Analysing both mainstream and underground computer-related press sources from 1982 to 1991, a discursive core is displayed revolving around contamination and sexually transmissible diseases. The 'computer virus' metaphor, popularized in that period, came to resonate with mounting moral panic over the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These anxieties about the body are then conceptualized (and historically contextualized) along two dimensions : 1) the political proximity between HIV/AIDS activists and computer hackers during the FDA clinical trials controversy of 1987-88 ; 2) the ideological reinforcement (...) provided by academic progressive elements to these political actions. (shrink)

This paper sheds light on the role of digital platform labour in the development of today’s artificial intelligence, predicated on data-intensive machine learning algorithms. Focus is on the specific ways in which outsourcing of data tasks to myriad ‘micro-workers’, recruited and managed through specialized platforms, powers virtual assistants, self-driving vehicles and connected objects. Using qualitative data from multiple sources, we show that micro-work performs a variety of functions, between three poles that we label, respectively, ‘artificial intelligence preparation’, ‘artificial intelligence verification’ (...) and ‘artificial intelligence impersonation’. Because of the wide scope of application of micro-work, it is a structural component of contemporary artificial intelligence production processes – not an ephemeral form of support that may vanish once the technology reaches maturity stage. Through the lens of micro-work, we prefigure the policy implications of a future in which data technologies do not replace human workforce but imply its marginalization and precariousness. (shrink)

Scientific research is growingly increasingly reliant on "microwork" or "crowdsourcing" provided by digital platforms to collect new data. Digital platforms connect clients and workers, charging a fee for an algorithmically managed workflow based on Terms of Service agreements. Although these platforms offer a way to make a living or complement other sources of income, microworkers lack fundamental labor rights and basic safe working conditions, especially in the Global South. We ask how researchers and research institutions address the ethical issues involved (...) in considering microworkers as "human participants." We argue that current scientific research fails to treat microworkers in the same way as in-person human participants, producing de facto a double morality: one applied to people with rights acknowledged by states and international bodies (e.g., the Helsinki Declaration), the other to guest workers of digital autocracies who have almost no rights at all. We illustrate our argument by drawing on 57 interviews conducted with microworkers in Spanish-speaking countries. (shrink)

Water values serve as an entry point into the intricacies of public policies and management approaches. Values are contingent assessments that emerge out of socio-ecological relations and reflect particular demands, legacies and opportunities. The concept of value positionality is introduced as the synthesis of multiple expressions of worthiness cherished by a social group. Positionality is a metaphor that connects the phenomenological understanding of water value with the politics of everyday life and the broader politico-institutional framework. It entails a cluster of (...) meanings expressed through territorialised interactions across time, locations and scales. Positionalities converge or depart according to value praxis, that is, the clash of competing valuation approaches seeking legitimisation. (shrink)

Philosophy & Social Criticism, Ahead of Print. The article deals with the ontological configuration and political appropriation of difference in modern, capitalist societies. Against fragmented accounts of difference, it is examined the evolution from situations of wide socio-spatial diversity to the gradual instrumentalisation and selective hierarchisation of those elements of difference that can be inserted in market-based relations, whilst the majority of differences are ignored and disregarded. The instrumentalisation of difference under capitalism – the reduction of extended socio-spatial difference to (...) the interests and priorities of the stronger segments of society who emphasise their distinctive features in the attempt to exert power and control over those considered inferior and subordinate – has more than just an impact on social or interpersonal relations but constitutes an active worldmaking force that operates, primarily, via the promotion of indifference. The analysis is informed by the Hegelian framework of consciousness and reason that is based on what the German philosopher calls the laws of experience accumulated through social interaction. Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit can, therefore, move social theory forward to a critical interrogation of lived and contested differences. The instrumentalised metabolism of difference, following Hegelian metaphysics, is basically the result of self-estrangement and externalisation of the self, not because of self-serving interests but exactly because of its incompleteness and the need to be actualised in the other, who is also incomplete. Likewise, all particulars are moments actualised in the universal, which is also a changeable moment of itself. Thought the negation of otherness, followed by a negation of the negation, difference can be then embraced in its entirety, as it remains a central explanatory concept for social criticism. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to present the ideas that the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann developed on the role of classical mechanics in physics. He had elaborated them at a time when classical mechanics began to be considered as not being any more the ground for all other physical theories. Boltzmann never accepted this conclusion. He rejected it, developing at the same time some ideas on the epistemological nature of scientific theories. According to him, scientific theories are representations of (...) natural phenomena. (shrink)

