Since Darwin, Biology has been framed on the idea of evolution by natural selection, which has profoundly influenced the scientific and philosophical comprehension of biological phenomena and of our place in Nature. This book argues that contemporary biology should progress towards and revolve around an even more fundamental idea, that of autonomy. Biological autonomy describes living organisms as organised systems, which are able to self-produce and self-maintain as integrated entities, to establish their own goals and norms, and to promote the (...) conditions of their existence through their interactions with the environment. Topics covered in this book include organisation and biological emergence, organisms, agency, levels of autonomy, cognition, and a look at the historical dimension of autonomy. The current development of scientific investigations on autonomous organisation calls for a theoretical and philosophical analysis. This can contribute to the elaboration of an original understanding of life - including human life - on Earth, opening new perspectives and enabling fecund interactions with other existing theories and approaches. This book takes up the challenge. (shrink)

Nos proponemos analizar el pensamiento de Álvaro García Linera, uno de los intelectuales más interesantes en lengua española, y que mayor difusión está teniendo en los últimos tiempos. Para ello, tomaremos como punto de referencia cuatro de las ideas centrales dentro de la filosofía del boliviano: proyecto político, estado, hegemonía y dominación (analizando las dos últimas de manera conjunta). Comenzaremos exponiendo las influencias de García Linera, así como las peculiaridades de sus planteamientos, para centrarnos posteriormente en la etapa de su (...) producción intelectual más reciente, y acabar con una conclusión que mencionará también algunas de las críticas más importantes que se han vertido hacia el antiguo vicepresidente. (shrink)

Many moral philosophers have criticized intensive animal farming because it can be harmful to the environment, it causes pain and misery to a large number of animals, and furthermore eating meat and animal-based products can be unhealthful. The issue of industrially farmed animals has become one of the most pressing ethical questions of our time. On the one hand, utilitarians have argued that we should become vegetarians or vegans because the practices of raising animals for food are immoral since they (...) minimize the overall happiness. Deontologists, on the other hand, have argued that the practices of raising animals for food are immoral because animals have certain rights and we have duties toward them. Some virtue ethicists remain unconvinced of deontic and consequentialist arguments against the exploitation of animals and suggest that a virtue-based approach is better equipped to show what is immoral about raising and using animals for food, and what is virtuous about ethical veganism. (shrink)

The construct of autonomy appears in the literature associated with individual psychological wellbeing. In Ryff's model, autonomy is presented as one of the dimensions of wellbeing, along with self-acceptance, positive relationships with others, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. The present study compared the levels of autonomy and psychological wellbeing between Spanish and Colombian young people. Ryff's Scale of Psychological Wellbeing and the Transition to Adulthood Autonomy (EDATVA according to its initials in Spanish) scales were used on a (...) sample of 1,146 young people aged between 16 and 21; 506 Spanish and 640 Colombian. Results showed differences in autonomy and in two of the four dimensions proposed by the EDATVA: self-organization and critical thinking. Similarly, important differences were observed in the subscales of positive relations and purpose in life. The importance of contextual factors in the development of psychological well-being and autonomy in young people in transition to adulthood is discussed. (shrink)

La siguiente reseña explora el libro más reciente del historiador Tomás Pérez Vejo, el cual se adentra en un relato de nación construido a partir de los acervos pictóricos. El imaginario visual que se construye desde las exposiciones y críticas de pintura marca un ciclo crístico de nacimientos, tormentos, liberaciones y resurrecciones, cuyo interés primordial es su poderosa impronta en la historia oficial nacional y en cómo esta permea aún el presente.

Ethical veganism is the view that raising animals for food is an immoral practice that must be stopped because of the harm it causes to the animals, the environment, and our health. Carlo Alvaro argues the only way to stop that harm is to acquire the virtues that enable us to act justly and benevolently toward animals.

