are compromised, they do not support the claim that PFP-Awareness is absent. Secondly, the reports that could make us think of a radical disruption of self-awareness are most probably due to a confirmation bias – and hence we should mistrust them – derived from the expectations and metaphysical views of their subjects. (shrink)

Antecedentes: El uso de la tecnología médica amplía las posibilidades de vida, pero plantea responsabilidades y problemas filosóficos, legales o políticos. Objetivo: Realizar una revisión sistemática sobre la evolución de las publicaciones científicas del uso bioético de las tecnologías de salud en los últimos 20 años. Metodología: Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica usando la base de datos Scopus. Resultados: La aplicabilidad de las tecnologías de salud, desde un punto de vista bioético, ha aumentado en los últimos años. Conclusión. Existe un (...) aumento en el número de publicaciones del uso bioético de la tecnología médica en los últimos 20 años. (shrink)

In this paper I investigate which of the main conditions proposed in the moral responsibility literature are the ones that spell trouble for the idea that Artificial Intelligence Systems could ever be full-fledged responsible agents. After arguing that the standard construals of the control and epistemic conditions don’t impose any in-principle barrier to AISs being responsible agents, I identify the requirement that responsible agents must be aware of their own actions as the main locus of resistance to attribute that kind (...) of agency to AISs. This is because this type of awareness is thought to involve first-person or de se representations, which, in turn, are usually assumed to involve some form of consciousness. I clarify what this widespread assumption involves and conclude that the possibility of AISs’ moral responsibility hinges on what the correct theory of de se representations ultimately turns out to be. (shrink)

Virtuous arguers are expected to manifest virtues such as intellectual humility and open-mindedness, but from such traits the quality of arguments does not immediately follow. However, it also seems implausible that a virtuous arguer can systematically put forward bad arguments. How could virtue argumentation theory combine both insights? The solution, I argue, lies in an analogy with virtue epistemology: considering both responsibilist and reliabilist virtues gives us a fuller picture of the virtuous arguer.

El artículo estudia la tercera y última confrontación con el Tratado de la libertad de Schelling que Heidegger sostuvo en 1941. El objetivo consiste en explicar el contexto del problema del acabamiento de la metafísica del idealismo alemán, para analizar la posición que tiene Heidegger de las nociones de diferencia y voluntad forjadas por la filosofía tardía de Schelling; de esta manera, a partir del abismo de la voluntad se muestra la intersección entre la filosofía de la libertad de Schelling (...) y la ontología del evento de Heidegger. (shrink)

Resumen Michel Foucault estudia la denostada escuela cínica en dos momentos de su obra: en 1978 en una conferencia titulada La filosofía analítica de la política, en pleno período de estudio de la gubernamentalidad, los cínicos ejemplifican una actitud crítica ante el poder político, y en 1984, en su último curso en el Cóllege de France, los cínicos como último escalafón de la parresía ética, como correspondencia entre el logos y el bíos, como ejemplo de vrai vie. Este artículo pretende (...) mostrar la conexión entre ambos momentos, la interconexión entre una actitud crítica del filósofo frente a la política y un decir verdadero encarnado en la vida como escándalo de verdad.Michel Foucault studies the reviled cynical school in two moments of his work: in 1978 in a conference entitled The Analytical Philosophy of Politics, in full period of study of governmentality, the cynics exemplify a critical attitude to political power, and in 1984, in his last year at the Cóllege de France, the cynics as the last ladder of ethical parrhesia, as correspondence between the logos and the bios, as an example of vrai vie. This article aims to show the connection between both moments, the interconnection between a critical attitude of the philosopher against politics and a true saying embodied in life as a real scandal. (shrink)

Emile Durkheim is one of the fathers of sociology. Suicide brings his work conceptual and analytical tools to understand the moral architecture of society. In this article we review these artifacts of social theory, scientifically contrasted his time, able to measure the integrative force of human groups and to identify the variables that determine its operation. Despite the unstoppable individualism that defines our societies, is still valid sociological analysis that accounts for the collective nature of many of our decisions and (...) behaviors. (shrink)