Columbia University Press's multivolume _Prison Notebooks_ is the only complete critical edition of Antonio Gramsci's seminal writings in English. Based on the authoritative Italian edition of Gramsci's work, _Quaderni del Carcere_, this comprehensive translation presents the intellectual as he ought to be read and understood, with critical notes that clarify Gramsci's history, culture, and sources; an index of names; and a contextualization of the thinker's ideas against his earlier writings and letters. This set includes notebooks 1 through 8 with (...) all attendant notes and materials and is an indispensible resource for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. (shrink)

Between the two horns of Jørgensen's dilemma, the authors opt for that according to which logic deals not only with truth and falsity but also with those concepts not possessing this semantic reference. Notwithstanding the “descriptive” prejudice, deontic logic has gained validity among modal logics. The technical foundation proposed consists in an abstract characterization of logical consequence. By identifying in the abstract notion of consequence the primitive from which to begin, it is possible to define the connectives - even those (...) of obligation - by means of the rules of introduction or elimination in a context of derivation. (shrink)

1. EI dilema de Jørgensen. 2. La salución propuesta. 3. Breve historia de un prejudicio filosófico. 4. Normas sin lógica. 4.1. Imperativos sin lógica. 4.2. Normas y proposicienesnormativas. 4.3. Proposiciones normativas y normas verdaderas. 4.4. Mundos posibles. 4.5. Validez e invalidez. 4.6. La racionalidad del legislador. 5. La noción abstracta, sintáctica y semántica de consecuencia. 5.1. La noción abstracta de consecuencia. 5.2. La noción sintáctica de consecuencia. 5.3. La noción semántica de consecuencia. 5.4. EI sentido dado por las reglas de (...) uso en un contexto. 5.5. Qué operadores para la lógica. 5.6. Solo en un contexto la parte cobra sentido. 6. La lógica deóntica. 7. De donde la solución del dilema interesa a toda la lógica. 8. Consecuendas para la informática. (shrink)

Este artículo tiene el objetivo de mostrar que en la filosofía de Ortega y Gasset ciencia (orientada hacia el conocimiento) y sabiduría (orientada hacia lo práctico-existencial) son inseparables. Esto significa que la di-mensión científica o teórica del pensamiento de Ortega no implica la eliminación de su dimensión práctica/existencial. El tema de la filosofía de Ortega como sabiduría es la vida buena y este ideal de vida es lo que Ortega llama ‘vocación’, ser uno mismo, autorrealización. Pero el ‘yo’ es inseparable (...) de la circunstan-cia. Por tanto, para ser yo, para salvarme yo mismo, hay que salvar la circunstancia. Por esta razón es necesa-ria una ciencia de la circunstancia que desvele el sentido (esencia) de este mundo de la vida. En definitiva, la filosofía de Ortega defiende la integración de lo teórico/científico y lo práctico. (shrink)

O objetivo deste texto é analisar o conceito de diversidade em Montesquieu e demonstrar como ele faz parte de seu tema da tolerância. Para atingir esse intento a noção de diversidade será abordada a partir de três campos de investigação específicos: o físico; o social; e o político, que, juntos, marcam o conceito de tolerância. Assim, espera-se contribuir para uma melhor compreensão desse conceito em Montesquieu.