Little is known on the appraisal of ethically questionable not- for-profit actions such as social marketing advertising campaigns. The present study evaluates the ethical acceptance by adults of anti-obesity threat appeals targeting children, depending on the claimed effectiveness of the campaign. An experiment conducted among 176 Belgian participants by means of an online survey shows that individuals’ acceptance of social marketing practices increases along with the claimed effectiveness of the campaign. As such it demonstrates that the audience adopts a pragmatic (...) perspective, challenging the non-consequentialist stance of social marketers who refrain themselves from using these ‘questionable’ techniques although highly effective. The trade-off between ethical judgment and claimed effectiveness varies depending on whether the threats focus on the child’s physical integrity or social life. Individual characteristics such as parenthood and age also influence the relationship. All in all, it seems that people with stronger connections to the issue such as parents are more ready to compromise. These findings enrich our insights into consequentialism in social marketing campaigns, how people respond to controversial messages targeted at vulnerable group, and open new venues to social managers and public policy makers. Managerial implications and concrete advice on how to communicate with the various audiences are proposed, as well as suggestions for future studies. (shrink)

It is a mistake to oppose law and grace, for God's grace makes way for a radically transformed social and moral order. The law of Christ enables a new way of life that is obedient to God.

We present an approach to database update as a form of non monotonic temporal reasoning, the main idea of which is the (circumscriptive) minimization of changes with respect to a set of facts declared persistent by default. The focus of the paper is on the relation between this approach and the update semantics recently proposed by Katsuno and Mendelzon. Our contribution in this regard is twofold: • We prove a representation theorem for KM semantics in terms of a restricted subfamily (...) of the operators defined by our construction. • We show how the KM semantics can be generalized by relaxing our construction in a number of ways, each justified in certain intuitive circumstances and each corresponding to one specific postulate. It follows that there are reasonable update operators outside the KM family. • Our approach is not dependent for its plausibility on this connection with KM semantics. Rather, it provides a relatively rich and flexible framework in which the frame and ramification problems can be solved in a systematic way by reasoning about default persistence of facts. (shrink)

The aim of this commentary article is to discuss several problems in the distribution map for conscious organisms and suggest a different strategy to address their evolutionary development. I propose to complement the model of Unlimited Associative Learning (UAL) that Jablonka and Ginsburg present in their Target Article with the additional consideration of how body plans constrain the possibilities of evolution of the brain— in some cases blocking, in some others enabling its complexification and corporal integration. In my view, the (...) specific body plan of vertebrates has played a key role in the complexification and diversification of consciousness because it has favored an increasing integration between brain and body. (shrink)

Since Darwin it is widely accepted that natural selection (NS) is the most important mechanism to explain how biological organisms—in their amazing variety—evolve and, therefore, also how the complexity of certain natural systems can increase over time, creating ever new functions or functional structures/relationships. Nevertheless, the way in which NS is conceived within Darwinian Theory already requires an open, wide enough, functional domain where selective forces may act. And, as the present paper will try to show, this becomes even more (...) evident if one looks into the problem of origins. If there was a time when NS was not operating (as it is quite reasonable to assume), where did that initial functional diversity, necessary to trigger off the process, come from? Self-organization processes may be part of the answer, as many authors have claimed in recent years, but surely not the complete one. We will argue here that a special type of self-maintaining organization, arising from the interplay among a set of different endogenously produced constraints (pre-enzymatic catalysts and primitive compartments included), is required for the appearance of functional diversity in the first place. Starting from that point, NS can progressively lead to new (and, at times, also more complex) organizations that, in turn, provide wider functional variety to be selected for, enlarging in this way the range of action and consequences of the mechanism of NS, in a kind of mutually enhancing effect. (shrink)