Postmodernity has brought new forms of social control which are exercised through new forms of communication. Paradoxically, however, postmodernity also seemed to be heading towards the exaltation of the individual in their absolute freedom. The 20 th century pushed, in the name of science and progress, the secularization of Western societies, often distancing people from their traditional community ties, including ties to the ecclesial community. Thus, the postmodern individual initially appeared free of ancestral community pressures. However, subtle new forms of (...) social control have replaced traditional ones. Mechanisms such as social media, new forms of work and sexual exploitation, or the impossibility of maintaining privacy in the face of the power of private and public corporations, thus expose the individual to the asocial elements. Frequently, these new social control mechanisms (a clear example being the leadership of the WHO in the policies implemented worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic) are presented to us not as repressive, but scientifically and paternally protective. In this context, the vindication of religious freedom and the community experience of faith represent decisive touchstones for the vitality and validity of a social and political order in which the personal being is truly the highest value. The authors of this monograph are professors, some of them with twenty or thirty years of university teaching, others halfway between Generation X and Y, but all with a deep vocation as teachers called to understanding the world around them. A vocation to collaborate with their students so that the seed of love for the knowledge of reality and the joyful experience of contact with the truth may bear fruit in them. Such an experience only makes sense as a shared experience. And this is what the authors of this monograph usually do: share their concerns, worries, and research. In formal terms, this shared experience has been developing in recent times under the mantle of research projects such as the one that forms the basis of this issue of _Scientia et Fides_: “Social Control, Postmodernism and Political Community” (COSOPOC). Sharing the results of their research is also a way of inviting the specialized public to this experience without forgetting that the first circle of this community work is formed by the students themselves, whom this monograph aims to serve as a stimulus in their personal trajectories as students, as future professionals and, above all, as people in charge of their actions and responsible and capable of facing the worrying challenges that face us all. (from the Editorial). (shrink)

A virtue approach to argumentation would focus on the arguers’ character rather than the arguments. Therefore, it must be explained how good arguments relate to virtuous arguers. This article focus on this issue and attempts to provide an answer to the question: Could a bad arguer produce a good argument? It is argued that, besides the usual logical, dialectical, and rhetorical standards, a virtuously produced good argument must meet two additional requirements: the arguer must be in a specific state of (...) mind, and the argument must be broadly conceived of as an argumentative interaction and thus excel from every perspective. (shrink)

El objeto de este trabajo es reflexionar acerca de la autonomía del paciente en tiempo de pandemia. En concreto, en la cuestión de la posible limitación de la autonomía del paciente en virtud de la existencia de un interés público a la salud que estaría por encima del interés individual del paciente.

La propuesta de Arnold Gehlen ha sido calificada como “antropobiología”. En el presente artículo, se describe la continuidad, establecida por él, entre la biología del hombre y las dimensiones específicamente humanas, como la técnica y la cultura. Dicha continuidad se descubre, desde un punto de vista negativo, en la precariedad biológica del cuerpo humano; desde un punto de vista positivo, en la apertura al mundo mediante la acción. Con su actividad, el hombre compensa su carencia física y construye el mundo (...) en la forma de artefactos técnicos, instituciones y sistemas éticos. Por último, se examina de manera crítica el alcance y los límites de la propuesta gehleniana, principalmente acerca de la unidad del hombre, la comprensión de la acción y la idea de una vida lograda. (shrink)

El presente texto se interroga con respecto a la posibilidad de que el pensamiento heideggeriano del Ereignis pueda ir más allá de la «tautología simbólica» entendida como la identificación entre ser y pensar, dado que, si bien el Ereignis garantiza la mismidad y unidad de dicha co-implicación, apela a su vez a algo que se reserva en dicho don. A tal fin, se sirve de la formulación, según la cual el pensar consistiría en un encaminamiento del «habla» (Sprache) en tanto (...) el eco del «dicho» (Sage), el cual en su silenciamiento deja que tenga lugar el pronunciamiento de la palabra. Dicha articulación, no obstante, corre el riesgo de que el Ereignis cumpla un rol meramente «formal» debido a que su retraimiento en tanto Enteignis sólo sería la condición de posibilidad para la temporalización y espacialización de la morada del habla, con lo cual sólo a través del decir podría desplegarse un mundo. Así, más allá de Heidegger, se busca ahondar en dicha dimensión de retraimiento del Enteignis, a partir de la cual el habla se hace eco no de una nada, sino, más bien, de una multiplicidad originaria de Wesen salvajes en tanto la proto-temporalización de fenómenos de mundo fuera del lenguaje. (shrink)