A representação em gravura de D. Isabel de Aragão não pode dissociar-se do processo político- -devocional que rodeia primeiro a memória e depois a formalização do culto da insigne soberana e do papel outorgado à gravura na comunicação de ideias e formas numa sociedade onde a sua circulação é necessariamente limitada. Com efeito, se os ritmos do processo canónico e da própria divulgação do culto seguem de perto os avatares do poder real – num processo reconhecível, de múltiplas formas, entre (...) os alvores do século XVI e o declinar do século XVIII –, a produção imagética em torno da devoção à Rainha Santa e, dentro dela, a produção gravada (necessariamente dependente dos progressos dos meios tipográficos) permitem acompanhar, em termos genéricos e conjunturais, esse mesmo ritmo afirmativo de um culto que se revelaria estrutural na afirmação de valores centrais à dimensão nacional e à projecção exterior da soberania e que o próprio estatuto régio da sua titular favorecia. Neste contexto, a projecção em gravura da devoção à solícita e caridosa Rainha, ilustre pelo sangue e pelas obras, constitui, inegavelmente, um objecto do maior interesse, não somente no domínio da História da Arte, mas no da própria História. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to characterise the concept of difference in Aristotle, both as a predicate of the genus and as a predicate of the species. We then try to classify these two dimensions of difference within the framework of the predicables. The general conclusion is that the differentia constitutiva is an essential predicate, logically analogous to the genus in this respect, while the differentia divisiva cannot be located within that framework because the predicables are implicitly thought by (...) Aristotle as forms of predication in which the predicate has an extension greater than, or equal to, the subject. (shrink)

The philosophical and philological study of Aristotle fragments and lost works has fallen somewhat into the background since the 1960’s. This is regrettable considering the different and innovative directions the study of Aristotle has taken in the last decades. This collection of new peer-reviewed essays applies the latest developments and trends of analysis, criticism, and methodology to the study of Aristotle’s fragments. The individual essays use the fragments as tools of interpretation, shed new light on different areas of Aristotle philosophy, (...) and lay bridges between Aristotle’s lost and extant works. The first part shows how Aristotle frames parts of his own understanding of Philosophy in his published, 'popular' work. The second part deals with issues of philosophical interpretation in Aristotle’s extant works which can be illuminated by fragments of his lost works. The philosophical issues treated in this section range from Theology to Natural Science, Psychology, Politics, and Poetics. As a whole, the book articulates a new approach to Aristotle’s lost works, by providing a reassessment and new methodological explorations of the fragments. (shrink)

Este trabajo pretende explorar la dimensión ritual en los Textos de las Pirámides, el corpus de literatura religiosa extensa más antiguo de la humanidad. La naturaleza variada de sus componentes textuales ha impedido que los egiptólogos comprendan en profundidad las complejidades de la colección y los contextos originales en los que estos textos aparecieron. La aplicación de la teoría del ritual, principalmente la aproximación de la sintaxis ritual, ofrece a los investigadores un marco excelente de análisis e interpretación del corpus, (...) su estructura y función. Sujeto a las reglas de la sintaxis ritual es posible exponer los múltiples niveles de significado en el corpus para la resurrección y salvación del difunto. (shrink)

The growing fiscal pressure created for the Monarchy during the Seventeenth Century crashed with the opposition of the privileged groups. The clergy was not prepared to give up an immunity that was considering secular. For this reason, they only consented to pay after obtained the papal permit; in this way safeguarded their jurisdiction. However, the ecclesiastics will enploy many ways to escape of the public taxes. T11e defraudation was one of them. A document of 1668 shows what type of defraudations (...) employed the Murcia's clergymen to be remitted of the payments. (shrink)

The contemporary state is not only the main force behind environmental change, but the reactions to environmental problems have played a crucial role in the modernisation of the state apparatus, especially because of its mediatory role. The Political Ecology of the State is the first book to critically assess the philosophical basis of environmental statehood and regulation, addressing the emergence and evolution of environmental regulation from the early 20th Century to the more recent phase of ecological modernisation and the neoliberalisation (...) of nature. The state is understood as the result of permanent socionatural interactions and multiple forms of contestation, from a critical politico-ecological approach. This book examines the tension between pro- and anti-commons tendencies that have permeated the organisation and failures of the environmental responses put forward by the state. It provides a reinterpretation of the achievements and failures of mainstream environmental policies and regulation and offers a review of the mains philosophical influences behind different periods of environmental statehood and regulation. It sets out an agenda for going beyond conventional state regulation and grassroots dealings with the state, and as such redefines the environmental apparatus of the state. (shrink)

The text discusses the theological concept of Christ the Savior, from an argumentative and systematic method. In this perspective, as part of the biblical text in order to clarify the principal said that evidence the saving act of Christ. Later, he develops a theological reading about these sayings, within the Christian theology and exegesis. Proceeds in an exercise to find the rational structure of the arguments discussed in an attempt to bring unity to the arguments and solidification. And he ends (...) with the route of the Church to announce and legitimize their interpretations of the truth of salvation in Christ. In short, this is an exercise in theological reflection that seeks to analyze and discuss the various meanings and understandings about the reality of Christ's saving and, moreover, point to some interpretations about its most fundamental mystery of salvation. (shrink)