According to the traditional nomological-deductive methodology of physics and chemistry [Hempel and Oppenheim, 1948], explaining a phenomenon means subsuming it under a law. Logic becomes then the glue of explanation and laws the primary explainers. Thus, the scientific study of a system would consist in the development of a logically sound model of it, once the relevant observables (state variables) are identified and the general laws governing their change (expressed as differential equations, state transition rules, maximization/minimization principles,. . . ) (...) are well determined, together with the initial or boundary conditions for each particular case. Often this also involves making a set of assumptions about the elementary components of the system (e.g., their structural and dynamic properties) and modes of local interaction. In this framework, predictability becomes the main goal and that is why research is carried out through the construction of accurate mathematical models. Thus, physics and chemistry have made most progress so far by focusing on systems that, either due to their intrinsic properties or to the conditions in which they are investigated, allow for very strong simplifying assumptions, under which, nevertheless, those highly idealized models of reality are deemed to be in good correspondence with reality itself. Despite the enormous success that this methodology has had, the study of living and cognitive phenomena had to follow a very different road, because these phenomena are produced by systems whose underlying material structure and organization do not permit such crude approximations. Seen from the perspective of physics or chemistry, biological and cognitive systems are made of an enormous number of parts or elements interacting in non-linear and selective ways, which makes very difficult their tractability through mathematical models. In addition, many of those interacting elements are hierarchically organized, in a way that the “macroscopic” (observable) parts behave according to rules that cannot be, in practice, derived from simple principles at the level of their “microscopic” dynamics.. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to analise the religion philosophy and its critic, based on Ludwig Feuerbach principles as one of the greatest exponents of modern atheism. It will start from some thinkers that could be considered as Ludwig predecessors, going through Feuerbachian considerations to finish with a valuation of those philosophers who have built a new critic philosophy of the religion and theology, relating some Feuerbach innovations in this fields with highly topical matters, proving the actual relevance of (...) his thinking despite the fact that it has been a century and a half since his death. (shrink)

Para elaborar sua filosofia civil, Thomas Hobbes preliminarmente se dedicou ao exame daquilo que constitui a república: o homem. Em sua análise da dinâmica afetivo-cognitiva humana, tecida a partir dos conceitos de sensação, imagem, linguagem e paixão, o conceito de imaginação é apresentado como um resíduo da experiência sensível no corpo. Como tal, uma imagem estará sujeita a se eclipsar sob a luz de imagens mais fortes ou mais recentes, que podem apagá-la da mente tomando o seu lugar. O ato (...) ou faculdade de imaginar, a imaginação — para Hobbes “sensação em declínio” —, é memória, que exprime no presente a sensação passada. Lançada ao futuro, a imagem mantém-se na expressão do medo ou da esperança, paixões que impelem aos homens serem credores de certo esquema de poder. A imaginação dá a forma da expectativa, que projeta passado e presente ao futuro, como uma profecia autorrealizável, garantido a estabilidade do poder e da riqueza. (shrink)

Recent research in philosophy of science has shown that scientists rely on a plurality of strategies to develop successful explanations of different types of phenomena. In the case of biology, most of these strategies go far beyond the traditional and reductionistic models of scientific explanation that have proven so successful in the fundamental sciences. Concretely, in the last two decades, philosophers of science have discovered the existence of at least two different types of scientific explanation at work in the biological (...) sciences, namely: mechanistic and structural explanations. Despite the growing evidence about the radically different nature of these two types of explanation, no inquiry has been conducted to date to determine the ontological reasons that might underlie these differences, nor the way in which these types of explanations can be systematically related with each other. Here, we aim to cover this gap by connecting this plurality of research strategies with the existence of emergent levels of reality. We argue that the existence of these different—and apparently incompatible—explanatory strategies to account for biological phenomena derives from the existence of “ontological jumps” in nature, which generate different regimes of causation that in turn demand the development of different explanatory frameworks. We identify two of these strategies—mechanistic modelling and network modelling—and connect them to the existence of two ontological regimes of causation. Finally, we relate them with each other in a systematic way. In this vein, our paper provides an ontological justification for the plurality of explanatory strategies that we see in the life sciences. (shrink)

The transition from chemistry to biology is an extremely complex issue because of the huge phenomenological differences between the two domains and because this transition has many different aspects and dimensions. In this paper, I will try to analyze how chemical systems have developed a cohesive, self-maintaining and functionally differentiated system that recruits its organization to stay far from equilibrium. This organization cannot exist but in an individualized form, and yet, it unfolds both a diachronic-historical and a synchronic collective dimension. (...) I will argue that, far from being a problem, these different dimensions of the phenomenon of life, appear as a consequence of the nature of this individualized organization. (shrink)

In this paper I respond to Marcus William Hunt’s argument that vegan parents have pro tanto reasons for not raising their children on a vegan diet because such a diet is potentially harmful to children’s physical and social well-being. In my rebuttal, first I show that in practice all vegan diets, with the exception of wacky diets, are beneficial to children’s well-being ; and that all animal-based diets are potentially unhealthful. Second, I show that vegan children are no more socially (...) outcast than any other group. In other words, veganism does not harm the lives of children. Having considered several studies, I show that the moral reasons that vegan parents may have for raising their children on a vegan diet significantly outweigh the reasons for raising their children on an animal-based diet. Thus, I conclude that parents have a moral obligation to raise their children on a vegan diet. (shrink)

Título: Didáctica de geografía e historia en educación primaria Autor: Laura Arias Ferrer y Alejandro Egea Vivancos Edición: Editorial Síntesis Lugar de publicación: Madrid Año: 2022 Idioma: Español ISBN: 978-84-1357-231-4 Páginas: 198.

The aim of this article is to present the origins of the marxian criticism of politics. Finding its place between the years of 1842 and 1843, this criticism emerges from within a review of the hegelian philosophy and takes is first form as a philosophical criticism of politics. The criticism of politics developed by Marx was, thus, rigorously a philosophical undertaking, yet of a philosophy that took the world as its object and flowed outwardly, manifesting itself externally as a criticism (...) of the society of that time and a negation of the existing politics.O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar as origens da crítica marxiana da política. Encontrando seu lugar entre os anos de 1842 e 1843 essa crítica nasce no interior de uma revisão da filosofia hegeliana e assume uma primeira forma como crítica filosófica da política. A crítica da política desenvolvida por Marx era, assim, rigorosamente, um empreendimento filosófico, mas de uma filosofia que assumia o mundo como seu objeto e se vertia para fora de si própria manifestando-se externamente como uma crítica da sociedade da época e como uma negação da política existente. (shrink)

The project of growing meat artificially represents for some the next best thing to humanity. If successful, it could be the solution to several problems, such as feed- ing a growing global population while reducing the environmental impact of raising animals for food and, of course, reducing the amount and degree of animal cruelty and suffering that is involved in animal farming. In this paper, I argue that the issue of the morality of such a project has been framed only (...) in terms of the best conse- quences for the environment, animals, and humans, or in terms of deontic princi- ples. I argue that to appreciate how deep and difficult this issue is, it is necessary to consider it in terms of a virtue-oriented approach. Such an approach will reveal aspects that are not apparent, not contemplated by typical approaches, but are essen- tial to our understanding of the morality of lab-grown meat. As I argue, evaluating the issue from a virtue-oriented perspective suggests that the project of in vitro meat should not be supported because it stems from unvirtuous motivations. (shrink)

Der englische Erkenntnis- und Wissenschaftstheoretiker William Whewell (1794-1866) geht davon aus, daß das Phänomen der Entdeckung, Entstehung, Formulierung, Verbesserung und Verwerfung wissenschaftlicher Theorien weder mit dem Instrumentarium des Empirismus noch mit dem des Rationalismus erklärbar ist. Mit der Annahme eines kritischen Realismus, im Anschluß an Kants theoretische Philosophie und manche Aspekte des kritischen Rationalismus von Popper vorwegnehmend, stellt Whewell erneut die Frage nach der Möglichkeit nicht-analytischer, allgemeiner und doch notwendig geltender Aussagen über die Welt auf. Whewell lehnt aber die Lösung (...) Kants einer transzendentalen Deduktion der Verstandesbegriffe ab und bietet eine moderne Antwort an, ohne die historizistischen Züge des Nachkantischen Idealismus anzunehmen. (shrink)