We analyze in this brief study the remains excavated in the great courtyard of the al-Badī‘ Palace in Marrakech, which correspond to a ḥammām, whose disappearance was probably caused by the construction of the great Palace erected by the Saadian Sultan Aḥmad al-Manṣūr in 1578. The use in that thermal building of some characteristic forms of the Ottoman baths built at the same time suggests that its construction was performed by the brother and predecessor of al-Manṣūr, ‘Abd al-Malik, between 1576 (...) and 1578. (shrink)

Carmelo Bene is not simply to be counted among the "big players" of the twentieth century, but is the author of a "genetic mutation" in theater practice. There are, in Asia, some hermits puppeteers who daily set up a show for the gods, that is for anyone, but anyone to pass, human or animal, is welcome. Acting for the desert means to embody a posture that goes beyond the duality between nature and artifice: event that bases its effectiveness in gratitude, (...) in the surplus of life that goes from the emptiness outside to the inner one, infinitely small. (shrink)

Many authors have already observed that the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus of Baruch Spinoza was, in its time, the most discussed and most vehemently refuted book. Indeed, at the dawn of the Enlightenment, and almost until the end of the nineteenth century, Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was an assertive and powerful appeal to freedom of expression and thought, a bold claim of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience in a Europe that was unaccustomed to the exercise of free thought. But, what is after (...) all the subject of the Theological-Political Treatise, a book maligned for so long and by so many as ultra pestilential and immoral? The present volume, collecting essays by notable European scholars, attempts to address some of the problems created by the broad spectrum of topics included in Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise. (shrink)

El enorme potencial del desarrollo de la inteligencia artificial (IA) puede observarse en un aumento de su presencia en diversos entornos para ofrecer soporte en actividades que destacan por un alto nivel de complejidad. En ese sentido, instituciones como la Comisión Europea (CE) advierten la necesidad de promover un cultivo de la confianza en la IA para garantizar una gobernanza que sitúe al ser humano en el centro de sus preocupaciones y beneficios. Un cultivo que implica un compromiso con el (...) fortalecimiento de la habilidad comunicativa de los expertos científicos como una estrategia para favorecer la comprensión ciudadana y su participación. Una comunicación científica preocupada por el principio ético de la explicabilidad implica poner en valor la interacción con la ciudadanía para reconocer sus testimonios y experiencias de vida, incorporándolos en los procesos de investigación e innovación. (shrink)

El presente artículo pretende reflexionar en torno a la problemática de la potencial sustitución o remplazo del ser humano por parte de la tecnología de la automatización. El debate, tan antiguo como la modernidad, ha sufrido en los últimos tres años un impulso sorprendente debido a la aparición en la esfera pública de los algoritmos probabilísticos productores de textos o imágenes: las llamadas IA generativas. En un contexto de discursos sensacionalistas arrastrados por un alarmismo o utopismo fomentado por las estrategias (...) comerciales de las «big tech», el presente trabajo se propone pensar críticamente los términos del problema, ahondando en lo que hay ontológica y políticamente en juego en esta supuesta sustitución. Este artículo propone que el problema puede ser adecuadamente reenfocado si se entiende que en el origen del sujeto moderno no yace ninguna cualidad distintivamente humana, sino el vacío de un movimiento tropológico de (auto)sustracción siempre en marcha. (shrink)

Tras una revisión bibliográfica, el artículo proporciona una presentación de la filosofía política de Henry D. Thoreau, enfatizando en su obra un concepto de autodeterminación cívica que Habermas descompone en una autonomía pública y otra privada. Sostengo que Thoreau no era un anarquista antisocial, ni tampoco un mero liberal individualista, sino que su liberalismo presenta elementos propios de la teoría democrática e incluso del comunitarismo político. Finalmente, identifico y describo una tensión entre esos temas liberales y democráticos, tanto en la (...) obra de Thoreau como en la vida política de las sociedades occidentales, mostrando así la relevancia de este autor. (shrink)