El hecho de que la filosofía del arte de Adorno incorpore categorías propias de la estética burguesa ha sido señalado no solo como una de las causas del supuesto carácter conservador de esta teoría, sino también como una limitación ideológica: el compromiso asumido con la estética idealista le impediría a Adorno desvelar los intereses materiales que se ocultan en la relación entre el arte autónomo y la sociedad burguesa. Contra estas acusaciones, el presente trabajo busca dar cuenta de la relación (...) problemática que Adorno sostiene con la estética tradicional y mostrar que la apropiación de conceptos de origen idealista solo se produce mediante una profunda crítica inmanente de los mismos, cuyo propósito es sentar las bases para la elaboración de una estética dialéctico-materialista original. Para ello, en primer lugar, se reconstruyen los procedimientos a través de los cuales Adorno lee las estéticas de Kant y de Hegel; luego, se analiza la elaboración materialista que Adorno realiza de la exigencia kantiana de desinterés; por último, estableciendo una conexión con la antropología estética de Christoph Menke, se recupera la crítica adorniana a la función ideológica que el juicio estético kantiano desempeña en relación con la fundamentación del sujeto moderno. (shrink)

El año 2021 marca un punto de inflexión en Jordania, con la creación de una Comisión Real para la Modernización Política. El objetivo es crear un sistema de partidos que deje atrás las dinámicas clientelistas que en el pasado habían capturado el parlamento. A pesar de ello, el legislativo sigue supeditado al resto de poderes del Estado, y todavía no existe el espacio físico ni digital para que la sociedad se organice en líneas ideológicas.

In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith recognizes that in certain occasions even the most impartial of all spectators experience an ‘irregularity of sentiment’ in judging the moral value of an action. An example of this irregularity can be found in cases where, under the influence of fortune, the consequence of the action does not follow directly from the design of the agent. Within this article, the problem presented will be addressed in order to seek the grounds for the (...) validity of the following thesis: the recognition of the natural equality of all moral agents is the objective basis in which all moral judgment must be grounded. Having indicated this, an important question arises: Why does the innocent, who is not unjust but who is the material cause of the factual injury of another, feels a kind of remorse facing the act and somehow feels “guilty”? (shrink)

Este artículo versa sobre el problema de la técnica en Henri Bergson, particularmente en su libro Las dos fuentes de la moral y de la religión, de 1932. En una primera sección del artículo ofrezco una perspectiva histórica del problema de la técnica en la obra del Bergson maduro, desde su génesis hasta su desarrollo, y de ahí a su posterior culminación, en 1932. En la segunda sección propongo una interpretación del problema como tal. Esta primera sección histórica contiene tres (...) pasos evolutivos. Parte del las consideraciones del autor sobre la inteligencia y sus relaciones con la técnica o capacidad de invención en La evolución creadora, de 1907. Aquí se da cuenta de una noción optimista de la técnica. En un segundo episodio, muestro la subsiguiente visión de Bergson de la técnica como amenaza para la humanidad que se puede encontrar en sus discursos anti-alemanes durante la Primera Guerra Mundial. A continuación, esta investigación pondera el contexto de 1932, año de publicación del ensayó en cuestión. En ese libro, la técnica no sólo va ligada a la amenaza de una guerra técnica sino también a la amenaza de una decadencia espiritual. La segunda sección tiene un propósito doctrinal, exclusivamente en relación a Las dos fuentes. La tesis es que si, como dice el mismo título, la moral y la religión tienen dos fuentes en Bergson, una biológica y otra espiritual, también la técnica tiene dos fuentes. La técnica es una suerte de tercera vía en un ensayo en el que se contrapone biología y espíritu. Las dos fuentes de la técnica dejan de lado la biología. Son, según mi interpretación, la inteligencia y el espíritu. En primer lugar, sostengo que aunque en el ensayo hay una visión negativa de la inteligencia, se puede encontrar otra positiva, según la cual la inteligencia es una de las dos fuentes del espíritu de invención y de la técnica. Además, en segundo lugar, muestro que la segunda fuente de la técnica es el espíritu o alma abierta. La técnica es potencialmente un agente de progreso, como el cristianismo o la democracia. Por último, en este artículo considero la peculiar filosofía del progreso en Bergson y su relación con nuestro problema. (shrink)